Dhamma Drops

"God"

2012-01-20T20:59:00.001-08:00

Dear Dr Wong

Do you have explanation for this?
"You find God the moment you realize that you don't need to seek God." ~Eckhart Tolle

Metta
Heng

Dear Bro,

the problem is the word "God"!

The God-Being

The cultural association is when this word is used, it refers to some Old Man who looks like Zeus staring down from the sky. If you did not know, the image of Zeus was the prototype 'model' for many2 paintings.

So the word in popular thinking refers to a Being, a Person with a Personality who can be pleased, happy, angry, vengeful or simply bored.

So if you are to go around looking for such a Being, then depending on your culture and religious background, you will find him in that particular context.

The Impersonal World of Physics

Then there is the "God" that Einstein referred to when he said that "God does not play dice";

That almost sounds like Einstein is attributing the laws of the universe to a god of some sort. But what type of god? A personal deity or some impersonal force?

To a Colorado banker who wrote and asked him the God question, Einstein responded:

“I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals or would sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation. My religiosity consists of a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we can comprehend about the knowable world. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.”

The most famous Einstein pronouncement on God came in the form of a telegram, in which he was asked to answer the question in 50 words or less. He did it in 32:

“I believe in Spinoza’s God, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of all that exists, but not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.”
this is NOT a person or a being but the impersonal way that nature works that exists above time constraints.

In a letter, dated June 14, 1945, sent from the USS Bougainville in the Pacific Ocean, a Navy staff Raner recounts a conversation he had on the ship with a Jesuit-educated Catholic officer who claimed that Einstein converted from atheism to theism when he was confronted by a Jesuit priest with three irrefutable syllogisms: “The syllogisms were: A design demands a designer; The universe is a design; therefore there must have been a designer.”

Raner countered the Catholic officer by noting that cosmology and evolutionary theory adequately explain most apparent design in the world, “but even if there was a ‘designer,’ that would give only a re-arranger, not a creator; and again assuming a designer, you are back where you started by being forced to admit a designer of the designer etc. etc. Same as the account of the earth resting on an elephant’s back — elephant standing on a giant turtle; turtle on turtle on turtle, etc.”

At this point in his life Einstein was world-famous and routinely received hundreds of such letters, many from prominent scholars and scientists, so for him to write a lowly ensign aboard a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean reveals how much this story got his goat. On July 2, 1945, Einstein fired back:

"I received your letter of June 10th. I have never talked to a Jesuit priest in my life and I am astonished by the audacity to tell such lies about me. From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist. Your counter-arguments seem to me very correct and could hardly be better formulated. It is always misleading to use anthropomorphical concepts in dealing with things outside the human sphere — childish analogies. We have to admire in humility and beautiful harmony of the structure of this world — as far as we can grasp it. And that is all".

Four years later, in 1949, Raner wrote Einstein again, asking for clarification: “Some people might interpret (your letter) to mean that to a Jesuit priest, anyone not a Roman Catholic is an atheist, and that you are in fact an orthodox Jew, or a Deist, or something else. Did you mean to leave room for such an interpretation, or are you from the viewpoint of the dictionary an atheist; i.e., ‘one who disbelieves in the existence of a God, or a Supreme Being?’”
Einstein responded on September 28, 1949:

"I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being".

let us now reflect on a lesson by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

..the word "Buddha" in everyday language refers to the historical Enlightened Being, Gotama Buddha.

... in terms of Dhamma language, however, the word "Buddha" refers to the Truth which the historical Buddha realized and taught,
namely the Dhamma itself.

The Buddha said
"One who sees the Dhamma sees the Tathagatha. One who sees the Tathagatha sees the Dhamma.
One who sees not the Dhamma, though grasping at the robe of the Tathagatha, cannot be said to have seen the Tathagatha. "

..so in Dhamma language, the Buddha is the one and the same as that Truth by virtue of which He became the Buddha, and anyone who sees that Truth can be said to have seen the true Buddha .

To see just His physical body would not be to see the Buddha at
all and would bring no real benefit.

Again, the Buddha said, "The Dhamma and the Vinaya .... shall be your teacher when I have passed away."

Thus the real "Buddha" has not passed away, has not ceased
to exist.
What ceased to exist was just the physical body, the outer shell..

The real teacher, that is the Dhamma-Vinaya is still with us.

......The Buddha of everyday language is the physical man,

the "Buddha" of Dhamma language is the Dhamma itself,

which made him Buddha.

...the word "Dhamma" was used to refer to all of the intricate and involved things that go to make up what we call "Nature".

The word embraces:

1. Nature itself
2. The Law of Nature
3. The duty of each human being to act in accordance with the Law of Nature
4. The benefits to be derived from acting in accordance with the Law of Nature

It does not simply refer to books .. or the voices of Preachers.

...........In everyday language, "God" refers to a celestial being
with various creative powers.

The "God" of Dhamma language is rather different.

It is a profound and hidden power, which is neither human being, nor celestial being, nor any other kind of being.

It has no individuality or self, and it is impersonal.
It is natural and intangible.
It is what we call the Law of Nature, for this Law is responsible
for creation and for the coming into existence of all beings..
Natural Law governs all things.
Natural Law has power over all things.

Hence in Dhamma language, the word "God" means among other things, the Law of Nature, what Buddhists call "Dhamma".

Dhamma, just that one single word, implies all of the Law of Nature.

So Dhamma is the Buddhist "God".

Extracted from "Two kinds of language: Everyday language and
Dhamma language "

a talk given on 8 Oct 1966

............................

So Bro Heng, when one stops looking for that Personal Big Brother "God", and opens one's mind, one will see the Truths of Nature ALL AROUND us; Impermanence, DisSatisfaction, NonSelf and Dependent Origination.

Stop seeking for a Being, Open one's Mind and Truth as in Dhamma, as in the Principles of Physics is ALL AROUND for us to see and know!

A Question of Personal Vs Universal Love

2012-01-07T03:18:00.000-08:00

Dear Bro Koh,

I have over the years being asked this many2 a time, so the Question is Not new and my answer well rehearsed.

"I wonder how one justifies Prince Siddhartha abandoning his responsibility of love as a husband, father and prince to the different relationships he had in the love to seek the solution to end human's suffering and find the path to Enlightenment? Is there a higher good love that compels the sacrifice?"

The Buddha's wife: Yasodhara

Many people do not realise that this name is NOT even mentioned once in the Canon. The name is found in the later commentaries and biographies.

According to the biographies which were written much later, Yasodhara, his friend and cousin, was Siddhartha's wife of 13 years.

They married at 16, which was the caste custom among nobles in Kapilavastu and lived in luxury.

Siddhartha had dancing girls and female musicians and guards attending to his every whim. But ensconced in a saccharine life of sensual pleasures by his father, who was keeping him distracted from the real nature of life, the harsh realities of Aging, Sickness and Death came as a big eye opener to Siddhartha.

He was catapulted on a Quest to find an end to suffering not just for his wife, child, family, friends, BUT the entire world and all the realms of Gods, Ghosts and unseen beings (life not being limited to this tiny planet). His love for his family is great, but his love for ALL Beings is even greater.

Much of the stories of his life is based on the biographies when tended to make the story Dramatic for theatrical effect, we all think that Yasodhara was not consulted when he left home, that she was abandoned in haste. BUT Why would Siddhartha not consult his friend, spouse, lover, partner, cousin, and parents before setting off to fulfill his life's mission?

The story tales tell of him sneaking off in the middle of the night BUT this is NOT what the canon says! Tellingly, his last act in the palace was not of someone evading responsibility and definitely NOT of one who sneaked in and stared at his wife and newborn, who were sleeping soundly.

Many hastily assumed that Siddhartha coldly disappeared without telling anyone anything. This is completely mistaken. It is quite obvious that he did discuss his plans with his family on what he was doing. In the Majjhima Nikaya, the Buddha described in his own words that "Before my Awakening, when I was still an unawakened Bodhisatta, the thought occurred to me: 'Household life is confining, a dusty path. Life gone forth is the open air. It isn't easy, living in a home, to practice the holy life totally perfect, totally pure, a polished shell. What if I, having shaved off my hair & beard and putting on the ochre robe, were to go forth from the household life into homelessness?'

"So at a later time, when I was still young, black-haired, endowed with the blessings of youth in the first stage of life, having shaved off my hair & beard — though my parents wished otherwise and were grieving with tears on their faces — I put on the ochre robe and went forth from the home life into homelessness."
It is clear that his family were in full knowledge of his plans.

And Yasodhara was not left alone to live and raise their child. She had servants, friends, family, riches, entertainments, companions, and parents very interested in how Rahula their son -- now the heir to the kingdom -- was brought up.

Another point which is beyond the comprehension of most people is that from the records of the past lives of the Buddha, Yasodhara and he were together for aeons of time, from the very day when he made a vow to train to be a Fully Enlightened Being at the time of Dipankara Buddha (many3 Big Bangs and Big Bounces ago) to the present; she had been married to and a faithful companion of the Bodhisatta (the-Buddha-to-be) many times over unimaginably vast number of previous lives, she having vowed that she will support him no matter what the conditions are till he became a Buddha.

We may further not be able to understand it as we judge from our own culture and its values, but in India 2600 years ago one's spirituality trumps all other commitments and concerns. Far from encouraging selfishness, this position benefits oneself, others, and both (i.e., the community). Many also do Not realise that becoming a recluse to seek the truths of life at that time is NOT the manner of a few eccentric fellas BUT the way to further education akin to you and I leaving home to seek a university education. The ascetics were the Intellects of that era who learnt from Elders, debated and Questioned the establishment, and lived in small cohorts seeking the answers to life.

For anyone who ever thinks to misspeak and say,"The Buddha abandoned his wife!" I beg your indulgence to first see the reality of the situation 2600 years ago and not fall into the trap of popular folklore and hearsay. Also please note that as soon as Siddhartha accomplished his Quest -- which was not simply to wake up but to establish an Order that would perpetuate the liberating-truth of the path to enlightenment that we can all follow without being dependent on him -- he returned to teach his former wife Yasodhara and family members.

2012-01-04T23:19:00.001-08:00

By no means am I an Emotional Cretin, but I hope that one day I will have the state of mind to look beyond I, Mine and My. I hope that one day I will be able to see Reality and live in wisdom, not creating Pain and suffering for anyone.

The world is a tough place, until we are able to see it all with an enlightened mind, it is the 4 sublime states of Love, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity which helps us cope with the daily interactions of life. The Buddha taught us to utilise these states in ALL Interactions. We are all travellers on a long journey, it is this same 4 sublime states which makes the journey tolerable.

Ultimately, we will realise that all human interactions that comes with love and joy also has an element of separation and pain; hence I always say pls make sure you choose wisely so that the pain is WORTH the pain! Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you;
you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.

Until we are enlightened we will still think in terms of you and me and a dog named Boo, separation, ego, me, mine; hence we will think of "I love you" or "You love me"

At higher levels of realisation, we will see that all these are only transient states, not ultimate reality. It is when you see the end of I, Me and Mine, that we will realise why this Person to Person, Being to Being classification is relative truth. But we all live in relative truth everyday, eg I "own" this land, house, car. Its just convention and social acceptance in truth. So we need the 4 sublime states as we need to function here and now.

Pls LOVE and Be LOVED! Until you reach a state when you Love not ONE, or a Clan or a nation BUT ALL because you know there is NOT ONE OR TWO or a clan or a creed!

"You" will then LOVE "ALL" which makes a "person to person" love meaningless as there is No ONE person in reality for you to love!! Then we will truly understand why the Mind can be in Objective and Calm detachment because All that we are attached to is merely a protoplasm in evolution that we conventionally classify as he, me, you, they, etc, but that we are all part of a whole.
..............................

Love (Metta)

Love, without desire to possess, knowing well that in the ultimate sense there is no possession and no possessor: this is the highest love.

Love, without speaking and thinking of "I," knowing well that this so-called "I" is a mere delusion.

Love, without selecting and excluding, knowing well that to do so means to create love's own contrasts: dislike, aversion and hatred.

Love, embracing all beings: small and great, far and near, be it on earth, in the water or in the air.

Love, embracing impartially all sentient beings, and not only those who are useful, pleasing or amusing to us.

Love, embracing all beings, be they noble-minded or low-minded, good or evil. The noble and the good are embraced because love is flowing to them spontaneously. The low-minded and evil-minded are included because they are those who are most in need of love. In many of them the seed of goodness may have died merely because warmth was lacking for its growth, because it perished from cold in a loveless world.

Love, embracing all beings, knowing well that we all are fellow wayfarers through this round of existence — that we all are overcome by the same law of suffering.

Love, but not the sensuous fire that burns, scorches and tortures, that inflicts more wounds than it cures — flaring up now, at the next moment being extinguished, leaving behind more coldness and loneliness than was felt before.

Rather, love that lies like a soft but firm hand on the ailing beings, ever unchanged in its sympathy, without wavering, unconcerned with any response it meets. Love that is comforting coolness to those who burn with the fire of suffering and passion; that is life-giving warmth to those abandoned in the cold desert of loneliness, to those who are shivering in the frost of a loveless world; to those whose hearts have become as if empty and dry by the repeated calls for help, by deepest despair.

Love, that is a sublime nobility of heart and intellect which knows, understands and is ready to help.

