Buddhism As Education

Many people, particularly the educated, professional people are moving out of the big cities and metropolitans in order to seek a quiet live and simpler livelihood in the small town and rural areas. This is natural. If you grab a handful of mud and squeeze it, it will ooze through your fingers. People under pressure likewise seek a way out. Many people ask about the problems of our world, about a coming apocalypse. What does it mean to be worldly? What is the world? You do not know? This is very unknowingly, this very darkness, this very place of ignorance, is what is meant by worldly. Caught in the six sense, our knowledge develops as a part of this darkness. To come to an answer to the problems of the world, we must know its nature completely and realize the wisdom that shines above the darkness of the world. These days, it seems that our culture is deteriorating, lost in greed, hatred and delusion. But the culture of the Buddha never changes, never diminishes. It says, ...

We do not examine ourselves; we just follow desire, caught in endless rounds of grasping and fearing, wanting to do just as we please. whatever we do, we want it to be at our ease. If we are not able to have comfort and pleasure any longer, we are unhappy, anger and aversion arise and we suffer, trapped by our mind. For the most part, our thinking follows sense objects and wherever thought lead us, we follow. However, thinking and wisdom are different; in wisdom, the mind becomes still, unmoving and we are simply aware, simply acknowledging. normally, when sense objects come, we think about, dwell about, discourse over and worry about them. Yet, none of those objects is substantial; all are impermanent, unsatisfactory and empty. Just cut them short and dissect them into these three common characteristics. When you sit again, they will rise again, but just keep observing them, keep checking them out. This practice is like caring for a buffalo and a rice field. The mind is like th...

The Most Venerable Hai Tao will be coming over to Palme Gon Buddhist Society, Butterworth on this Sunday 2nd December 2012 from 3.00 pm to 10.00 pm as part of his annual Dharma tour to Penang. During his one-day programme here Ven. Hai Tao will conduct various prayer, mantra and Dharma lectures, follow by fire offerings and animal liberation. The Dharma programme will be held at the society's premises at 19 Jalan Sentral 4, Taman Sentral, Bagan Lallang, 13400 Butterworth, Penang, while the liberation would be carried out at the riverside in front of the premises. For more information, you may contact 017-2887278, 013-5911811, 012-4278987 or 012-5250918. All Buddhist devotees are most welcomed to this meritorious event. May you be well and happy.

Those just beginning often wonder what practice is. Practice occurs when you try opposing the defilements, not feeding old habits. where friction and difficulty arise, that is the place to work. When you pick mushrooms to eat, you do not do so blindly, you have to know which kind and what. So too with our practice, we must know the dangers, the snakes bite of defilements, in order to free ourselves from them. The defilements - greed, hatred and delusion are at the root of our suffering and our selfishness. We must learn to overcome them, to conquer and go beyond their control, to become masters of our minds. Of course it seems hard. It is like having the Buddha tell you to split up a friend you have known since childhood. The defilements are like a tiger. We should imprison the tiger in a good strong cage made of mindfulness, energy, patience and endurance. Then we can let it starve to death by not feeding its habitual desires. We do not have to take a knife and butcher it. ...

Today, Drupon Samten Rinpoche held a chanting session for the liberation of fish into the river in front of the Palme Gon Buddhist Society premises. After the liberation, the passing of merits was also conducted in order to ease the suffering of the wandering spirits, as well as for the benefit of all beings.

One develops right understanding by seeing impermanence, suffering and not-self in everything, which leads to detachment and loss of infatuation. Detachment is not aversion. An aversion to something we once liked is temporary. Imagine some food that you like - bamboo shoots or sweet curry, for example. Imagine having it everyday for five to six years; you would get tired or fed up with bamboo shoots. If someone were to offer you some, you would not get exited anymore. In the same way, we should see impermanence, suffering and emptiness in all things at all times i.e. bamboo shoots. We seek not for life of pleasure but to find peace. Peace is within oneself, to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where your experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. To try to run away from suffering is actually to run towards it. Investigate suffering, see its causes and put an end...

