Tidying Up the Mental Household</h1> <article> <h1>Tidying Up the Mental Household</h1> <p>Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:10:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TKHYA-8SVwEH9WvDYg7GdsEDTXA/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TKHYA-8SVwEH9WvDYg7GdsEDTXA/1/da"></img></a></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">If anyone whose mind is not harmonized and controlled through methodical meditative training should take a close look at his own everyday thoughts and activities, hewill meet with a rather disconcerting sight. Apartfrom the few main channels of his purposeful thoughts and activities, he will everywhere be faced with at angled mass of perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and casual bodily movements showing a disorderliness and confusion which he would certainly not toleratein his living-room. Yet this is the state of affairs that we take for granted within a considerable portion of ourwaking life and our normal mental activity. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Let us now look at the details of that rather untidy picture. First we meeta vast number of casual sense-impressions such as sightsand sounds, passing constantly through ourmind. Most of them remain vague and fragmentary; some are even based on faulty perceptions and misjudgements. Carrying these inherent weaknesses, they often form the untested basis for judgements and decisions on a higher level of consciousness. True, all these casual sense impressions need not and cannot be objects of focused attention. A stone on the road that happens to meet our glance will have a claim on our attention only if it obstructs our progress or is of interest to us for some reason. Yet if we neglect these casual impressions too often, we may stumble over many stones lying on our road and also overlook many gems.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Besides the casual sense impressions, there are those more significant and definite perceptions, thoughts, feelings and volitions which have a closer connection with our purposeful life. Here too, we find that a very high proportion of them are in a state of utter confusion. Hundreds ofcross-currents flash through the mind, and everywhere there are “bits and ends” of unfinished thoughts, stifled emotions and passing moods. Many meet a premature death. Owing to their innately feeble nature, our lack of concentration or suppression by new and stronger impressions, they do not persist and develop. If we observe our own mind, we shall notice how easily diverted our thoughts are, how often they behave like undisciplined disputants constantly interrupting each other and refusing to listen to the other side’sarguments. Again, many lines of thought remain rudimentary or are left untranslated into will and action, because courage is lacking to accept their practical, moral or intellectual consequences. If we continue to examine more closely our average perceptions, thoughts orjudgements, we shall have to admit that many of them are unreliable. They are just the products of habit, led by prejudices of intellect or emotion, by our pet preferences or aversions, by laziness or selfishness, by faulty or superficial observations.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Such a look into long-neglected quarters of the mind will come as a wholesome shock to the observer. It will convince himof the urgent need for methodical mental culture extending below the thin surface layer of the mind to those vast twilight regions of consciousness we have just visited. The observer will then become aware that the relatively small sector of the mind that stands in the intenselight of purposeful will and thought is not a reliable standard of the inner strength and lucidity of consciousnessin its totality. He will also see that the quality of individual consciousness cannot be judged by a few optimal results of mental activity achieved in brief, intermittent periods. The decisive factor in determining the quality of consciousness is self-understanding and self-control: whether that dim awareness characteristic of our everyday mind and the uncontrolled portion of everyday activity tends to increase or decrease.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">It is the daily little negligence in thoughts, words and deeds going on for many years of our life (and as the Buddha teaches, for many existences), that is chiefly responsible for the untidiness and confusion we find in our minds. This negligence creates the trouble and allows it to continue. Thus the old Buddhist teachers have said: “Negligence produces a lot of dirt. As in a house, so in the mind, only a very little dirt collects in a day or two, but if it goes on for many years, it will grow into a vast heap of refuse.” The dark, untidy corners of the mind are the hide outs of our most dangerous enemies. From there they attack us unawares, and much too often succeed in defeating us.That twilight world peopled by frustrated desires and suppressed resentments, by vacillations, whims and many other shadowy figures, forms a background from whichupsurging passions – greed and lust, hatred and anger – may derive powerful, support. Besides, the obscure and obscuring nature of that twilight region is the very element and mother-soil of the third and strongest of the three roots of evil (akusala mula), ignorance or delusion. Attempts at eliminating the mind’s main defilements– greed, hate and delusion – must fail as long as these defilements find refuge and support in the uncontrolled dim regions of the mind; as long as the close and complex tissue of those half-articulate thoughts and emotions forms the basic texture of mind into which just a few golden strands of noble and lucid thought are woven. But how are we to deal with that unwieldy, tangled mass? Usuallywe try to ignore it and to rely on the counteracting energies of our surface mind. But the only saferemedy is to face it – with mindfulness. Nothing more difficultis needed than to acquire the habit of directing bare attention to these rudimentary thoughts as often as possible. The working principle here is the simple fact that two thoughts cannot coexist at the same time: if the clear light of mindfulness is present, there is no room for mental twilight. When sustained mindfulness has secured a firm foothold, it will be a matter of comparatively secondary importance how the mind will then deal with those rudimentary thoughts, moods and emotions. One may just dismiss them and replace them by purposeful thoughts; or one may allow and even compel them to complete what they have to say. In the latter case they will often reveal how poor and weak they actually are, and it will then not be difficult to dispose of them once they are forced into the open. This procedure of bare attention is very simple and effective; the difficulty is only the persistence in applying it.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Observing acomplex thing means identifying its componentparts, singling out the separate strands forming that intricate tissue. If this is applied to the complex currents of mental and practical life, automatically a strong regulating influence will be noticeable. As if ashamed in the presence of the calmly observing eye, the course of thoughts will proceed in a less disorderly and way ward manner; it will not be so easily diverted, and will resemble more and more a well-regulated river.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">During decades of the present life and through out millennia of previous lives traversing the round of existence, there hassteadily grown, within each individual, a closely knit system of intellectual and emotional prejudices, of bodily and mental habits that are no longer questioned as to their rightful position and useful function in human life. Here again, the application of bare attention loosens the hard soil of these often very ancient layers of the human mind, preparing thus the ground for sowing the seed of methodical mental training. Bare attention identifies and pursues the single threads of that closely interwoven tissue of our habits. It sorts out carefully the subsequent justifications of passionate impulses and the pretended motives of our prejudices.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Fearlessly itquestions old habits often grown meaningless. It uncovers their roots, and thus helps abolish all that is seen to be harmful. In brief, bare attention lays open the minute crevices in the seemingly impenetrable structure of unquestioned mental processes. Then the sword of wisdom wielded by the strong arm of constant meditative practice will be able to penetrate these crevices, and finally to break up that structure where required. If the inner connections between the single parts of a seemingly compact whole become intelligible, they then cease to be inaccessible.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">When the facts and details of the mind’s conditioned nature are uncovered by meditative practice, there is an increased chance to effect fundamental changes in the mind. In that way, not only those hitherto unquestioned habits of the mind, its twilight regions and its normal processes aswell, but even those seemingly solid, indisputable facts of theworld of matter – all will become “questionable”and lose much of their self-assurance. Many people are so impressed and intimidated by that blandself-assurance of assumed “solid facts,” that they hesitate to take up any spiritual training, doubting that it can effectanything worthwhile. The application of bare attention to the task of tidying and regulating the mind will bring perceptible results – results which will dispel their doubts and encourage them to enter more fully aspiritual path. The tidying or regulating function of bare attention, we shouldnote, is of fundamental importance for that “purificationof beings” mentioned by the Buddha as the first aim ofSatipaṭṭhāna. This phrase refers, of course, to the purification of their minds, and here the very first step isto bring initial order into the functioning of the mentalprocesses. We have seen how this is done by bare attention. In that sense, the commentary to the “Discourse on the Foundation of Mindfulness” explains the words “for the purification of beings” as follows: “It is said:‘Mental taints defile beings; mental clarity purifiesthem.’ That mental clarity comes to be by this way of mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna magga).”</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">For more understanding, please download ebook "<a target="_blank" href="http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/powermindfulness.pdf">The Power of Mindfulness</a>" written by Ven. Nyanaponika Thera.</font><br/></p><p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Cunda Kammaraputta Sutta: To Cunda the Silversmith</h1> <p>Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:00:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8MvdLIXwcQghZ7qQkjks1ibfUFc/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8MvdLIXwcQghZ7qQkjks1ibfUFc/1/da"></img></a></p><p align="center"><font size="4">translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu</font><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Translator's note:</b></font> <font face="Times" size="4">According to the Maha-parinibbana Sutta (DN 16), Cunda the silversmith at a later date presented the Buddha with the final meal before his (the Buddha's) total liberation.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Pava in Cunda the silversmith's mango grove. Then Cunda the silversmith went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him: "Cunda, of whose rites of purification do you approve?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">"The brahmans of the Western lands, lord — those who carry water pots, wear garlands of water plants, worship fire, & purify with water: they have declared purification rites of which I approve."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">"And what kind of purification rites have they declared, those brahmans of the Western lands who carry water pots, wear garlands of water plants, worship fire, & purify with water?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">"There is the case where the brahmans of the Western lands... get their disciples to undertake their practice thus: 'Come, now, my good man: Get up at the proper time from your bed and touch the earth. If you don't touch the earth, touch wet cow dung. If you don't touch wet cow dung, touch green grass. If you don't touch green grass, worship a fire. If you don't worship a fire, pay homage to the sun with clasped hands. If you don't pay homage to the sun with clasped hands, go down into the water three times by nightfall.' These are the purification rites declared by the brahmans of the Western lands... of which I approve."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">"Cunda, the purification rites declared by the brahmans of the Western lands... are one thing; the purification in the discipline of the noble ones is something else entirely."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">"But how is there purification in the discipline of the noble ones, lord? It would be good if the Blessed One would teach me how there is purification in the discipline of the noble ones."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">"Then in that case, Cunda, listen & pay close attention. I will speak."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">"As you say, lord," Cunda the silversmith responded.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">The Blessed One said: "There are three ways in which one is made impure by bodily action, four ways in which one is made impure by verbal action, and three ways in which one is made impure by mental action.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">Unskillful Bodily Action"And how is one made impure in three ways by bodily action? There is the case where a certain person takes life, is a hunter, bloody-handed, devoted to killing & slaying, showing no mercy to living beings. He takes what is not given. He takes, in the manner of a thief, things in a village or a wilderness that belong to others and have not been given by them. He engages in sensual misconduct. He gets sexually involved with those who are protected by their mothers, their fathers, their brothers, their sisters, their relatives, or their Dhamma; those with husbands, those who entail punishments, or even those crowned with flowers by another man. This is how one is made impure in three ways by bodily action.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">Unskillful Verbal Action"And how is one made impure in four ways by verbal action? There is the case where a certain person engages in false speech. When he has been called to a town meeting, a group meeting, a gathering of his relatives, his guild, or of the royalty [i.e., a royal court proceeding], if he is asked as a witness, 'Come & tell, good man, what you know': If he doesn't know, he says, 'I know.' If he does know, he says, 'I don't know.' If he hasn't seen, he says, 'I have seen.' If he has seen, he says, 'I haven't seen.' Thus he consciously tells lies for his own sake, for the sake of another, or for the sake of a certain reward. He engages in divisive speech. What he has heard here he tells there to break those people apart from these people here. What he has heard there he tells here to break these people apart from those people there. Thus breaking apart those who are united and stirring up strife between those who have broken apart, he loves factionalism, delights in factionalism, enjoys factionalism, speaks things that create factionalism. He engages in abusive speech. He speaks words that are harsh, cutting, bitter to others, abusive of others, provoking anger and destroying concentration. He engages in idle chatter. He speaks out of season, speaks what isn't factual, what isn't in accordance with the goal, the Dhamma, & the Vinaya, words that are not worth treasuring. This is how one is made impure in four ways by verbal action.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">Unskillful Mental Action"And how is one made impure in three ways by mental action? There is the case where a certain person is covetous. He covets the belongings of others, thinking, 'O, that what belongs to others would be mine!' He bears ill will, corrupt in the resolves of his heart: 'May these beings be killed or cut apart or crushed or destroyed, or may they not exist at all!' He has wrong view, is warped in the way he sees things: 'There is nothing given, nothing offered, nothing sacrificed. There is no fruit or result of good or bad actions. There is no this world, no next world, no mother, no father, no spontaneously reborn beings; no priests or contemplatives who, faring rightly & practicing rightly, proclaim this world & the next after having directly known & realized it for themselves.' This is how one is made impure in three ways by mental action.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">"These, Cunda, are the ten courses of unskillful action. When a person is endowed with these ten courses of unskillful action, then even if he gets up at the proper time from his bed and touches the earth, he is still impure. If he doesn't touch the earth, he is still impure. If he touches wet cow dung, he is still impure. If he doesn't touch wet cow dung, he is still impure. If he touches green grass... If he doesn't touch green grass... If he worships a fire... If he doesn't worship a fire... If he pays homage to the sun with clasped hands... If he doesn't pay homage to the sun with clasped hands... If he goes down into the water three times by nightfall... If he doesn't go down into the water three times by nightfall, he is still impure. Why is that? Because these ten courses of unskillful action are impure and cause impurity. Furthermore, as a result of being endowed with these ten courses of unskillful action, [rebirth in] hell is declared, [rebirth in] an animal womb is declared, [rebirth in] the realm of hungry shades is declared — that or any other bad destination.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">"Now, Cunda, there are three ways in which one is made pure by bodily action, four ways in which one is made pure by verbal action, and three ways in which one is made pure by mental action.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">Skillful Bodily Action"And how is one made pure in three ways by bodily action? There is the case where a certain person, abandoning the taking of life, abstains from the taking of life. He dwells with his rod laid down, his knife laid down, scrupulous, merciful, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings. Abandoning the taking of what is not given, he abstains from taking what is not given. He does not take, in the manner of a thief, things in a village or a wilderness that belong to others and have not been given by them. Abandoning sensual misconduct, he abstains from sensual misconduct. He does not get sexually involved with those who are protected by their mothers, their fathers, their brothers, their sisters, their relatives, or their Dhamma; those with husbands, those who entail punishments, or even those crowned with flowers by another man. This is how one is made pure in three ways by bodily action.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">Skillful Verbal Action"And how is one made pure in four ways by verbal action? There is the case where a certain person, abandoning false speech, abstains from false speech. When he has been called to a town meeting, a group meeting, a gathering of his relatives, his guild, or of the royalty, if he is asked as a witness, 'Come & tell, good man, what you know': If he doesn't know, he says, 'I don't know.' If he does know, he says, 'I know.' If he hasn't seen, he says, 'I haven't seen.' If he has seen, he says, 'I have seen.' Thus he doesn't consciously tell a lie for his own sake, for the sake of another, or for the sake of any reward. Abandoning false speech, he abstains from false speech. He speaks the truth, holds to the truth, is firm, reliable, no deceiver of the world. Abandoning divisive speech he abstains from divisive speech. What he has heard here he does not tell there to break those people apart from these people here. What he has heard there he does not tell here to break these people apart from those people there. Thus reconciling those who have broken apart or cementing those who are united, he loves concord, delights in concord, enjoys concord, speaks things that create concord. Abandoning abusive speech, he abstains from abusive speech. He speaks words that are soothing to the ear, that are affectionate, that go to the heart, that are polite, appealing & pleasing to people at large. Abandoning idle chatter, he abstains from idle chatter. He speaks in season, speaks what is factual, what is in accordance with the goal, the Dhamma, & the Vinaya. He speaks words worth treasuring, seasonable, reasonable, circumscribed, connected with the goal. This is how one is made pure in four ways by verbal action.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">Skillful Mental Action"And how is one made pure in three ways by mental action? There is the case where a certain person is not covetous. He does not covet the belongings of others, thinking, 'O, that what belongs to others would be mine!' He bears no ill will and is not corrupt in the resolves of his heart. [He thinks,] 'May these beings be free from animosity, free from oppression, free from trouble, and may they look after themselves with ease!' He has right view and is not warped in the way he sees things: 'There is what is given, what is offered, what is sacrificed. There are fruits & results of good & bad actions. There is this world & the next world. There is mother & father. There are spontaneously reborn beings; there are priests & contemplatives who, faring rightly & practicing rightly, proclaim this world & the next after having directly known & realized it for themselves.' This is how one is made pure in three ways by mental action.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">"These, Cunda, are the ten courses of skillful action. When a person is endowed with these ten courses of skillful action, then even if he gets up at the proper time from his bed and touches the earth, he is still pure. If he doesn't touch the earth, he is still pure. If he touches wet cow dung, he is still pure. If he doesn't touch wet cow dung, he is still pure. If he touches green grass... If he doesn't touch green grass... If he worships a fire... If he doesn't worship a fire... If he pays homage to the sun with clasped hands... If he doesn't pay homage to the sun with clasped hands... If he goes down into the water three times by nightfall... If he doesn't go down into the water three times by nightfall, he is still pure. Why is that? Because these ten courses of skillful action are pure and cause purity. Furthermore, as a result of being endowed with these ten courses of skillful action, [rebirth among] the devas is declared, [rebirth among] human beings is declared — that or any other good destination."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="4">When this was said, Cunda the silversmith said to the Blessed One: "Magnificent, lord! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way has the Blessed One — through many lines of reasoning — made the Dhamma clear. I go to the Blessed One for refuge, to the Dhamma, and to the community of monks. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge, from this day forward, for life."</font></p><p><br/></p><p>Source: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.176.than.html">http://www.accesstoinsight.org</a><br/></p><p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>THE ANGER-EATING DEMON</h1> <p>Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/rXOIzYXNZXpP14e7-pHvqeGSeiw/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/rXOIzYXNZXpP14e7-pHvqeGSeiw/1/da"></img></a></p><p></p><p><font size="3">Retold from an ancient Buddhist Story by Nyanaponika Thera</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> <font face="Times" size="3">Once there lived a demon who had a peculiar diet: he fed on the anger of others. And as his feeding ground was the human world, there was no lack of food for him. He found it quite easy to provoke a family quarrel, or national and racial hatred. Even to stir up a war was not very difficult for him. And whenever he succeeded in causing a war, he could properly gorge himself without much further effort; because once a war starts, hate multiplies by its own momentum and affects even normally friendly people. So the demon's food supply became so rich that he sometimes had to restrain himself from over-eating, being content with nibbling just a small piece of resentment found close-by. But as it often happens with successful people, he became rather overbearing and one day when feeling bored he thought: "Shouldn't I try it with the gods?" On reflection he chose the Heaven of the Thirty-three Deities, ruled by Sakka, Lord of Gods. He knew that only a few of these gods had entirely eliminated the fetters of ill-will and aversion, though they were far above petty and selfish quarrels. So by magic power he transferred himself to that heavenly realm and was lucky enough to come at a time when Sakka the Divine King was absent. There was none in the large audience hall and without much ado the demon seated himself on Sakka's empty throne, waiting quietly for things to happen, which he hoped would bring him a good feed. Soon some of the gods came to the hall and first they could hardly believe their own divine eyes when they saw that ugly demon sitting on the throne, squat and grinning. Having recovered from their shock, they started to shout and lament: "Oh you ugly demon, how can you dare to sit on the throne of our Lord? What utter cheekiness! What a crime! you should be thrown headlong into the hell and straight into a boiling cauldron! You should be quartered alive! Begone! Begone!"</font></font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="3"> </font><font face="Times" size="3">But while the gods were growing more and more angry, the demon was quite pleased because from moment to moment he grew in size, in strength and in power. The anger he absorbed into his system started to ooze from his body as a smoky red-glowing mist. This evil aura kept the gods at a distance and their radiance was dimmed.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="3"> </font><font face="Times" size="3">Suddenly a bright glow appeared at the other end of the hall and it grew into a dazzling light from which Sakka emerged, the King of Gods. He who had firmly entered the undeflectible Stream that leads Nibbana-wards, was unshaken by what he saw. The smoke-screen created by the gods' anger parted when he slowly and politely approached the usurper of his throne. "Welcome, friend! Please remain seated. I can take another chair. May I offer you the drink of hospitality? Our Amrita is not bad this year. Or do you prefer a stronger brew, the vedic Soma?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="3"> </font><font face="Times" size="3">While Sakka spoke these friendly words, the demon rapidly shrank to a diminutive size and finally disappeared, trailing behind a whiff of malodorous smoke which likewise soon dissolved.</font></p><p><br/></p><p> <font face="Times" size="3">The gist of this story dates back to the discourses of the Buddha. But even now, over 2500 years later, our world looks as if large hordes of Anger-eating Demons were haunting it and were kept well nourished by millions slaving for them all over the earth. Fires of hate and wide-traveling waves of violence threaten to engulf mankind. Also the grass roots of society are poisoned by conflict and discord, manifesting in angry thoughts and words and in violent deeds. Is it not time to end this self-destructive slavery of man to his impulses of hate and aggression which only serve the demoniac forces? Our story tells how these demons of hate can be exorcised by the power of gentleness and love. If this power of love can be tested and proven, at grass-root level, in the widely spread net of personal relationships, society at large, the world at large, will not remain unaffected by it. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="3">-- Based on Samyutta Nikaya, Sakka Samyutta, No. 22 Note</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font face="Times" size="3">__________<br/></font></p><p><font face="Times" size="3"> 1. The "Norm" or law (dhamma), here referred to, may be expressed in the words of the Dhammapada (v. 5):</font></p><p><font face="Times" size="3"> "Not by hating hatred ceases In this world of tooth and claw; Love alone from hate releases --</font></p><p><font face="Times" size="3"> This is the Eternal Law." Translated by Francis Story] </font></p> </article> <article> <h1>The Great Causes Discourse</h1> <p>Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:30:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/QynXlohR31lKpMz-ETCvsG_CoFw/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/QynXlohR31lKpMz-ETCvsG_CoFw/1/da"></img></a></p><div align="center"><font size="3">មហានិទានសូត្រនេះ មានសំដែងក្នុងសុត្តន្តបិដក ភាគទី១៦ ទីឃនិកាយ តតិយភាគ មហាវគ្គ ត្រង់មហានិទានសូត្រទី២ ពីទំព័រទី១១៧ ដល់១៥៣ <a target="_blank" href="http://www.saloeurm.com/books/SuttaPitaka16.pdf">សូមចុចទីនេះដើម្បីទាញយក</a>។</font><br/></div><div align="center"><br/></div><div align="center"><br/></div><div align="center"><font size="3"><font size="4">Maha-nidana Sutta: The Great Causes Discourse</font></font><font size="3"><font size="4"><br/>translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu</font></font></div><div align="center"><br/></div><p><font size="2">Translator's IntroductionThis is one of the most profound discourses in the Pali canon. It gives an extended treatment of the teachings of dependent co-arising (paticca samuppada) and not-self (anatta) in an outlined context of how these teachings function in practice.</font></p><p><font size="2">The first part of the discourse takes the factors of dependent co-arising in sequence from effect to cause, tracing them down to the mutual dependency of name-and-form (mental and physical activity) on the one hand, and consciousness on the other. In connection with this point, it is worth noting that the word "great" in the title of the discourse may have a double meaning: modifying the word "discourse" — it's a long discourse — and modifying "causes," referring to the fact that name-and-form and consciousness as causal factors can account for everything describable in the cosmos.</font></p><p><font size="2">After tracing the basic sequence of factors in the causal pattern, the discourse then reviews their inter-relationships, showing how they can explain stress and suffering both on the individual and on the social level.</font></p><p><font size="2">The second part of the discourse, taking up the teaching of not-self, shows how dependent co-arising gives focus to this teaching in practice. It begins with a section on Delineations of a Self, classifying the various ways in which a sense of "self" might be defined in terms of form. The scheme of analysis introduced in this section — classifying views of the self according to the variables of form and formless; finite and infinite; already existing, naturally developing in the future, and alterable through human effort — covers all the theories of the self proposed in the classical Upanisads, as well as all theories of self or soul proposed in more recent times. The inclusion of an infinite self in this list gives the lie to the belief that the Buddha's teachings on not-self were denying nothing more than a sense of "separate" or "limited" self. The discourse points out that even a limitless, infinite, all-embracing sense of self is based on an obsession in the mind that has to be abandoned.</font></p><p><font size="2">The following section, on Non-delineations of a Self, shows that it is possible for the mind to function without reading a "self" into experience. The remaining sections focus on ways in which this can be done by treating the sense of self as it relates to different aspects of name-and-form. The first of these sections — Assumptions of a Self — focuses on the sense of self as it relates to feeling, one of the "name" factors in name-and-form. The next section — Seven Stations of Consciousness — focuses on form, formlessness, and perception, which is another one of the "name" factors that allows a place for consciousness to land and grow on the "macro" level in the cycle of death and rebirth. The last section — Eight Emancipations — focuses on form, formlessness, and perception on the "micro" level in the practice of meditative absorption (jhana).</font></p><p><font size="2">In each of these cases, once the sense of attachment and identification with name-and-form can be broken, the mutual dependency between consciousness and name-and-form is broken as well. This brings about total freedom from the limits of "the extent to which there are means of designation, expression, and delineation... the extent to which the sphere of discernment extends, the extent to which the cycle revolves for the manifesting (discernibility) of this world — i.e., name-and-form together with consciousness." This is the release at which the Buddha's teachings are aimed.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Dependent Co-arising</b><br/>I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was living among the Kurus. Now, the Kurus have a town named Kammasadhamma. There Ven. Ananda approached the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One: "It's amazing, lord, it's astounding, how deep this dependent co-arising is, and how deep its appearance, and yet to me it seems as clear as clear can be."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">[The Buddha:] "Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that. Deep is this dependent co-arising, and deep its appearance. It's because of not understanding and not penetrating this Dhamma that this generation is like a tangled skein, a knotted ball of string, like matted rushes and reeds, and does not go beyond transmigration, beyond the planes of deprivation, woe, and bad destinations.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'Is there a demonstrable requisite condition for aging and death?' one should answer, 'There is.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'From what requisite condition do aging and death come?' one should say, 'Aging and death come from birth as their requisite condition.'</font></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'Is there a demonstrable requisite condition for birth?' one should answer, 'There is.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'From what requisite condition does birth come?' one should say, 'Birth comes from becoming as its requisite condition.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'Is there a demonstrable requisite condition for becoming?' one should answer, 'There is.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'From what requisite condition does becoming come?' one should say, 'Becoming comes from clinging as its requisite condition.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'Is there a demonstrable requisite condition for clinging?' one should answer, 'There is.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'From what requisite condition does clinging come?' one should say, 'Clinging comes from craving as its requisite condition.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'Is there a demonstrable requisite condition for craving?' one should answer, 'There is.'</font></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'From what requisite condition does craving come?' one should say, 'Craving comes from feeling as its requisite condition.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'Is there a demonstrable requisite condition for feeling?' one should answer, 'There is.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'From what requisite condition does feeling come?' one should say, 'Feeling comes from contact as its requisite condition.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'Is there a demonstrable requisite condition for contact?' one should answer, 'There is.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'From what requisite condition does contact come?' one should say, 'Contact comes from name-and-form as its requisite condition.'</font></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'Is there a demonstrable requisite condition for name-and-form?' one should answer, 'There is.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'From what requisite condition does name-and-form come?' one should say, 'Name-and-form comes from consciousness as its requisite condition.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'Is there a demonstrable requisite condition for consciousness?' one should answer, 'There is.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If one is asked, 'From what requisite condition does consciousness come?' one should say, 'Consciousness comes from name-and-form as its requisite condition.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus, Ananda, from name-and-form as a requisite condition comes consciousness. From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-and-form. From name-and-form as a requisite condition comes contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging. From clinging as a requisite condition comes becoming. From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. From birth as a requisite condition, aging, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. Such is the origination of this entire mass of stress.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Aging and Death</b><br/>"'From birth as a requisite condition come aging and death.' Thus it has been said. And this is the way to understand how from birth as a requisite condition come aging and death. If there were no birth at all, in any way, of anything anywhere — i.e., of devas in the state of devas, of celestials in the state of celestials, of spirits in the state of spirits, of demons in the state of demons, of human beings in the human state, of quadrupeds in the state of quadrupeds, of birds in the state of birds, of snakes in the state of snakes, or of any being in its own state — in the utter absence of birth, from the cessation of birth, would aging and death be discerned?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><font size="3">"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for aging and death, i.e., birth.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Birth</b><br/>"'From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth.' Thus it has been said. And this is the way to understand how from becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. If there were no becoming at all, in any way, of anything anywhere — i.e., sensual becoming, form becoming, or formless becoming — in the utter absence of becoming, from the cessation of becoming, would birth be discerned?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for birth, i.e., becoming.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Becoming</b><br/>"'From clinging as a requisite condition comes becoming.' Thus it has been said. And this is the way to understand how from clinging as a requisite condition comes becoming. If there were no clinging at all, in any way, of anything anywhere — i.e., clinging to sensuality, clinging to precepts and practices, clinging to views, or clinging to doctrines of the self — in the utter absence of clinging, from the cessation of clinging, would becoming be discerned?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for becoming, i.e., clinging.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Clinging</b><br/>"'From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging.' Thus it has been said. And this is the way to understand how from craving as a requisite condition comes clinging. If there were no craving at all, in any way, of anything anywhere — i.e., craving for sensuality, craving for becoming, craving for no becoming — in the utter absence of craving, from the cessation of craving, would clinging be discerned?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for clinging, i.e., craving.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Craving</b><br/>"'From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving.' Thus it has been said. And this is the way to understand how from feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. If there were no feeling at all, in any way, of anything anywhere — i.e., feeling born of contact at the eye, feeling born of contact at the ear, feeling born of contact at the nose, feeling born of contact at the tongue, feeling born of contact at the body, or feeling born of contact at the intellect — in the utter absence of feeling, from the cessation of feeling, would craving be discerned?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for craving, i.e., feeling.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Dependent on Craving"Now, craving is dependent on feeling, seeking is dependent on craving, acquisition is dependent on seeking, ascertainment is dependent on acquisition, desire and passion is dependent on ascertainment, attachment is dependent on desire and passion, possessiveness is dependent on attachment, stinginess is dependent on possessiveness, defensiveness is dependent on stinginess, and because of defensiveness, dependent on defensiveness, various evil, unskillful phenomena come into play: the taking up of sticks and knives; conflicts, quarrels, and disputes; accusations, divisive speech, and lies.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"And this is the way to understand how it is that because of defensiveness various evil, unskillful phenomena come into play: the taking up of sticks and knives; conflicts, quarrels, and disputes; accusations, divisive speech, and lies. If there were no defensiveness at all, in any way, of anything anywhere, in the utter absence of defensiveness, from the cessation of defensiveness, would various evil, unskillful phenomena — the taking up of sticks and knives; conflicts, quarrels, and disputes; accusations, divisive speech, and lies — come into play?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for the coming-into-play of various evil, unskillful phenomena — the taking up of sticks and knives; conflicts, quarrels, and disputes; accusations, divisive speech, and lies — i.e., defensiveness.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"'Defensiveness is dependent on stinginess.' Thus it has been said. And this is the way to understand how defensiveness is dependent on stinginess. If there were no stinginess at all, in any way, of anything anywhere, in the utter absence of stinginess, from the cessation of stinginess, would defensiveness be discerned?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for defensiveness, i.e., stinginess.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">(Similarly back through the chain of conditions: stinginess, attachment, possessiveness, desire and passion, ascertainment, acquisition, and seeking.)</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"'Seeking is dependent on craving.' Thus it has been said. And this is the way to understand how seeking is dependent on craving. If there were no craving at all, in any way, of anything anywhere — i.e., craving for sensuality, craving for becoming, craving for no becoming — in the utter absence of craving, from the cessation of craving, would seeking be discerned?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for seeking, i.e., craving. Thus, Ananda, these two phenomena [the chain of conditions leading from craving to birth, aging, and death, and the chain of conditions leading from craving to quarrels, etc.], as a duality, flow back into one place at feeling.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Feeling</b><br/>"'From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling.' Thus it has been said. And this is the way to understand how from contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. If there were no contact at all, in any way, of anything anywhere — i.e., contact at the eye, contact at the ear, contact at the nose, contact at the tongue, contact at the body, or contact at the intellect — in the utter absence of contact, from the cessation of contact, would feeling be discerned?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><font size="3">"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for feeling, i.e., contact.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Contact</b><br/>"'From name-&-form as a requisite condition comes contact. Thus it has been said. And this is the way to understand how, from name-&-form as a requisite condition comes contact. If the qualities, traits, themes, & indicators by which there is a description of name-group (mental activity) were all absent, would designation-contact with regard to the form-group (the physical properties) be discerned?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If the permutations, signs, themes, and indicators by which there is a description of form-group were all absent, would resistance-contact with regard to the name-group be discerned?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If the permutations, signs, themes, and indicators by which there is a description of name-group and form-group were all absent, would designation-contact or resistance-contact be discerned?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for contact, i.e., name-and-form.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Name-and-form</b><br/>"'From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-and-form.' Thus it has been said. And this is the way to understand how from consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-and-form. If consciousness were not to descend into the mother's womb, would name-and-form take shape in the womb?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If, after descending into the womb, consciousness were to depart, would name-and-form be produced for this world?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If the consciousness of the young boy or girl were to be cut off, would name-and-form ripen, grow, and reach maturity?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for name-and-form, i.e., consciousness."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Consciousness</b><br/>"'From name-and-form as a requisite condition comes consciousness.' Thus it has been said. And this is the way to understand how from name-and-form as a requisite condition comes consciousness. If consciousness were not to gain a foothold in name-and-form, would a coming-into-play of the origination of birth, aging, death, and stress in the future be discerned?</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, this is a requisite condition for consciousness, i.e., name-and-form.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"This is the extent to which there is birth, aging, death, passing away, and re-arising. This is the extent to which there are means of designation, expression, and delineation. This is the extent to which the sphere of discernment extends, the extent to which the cycle revolves for the manifesting (discernibility) of this world — i.e., name-and-form together with consciousness.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Delineations of a Self</b><br/>"To what extent, Ananda, does one delineate when delineating a self? Either delineating a self possessed of form and finite, one delineates that 'My self is possessed of form and finite.' Or, delineating a self possessed of form and infinite, one delineates that 'My self is possessed of form and infinite.' Or, delineating a self formless and finite, one delineates that 'My self is formless and finite.' Or, delineating a self formless and infinite, one delineates that 'My self is formless and infinite.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Now, the one who, when delineating a self, delineates it as possessed of form and finite, either delineates it as possessed of form and finite in the present, or of such a nature that it will [naturally] become possessed of form and finite [in the future/after death], or he believes that 'Although it is not yet that way, I will convert it into being that way.' This being the case, it is proper to say that a fixed view of a self possessed of form and finite obsesses him.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"The one who, when delineating a self, delineates it as possessed of form and infinite, either delineates it as possessed of form and infinite in the present, or of such a nature that it will [naturally] become possessed of form and infinite [in the future/after death], or he believes that 'Although it is not yet that way, I will convert it into being that way.' This being the case, it is proper to say that a fixed view of a self possessed of form and infinite obsesses him.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"The one who, when delineating a self, delineates it as formless and finite, either delineates it as formless and finite in the present, or of such a nature that it will [naturally] become formless and finite [in the future/after death], or he believes that 'Although it is not yet that way, I will convert it into being that way.' This being the case, it is proper to say that a fixed view of a self formless and finite obsesses him.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"The one who, when delineating a self, delineates it as formless and infinite, either delineates it as formless and infinite in the present, or of such a nature that it will [naturally] become formless and infinite [in the future/after death], or he believes that 'Although it is not yet that way, I will convert it into being that way.' This being the case, it is proper to say that a fixed view of a self formless and infinite obsesses him.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Non-Delineations of a Self</b><br/>"To what extent, Ananda, does one not delineate when not delineating a self? Either not delineating a self possessed of form and finite, one does not delineate that 'My self is possessed of form and finite.' Or, not delineating a self possessed of form and infinite, one does not delineate that 'My self is possessed of form and infinite.' Or, not delineating a self formless and finite, one does not delineate that 'My self is formless and finite.' Or, not delineating a self formless and infinite, one does not delineate that 'My self is formless and infinite.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Now, the one who, when not delineating a self, does not delineate it as possessed of form and finite, does not delineate it as possessed of form and finite in the present, nor does he delineate it as of such a nature that it will [naturally] become possessed of form and finite [in the future/after death], nor does he believe that 'Although it is not yet that way, I will convert it into being that way.' This being the case, it is proper to say that a fixed view of a self possessed of form and finite does not obsess him.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"The one who, when not delineating a self, does not delineate it as possessed of form and infinite, does not delineate it as possessed of form and infinite in the present, nor does he delineate it as of such a nature that it will [naturally] become possessed of form and infinite [in the future/after death], nor does he believe that 'Although it is not yet that way, I will convert it into being that way.' This being the case, it is proper to say that a fixed view of a self possessed of form and infinite does not obsess him.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"The one who, when not delineating a self, does not delineate it as formless and finite, does not delineate it as formless and finite in the present, nor does he delineate it as of such a nature that it will [naturally] become formless and finite [in the future/after death], nor does he believe that 'Although it is not yet that way, I will convert it into being that way.' This being the case, it is proper to say that a fixed view of a self formless and finite does not obsess him.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"The one who, when not delineating a self, does not delineate it as formless and infinite, does not delineate it as formless and infinite in the present, nor does he delineate it as of such a nature that it will [naturally] become formless and infinite [in the future/after death], nor does he believe that 'Although it is not yet that way, I will convert it into being that way.' This being the case, it is proper to say that a fixed view of a self formless and infinite does not obsess him.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"><b>Assumptions of a Self</b><br/>"To what extent, Ananda, does one assume when assuming a self? Assuming feeling to be the self, one assumes that 'Feeling is my self' [or] 'Feeling is not my self: My self is oblivious [to feeling]' [or] 'Neither is feeling my self, nor is my self oblivious to feeling, but rather my self feels, in that my self is subject to feeling.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Now, one who says, 'Feeling is my self,' should be addressed as follows: 'There are these three feelings, my friend — feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, and feelings of neither pleasure nor pain. Which of these three feelings do you assume to be the self?' At a moment when a feeling of pleasure is sensed, no feeling of pain or of neither pleasure nor pain is sensed. Only a feeling of pleasure is sensed at that moment. At a moment when a feeling of pain is sensed, no feeling of pleasure or of neither pleasure nor pain is sensed. Only a feeling of pain is sensed at that moment. At a moment when a feeling of neither pleasure nor pain is sensed, no feeling of pleasure or of pain is sensed. Only a feeling of neither pleasure nor pain is sensed at that moment.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Now, a feeling of pleasure is inconstant, fabricated, dependent on conditions, subject to passing away, dissolution, fading, and cessation. A feeling of pain is inconstant, fabricated, dependent on conditions, subject to passing away, dissolution, fading, and cessation. A feeling of neither pleasure nor pain is inconstant, fabricated, dependent on conditions, subject to passing away, dissolution, fading, and cessation. Having sensed a feeling of pleasure as 'my self,' then with the cessation of one's very own feeling of pleasure, 'my self' has perished. Having sensed a feeling of pain as 'my self,' then with the cessation of one's very own feeling of pain, 'my self' has perished. Having sensed a feeling of neither pleasure nor pain as 'my self,' then with the cessation of one's very own feeling of neither pleasure nor pain, 'my self' has perished.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus he assumes, assuming in the immediate present a self inconstant, entangled in pleasure and pain, subject to arising and passing away, he who says, 'Feeling is my self.' Thus in this manner, Ananda, one does not see fit to assume feeling to be the self.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"As for the person who says, 'Feeling is not the self: My self is oblivious [to feeling],' he should be addressed as follows: 'My friend, where nothing whatsoever is sensed (experienced) at all, would there be the thought, "I am"?'"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus in this manner, Ananda, one does not see fit to assume that 'Feeling is not my self: My self is oblivious [to feeling].'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"As for the person who says, 'Neither is feeling my self, nor is my self oblivious [to feeling], but rather my self feels, in that my self is subject to feeling,' he should be addressed as follows: 'My friend, should feelings altogether and every way stop without remainder, then with feeling completely not existing, owing to the cessation of feeling, would there be the thought, "I am"?'"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Thus in this manner, Ananda, one does not see fit to assume that 'Neither is feeling my self, nor is my self oblivious [to feeling], but rather my self feels, in that my self is subject to feeling.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Now, Ananda, in as far as a monk does not assume feeling to be the self, nor the self as oblivious, nor that 'My self feels, in that my self is subject to feeling,' then, not assuming in this way, he is not sustained by anything (does not cling to anything) in the world. Unsustained, he is not agitated. Unagitated, he is totally unbound right within. He discerns that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.'</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"If anyone were to say with regard to a monk whose mind is thus released that 'The Tathagata exists after death,' is his view, that would be mistaken; that 'The Tathagata does not exist after death'... that 'The Tathagata both exists and does not exist after death'... that 'The Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist after death' is his view, that would be mistaken. Why? Having directly known the extent of designation and the extent of the objects of designation, the extent of expression and the extent of the objects of expression, the extent of description and the extent of the objects of description, the extent of discernment and the extent of the objects of discernment, the extent to which the cycle revolves: Having directly known that, the monk is released. [To say that,] 'The monk released, having directly known that, does not see, does not know is his opinion,' that would be mistaken. [1]</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Seven Stations of Consciousness"Ananda, there are these seven stations of consciousness and two spheres. Which seven?