Buddhism As Education

For anything to succeed in this natural world it must harmonize with, be in line with Dhamma, follow from and serve, the Law of Nature. Anything that fits with, conforms to, follows from, and serves the Law of Nature is "Dhammic." To be Dhammic is to be non-violent, unselfish, compassionate, mindful, and cool. Ajarn Buddhadasa summarized it in two words "peaceful" and "useful." Being "peaceful" means doing nothing to hurt, harm, exploit, abuse, or oppress anyone, whether others of oneself. Such peacefulness requires a heart-mind free of selfishness and egoism. Being "useful" means helping in the struggle for genuine liberation from suffering, no mater on what level or in what area of life. True Dhamma does not concoct dualities likes "personal-social" or "worldly-spiritual." Don't believe that socialism is dead! This is just the materialist propaganda of neo-conservative diehard capitalists. Real socialism has ne...

The practice of Amitabha recitation is a direct and speedy way to realize Buddhahood in the Perfect Teaching and it is astounding. Hence all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas extol this Buddha recitation practice as it is also the practice of all the Buddhas. In the Amitabha Sutra, the World Honored One exhorted us three times to seek rebirth in the Pure Land while the Buddhas from six directions exhorted us to believe in this Sutra, which is also an exhortation to us that we must believe in the words of Sakyamuni Buddha. The Buddhas from the six directions represents Buddhas from the ten directions from the past, from the present and from the future. Hence from this we know that the World Honored One’s intention in exhorting us to seek rebirth in the Pure Land, is tantamount to all Buddhas from the ten directions exhorting us to seek rebirth in the Pure Land. This exhortation is truly unfathomable, earnest to the highest degree. The Buddha educates sentient beings so that they may become enlig...

The root cause of people’s problems is that they are too content, therefore they have drawn innumerable and endless calamities onto themselves. To cultivate Buddhahood is to learn from the Buddha. Irrespective of status, professions, all must learn the spirit of the Buddha, the ideas of Buddha and the compassion of Buddha, and implement all these qualities in their daily lives. Therefore, our life style should be modest and content. Excess is shared with all sentient beings. This is the difference between Buddhas-Bodhisattvas and the lay people: The Buddhas-Bodhisattvas share their good fortune with everybody while the lay people indulge in their good fortune, unwilling to share their fortune with others. This is over content. The saying, “six roots are pure, tainted not by one dust” actually means that the six roots i.e. eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind remain unperturbed in face of temptation. It does not mean a state of purity attained by eschewing social contact. If upon facin...