Drupon Samten Rinpoche has conducted the Achi Prayer and Smoke Puja at Palme Gon Buddhist Society, Butterworth today.

Venerable Drupon Samten Rinpoche from the United States is now in Butterworth, Penang and his stay here is currently being hosted by the Palme Gon Buddhist Society, Penang situated at No. 19 Jalan Sentral 4, Taman Sentral, Bagan Lallang, 13400 Butterworth. During his stay at Palme Gon Buddhist Society, Drupon Samten Rinpoche will conduct series of Dharma programmes confirmed as follows: 11 November 2012 - 0800 pm 35 Buddha Prayer 12 November 2012 - 0800 pm Achi Prayer and Smoke Puja 13 November 2012 - 0800 pm Chod Offering 14 November 2012 - 0700 pm Liberation and Chenrizig Recitation 15 November 2012 - 0800 pm Lama Chopa Drupon Samten Rinpoche is currently the Spiritual Director of the Tibetan Meditation Centre situated in Escondido, California, United States. Prior to his stint in California, Samten Rinpoche had also served in various meditation centres in Washington DC, Florida and San Francisco since 1987. Drupon Samten Rinpoche was born in Ladakh, India and at the a...

A wandering ascetic, having heard of the Buddha, travelled everywhere looking for him. One night, he came to stay in a house where the Buddha was also residing but not knowing the Buddha's physical appearance, the ascetic was clearly unaware of the Buddha's presence. The next morning, he arose and continued his journey to search for the Buddha no knowing that he was in his neighbourhood the whole night. To search for peace and enlightenment without correct understanding is like this. Due to lack of understanding of the truth of suffering and its elimination, all subsequent factors on the path will be wrong i.e. wrong intentions, wrong speech, wrong actions and wrong practice of concentration and tranquillity. You likes and dislikes are not a trustworthy guide in this matter either, although foolish people may take them for their ultimate reference. Alas, it is like travelling to a certain town, you unknowingly start out on the wrong road and since it is a convenient on...

Many people who have studied on a university level and attained graduate degrees and worldly success find that their lives are still lacking. Though they think high thoughts and are intellectually sophisticated, their hearts are still filled with pettiness and doubt. The vulture flies high, but what does it feed on? Dharma is understanding that goes beyond the conditioned, compounded, limited understanding of worldly science. Of course, worldly wisdom can be used for good purpose, but progress in worldly wisdom can cause deterioration in religion and moral values. The most important thing is to develop super mundane wisdom that can use such technology while remaining detached from it. It is necessary to teach the basics first, i.e. basic morality, seeing the transitory of life, the facts of aging and death. Here is where we must start. Before you drive a car or ride a bicycle, you must learn to walk. Later, you may ride in an air plane or travel around the world in the blink of ...

The Buddha does not want us to follow the double path - desire and indulgence on the one hand and fear and aversion on the other side. Just be aware of pleasure, he teaches. anger, fear, dissatisfaction are not the path of the yogi but the path of the worldly people. The tranquil person walks the Middle Path of right practice, leaving grasping on the left and fear and aversion on the right. One who undertakes the path of practice must follow this Middle Way i.e. "I will not take interest in pleasure or pain. I will lay them down". But, of course, it is hard at first. It is as though we are being kicked on both sides. Like a cowbell or a pendulum, we are knocked back and forth. When the Buddha preached his first sermon, he discoursed on these two extremes because this is where attachment lies. The desire for happiness kicks from one side; suffering and dissatisfaction kick from the other. these two are always besieging us all the time. But when you walk the Middle Path,...

The methodologies for transcendence are varied: meditation, prayer, devotion, yoga, fasting, even psychotropic drugs. In the long run, the ones that are the most useful will be the ones that can be integrated into daily life wit the minimum amount of dependence on external circumstances or internal ideology. Then, the method will be applicable to a wide range of people and it will not become the source of a more stressful mental activity, such is the spiritual alignment that the Buddha called "Dharma" and which he described as: Directly accessible, not bound up with any special events or times, encouraging interests and open mindedness (rather than belief), furthering and deepening, to be realized directly in one's experience through wisdom (rather than induced by another). Dharma supports and is supported by practices such as careful reflective thinking, cultivation of kindness and compassion to oneself and others, calming the mind in meditation and gaining transc...