Love, that is strength and gives strength: this is the highest love.

Love, which by the Enlightened One was named "the liberation of the heart," "the most sublime beauty": this is the highest love.

And what is the highest manifestation of love?

To show to the world the path leading to the end of suffering, the path pointed out, trodden, and realized to perfection by Him, the Exalted One, the Buddha.

The Four Sublime States
Contemplations on Love, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity
By Nyanaponika Thera © 1994–2011

Metta

2011-12-14T23:41:00.000-08:00

Love (Metta) is ........

Love, without desire to possess, knowing well that in the ultimate sense there is no possession and no possessor: this is the highest love.

Love, without speaking and thinking of "I," knowing well that this so-called "I" is a mere delusion.

Love, without selecting and excluding, knowing well that to do so means to create love's own contrasts: dislike, aversion and hatred.

Love, embracing all beings: small and great, far and near, be it on earth, in the water or in the air.

Love, embracing impartially all sentient beings, and not only those who are useful, pleasing or amusing to us.

Love, embracing all beings, be they noble-minded or low-minded, good or evil. The noble and the good are embraced because love is flowing to them spontaneously. The low-minded and evil-minded are included because they are those who are most in need of love. In many of them the seed of goodness may have died merely because warmth was lacking for its growth, because it perished from cold in a loveless world.

Love, embracing all beings, knowing well that we all are fellow wayfarers through this round of existence — that we all are overcome by the same law of suffering.

Love, but not the sensuous fire that burns, scorches and tortures, that inflicts more wounds than it cures — flaring up now, at the next moment being extinguished, leaving behind more coldness and loneliness than was felt before.

Rather, love that lies like a soft but firm hand on the ailing beings, ever unchanged in its sympathy, without wavering, unconcerned with any response it meets. Love that is comforting coolness to those who burn with the fire of suffering and passion; that is life-giving warmth to those abandoned in the cold desert of loneliness, to those who are shivering in the frost of a loveless world; to those whose hearts have become as if empty and dry by the repeated calls for help, by deepest despair.

Love, that is a sublime nobility of heart and intellect which knows, understands and is ready to help.

Love, that is strength and gives strength: this is the highest love.

Love, which by the Enlightened One was named "the liberation of the heart," "the most sublime beauty": this is the highest love.

And what is the highest manifestation of love?

To show to the world the path leading to the end of suffering, the path pointed out, trodden, and realized to perfection by Him, the Exalted One, the Buddha.

The Four Sublime States
Contemplations on Love, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity
By Nyanaponika Thera © 1994–2011

Emptiness

2011-12-04T15:47:00.001-08:00

Seeing impermanence (anicca) is the key that opens mind to see suffering,
and non-self!

The moment we understand this very clearly, our mind opens
to the fact that things change without leaving a trace behind to follow the
path that impermanence has taken. This is called voidness or signlessness...
This awareness evaporates the desire for anything that is impermanent!
It also evaporates all aversion growing from our disappointed expectations.
Then naturally, this clean mind becomes fully aware of not having any agent,
immovable mover, or controller, which sometimes is called "Self, I, Me, Ego"
or even "Soul" by some people. This element of Dhamma, this basic intrinsic
nature of all, this law of Dhamma is known in Buddhism as emptiness of self!

The Blessed Buddha said: Sabbe Dhammā Anatta = All States are Selfless!
Seeing impermanence with wisdom is the key to detachment, calming, stilling,
ceasing, and releasing mental relinquishment. Joyous Freedom is the result!

The Daughters of Mara are Dancing

2011-11-29T02:19:00.000-08:00

What makes the Buddha a "Buddha" is, as his name implies, his Knowledge and Wisdom.

He has to make great Effort to learn this Knowledge and acquire his vast wisdom; he was not born with it.

The Buddha is also "Jina" the conqueror, one who has conquered his defilements. We read of the 3 daughters of Mara appearing to him to tempt him; this allegorical story has their names as Desire, Unrest and Pleasure.

Today in the 21st century, the 3 daughters of Mara dance in front of us everyday the instant we switch on the internet! Countless emails sent to my Inbox daily tempt me with every pleasure of the flesh and mind, from "Do you want to be my friend?" to drugs promising miraculous enhancements of my bodily parts. Click on to the News sites and at the sides are small boxes offering to satisfy my every desire!

Mara's daughters no longer come and go, today they are here to stay within every step of the net.

Worse still are emails from good friends, their accounts obviously hacked, asking me to click on this and that site. I just called a sister a few minutes ago, she had from her account "sent" me an email asking me to visit some most unusual webpages! I called her to inform her that her email account has been compromised, perhaps she should change the password or consult some expert on the matter.

Metta Lodge Public, our eDhamma site used to be attacked on a daily basis with similar mail; this most inappropriate postings on a Dhamma site only stopped after I reset the settings to direct all mail to me first before it is allowed to be posted on the site. The site is saved BUT I AM not! For now all the mail comes to me!!

The struggle for Enlightenment is described vividly in the texts, we all similarly struggle. I certainly do. The daughters of Mara are ceaselessly dancing all around me and you; I do not know about you, but I certainly have to struggle to keep sane.

BTW if any one of you know how to prevent our accounts from being hacked and "interesting mail" canvassing the whole world forwarded from it, please let me know! And I will let the sister know!

Thanks!

Funeral

2011-09-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

The early Buddhists followed the Indian custom of cremation. The Buddha’s body was cremated and this set the example for many Buddhists.

When someone is dying in a Buddhist home, monks and laypeople come to comfort them by chanting verses for them, and sharing the Dhamma. It is hoped that if the last thoughts of the patient are directed to Buddha and the Dhamma, taking refuge in the Triple Gems and Precepts, and recalling a virtuous life keeping the precepts, then the fruit of this meritorious act will bring good to the deceased in his/her new existence. The dying person must be put at ease from pain, and given a serene and familiar place to have a composed and calm mind. He and the family must be reassured that the wholesome acts done in the past will assure a good rebirth. He/she and the family must be counseled that Death is a natural process and merely a door to a new existence. Birth and Death are but 2 sides of a coin.

Anathapindika was once very ill, and at his request the Venerable Sariputta visited him (S.v,380). On being told that the pains are excruciating and increasing Sariputta delivered a discourse reminding Anathapindika of his own virtues. Sariputta explained that the uninstructed worldling who has no faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha and who has not cultivated virtuous moral habits goes to a state of woe on the destruction of the body. But Anathapindika has unshakable conviction in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, and has cultivated noble moral habits.

Sariputta pointed out that uninstructed worldlings reach a state of woe on the disintegration of the body as they have not cultivated the Noble Eightfold Path. But on the contrary Anathapindika has cultivated the Noble Eightfold Path.

We too must reassure our dying brethren on the above.

There is much material in the Pali Canon on counseling the terminally ill. Speaking about death to a terminally ill patient and his family is not avoided as an unpleasant topic. On the contrary, the reality of death and perhaps its imminence are accepted without any pretense and the patient and relatives are made to face the prospect of death with confidence and tranquillity.

The family must be counseled to let go and give permission for the dying to die without worries or insecurity. They and Dhamma brothers and sisters can radiate Metta continuously to the dying person.

(A.iii,295-98). Once Nakulapita was seriously ill and his wife Nakulamata noticed that he was anxious and worried. She advised him thus:

"Please, sir, do not face death with anxiety. Painful is death for one who is anxious. The Buddha has looked down upon death with anxiety.

It may be you are anxious that I will not be able to support the family after your death. Please do not think so. I am capable of spinning and weaving, and I will be able to bring up the children even if you are no more.

Perhaps you are worried that I will remarry after your death. Please do not think so. We both led pure wholesome lives according to the noble conduct of householders. So do not entertain any anxiety on that account.

It may be you are worried that I will neglect attending on the Buddha and the Sangha. Please do not think so. I will be more devoted to the Buddha and the Sangha after your death.

Perhaps you are worried that I will neglect keeping to the precepts. Please do not have any doubts on that account. I am one of those who fully practice the moral habits declared for the laity, and if you wish please ask the Buddha about this matter.

Perhaps you fear that I have not gained inner mental composure. Please do not think so. I am one of those who have gained inner mental composure as much as a householder could gain. If you have any doubts about this, the Buddha is at Bhesakalavana, ask him.

Perhaps it occurs to you that I have not attained proficiency in the Buddha's dispensation, that I have not gone beyond doubt and perplexity without depending on another. If you wish to have these matters clarified ask the Buddha. But please do not face death with anxiety, for it is painful and censured by the Buddha."

Sudden Deaths

Mahanama tells the Buddha that when he comes to the serene atmosphere of the monastery and associates with pious monks of noble qualities, he feels quite calm and self-possessed. But when he goes out into the streets of Kapilavatthu, busy with constant traffic, he feels frightened over the future birth that would await him should he meet with a violent death in a traffic accident.

The Buddha assures him that a person who has cultivated moral virtues and led a righteous life need not entertain such fears. He explains the situation with the help of a simile. If a pot of ghee is broken after being submerged in water, the potsherds will sink to the riverbed, but the ghee will rise to the surface. Similarly, the body will disintegrate, but the cultured mind will rise up like the ghee.

After Death
After death, while the dead person is being prepared for the funeral, the monks and laypeople continue to chant to console the family and to help all recall the Dhamma. There will understandably be grieve and lamentation but calmness must be encouraged and maintained as such negative emotional states will help no-one. Wailing and emotional outbursts are discouraged as this will only create more attachments for both the dying, the dead and the relatives.The mind that arises at the time of death is usually the one that the person is most habituated to. People tend to die in character, although this is not always so. So it is emphasised strongly that the time to prepare for death is now, because if we develop and gain control over our mind now and create many positive causes we will have a calm and controlled mind at the time of death and be free of fear. In effect, our whole life is a preparation for death and it is said that the mark of a spiritual practitioner is to have no regrets at the time of death. "It's time we started swotting for the finals!"The Funeral serviceDon't fall victim to funeral scams.

Firstly we must realise that there is NO prescribed Funeral rite that MUST be done; the only prescribed rites are in the Vinaya for the Sangha community only. Secondly, rites makes NO difference to the departed. The Buddha however did not stop anyone from acts of respect and love towards the departed. Wisdom tells us that a simple solemn dignified service showing respect to the dead is adequate; this allows a rite of passage for the relatives and loved ones who needs closure. Local traditions as long as it does not violate the precepts are allowed as it gives the friends and relatives a sense of doing "something" and to facilitate mourning.

In the pristine practice of Buddhism, It should be as simple as possible. Perhaps just a candle will do. Some may want to add incense or jossticks. Whatever that is done, is not taught by the Buddha. Whatever suits the tradition and culture of the diseased, it is all right, so long as it is done with dignity and without harm to any being.

What is discouraged is meaningless and wasteful practises based on superstition and abuse by priests and funeral directors.

It is a basic teaching of Buddhism that existence is unsatisfactory and stressful, whether birth, daily living, old age or dying. This teaching is never in a stronger position than when death enters a home. To conduct the rites for the dead is one indispensable service rendered the community by the monks, lay Brothers and sisters and any Buddhist Temple or society.

What can we do to help

When death occurs all the kammic forces that the dead person accumulated during the course of his or her lifetime become activated and set about determining the next rebirth. For the living, death is a powerful reminder of the Buddha's teaching on impermanence.

Over the basic mood of gloom is the feeling that meritorious acts can aid the condition of the departed. For this reason relatives do what they can to ameliorate the condition with the offering of Requisites to the Sangha on behalf of the deceased. In fact, the Sanghikadana and sharing of Merits is the most important part of the funeral service. In concluding the service, a jug full of water is gradually emptied into a bowl, while radiating thoughts of metta towards the departed one. This is a symbolic gesture in which the water in the jug represents the merits acquired by the friends and relatives by good deeds and metta, which are then shared with the departed by pouring the water into the bowl.

It is quite common to print for distribution books sharing the Dhamma. Such books are not only a tribute to the dead and a means of making merit but they have practical educational value as well.

Offering of Food

In Janussoni Sutta (AN 10.177), a brahmin named Janussoni asked the Buddha,

"Master Gotama, we brahmins give dana and do things in full faith, thinking, 'May this dana reach our departed relatives. May the departed relatives make use of this dana.' Master Gotama, can this dana reach our departed relatives? Can the departed relatives make use of the dana?"

The Buddha's answer was:

"If there is an opportunity, they can. If there is no opportunity, then they cannot."

He then clarified thus:

~ conditions of non-opportunity:
o those who do evil and hold wrong views and are reborn as hell beings
o those who do evil and hold wrong views and are reborn as animals
o those who refrain from evil and hold right views and are reborn as humans
o those who refrain from evil and hold right views and are reborn as devas

~ condition of opportunity:
o those who do evil and hold wrong views and are reborn in the realm of ghosts.

It is clear here that food dana can only reach the deceased if he is reborn as a ghost.
In this sutta, we learn three important points:
o The dana given by the living to the deceased cannot reach him if he is born in hell, in the animal kingdom, in the human world or even in heaven.
o The dana can only reach the deceased if he is born in the realm of ghosts.
o Dana here has to specifically mean offering food and drinks to the departed relatives, since this dana cannot be received by a departed one reborn as a deva.

It is not the transference of merit because this other type of dana can reach a departed relative born as a deva, who benefits by feeling honoured.