</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"There are beings with diversity of body and diversity of perception, such as human beings, some devas, and some beings in the lower realms. This is the first station of consciousness.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"There are beings with diversity of body and singularity of perception, such as the devas of the Brahma hosts generated by the first [jhana] and some beings in the four realms of deprivation. This is the second station of consciousness. [2]</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"There are beings with singularity of body and diversity of perception, such as the Radiant Devas. This is the third station of consciousness.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"There are beings with singularity of body and singularity of perception, such as the Beautifully Lustrous Devas. This is the fourth station of consciousness.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"There are beings who,with the complete transcending of perceptions of [physical] form, with the disappearance of perceptions of resistance, and not heeding perceptions of diversity, [perceiving,] 'Infinite space,' arrive at the dimension of the infinitude of space. This is the fifth station of consciousness.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"There are beings who, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of space, [perceiving,] 'Infinite consciousness,' arrive at the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness. This is the sixth station of consciousness.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"There are beings who, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, [perceiving,] 'There is nothing,' arrive at the dimension of nothingness. This is the seventh station of consciousness.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"The dimension of non-percipient beings and, second, the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. [These are the two spheres.]</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Now, as for the first station of consciousness — beings with diversity of body and diversity of perception, such as human beings, some devas, and some beings in the lower realms: If one discerns that [station of consciousness], discerns its origination, discerns its passing away, discerns its allure, discerns its drawbacks, discerns the escape from it, would it be proper, by means of that [discernment] to take delight there?"</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"No, lord."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">(Similarly with each of the remaining stations of consciousness and two spheres.)</font></p><p><font size="3">"Ananda, when knowing — as they actually are — the origination, passing away, allure, drawbacks of — and escape from — these seven stations of consciousness and two spheres, a monk is released through lack of clinging, he is said to be a monk released through discernment.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Eight Emancipations"Ananda, there are these eight emancipations. Which eight?</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Possessed of form, one sees forms. This is the first emancipation.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Not percipient of form internally, one sees forms externally. This is the second emancipation.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"One is intent only on the beautiful. This is the third emancipation.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"With the complete transcending of perceptions of [physical] form, with the disappearance of perceptions of resistance, and not heeding perceptions of diversity, [perceiving,] 'Infinite space,' one enters and remains in the dimension of the infinitude of space. This is the fourth emancipation.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"With the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of space, [perceiving,] 'Infinite consciousness,' one enters and remains in the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness. This is the fifth emancipation.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"With the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, [perceiving,] 'There is nothing,' one enters and remains in the dimension of nothingness. This is the sixth emancipation.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"With the complete transcending of the dimension of nothingness, one enters and remains in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. This is the seventh emancipation.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"With the complete transcending of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, one enters and remains in the cessation of perception and feeling. This is the eighth emancipation.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">"Now, when a monk attains these eight emancipations in forward order, in reverse order, in forward and reverse order, when he attains them and emerges from them wherever he wants, however he wants, and for as long as he wants, when through the ending of the mental fermentations he enters and remains in the fermentation-free awareness-release and discernment-release, having directly known it and realized it in the here and now, he is said to be a monk released in both ways. And as for another release in both ways, higher or more sublime than this, there is none."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, Ven. Ananda delighted in the Blessed One's words.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2">Notes1.The various readings for this sentence all seem to be corrupt. The sense of the paragraph, read in light of AN 10.96, demands that the view expressed in the last sentence be about the monk released, unlike the four earlier views, which are wrongly attributed to the monk released. In other words, the monk released has no opinion on the question of whether the Tathagata does, doesn't, etc., exist after death. This might lead to the supposition that his lack of opinion comes from a lack of knowledge or vision. The description of what he comes to know in the course of gaining release shows that this supposition is inappropriate. He does know, he does see, and what he knows and sees about the limitations of language and concepts shows him that the question of the existence of the Tathagata after death should be set aside. Thus I would reconstruct the Pali of the final sentence in this paragraph as: Tadabhiññaa vimutto bhikkhu na jaanaati na passati iti saa ditthi tadakallam.</font></p><p><font size="2"> 2.This reading follows the Thai edition of the Pali canon. Other editions omit the statement, "and some beings in the four realms of deprivation." However, something like the Thai reading seems called for, inasmuch as the first station of consciousness covers only some of the beings in the lower realms. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.15.0.than.html">Source</a></font><br/></p> </article> <article> <h1>The purpose of life</h1> <p>Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:55:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/jWk7NErrnIeK5nVzU09-zqOwQ4A/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/jWk7NErrnIeK5nVzU09-zqOwQ4A/1/da"></img></a></p><p align="center"><br/></p><p align="center"><font size="3">Compassion and the Individual by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama</font></p><p align="center"><br/></p><p><font size="2">One great question underlies our experience, whether we think about it consciously or not: What is the purpose of life?</font></p><p><font size="2">I have considered this question and would like to share my thoughts in the hope that they may be of direct, practical benefit to those who read them.</font></p><p><font size="2">I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy.</font></p><p><font size="2">From the moment of birth, every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering. Neither social conditioning nor education nor </font></p><p><font size="2">ideology affect this. From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment. I don't know whether the universe, with its countless galaxies, stars and planets, has a deeper meaning or not, but at the very least, it is clear that we humans who live on this earth face the task of making a happy life for ourselves.</font></p><p><font size="2">Therefore, it is important to discover what will bring about the greatest degree of happiness.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p><b><font size="3">How to achieve happiness</font></b></p><p><font size="2">For a start, it is possible to divide every kind of happiness and suffering into two main categories: mental and physical. Of the two, it is the mind that exerts the greatest influence on most of us. Unless we are either gravely ill or deprived of basic necessities, our physical condition plays a secondary role in life. If the body is content, we virtually ignore it. The mind, however, registers every event, no matter how small. Hence we should devote our most serious efforts to bringing about mental peace. </font></p><p><font size="2">From my own limited experience I have found that the greatest degree of inner tranquillity comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. This helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the ultimate source of success in life.</font></p><p><font size="2">As long as we live in this world we are bound to encounter problems. If, at such times, we lose hope and become discouraged, we diminish our ability to face difficulties. If, on the other hand, we remember that it is not just ourselves but everyone who has to undergo suffering, this more realistic perspective will increase our determination and capacity to overcome troubles. Indeed, with this attitude, each new obstacle can be seen as yet another valuable opportunity to improve our mind! Thus we can strive gradually to become more compassionate, that is we can develop both genuine sympathy for others' suffering and the will to help remove their pain. As a result, our own serenity and inner strength will increase.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p><b><font size="3">Our need for love</font></b></p><p><font size="2">Ultimately, the reason why love and compassion bring the greatest happiness is simply that our nature cherishes them above all else. The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. It results from the profound interdependence we all share with one another. However capable and skillful an individual may be, left alone, he or she will not survive. However vigorous and independent one may feel during the most prosperous periods of life, when one is sick or very young or very old, one must depend on the support of others. Interdependence, of course, is a fundamental law of nature. Not only higher forms of life but also many of the smallest insects are social beings who, without any religion, law or education, survive by mutual cooperation based on an innate recognition of their interconnectedness.</font></p><p><font size="2">The most subtle level of material phenomena is also governed by interdependence. All phenomena, from the planet we inhabit to the oceans, clouds, forests and flowers that surround us, arise in dependence upon subtle patterns of energy. Without their proper interaction, they dissolve and decay. It is because our own human existence is so dependent on the help of others that our need for love lies at the very foundation of our existence. </font></p><p><font size="2">Therefore we need a genuine sense of responsibility and a sincere concern for the welfare of others. We have to consider what we human beings really are. We are not like machine-made objects. If we were merely mechanical entities, then machines themselves could alleviate all of our sufferings and fulfil our needs. However, since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. Instead, we should consider our origins and nature to discover what we require. Leaving aside the complex question of the creation and evolution of our universe, we can at least agree that each of us is the product of our own parents.</font></p><p><font size="2">In general, our conception took place not just in the context of sexual desire but from our parents' decision to have a child. Such decisions are founded on responsibility and altruism -- the parents' compassionate commitment to care for their child until it is able to take care of itself. Thus, from the very moment of our conception, our parents' love is directly involved in our creation. Moreover, we are completely dependent upon our mother's care from the earliest stages of our growth.</font></p><p><font size="2">According to some scientists, a pregnant woman's mental state, be it calm or agitated, has a direct physical effect on her unborn child. The expression of love is also very important at the time of birth. Since the very first thing we do is suck milk from our mother's breast, we naturally feel close to her, and she must feel love for us in order to feed us properly; if she feels anger or resentment her milk may not flow freely.</font></p><p><font size="2">Then there is the critical period of brain development from the time of birth up to at least the age of three or four, during which time loving physical contact is the single most important factor for the normal growth of the child.If the child is not held, hugged, cuddled or loved, its development will be impaired and its brain will not mature properly. Since a child cannot survive without the care of others, love is its most important nourishment. The happiness of childhood, the allaying of the child's many fears and the healthy development of its self-confidence all depend directly upon love. </font></p><p><font size="2">Nowadays, many children grow up in unhappy homes. If they do not receive proper affection, in later life they will rarely love their parents and, not infrequently, will find it hard to love others. This is very sad. As children grow older and enter school, their need for support must be met by their teachers. If a teacher not only imparts academic education but also assumes responsibility for preparing students for life, his or her pupils will feel trust and respect and what has been taught will leave an indelible impression on their minds. On the other hand, subjects taught by a teacher who does not show true concern for his or her students' overall well-being will be regarded as temporary and not retained for long.</font></p><p><font size="2">Similarly, if one is sick and being treated in hospital by a doctor who evinces a warm human feeling, one feels at ease and the doctor's desire to give the best possible care is itself curative, irrespective of the degree of his or her technical skill. On the other hand, if one's doctor lacks human feeling and displays an unfriendly expression, impatience or casual disregard, one will feel anxious, even if he or she is the most highly qualified doctor and the disease has been correctly diagnosed and the right medication prescribed. Inevitably, patients' feelings make a difference to the quality and completeness of their recovery.</font></p><p><font size="2">Even when we engage in ordinary conversation in everyday life, if someone speaks with human feeling we enjoy listening, and respond accordingly; the whole conversation becomes interesting, however unimportant the topic may be. On the other hand, if a person speaks coldly or harshly, we feel uneasy and wish for a quick end to the interaction. From the least to the most important event, the affection and respect of others are vital for our happiness. </font></p><p><font size="2">Recently I met a group of scientists in America who said that the rate of mental illness in their country was quite high around twelve percent of the population. it became clear during our discussion that the main cause of depression was not a lack of material necessities but a deprivation of the affection of others.</font></p><p><font size="2">So, as you can see from everything I have written so far, one thing seems clear to me: whether or not we are consciously aware of it, from the day we are born, the need for human affection is in our very blood. Even if the affection comes from an animal or someone we would normally consider an enemy, both children and adults will naturally gravitate towards it. I believe that no one is born free from the need for love. And this demonstrates that, although some modern schools of thought seek to do so, human beings cannot be defined as solely physical. No material object, however beautiful or valuable, can make us feel loved, because our deeper identity and true character lie in the subjective nature of the mind. Developing compassionSome of my friends have told me that, while love and compassion are marvelous and good, they are not really very relevant. Our world, they say, is not a place where such beliefs have much influence or power. They claim that anger and hatred are so much a part of human nature that humanity will always be dominated by them. I do not agree.</font></p><p><font size="2">We humans have existed in our present form for about a hundred thousand years. I believe that if during this time the human mind had been primarily controlled by anger and hatred, our overall population would have decreased. But today, despite all our wars, we find that the human population is greater than ever. This clearly indicates to me that love and compassion predominate in the world. And this is why unpleasant events are "news"; compassionate activities are so much a part of daily life that they are taken for granted and, therefore, largely ignored. So far I have been discussing mainly the mental benefits of compassion, but it contributes to good physical health as well. According to my personal experience, mental stability and physical well-being are directly related.</font></p><p><font size="2">Without question, anger and agitation make us more susceptible to illness. On the other hand, if the mind is tranquil and occupied with positive thoughts, the body will not easily fall prey to disease. But of course it is also true that we all have an innate self-centeredness that inhibits our love for others.</font></p><p><font size="2">So, since we desire the true happiness that is brought about by only a calm mind, and since such peace of mind is brought about by only a compassionate attitude, how can we develop this? Obviously, it is not enough for us simply to think about how nice compassion is! We need to make a concerted effort to develop it; we must use all the events of our daily life to transform our thoughts and behavior.</font></p><p><font size="2">First of all, we must be clear about what we mean by compassion. Many forms of compassionate feeling are mixed with desire and attachment. For instance, the love parents feel for their child is often strongly associated with their own emotional needs, so it is not fully compassionate. Again, in marriage, the love between husband and wife -- particularly at the beginning, when each partner still may not know the other's deeper character very well -- depends more on attachment than genuine love. Our desire can be so strong that the person to whom we are attached appears to be good, when in fact he or she is very negative. In addition, we have a tendency to exaggerate small positive qualities. Thus when one partner's attitude changes, the other partner is often disappointed and his or her attitude changes too. This is an indication that love has been motivated more by personal need than by genuine care for the other individual. True compassion is not just an emotional response but a firm commitment founded on reason. Therefore, a truly compassionate attitude towards others does not change even if they behave negatively. Of course, developing this kind of compassion is not at all easy! As a start, let us consider the following facts: Whether people are beautiful and friendly or unattractive and disruptive, ultimately they are human beings, just like oneself. Like oneself, they want happiness and do not want suffering. Furthermore, their right to overcome suffering and be happy is equal to one's own. Now, when you recognize that all beings are equal in both their desire for happiness and their right to obtain it, you automatically feel empathy and closeness for them. Through accustoming your mind to this sense of universal altruism, you develop a feeling of responsibility for others: the wish to help them actively overcome their problems. Nor is this wish selective; it applies equally to all. As long as they are human beings experiencing pleasure and pain just as you do, there is no logical basis to discriminate between them or to alter your concern for them if they behave negatively. Let me emphasize that it is within our power, given patience and time, to develop this kind of compassion. Of course, our self-centeredness, our distinctive attachment to the feeling of an independent, self-existent "I: works fundamentally to inhibit our compassion. Indeed, true compassion can be experienced only when this type of self-grasping is eliminated. But this does not mean that we cannot start and make progress now.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p><b><font size="3">How we can start</font></b></p><p><font size="2">We should begin by removing the greatest hindrances to compassion: anger and hatred. As we all know, these are extremely powerful emotions and they can overwhelm our entire mind. Nevertheless, they can be controlled. If, however, they are not, these negative emotions will plague us -- with no extra effort on their part! -- and impede our quest for the happiness of a loving mind. So as a start, it is useful to investigate whether or not anger is of value. Sometimes, when we are discouraged by a difficult situation, anger does seem helpful, appearing to bring with it more energy, confidence and determination. </font></p><p><font size="2">Here, though, we must examine our mental state carefully. While it is true that anger brings extra energy, if we explore the nature of this energy, we discover that it is blind: we cannot be sure whether its result will be positive or negative. This is because anger eclipses the best part of our brain: its rationality. So the energy of anger is almost always unreliable. It can cause an immense amount of destructive, unfortunate behavior. Moreover, if anger increases to the extreme, one becomes like a mad person, acting in ways that are as damaging to oneself as they are to others. It is possible, however, to develop an equally forceful but far more controlled energy with which to handle difficult situations. This controlled energy comes not only from a compassionate attitude, but also from reason and patience. These are the most powerful antidotes to anger. Unfortunately, many people misjudge these qualities as signs of weakness. I believe the opposite to be true: that they are the true signs of inner strength.</font></p><p><font size="2">Compassion is by nature gentle, peaceful and soft, but it is also very powerful. It is those who easily lose their patience who are insecure and unstable. Thus, to me, the arousal of anger is a direct sign of weakness. So, when a problem first arises, try to remain humble and maintain a sincere attitude and be concerned that the outcome is fair. Of course, others may try to take advantage of you, and if your remaining detached only encourages unjust aggression, adopt a strong stand. This, however, should be done with compassion, and if it is necessary to express your views and take strong countermeasures, do so without anger or ill-intent. You should realize that even though your opponents appear to be harming you, in the end, their destructive activity will damage only themselves. In order to check your own selfish impulse to retaliate, you should recall your desire to practice compassion and assume responsibility for helping prevent the other person from suffering the consequences of his or her acts. Thus, because the measures you employ have been calmly chosen, they will be more effective, more accurate and more forceful. Retaliation based on the blind energy of anger seldom hits the target.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p><b><font size="3">Friends and enemies</font></b></p><p><font size="2">I must emphasize again that merely thinking that compassion and reason and patience are good will not be enough to develop them. We must wait for difficulties to arise and then attempt to practice them. And who creates such opportunities? Not our friends, of course, but our enemies. They are the ones who give us the most trouble. So if we truly wish to learn, we should consider enemies to be our best teacher! For a person who cherishes compassion and love, the practice of tolerance is essential, and for that, an enemy is indispensable. So we should feel grateful to our enemies, for it is they who can best help us develop a tranquil mind! Also, it is often the case in both personal and public life, that with a change in circumstances, enemies become friends.</font></p><p><font size="2">So anger and hatred are always harmful, and unless we train our minds and work to reduce their negative force, they will continue to disturb us and disrupt our attempts to develop a calm mind. Anger and hatred are our real enemies. These are the forces we most need to confront and defeat, not the temporary "enemies" who appear intermittently throughout life. Of course, it is natural and right that we all want friends. I often joke that if you really want to be selfish, you should be very altruistic! You should take good care of others, be concerned for their welfare, help them, serve them, make more friends, make more smiles. The result? When you yourself need help, you find plenty of helpers! If, on the other hand, you neglect the happiness of others, in the long term you will be the loser. And is friendship produced through quarrels and anger, jealousy and intense competitiveness? I do not think so. Only affection brings us genuine close friends. In today's materialistic society, if you have money and power, you seem to have many friends. But they are not friends of yours; they are the friends of your money and power. When you lose your wealth and influence, you will find it very difficult to track these people down. The trouble is that when things in the world go well for us, we become confident that we can manage by ourselves and feel we do not need friends, but as our status and health decline, we quickly realize how wrong we were. That is the moment when we learn who is really helpful and who is completely useless. So to prepare for that moment, to make genuine friends who will help us when the need arises, we ourselves must cultivate altruism!</font></p><p><font size="2">Though sometimes people laugh when I say it, I myself always want more friends. I love smiles. Because of this I have the problem of knowing how to make more friends and how to get more smiles, in particular, genuine smiles. For there are many kinds of smile, such as sarcastic, artificial or diplomatic smiles. Many smiles produce no feeling of satisfaction, and sometimes they can even create suspicion or fear, can't they? But a genuine smile really gives us a feeling of freshness and is, I believe, unique to human beings. If these are the smiles we want, then we ourselves must create the reasons for them to appear.</font></p><p><font size="2">Compassion and the worldIn conclusion, I would like briefly to expand my thoughts beyond the topic of this short piece and make a wider point: individual happiness can contribute in a profound and effective way to the overall improvement of our entire human community. Because we all share an identical need for love, it is possible to feel that anybody we meet, in whatever circumstances, is a brother or sister. No matter how new the face or how different the dress and behavior, there is no significant division between us and other people. It is foolish to dwell on external differences, because our basic natures are the same. Ultimately, humanity is one and this small planet is our only home. If we are to protect this home of ours, each of us needs to experience a vivid sense of universal altruism. It is only this feeling that can remove the self-centered motives that cause people to deceive and misuse one another. If you have a sincere and open heart, you naturally feel self-worth and confidence, and there is no need to be fearful of others. I believe that at every level of society -- familial, tribal, national and international successful world is the growth of compassion. We do not need to become religious, nor do we need to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities. I try to treat whoever I meet as an old friend. This gives me a genuine feeling of happiness. It is the time to help create a happier world.