What can we do when we have hurt people and now they cannot consider us to be their enemy? These people might be those in our family, in our community or in another country. We think you know the answer. There are few things to do. The first thing is to take the time to say, "I am sorry, I hurt you out of my ignorance, out of my lack of mindfulness, out of my lack of skillfulness. I will try my best to change myself. I don't dare to say anything more onto you". Sometimes, we do not have the intention to hurt, but because we are not mindful or skillful enough, we hurt someone. Being mindful in our daily life is important, speaking in a way that will not hurt anyone. The second thing to do is to try bring out the best part in ourselves, the part of the flower, to transform ourselves. That is the only way to demonstrate what you have just said. when you have become fresh and pleasant, the other person will notice very soon. Then, when there is a chance to approach t...

Millions of people follow sports. If you love to watch soccer or baseball, you probably look for one team and identify yourself with them. You may watch the games with despair and elation. Perhaps, you will give a little kick or swing to help the ball along. If you do not take sides, the fun is certainly missing. In wars, we also pick sides, usually the side that is being threatened. Peace movements are born of this feeling. We get angry, we shout, but rarely do we rise above all this to look at a conflict the way a mother would, who is watching her two children fighting. She seeks only for their reconciliation. In order to fight each other, the chicks born from the same mother hen put colours on their faces. Putting colours on our own face is to make ourselves stranger to our own brothers and sisters. We can only shoot each other when they are strangers. Real efforts for reconciliation arise when we see with the eyes of compassion and that ability comes when we clearly see that...

Nature is our mother. Because we live cut off from her, we get sick. Some of us live in boxes called apartments, very high above the ground. Around us are only cement, metal and hard things like that. Our fingers do not have a chance to touch the soil; we do not grow lettuce any more. Because we are so distant from our mother earth, we become sick. That is why we need to go out from time to time and be in nature. It is very important, we and our children should be in touch again with mother earth. IN many cities, we cannot see trees, the colour green is entirely absent from our view. We could imagine, one day, a city where there was only one tree left. The tree was still beautiful but very much alone, surrounded by buildings, in the centre of the city. Many people were getting sick and most doctors did not know how to deal with the illness. But one very good doctor knew the causes of the sickness and gave this prescription to each patient: "Every day, take the bus and go ...

If the Earth were your body, you would be able to feel the many areas where it is suffering. War, political and economic oppression, famine and pollution wreak havoc in so many continents. Everyday, children are becoming blind from malnutrition, their hands searching hopelessly through mounds of trash for a few ounces of food. Adults are dying slowly in prisons for trying to oppose violence. Rivers are dying and the air is becoming more and more polluted and with difficulty to breathe. Although the two great super powers are becoming little more friendly, they still have sufficient nuclear weapons to destroy the Earth of dozen times. Many more people are aware of the world's suffering; their hearts are filled with compassion, they know what needs to be done and they engage in political, social and environmental work to try to change things around. But after a period of intense involvement, they may become discouraged if they lack the strength needed to sustain a life of acti...

The mind of love brings peace, joy and happiness to ourselves and others. Mindful observation is the element which nourishes the tree of understanding and compassion and love are the most beautiful flowers. When we realize the mind of love, we have to go to the one who has been the object of our mindful observation, so that our mind of love is not just an object of our imagination but a source of energy which has a real effect in the world. The meditation on love is not just sitting still and visualizing that our love will spread out into the space like waves of sound or light. Sound and light have the ability to penetrate everywhere and love and compassion can do the same. But if our love is only a kind of imagination, then it is not likely to have any real effect.  It is in the midst of our daily life and in our actual contact with others that we can know whether our mind of love is really present and how stable it is. If love is real it will be evident in our daily...

