dhammadrops

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Attitude




A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.
--




Hi Dr Wong,
Can you briefly explain/elaborate on "set of circumstances" and "set of attitudes?


....

Dear Regina,

You will be happy if I give you a nice present, this is because the circumstances created by that gift has boosted your ego, satisfied your wants and temporarily made you happy - this is happiness that resulted from a 'set of circumstances'.

On the other hand, having read hundreds of my mail ;-) you could have evolved a completely new attitude to life, and now has a mind that does NOT depend on the fulfillment of greed and wants for your happiness, it does NOT depend on the inflation of your ego to feel good; your attitude is different from the girl next door!

Your happiness now arises from peace, CONTENTMENT, letting go, and from knowledge of the Truth. You no longer need flowers from your BF to make you happy for the duration of 2 days before the flowers wither, you do not need a 'set of circumstances' which is EXTERNAL to create your happiness!

Your attitude to life because you understand the Realities of Life makes and keeps you Happy under all circumstances. Fine if you receive roses which are beautiful, its also OK if you don't! You feel Happy both ways! You have now developed a beautiful 'set of attitudes'!

metta,

dr wong
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Friday, January 30, 2009

Where forth art "Self"?


Q: "Where, for instance, is the identity of myself? There's a special quality that makes me different from everything else and also from all other selves. And I want that identity, my own self, to continue. So where does that identity dwell?"

A: "Where indeed?" asked the Buddha. "That "self" to which you cling is in constant change. Years ago you were a baby, then a youth, and now a man. Which is your true self? that of yesterday, that of today, or that of tomorrow which you so long to preserve?"

"I see I have misunderstood things," replied Kutadanta slowly, "and although I find it hard to endure the light, the truth now dawns on me that there is no separate and enduring self. I will take my refuge in your teaching and find that which is continuing and everlasting in the truth."

 -Majjhima Nikaya
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Shadows


"If one with a wicked Mind
Speaks or acts
Because of that, SUFFERING follows one
EVEN AS THE WHEEL FOLLOWS THE HOOF OF AN OX. ....

If one with a pure Mind
Speaks or acts
Because of that, HAPPINESS follows one
EVEN AS ONE'S SHADOW THAT NEVER LEAVES."

Every word of the Buddha is precious, every simile profound.

Let us think of an ox pulling a cart.... there is not a moment's reprise from the burden that it drags along. Be it bright or dark, night or day, a good road or a pot-holed track, the burden of pain and suffering is ever present until the load is finally unyoked. Whether walking or standing, the weight of the cart is ever present, the only difference being the degree of the pain and suffering.

When we act unwisely from impure volition, the suffering that results is PRECISELY like that. It never lives us, we may stand still and have temporary lessening of the burden, but it is still firmly yoked to us. On a good road, the load may feel easier to bear while on a bad track, the pain is many fold more.

Now let us consider a shadow.... it is weightless, we do not even feel its presence. The actions resulting from a pure intent results in good kamma which follows us weightlessly; we MAY NOT EVEN BE CONSCIOUS OF IT!

Let us ask ourselves as to when a shadow is most prominent?

It is obviously in conditions of bright light, and as we go to a shade or a dark room, the shadow disappears.


Are we creating the conditions for our good kamma to arise, for these seeds to bloom in the sunshine of positive conditions or do we create a perpetual haze of dark clouds from our greed, hatred and ignorance, never allowing our good seeds to arise? Even the best seeds need the right soil, sunshine and water to flourish. And a shadow will return as soon as we are in the light NO MATTER how long it had been "missing" while we wallow in the dark!

We are all dragging along our cartloads of suffering and our weightless shadows.... we complain endlessly about our burdens as it is distinctly felt, and we fail to appreciate our shadows.

Let us work to lessen our defilements, that being the way to lessen our burden and create the brightest environment for our good seeds to flourish.
And in doing so we also create a smooth road that will hopefully help us to bear with the load that we all inevitably carry from the past.



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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A Fool and his Greed


VERSES BY ARAHANT RATTHAPALA

I see men wealthy in the World who yet
Give not, from ignorance, their gathered riches,
But greedily will hoard away their wealth
Through longing for further sensual pleasures.

A King who by his force conquered the earth
And even Lords the land the ocean bounds,
Is yet unsated with the sea's near shore
And hungers for its further shore as well.

Most other men as well, not just a King,
Encounter death with Craving Unabated;
With plans still incomplete they leave the corpse;
Desires remain unsated in the world.

His relatives lament him, rend their hair,
Crying "Ah me! Alas! Our love is dead!"
Then bear away the body wrapped in shrouds,
To place on a pyre and burn it there.

Clad in a single shroud, he leaves behind
His property, impaled on stakes he burns,
And as he died, no relatives or kin
Or friends could offer refuge to him here.

Then while his heirs annex his wealth, this being
Must now arise according to his Deeds;
And as he dies Nothing can follow him;
Nor child nor wife nor wealth nor royal estate.