</font></p> </article> <article> <h1>The Wheel of Law (Life)</h1> <p>Sat, 30 Jul 2011 14:52:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2L8foH3tqYttK3ldbzY2iAldjnQ/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2L8foH3tqYttK3ldbzY2iAldjnQ/1/da"></img></a></p><p><font size="3"><b>Dependent Origination (paticca-samuppada) -The Wheel of Law (Life)</b></font></p><p> <font size="2">According to Buddhism, nothing can exist by itself except, but only in relation to other causally-related events: a particular result always has a cause. For example, cause A results in B, and B then acts as a cause for another result C. The patticca-samuppada is an important discourse on the process of birth and death of beings that operates within the above law. It deals with the cause of rebirth and suffering with the purpose of releasing beings from the cycle of life(samsara). It should be noted that it is not a theory of the evolution of the world. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> This doctrine of Conditioned Genesis or Dependent Origination is unique to Buddhism. </font></p><p><br/></p><p> </p><p><font size="2"> 1.Ignorance (avijja) of the truth of dukkha, its cause, its end and the way to its end is the chief cause that sets the wheel of life in motion. In other words, it is the lack of understanding of things* as they really are which makes us cling onto these very things that result in being trapped in the cycle of birth, death and re-birth (samsara). It should be noted that understanding here is not mere book knowledge, but a true intuitive realisation of the processes of life as they really are. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> 2.As a result of this lack of understanding, there arises samkhara. The Pali word samkhara has many meanings and does not translate directly into English. But in the context of Dependent Origination, it may be termed mental formations which generate kamma.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> In general, Samkhara has a much broader and deep meaning than above. It is defined as "things that have come into existence due to causes and conditions that are subject to continuous change". It includes such factors as skillful and unskillful intentional actions, memory, habit formations set up in the past. All skillful and unskillful thoughts, words and actions are also included in this category. It could be said that samkhara is the momentum generated by the above factors that propels a being through samsara. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> 3.Dependent on past conditioning activities (samkhara) arises re-linking or re-birth consciousness (patisandhi-vinnana) in a subsequent birth. It is so called because it links the past life with the next one. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> 4.Simultaneously with the arising of the re-birth consciousness, there is the formation of mind and matter (nama-rupa). This interdependent combination is what constitutes a sentient living being. It follows that in order for a fertilized egg to develop into a living being, an essential factor is the re-birth consciousness. In this consciousness are latent all the past impressions and characteristics of that particular life-stream. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> 5.The mind-matter combination then goes on to develop the six senses (salayatana), comprising eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch and mind. In this context, mind is included as the sixth sense organ as it a receptor for thoughts and functions as a co-ordinater of the information received from other five senses.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> 6.Each of these senses gives rise to contact (phassa). Contact is the interaction of the particular sense organ with a corresponding external objects. For example, when the eye sees an object, its image falls on the retina, which produces visual stimulation. This is visual contact **. Similarly, when a sound falls on the ear, auditory contact takes place. It should be noted that no identification of the object takes place at this stage: it is simply an awareness of the presence of the object. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> 7.Dependent on contact, sensation or feeling (vedana) arises. The feeling can be pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> 8.Dependent on feelings, craving (tanha) arises. Cravings or desires take three forms: craving for sensual pleasures (kama-tanha), craving for continuation (bhava-tanha) and craving for self-destruction (vibhava-tanha). It is this craving which is deep rooted in all sentient beings that conditions the future. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> 9.As a result of craving, attachment (upadana) arises, which takes form of sensuality, false views, attachment to rites and ceremonies, and belief in a permanent soul. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> 10.Attachment results in bhava, which literally means becoming (the drive for a life to come into being). </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2"> 11.Dependent on becoming, birth (jati) takes place in a subsequent life. This is essentially the formation of the mind and matter (nama-rupa) combination. </font></p><p><font size="2"> 12.The being so formed will be subject to change, undergo old age and eventually end in death (jara-marana). </font></p><p><br/></p><p> </p><p><font size="2"> Death is followed by re-becoming (rebirth) and the above process is repeated indefinitely until such time that we are able to develop the penetrating wisdom (sati panna) that dispel our lack of understanding* of the true nature of things, leading to the complete liberation from the cycle of existence (samsara) and attaining the state of Nibbana.</font></p><p><br/></p><p> </p><p><font size="2"> This cyclic process is often symbolically depicted as a wheel in Buddhist art - the Wheel of Law or the Wheel of Life (Dhammacakka). This appears in the <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillars_of_Ashoka">famous pillars of Emperor Ashoka. </a></font></p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.londonbuddhistvihara.org">Source</a><br/></p><p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Buddhism In Modern Society</h1> <p>Mon, 18 Jul 2011 21:10:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kajbLlJWgXm0ZiT6yAu1N9cja2A/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kajbLlJWgXm0ZiT6yAu1N9cja2A/1/da"></img></a></p><p><b><font size="3">Appreciating Our Advantageous Circumstances</font></b></p><p><font size="3"> We are extraordinarily fortunate to have the circumstances for Dharma practice that are presently available to us. In both 1993 and 1994 I went to Mainland China on a pilgrimage and visited many temples there. Seeing the situation of Buddhism there made me appreciate the fortune we have here. However, we often take our freedom, material prosperity, spiritual masters and the Budda's teachings for granted and are blind to the wonderful opportunity that we have to practice. For example, we take for granted our ability to gather together to learn the Dharma. But this is not the case in many places. For example, when I was on a pilgrimage at Jiu Hua Shan, Kshitigarbha's Holy Mountain, the abbess of a nunnery asked me to give a talk to the pilgrims there. But my friends from Shanghai who were traveling with me said, "No, you can't do that. The police will come and all of us will get in trouble." We had to be careful about even an innocent activity like teaching the Dharma. Only when the abbess said that she was a friend of the police did my friends say it was safe for me to teach. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> It is important that we reflect on the advantages and good circumstances that we have to practice right now. Otherwise, we will take them for granted and they will go to waste. We tend to select one or two small problems in our life, emphasize them, and blow them out of proportion. Then we think, "I can't be happy. I can't practice the Dharma," and this thought itself prevents us from enjoying our life and making it meaningful. We human beings are very funny: when something bad happens in our lives we say, "Why me? Why is this happening to me?" But when we wake up every morning and are alive and healthy and our family is well, we never say, "Why me? Why am I so fortunate?" </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Not only should we open our eyes to all the things that are going right in our lives, but also we should recognize that they are results of our own previously-created positive actions or karma. It is helpful to think, "Whoever I was in a previous life, I did a lot of positive actions which make it possible for me to have so many good circumstances now. So in this life I should also act constructively by being ethical and kind so that in the future such fortune will continue." </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>Appreciating Our Problems</b></font></p><p><font size="3"> Appreciating our advantageous circumstances is important as is appreciating our problems. Why appreciate our problems? Because the difficult situations in our lives are the ones that make us grow the most. Take a minute and think about a difficult time in your life, a time when you had a lot of problems. Didn't you learn something valuable from that experience? You wouldn't be the person you are now without having gone through those difficulties. We may have gone through a painful time in our life, but we came out the other side with stronger inner resources and a better understanding of life. Seen in this way, even our problems enable us to become better people and aid us on the path to enlightenment. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Before we take refuge in the Three Jewels -- the Buddhas, the Dharma, and the Sangha -- it is helpful to visualize them in the space in front of us. That is, we imagine the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and arhats in a pure land. We are there too, surrounded by all sentient beings. A pure land is a place where all the circumstances are conducive to practicing the Dharma. When I visualized being in a Pure Land, I used to imagine only the people I liked and left out the people with whom I felt uncomfortable, threatened, insecure, or fearful. It was nice to imagine being in a place where everything was very pleasant and it was easy to practice the Dharma. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> But one time when I was visualizing the pure land, all the people who were giving me problems were there too! I recognized that if a pure land is a place conducive for Dharma practice, then I also need the people who harm me to be there, because they help me to practice. In fact, sometimes those who harm us help us more to practice the Dharma than those who help us. The people who help us, give us gifts, and tell us how wonderful, talented, and intelligent we are often cause us to get puffed up. On the other hand, the people who harm us show us very clearly how much resentment and jealousy we have and how attached we are to our reputations. They help us to see our attachments and aversions and they point out the things we need to work on in ourselves. Sometimes they help us even more than our teachers do in this respect. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> For example, our Dharma teachers tell us, "Try to forgive other people, try not to be angry. Jealousy and pride are defilements, so try not to follow them because they will cause you and others difficulties." We say, "Yes, yes, that's true. But I don't have those negative qualities. But the people who harm me are very resentful, jealous, and attached!" Even though our Dharma teachers point out our faults to us, we still don't see them. But when people with whom we don't get along point out our faults to us, we have to look at them. We can't run away anymore. When we're outrageously angry or burning with jealousy or attachment is eating away at us, we can't deny that we have these negative emotions. Of course, we try to say that it's the other person's fault, that we have these horrible emotions only because they made us have them. But after we've listened to the Buddha's teachings, this rationale doesn't work any more. We know in our hearts that our happiness and suffering come from our own mind. Then, even though we try to blame our difficulties on other people, we know we can't. We are forced to look at them ourselves. And when we do, we also see that they are incredible opportunities to grow and learn. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> The bodhisattvas, who sincerely wish to practice the Dharma, want to have problems. They want people to criticize them. They want their reputation to get ruined. Why? They see problems as wonderful opportunities to practice. Atisha, a great bodhisattva in India, helped to spread Buddhism to Tibet in the 11th century. When he went to Tibet, he took his Indian cook with him. This cook was very disagreeable, speaking harshly and being rude and obnoxious to people. He even regularly insulted Atisha. The Tibetans asked, "Why did you bring this person with you? We can cook for you. You don't need him!" But Atisha said, "I do need him. I need him to practice patience." </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> So when someone criticizes me I think, "He is an incarnation of Atisha's cook." One time I was living in a Dharma center and had big problems with one person there, let's call him Sam. I was so happy when I left that place to go back to the monastery and see my spiritual master. My master knew of my difficulties and asked me, "Who is kinder to you: the Buddha, or Sam?" I immediately replied, "Of course the Buddha is kinder to me!" My teacher looked disappointed and proceeded to tell me that Sam was actually much kinder to me than the Buddha! Why? Because I couldn't possibly practice patience with the Buddha. I had to practice with Sam, and without practicing patience there was no way I could become a Buddha, so I actually needed Sam! Of course, that wasn't what I wanted my teacher to say! I wanted him to say, "Oh, I understand, Sam is a horrible person. He was so mean to you, you poor thing." I wanted sympathy, but my teacher didn't give it to me. This made me wake up and realize that difficult situations are beneficial because they force me to practice and find my inner strength. All of us are going to have problems in our lives. This is the nature of cyclic existence. Remembering this can help us to transform our problems into the path to enlightenment. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>Dharma Practice in Modern Society</b></font></p><p><font size="3"> This is an important aspect of Buddhism in modern society. Dharma practice isn't just coming to the temple; it's not simply reading a Buddhist scripture or chanting the Buddha's name. Practice is how we live our lives, how we live with our family, how we work together with our colleagues, how we relate to the other people in the country and on the planet. We need to bring the Buddha's teachings on loving-kindness into our workplace, into our family, even into the grocery store and the gym. We do this not by handing out leaflets on a street corner, but by practicing and living the Dharma ourselves. When we do, automatically we will have a positive influence on the people around us. For example, you teach your children loving-kindness, forgiveness, and patience not only by telling them, but by showing it in your own behavior. If you tell your children one thing, but act in the opposite way, they are going to follow what we do, not what we say. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>Teaching Children by Example</b></font></p><p><font size="3"> If we're not careful, it is easy to teach our children to hate and never to forgive when others harm them. Look at the situation in the former Yugoslavia: it is a good example of how, both in the family and in the schools, adults taught children to hate. When those children grew up, they taught their children to hate. Generation after generation, this went on, and look what happened. There is so much suffering there; it's very sad. Sometimes you may teach children to hate another part of the family. Maybe your grandparents quarreled with their brothers and sisters, and since then the different sides of the family didn't speak to each other. Something happened years before you were born -- you don't even know what the event was -- but because of it, you're not supposed to speak to certain relatives. Then you teach that to your children and grandchildren. They learn that the solution to quarreling with someone is never to speak to them again. Is that going to help them to be happy and kind people? You should think deeply about this and make sure you teach your children only what is valuable.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> This is why it's so important that you exemplify in your behavior what you want your children to learn. When you find resentment, anger, grudges, or belligerence in your heart, you have to work on those, not only for your own inner peace but so you don't teach your children to have those harmful emotions. Because you love your children, try to also love yourself as well. Loving yourself and wanting yourself to be happy means you develop a kind heart for the benefit of everybody in the family. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><b><font size="3"> Bringing Loving-Kindness to the Schools</font></b></p><p><font size="3"> We need to bring loving-kindness not only into the family but also into the schools. Before I became a nun, I was a schoolteacher, so I have especially strong feelings about this. The most important thing for children to learn is not a lot of information, but how to be kind human beings and how to resolve their conflicts with others in a constructive way. Parents and teachers put a lot of time and money into teaching children science, arithmetic, literature, geography, geology, and computers. But do we ever spend any time teaching them how to be kind? Do we have any courses in kindness? Do we teach kids how to work with their own negative emotions and how to resolve conflicts with others? I think this is much more important than the academic subjects. Why? Children may know a lot, but if they grow up to be unkind, resentful, or greedy adults, their lives will not be happy. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Parents want their children to have a good future and thus think their children need to make a lot of money. They teach their children academic and technical skills so that they can get a good job and make lots of money -- as if money were the cause of happiness. But when people are on their deathbed, you never hear anybody wishfully say, "I should have spent more time in the office. I should have made more money." When people have regrets about how they lived their life, usually they regret not communicating better with other people, not being kinder, not letting the people that they care about know that they care. If you want your kids to have a good future don't teach them just how to make money, but how to live a healthy life, how to be a happy person, how to contribute to society in a productive way.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>Teaching Children to Share with Others</b></font></p><p><font size="3"> As parents you have to model this. Let's say your children come home and say, "Mom and Dad, I want designer jeans, I want new rollerblades, I want this and I want that because all the other kids have it." You say to your children, "Those things won't make you happy. You don't need them. It won't make you happy to keep up with the Lee's." But then you go out and buy all the things that everybody else has, even though your house is already filled with things you don't use. In this case, what you are saying and what you are doing are contradictory. You tell your children to share with other children, you don't give things to charities for the poor and needy. Look at the homes in this country: they are filled with things we don't use but can't give away. Why not? We're afraid that if we give something away we might need it in the future. We find it difficult to share our things, but we teach children that they should share. A simple way to teach your children generosity is to give away all the things you haven't used in the last year. If all four seasons have gone by and we haven't used something, we probably won't use it the next year either. There are many people who are poor and can use those things, and it would help ourselves, our children, and the other people if we gave those things away.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Another way to teach your children kindness is to not buy everything that you want. Instead, save the money and give it to a charity or to somebody who is in need. You can show your children through your own example that accumulating more and more material things doesn't bring happiness, and that it's more important to share with others. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><b><font size="3"> Teaching Children About the Environment and Recycling </font></b></p><p><font size="3"> Along this line, we need to teach children about the environment and recycling. Taking care of the environment that we share with other living beings is part of the practice of loving kindness. If we destroy the environment, we harm others. For example, if we use a lot of disposable things and don't recycle them but just throw them away, what are we giving to future generations? They will inherit from us bigger garbage dumps. I'm very happy to see more people reusing and recycling things. It is an important part of our Buddhist practice and an activity that temples and Dharma centers should take the lead in. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> The Buddha did not comment directly on many things in our modern society -- such as recycling -- because those things didn't exist at his time. But he talked about principles that we can apply to our present situations. These principles can guide us in deciding how to act in many new situations that didn't exist 2,500 years ago.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>New Addictions in the Modern Society</b></font></p><p><font size="3"> However, the Buddha did talk directly about intoxicants and discouraged us from using them. At the time of the Buddha, the chief intoxicant was alcohol. However, extrapolating on the principle he set down, the advice against intoxicants also refers to using recreational drugs or misusing tranquilizers. If we take this a step further, we have to observe our relationship to the biggest intoxicant in our society: television. As a society, we are addicted to TV. For example, after getting home from work, we're tired and want to relax. What do we do? We sit down, turn on the TV, and space out for hours, until we finally fall asleep in front of it. Our precious human life, with its potential to become a fully enlightened Buddha, gets wasted in front of the TV! Sometimes certain TV programs are far worse intoxicants than alcohol and drugs, for example, programs with a lot of violence. By the time a child is 15-years-old, he or she has seen thousands of people die on the television. We're intoxicating our children with a violent view of life. Parents need to select the TV programs they watch with a lot of care, and in that way be an example to their children.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Another big intoxicant is shopping. You may be surprised to hear this, but some psychologists are now researching addiction to shopping. When some people feel depressed, they drink or use drugs. Other people go to the shopping center and buy something. It's the same mechanism: we avoid looking at our problems and deal with our uncomfortable emotions by external means. Some people are compulsive shoppers. Even when they don't need anything, they go to the mall and just look around. Then buy something, but return home still feeling empty inside. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> We also intoxicate ourselves by eating too much or eating too little. In other words, we handle our uncomfortable emotions by using food. I often joke that in America the Three Jewels of Refuge are the TV, the shopping center, and the refrigerator! That's where we turn when we need help! But these objects of refuge don't bring us happiness and in fact make us more confused. If we can turn our mind to the Buddhas, the Dharma, and the Sangha, we'll be a lot happier in the long-run. Even in this moment, our spiritual practice can help us. For example, when we are tired or stressed out, we can relax our mind by chanting the Buddha's name or by bowing to the Buddha. While doing this, we imagine the Buddha in front of us and think that much radiant and peaceful light streams from the Buddha into us. This light fills our entire body-mind and makes us very relaxed and at ease. After doing this for a few minutes, we feel refreshed. This is much cheaper and easier than taking refuge in the TV, shopping mall, and refrigerator. Try it!!</font></p><p><br/></p><p><b><font size="2">by Venerable Thubten Chodron Extracted from the Book" The Path to Happiness"</font></b><br/></p><p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>The Defenation of "Vassa"</h1> <p>Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:41:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UCTPqf-m4uS04f4CC8Zvp4-0fBs/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UCTPqf-m4uS04f4CC8Zvp4-0fBs/1/da"></img></a></p><p align="center"><br/></p><p><font size="4">Vassa</font> <font size="3">is a three-month annual retreat observed by Theravada monks and nuns. It begins on the day after the full moon day of the eighth lunar month of the common Buddhist calendar, which usually falls in July. The retreat ends on the 15th day of the waxing moon of the eleventh lunar month, usually in October.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> During Vassa, monks and nuns remain inside monasteries and temple grounds, devoting their time to intensive meditation and study. Laypeople support the monastic sangha by bringing food, candles and other offerings to temples. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Laypeople also often observe Vassa by giving up something, such as smoking or eating meat. For this reason, westerners sometimes call Vassa the "Buddhist Lent."</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">The tradition of Vassa began during the life of the Buddha. Most of the time, the first Buddhist monks who followed the Buddha did not stay in one place, but walked from village to village to teach. They begged for their food and often slept outdoors, sheltered only by trees.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> But during India’s summer rainy season living as homeless ascetics became difficult. So, groups of monks would find a place to stay together until the rain stopped, forming a temporary community. Wealthy laypeople sometimes sheltered monks on their estates. Eventually a few of these patrons built permanent houses for monks, which amounted to an early form of monastery.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">[Source: buddhism.about.com by Barbara O'Brien]</font></p><p><font size="3"><i><a target="_blank" href="http://bodhikaram.blogspot.com/2010/07/rains-residence-buddhist-lent.html">Read more details article here</a></i></font><br/></p><p><br/></p><p> </p><p><br/></p><p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Buddhism for Man in Society</h1> <p>Thu, 07 Jul 2011 08:59:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/bLLwfnBwWtKko0U0zzdB08FvXB4/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/bLLwfnBwWtKko0U0zzdB08FvXB4/1/da"></img></a></p><p> </p><p align="center"><br/></p><p><i><font size="3">This religion can be practised either in society or in seclusion.</font></i></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">There are some who believe that Buddhism is so lofty and sublime a system that it cannot bepractised by ordinary men and women in the workaday world. These same people think that onehas to retire to a monastery or to some quiet place if one desires to be a true Buddhist.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">This is a sad misconception that comes from a lack of understanding of the Buddha. Somepeople jump to such conclusions after casually reading or hearing something about Buddhism.Some people form their impression of Buddhism after reading articles or books that give only apartial or lopsided view of Buddhism. The authors of such articles and books have only a limitedunderstanding of the Buddha's Teaching. His Teaching is not meant only for monks inmonastries. The Teaching is also for ordinary men and women living at home with their families.The Noble Eightfold Path is the Buddhist way of life that is intended for all people. This way oflife is offered to all mankind without any distinction.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">The vast majority of people in the world cannot become monks or retire into caves or forests.However noble and pure Buddhism may be, it would be useless to the masses if they could notfollow it in their daily life in the modern world. But if you understand the spirit of Buddhismcorrectly, you can surely follow and practise it while living the life of an ordinary man.There may be some who find it easier and more convenient to accept Buddhism by living in aremote place; in other words, by cutting themselves off from the society of others. Yet, otherpeople may find that this kind of retirement dulls and depresses their whole being both physicallyand mentally, and that it may therefore not be conducive to the development of their spiritual andintellectual life.