Love is a mind that brings peace, joy and happiness to another person. Compassion is a mind that removes the suffering that is present in the other. We all have the seeds of love and compassion in our minds and we can develop these fine and wonderful source of energy. We can nurture the unconditional love that does not expect anything in return and therefore does not lead to anxiety and sorrow. The essence of love and compassion is understanding, the ability to recognize the physical, material and psychological suffering of others, to put ourselves inside the skin of the other. We go inside their body, feelings and mental formations and witness for ourselves their suffering. Shallow observation as an outsider is not enough to see their suffering. We must become one with the object of our observation. When we are in contact with another's suffering, a feeling of compassion is born in us. Compassion means literally, :to suffer with". We begin by choosing as the object our...

When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you do not blame the lettuce. You look into reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer or more water or even less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or our family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and arguments. That is the experience. No blame, no reasoning, just understanding. If you understand and you show that you understand, you can love and the situation will definitely change. Understanding Understanding and love are not two things, but just one. Suppose your son wakes up in the morning and sees that it is already quite late, he decides to wake up his younger sister in order to give her enough time to take her breakfast before going to school. It happens that she is grouchy and instead of saying "thank you for w...

The Nandaka Vihara Meditation Society situated at Lot 1250 Mukim 17, Jalan Kolam, Cherok Tokun, 14000 Bukit Mertajam will be holding its Kathina and Ground Breaking Ceremony concurrently on 11th November 2012. Programs for the event are as follows: 07.00 am - Welcome the Kathina Robes ceremony 08.00 am - Pindapata (Almsround) 08.30 am - Food Stalls Open To Devotees 10.00 am - Ground Breaking Ceremony for New Building Project 10.30 am - Sanghikadana (Offering of Food to the Sangha) 12.00 pm - Robes Offering to the Sangha, Dhamma Talk, Paritta Chanting and Sharing of Merits 01.30 pm - Blessing of Food Stall Sponsors at Dana Hall How to Donate? You can come personally to the vihara to make your cash donation; by telegraphic transfer (TT) direct into the vihara's bank account no. 3151741619 under the name of Persatuan Meditasi Nandaka Vihara or you could also pay by cheque/bank draft payable to PErsatuan Meditasi Nandaka Vihara. Kindly write your name and contact detai...

The Dhammavijaya Buddhist Centre at Lot 850 Jalan Besar, Kampung Sungai Buah Luar, 43800 Dengkil, Selangor will be holding its annual Kathina and Sanghikadana Ceremony on the 4th November and 5th November 2012 respectively. The Kathina on the 4th November shall commence from 9.00 am while the Sanghikadana on the 5th November will commence at 11.00 am. For more details on the event and sponsorship, please contact HK Chong at 019-2377799 or Christine Wong 012-2876650. May you be well and happy. Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu.

The Management Committees of Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana Society and Buddhist Missionary Society is organizing the Annual Kathina Celebration at the Buddhist Maha Vihara on the 4th November 2012, at 123 Jalan Berhala, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur. The Kathina programme on that day would be as follows: 6.45 am   Buddha Puja & Offering of Morning Alms to the Sangha 7.00 am   Procession Round the Temple by members, devotees and well-wishers 7.45 am   Offering of Kathina Civara (Robes) to the Sangha 9.00 am   Tailoring of the Kathina Robes 11.15 am  Buddha Puja and Sanghikadana, Transference of Merits 12.15 pm  Lunch for Devotees 6.30 pm    Illumination of the Vihara premises 7.30 pm    Gilampasa Buddha Puja (Blessing Service) and Sermon You can participate by sponsoring: RM50.00   - Food items, medicines and toiletries RM100.00 - Monks' robes in varying sizes RM250.00 - Monks' robes, alms bowl, medicines, to...

The Chempaka Buddhist Lodge will be organising the Great Merits Blessing Ceremony on the 28 October 2012. The blessing service shall commence from 9.30 am to 6.00 pm. The blessing service shall be conducted by Venerable Utamasara, a distinguished monk from Myanmar. All devotees are most welcomed.