BUT It would be difficult to know where a departed relative had been reborn. There is still a chance that he or she could have been reborn in the realm of ghosts. In such a case, the departed relative could eat the offerings.

Even if the departed relative was not born there, other ghosts who were related to one in previous lives could eat the offerings.

Sharing Merits with Devas

In Pattakamma Sutta (AN 4.61) the Buddha said to Anathapindika that a noble disciple who acquired his income through righteous means should spend it by making five types of offerings. These are offerings to
o living relatives
o guests
o departed relatives
o the king (government)
o devas.

There is also a verse in Ratana Sutta (Khp 6) that urges deities to protect humans because they make offerings to them day and night.

The above references bring us to the following conclusion: a Buddhist is actually encouraged by the Buddha to make offerings to departed relatives as well as to devas.

Dedication of Offerings to Devas

In the story on the making of Pataliputta village found in Mahaparinibbana Sutta (DN. 16), the Buddha advised people to offer dana to virtuous monks and dedicate the offering to the devas there. These devas, being honoured and cherished, will honour and cherish the occupants of the house in return.

We can make two types of offerings: the direct offering of food and drinks to the departed ones, and the dana to the Sangha followed by sharing of merits. So, whether or not one’s offerings are appreciated or used by the recipient does not affect the validity of the wholesome kamma of doing puja.

Recall that

"Good health is simply the slowest way a human being can die."

1. Everyone must die...
2. The remainder of our life span is decreasing continually.
3. Death will come regardless of whether or not we have made time to practice the dharma.
4. Human life expectancy is uncertain.
5. There are many causes of death.
6. The human Body is very fragile.
7. Our wealth cannot help us.
8. Our loved ones cannot help.
9. Our body cannot help but grow old.It is our conjecture that yearning for life is greatest when the fear of death is greatest. The fear of death is greatest when one's sense of guilt is greatest, the fear that one has squandered the great opportunity of human life, an opportunity which could have been well utilized for spiritual growth. If, on the other hand, one has well utilized the opportunity of human life for spiritual growth, one can face the inevitability of death with relative calm, contentment and happy satisfaction.

It can also be very helpful to consider NOW how we would react if we were told, for example, that we only had 3 or 6 months to live, to ask ourselves questions like:

am I ready to die?
what unfinished business do I have?
what do I want to do or achieve in the time I have left?
will my priorities change?
what can help me at the time of death?
"Live each day as though it were your last and one day you'll be right!"

--
Always be mindful of the Kindness

and not the faults of others.

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you;

you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.

Worldly Gains

2011-09-23T01:04:00.000-07:00

Futility of Worldly Gains

I see men wealthy in the world, who yet
From ignorance give not their gathered wealth.
Greedily they hoard away their riches
Longing still for further sensual pleasures.

Most other people, too, not just a king,
Encounter death with craving unabated;
[With plans] still incomplete they leave the corpse;
Desires remain unsated in the world.

Clad in a shroud, he leaves his wealth behind,
Prodded with stakes he burns [upon the pyre].
And as he dies, no relatives or friends
Can offer him shelter and refuge here.

While his heirs take over his wealth, this being
Must pass on according to his actions;
And as he dies nothing can follow him;
Not 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.

Majjhima Nikaya 82:42 (Ratthapala Sutta)

The Forest Monk

2011-09-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

Sutta Nipata I.3

Khaggavisana Sutta

A Rhinoceros Horn

Renouncing violence
for all living beings,
harming not even a one,
you would not wish for offspring, so how a companion?

Wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

For a sociable person
there are allurements;
on the heels of allurement, this pain.
Seeing allurement's drawback,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

One whose mind
is enmeshed in sympathy
for friends & companions,
neglects the true goal.
Seeing this danger in intimacy,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Like spreading bamboo,
entwined,
is concern for offspring & spouses.
Like a bamboo sprout,
unentangling,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

As a deer in the wilds,
unfettered,
goes for forage wherever it wants:
the wise person, valuing freedom,
wanders alone, a rhinoceros horn.

In the midst of companions
-- when staying at home,
when going out wandering --
you are prey to requests.
Valuing the freedom
that no one else covets,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

There is sporting & love
in the midst of companions,
& abundant fondness for offspring.
Feeling disgust
at the prospect of parting
from those who'd be dear,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Without irritation in all four directions,
content with whatever you get,
enduring troubles with no dismay,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

They are hard to please,
some of those gone forth,
as well as those living the household life.
Shedding concern
for these offspring of others,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Cutting off the householder's marks,
like a kovilara tree
that has shed its leaves,
the prudent one, cutting all household ties,
wanders alone, a rhinoceros horn.

If you gain a mature companion,
a fellow traveler, right-living & wise,
overcoming all dangers
go with him, gratified,
mindful.

If you don't gain a mature companion,
a fellow traveler, right-living & wise,
go alone
like a king renouncing his kingdom,
like the elephant in the Matanga wilds,
his herd.

We praise companionship
-- yes!
Those on a par, or better,
should be chosen as friends.
If they're not to be found,
living faultlessly,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Seeing radiant bracelets of gold,
well-made by a smith,
clinking, clashing,
two on an arm,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn,

[Thinking:]
"In the same way,
if I were to live with another,
there would be careless talk or abusive."
Seeing this future danger,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Because sensual pleasures,
elegant, honeyed, & charming,
bewitch the mind with their manifold forms --
seeing this drawback in sensual strands --
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

"Calamity, tumor, misfortune,
disease, an arrow, a danger for me."
Seeing this danger in sensual strands,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Cold & heat, hunger & thirst,
wind & sun, horseflies & snakes:
enduring all these, without exception,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

As a great white elephant,
with massive shoulders,
renouncing his herd,
lives in the wilds wherever he wants,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

"There's no way
that one delighting in company
can touch even momentary release."

Heeding the Solar Kinsman's words,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Transcending the contortion of views,
the sure way attained,
the path gained,
[realizing:]
"Unled by others,
I have knowledge arisen,"
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

With no greed, no deceit,
no thirst, no hypocrisy --
    delusion & blemishes
        blown away --
with no inclinations for all the world,
            every world,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Avoid the evil companion
disregarding the goal,
intent on the out-of-tune way.
Don't take as a friend
someone heedless & hankering.
Wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Consort with one who is learned,
who maintains the Dhamma,
a great & quick-witted friend.
Knowing the meanings,
subdue your perplexity,
[then] wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Free from longing, finding no pleasure
in the world's sport, love, or sensual bliss,
abstaining from adornment,
speaking the truth,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Abandoning offspring, spouse,
father, mother,
riches, grain, relatives,
& sensual pleasures
altogether,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

"This is a bondage, a baited hook.
There's little happiness here,
next to no satisfaction,
all the more suffering & pain."
Knowing this, circumspect,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Shattering fetters,
like a fish in the water tearing a net,
like a fire not coming back to what's burnt,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Eyes downcast, not footloose,
senses guarded, with protected mind,
not oozing -- not burning -- with lust,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Taking off the householder's marks,
like a coral tree
that has shed its leaves,
going forth in the ochre robe,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Showing no greed for flavors, not careless,
going from house to house for alms,
with mind unenmeshed in this family or that,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Abandoning barriers to awareness,
expelling all defilements -- all --
non-dependent, cutting aversion,
allurement,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Turning your back on pleasure & pain,
as earlier with sorrow & joy,
attaining pure equanimity,
tranquillity,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

With persistence aroused
for the highest goal's attainment,
with mind unsmeared, not lazy in action,
firm in effort, with steadfastness & strength arisen,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Not neglecting seclusion, absorption,
constantly living the Dhamma
in line with the Dhamma,
comprehending the danger
in states of becoming,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Intent on the ending of craving & heedful,
learned, mindful, not muddled,
certain -- having reckoned the Dhamma --
& striving,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Unstartled, like a lion at sounds.
Unsnared, like the wind in a net.
Unsmeared, like a lotus in water:
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Like a lion -- forceful, strong in fang,
living as a conqueror, the king of beasts --
resort to a solitary dwelling.
Wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

At the right time consorting
with the release through good will,
            compassion,
            appreciation,
            equanimity,
unobstructed by all the world,
        any world,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

Having let go of passion,
aversion,
delusion;
having shattered the fetters;
undisturbed at the ending of life,
wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

People follow & associate
for a motive.
Friends without a motive these days
are rare.
They're shrewd for their own ends, & impure.
Wander alone, a rhinoceros horn.

The Way to Happiness

2011-09-09T01:17:00.000-07:00

A Religionless Religion

2011-09-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

The Buddha is not the founder of Buddhism - Buddhism is a by-product, a complex and multifaceted religious system developed by his latter disciples that evolved into different traditions, schools and "yanas".

The Buddha is instead the founder of a way of life, unique in the world.

That is why the way of life He promoted is based on the Noble 8 Fold PATH; Not the Noble 8 Fold Religion or Ritual or Creed!

If one must insist on a religion, then He is the founder of religionless religion.

The wonder of wonders is that He has propounded not religion but religiousness.

Let us go back to what He taught, NOT what the centuries evolved.

Worth It?

2011-09-02T06:57:00.000-07:00

Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for

Dhamma

2011-08-29T18:13:00.001-07:00

The Six Qualities of the Dhamma

The Dhamma is:

Svakkhato Bhagavata Dhammo - well-proclaimed by the Blessed One,
Sanditthiko - self-realized,
Akaliko - followed by fruit without delay (of immediate result),
Ehipassiko - worthy of the invitation "Come and see",
Opaneyyiko - brought to oneself,
Paccattam Veditabbo Vinnuhi - realized by the wise each for himself.

The Dhamma can be listened, studied, practiced and realized with great honor and adoration by those, not by ordinary person - but by the ones who accumulated meritorious deeds, who wish to enjoy peace and happiness. It is so valuable that it cannot be appraised and incomparable and superior to any other worldly treasure. But it is extremely difficult to come across, to listen and to learn because the Dhamma is available to us only when a Buddha appears.

Egoless

2011-08-24T02:20:00.000-07:00

Buddha once said:
Blissful is solitude for one who is content, learned & who see the True Dhamma.
Blissful is harmlessness towards all beings without exception.
Blissful is freedom from any sensual urge whatsoever.
Yet, the supreme bliss, is the elimination of the abysmal conceit “I am”!’
Udana – Inspiration: II – 1

Kamma

2011-08-01T05:22:00.000-07:00

Brother Yin Onn,

Can you please help on these questions that my son sent to me:

Thought you might like to know my questions about Karma.

1) Who keeps track of karma?

NO ONE.

No one keeps track of a pen falling off a table, it Just Is!

No one tells you to drink when you are thirsty, it Just Is a Process of Cause and Effect.

No One makes you grow Up. It just is a symphony of hormones and genes, an entirely Impersonal process.

Kamma is Impersonal, it is the process of natural laws. Energy can not be created or destroyed, merely converted fr one form to another, it too is impersonal and is the way it is!

2) If good begets good and evil begets evil, what determines what is good and what is evil?

The use of the words Good or Evil makes it difficult to understand, it is simply a cause giving rise to an effect ... what we call 'good causes' gives rise to what we call 'Good effects' but it is just a result.

Call it by any label, it does not matter......

You plant durian and you get durian, you plant bitter gould and you get bitter gould..... neither durian or bitter gould thinks of itself as Good or Evil, but durian is sweet and Bitter gould BITTER. Cause and Effect, .......

3) If good begets good and evil begets evil, then would karma be 'sort of' a just system?

You can again call it by such words but it is just words!!

Call it just system if you must, to me it is simply an Impersonal process, is a cup falling off a table and breaking "Just' ?

... it simply is!

4) Since it seems to be a just system, which implies that it is omniscient (knows and sees all), perhaps we can dare call karma a 'sort of' god?

Again why do we want to label, labelling carries LUGGAGE for it implies a lot of stuff which may NOT be accurate.

As in your example.....

So is falling off a table an act of divinity?...

Or just a simple act of Falling Off the Table!! Why label.

Thank you.

Small Change

2011-07-29T02:13:00.000-07:00

Be gentle with yourself. Change takes time

A Ceaselessly Changing state

2011-07-24T04:54:00.000-07:00

Mind is NOT an entity BUT a Process

Simply LOOKING inwards

2011-07-17T23:40:00.001-07:00

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.

Good, Bad, Who Knows!

2011-07-08T02:00:00.001-07:00

If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars - Rabindranath Tagore

On the lighter side

2011-07-07T01:46:00.000-07:00

Kamma

2011-07-04T01:31:00.001-07:00

The law of kamma is different from the idea of fatalism or predetermination.

In fact, Buddhism teaches about causal relationships, NOT things being predetermined. There are three views concerning Kamma which the Buddha clearly REJECTED.

The first is past-action determinism, which asserts that all our experiences in the present life are solely determined by past actions.

The second is theistic determinism, which means that all our experiences and all events are due to God's creation and will.

And the third view rejected by the Buddha is called accidentalism, which holds that all experiences are merely manifestations of fortuitous elements, uncaused and unconditioned. This fallacious view rejects the principle of causality and the law of kamma.

The first two views allow no room for free will, and are fatalistic in nature. The third is obviously untenable for the simple reason that it goes directly against common sense and the well-established truth of causal relationship.