Longevity is Not acquired with wealth,
Nor can prosperity banish old age;
Short is this Life, as all the sages say,
Eternity it knows not, only Change.

The rich man and the poor man both shall feel
Death's touch, as do the fool and sage alike;
But while the fool lies stricken by his folly,
No sage will ever tremble at the touch.

Better than Wealth is Understanding, then,
By which the final goal can here be gained;
For, doing evil deeds in many lives,
Men fail, through Ignorance, to reach the goal.

As one goes to the womb and to another world,
Renewing the successive rounds, so others
With no more understanding, trusting him,
Go also to the womb and to another world.

Just as a robber caught in robbery,
An evil-doer, suffers for his deed,
So people after death, in the next world,
The evil-doers, suffer for their deeds.

Sense pleasures, varied, sweet, delightful,
In many different ways disturb the Mind.
Seeing the peril in these sensual joys,
O King!* I chose to lead the Homeless Life.

As fruits fall from the tree, so also men,
Both young and old, fall when this body breaks,
Seeing this too, I have gone forth, O King!
Better by far is the Monk's life assured.

*Refering to King Koravya who owns Migacira Garden where Arahant Ratthapala was residing.
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An important lesson from Sayadaw Nandasiddhi


In the Ratana Sutta, it is stated 

Whatever spirits have gathered here,
 — on the earth, in the sky — 
may you all be happy
& listen intently to what I say.

Thus, spirits, you should all be attentive.
Show kindness to the human race.
Day & night they give offerings,
so, being heedful, protect them.

This raises a few questions...

A. does this imply that Buddhists can appeal to devas for help in worldly problems?

B. does it imply that Buddhists when facing worldly problems pray like in other religions to Devas, desperately beseeching help?

Ans: the Ratana Sutta states the virtues of the Triple Gems. It states the Truth, and after that, it makes the wish for people to be free from suffering at Vesali.


Devas/gods/spirits/angels are a kind of beings. When we associate with them, one can think of it as the same way as one’s association with a powerful human being like a king or high government official. However one Must remember that such a relationship is not for liberation from Samsara. The Buddhist's ultimate goal is liberation, total liberation from all states of existence.


Among the Buddha’s Teaching, there are many teachings for the benefit of mundane affairs. In this sutta, there is a call to remind the Devas not to forget to help the people who make offerings to them.


If Devas become our friends, they are able to help us within their ability and power just as our friends would in the human realm. They only can help in mundane affairs and worldly happiness.

But what if one did not bring offerings ...

Ans: If one does not bring offerings, nothing will happen from it. We have to accept the results according to our good or bad Kamma. When the good Kamma produces the result there is no problem at all. But when the bad Kamma produces its result, we have to suffer. It is then when we desperately wish to seek help from others.

We all have both good and bad Kamma because we commit lots of action in our life or past countless lives. In this sutta, Ven Ananda and the Sangha encourage the Devas not to forget to look after the friends who makes offerings to them.


Here offering and praying is different. Offering is giving something, praying is wishing for what they want.

B. What offerings?

Ans: These offerings depend on people's cultural and religious concepts. The Chinese offer to Devas incense, food and whatever that in their minds they think the Devas will need.

In Buddhism, We offer our merits to the Devas.

We invite the Devas to come and participate in our wholesome religious acts, to listen to the Dhamma and guide us in our sasana work.
The sharing of our merits is the best way to make friends with the Devas. Devas and petas want merits because in their realms it is difficult to obtain merit.

While devas like to have merit, they do not need material things.

The petas like both for they also need material offerings.

That's why with wisdom, we can make proper offerings to Devas.

D. Can the Devas "guard us" or guide us?

Ans: Yes, they could help us in limited situations within their ability. In the SN, we learn that even the Devas pay respect to humans who keep their precepts well and are virtuous.

E. How does a Buddhist walking well in the meditative path relate to this segment of the Ratana sutta?

Ans: The Devas have no ability to help in the development of insight knowledge in Meditation. They however could help one to escape from danger or disturbances whether in the forest or the city.

The Buddha is Teacher to both gods and human.. "Sattha deva-manussanam", many Devas recall the Buddha and His Teachings and support the sasana.


In summary, what is offered is the Invitation to Devas to listen to Suttas, the sharing of Merits and radiating of Metta to them. When one is virtuous, the Devas are respectful to you and will help you within their abilities.



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Monday, January 26, 2009

Mirror


Insight Meditation

The ever popular question is "what is my level or attainment in meditation?"

As we realise more on "Non-self/anatta", this query becomes less important, as the deluded sense of ego atrophies with meditation, that sense of need to 'attain' diminishes.

Let us read the conversation between the Lord Buddha and Maha-Pajapati, and recall the qualities that the Lord Buddha said one will develop if the Teachings is correct......

leads to DISPASSION AND NOT PASSION,
to DETACHMENT AND NOT BONDAGE,
to DECREASE OF WORLDLY GAINS NOT INCREASE,
to FRUGALITY NOT COVETOUSNESS,
to CONTENT NOT DISCONTENT,
to SOLITUDE NOT COMPANY,
to ENERGY NOT SLUGGISHNESS,
to DELIGHT IN GOOD NOT EVIL.