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">True renunciation does not mean running away physically from the world. Sariputta, the chiefdisciple of the Buddha, said that one man might live in a forest devoting himself to asceticpractices, might be full of impure thoughts and 'defilements'. Another might live in a village or atown, , practising no ascetic discipline, but his mind might be pure, and free from " defilements".'Of these two' said Sariputta, ' the one who lives a pure life in the village or town is definitely farsuperior to, and greater than, the one who lives in the forest (Majjhima Nikaya)The common belief that to follow the Buddha's Teaching one has to retire from a normal familylife is a misconception. It is really an unconscious defence against practising it. There arenumerous references in Buddhist literature to men and women living ordinary, normal family liveswho successfully practised what the Buddha taught and realized Nibbana. Vacchagotta theWanderer, once asked the Buddha straightforldly whether there were laymen and womenleading the family life who followed His Teaching successfully and attained the high spiritualstates. The Buddha categorically stated that there were many laymen and women leading thefamily life who had followed His Teaching successfully and attained the high spiritual states.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">It may be agreeable for certain people to live a retired life in a quiet place away from noise anddisturbances. But it is certainly more praiseworthy and courageous to practise Buddhism livingamong fellow beings, helping them and offering service to them. It may perhaps be useful insome cases for a man to live in retirement for a time in order to improve his mind and character,as a preliminary to moral, spiritual and intellectual training, to be strong enough to come out laterand help others. But if a man lives all his life in solitude, thinking only of his own happiness andsalvation, without caring for his fellowmen, this surely is not in keeping with the Buddha'sTeaching which is based on love, compassion and service to others.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> One might now ask, 'If a man can follow Buddhism while living the life of an ordinary man, whywas the Sangha, the Order of Monks, established by the Buddha? The Order providesopportunity for those who are willing to devote their lives not only to their own spiritual andintellectual development, but also to the service of others. An ordinary layman with a familycannot be expected to devote his whole life to the service of others, whereas a Monk, who hasno family responsibilities or any other worldly ties, is in a position to devote his life 'for the goodof the many. (Dr. Walpola Rahula)</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">And what is this 'good' that many can benefit from? The monk cannot give material comfort to alayman, but he can provide spiritual guidance to those who are troubled by worldly, familyemotional problems and so on. The monk devotes his life to the pursuit of knowledge of theDhamma as taught by the Buddha. He explains the Teaching in simplified form to the untutoredlayman. And if the layman is well educated, he is there to discuss the deeper aspects of theteaching so that both can gain intellectually from the discussion.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">In Buddhist countries, monks are largely responsible for the education of the young. As a resultof their contribution, Buddhist countries have populations which are literate and well-versed inspiritual values. Monks also comfort those who are bereaved and emotionally upset byexplaining how all mankind is subject to similar disturbances.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">In turn, the layman is expected to look after the material well-being of the monk who does notgain income to provide himself with food, shelter, medicine and clothing. In common Buddhistpractice, it is considered meritorious for a layman to contribute to the health of a monk becauseby so doing he makes it possible for the monk to continue to minister to the spiritual needs of thepeople and for his mental purity.</font></p><p> </p><p><br/></p><p>[Source: www.lanka.net]</p><p align="center"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.bodhikaram.com/Kh-Dhamma-Videos.html">If you Enjoy watching spiritual videos click here</a><br/></p><p> </p><p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>The 2011 Khmer New Year Angel is KirineyTevy</h1> <p>Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:49:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BZmP6jqMXP-ggewIw2SeA6Z5fj4/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BZmP6jqMXP-ggewIw2SeA6Z5fj4/1/da"></img></a></p><p align="left"></p><p><font size="2">This year's Khmer New Year angel is the fifth youngest in the family of seven and her name is KirineyTevy. She'll come riding on an elephant joined by a cast of thousands of angels. At the lead of the procession is the guide angel riding a rabbit, this being the year of the rabbit and therefore her knowing the way.</font><font size="2"><br/><br/>You can see this year's angel, KirineyTevy, on the cover of the book, Maha Songkran, published each year to guide the Khmer on how to celebrate this new year. The offerings are clearly stated there and the time when the angel arrives.She'll come 13:12 minutes on the 14th of April, a Thursday. You can see the angel wearing green, the color that Khmer wear when they go to the temple on a Thursday.</font><font size="2"><br/><br/>The coming of the angel will be announced by drums and gongs in the temples. At home, the Khmer watch the television to wait for the signal that the angel has come. It's the same guys that do the Santa radar watch. Once the signal has been aired, the family gathers around the table prepared specially for this occasion and pray to the angel to give them the blessing.</font></p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.saloeurm.com/khmernewyear.htm"><i>Read full article...</i></a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.khmerbuddhism.ca/notes/%E1%9E%94%E1%9E%BB%E1%9E%8E%E1%9F%92%E1%9E%99%E1%9E%85%E1%9E%BC%E1%9E%9B%E1%9E%86%E1%9F%92%E1%9E%93%E1%9E%B6%E1%9F%86%E1%9E%81%E1%9F%92%E1%9E%98%E1%9F%82%E1%9E%9A">អានអត្ថបទជាភាសាខ្មែរ..</a></p><p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>The Shorter Exposition of Kamma</h1> <p>Sat, 19 Mar 2011 19:22:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qWnriAxBof5heZb9rgFMzrwKLmE/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qWnriAxBof5heZb9rgFMzrwKLmE/1/da"></img></a></p><p> </p><p><br/></p><p><font size="2">You want: long life, health, beauty, power, riches, high birth, wisdom? Or</font></p><p><font size="2">even some of these things? They do not appear by chance. It is not someone's</font></p><p><font size="2">luck that they are healthy, or another's lack of it that he is stupid.</font></p><p><font size="2">Though it may not be clear to us now, all such inequalities among human</font></p><p><font size="2">beings (and all sorts of beings) come about because of the kamma they have</font></p><p><font size="2">made individually. Each person reaps his own fruits. So if one is touched by</font></p><p><font size="2">short life, sickliness, ugliness, insignificance, poverty, low birth or</font></p><p><font size="2">stupidity and one does not like these things, no need to just accept that</font></p><p><font size="2">that is the way it is. The future need not be like that provided that one</font></p><p><font size="2">makes the right kind of kamma now. Knowing what kamma to make and what not</font></p><p><font size="2">to make is the mark of a wise man. It is also the mark of one who is no</font></p><p><font size="2">longer drifting aimlessly but has some direction in life and some control</font></p><p><font size="2">over the sort of events that will occur.</font></p><p><font size="2"> ------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></p><p><font size="2"> 1. Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Savatthi</font></p><p><font size="2">in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's Park.</font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">Then Subha the student (brahmin), Todeyya's son, went to the Blessed One and</font></p><p><font size="2">exchanged greetings with him, and when the courteous and amiable talk was</font></p><p><font size="2">finished, he sat down at one side. When he had done so, Subha the student</font></p><p><font size="2">said to the Blessed One:<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">2. "Master Gotama, what is the reason, what is the condition, why</font></p><p><font size="2">inferiority and superiority are met with among human beings, among mankind?</font></p><p><font size="2">For one meets with short-lived and long-lived people, sick and healthy</font></p><p><font size="2">people, ugly and beautiful people, insignificant and influential people,</font></p><p><font size="2">poor and rich people, low-born and high-born people, stupid and wise people.</font></p><p><font size="2">What is the reason, what is the condition, why superiority and inferiority</font></p><p><font size="2">are met with among human beings, among mankind?"<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">3. "Student, beings are owners of kammas, heirs of kammas, they have kammas</font></p><p><font size="2">as their progenitor, kammas as their kin, kammas as their homing-place. It</font></p><p><font size="2">is kammas that differentiate beings according to inferiority and</font></p><p><font size="2">superiority."<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">4. "I do not understand the detailed meaning of Master Gotama's utterance</font></p><p><font size="2">spoken in brief without expounding the detailed meaning. It would be good if</font></p><p><font size="2">Master Gotama taught me the Dhamma so that I might understand the detailed</font></p><p><font size="2">meaning of Master Gotama's utterance spoken in brief without expounding the</font></p><p><font size="2">detailed meaning."</font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">"Then listen, student, and heed well what I shall say."</font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">"Even so, Master Gotama," Subha the student replied. The Blessed One said</font></p><p><font size="2">this:<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">5. "Here, student, some woman or man is a killer of living beings,</font></p><p><font size="2">murderous, bloody-handed, given to blows and violence, merciless to living</font></p><p><font size="2">beings. Due to having performed and completed such kammas, on the</font></p><p><font size="2">dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a state of</font></p><p><font size="2">deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, in hell. If, on the</font></p><p><font size="2">dissolution of the body, after death, instead of his reappearing in a state</font></p><p><font size="2">of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, in hell, he comes</font></p><p><font size="2">to the human state, he is short-lived wherever he is reborn. This is the way</font></p><p><font size="2">that leads to short life, that is to say, to be a killer of living beings,</font></p><p><font size="2">murderous, bloody-handed, given to blows and violence, merciless to living</font></p><p><font size="2">beings.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">6. "But here some woman or man, having abandoned the killing of living</font></p><p><font size="2">beings, abstains from killing living beings, lays aside the rod and lays</font></p><p><font size="2">aside the knife, is considerate and merciful and dwells compassionate for</font></p><p><font size="2">the welfare of all living beings. Due to having performed and completed such</font></p><p><font size="2">kammas, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a happy</font></p><p><font size="2">destination, in the heavenly world. If, on the dissolution of the body,</font></p><p><font size="2">after death, instead of his reappearing in a happy destination, in the</font></p><p><font size="2">heavenly world, he comes to the human state, he is long-lived wherever he is</font></p><p><font size="2">reborn. This is the way that leads to long life, that is to say, to have</font></p><p><font size="2">abandoned the killing of living beings, to abstain from killing living</font></p><p><font size="2">beings, to lay aside the rod and lay aside the knife, to be considerate and</font></p><p><font size="2">merciful, and to dwell compassionate for the welfare of all living beings.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">7. "Here, student, some woman or man is one who harms beings with his hands</font></p><p><font size="2">or with clods or with sticks or with knives. Due to having performed and</font></p><p><font size="2">completed such kammas, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he</font></p><p><font size="2">reappears in a state of deprivation...If instead he comes to the human</font></p><p><font size="2">state, he is sickly wherever he is reborn. This is the way that leads to</font></p><p><font size="2">sickness, that is to say, to be one who harms beings with one's hands or</font></p><p><font size="2">with clods or with sticks or with knives.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">8. "But here some woman or man is not one who harms beings with his hands,</font></p><p><font size="2">or with clods, or with sticks, or with knives. Due to having performed and</font></p><p><font size="2">completed such kammas, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he</font></p><p><font size="2">reappears in a happy destination...If instead he comes to the human state,</font></p><p><font size="2">he is healthy wherever he is reborn. This is the way that leads to health,</font></p><p><font size="2">that is to say, not to be one who harms beings with his hands or with clods</font></p><p><font size="2">or with sticks or with knives.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">9. "Here, student, some woman or man is angry, much given to rage; even when</font></p><p><font size="2">little is said, he is furious, angry, ill-disposed, resentful, he shows</font></p><p><font size="2">ill-temper, hate and surliness. Due to having performed and completed such</font></p><p><font size="2">kammas, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a state</font></p><p><font size="2">of deprivation...If instead he comes to the human state, he is ugly wherever</font></p><p><font size="2">he is reborn. This is the way that leads to ugliness, that is to say, to be</font></p><p><font size="2">furious, angry, ill-disposed, resentful, and to show ill-temper, hate and</font></p><p><font size="2">surliness.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">10. "But here some woman or man is not angry or much given to rage; even</font></p><p><font size="2">when much is said, he is not furious, angry, ill-disposed, resentful, nor</font></p><p><font size="2">does he show ill-temper, hate or surliness. Due to having performed and</font></p><p><font size="2">completed such kammas, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he</font></p><p><font size="2">reappears in a happy destination...If instead he comes to the human state,</font></p><p><font size="2">he is beautiful wherever he is reborn. This is the way that leads to beauty,</font></p><p><font size="2">that is to say, not to be angry or given to much rage; even when much is</font></p><p><font size="2">said, not to be furious, angry, ill-disposed or resentful, or to show</font></p><p><font size="2">ill-temper, hate or surliness.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">11. "Here, student, some woman or man is envious; he envies, begrudges and</font></p><p><font size="2">harbors envy about others' gains, honor, veneration, respect, salutations</font></p><p><font size="2">and offerings. Due to having performed and completed such kammas, on the</font></p><p><font size="2">dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a state of</font></p><p><font size="2">deprivation...If instead he comes to the human state, he is insignificant</font></p><p><font size="2">wherever he is reborn. This is the way that leads to insignificance, that is</font></p><p><font size="2">to say, to be envious, to envy, begrudge, and harbor envy about others'</font></p><p><font size="2">gain, honor, veneration, respect, salutations and offerings.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">12. "But here some woman or man is not envious, he does not envy, begrudge</font></p><p><font size="2">or harbor envy about others' gain, honor, veneration, respect, salutations</font></p><p><font size="2">and offerings. Due to having performed and completed such kammas, on the</font></p><p><font size="2">dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a happy</font></p><p><font size="2">destination...If instead he comes to the human state, he is influential</font></p><p><font size="2">wherever he is reborn. This is the way that leads to influence, that is to</font></p><p><font size="2">say, not to be envious, not to envy, begrudge or harbor envy about others'</font></p><p><font size="2">gain, honor, veneration, respect, salutations and offerings.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">13. "Here, student, some woman or man is not a giver of food, drink, cloth,</font></p><p><font size="2">sandals, garlands, perfumes, unguents, bed, roof and lighting to monks or</font></p><p><font size="2">brahmins. Due to having performed and completed such kamma, on the</font></p><p><font size="2">dissolution of the body, after death he reappears in a state of</font></p><p><font size="2">deprivation...If instead he comes to the human state, he is poor wherever he</font></p><p><font size="2">is reborn. This is the way that leads to poverty, that is to say, not to be</font></p><p><font size="2">a giver of food, drink, cloth, sandals, garlands, perfumes, unguents, bed,</font></p><p><font size="2">roof and lighting to monks and brahmins.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">14. "But here some woman or man is a giver of food, drink, cloth, sandals,</font></p><p><font size="2">perfumes, unguents, bed, roof and lighting to monks and brahmins. Due to</font></p><p><font size="2">having performed and completed such kamma, on the dissolution of the body,</font></p><p><font size="2">after death, he reappears in a happy destination...If instead he comes to</font></p><p><font size="2">the human state, he is rich wherever he is reborn. This is the way that</font></p><p><font size="2">leads to riches, that is to say, to be a giver of food, drink, cloth,</font></p><p><font size="2">sandals, garlands, perfumes, unguents, bed, roof and lighting to monks and</font></p><p><font size="2">brahmins.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">15. "Here, student, some woman or man is obdurate and haughty; he does not</font></p><p><font size="2">pay homage to whom he should pay homage, or rise up for whom he should rise</font></p><p><font size="2">up, or give a seat to whom he should give a seat, or make way for whom he</font></p><p><font size="2">should make way, or worship him who should be worshipped, or respect him who</font></p><p><font size="2">should be respected, or revere him who should be revered, or honor him who</font></p><p><font size="2">should be honored. Due to having performed and completed such kammas, on the</font></p><p><font size="2">dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a state of</font></p><p><font size="2">deprivation...If instead he comes to the human state, he is low-born</font></p><p><font size="2">wherever he is reborn. This is the way that leads to low birth, that is to</font></p><p><font size="2">say, to be obdurate and haughty, not to pay homage to whom he should pay</font></p><p><font size="2">homage, nor rise up for..., nor give a seat to..., nor make way for..., nor</font></p><p><font size="2">worship..., nor respect..., nor revere..., nor honor him who should be</font></p><p><font size="2">honored.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">16. "But here some woman or man is not obdurate or haughty; he pays homage</font></p><p><font size="2">to whom he should pay homage, rises up for whom he should rise up, gives a</font></p><p><font size="2">seat to whom he should give a seat, makes way for whom he should make way,</font></p><p><font size="2">worships him who should be worshipped, respects him who should be respected,</font></p><p><font size="2">reveres him who should be revered, honors him who should be honored. Due to</font></p><p><font size="2">having performed and completed such kammas, on the dissolution of the body,</font></p><p><font size="2">after death, he reappears in a happy destination...If instead he comes to</font></p><p><font size="2">the human state, he is high-born wherever he is reborn. This is the way that</font></p><p><font size="2">leads to high birth, that is to say, not to be obdurate or haughty, to pay</font></p><p><font size="2">homage to whom he should pay homage, to rise up for..., to give a seat</font></p><p><font size="2">to..., to make way for..., to worship...respect...revere...honor him who</font></p><p><font size="2">should be honored.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">17. "Here, student, some woman or man when visiting a monk or brahmin, does</font></p><p><font size="2">not ask: 'What is wholesome, venerable sir? What is unwholesome? What is</font></p><p><font size="2">blamable? What is blameless? What should be cultivated? What should not be</font></p><p><font size="2">cultivated? What, by my doing it, will be long for my harm and suffering? Or</font></p><p><font size="2">what, by my doing it, will be long for my welfare and happiness?' Due to</font></p><p><font size="2">having performed and completed such kammas, on the dissolution of the body,</font></p><p><font size="2">after death, he reappears in a state of deprivation...If instead he comes to</font></p><p><font size="2">the human state, he will be stupid wherever he is reborn. This is the way</font></p><p><font size="2">that leads to stupidity, that is to say, when visiting a monk or brahmin,</font></p><p><font size="2">not to ask: 'What is wholesome?...Or what, by my doing it, will be long for</font></p><p><font size="2">my welfare and happiness?'<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">18. "But here some woman or man when visiting a monk or brahmin, asks: 'What</font></p><p><font size="2">is wholesome, venerable sir?...Or what, by my doing it, will be long for my</font></p><p><font size="2">welfare and happiness?' Due to having performed and completed such kammas,</font></p><p><font size="2">on the dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in a happy</font></p><p><font size="2">destination...If instead he comes to the human state, he is wise wherever he</font></p><p><font size="2">is reborn. This is the way that leads to wisdom, that is to say, when</font></p><p><font size="2">visiting a monk or brahmin, to ask: 'What is wholesome, venerable sir?...Or</font></p><p><font size="2">what, by my doing it, will be long for my welfare and happiness?'<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">19. "So, student, the way that leads to short life makes people short-lived,</font></p><p><font size="2">the way that leads to long life makes people long-lived; the way that leads</font></p><p><font size="2">to sickness makes people sick, the way that leads to health makes people</font></p><p><font size="2">healthy; the way that leads to ugliness makes people ugly, the way that</font></p><p><font size="2">leads to beauty makes people beautiful; the way that leads to insignificance</font></p><p><font size="2">makes people insignificant, the way that leads to influence makes people</font></p><p><font size="2">influential; the way that leads to poverty makes people poor, the way that</font></p><p><font size="2">leads to riches makes people rich; the way that leads to low birth makes</font></p><p><font size="2">people low-born, the way that leads to high birth makes people high-born;</font></p><p><font size="2">the way that leads to stupidity makes people stupid, the way that leads to</font></p><p><font size="2">wisdom makes people wise.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">20. "Beings are owners of kammas, student, heirs of kammas, they have kammas</font></p><p><font size="2">as their progenitor, kammas as their kin, kammas as their homing-place. It</font></p><p><font size="2">is kammas that differentiate beings according to inferiority and</font></p><p><font size="2">superiority."<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">21. When this was said, Subha the student, Todeyya's son, said to the</font></p><p><font size="2">Blessed One: "Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent, Master Gotama! The</font></p><p><font size="2">Dhamma has been made clear in many ways by Master Gotama, as though he were</font></p><p><font size="2">turning upright what had been overthrown, revealing the hidden, showing the</font></p><p><font size="2">way to one who is lost, holding up a lamp in the darkness for those with</font></p><p><font size="2">eyes to see forms.<br/><br type="_moz"/></font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2">22. "I go to Master Gotama for refuge, and to the Dhamma and to the Sangha</font></p><p><font size="2">of bhikkhus. From today let Master Gotama accept me as a lay follower who</font></p><p><font size="2">has gone to him for refuge for life."</font></p><p><font size="2"> ------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></p><p><font size="2">Majjhima Nikaya 135</font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2"> Cula-Kammavibhanga Sutta</font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2"> The Shorter Exposition of Kamma</font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2"> Translated from the Pali by Ñanamoli Thera</font></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><font size="2">From The Buddha's Words on Kamma: Four Discourses from the Middle Length</font></p><p><font size="2">Collection (WH 248), edited by Khantipalo Bhikkhu, (Kandy: Buddhist</font></p><p><font size="2">Publication Society, 1993).</font></p><p> </p><p><font size="2"><br/></font></p><p><font size="2"> Revised: Sun 12 December 1999</font></p><p><font size="2">http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/majjhima/mn135.html</font></p><p><br/></p> </article> <article> <h1>How should I teach Buddhism to my children?</h1> <p>Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:15:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/zcSCWzkv5FpuYi1SdRyts3RmlUo/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/zcSCWzkv5FpuYi1SdRyts3RmlUo/1/da"></img></a></p><p align="center"><br/></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">The Buddha's advice to parents is straightforward: help your children become generous, virtuous, responsible, skilled, and self-sufficient adults [see DN 31 and Sn 2.4]. Teaching Buddhism to one's children does not mean giving them long lectures about dependent co-arising, or forcing them to memorize the Buddha's lists of the eightfold this, the ten such-and-suches, the seventeen so-and-sos. It simply means giving them the basic skills they'll need in order to find true happiness. The rest will take care of itself.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">The single most important lesson parents can convey to their children is that every action has consequences. Each moment presents us with an opportunity, and it is up to us to choose how we want to think, speak, or act. It is these choices that eventually determine our happiness. This is the essence of kamma, the basic law of cause and effect that underlies the Dhamma. It also happens to be the message behind one of the few recorded teachings the Buddha gave to his only child, Rahula.[1] This sutta — the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.saloeurm.com/rahul.htm">Ambalatthikarahulovada Sutta</a> (MN 61) — offers parents some important clues about teaching Dhamma to young children — in terms of both the content of what to teach and the method to use.