Buddhism teaches that with kamma, our experiences are conditioned by our actions rather than being predetermined or willed by God. It realistically allows for a plurality of causes or conditioning factors, including the factors of will and natural phenomena. In this way the Buddha's teaching of kamma is sensible and has a strong appeal for modern critical minds.

The complex workings of Kamma - Vipaka is unfathomable, something beyond our mortal understanding. Even when the Ven MahaKassapa was trying to understanding the workings of kamma, the Buddha explained to him that this is beyond even the Mind of an Arahant.

Why do we assume that
"bad things should not happen to Good people"?

The reality is WHY NOT!? One being Vegetarian will not stop a Bull from charging at you!

Think about it. This is important.

When we ask "Why do bad things happen to good people," the question itself is pregnant with a few assumptions. It assumes the existence of someone or something who is supposed to make sure that 'this does not happen'.

What you are saying is : "I think there is some form of a God or gods, and he/she is supposed to be good. And if he is good, then why do bad things happen to good people?"

Alternatively, the question "Why do bad things happened to good people," may really be saying "I'm not sure that God exists, or that if he does exist, is able to do anything and everything, and that is why such things are happening."

So we should be clear what it is we are actually questioning!

Let us first understand what are the "ground rules" for existence. Using this we see clearly that things happen because of causes and conditions, not because someone protected you or Failed toprotect you, or made things happen in a certain way.

Why did the tsunami happen? Is it because God/s made it happen? So many good people died, what happened to theirGod/s at that time? Was he on vacation? Or was it gross negligence on his part to his subjects who invested in him?

The tsunami happened because 2 earth plates MOVED. That's it. That's the cause and because of it, a tsunami results.

Because we are stuck in a narrow finite perspective of time and space, we tend to blame whatever we cannot understand on the divine. What is positive we call a miracle, we is negative we label as punishment from the divine.

In discussing this issue, we're NOT able to give an answer as to why particular things happen in a particular situation to someone. While I can say it is sad that one boarded a bus with a sleepy driver, it is beyond me to speculate as to why one chosethis bus over the next.

To understand kamma-vipaka as interpreted in the things that happened and that DID NOT happen to us is beyond us. We all have such a HUGE load of kammic causes both positive and negative that can ripen and come to fruition under the right conditions, that it is impossible to unentangle them and say "this is because of that action."

We can only do what is wholesome NOW and keep our precepts well, so that we dilute the unwholesome kamma and not have the conditions for its fruition to be present. It is so important that we act wisely and NOT create more conditions for unwholesome events to take place. It's obvious for example that by not mixing with the "wrong" crowd, abstaining from alcohol, pubs, drugs, late nights partying, etc that we reduce the chance of an unhappy event occuring.

Please do not blame anyone divine for what happened, No One is in charge... only we are in charge of ourselves and EVEN that is relative and NOT absolute. There are many many factors beyond our control and we can only do our best within what is in our sphere of influence.
And the first thing is to be sure we keep our precepts well. That is what will protect us, from our own possible unwholesome acts.

* * *

4 Noble Truths

2011-06-22T03:00:00.000-07:00

The Four Noble Truths

1. Life has lots of unhappiness, suffering and frustrations.

2. The origin of this suffering is endless Craving.

3. The cessation of suffering is attainable; there is indeed a state where there is NO frustrations, dissatisfaction or suffering!

4. There is a well walked path to the cessation of suffering.

1. Life inevitably has unhappiness, pain, decay and suffering No matter what our station in life.

To live means to endure the ceaseless changes in life which inevitably brings frustrations and stress, because human nature is not perfect and neither is the world we live in, conflicts are everywhere. During our lifetime, we inevitably have to endure physical suffering such as pain, decay, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death; and we have to endure psychological suffering like sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression. Although there are different degrees of suffering and there are also positive experiences in life that we perceive as the opposite of suffering, such as ease, comfort and happiness, life in its totality is imperfect and incomplete, because our world is subject to impermanence. This means we are never able to keep permanently what we strive for, and just as happy moments pass by, we ourselves and our loved ones will pass away one day, too.

2. The origin of suffering is Craving.

The origin of suffering is our craving for and attachment to transient things and the ignorance thereof. Transient things do not only include the physical objects that surround us, but also ideas, and -in a greater sense- all objects of our perception. Ignorance is the lack of understanding of how our mind is attached to impermanent things. The reasons for suffering are desire, passion, ardour, endless pursuit of wealth and prestige, striving for fame and popularity, or in short: craving and clinging. We are Never content! Of course we need to go for positive attainments like education and skill for no one owes us a living BUT we go way beyond our needs in an attempt to satisfy our greed. Because the objects of our attachment are transient, their loss is inevitable, thus suffering will necessarily follow. Objects of attachment also include the idea of a "self" which is a delusion, because there is no abiding self. What we call "self" is just an imagined biochemical entity of ceaseless change, and we are merely a part of the ceaseless 'becoming' of everything in the universe.

3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.

The cessation of suffering can be attained through nirodha. Nirodha means the unmaking of sensual craving and conceptual attachment. The third noble truth teaches that suffering can be ended by attaining dispassion, by letting go, by contentment. Nirodha extinguishes all forms of clinging and attachment. This means that suffering can be overcome through human activity, simply by removing the cause of suffering. Attaining and perfecting dispassion is a process of many levels that ultimately results in the state of Nibbana. Nibbana is freedom from all worries, troubles, complexes, fabrications and ideas. Nibbana is not comprehensible for those who have not attained it.

4. The path to the cessation of suffering.

There is a slow gradual path to the end of suffering - a gradual path of self-improvement suitable for everyone, which is described as the Eightfold Path. It is the middle way between the two extremes of excessive self-indulgence (hedonism) and excessive self-mortification (asceticism); and it leads to Right Insight and Right Liberation of Enlightenment, resulting in the end of the cycle of rebirth. The latter quality discerns it from other paths which are merely "wandering on the wheel of becoming", because these do not have a final object. The path to the end of suffering can extend over many lifetimes, we can slowly evolve to be better beings, at each rebirth or 'ReBecoming' every individual is subject to karmic conditioning. Craving, ignorance, delusions, and its effects will disappear gradually, as progress is made on the path.

	1. Right View	Wisdom
	2. Right Intention
	3. Right Speech	Ethical Conduct
	4. Right Action
	5. Right Livelihood
	6. Right Effort	Mental Development
	7. Right Mindfulness
	8. Right Concentration

Temptation

2011-06-05T04:08:00.000-07:00

Temptation usually comes in through a door that has been deliberately left open.

3 sisters, named Tanha (Craving), Arati (Discontent) and Raga (Lust), made a vain attempt to tempt the Buddha by their charms but failed utterly.

Are the Doors in our Hearts wide open to Craving, Discontent and Lust?

EYES to see

2011-05-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

The Buddha in teaching us the Dhamma has given us the ability to see, EYES to see the Truths of Life for ourselves. We sentient beings roam in delusion and blindness; we live in blindness from the Truths of Life.

In studying the Dhamma, we now have EYES to see the Truths, if only we wish to.

The Buddha gives us the ability to SEE, to awaken from the Dreams of Blissful Ignorance.

(The mural above is from a photo taken at Ven Buddhadasa's monastery in Thailand).

The Dhamma is our Raft

2011-05-26T07:37:00.001-07:00

Lessons from the Similes of the Raft and the Snake-catcher

"Bhikkhus, I shall show you how the Dhamma is similar to a raft, being for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of grasping." (Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 22)

What is the use of a raft? It is used for crossing over an expanse of water. The Buddha Dhamma is the means for us to use to cross over sufferings, the keys to the door of peace and happiness. The Buddha in the Snake-simile Sutta (Alagaddu-upamasutta) in MN 22 illustrate precisely what people, who don't truly understand the teachings of religions, have been doing throughout the history of religion.

All teachings are a means to an end, not the end; but tragically many of us have mistakenly taken the finger pointing at the moon to be the moon! We must be clear about the Dhamma and about the goals of our walk. The way we live cannot be legislated by divine commandments or taught through enforced learning. It needs to grow from the inside, maturing when we reflect in solitude on our strengths, omissions and misjudgements – if we resolve to improve ourselves.

The simile of snake-catcher is indispensable in illustrating the danger of the wrong grasp of a religion. If a man who does not know how to catch a poisonous snake were to hold the snake either by its body or by its tail, he will get bitten and consequently suffer injury or death. The message in these two similes, when understood, helps us to be confident in ourselves, facilitates better understanding of what religion is for us, what misguided faith can lead to, and how to deal with spiritual salesmanship wholesomely.

The wrong grasp of religion can lead man to justify his greed, hatred, and foolishness in the name of his religion, causing more pain and suffering—as does the wrong grasp of the snake. The Buddha made it absolutely clear that the whole purpose of the Dhamma is to help us lessen and ultimately end suffering, if MORE suffering is created as a result of religion, something is seriously wrong.

Confidence is in the Dhamma, NOT in the person sharing the Dhamma

People sometimes not only cling to religions but naively obey or follow any man or woman who, being a persuasive speaker, may promote distorted views or justify unethical practices in the name of religion. We often read of self proclaimed "Buddhas" and "Bodhisattas" in advertisements in the newspapers, of "holy wars" and "saving the condemned". When one understands the Dhamma well, such will neither upset or excite.

If a man clings to the raft or to anything for the matter, he first will NOT succeed in crossing the ocean as letting go is essential to ultimate success; finally all attachments are let go off. Even the concept of a Buddha or anything or anyone helping us to "cross" must be laid aside for the final ascend to the peak of Enlightenment.

The expression "killing the Buddha" comes from a Zen teaching, the context of which is important to understand:

After years on his cushion, a monk had what he believes is a breakthrough: a vision of the Buddha! Reporting the experience to his teacher, he is informed that what has happened is nothing special, but in fact a vision damaging to his pursuit. And then his teacher gives him dismaying advice: If you see the Buddha again in your meditation, "kill him".

Why the seemingly rude and disrespectful expression "kill the Buddha"?

Because the Buddha the monk thinks that he sees is not the Buddha, but an expression of his longing. If this craving for the Buddha's help or intervention is not killed, it will only stand in the way.

The Buddha had attained PariNibbana 2600 years ago, it is not possible to see him and furthermore, we do NOT even know how he looks like! Hence any image of him seen in meditation is but created by our mind based on our beliefs, culture and prevailing iconography.

The Buddha's dying advise to us is to "Be a lamp unto yourselves."

Be our own light, our own saviour. Kill off every image of an external saviour, the Buddha or any other being. We must be confident of our ability to improve ourselves.

There is only liberation from samsara with insight wisdom, and Not in persons.

In his great compassion the Buddha is the teacher who leaves us his footprints pointing the way... if only we follow his walk.

This is a profound teaching of immense value. We must KILL the DEPENDENCY attitude.

This is a profound lesson to us who respect the Buddha so much that there is a possibility that 'our' Buddha may become the last barrier. At the last moment even this attachment to the master has to be left behind.

And it is very difficult.

Somewhere deep in our subconscious mind we still harbour visions of the Buddha somehow scooping us away. Hence the statement 'to kill' is to KILL OFF THIS DEPENDENCY, THIS ATTACHMENT TO HIM or anyone else AS OUR PERSONAL SAVIOUR so that we will now be truly an island to ourselves with only the Dhamma as our guide and way, so that we are now totally alone to strive ahead, with not even the imagined shadow of another being to save us.

"Monks," said the Buddha, "you should let go even (good) teaching, how much more false ones."

Good teaching benefits us only if we use it, just like the raft. No teaching, however good it is, can help us if we simply cling to it. Clinging even to good teaching can cause pain and suffering. How much more painful it could be when we cling to bad things! The man who uses a raft to cross over the body of water has to be wise. Therefore he will not cling to this body-mind complex or anything else at all. If he does, he cannot attain enlightenment.

True Buddhism is in the life that we live, not in the creed that we profess.

Unmerry go round

2011-05-23T00:00:00.001-07:00

The possible reasons why you are still riding in the unmerry-go-round of life and death (Samsara) :

1. You have not got sick and tired of the ride yet.

2. You have forgotten how sick and tired of the ride you were.

3. You enjoy it now, not realising you will get sick and tired of it.

4. You are sick and tired of it but don't know how to get off.

5. You are in the process of getting off.

6. You are actually a great Bodhisattva in disguise as an ordinary sentient being, secretly saving others.

Well, which fits you? Hope it is 5 or 6.

I am not Religious

2011-05-20T01:54:00.000-07:00

Religion is for people who are afraid of going to Hell,

Spirituality is for people who had already been there.

I am quite allergic to rites and rituals,

and if religion is a system of beliefs expressed in worship by Rites and Rituals,

then I would have nothing of it.

For there is Nothing to Believe in the Buddha-Dhamma,

it is ONLY after one verifies it directly that one KNOWS.

The Buddha asked that we NOT EVEN BELIEVE HIM until we had verified what He taught by direct experience.

There is NO Leap of Faith in the Buddha-Dhamma, only a LEAP of Intellect demanded of everyone of us.

The Buddha did NOT ask to be Worshipped or Praised, He asked only that we LIVE a Noble Life based on the 8 Fold Path

We need Not be outwardly Religious But We Must be inwardly Spiritual, for it is The Mind that needs to be Purified and Trained, Not the Knees!

