Buddhism As Education

It was this way of life which was the first to revolt against the degrading caste system. It taught humanity to accord equality in every walk of life. This way of life is also the first in providing freedom to women to study and to practice spiritual development. The Great Teacher declared that the gates to success and prosperity are open to all in every stage of life whether high or low, saintly or criminal who would care to seek and aspire for perfection. He did not make his followers slaves to himself or to his teachings but instead granted them complete freedom of thought and investigation to gain confidence for themselves. This system classifies living beings into mind and matter which are in a state of constant change, not remaining the same for two consecutive moments. Mind and matter arise and perish and the cycle of such continues on and on. Therefore, nothing will remain permanent either in this world or elsewhere in the universe. Because everything exist in the universe i...

According to this criterion, the minimum standard to achieve attainment in Mahayana Buddhism is to rid ourselves of a portion of our attachments, to sever the eighty-eight kinds of deviated thoughts and views. If we cannot sever these, we have not yet achieve attainment. Mahayana practitioners, who successfully sever them, reach the Initial Belief Stage. Theravada practitioners who sever various wrong views reach the stage of Stream-entering. Without these accomplishment, we will still be reincarnating within the cycle of rebirth, still having to repay our debts. However, there is still another way here: to seek rebirth in the Western Pure Land. Otherwise, attainment is not possible. If we cannot go to the Pure Land, we will have achieved nothing at all. Seeking rebirth in the Pure Land is actually much easier than severing the eighty-eight kinds of improper thoughts and views because we do not need to sever all of them, but we can carry our remaining karma with us. As long as...

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,...

A brief resume of the Metta Sutta given here will help to cultivate the spirit of Metta. The man who is wise seeks the good of all and who has obtained peace need to accomplish the following. He need to be strenuous, upright, sincere, contented and joyous. He need to cast of pride, greed for worldly things and riches. He must keep his sense in strict control. Let him be wise without being conscious of it, and let him not spend all his efforts in gathering riches for himself and his family. Let there be nothing mean in any of his actions. May all being be happy. May they be joyous and live in safety. All being whether weak or strong. In high or middle or low realms of existence. small or great, visible or invisible near or far. Born or to be born. May all beings be happy. Let no one deceive or despise each other or wish each other any harm. Let there be no anger or hatred amongst people. Even as a mother at the risk of her life watches over and protect her only child so with bo...

Equanimity is the attitude of regarding all sentient beings as equals, irrespective or their present relationship of oneself. While equanimity counters clinging (craving) and aversion, it is not cold or indifferent - it is love that is impartial and without prejudice. When a grown up son settles down with his own family, he begins to lead an independent life with responsibilities of his own. Although his mother still has her feelings of loving-kindness, compassion and appreciative joy towards him, they are now combined with a new feeling of Equanimity. She recognizes his new independent and responsible position in life and does not cling to him. To become a sublime state of mind, the attitude of Equanimity has to be extended to all sentient beings. In order to do this, one needs to remember that one's relationship with one's relatives, friends and even enemies are the results of previous Karma. Thus, one should not cling to relatives and friends while regarding others with ind...

It has been a common situation till today that leaders of Buddhist association and societies often discourage its members from being politically active or being sympathetic to any political ideologies or its cause. This is because Buddhists as the whole has been ingrained for decades that they should not address any issues or raise matters that show signs of political connotations or support of any political organizations. In any Buddhist association or societies normally, if there are any of its committee members or leaders show any signs of interest in politics or being part of a political party or comments in political development of our nation, they will be often treated with suspicion and frowned. I personally agreed with Loka Ng, a former leader of the Buddhist Missionary Society of Malaysia (BMSM) and Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia (YBAM). Such thought and perception are completely inaccurate, wronged and should be corrected as quickly as possible. By encouraging leaders...

The Buddha was among the first to speak against the caste system, on the importance of individual rights and the equality of all human beings despite differences in social standing, race and religions. He also encouraged the spirit of social cooperation and active participation in society at all levels. According to the Buddha, the only classification of human beings is based on equality of their moral conduct. The Buddha, seeing the two sexes as ultimately equal in rights was the first religious teacher who gave women full freedom to participate in religious rights. His move to allow women to enter the Sangha (order of monks and nuns) was extremely radical in his times. The Buddha was also the first religious teacher to advocate the spirit of consultation and democratic process in the Sangha community, each member has individual rights to decide on matters of general concern. When a serious question arose, the issues are put forth before and discussed in a manner similar to today’s de...