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3">In this sutta the Buddha reprimands the seven year old Rahula for telling a small lie. The content of the Buddha's lesson here is clear and simple: it concerns right speech, and helping Rahula keep himself true to the fundamental principles of virtue. There are several noteworthy aspects to the Buddha's method. First, by artfully drawing comparisons to an everyday utensil (in this case, a water dipper), the Buddha makes his point in vivid and age-appropriate language that Rahula can easily understand. Second, the Buddha doesn't launch into a long-winded abstract lecture on the nature of kamma, but instead keeps the lesson focused on the immediate issue at hand: choosing your actions carefully. Third, although the five precepts do indeed constitute the fundamental framework for moral conduct, the Buddha does not mention them here — presumably because some of the precepts (concerning sexuality and using intoxicants) are simply not relevant to most seven year olds. (Perhaps the Buddha had more to say about the precepts by the time Rahula was a teenager.) Fourth, the Buddha keeps Rahula engaged during the lesson by asking him simple questions; this is no dry, soporific lecture. And finally, the Buddha takes advantage of the opportunity presented by this "teaching moment" to expand into deeper territory, to explain to Rahula the importance of reflecting inwardly before, during, and after performing an action of any sort — whether of body, speech, or mind. The Buddha thus places Rahula's original small misdeed into a much broader context, transforming it into a lesson of deep and lasting significance.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3">Although most of us who are parents can only dream of teaching our children as consciously and effectively as the Buddha did, we can still learn from his example. But before we can translate his example into action, there is one crucial point to recognize: the Buddha's instructions to his son were given by someone who really knew what he was talking about; Rahula's teacher was someone who truly practiced what he preached, a role model par excellence. So the message is clear: if we hope to instruct our children about matters concerning the path of Dhamma, we had better be sure that we ourselves are practicing on that path. If you extol the virtues of skillful qualities such as generosity, truthfulness, and patience, but your children only see you being stingy, overhear you telling lies, or see you losing your temper, then your message will be lost. Of course, you need not have perfected the Dhamma in order to instruct your children, but for your instruction to carry any weight your children must be able to witness firsthand that you are earnestly striving to put these same teachings into practice yourself. And if you can inspire them by your example and give them the skills they need to know to live in tune with the Dhamma, then you've given them a rare gift indeed:</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3">The wise hope for a child</font></p><p><font size="3">of heightened or similar birth,</font></p><p><font size="3">not for one</font></p><p><font size="3">of lowered birth,</font></p><p><font size="3"> a disgrace to the family.</font></p><p><font size="3">These children in the world,</font></p><p><font size="3"> lay followers,</font></p><p><font size="3">consummate in virtue, conviction;</font></p><p><font size="3">generous, free from stinginess,</font></p><p><font size="3">shine forth in any gathering</font></p><p><font size="3">like the moon</font></p><p><font size="3">when freed from a cloud.</font></p><p><font size="3">— Iti 74</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3">Excerpted from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.accesstoinsight.org">accesstoinsithg.org</a><br/></font></p><p><br/></p> </article> <article> <h1>Meditation On The Four Sublime States</h1> <p>Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:23:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/zoiDgx1Zom6RCuG4gP6e0LmPinQ/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/zoiDgx1Zom6RCuG4gP6e0LmPinQ/1/da"></img></a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.saloeurm.com/Somdech%20chuon%20nath1.JPG"><br/></a></p><p align="center"><br/></p><p><br/></p><p><br/></p><p><b><font size="3">The Four Sublime States</font></b></p><p><font size="3">Contemplation on Love, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, and Equanimity</font></p><p><font size="3"> Introduction</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>Four sublime states of mind have been taught by the Buddha:</b></font></p><p><font size="3"> -Love or Loving-kindness (metta)</font></p><p><font size="3"> -Compassion (karuna)</font></p><p><font size="3"> -Sympathetic Joy (mudita)</font></p><p><font size="3"> -Equanimity (upekkha)</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">In Pali, the language of the Buddhist scriptures, these four are known under the name of Brahma-vihara, a term which may be ren-dered as excellent, lofty, or sublime states of mind; or alternatively, as Brahma-like, god-like or divine abodes.</font></p><p><font size="3">These four attitudes are said to be excellent or sublime because they are the right or ideal way of conduct towards living beings (sattesu samma patipatti). They provide, in fact, the answer to all situations aris-ing from social contact. They are the great removers of tension, the great peace-makers in social conflict, and the great healers of wounds suffered in the struggle of existence. They level social barriers, build harmonious communities, awaken slumbering magnanimity long forgotten, revive joy and hope long abandoned, and promote human brotherhood against the forces of egotism.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">The Brahma-viharas are incompatible with a hating state of mind, and in that they are akin to Brahma - the divine but transient ruler of the higher heavens in the traditional Buddhist picture of the universe. In contrast to many other, conceptions of deities, East and West, who by their own devotees are said to show anger, wrath, jealousy and "righteous indignation," Brahma is free from hate; and one who assiduously develops these four sublime states, by conduct and meditation, is said to become an equal of Brahma (brahma-samo). If they become the domi-nant influence in his mind, he will be reborn in congenial worlds, the realms of Brahma. Therefore, these states of mind are called god-like, Brahma-like.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">They are called abodes (vihara) because they should become the mind's constant dwelling-places where we feel "at home"; they should not remain merely places of rare and short visits, soon forgotten. In other words, our minds should become thoroughly saturated by them. They should become our inseparable companions, and we should be mindful of them in all our common activities. As the Metta Sutta, the Song of Loving-kindness, says:</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">When standing, walking, sitting, lying down, </font></p><p><font size="3"> Whenever he feels free of tiredness,</font></p><p><font size="3"> Let him establish well this mindfulness -</font></p><p><font size="3"> This, it is said, is the Divine Abode.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">These four - love, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity - are also known as the boundless states (appamanna), because, in their perfection and their true nature, they should not be narrowed by any limitation as to the range of beings towards whom they are extended. They should be non-exclusive and impartial, not bound by selective preferences or prejudices. A mind that has attained to that boundless-ness of the Brahma-viharas will not harbour any national, racial, religious or class hatred.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">But unless rooted in a strong natural affinity with such a mental atti-tude, it will certainly not be easy for us to effect that boundless applica-tion by a deliberate effort of will and to avoid consistently any kind or degree of partiality. To achieve that, in most cases, we shall have to use these four qualities not only as principles of conduct and objects of reflection but also as subjects of methodical meditation. That meditation is called Brahma-vihara-bhavana, the meditative development of the sublime states. The practical aim is to achieve, with the help of these sublime states, those high stages of mental concentration called jhana, "meditative absorption". The meditations on love, compassion and sym-pathetic joy may each produce the attainment of the first three absorp-tions, while the meditation on equanimity will lead to the fourth jhana only, in which equanimity is the most significant factor.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Generally speaking, persistent meditative practice will have two crowning effects: first, it will make these four qualities sink deep into the heart so that they become spontaneous attitudes not easily overthrown; second, it will bring out and secure their boundless extension, the unfold-ing of their all-embracing range. In fact, the detailed instructions given in the Buddhist scriptures for the practice of these four meditations are clearly intended to gradually unfold the boundlessness of the sublime states. They systematically break down all barriers restricting their appli-cation to particular individuals or places.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">In meditative exercises, the selection for people to whom thoughts of love, compassion or sympathetic joy are directed, proceeds from the easier to the more difficult. For instance, when meditating on loving-kindness, one starts with an aspiration for one's own well-being, using it as a point of reference for gradual extension: "Just as I wish to be happy and free from suffering, so may that being ... may all beings be happy and free from suffering!" Then one extends the thought of loving-kindness to a person for whom one has a loving respect, as, for instance, a teacher; then to dearly beloved people, to indifferent ones, and finally to enemies, if any, or those disliked. Since this meditation is concerned with the welfare of the living, one should not choose people who have died; one should also avoid choosing people towards whom one may have feelings of sexual attraction.</font></p><p><font size="3">After one has been able to cope with the hardest task, to direct one's thoughts of loving-kindness to disagreeable people, one should now "break down the barriers" (sima-sambheda). Without making any dis-crimination between those four types of people, one should extend one's loving-kindness to them equally. At that point of the practice one will have come to the higher stages of concentration: with the appearance of the mental reflex-image (patibhaga-nimitta), "access concentration" (upacara samadhi) will have been reached, and further progress will lead to the full concentration (appana) of the first jhana, then the higher jhanas.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">For spatial expansion, the practice starts with those in one's immediate environment such as one's family, then extends to the neighbour-ing houses, to those on the whole street, the town, country, other countries and the entire world. In "pervasion of the directions", one's thought of loving-kindness is directed first to the east, then to the west, north, south, the intermediate directions, the zenith and nadir.</font></p><p><font size="3">The same principles of practice apply to the meditative development of compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity, with due variations in the selection of people. Details of the practice will be found in the texts (see Visuddhimagga, Chapter IX).</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">The ultimate aim of attaining the jhanas on the Brahmaviharas is to produce a state of mind that can serve as a firm basis for the liberating insight into the true nature of all phenomena, as being impermanent, liable to suffering and unsubstantial. A mind that has achieved medita-tive absorption induced by the sublime states will be pure, tranquil, firm, collected and free of coarse selfishness. It will thus be well prepared for the final work of deliverance which can be completed only by insight.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">The preceding remarks show that there are two ways of developing the sublime states: first by practical conduct and an appropriate direc-tion of thoughts; and second by methodical meditation aiming at the absorptions. Each will prove helpful to the other. Methodical meditative practice will help love, compassion, joy and equanimity to become spontaneous. It will help make the mind firmer and calmer in withstanding the numerous irritations in life that challenge us to maintain these four qualities in thoughts, words and deeds.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">On the other hand, if one's practical conduct is increasingly gov-erned by these sublime states, the mind will harbour less resentment, tension and irritability, the reverberations of which often subtly intrude into the hours of meditation, forming there the "hindrance of restless-ness". Our everyday life and thought has a strong influence on the meditative mind; only if the gap between them is persistently narrowed will there be a chance for steady meditative progress and for achieving the highest aim of our practice.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Meditative development of the sublime states will be aided by repeated reflection upon their qualities, the benefits they bestow and the dangers from their opposites. As the Buddha says, "What a person considers and reflects upon for a long time, to that his mind will bend and incline."</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><b><font size="3">The Basic Passage on the Four Sublime States:</font></b></p><p><font size="3"> from the discourses of the Buddha</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>I.</b></font></p><p><font size="3">Here, monks, a disciple dwells pervading one direction with his heart filled with loving-kindness, likewise the second, the third, and the fourth directions; so above, below and around; he dwells pervading the entire world everywhere and equally with his heart filled with loving-kindness,</font></p><p><font size="3"> abundant, grown great, measureless, free from enmity, and free from distress.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>II.</b></font></p><p><font size="3">Here, monks, a disciple dwells pervading one direction with his heart filled with compassion, likewise the second, the third, and the fourth directions; so above, below and around; he dwells pervading the entire world every-where and equally with his heart filled with compassion, abundant, grown great, measureless, free from enmity, and free from distress.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><b><font size="3">III</font></b></p><p><font size="3">Here, monks, a disciple dwells pervading one direction with his heart filled with sympathetic joy, likewise the second, the third, and the fourth directions; so above, below and around; he dwells pervading the entire world everywhere and equally with his heart filled with sympathetic joy, abundant, grown great, measureless, free from enmity and free from distress.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>IV</b></font></p><p><font size="3">Here, monks, a disciple dwells pervading one direction with his heart filled with equanimity, likewise the second, the third, and the fourth directions; so above, below and around; he dwells pervading the entire world every-where and equally with his heart filled with equanimity, abundant, grown great, measureless, free from enmity and free from distress.</font></p><p><font size="3"> ~ Digha Nikaya 13 ~</font></p><p><font size="3"> </font></p><p><b><font size="3">Contemplation on The Four Sublime States</font></b></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>1. Love (metta)</b></font></p><p><font size="3"> Love, without desire to possess, knowing well that in the ultimate sense there is no possession and no possessor: this is the highest love.</font></p><p> </p><p><font size="3"> Love, without speaking and thinking of "I", knowing well that this so-called "I" is a mere delusion.</font></p><p><br/></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><font size="3">Love, without selecting and excluding, knowing well that to do so means to create love's own contrasts: dislike, aversion and hatred. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Love, embracing all beings: small and great, far and near, be it on earth, in the water, or in the air. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Love, embracing impartially all sentient beings, and not only those who are useful, pleasing or amusing to us.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> 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.</font></p><p><br/></p><p> </p><p><font size="3">Love, embracing all beings, knowing well that we all are fellow way-farers through this round of existence - that we all are overcome by the same law of suffering.</font></p><p><br/></p><p> </p><p><font size="3">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.</font></p><p><br/></p><p> </p><p><font size="3"> 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.</font></p><p><br/></p><p> </p><p><font size="3">Love, that is a sublime nobility of heart and intellect which knows, understands and is ready to help.</font></p><p><br/></p><p> </p><p><font size="3">Love, that is strength and gives strength: this is the highest love.</font></p><p><br/></p><p> </p><p><font size="3">Love, which by the Enlightened One was named "the liberation of the heart", "the most sublime beauty": this is the highest love.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> 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. </font></p><p> </p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><b><font size="3">Contemplation on The Four Sublime States</font></b></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>2. Compassion (karuna)</b></font></p><p><font size="3"> The world suffers. But most men have their eyes and ears closed. They do not see the unbroken stream of tears flowing through life; they do not hear the cry of distress continually pervading the world. Their own little grief or joy bars their sight, deafens their ears. Bound by selfishness, their hearts turn stiff and narrow. Being stiff and narrow, how should they be able to strive for any higher goal, to realize that only release from selfish craving will effect their own freedom from suffering?</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">It is compassion that removes the heavy bar, opens the door to free-dom, makes the narrow heart as wide as the world. Compassion takes away from the heart the inert weight, the paralysing heaviness; it gives wings to those who cling to the lowlands of self.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Through compassion the fact of suffering remains vividly present to our mind, even at times when we personally are free from it. It gives us the rich experience of suffering, thus strengthening us to meet it prepared, when it does befall us.</font></p><p><font size="3">Compassion reconciles us to our own destiny by showing us the life of others, often much harder than ours.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Behold the endless caravan of beings, men and beasts, burdened with sorrow and pain! The burden of every one of them, we also have carried in bygone times during the unfathomable sequence of repeated births. Behold this, and open your heart to compassion!</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">And this misery may well be our own destiny again! He who is with-out compassion now, will one day cry for it. If sympathy with others is lacking, it will have to be acquired through one's own long and painful experience. This is the great law of life. Knowing this, keep guard over yourself!</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Beings, sunk in ignorance, lost in delusion, hasten from one state of suffering to another, not knowing the real cause, not knowing the escape from it. This insight into the general law of suffering is the real foundation of our compassion, not any isolated fact of suffering.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Hence our compassion will also include those who at the moment may be happy, but act with an evil and deluded mind. In their present deeds we shall foresee their future state of distress, and compassion will arise.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">The compassion of the wise man does not render him a victim of suffering. His thoughts, words and deeds are full of pity. But his heart does not waver; unchanged it remains, serene and calm. How else should he be able to help?</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">May such compassion arise in our hearts! Compassion that is sub-lime nobility of heart and intellect which knows, understands and is ready to help.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Compassion that is strength and gives strength: this is the highest compassion.</font></p><p><font size="3">And what is the highest manifestation of compassion? 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.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><b><font size="3">Contemplation on The Four Sublime States</font></b></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>3. Sympathetic joy (mudita)</b></font></p><p><font size="3"> Not only to compassion, but also to joy with others open your heart!</font></p><p><font size="3">Small, indeed, is the share of happiness and joy allotted to beings! Wherever a little happiness comes to them, then you may rejoice that at least one ray of joy has pierced through the darkness of their lives, and dispelled the grey and gloomy mist that enwraps their hearts.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Your life will gain in joy by sharing the happiness of others as if it were yours. Did you never observe how in moments of happiness men's features change and become bright with joy? Did you never notice how joy rouses men to noble aspirations and deeds, exceeding their normal capacity?</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Did not such experience fill your own heart with joyful bliss? It is in your power to increase such experience of sympathetic joy, by producing happiness in others, by bringing them joy and solace.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Let us teach real joy to men! Many have unlearned it. Life, though full of woe, holds also sources of happiness and joy, unknown to most. Let us teach people to seek and to find real joy within themselves and to rejoice with the joy to others! Let us teach them to unfold their joy to ever sublimer heights!</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Noble and sublime joy is not foreign to the Teaching of the Enlightened One. Wrongly the Buddha's Teaching is sometimes consid-ered to be a doctrine diffusing melancholy. Far from it: the Dhamma leads step by step to an ever purer and loftier happiness.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Noble and sublime joy is a helper on the path to the extinction of suffering. Not he who is depressed by grief, but one possessed of joy finds that serene calmness leading to a contemplative state of mind. And only a mind serene and collected is able to gain the liberating wisdom.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">The more sublime and noble the joy of others is, the more justified will be our own sympathetic joy. A cause for our joy with others is their noble life securing them happiness here and in lives hereafter. A still nobler cause for our joy with others is their faith in the Dhamma, their understanding of the Dhamma, their following the Dhamma. Let us give them the help of the Dhamma! Let us strive to become more and more able ourselves to render such help!</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Sympathetic joy that is strength and gives strength: this is the highest joy.</font></p><p><font size="3">And what is the highest manifestation of sympathetic joy? 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.</font></p><p><font size="3"> </font></p><p><b><font size="3">Contemplation on The Four Sublime States</font></b></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> <b>4. Equanimity (upekkha)</b></font></p><p><font size="3"> Equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind, rooted in insight.</font></p><p><font size="3">Looking at the world around us, and looking into our own heart, we see clearly how difficult it is to attain and maintain balance of mind.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Looking into life we notice how it continually moves between contrasts: rise and fall, success and failure, loss and gain, honour and blame. We feel how our heart responds to all this happiness and sorrow, delight and despair, disappointment and satisfaction, hope and fear. These waves of emotion carry us up and fling us down; and no sooner do we find rest, than we are in the power of a new wave again. How can we expect to get a footing on the crest of the waves? How shall we erect the building of our lives in the midst of this ever restless ocean of existence, if not on the Island of Equanimity.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">A world where that little share of happiness alloted to beings is mostly secured after many disappointments, failures and defeats; a world where only the courage to start anew, again and again, promises success; a world where scanty joy grows amidst sickness, separation and death; a world where beings who were a short while ago connected with us by sympathetic joy, are at the next moment in want of our compassion - such a world needs equanimity. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">But the kind of equanimity required has to be based on vigilant presence of mind, not on indifferent dullness. It has to be the result of hard, deliberate training, not the casual outcome of a passing mood. But equanimity would not deserve its name if it had to be produced by exertion again and again. In such a case it would surely be weakened and finally defeated by the vicissitudes of life. True equanimity, however, should be able to meet all these severe tests and to regenerate its strength from sources within. It will possess this power of resistance and self-renewal only if it is rooted in insight.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">What, now, is the nature of that insight? It is the clear understanding of how all these vicissitudes of life originate, and of our own true nature. We have to understand that the various experiences we undergo result from our kamma - our actions in thought, word and deed - performed in this life and in earlier lives. Kamma is the womb from which we spring (kamma-yoni), and whether we like it or not, we are the inalienable "owners" of our deeds (kamma-saka). But as soon as we have performed any action, our control over it is lost: it forever remains with us and inevitably returns to us as our due heritage (kamma-dayada). </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Nothing that happens to us comes from an "outer" hostile world foreign to ourselves; everything is the outcome or our own mind and deeds. Because this knowledge frees us from fear, it is the first basis of equanimity. When, in everything that befalls us we only meet ourselves, why should we fear?</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">If, however, fear and uncertainty should arise, we know the refuge where it can be allayed: our good deeds (kamma-patisarana). By taking this refuge, confidence and courage will grow within us - confidence in the protecting power of our good deeds done in the past; courage to perform more good deeds right now, despite the discouraging hardships of our present life. For we know that noble and selfless deeds provide the best defence against the hard blows of destiny, that it is never too late but always the right time for good actions. If that refuge, in doing good and avoiding evil, becomes firmly established within us, one day we shall feel assured: "More and more ceases the misery and evil rooted in the past. And this present life - I try to make it spotless and pure. What else can the future bring than increase of the good?" And from that cer-tainty our minds will become serene, and we shall gain the strength of patience of equanimity to bear with all our present adversities. Then our deeds will be our friends (kamma-bandhu).</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Likewise, all the various events of our lives, being the result of our deeds, will also be our friends, even if they bring us sorrow and pain. Our deeds return to us in a guise that often makes them unrecognizable. Sometimes our actions return to us in the way that others treat us, some-times as a thorough upheaval in our lives; often the results are against our expectations or contrary to our wills. Such experiences point out to us consequences of our deeds we did not foresee; they render visible half-conscious motives of our former actions which we tried to hide even from ourselves, covering them up with various pretexts. If we learn to see things from this angle, and to read the messages conveyed by our own experience, then suffering, too, will be our friend. It will be a stern friend, but a truthful and well-meaning one who teaches us the most difficult subject, knowledge about ourselves, and warns us against abysses towards which we are moving blindly. By looking at suffering as our teacher and friend, we shall better succeed in enduring it with equa-nimity.