Ehipassiko

2011-05-09T05:32:00.000-07:00

Ehipassiko

Ehipassiko constitutes an open invitation to all to come and see, to inspect, to scrutinize and if need be, even to criticize the Dhamma before accepting it because there is nothing mythical or mysterious about it. The Dhamma is pure and crystal clear. It is as pure as solid gold. The Buddha Himself declared: "Do not accept what I say through mere respect towards me. Just as purity of gold is ascertained by melting or rubbing on a touchstone, likewise the Dhamma should be accepted only after very close scrutiny." This fearless assertion of allowing the teaching to be closely examined marks the greatness of the Buddha and the unwavering truth of the sublime Dhamma.

Investigate

2011-05-03T03:39:00.000-07:00

May You Live Long and Prosper!

When WRONGED!

2011-04-25T02:52:00.000-07:00

At this time, more than ever, I need my friends!

2011-04-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

Are there many doors!?

2011-04-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

Q: Is it true that there are '84 thousand' ways of the Buddha's teaching for reaching nibbana?

A: Let us understand what this means. A lot of people say a lot of things but are unappreciative of its meaning inside.

Now '84000 Dhamma doors' is a common expression but it has a deep meaning!

It means that whatever Dhamma door you take MUST HAVE:

8- the 8 Fold Noble Path

4- the 4 Noble Truths

000- seeing all things in reality as empty; the three Universal characteristics of ALL Conditioned states ie

1. Impermanence [anicca],

2. Suffering [dukkha] and

3. Non Self [anatta]

Now we must clearly understand what this 84000 Dhamma doors mean.

It means that whatever teacher, guru, shifu, bhante, lama, sir, madam, prof , etc that we learn from... MUST teach us the 8 Fold Path, the 4 Noble Truths and the 3 Universal characteristics!!! Anything deviated from that IS NOT THE RIGHT PATH and we must run away like he's got Bird Flu! Or the bird flu will kill us!

Subhadda approached the Buddha, and after greeting him, said,

"O Gotama, there are many famous religious teachers who teach other teachings, different from yours. Have they all, as they claim, discovered the truth? Or have only some of them discovered the truth while others have not?"

"Enough, O Subhadda," said the Buddha, "You should not worry about other teachings. Listen to me and pay close attention to what I say, and I will make known to you the truth.

"In whatever doctrine or teaching the Noble Eightfold Path is not found, there will neither be found those who have become sotapanna, sakadagami, anagami or arahant (four levels of sainthood). But in those teachings where the Noble Eightfold Path is found, there also you will find the sotapanna, the sakadagami, the anagami and the arahant. In this teaching of mine, O Subhadda, is to be found the Noble Eightfold Path, and in it alone the sotapanna, the sakadagami, the anagami, and the arahant are found. In no other schools of religious teachers can such arya beings (saints) be found. And if only my disciples live rightly and follow my precepts or training rules, the world will never be without genuine arahants."

When You Fall in Love

2011-04-17T01:14:00.000-07:00

DUTIES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES

Getting Married
1.1 Choosing a compatible husband or wife
In order for a couple to stay together, it is necessary that they are compatible in terms of the level of virtues they possess — particularly the following four “virtues of compatibility” [samajīvi-dhamma]:

1. faith [sama-saddha]: husband and wife should have the same level of spiritual faith and the same level of “aim in life”
2. self-discipline [sama-sīla]: husband and wife should have the same standards of Precepts, manners and etiquette as one another;
3. self-sacrifice [sama-cāga]: husband and wife should have the same level of self-sacrifice in selflessly devoting themselves to generous deeds or helping others;
4. wisdom [sama-paññā]: husband and wife should have the same level of wisdom, creativity, empathy and common-sense — being on the same communicative “wavelength” — neither suffering overly from stubborness.

In addition, concerning compatibility, the Buddha warned of the perils of an old man bringing home a young girl as a wife:

(When) an old man takes as a wife a vigourous young girl and cannot sleep, because of his possessiveness for her, this leads to his downfall.

Parābhava Sutta, SN.20 v.109-10

1.2 Marrying your spouse
In the time of the Buddha, there was no such thing as a legal registration of marriages. A man and a woman mutually decided to accept each other as husband and wife and thereafter they lived together. Their marriage was carried out in the presence of the lay-community rather than in the presence of the spiritual community.

In the present day, however, legal registration of a marriage is required. Details differ from country to country and Buddhism supports whatever complies with the Law. However, there remains no specific Buddhist ritual or procedure to conduct a marriage. Buddhism recognizes the traditions and cultures practiced by people in different countries — hence Buddhist wedding rituals differ from one country to another. In general, there will be a religious service for blessing and to give advice to the new couple, performed either in the home or in the temple.

Some hesitate over becoming “officially” married over concerns such as whether their marriage vows will substitute for affection as the bonds to hold the couple together! However, this misses the point of legalizing a marriage which is publically to recognize one’s spouse. How do you think a wife would feel if her husband were too embarrassed to admit he had married her? — or how would the husband feel if his wife refused to wear a wedding ring? Marrying is about showing each other due respect — and this is the foundation of the trust which unifies the couple.

2 Maintaining a married relationship
The challenge of married life
Life in a long-term relationship is infinitely more demanding on one’s store of virtues than that of dating and first love. How can a couple preserve the joy of their initial encounters while developing the love and understanding to ensure a happy and stable marriage? How can partners respect their own dignity and that of their “better half” instead of running off to get a divorce or abortion after their first quarrel or dispute?

Principles
In a recent piece of research on the emotions, it was discovered that immediately conflicts within a marriage lead to “stone-walling” (i.e. the husband and wife are no longer on speaking terms), the further life expectancy of the marriage will not exceed three years (John Gottman, What Predicts Divorce). Conflicts can not be avoided in a marriage — the secret of happy marriage relies on keeping open channels of communication to deal with them.

A surprise for many modern-day readers is that the Buddha never recommended “making yourself more attractive” or “being sexy” as a way to maintain a marriage. He addressed instead the gravest enemies of marriage: “distrust” and “suspicion”.

Maintaining good channels of communication according to the principle recommended by the Lord Buddha is to maintain a healthy “emotional bank account” [saṅgahavatthu] with one’s marriage partner. There are four ways of maintaining a healthy emotional bank account with your partner as follows:

1. Giving resources [dāna]: If two people are going to live together they must be able to share what they have with their partner. Any place that lacks giving will be parched like an emotional desert. Once married, all the property once individually owned should be shared. To “keep back” something as an individual asset will only create suspicion — and suspicion kills marriages. Thus it is important to keep open a channel of communication in the marriage whereby one partner can consult the other if they are suffering or are having problems with material resources.

2. Endearing speech [piyavācā]: A husband and wife should take care always to address each other with polite speech, even in the case they need to criticize each other. Sometimes if things become too informal, careless words may touch on the “views” of the other partner and disturb the peacefulness of the family. After marriage, one should use the same standard of polite of speech used before marriage!

3. Helpfulness [atthacariyā]: A husband and wife need to lend each other a helping hand. Also if one of the partners learns something new concerning spiritual knowledge, they should share it with their spouse. When a conflict arises in the marriage, there is a huge temptation to put all the blame on the other partner instead of taking collective responsibility — but if both are well-versed in spiritual teachings, the couple will tend to deal with the problem directly instead of merely looking for someone to blame.

4. Consistency [samānatatta]: Both husband and wife have implicit duties in the marriage (see details below) and to the degree they live up to these duties they will avoid the suspicions of their partner. If a husband has decided that his wife should take responsibility for the running of the house, he should not subsequently come interfering in the household affairs. Sometimes “appropriateness” is not immediately evident for every situation — sometimes it is hard to sense what your partner expects of you — but if both partners meditate on a daily basis, they will tune in more easily to consistently harmonious behaviours.

Five duties of a husband to his wife
Based on these four principles, in the Siṅgalovāda Sutta the Buddha advised of five duties a husband should fulfil towards his wife and five duties a wife should fulfill towards her husband. The duties of a husband are as follows:

1. He must praise his wife: He should not keep a wife in secret. Once a man is married he should show off his wife in public, not keep his wife in secret. He should have a proper, lawful registration of his marriage. He should be careful to treat his wife with respect, not criticizing her personally in front of inferiors.

2. He must never look down on his wife: Even though a couple is married doesn’t mean that a husband will have an attitude of respect to his wife. Sometimes he may look down on her or even treat her like a slave or a pet animal. That a husband restrains himself from looking down on his wife in any way, shows his responsibility for the human dignity of others.

3. He must never be unfaithful: Because a Buddhist husband is a man of virtue it goes without saying that he refrains from the Four Defilements of Action [kammakilesa]: killing, stealing, adultery and telling lies. He would thus never be unfaithful to his wife, because doing so would destroy the human dignity of himself and his wife. The feelings of a person who is found guilty of sexual misconduct are described in the Sutta Nipata:

Whatever fame and reputation he had before, of course vanishes…in the grip of his fantasies, he broods like a beggar. Hearing the outrage of others, he gets depressed…hearing the spread of gossip, he then hides in his own embarrassment. He cannot accept the criticism of others on this count, and may lie to those who try to counsel him…

Tissametteyya Sutta, SN.160 v.817-20

4. He should give his wife the responsibility for looking after the house: To demonstrate his sincerity and trust for his wife, a husband must give his wife the final word in the organization of the household and the family without interfering. If his wife is a “working mother” it doesn’t make her any less responsible for the affairs of the home and the family, but husband and wife will need to come to an agreement, according to the principles of the “emotional bank account”, whereby she can manage to keep on top of her domestic responsibilities without being overloaded.

5. He should bring his wife gifts of clothing or jewelry: Such gifts express the love of a husband for his wife and his appreciation of her virtues. Such generosity can mend many marriages. It breathes a new air of life into a relationship. A husband should take his wife shopping for things she wants to buy. He should encourage her to do the things she wants to do sometimes to allow her to get out of the house occasionally.

Five duties of a wife to her husband
The duties of a wife to her husband are as follows:
1. She sees to the proper care of the household. The wife should see to it that the house becomes a heavenly mansion — the house should be peaceful, the food nourishing and appropriate in taste to the age and the health of the family members.

2. She must take proper care of the ‘in-laws’. The wife must look after her ‘in-laws’ especially well (within the limits of her convenience). She must be especially careful what she says to them because a few ill chosen words can have serious consequences.

3. She must never be unfaithful: Because a Buddhist wife is a woman of virtue it goes without saying that she refrains from the Four Defilements of Action [kammakilesa]: killing, stealing, adultery and telling lies. She would thus never be unfaithful to her husband, because doing so would destroy the human dignity of herself and her husband.

4. She must take good care of the shared wealth: A wife should look after the shared wealth of the household responsibly — being neither extravagant nor stingy. This implies that the husband goes out to work but entrusts his wife with the money for the administration of the family finances.

5. She must be conscientious in her responsibilities: Having been entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the household and the family she should see to it that these duties are properly fulfilled — rather than lazing around at home or doing other work to the neglect of the household.

Reciprocal relationship between husband and wife
From the Siṅgalovāda Sutta we learn that a husband has duties towards his wife and a wife has duties towards her husband. In the ideal world, both the husband and wife will fulfill their side of the bargain and in doing so, no danger will grow up in the relationship or for society at large — there will be happiness and prosperity both for husband, wife and society at large.

If the husband fulfils his duties according to Blessing Thirteen but the wife doesn’t, it can be said that the wife has done nothing to deserve such a good husband. In addition, certain harm will come to the family.

If the wife fulfils her duties according to Blessing Thirteen but the husband doesn’t, it can be said that the husband has done nothing to deserve such a good wife. In addition, certain harm will come to the family.

If the neither the husband nor the wife fulfill their duties according to Blessing Thirteen, certain harm will come not only to the family but to society at large too.

Ten further principles of happily married life
Finally for the married couple we are fortunate to have passed down to us in the Buddhist tradition the ten-fold advice given to Visākhā by her father Dhanañcaya on the day of her wedding (DhA.i.384ff.):

1. Don’t let the fire inside go outside: don’t go spreading the secret problems from inside the house for people outside to know about;
2. Don’t let the fire outside come inside: don’t bring gossip of problems from elsewhere into the house, especially gossip that is of no benefit to know;
3. Give to those who give to us: help those who have helped us in the past especially the parents of both the husband and the wife. Let them borrow things. If you lend things to people and they return them punctually, you should lend things to them a second time;
4. Don’t give to those who give nothing to us: Don’t lend things to people who never return them or return them late or to those who in the past have refused to help us even though it is within their capability to do so;
5. Whether they give or not, be generous anyway: Whether they have helped us before or not, if they are our relatives and they have fallen on hard times, you should help them anyway. It doesn’t matter if they return money given or not because their inability to return it is through circumstances beyond their control;
6. Make sure that the food is amenable: Make sure the meals served to your family are nutritious — and serve your in-laws with good food too. You may have to eat after your children have finished their meal — but if all the family are well provided for in terms of food, you too will have no problems when it comes to eating;
7. Find an amenable place to sit: This means the wife must know relative level of respect due to others — for example it would be insulting to sit on a higher level than one’s in-laws.
8. Find an amenable place to sleep: You should make sure that the sleeping place of everyone in the family is restful. Be prepared to get up before anyone else in the family and go to sleep when everyone else has already gone to bed.
9. Keep the fire going: that is to take special care of one’s in-laws and husband when they are “on fire” (i.e. in a bad temper) — even if they should speak in an unpleasant way to us, it is necessary to hold our silence instead of answering back — to say the right thing at the wrong time will only make the situation worse. Sometimes the wife must wait until things have “quietened down” before explaining the real reason for a situation.
10. Be respectful to the angels: to congratulate one’s husband or in-laws when they do something good or have experienced good luck. Our words of encouragement should lead them to ever better good deeds.

