|
 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.
 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.
--
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.
 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 withabbreviated 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
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
 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!
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.
|
|