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Consequently, the teaching of kamma will give us a powerful impulse for freeing ourselves from kamma, from those deeds which again and again throw us into the suffering of repeated births. Disgust will arise at our own craving, at our own delusion, at our own propen-sity to create situations which try our strength, our resistance, and our equanimity.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">The second insight on which equanimity should be based is the Buddha's teaching of no-self (anatta). This doctrine shows that in the ultimate sense deeds are not performed by any self, nor do their results affect any self. Further, it shows that if there is no self, we cannot speak of "my own". It is the delusion of a self that creates suffering and hin-ders or disturbs equanimity. If this or that quality of ours is blamed, one thinks: "I am blamed" and equanimity is shaken. If this or that work does not succeed, one thinks: "My work has failed and equanimity is shaken. If wealth or loved ones are lost, one thinks: "What is mine has gone" and equanimity is shaken.</font></p><p><font size="3">To establish equanimity as an unshakable state of mind, one has to give up all possessive thoughts of "mine", beginning with little things from which it is easy to detach oneself, and gradually working up to possessions and aims to which one's whole heart clings. One also has to give up the counterpart to such thoughts, all egoistic thoughts of "self'", beginning with a small section of one's personality, with qualities of minor importance, with small weaknesses one clearly sees, and gradually working up to those emotions and aversions which one regards as the centre of one's being. Thus detachment should be practised.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">To the degree we forsake thoughts of "mine" or "self"' equanimity will enter our hearts. For how can anything we realize to be foreign and void of a self cause us agitation due to lust, hatred or grief? Thus the teaching of non-self will be our guide on the path to deliverance, to per-fect equanimity.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Equanimity is the crown and culmination of the four sublime states. But this should not be understood to mean that equanimity is the nega-tion of love, compassion, and sympathetic joy, or that it leaves them behind as inferior. Far from that, equanimity includes and pervades them fully, just as they fully pervade perfect equanimity.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><b><font size="3">The Inter-Relations of the Four Sublime States</font></b></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> How then, do these four sublime states pervade and suffuse each other?</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Unbounded love guards compassion against turning into partiality, prevents it from making discriminations by selecting and excluding and thus protects it from falling into partiality or aversion against the excluded side.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Love imparts to equanimity its selflessness, its boundless nature and even its fervour. For fervour, too, transformed and controlled, is part of perfect equanimity, strengthening its power of keen penetration and wise restraint.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Compassion prevents love and sympathetic joy from forgetting that, while both are enjoying or giving temporary and limited happiness, there still exist at that time most dreadful states of suffering in the world. It reminds them that their happiness coexists with measureless misery, perhaps at the next doorstep. It is a reminder to love and sympathetic joy that there is more suffering in the world than they are able to mitigate; that, after the effect of such mitigation has vanished, sorrow and pain are sure to arise anew until suffering is uprooted entirely at the attainment of Nibbana. Compassion does not allow that love and sympathetic joy to shut themselves up against the wide world by confining themselves to a narrow sector of it. Compassion prevents love and sympathetic joy from turning into states of self-satisfied complacency within a jealously guarded petty happiness. </font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Compassion stirs and urges love to widen its sphere; it stirs and urges sympathetic joy to search for fresh nourishment. Thus it helps both of them to grow into truly boundless states (appamanna).</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Compassion guards equanimity from falling into a cold indifference, and keeps it from indolent or selfish isolation. Until equanimity has reached perfection, compassion urges it to enter again and again the battlefield of the world, in order to be able to stand the test, by hardening and strengthening itself.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Sympathetic joy holds compassion back from becoming overwhelmed by the sight of the world's suffering, from being absorbed by it to the exclusion of everything else. Sympathetic joy relieves the tension of mind, soothes the painful burning of the compassionate heart. It keeps compassion away from melancholic brooding without purpose, from a futile sentimentality that merely weakens and consumes the strength of mind and heart. Sympathetic joy develops compassion into active sympathy.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Sympathetic joy gives equanimity the mild serenity that softens its stern appearance. It is the divine smile on the face of the Enlightened One, a smile that persists in spite of his deep knowledge of the world's suffering, a smile that gives solace and hope, fearlessness and confidence: "Wide open are the doors to deliverance", thus it speaks.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Equanimity rooted in insight is the guiding and restraining power for the other three sublime states. It points out to them the direction they have to take, and sees to it that this direction is followed. Equanimity guards love and compassion from being dissipated in vain quests and from going astray in the labyrinths of uncontrolled emotion. Equanimity, being a vigilant self-control for the sake of the final goal, does not allow sympathetic joy to rest content with humble results, forgetting the real aims we have to strive for.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Equanimity, which means "even-mindedness", gives to love an even, unchanging firmness and loyalty. It endows it with the great virtue of patience. Equanimity furnishes compassion with an even, unwavering courage and fearlessness, enabling it to face the awesome abyss of misery and despair which confront boundless compassion again and again. To the active side of compassion, equanimity is the calm and firm hand led by wisdom - indispensable to those who want to practice the difficult art of helping others. And here again equanimity means patience, the patient devotion to the work of compassion.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> In these and other ways equanimity may be said to be the crown and culmination of the other three sublime states. The first three, if unconnected with equanimity and insight, may dwindle away due to the lack of a stabilizing factor. Isolated virtues, if unsupported by other qualities which give them either the needed firmness or pliancy, often deteriorate into their own characteristic defects. For instance, loving-kindness, without energy and insight, may easily decline to a mere sentimental goodness of weak and unreliable nature. Moreover, such isolated virtues may often carry us in a direction contrary to our original aims and contrary to the welfare of others, too. It is the firm and balanced character of a person that knits isolated virtues into an organic and harmonious whole, within which the single qualities exhibit their best manifestations and avoid the pitfalls of their respective weaknesses. And this is the very function of equanimity, the way it contributes to an ideal relationship between all four sublime states.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Equanimity is a perfect, unshakable balance of mind, rooted in insight. But in its perfection and unshakable nature equanimity is not dull, heartless and frigid. Its perfection is not due to an emotional "emptiness", but to a "fullness" of understanding, to its being complete in itself. Its unshakable nature is not the immovability of a dead, cold stone, but the manifestation of the highest strength.</font></p><p><font size="3">In what way, now, is equanimity perfect and unshakable? Whatever causes stagnation is here destroyed, what dams up is removed, what obstructs is destroyed. Vanished are the whirls of emotion and the meanderings of intellect. </font></p><p><font size="3">Unhindered goes the calm and majestic stream of consciousness, pure and radiant. Watchful mindfulness (sati) has harmonized the warmth of faith (saddha) with the penetrative keenness of wisdom (panna); it has balanced strength of will (viriya) with calmness of mind (samadhi); and these five inner faculties (indriya) have grown into inner forces (bala) that cannot be lost again. They cannot be lost because they do not lose themselves any more in the labyrinths of the world (samsara), in the endless diffuseness of life (papanca). These inner forces emanate from the mind and act upon the world, but being guarded by mindfulness, they nowhere bind themselves, and they return unchanged. Love, compassion and sympathetic joy continue to emanate from the mind and act upon the world, but being guarded by equanimity, they cling nowhere, and return unweakened and unsullied.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Thus within the Arahat, the Liberated One, nothing is lessened by giving, and he does not become poorer by bestowing upon others the riches of his heart and mind. The Arahat is like the clear, well-cut crystal which, being without stains, fully absorbs all the rays of light and sends them out again, intensified by its concentrative power. The rays cannot stain the crystal with their various colours. They cannot pierce its hardness, nor disturb its harmonious structure. In its genuine purity and strength, the crystal remains unchanged. "Just as all the streams of the world enter the great ocean, and all the waters of the sky rain into it, but no increase or decrease of the great ocean is to be seen" - even so is the nature of holy equanimity.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Holy equanimity, or - as we may likewise express it - the Arahat endowed with holy equanimity, is the inner centre of the world. But this inner centre should be well distinguished from the numberless apparent centres of limited spheres; that is, their so called "personalities", governing laws, and so on. All of these are only apparent centres, because they cease to be centres whenever their spheres, obeying the laws of impermanence, undergo a total change of their structure; and consequently the centre of their gravity, material or mental, will shift. But the inner centre of the Arahat's equanimity is unshakable, because it is immutable. It is immutable because it clings to nothing.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Says the Master: "For one who clings, motion exists; but for one who clings not, there is no motion. Where no motion is, there is stillness. Where stillness is, there is no craving. Where no craving is, there is neither coming nor going. Where no coming nor going is, there is neither arising nor passing away. Where neither arising nor passing away is, there is neither this world nor a world beyond, nor a state between. This, verily, is the end of suffering." ~ UDANA 8:4</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.buddhanet.net/bvihar.htm"><font size="3">by Nyanaponika, Thera </font></a></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p> </article> <article> <h1>Human Life and Problems(2)</h1> <p>Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:46:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/fYhaez5ublvt1DlyO39Z5qvlojM/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/fYhaez5ublvt1DlyO39Z5qvlojM/1/da"></img></a></p><p><br/></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">Continued from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.saloeurm.com/apps/blog/entries/show/6129930-human-life-and-problems-1-"><b>Huam Life and Problems(1)</b></a></font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3">In Buddhist cosmology man is simply the inhabitant of one of the existing planes one can go to after death. These range from superconscious levels through the highly sensuous down to the four unhappy states. Man occupies a mid-way position in these realms. The so-called divine realms are 'happy' state but they too are impermanent. Although there are indications to lead us to believe that some intelligent living beings do exist in other world systems, it is not verifiable whether there are beings similar to humans in other planets of the universe. It is in terms of this infinite vast cosmic context that Buddhism tries to understand the place of man in the universe. In terms of that context man seems to be small. We must add to this man's propensity for cruelty, for his ability to inflict pain on others which makes him at times far less admirable than animals which only attack to satisfy their basic need for food, shelter or sex.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"> <b>MAN'S UNIQUE POSITION</b></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> One might argue that this is a very negative view of man, relegating him to an inferior position and disregarding his magnificent achievements in philosophy, religion, psychology, science, the arts, architecture, literature and development of culture and the like. Far from it, in this cosmic context humans assume a unique position because they have the most rare privilege of easy accessibility to salvation. It is for three reasons.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Human world is a good, well-balanced mixture of pleasure and pain. When pleasure is intensified (in the divine realms) or pain in predominant (in the lower world) one's mind does not turn towards spirituality. Buddhists maintain that extreme austerity or extreme self indulgence are not conducive to the development of wisdom and understanding . The Middle Path between extreme pleasure and austerity is advocated and the human world provides man the opportunity to tread the Middle Path. The second reason is the relative short span of human life and the unpredictability of the time of death. Faced with imminent death one is more often inclined to spirituality. The third reason is that while in other realms the inhabitants are mere passive recipients of the effects of their past kamma, man is a favorable position to create fresh kamma, and is thus able to shape his own destiny.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> All of this gives man the responsibility to work out his own salvation in the human plane. He is in effect his own Creator and Savior. Many others believe that religion has come down from heaven but Buddhists know that Buddhism started on the earth and reached heaven.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> What this implies is that each man has within him the Buddha-seed (potential for perfection) which he can develop without any external aid. One can become a Buddha through birth in the human plane , because it is here that he can experience existence in its entirely. Buddhists would certainly agree with Shakespeare's view of the human paradox -</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> What a piece of work is man</font></p><p><font size="3"> how noble in reason,</font></p><p><font size="3"> how infinite in faculties in form and moving;</font></p><p><font size="3"> how express and admirable in action,</font></p><p><font size="3"> how like an angel in apprehension,</font></p><p><font size="3"> how like a god, the beauty of the world</font></p><p><font size="3"> the paragon of animals; and yet to me what is this quintessence of dust?</font></p><p><font size="3"> -Hamlet 2-2</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> In many ways man is ignorant, yet he has the seed to become the highest of all beings, a fully enlightened one. Some people say that human life is between heaven and hell because the human mind can be developed easily to experience heavenly bliss, and when it is abused it could very easily experience suffering in hell.</font></p><p><font size="3"> Man is man only if he has that human concern or human heartiness.</font></p><p><font size="3"> Proud man hath no heaven</font></p><p><font size="3"> The envious man hath no neighbor</font></p><p><font size="3"> An angry man hath not even himself.</font></p><p><font size="3"> -Chinese philosophy</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> 'The individual by himself is helpless. Hence the social life of man which brings forth co-operative power. Man cannot be man without society. Man is one with nature' . -- (Greek philosopher)</font></p><p><font size="3"> In the teaching of the Buddha it is mentioned that human beings experience heavenly bliss when the objects impinging on the five senses are favorable and soothing.</font></p><p><font size="3"> On the other hand they also experience suffering like in hell if the objects are irritable and disturbing.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p align="center"><b><font size="3">WHAT BUDDHISM REQUIRES OF MAN</font></b></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> What Buddhism require of man? A Chinese scholar once asked a monk what constituted the essence of Buddhism and the sage replied:</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3">To do good, not to do evil</font></p><p><font size="3"> To purify mind,</font></p><p><font size="3"> This is the teaching of all the Buddha's.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Naturally this scholar had expected a much more 'profound' answer, something deep and abstruse, and he remarked that even a child of three could understand that. But the sage replied that while a child of three could understand it, a man of eighty could not practice it !</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The Buddha has similarly cautioned his attendant disciple , Ananda not to regard seemingly simple teachings as something easy to follow.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> This is the essence of Buddhism- Man is required to follow startlingly 'simple' precepts in his search for emancipation, but the practice of these can be extremely difficult.</font></p><p><font size="3"> To begin with:</font></p><p><font size="3"> -he must not take the life of any living creature knowingly;</font></p><p><font size="3"> - he must not take anything not given</font></p><p><font size="3"> -he must refrain from lying and harsh frivolous speech;</font></p><p><font size="3"> -he must guard against sexual misdemeanor;</font></p><p><font size="3"> -he must no take anything (like drugs and liquor) which causes him to lose his mindfulness.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> These are important Buddhist principles to observe. These principles are not meant for expression but to be simply put into practice with understanding. The central problem of the spiritual life is one of active, practical application, not a matter of intellectual knowledge.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The ultimate aim of man in Buddhism is to break finally and irrevocably the bonds that bind him to constant rebirth in the repeated birth- and- death cycle of samsara. He is destined to be subjected to an endless round of rebirths because in his ignorance, man conceives of an enduring entity called on 'ego' or 'self'.</font></p><p><font size="3"> Taking the illusion of an ego for real he develops selfish desires. Man is thus endlessly struggling to satisfy his cravings but he is never satisfied. It is like scratching a sore to find temporary relief, only to discover that in doing so the itch has increased because the sore has been aggravated.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"> <b>THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE</b></font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Marriage is a partnership in which two individuals of opposite sexes but equal worth as human beings choose to live together. A happy and lasting marriage requires a lot of hard work and commitment where love is fed with shared experiences, joys and sorrows.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Marriage is the culmination of love by two individuals committed to one another by a common bond. 'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach ...'(Robert Browning). We believe as Browning does, that love is the essence of life itself, something which transcends boundaries, race and creed.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Marriage has failed to fulfill its purposes today because people have failed to recognize the importance of equality and respect for women. These privileges are enjoyed by many women in a large number of areas of human activity. Strangely when it comes to marriage, women are still treated badly. The importance of the role of women in society was undoubtedly widened after the advent of Buddhism in India, giving them a wide scope to venture into vacations besides house-keeping. In spite of this, for the vast majority, to get married and rear children remained the normal choice of career. But there was a difference: married life was ennobled by the noble position given to it by the Buddha himself to such an undertaking. He lifted the married women from a state of servant to a state of responsibility and importance. As an indication of the Buddha's concern for maintenance of happiness through marriage, he laid down specific instructions for the guidance of husband and wife.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The Buddha was full of praise for happy couples. Among his lay disciples were Nakulamata and Nakulapita who were considered most eminent for having lived together amicably for a long time. The Buddha praised them and gave instructions to others as to how they too could live happily in marriage. These instructions given over two thousand five hundred years ago hold good even to this day. Much misery has been experienced in modern times by men and women in married life because they deviated from these instructions.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The institution of marriage in ancient India was governed by the concept of caste, the position of women, the rights of men and the four stages of the individual's life. The Buddha's rejection of the concept of the caste system meant that the Buddhist institution of marriage was emancipated from these rigid and inflexible rules, regulations and rituals which had become a great obstacle to the free and unprejudiced behavior of the members of society both male and female.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The discourse of Fundamentals of Buddhist Social Ethic, (Sigalovada Sutra) generally lays down the basic pattern of relationships between husband and wife, parents and children, and enumerates the reprisal duties that bind them together emphasizing the most essential aspects of their common life.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The comprehensive study of the Buddhist institution of marriage outlined in the Buddha's teaching clearly shows that was intended for the enjoyment, promotion and moralization of biological needs, psychological satisfaction and material well-being of both husband and wife without any reference to specific customs, sacraments or any kind of ideology, religious or otherwise.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> According to the Buddha, cultural compatibility between husband and wife was considered as one of the factors of successful married life. Many of today's problems in marriage arise from the inability of the parties concerned to recognize the sacrifices involved. Marriage is not simply lust and romance. Romance is not a bad thing in itself, but it is emotional and has limitations.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> There will be less disillusion and heartache in marriage if we understand that, from the illusions of romance, a deep and abiding love may emerge. Love is a passionate and abiding desire, on the part of two people, to produce together conditions under which each can express his of her real self and to produce together an intellectual soil and an emotional climate in which each can flourish, far superior to what either could achieve alone.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> In the past we heard of blissfully married couples who shared the sweetness of love earned through years of being together, for better or for worse. For most who have been long-married couples, 'happily ever after did not just happen. Couples in long, happy marriages mentioned this fact of life when asked what made their relationships a success'. 'We worked to keep the romance alive. We enjoyed our differences and learned from them.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> 'We voiced our discontents freely and deal with them right away instead of letting them build into thunderclouds'. But in a way, the thing all successful couples have in the common was reflected in this observation: 'Even when things were really bad, we were both too stubborn to quit'. Perhaps what characterizes modern couples with problems is that they want things to work out too easily as it happens on television. No, everything good must be earned through hard work.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> For many the road to marital longevity has not been soothe. The bumps included many things: inability to have children, the death of a child, a disabled child. a difficult economic crisis and highly stressful career changes.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Although none of the couples surveyed said so specifically it was obvious that two other factors were important to their marital success. Firstly, even though some couples forced considerable differences in personality and sometimes carried heavy emotional baggage, they maintained respect for one another always and refrained from trying to remake their partners. A wife once told her husband: 'You married me for what I am'. He retorted, 'No, I married you for what you would become'. Now of course both parties were wrong because their expectations were different and they were unwilling to compromise. Secondly, none of the marriages was marred by psychological disturbances too severe to preclude a true partnership. There was a wife who always used to insult her husband even for a minor mistake stating: 'You are a stupid man'. The husband on the other hand was a tolerant man. However, one day when he was scolded by the wife using the same word the husband retorted: ' I think you are right. If I were not stupid man, do you think that I would ever marry a woman like you?' From that day onwards she did not repeat that insulting word.</font></p><p><font size="3"> To achieve a successful marriage, couples also need to understand and accept the differences between the two genders. Couples sometimes become frustrated with each other and wish that their partner was more like them. Knowing and being able to tolerate the differences between men and women helps a lot in marriage.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> A mate who is willing to weather the hard times and make the adjustments that come with children, job changes, financial difficulties or simply learning more about the person one is married to, is the real secret to a successful marriage.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Another saying on married life: Wife becomes a mistress to a young man, a companion to the middle aged, and a nurse to an old man'. Many couples with children are determined to stay together at least until their children are grown up. With just a little effort these years can be among the most fulfilling times in a marriage.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Marriage is a blessing but many people turn their married lives into misery and a curse. Poverty is not the main cause of an unhappy married life. Both husband and wife must learn to share the pleasure and pain of everything in their daily lives. Mutual understanding is the secret of a happy family life.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> In a true marriage, man and woman think more of the partnership than they do of themselves individually. Marriage is a bicycle made for two. A feeling of security and contentment comes from mutual efforts.