If one is progressing well in meditation, ALL these qualities will manifest in one's daily life, otherwise it is all just talk and make believe, with stock answers given at interviews as a result of theoretical knowledge, NOT INSIGHT.

Insight will change one's life, theory disappears when we end the meditation session.

So if one is truly interested to know " what is my level of Insight?", no interview is needed, JUST LOOK AT OUR OWN LIVES..... its staring us in the face.

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Just be




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ONLY ONE BREATH


'Can we be mindful of one inhalation?

'Yes.'

'And of one exhalation?'

'Yes.'

There's nothing more to it than that. However, we tend to expect to go into some special state. And because we don't do that, then we think we can't do it.

But the way of the spiritual life is through renunciation, relinquishment, letting go not through attaining or acquiring. Even the jhanas are relinquishments rather than attainments. If we relinquish more and more , letting go more and more, then the jhanic states are natural.

The attitude is most important. To practise anapanasati, one brings the attention onto one inhalation, being mindful from the beginning to the end. One inhalation, that's it; and then the same goes for the exhalation. That's the perfect attainment of anapanasati. The awareness of just that much is the result of concentration of the mind through sustained attention on the breath - from the beginning to the end of the inhalation, from the beginning to the end of the exhalation. The attitude is always one of letting go, not attaching to any ideas or feelings that arise from that, so that we're always fresh with the next inhalation, the next exhalation, completely as it is. We're not carrying over anything. So it's a way of relinquishment, of letting go, rather than of attaining and achieving.

The dangers in meditation practice is the habit of grasping at things, grasping at states; so the concept that's most useful is the concept of letting go, rather than of attaining and achieving. When we're trying to attain something that we expect or remember rather than really working with the way things are, as they happen to be now, we are caught in the hindrance of greed. So the correct way is one of mindfulness, of looking at the way it is now.

Insight is more and more a matter of living insightfully. It's not just that we have insight sometimes, but more and more as we reflect on Dhamma, then everything is insightful.

We see insightfully into life as it's happening to us.

As soon as we think we need to have special conditions for meditation, for developing insight, then we're going to create all sorts of complexities about our practice.

So we need to develop letting go: to not concern ourselves with attaining or achieving anything.

When insight comes, and we let go even of our insights, that is another insight.

In each moment it's as it is.

With Anapanasati, one inhalation, at this moment, is the way. We're not thinking of yesterday's inhalation and yesterday's exhalation while we're doing the one now. We're with it completely, as it is. Our training is based on establishing our awareness in the way it is now rather than having some idea of what we would like to get, and then trying to get it in the here and now.

When we hear disturbances and sounds during our meditation practise, we will feel annoyed, but when we accept that the noises would be part of the practice we open our mind to noises, the silence, the whole thing. That's wisdom. If the noise is something we can stop - like a door banging in the wind - go close the door. If there's something we have control over, we can do that.

But much of life we have no control over. We have no right to ask everything to be silent for 'my' meditation. When there is reflectiveness, instead of having a little mind that has to have total silence and special conditions, we can have a big mind that can contain the whole of it: the noises, the disruptions, the silence, the bliss, the restlessness, the pain. When the mind is all-embracing, then we had develop flexibility and can focus our mind in equanimity in all circumstances. That's freedom.

It's through wisdom that we develop it, not through will-power or controlling or manipulating environmental conditions.

Desire is insidious. When we are aware that our intention is to attain some state, that's a desire. So we let it go. If we are sitting here, even with a desire to attain the first jhana, we recognise that that desire is going to be the very thing that's going to prevent the fulfilment. So we let go of the desire, which doesn't mean not to do anapanasati, but to change the attitude to it.

So what can we do now ? Develop mindfulness of one inhalation. Most of us have enough concentration to do that. We must try to develop a mind that's glad at just being able to do that much, rather than being critical because we haven't attained the first jhana, or the fourth.

If meditation becomes another thing we have to do, and we feel guilty if we don't live up to our resolutions, then we start pushing ourself without an awareness of what we're doing. But if we are putting that skilful kind of attention into our daily life, we'll find so much of daily life very pleasant - everything is life becomes a Dhamma lesson.

Sustaining our attention on the breathing develops awareness but when we get lost in thought or restlessness, that's all right too. Don't be a slave driver, guide ourselves rather than driving and forcing ourselves.

Nibbana is a subtle realisation of non-grasping. We can't drive ourselves to Nibbana. That's the sure way of never realising it. It's here and now, so if we're driving ourselves to Nibbana, we're always going far away from it.

We need to burn up attachments in our mind. The Holy Life is a total burning up of self and of ignorance.

More and more the path is just being here and now, being with the way things are. There's nowhere to go, nothing to do, nothing to become, nothing to get rid of. When there is no ignorance remaining; there is purity, clarity and intelligence.



--


A flower falls,
even though we love it;
and a weed grows,
even though we do not love it.



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