Sharing spiritual practice
You also need to be able to support your spouse spiritually. Any incompatibilities on a spiritual level discovered after marriage can be overcome by nurturing a mutual interest in spiritual self-development:

1. Persuade them to be generous, keep the Precepts, listen to sermons and meditate. Some are scared to encourage their spouse to have too much involvement with spirituality in case they turn professional and leave them to bring up the family alone. Some men say, “I want a wife in the home not a nun.” However, if one’s wife stays at home and also keeps the Precepts then we should be thankful (especially for the third precept). In the same way, wives can forbid their husbands from going to the temple more easily than they can prohibit them from unfaithfulness. At least if they go to the temple regularly they will be more motivated to be faithful to their wife.

2. Teach your spouse how to do chanting so that they have a refuge for the mind. If people have fear and shame of evil then they have virtually no vulnerability to adultery. Chanting and respect for the Triple Gem is the basis of fear and shame of evil.

Analyzing marriage breakdown
In the olden days, if a piece of a equipment or a pair of shoes were worn or broken, the owner would always take care to have it mended as new. No matter how much effort it took to have it mended, the owner would be prepared to make the sacrifices — because it would be unthinkably extravagant to buy another piece of the same sort of equipment or a new pair of shoes for as long as there were even a remote possibility of mending the old. Our modern society however, has turned into a ‘throwaway’ society.

We replace things merely because they are worn, or obsolete or unfashionable — and it is even a pleasure when something breaks because at last you have “a legitimate excuse” to buy a new one. Such attitudes towards possessions at the worst are wasteful, but when they are applied not to objects, but to friendships and marriages, they tend to lower one’s threshold of patience and loyalty.

Divorce is becoming so common in our society that in some countries, single-parent families are as common as those with both parents! How can we analyze a marriage that is breaking up in order to know whether a divorce is for the better or not?

Basically there are only two scenarios — being bored of one’s partner and being bored of marriage.

In the first scenario one or both of the married partners feels that their marriage is not working and that they would be happier if they went to live with a certain other person. They want to “turn-in” their spouse in exchange for a new one!

Such a divorce is a bad idea because what they fail to realize is that the faults they are trying to escape by divorce are not their ex-partner’s, but their own! If they do divorce, they will take these faults uncorrected to their next marriage and history will repeat itself. Thus rather than asking for a divorce, the person should get down to improving their own character in earnest (starting with forgiveness and humility) thereby repairing the relationship. This scenario applies in 99% of cases. Be warned! — you have no idea before going through with a divorce how destructive it will be for yourself, your children, your reputation, your spiritual development and for everyone else you and your spouse know.

In the second scenario, if after all efforts to ameliorate your marriage you realize that the problem is not with your spouse, but with marriage in general, this may be a valid reason for a divorce. In such a case, you see through the folly of being involved in a relationship at all. If the reason you want a divorce, is in order to upgrade the intensity of your spiritual vocation by leading a life of celibacy, with the genuine intention never again to enter into a new relationship, this is a valid reason to obtain a divorce. One should however, minimize the negative effects for any children you may have, by waiting first until they are old enough to be independent of you.

From

http://www.dmc.tv/pages/en/buddhist_teaching/Blessing-13-3.html

Before!

2011-04-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

I am a Buddhist

2011-04-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

When I say that 'I am a Buddhist', I am not shouting that 'I am good, better than you or even close to being pure'.
Instead I'm shouting that 'I was lost in the pains, unsatisfactoriness and frustrations of the world, but now I'm walking a path that leads to progressive lessening of my greed and ignorance, lessening my attachments and sufferings day by day.'

When I say 'I am a Buddhist' I don't speak of this with a 'Holier than Thou' attitude, Never with a 'I am going to Heaven while you are on a one way ticket to Hell' mindset.
Instead I'm confessing that I am ignorant of much Truth and need the Buddha Dhamma to be my guide. If I am bad I have an equal chance as any of going to Hell, and if I am keeping my precepts well, I too have a well deserved holiday in Heaven.

When I say 'I am a Buddhist' I'm not trying to show one-upmanship or arrogance but I'm professing that I'm weak and need the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha as my Refuge to carry on.

When I say 'I am a Buddhist', I'm not bragging of success.
Instead I'm admitting I have failed time and again to let go of my Greed, Hatred and Ignorance, and need the Buddha Dhamma to help me develop qualities of Generosity, Loving Kindness and Wisdom.

When I say 'I am a Buddhist' I'm not claiming to be perfect.
In reality my flaws are far too visible, but the Buddha has taught that everyone of us is capable of purifying himself and attaining perfect wisdom of the Truths of life. He has given me the confidence that I too can evolve to be Enlightened.

When I say 'I am a Buddhist' I still feel the sting of pain, the aging of my body, illness and I have my share of heartaches and failures in this ceaselessly changing world, But the Dhamma has taught me to see the realities of life, to accept change and to handle it with wisdom. My physical body will inevitably suffer but my Mental pain is optional.

Not to do evil

2011-04-07T04:10:00.000-07:00

This was a conversation between Socrates and his student Crito when Socrates was in prison awaiting his final moments.... Socrates was teaching in his classic 'I question you and you think out the answer yourself' manner"

SOCRATES: Then we must do no wrong?

CRITO: Certainly not.

SOCRATES: Nor when injured injure in return, as the many imagine; for we must injure no one at all?

CRITO: Clearly not.

SOCRATES: Again, Crito, may we do evil?

CRITO: Surely not, Socrates.

SOCRATES: And what of doing evil in return for evil, which is the morality of the many—is that just or not?

CRITO: Not just.

SOCRATES: For doing evil to another is the same as injuring him?

CRITO: Very true.

SOCRATES: Then we ought not to retaliate or render evil for evil to any one, whatever evil we may have suffered from him.

And Socrates concludes one of his final lessons for Humanity in saying

"It is never right to do wrong and never right to take revenge, nor is it right to give evil, or in the case of one who has suffered some injury, to attempt to get even"

Kamma

2011-04-05T04:55:00.000-07:00

Stop!

2011-04-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

STOP!

"I have stopped, Angulimala. You stop."

Then the thought occurred to Angulimala, "These Sakyan contemplatives are speakers of the truth, asserters of the truths, and yet this contemplative, even while walking, says, 'I have stopped, Angulimala. You stop.' Why don't I question him?"

So Angulimala the bandit addressed this verse to the Blessed One:

"While walking, contemplative, you say, 'I have stopped.' But when I have stopped you say I haven't. I ask you the meaning of this:    How have you stopped? How haven't I?"

Seeing the changing suffering within

2011-03-30T01:40:00.000-07:00

Now, the mind is alright, it is normal.

It won’t be
and it thinks again.

We watch that. Watch it clearly

Become familiar in watching, and skilled.
Be a champ in watching.

It is good to see suffering.

To see suffering is the most excellent thing.
Suffering gives rise to ‘BUDDHA’.

If there was no suffering, there would be no BUDDHA.

Don’t be the one who is suffering: see it!
To see suffering is to be the BUDDHA, a little BUDDHA.

The BUDDHA is the One who knows,
the Awakened One, the joyful One.

It doesn’t mean a person, rather, it is the quality of
knowing, of being awake – that is the BUDDHA.
The state of seeing is a quality,

it is the standard of life,

it is the Path.

It is NOT 'I am Suffering',

rather it is 'THERE IS SUFFERING!'

Kamma Reloaded

2011-03-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

Page1

"Be careful", he said to her as she sat on the bed amidst the crumpled bedsheets handling his revolver... "its loaded"

"Is it for your wife?" she asked

"No" he replied, "better to employ a professional for that"

"Will you hire me?"
"Hahahaha " he laughed, "who will want to engage a girl to kill??!!"

She looked at him through the gun sight... "Well, your wife would"

Bang!

-the end-

TQ

2011-03-26T22:29:00.001-07:00

The 10 MOST powerful 2 letter words are:

If it is to be,

It is up to me

2 letters

2011-03-22T01:47:00.000-07:00

This email provides a unique description of what life is like for quake and tsunami survivors in Japan on the ground now.

When tragedy strikes, it reminds us of what is really important in life and the little things we once felt we had lost, such as community solidarity and the sight of a carpetful of twinkling stars in the night sky.

Life Lessons from Japan

First email sent by Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist Master and founder of Plum Village, France, to friends in Japan. Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh is the author of the book “The Miracle of Mindfulness”, and promotes engaged Buddhism.

Dear friends in Japan,

As we contemplate the great number of people who have died in this tragedy, we may feel very strongly that we ourselves, in some part or manner, also have died.

The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. And the human species and the planet Earth are one body. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body.

An event such as this reminds us of the impermanent nature of our lives. It helps us remember that what’s most important is to love each other, to be there for each other, and to treasure each moment we have that we are alive. That is the best we can do for the dead. We can live in such a way that they feel they are continuing to live with us more beautifully, mindfully and deeply in each of us, tasting every minute every second that we are still alive and living for them.

Here, at our centres in France and many countries around the world, all of us will continue to chant and send you energies of peace and healing to offer support. We are praying for you with our heart, breath and with the daily actions with more compassion and understanding and to treat each other with more respect. Thank you for reminding us this lesson.

The second email sent by a Japanese lady to the Plum Village sangha (community of practitioners) in HK

Hello My Lovely Family and Friends,

First I want to thank you so very much for your concern for me. I am very touched. I also wish to apologise for a generic message to you all. But it seems the best way at the moment to get my message to you.

Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend’s home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.

During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets.

Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, “Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another.”

Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often. We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on. But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not.

No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.

There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun. People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time.

Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled. The mountains are Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them silhouetted against the sky magnificently.

And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers asking if they need help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no.

They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes, for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai that is a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area is better off than others. Last night my friend’s husband came in from the country, bringing food and water. Blessed again.

Somehow at this time I realise from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don’t. Rather, I feel as part of something happening that is much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.

Thank you again for your care and Love of me,
With Love in return, to you all,
Anne

Impermanence

2011-03-11T04:22:00.000-08:00

Can I live and die without regret?

Birth and Death is a grave event;
How transient is life!
Every minute is to be grasped.
Time waits for nobody.

如如不動

Secret to Happiness

2011-03-07T01:03:00.000-08:00

The Rain of Dhamma:

The Secret of Happiness

One day, a man asked a Venerable,

"How is it that you are always so happy?

You have so much energy,

and you never seem to get down."

With his eyes smiling, he said,

"I know the Secret.

I'll tell you all about it,

but you have to promise to

share the Secret with others."

"The Secret is this:

All I do is live a very simple life,

keeping to the Precepts,

have some wise friends and teachers,

and enjoy nature.

A simple walk in the forest,

a simple meal,

a quiet place, that's all I need.

And yet, I have learned THAT most of the time

I don't need even half of what I think I do.

Be content, for Greed only brings PAIN.

Whether someone praise me or censure me, I am equanimous, for such is life,

we can never ever please everyone,

so just BE!

With the above thoughts,

I learned that the 'Secret' to a happy life

is NO SECRET at all.

Someone called the Buddha taught us all these 2600 years ago"

If "I WANT HAPPINESS",

JUST DROP THE "I",

THEN CEASE THE "WANT",

WHAT IS LEFT IS "HAPPINESS".

The questioner's first thought was,

"That's too simple!"

But upon reflecting over his own life,

he recalled how he thought a bigger house

would make him happy, but it didn't.

Instead it brought more payments,

more stress,

more maintainance.

He thought a better paying job

would make him happy, but it hadn't.

Instead it brought more stress.

When WAS he happy?

Sitting on the floor with family and friends,

just talking,

sharing the Dhamma,

or playing games,

eating yiu tiow or reading a story

That's happiness,

a happiness from contentment,

from having NO WANTS.

IT IS NOT THE HAPPINESS OF THE SATISFACTION OF WANTS,

BUT THE HAPPINESS OF NOT WANTING ANYTHING.

Now you know it too!

And now THAT YOU HAVE THE SECRET,

Once you get it, what will you do?

Please tell someone the Secret too.

Help a friend be happy.

Where are you GOING!?

2011-03-05T22:41:00.001-08:00

The average man's life consists of:
Twenty years of having his mother ask him where he is going,

Forty years of having his wife ask the same question;

and at the end, the mourners wondering too.
--

Do you Believe or Do you KNOW!?

2011-02-26T18:06:00.000-08:00

WE BELIEVE or WE KNOW?

The world suffers from belief and is in great need of Gnosis/Insight.

Most people take Belief and Faith as synonymous, and the dictionaries describe them as synonyms.

But Belief and Faith exists where there is no knowledge, no direct, personal experience of the object of Belief, while Gnosis or Insight, on the contrary, arises from knowledge, from direct contact with and experience of the object,whatever it might be.

Thus, the old saying: "Seeing is believing", is not true; seeing is knowing; believing is not knowing!