</font></p><p><font size="3"> A wife is not her husband's servant. She deserves respect as an equal. Though a man is generally regarded even today as being the bread winner helping out with household chores do not demean his masculinity. At the same time, a nagging and grumpy wife is not going to make up for shortages in the home. Neither will her suspicion of her husband help to make a happy marriage. If her husband has shortcomings, only tolerance and kind words will get him to see light. It is important in marriage to keep tolerance alive throughout. Little things can mean a lot. Right understanding and moral conduct are the practical sides of wisdom.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> From time immemorial, flowers have been considered the language of love. They don't cost much. Wives, or for that matter all women, attach a lot of importance to birthdays and anniversaries, and caring husbands should never be too busy to keep love alive with little tributes and attentions. Trivialities such as these are at the bottom of most marital happiness. Wives do appreciate such little attentions from their courteous husbands and it is this lifelong goodwill that keeps the home fires burning.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> A carefully developed family affection is a simple formula that works both for keeping marriages together and bringing up children of good character. True love means being willing to value ones' partner and being unwilling to devalue him or her in the presence of other people. This willingness has to spring from the heart. The key difference between marriages that work and those that do not is how much a couple value each other. Criticizing, putting down or belittling a spouse particularly in the presence of other people, erodes a relationship. And even this is not enough as each still has to value the other as he or she is a rare gem.</font></p><p><font size="3"> Sometimes words are not necessary if there is understanding. An elderly father one confessed to his children that he loved their mother very much and told them to take care of her always, even after he was no more. He confided to them that she was the best woman in the world and that the family as indeed lucky to have her around. The wife, now in her 60's, has seven grown children and as many grandchildren. Yet she confessed that she never once heard the endearing words 'I love You' ever uttered or whispered to her- not even a variation of it. The wife, who belongs to the old school of Chinese philosophy, is quite content with her husband's own caring ways and concern for her happiness in their blissful married life. Her female intuition somehow tells her that deep down in his heart he truly loves her and that she could not have been dealt a better deck of cards. It is in the nature of some people not to speak out their feelings, but they care. We have to watch out for their actions. The next key to a harmonious marriage is to work towards achieving one's objective. It is a law of nature that if no effort is put into, for instance, a garden, weeds will grow instead of beautiful flowers. The same goes for marriage.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Faith, not necessary in the religious sense, (though it helps tremendously if a couple shares similar religious beliefs) is another vital ingredient in a lasting relationship.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> How important is sex in a marriage? Sex is a natural instinct and if enjoyed within its proper boundaries can bring about great happiness. Sex helps to keep a marriage glowing, and is an important and vital area that keeps a marriage together. It creates intimacy, a shred experience between two people which no one else is party to. It makes the relationship precious and private. The important thing to appreciate here is the fact that men and women see sex differently. While men may view sex as an intense physical activity, women do not. For her, it involves an interaction with the man she loves, that is with gentleness, his care and concern. Understanding the fact that women need intimacy and closeness makes the sexual activity a lot more meaningful and fulfilling.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Sex is much more than the gratification of an appetite. It is the basis of an intimate lifelong companionship, and the means of bringing into the world children whom we love and cherish as long as we live.</font></p><p><font size="3"> Through the ages we have learned that love and mutual respect must be the basis of close intimacy between the sexes. Sex, like any other tendency in man, must be regulated by reason. Man, not being governed by instincts like lesser animals, would find his tendencies running wild were he not to regulate them with reason.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> There a saying:' Like fire, sex is a good servant but a bad master'</font></p><p><font size="3"> A society grows a network of relationships which are mutually intertwined and inter-dependent. Every relationship is a wholehearted commitment to support and to protect others in a group of community.</font></p><p><font size="3"> Marriage plays a very important part in this strong web of relationships of giving support and protection. A good marriage should grow and develop gradually from understanding and not impulse, from true loyalty and not just sheer indulgence.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The institution of marriage provides a fine basis for the development of culture, a delightful association of two individuals to be nurtured, and to be free from loneliness, deprivation and fear. In marriage, each partner develops a complementary role, giving strength and moral courage to each other, with each manifesting a supportive and appreciative recognition to the other's skills.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> There must be no thought of man or woman being superior - each is complementary to the other, a partnership of equality, exuding gentleness, generosity, calm and dedication and most important of all, self-sacrifice.</font></p><p><font size="3"> </font></p><p><font size="3"> </font></p><p><font size="3">By Venerable Dr. K Sri Dhammananda</font></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><br/></p> </article> <article> <h1>Human Life and Problems(1)</h1> <p>Fri, 11 Feb 2011 22:13:00 +0000</p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/PQnD2bh4WR5JGGfURQJDr0cN1p8/0/da"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/PQnD2bh4WR5JGGfURQJDr0cN1p8/1/da"></img></a></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3">As human beings we have achieved a level of material progress we would not have even dreamed of barely a century ago. The marvels of modern technology have given us enormous power over the forces of nature. We have conquered many disasters but the ultimate question is: 'Are we happier than our ancestors were in the past?' The answer is: 'No'.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The abuse of women, children and the underprivileged religious and racial discrimination, color bar, and caste distinction continue on unabated.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Perhaps those who enjoy material comforts suffer more acutely than their 'poor' fellow beings. Mental illnesses, stress and loneliness are some of the serious problems we now face in our modern society. But the vital question is: Who is responsible for all the evils that haunt the world today?'</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> There are many who are quite eager to take the credit for the progress that mankind has achieved. Religionists, scientists, politicians and economists- are all quick to claim that humanity is indebted to them for progress. But who must share the blame? I believe that everyone is equally responsible. Let us turn the spotlight on ourselves and ask ourselves to declare in all honesty if we also have been responsible for failing to bring peace and happiness to our fellow beings.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> All of us are responsible for some of the horrors taking place in our midst today because we are too afraid to tell the truth. Let us take for example the exploitation of man's desire for sensual gratification. Greed for money and power has led some unscrupulous people to develop a multi-million dollar industry, to providing sensual pleasures in every possible way and young children are being trapped and victimized in the process.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Never before in the history of the world, has the human race been in such great need to be free from conflict, ill-feeling, selfishness, decent and strife. We are in dire need of peace nor only in our personal life at home and work, but also at the global level. The tension, anxiety and fear arising from the conflict are not only disruptive but continue to exert a constant drain on our well-being, mentally and physically. In their desire to completely dominate everything around them, humans have become the most violent beings in this world. They have succeeded, to some extent, but in so doing have paid a terrible price. They have sacrificed peace of mind for material comfort and power.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The basic problem we face today is moral degeneration and misused intelligence. In spite of all the advances made by science and technology, the world is far from being safe and peaceful. Science and technology have indeed made human life more insecure than ever before. If there is no spiritual improvement in the way we handle our problems then humanity itself is in danger of being wiped out.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p align="center"><b><font size="3">GOING BEYOND WORLDLY PLEASURES</font></b></p><p align="center"><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The religions of the world have always maintained that human happiness does not depend merely upon the satisfaction of physical appetites and passions, or upon the acquisition of material wealth and power. Even if we have all the worldly pleasures, we still cannot be happy and peaceful if our minds are constantly obsessed with anxiety and hatred arising from ignorance with regard to the true nature of existence.</font></p><p><font size="3"> Genuine happiness cannot be defined solely in terms of wealth, power, children , fume or inventions. These no doubt bring some temporary physical and mental comfort but they cannot provide lasting happiness in the ultimate sense. This is particularly true when possessions are unjustly acquired or obtained through misappropriation. They become a source of pain, guilt and sorrow rather than bring happiness to the possessor.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Too often we are made to believe that pleasing the five senses can guarantee happiness. Fascinating sights, enchanting music, fragrant scents, delicious tastes and enticing body contact mislead and deceive us, only to make us slaves to worldly pleasures. While no one will deny that there is momentary happiness in the anticipation of pleasure as well as during the gratification of the senses, such pleasures are fleeting. When one views these pleasures objectively, one will truly understand the fleeting and unsatisfactory nature of such pleasures. One will thus gain a better understanding of realty: what this existence really means and how true happiness can be gained!</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> We can develop and maintain inner peace only by turning our thoughts inwards instead outwards. We must be aware of the dangers and pitfalls of the destructive forces of greed, hatred and delusion. We must learn to cultivate and sustain the benevolent forces of kindness, love and harmony. The battle-ground is within us and is not fought with weapons or with any other sources but only with our mental awareness of all negative and positive forces within our minds.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Mindfulness makes a full man. A full man speaks with an open mind. And like a parachute, the mind works better when it is fully opened. This awareness is the key to unlock the door from conflict and strife as well as wholesome thoughts emerge.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The mind is the ultimate source of all happiness and misery. For there to be happiness in the world, the mind of an individual must first be at peace and happy. Individual happiness is conducive to the happiness of society, while the happiness of society means happiness of the nation. It is on the happiness of nations that the happiness of this world is built. Here we must use the image of a net. Imagine the whole universe as an immense net and each being as a single knot in this net. If we disturb one knot, the whole net is shaken. So each individual must be happy to keep the world happy.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> From the lessons of life, it is clear that real victory is never gained by strife. Success is be never achieved by conflict. Happiness is never experienced through ill-feeling. Peace is never achieved by accumulating more wealth or gaining worldly power. Peace is gained only by letting go of our selfishness and helping the world with acts of love. Peace in the heart conquers all opposing forces. It also helps us maintain a healthy mind and live a rich and fulfilling life of happiness and contentment. 'Since it is in the minds of men that wars are fought, it is in the minds of men that the fortresses of peace must be built'.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"> <b>SENSUAL PLEASURES</b></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Today, especially in many so-called affluent societies, people are facing more problems, dissatisfaction and mental derangement than in under-developed societies. This is because men have become slaves in their sensual pleasures and crave for worldly enjoyment without proper moral and spiritual development. Their tensions, fears, anxieties, and insecurity disturb their minds. This state of affairs has become the biggest problem in many countries. Since people in developed societies have not learnt to maintain contentment in their lives hence naturally they will experience unsatisfactoriness.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> There are four areas where man is trying to find the aim of life:</font></p><p><font size="3"> - Material or physical level;</font></p><p><font size="3"> -Likes and dislikes or pleasant or unpleasant feeling;</font></p><p><font size="3"> - Studying and reasoning;</font></p><p><font size="3"> - Sympathetic understanding, based on pure justice and fair dealing,</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The last one is the realistic and lasting method which never creates disappointment. Today, people need more wealth, not only for their living and to fulfill their obligations, but because their craving for accumulation has increased. It has become a sort of competition. In experience worldly pleasure there must be an external object or partner but to gain mental happiness it is not necessary to such have an external object.</font></p><p><br/></p><p><font size="3"> Many young people have lost confidence in themselves and have to face difficulty in dealing what to do with their lives. The main cause of this mental attitude is excessive ambition and anxieties created by competition, jealousy and insecurity. Such problems naturally create a very bad atmosphere for others who want to live peacefully. It is a fact that when one individual creates a problem, his behavior in turn effects the well being of others.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Animal never experience happiness but pleasure. Happiness is not based on the arbitrary satisfaction of one's own self but in the sacrifice of one's pleasure for the well-being of others.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"> <b>USING WEALTH PROPERTY</b></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> To most people a wealthy person, community or nation is one that is 'rich' in the sense of possessing assets or money which constitute material gain. The word 'wealth' originally meant state of well-being (weal). The word 'commonwealth' carries this meaning. But it is now used to refer to property which generally promotes material well-being rather than the mental state of being well.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Of course we cannot deny that desire for wealth is a valuable adjunct to success if held within proper bounds. Desire , in itself, is not evil. Unrestrained, however, desire leads to restless discontentment, envy, greed, fear and cruelty to fellow beings. The accumulation of money may aid in the achievement of a kind of happiness to some extent, but does not in itself bring total satisfaction. Where most men of vast means fail is when they confuse the means with the end. They do not understand the nature, meaning and proper function of wealth, that is merely a 'means' by which one can gain the 'end' of supreme happiness. But one can be happy without being rich. An old Chinese tale will illustrate this.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Once there was a king who wanted to know how to be truly happy. One of his ministers advised him that to be happy he would have to wear the shirt of a man who was truly happy. After a long time he found such a man, but the happy man had no shirt to give the king. That was why he was happy!</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Wealth should be used well and wisely. It should be used for one's welfare as well as that of others. If a person spends his time clinging to his property, without fulfilling his obligations toward his country, people and religion, he will lead an empty life plague with worries. Too many people are obsessed with material gain, to the point that they forget their responsibilities to their families and fellow beings. Happiness is a strange thing. The more you share it, the more you get satisfaction .</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> If one is selfish, when the time comes for one to leave the world, one will realize too late that one had not made full use of his or her wealth. No one, even a wealthy person, will have really benefited from the riches so painstakingly accumulated.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"> <b>ACCUMULATION OF WEALTH</b></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Some people think that by accumulation more and more wealth, they can overcome their problems. So they try to become billionaires, working hard, but after becoming billionaires, they have to face many more unexpected problems - insecurity, unrest, enemies and difficulty in maintaining their wealth. This, clearly shows that the accumulation of wealth alone is not the solution for human problems. Wealth no doubt can help to overcome certain problems but not all the world's happiness can be gained through money. Money cannot eradicate natural problems.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Philosophers, great thinkers and rationalists have pointed out the nature of human weaknesses and how to overcome them. However, many people regard them as mere theories and not as solutions to their problems. Sometimes the intellect actually creates more problems because it increases our egoistic opinions about ourselves.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"> <b>THE BUDDHA'S ADVICE FOR EARNING</b></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Contrary to misconceptions held by certain quarters that Buddhism, with its spirit of tolerance and particularly in its practice of meditation, does not encourage its followers to work hard and to be industrious. The Buddha , in his many discourses, in fact strongly encouraged his followers not to be idle and indolent but to work hard and to be industrious so as to accumulate wealth through righteous means to maintain economic stability. Whilst encouraging the accumulation of wealth, the Buddha incidentally warned his followers not to violate any ethical or religious principles in so doing. He also advised that man should not become a slave to the mere accumulation of wealth just for accumulation for sake but to protect it without neglect and waste. He advised that wealth should serve as an adequate means of livelihood for the family, should be utilized to assist relatives and friends where necessary, and to help the poor and needy as charitable acts.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> In his discourse on various types of happiness in relation to wealth, the Buddha gave four practical classifications of happiness as follows:</font></p><p><font size="3"> - Happiness in the possession of wealth through righteous and legitimate means</font></p><p><font size="3"> - Happiness through the proper and correct usage of accumulated wealth;</font></p><p><font size="3"> - Happiness in the knowledge free from indebtedness to anyone;</font></p><p><font size="3"> - Happiness in the knowledge that no illicit or illegitimate means had been employed in the course of accumulating wealth and that no one had been harmed or injured in so doing.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"> <b>MAN'S PLACE ON THIS PLANET</b></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> From the Buddhist point of view, man is different from animals because only he alone has developed his intelligence and understanding to reflect his reasoning. Man means 'one who has mind to think'. The purpose of religion is to help man to think correctly, to raise him above the level of the animal, to help him understand his relationship with his universe and live in harmony with it so that he reaches his ultimate goal of supreme happiness and fulfillment.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> The three questions which have baffled man ever since he was able to satisfy his three basic survival needs of food, shelter and procreation are:'Who am I? What am I doing here? Am I needed? Throughout the history of man, many thought-systems have evolved, with religion being foremost among them, to provide answers to these questions. Naturally, since man asked them in the first place, the answers were all seen from the point of view of man himself.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"> <b>MAN IN THE UNIVERSE</b></font></p><p align="center"><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Long ago man had been seen himself as being in the centre of the Universe, as its most important inhabitant. According to this point of view , the world was made for humans, for themselves to obtain from it what they wanted because they were the most favored creatures on it and everything that existed on this planet was for their sole pleasure.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> This so called "Humanistic" view may be directly responsible for the terrible rape of our planet and our disregard for the rights of other beings which co-exist with us. For example there have been tragic cases where certain species of animals become extinct through needless slaughter by unsympathetic humans in pursuit of their sporting pleasure or business purposes. Even today the subjugation of nature by science and technology is being applauded. We must increase the number of those amongst us who have already realized the vast destruction that has been wrecked by man in the name of 'progress'. Up until now nature has been most forgiving and it has allowed man to continue to think that this planet was made for him to rape and plunder at will, to satisfy his insatiable greed for material possessions and sensual gratification. Today there are many warning signs to indicate that the comfortable times are about to end. Hopefully, if Compassion and Right View will not save the world , then at least the same selfishness and desire for self-preservation and self-gratification will force man to give some sensible thought to our impoverished environment and our suffering fellow creatures on this earth.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> To understand the place of man in the Universe from a Buddhist point of view we must first of all look at the Buddha's views on the cosmos. According to Him, the Universe is to be understood in terms of a vast cosmic space. His teaching categorized the whole universe into three groups: planets with living beings, planets with elements and only space itself.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> We can see man as a specially favored creature that had come into existence to enjoy the pleasures of a specially formed planet or the centre of the universe, Buddhism views man as a tiny being not only in strength but also in life span. Man is no more than just another creature but with intelligence that inhabits universe.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Biologically, humans are weaker than any other beings big or small. Other animals are born armed with some sort of weapon for their own protection and survival. Humans, on the other hand have their mind for every thing but not as a weapon. Humans are regarded as cultured living beings because they are to harmonize with others but not to destroy them. Religion was discovered by them for this purpose. Everything that lives share the same life force which energizes man. They are part of the same cosmic energy which takes various forms during endless rebirths, passing from human to animal, to divine form and back again, motivated by the powerful craving for existence (the survival instinct) which takes them from birth to death and to rebirth again in a never-ending cycle called samsara. The three detrimental sources of man which bind him to samsara are Greed, Hatred and Delusion.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> This cycle can only be broken irrevocably through the development of Wisdom which destroy these fetters and puts an end to craving. Our share fate as beings who inhabit this planet is that we all want desperately to go on living.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> 'All tremble at the rod</font></p><p><font size="3"> All fear death</font></p><p><font size="3"> Knowing that</font></p><p><font size="3"> One should neither strike</font></p><p><font size="3"> nor cause to strike' (Dhammapada)</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> All things depend on each other for their existence. A man cannot see himself as different from (let alone being superior to) other beings because his body is solely dependent on food, which means he is dependent on plants, water, oxygen, etc. for his existence. At the same time his mind also exists dependently because the existence of thoughts rely on sense data which are derived from the external world of objects and persons. The whole universe must be seen as an immense net: if only one knot in it is shaken, the whole net vibrates. Man owes allegiance to the world because he is dependent on it for his existence both physically and mentally. His attitude towards the world should therefore not be the arrogance of a pampered only child but one of humility: the world was not made for him alone, nor is the world always made out in his favor. Worldly conditions have no favoritism; they are neither kind nor cruel but neutral. Man exists because the rest of the world allows him to do so.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Therefore he should not try to squeeze things out from the world only for his own benefit. He must maintain a sense of awe and respect towards nature and all beings. Man is a relative newcomer to the planet Earth. He must learn to respect his other brethren. He must learn to behave more like a guest rather than a player in a card game where the winner takes all.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> It was in recognition of this interdependence that the Buddha advised his followers to practice metta (loving-kindness) to all, to radiate that compassion towards all beings. The Buddha does not mean that men should extend their love to fellow human beings only (he certainly does not recommend special treatment for their 'fellow Buddhists'). Whenever he talks about loving others he always speaks of 'all beings' (sabbe satta) even those lacking material form, the conscious, the super conscious.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3"> Three modes of birth: living beings are those that are moisture-born, egg-born, womb-born and those spontaneously arising in other planes of existence. Clearly the Buddha was teaching that if a man is to live on this planet he must develop an attitude of loving kindness towards not only fellow human beings but all beings that inhabit this planet as well as in other planes of existence. Only then can he vanquish the selfish thoughts which place his needs and survival above the needs of all others.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br/></font></p><p><font size="3">To be continued<a target="_blank" href="http://www.saloeurm.com/apps/blog/show/6157071-human-life-and-problems-2-">...</a></font><a target="_blank" href="http://www.saloeurm.com/apps/blog/show/6157071-human-life-and-problems-2-"><i><font size="3">read more...</font></i></a><br/></p> </article> </main></body></html>