The Samadhi Vihara of the Buddhist Missionary Society of Malaysia is organising the Annual Kathina Robes Offering ceremony which marks the completion of the three months Vassana retreat observed by the members of the Sangha at the Vihara. During this ceremony, robes and other allowable requisites are offered to the monks as well as gifts for the upkeep of the vihara. Members of the Sangha are the protectors and teachers of the Noble Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha and if diligently practised, will lead to final liberation. As such, lending support to the Sangha members will enable them to continue spreading the Noble Dhamma. This act of support and reverence is one of the highest meritorious deeds that you may accrue when you participate in this ceremony. Date: 21 October 2012 (Sunday) Time: 9.00 am to 12.30 pm Venue: Samadhi Vihara, 1B Jalan Pegaga U12/8, Seksyen U12, Kawasan Perindusrian Bukit Raja, 40170 Shah Alam, Selangor. You are therefore cordially invited to jo...

Heong Sun See is organising a Vegetarian Food Fair in conjunction with the Nine Emperor Gods (Kiew Ong Ya) Birthday. The food fair organised in the aid of the temple's building fund is commencing today 14 October 2012 (29th of the 8th Lunar Month) to 23 October 2012 (9th day of the 9th Lunar Month) from 7.30 am to 8.30 pm daily at the temple's premises. Coupons and tickers for the food fair could be obtain from the temple on any day beginning today. Contribution in cash or in any kind will be greatly appreciated. Voluntary helpers are also invited to assist on the food fair which begin from today until 23 October 2012. The Medicine Buddha's Lotus Lamp Lighting for good fortune and elimination of obstacles will be incorporated in the Medicine Buddha Repentance Puja which is to be held on 21 October 2012 (7th day of the 9th Lunar Month) from 8.00 am to 12.00 pm. For those who are interested to participate in this lamp lighting, it is RM10.00 for indivudual while RM20.0...

We always ask, "What is wrong?" Doing so, we invite painful seeds of sorrow to come up and manifest. We feel suffering, anger and depression and produce even more of such seeds. We could be much happier if we tried to stay in touch with the healthy, joyful seeds inside and around us. We should learn to ask, "What is not wrong?" and be in touch with that. There are so many elements in the world and within our bodies, feelings, perceptions and consciousness that are wholesome, refreshing and healing. If we block ourselves, if we stay in the prison of our sorrow, we will not be able to be in touch with these healing elements. Life is filled with many wonders, like the blue sky, the sunshine, the eyes of a baby. Our breathing, for example, can be very enjoyable. I enjoy breathing everyday. But many people appreciate the joy of breathing only when they have asthma or a stuffed up nose. We do not have to wait untul we have asthma to enjoy our breathing. Awareness...

In Buddhism, the word "suchness" is used to mean "the essence or particular characteristics of a thing or a person, its true nature". Each person has his or her suchness. If we want to live in peace and happiness with a person, we have to see the suchness of that person. Upon seeing it, we understand him or her and there will be no trouble. We can live peacefully and happily together. When we bring natural gas into our homes for heating and cooking, we know the suchness of gas. We know that gas is dangerous - it can kill us if we are not mindful. But we also know that we need the gas in order to cook, so we do not hesitate to bring it into our homes. The same is true of electricity. We could get electrocuted by it, but when we are mindful, it can help us, and there's no problem, because we know something about suchness of electricity. A person is the same as well. If we do not know enough about the suchness of a person, we may get ourselves into trouble...

When we live with another person, to protect each other's happiness, we should help one another transform the internal formations that we produce together. By practicing understanding and loving speech, we can help each other a great deal. Happiness is no longer an individual matter alone. If the other person is not happy, we will not be happy either. To transform the other person's knots will help bring about our own happiness as well. A wife can create internal formations in her husband and a husband can do so in his wife and if they continue to create knots in each other, one day, there will be no happiness left. In this case, as soon as a knot is created, the wife, for instance should know that a knot has just been tied onto her. She should not overlook it. She should take the time to observe it and with her husband's help, transform it. She might say, "darling, I think we would better discuss a conflict I saw growing". This is easy when the states of...