During the Middle Ages, most people believed that sickness was caused by demons, and Satan—the Devil—was a very real person to them. Nowadays, although many people still believe in Satan as a person, they would hardly answer "Yes" if asked: "Do you believe that your Flu/cancer/diabetes is caused by the Devil?"

In this way, we will recognize the difference between Belief and KNOWING. We now have direct Gnosis of what causes diseases, we do NOT believe anymore, we KNOW!

We believe

when we do not

know.

When we know,

we do not

believe.

................................

From the foreword of the book ‘What Buddhists believe’:

“On one occasion a Christian delegation visited Ven Dhammananda to have a dialogue. A member of the delegation saw the book on his desk and asked,

“Venerable, What do Buddhists believe?”

He replied, “Buddhists do not believe anything!”

Puzzled, the man asked,
“ Then why did you write this book?”

Ven Dhammananda smiled and said,
“Well, read the book and see for yourself whether there is anything in Buddhism simply to believe.”

The man then asked
“Alright then, what do Buddhists do?”

Ven Dhammananda replied,

“Well, first they study, then they practice and finally they experience”

.............................................

Brother Yin Onn,

Faith is blind belief. Hence, when people talk of blind faith, the word "blind" in this context is redundant, because faith is blind belief. Thus Faith is belief without substantiation, whether that of knowing or seeing ... it is blind, and so just put the hand on the heart, and swear by it.

Poh Seng

Dying

2011-02-25T01:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Prof Wong,

I attended some of your talks in Singapore, and work as a volunteer with
hospice patients and would like to find out your views on
The Terminally Ill patient and Medical Futility
--
May you be well, happy, peaceful.

With Gratitude,
..................................

Dear Bro,
The basic principle behind treatment is
1. To Comfort ALWAYS
2. To Relieve OFTEN
3. To Cure Sometimes

Hence in the treatment of the terminally ill patients, WE MUST ALWAYS ASSURE
THE PATIENT AND FAMILY THAT EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO MAKE THE PATIENT MORE
COMFORTABLE *PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY* WILL BE DONE.

All patients must be assured right from the start that they will NOT be in
terrible pain, this is a common BIG fear.

Wisdom must always come next.... are we prolonging LIFE or are we
prolonging the DYING process??

With terminal illness, nature lets you die with

abbreviated suffering, medicine (doctors) lets you

suffer with protracted dying.

PROF KK Toh

When further attempts at chemotherapy is obviously and statistically futile,
common sense must take over, however we MUST NEVER destroy Hope....
always give the patient HOPE for a better tomorrow even if it is comfort in
the arms of morphia.

Doctors and attending medical personal are NOT TECHNICIANS, the late
Professor TJ Danaraj used to teach us that while it is likely possible that we can even
train a monkey to do brain surgery, we cannot train it when to do it and
even more important "when NOT to do it".

Medicine is first and foremost an ART.... and the issues of dealing with the terminally ill patient requires the ART of Medicine at its finest!

Doctors had been practising in awareness of

1. *quantitative futility*, where the likelihood that an intervention
will benefit the patient is exceedingly poor, and
2. *qualitative futility*, where the quality of benefit an intervention
will produce is exceedingly poor. "

for a long time. It requires Wisdom, Compassion and Knowledge.

The most important aspect is the Peace and Comfort of the Mind; while the
Body will inevitably be sick, the Mind need NOT be.

metta,

dr wong

Impermanence

2011-02-22T15:49:00.001-08:00

Impermanent is all conditioned things,

All things rise and fall away,

Conditions give us birth,

Conditions give us death.

This body and mind of ours,

will soon be lying on the ground

Like a useless piece of drift wood,

washed upon the shore.

Our consciousness will vanish,

the mind will not be there,

Just like a bubble bursting on the water,

turning into air.

We came into this world without an invitation,

and We don't need to ask permission when its time for us to leave.

We rise to birth that always ends in death;

we come just as we go.

Does the candle shed a tear when the flame goes out? Don't be sad, be mindful.

"In the Dhamma well expounded by me thus, which is clear, open, evident and free of patchwork, those monks who have sufficient faith in me, sufficient love for me, are all headed for heaven".
The Buddha, MN22.47

Unconditional LOVE or Lust

2011-02-18T22:03:00.001-08:00

A bro asked me....

If being free from suffering/ reaching enlightenment means to live life
devoid of love, feelings and emotions…. What’s the point of living?

I would rather risk getting hurt (out of loving), but be able to experience the depths
of life that comes with the fullness of love, feelings, emotions and human
touch…

Answer: There is a serious misconception here from the way the questioner is in doubt!

To be enlightened requires LOTS of love, so much so that you NOT only love 1 person out of Lust but the whole world out of compassion!

Furthermore it is an UNCONDITIONAL love, not the sort of love that goes 'I love you because...........'

Secondly, the being walking the Path deals with all interactions with Metta, Karuna, Mudita and Upekha..... UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, COMPASSION, JOY AND EQUANIMITY!! So there is NO QUESTION at all of an emotional cretin arising!!

Indeed ONE touches the very depths of the fullness of life WITH WISDOM, LOVE and COMPASSION, REJOICING in the successes of others without Jealousy, Anger or Ill will!

Kamma

2010-12-16T01:52:00.001-08:00

what is Kamma.......

When we say that whatever we do intentionally is Kamma, what it means in scientific terms is that whatever we intentionally do leaves an imprint in our stream of consciousness. This imprint no matter how subtle is Never forgotten. This is why when one is under hypnosis, one is able to recall events long "Forgotten", and even past lives.

The stream of consciousness just keeps flowing on, every moment and act contributing further to it and changing it endlessly. Of course wholesome events change it positively!

You recall an event years and tears ago despite you having made attempts to forget about it because of this reason. We are the result of all our past actions, good and bad, we are the heirs of our kamma! You may understand now why it is said that kamma no matter how 'latent' will come to fruition when the conditions are right. When the condition for your thought to appear is there, your thought appeared! Dreams included!

To determine whether an action is 'good or evil', right or wrong, Buddhist ethics takes into account three components involved in a kammic action.
The first is the intention that motivates the action,
the second is the effect the doer experiences consequent to the action,
and the third is the effect that others experience as a result of that action.

If the intention is good, rooted in positive mental qualities such as love, compassion, and wisdom, if the result to the doer is wholesome (for instance, it helps him or her to become more compassionate and unselfish), and if those to whom the action is directed also experience a positive result
thereof, then that action is good, wholesome, or skillful.
If, on the other hand, the action is rooted in negative mental qualities such as hatred and selfishness, if the outcome experienced by the doer is negative and unpleasant, and if the recipients of the action also experience undesirable effects from the action or become more hateful and selfish, then that action is unwholesome or unskillful.

Short of an enlightened being, most of our actions is a mixture of wholesome and unwholesome intentions, eg even with an act of donation, many people do it because they think that it will result in some gain to the person. Hardly is anyone purely altruistic as our Ego is strong. Only in the enlightened being's consciousness is the false Ego seen to be what it is, only in this hallowed state will one's actions be truly freed of any selfish intent.
Hence for us unenlightened beings, our intention is first and foremost, for that is what creates kamma. A wholesome intention may as you note occasionally result in undesired results and this may be due to a lack of wisdom, eg being conned by some indisciplined monk.

Or an action which as you put is done for what appears a good cause but is in truth to booster one's own ego or image is basically a mixture of wholesome and unwholesome.... only the doer knows which is more and primary!
Hence things are Not black or white but many shades in between... hence the guidelines for our behaviour. That is why Kamma is VERY complex, because our thoughts and intentions is even more so...

Cause and effect is impersonal, impartial and unchanging. We drop a glass cup and it breaks no matter who we are. Everything that comes to be, came about because of causes and conditions that are ceaselessly changing. In turn at every moment in time, our respond to the present conditions, changes it again, hence our path, our destinations and our lives are in our hands based on what we do at every moment. We create our kamma at every moment in time by changing it minutely moment to moment. There is NO predestination or Fate for at every moment our destination or fate is adjusted, fine tuned by our acts in respond to the present.

SELFISHNESS and SUFFERING

Kamma acts through time, and thus the full effects of one’s thoughts and deeds may not become manifest until some time or even years later. In some cases, it may even ripen Lives later!

One important aspect of kamma is that selfishness results in suffering for the selfish party in proportion to the amount of unwholesomeness that has been committed. Conversely, love, compassion and other virtuous states of mind create proportionate amounts of happiness and emotional well-being.

Thus we find in Buddhism no eternal punishment or eternal reward, but rather happiness and sorrow in proportion to one’s own thoughts and actions.

Bad kamma is like salt, we can dilute it in lots of water- Good Kamma. But we are all owners of our OWN Kamma, no one can take it away for us... we can only dilute it with lots of Good Kamma by our OWN deeds.

"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. And we can only do it for ourselves by ourselves, NO ONE can do it for us.

DO IT!

2010-10-26T17:09:00.000-07:00

‎[Luke can't levitate his X-Wing out of the bog]

Luke: I can't. It's too big.

Yoda: Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you?

Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not.

For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us.

Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.

Luke: All right, I'll give it a try.

Yoda: No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try.

[Using the Force, Yoda effortlessly frees the X-Wing from the bog]

Luke: I don't, I don't believe it.

Yoda: That is why you fail.

Of self and shoes

2010-10-16T20:04:00.000-07:00

As Ven Sumedho said, enlightenment is here and now, the present moment that is at ease, no past, no future, THE purely present moment, that is the existence of the "Buddha mind".

That is a 'no thinking mind'. That is a very ordinary and natural state of mind, without identity of I, me, mine. Like you are sitting in front of PC, opening the mail box, reading my mail, and you hear the sounds around, you purely know that sound, perhaps of typing, woman voice, man voice, somebody's voice, a baby crying, the awareness is there, embracing everything, knowing everything, as it is, at this present moment. Just a sense of natural ease.

It is only when you switch this "Buddha mind" to delusion mind (grasping of I, me, mine), then all the suffering arises. I read a good simile of a man with a drinking habit, always he will drink, until one day he got really sick and he has to give up this habit for the sake of his life. Since then, on the occassions when wine is served in front of him, he will still have the thought of wanting to drink, but he will just leave it ( letting go the thought without grasping, as he know the result will be suffering, and the thought itself is anatta). So, he remains a healthy man though he is still having the thought of wanting to drink.

So, just abide in the awareness, this "Buddha mind", then you will not involve (I, me, mine) in the thought (understand it just the result of kamma). No need to deliberately push it away or stop it. The nature of it, is to arise due to conditions, stay temporarily and vanish. Just see it with the natural feeling. No need to identify. The Knots Untied

Let me give a simple illustration. [Pls Puts on a shoe with the laces tied tight ] This is the 'self'. It's out of place here in the meditation hall, isn't it? All of you are naturally barefoot. No need for shoes in here. "I am the only one" parading around with a 'self'. What do we do when the shoe starts to hurt, when this self-complex becomes aware of its dis-ease? Often we grab one end of the knot and pull it even tighter: "My damn boss is the problem!" or "If I wasn't stuck in this stupid job...." We might then pull the other end — making the knot tighter again: "Oh, it's all my fault. I'm no good. I never do anything right." Now the knot is very tight. It really hurts. What is freedom? This: [Unties shoelace by gently pulling apart both strings at once] It's as simple as that. Then we actually know for ourselves because the painful tightness is gone. Now we can hold up the two ends of the shoelace and see that the whole painful complex was only the knotting up of those conditions. No more, no less.

Be careful here. Don't fall into thinking that the "self" is absolutely evil and must be smashed to pieces. That itself is just another delusion. Buddhism does not say that. When you and I leave the meditation hall, we naturally put on our own footwear. Not somebody else's. In that respect, we all have a sense of "self". [There is a process which when seen together forms a unique charactor or personality BUT not a concrete unchanging Being or Self]. There's nothing wrong with that. The shoe comes in handy sometimes when we go outside. But we don't identify ourselves as that. We freely wear it, and freely take it off. [I do not know about you but it is clear that we need to wear a shoe when the occasion demands BUT the shoe is certainly NOT us! ]

Near Death Experience

2010-10-09T02:29:00.000-07:00

We at Metta Lodge in JB are very grateful that we had a speaker who willingly shared with us her Near Death Experience. While we had read about NDEs or heard about it, it was never in the first person, hence the opportunity to hear about directly and the opportunity to discuss and have fellowship with such a person was priceless.

Even more important, the speaker is not by family or training a Buddhist, hence to us this is an independent opinion, not one conditioned by what is tradition or education.

The speaker is a highly trained medical professional with post graduate qualifications and specialty practise, we respect her privacy hence her name is not mentioned. In the 16 years since the event, she had shared with only a select core; when she first woke up and related the experience, almost all told her that she had a very traumatic experience and that she should forget it!

But in NO way was it traumatic. She has since only shared with people who may understand, and I was blessed that she shared this with me some time ago. I invited her to Metta Lodge where she shared with a group that not only absorbed every word intently, they also analysed every word and could understand the process she went through from the viewpoint of the Dhamma.

I am so blessed to be able to listen to this personal sharing of a Near Death Experience; every word resonates with the Dhamma. Everyone is the audience is very touched by every word said! While my memory is fresh, I had written down what I learnt from the sharing.

Afterthoughts are recorded in bold italics.

