Buddhism As Education

Needless worrying is also an indication of karmic obstacles. The past is past, what is the use of dwelling on it? Tomorrow is yet to come. To worry bout it is to have wandering thoughts. Some people are extremely good at worrying and wondering about the past and the future. The can do so all day long. This is to make a mountain out of a molehill and this is  karmic obstacle. What kind of mind are we using now? The deluded mind, it is not a true mind. There is no hindrance in the true mind With the deluded mind, when we try to see something with our naked eyes, we cannot see it clearly. It is like looking through  distorted glasses, seeing the external environment through a layer of delusion. This delusion is the Eight Consciousnesses and Fifty-One mind objects. With the glasses heavily contaminated, we then interact with the external environment through these consciousnesses and mind objects. Therefore, the environment has changed to that of the Six dusts. When these ...

If there is a threat, we should seek refuge from it. Similarly in the context of spiritual practice, to protect ourselves from the threat of an unfavourable rebirth, we should seek refuge in the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Buddhism teaches three different levels of refuge. The first is where we seek protection from the immediate threat of the suffering of rebirth in a lower realm of existence. Inspired by the greater fear that this possibility evokes, we seek refuge in the Three Jewels in order to avoid it. This level of refuge is relevant to initial scope of practitioners, whose goal is to attain an upper rebirth. When we think of the lower realms of existence, we should not think of some place far away in the distant future. All that actually lies between the present moment and the next life is simply the continuity of our breath. The moment we stop breathing, when we breathe out an don't breathe in, the next life is right there in front of us. It is not a m...

According to the Buddhist tradition, the subtlest workings of karma are evident only to the omniscient minds of the Buddhas; ordinary beings have no way of understanding karma as its deepest levels. Therefore, in order to be deeply convinced of the truth of the law of karma, you need to have a deep conviction in the validity and efficacy of the Three Jewels of Refuge; the basis of your spiritual practice must be strong faith in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. This faith is not developed from the words of the Buddha alone but, as we have seen, on the basis of your own critical analysis. If you look at the Buddha's teachings, you can discern two basic objectives: the secondary, temporary objective is to help sentient beings gain upper rebirths, but the primary, ultimate objective is to lead them to complete liberation from samsara. When you examine the Buddha's teachings on the complex issue of negative emotions and how to counter them, you can see that these matter are evident...

Buddhism discusses what are known as the two truths - the truths of conventional and ultimate reality. The concept of two levels of reality is not unique to Buddhism. It is a common epistemological approach in many of the ancient Indian schools. Followers of non-Buddhist Samkhya school, for example, explain reality in terms of twenty five categories of phenomena. The self [Sanskrit: purusha; Tibetan: kye-bu] and the primal substance [Sanskrit: prakriti; Tibetan: rang-zhin] are said to be ultimate truths, while the remaining twenty three categories of phenomena are said to be manifestations or expressions of this underlying reality. However, what is unique in Mahayana particularly in the Madhyamaka or Middle Way School is that conventional and ultimate truths are not seen as two unrelated, independent entities but as different perspectives of one and the same world. According to the Middle Way School of Buddhism, the ultimate truth or the ultimate nature of reality is the emptine...

We have to be aware of how people tend to imitate their teachers. They become copies, prints, castings and it is like the story of the king's horse trainer. The old trainer died, so the king hired a new trainer. Unfortunately, this man limped when he walked. New and beautiful horses were brought to him and he trained them exquisitely, to run, to canter, to pull carriages. But each of the new stallions developed a limp. Finally, the king summoned the trainer and seeing him limp as he entered the court, he understood everything and immediately hired a new trainer. As teachers, you must be aware of the force of the examples you set. And even more important, as students, you must not follow the image, the outer form, of your teacher. He is pointing you back to your own inner perfection. Take the inner wisdom as your model and do not imitate his limp. Know your own mind and body and you will know others' as well. One's facial expressions, speech, gestures, actions, all ...

"Our practice here is not to grasp anything", a chief monk told a young monk. "But isn't it necessary to hold onto things sometimes?", the younger monk protested. "With the hands, yes, but not with the heart", the chief monk replied. "When the heart grasp what is painful, it is like being bitten by a snake and when through desire, it grasp what is pleasant, it is just grasping the tail of the snake. It only takes a little while longer for the head of the snake to come around to bite you. "Make this non grasping and mindfulness the guardian of your heart, like a parent. Then your likes and dislikes will come calling like children. 'I don't like that, mummy. I want more of that, Daddy'. Just smile and say, 'Sure, kid'. 'But mummy, I really want an elephant'. 'Sure, kid'. 'I want candy, can we go for an airplane ride?' There is no problem if you can let them come and go without grasping". ...

When you take a good look at it, this world of ours is just that much; it exists just as it is. ruled by birth, ageing, sickness and finally, death, it is only that much. Great or little is only that much. The wheel of life and death is only that much. Then, why are we still attached, caught up and not removed? Playing around with the objects of life gives us some enjoyment, yet this enjoyment is also just that much. Whatever is pleasurable, delicious, exciting, good, is just that much, it has its limitation, it is not as if it is anything outstanding. The Buddha taught that everything is just that much, of equal value. We should contemplate this point. Just look at the Western monks who have come here to practice. They have much pleasure and comfort in their lives, but it was only that much, trying to make more of it just drove them crazy. They became world travellers, let everything go, it was still only that much. Then they came here to the forest to learn to give it all up, ...

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...

If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in the sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain, without rain, the trees cannot grow, without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say that the cloud and the paper inter-are. "Interbeing" is the word that is not in the dictionary yet but if we combine the prefix "inter" with the verb "to be", we have a new verb, inter-be. Without a cloud, we cannot have paper, so we can say that the cloud and the sheet of paper inter-are. If we look into the sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. If the sunshine is not there, the forest cannot grow. In fact nothing can grow. Even we cannot grow without sunshine. And so, we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper. The paper and the sunshine inter-are. And if we continue to look, we ...