1. This sharing is a rare occasion for the speaker only shares to those who may understand, and only on request. It has not been shared for many years for there was no one whom she perceived to be able to understand. The Near Death Experience occurred in May 1994- ie 16 years ago. The experience was so profound that much of it could NOT be described in words. The speaker even today has difficulty finding words that could describe what she felt accurately.

Bro DrWoon recalls that the Buddha after His Enlightenment similarly expressed a thought as to who would be able to understand an experience so profound that it would be hard to believe or understand by most beings caught in greed, anger and delusion. He states that he understands the Buddha's position clearer now and the reason behind that documented thought.

2. She was fully aware and conscious, literally watching the monitor while doctors were putting in a catheter to reach her heart. When the radiocontrast dye was injected to visualise her coronary vessels, her heart unexplicably stopped, it 'arrested'. When she 'died' from the cardiac arrest while undergoing the angiography, she instantly had an 'out of body' experience looking down from the ceiling, but she DID not have a physical body while she 'looked down' on the doctors resuscitating her.

She did NOT have the usual body that we associate with our 'self' - but just a non physical presence. She described it as Consciousness or Awareness, just that! No physical body was associated with it.

From the Dhamma, we learn that Consciousness survives death, that each moment is followed by a next in a ceaseless process of change. Consciousness changes endlessly based on the object on which it is focussed. The 'instant' change or re-becoming into another state is resonant with this teaching. The bodily form of the elements is left and Consciousness has no form, only ceaseless change. That it continues despite the absence of brain activity and heart beat has been documented in many elegant studies.

3. She could clearly hear the background noise and words that were being said by the doctors and paramedics, and she could see the activities going on, including witnessing her doctor husband who was initially standing besides her, being led away from her body to a chair as the doctors worked desperately.

4. She, to be more accurate, her consciousness was fully aware of the happenings and could 'see' in colour. She could see and remember the colour of the drapes.

5. This consciousness floated through the ceiling and immediately left the building into a wide blue space where she felt the presence of 2 beings accompanying her. She could NOT see them but just feel their presence. The 2 beings are NOT in the image of any god or deity or angel that she is familiar with, they were just a presence that she could sense that were full of love.

In the book 'Many Lives, Many Masters' which documented Prof Brian Weiss putting his patient under hypnosis, and the patient regressing into many past lives, similar beings were described as 'Masters' by the patient, could this presence be the devas who are either our past relatives or our 'guardian devas'? Bro Koh an engineer noted that the physical structures of the building did not seem to make any difference to her progress.

6. She felt Peace, had NO pain and actually felt happy. She was told later on that the cardiac arrest, vasospasm and resuscitative manoeuvres must have caused her a lot of pain but she felt none. She felt NO anxiety or fear.

7. In a very quick moment of time analogous to a flash, she could 'see' her life and much much of the past, but this was NOT in events but in the 'Experiences and Feelings that resulted from the many things done'. Her whole present life and that of the past which resulted in her feelings, development and inclinations zoomed past very quickly and she was aware of the distant past where her consciousness was rudimentary and undeveloped evolving through the ages to higher and higher forms till the present state. But this happened very quickly, akin to a flash of sudden recall. It was a flash recall of NOT only this life but many many past lives.

Kamma and Vipaka is the cause and effect of all the actions that we do. It is the Vipaka or results that is important for that is what creates the next moment or future.

Bro Patrick notes that the speaker in a flash had recalled her Vipaka...her Feelings resultant from her actions, her Experiences which changed her and her Inclinations which evolved from all this.

From my aspect, I note that we never forget. All our acts and its resultant mental states are NEVER forgotten. In a flash, the speaker recalled her past not as "pictures frame by frame like in the film reel of a movie" but as emotions and mental states. It is important that the speaker could recall even the distant past when her consciousness was rudimentary and its evolution to higher forms but she could not recall precisely any particular independent life in detail other than the present.

Bro Patrick states that he now understand better how the Buddha could recall back 91 aeons of time in the first watch of the night, it was as our speaker states, a flash recall just like we recall something of the past instantly in a moment.

8. She entered a dark tunnel and could perceive Bright light at the other end. She could sense the breeze blowing as she progressed even though she had NO physical form that she was aware of.

Sis Sally exclaimed as to why the speaker did not just proceed into the light but the speaker stated that this was NOT something that she could will.

9. Communication was NON VERBAL. It was mind only without any use of sounds. She felt the 2 beings guiding her lovingly even though she could not see their physical bodies. She described this as a similar feeling that one has when there is someone standing behind us; while we do not see them, we sense their presence.

Venerables had taught us that communication with devas for example is non verbal but mental, it is mind to mind. While many of us would have found this hard to accept, our speakers experience seems to back this up.

10. Feelings of attachment which cannot be verbalised or described arosed and instead of progressing, she found herself suddenly going backwards and instantly was in her body. She woke up, saw her husband dozing by her side on a chair. She was in ICU and nurses and doctors started attending to her when she awoke. She was on assisted respiration.

From the teaching of Dependent Origination, what follows Attachment / uppadana is RE-BECOMING to a new state. If the speaker's body had been damaged beyond what medical science could help, she would have irreversibly died and the consciousness would have RE-BECOME to a new state or being, dependent on her Kamma-Vipaka. It was as she noted something she could not control but because she was successfully resuscitated and because of the Attachment which she noted, she instantly was 'back in her body'.

11. She felt she was away a few minutes but in reality more than 6 hours had passed with much that was done to her physical body to save her which she was not aware. However she was told later that her heart stopped only briefly, so she was 'dead' only for a brief period of time.

Time and experience is relative!

12. When she could be well enough to see her surroundings, everything looked 'so beautiful, so fresh'. "My husband never looked so handsome, the food tasted so delicious and even the amah who came to clean the room looked so beautiful!"

Our speaker has become much more Mindful since the event; she herself noted a change in her Meditation since then.

13. After this NDE, she realised that the physical body is NOT her. "It is now just like a sari that I change from wearing now to a nightgown. While we must take care of the physical body as we cannot do anything here without the body, we have to realise that we are NOT the body".

This is a teaching which most of us if not all of us are aware of, but not internalised. The speaker noted that this has changed her entire perspective of life.

14. She also realised that she is NOT the Ego that we all imagine ourselves to be, the "I", that we are so attached to. That Consciousness, that Awareness is NOT the Ego, not "I", in fact she realised that there was NO I or Ego during her NDE, all that made her 'who she is' immediately did not matter. But we are attached to our physical body and to many things that we are not even aware of. She was unable to recall any verbalisation of the objects of attachment, it was just a feeling that cannot be described and instantly she found herself back in her body.

I believe that our attachments are too many and varied to be categorised! The biggest is probably our attachment to the imagined 'I', the Ego and our bodies. Until we have a direct experience that changes our thinking radically, our intellectual subscription to the teachings is not reflected in our thoughts and acts.

15. She learnt that it is 'NOT merits that allow us to let go or be liberated BUT INSIGHT into the truths of life that will enable us to be free from attachment'. She was unable to be free from her attachments BUT she could not recall that she was attached to any specific object eg her husband, it was she described a feeling of attachment that is indescribable that brought her 'back'.

Her insight into the need for Wisdom to free us from attachment is truly profound and a fundamental teaching of the Buddha.

16. Her life since then has been changed as she now views life very differently. She is no longer obsessed by the physical form though she takes care of it well, her priorities are no longer work and material achievement. "Insight to the Truths of life is what liberates" and for that she now meditates regularly.

A half hour of Q&A followed:

Dr Wong, Q: I want to reaffirm whether you saw in colour or black and white as you noted that you had NO physical body, hence NO eyes!

A: It was definitely in colour as I can still recall the colour of the BLUE skies

Bro Hock Teck, Q: Could you hear the details of the doctors voices and what they said? This is important to me because I want to know whether what we do at the bedside of the dying eg chanting will make any difference!

A: Yes, I could hear their conversation clearly BUT it was only very brief as my Consciousness or Awareness left the room very soon after.

Sis Sally, Q: Why did you NOT just proceed and go into the light?

A: Oh I would have loved to BUT it was not mine to control! The instant I had the feeling of attachment, I was immediately back to my body. I am not afraid of death any more because I know it is NOT horrifying. I still have heart problems but the cardiologists refuse to do another angiogram because of my past experience but I am honestly NOT afraid. If in doing another angiogram I am assured of a similar experience, I will gladly proceed!

Sis Mrs Heng, Q: Were your children already independent at that time?

A: No, they were still studying

Bro Hock Teck, Q: Will you be willing to share your experience with other Buddhist groups?

A: This is a very personal experience. In the 16 years since, I had shared this with only a few people. Initially I would tell people about it but most people will pat me and say 'Oh you had such a terribly traumatic experience, just forget about it!' I realised that many people do not accept what I had gone through or look at it negatively. Hence now I only share with people who I perceive will be able to understand. I do not recall what made me share with DrWong some time ago but I am happy that that has led to me now sharing with you all who are so full of love. In fact, you have helped me put into words what is so difficult to describe.

Dr Wong: Let us give our speaker time and privacy. This is NOT an experience that can be shared with just about anyone, we are so blessed that she is willing to share with us and this has taught us more about the realities of life and the Dhamma than all the classes that I had given in the last 6 years!

Let us thank the speaker for a wonderful sharing.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Joy is a Factor of Enlightenment

2010-09-15T03:27:00.001-07:00

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
--

Will you kill?

2010-09-13T03:41:00.001-07:00

Do not condemn your neighbour; you do not know what you will have done in his place!

It is NOT easy to realise is that Even "our" thoughts are NOT ours,

NOT entirely under our control...

many will find this hard to believe.

I was taught this a long time ago, and I was initially shocked by this...... How can, I said!??

Vipassana Meditation is so important as it leads to this profound insight; as we note honestly and without prejudice, without desire for anything, we can calmly watch the mind and see all these clearly.

Our thoughts arise as a result of a cause which may be distant or recent, and when the conditions are appropriate for its arising, wham! it arises; whether we like it or not, want it or not.

Truly Anatta (NonSelf).

For example, we had taken the Precepts and feel obliged to keep them as we feel them wholesome, now when the opportunity arise to BREAK them, we hesitate because of the CAUSE ie the Precept being taken!!!

We may say it is 'MY' Free Will, but this Decision came to be because of the Past events!!

Or a new event may have occurred like seeing a BIG car, so now the chain of Thinking had changed, for the priority/greed for that car overwhelms the more distant Precept!! And we steal the money/ etc to feed that new Desire.

Observe and see that our thought patterns, responses are truthfully conditioned by many things, our education, culture and personal practise..... very little is "original", it is a chain of events, one following another in a complex web.

Some of the causes may be very distant, eg a childhood acquired behaviour trait like 'never walk barefooted you naughty boy' and now when we do, note how the mind responds! Yukkk Dirty3!

or in med school 'always wash your hands before.....' so much so it is a conditioned behaviour now

or merely 5 mins ago when we were upset at our wives for buying another pair of shoe when there is enough to satisfy Imelda Marcos already, and thoughts of wife, shoe recurrently arise as we note our mind....... Try getting rid of that thought and we will find that NEAR Impossible.

There is no concrete 'I' really, just a process driven by kammic energy, causes and conditions, and its responses too are "patterned" by these.

This is why 'we' can CHANGE!!!! because by altering these Causes, and Conditions we CHANGE our responses, 'Free Will', behaviour, 'ourselves'.

But until we are enlightened, defilements from causes planted from the past both LONG2 ago and recently, will give rise to intention when the Conditions appropriate for its arising is there. BUT as long as we watch it with Calm Abiding and do NOT respond with action, it is OK!! This is Wise Attention the suttas talk of. And even this respond of doing nothing but watch IS also created by causes and conditions!!

A teacher asks a student if he would obey his every command.

The student replies affirmatively.

The teacher then asks, "if I were to tell you to go and kill, would you obey?"

The student replies, with deepest respect,

"Master, I would have to disobey because I am incapable of killing anything".

The teacher says,

"You have NOT understood Anatta (NonSelf),

know that it is not because you are morally good that you cannot kill. It is only that kamma, and existing causes and conditions, do not incite you to kill. When those conditions change, know that we can be capable of any act!"

This is very profound and requires Insight of the Non Self nature of all beings.

We are a flow of Khandhas (Aggregates), and what we are now is the result of Kamma, Causes and Conditions;

every moment helps condition the next Moment, the next Consciousness.

When conditions change, this complex of Aggregates similarly change. Everything is the result of causes and conditions, even our present thoughts are but the results of causes and conditions conducive to its arising!

So we must constantly create good causes in the present moment in our every action, to maintain the most wholesome conditions possible, such that the coming future will as best as possible be positive.

Watching

2010-08-27T02:59:00.000-07:00

Now, the mind is alright, it is normal.
It won’t be and it thinks again.
We watch that.
Watch it clearly
Become familiar in watching, and skilled.
Be a champ in watching.

It is good to see suffering.
To see suffering is the most excellent thing.
Suffering gives rise to ‘BUDDHA’.
If there was no suffering, there would be no BUDDHA.

Don’t be the one who is suffering: see it!
To see suffering is to be the BUDDHA, a little BUDDHA.
The BUDDHA is the One who knows,
the Awakened One,
the joyful One.

It doesn’t mean a person,
rather,
it is the quality of knowing,
of being awake – that is the BUDDHA.

The state of seeing is a quality,
it is the standard of life,
it is the Path.