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...

The noble way of life that is being introduced here is a practical educational system of mental culture known to the world some twenty-five centuries ago. The founder of this way of life was the most enlightened and compassionate teacher. This method is also known as the Middle Path, a righteous way of life, an ethico-philosophical system, a DIY method and also can be introduced as a path of freedom and reason. It teaches us to do three things namely, to refrain from doing bad deeds, to be of some service to others and to maintain a healthy pure mind. This message is very meaningful and practical. Yet people still experience difficulties when they try to put them into practice. The reason for such problem is due to their own inherent human weaknesses. The moral conduct of humans plays the most essential part in this way of life. Its great teacher once said, “my teaching is not to come and believe but to practise”. It encouraged people to study themselves, whether they should accept ...

What is merit? It is purity of mind, concentration and wisdom. Think about it, if we lose our tempers, how can we maintain our concentration and wisdom? It is impossible. As for good fortune, it is our wealth and intelligence. When our mind attains Constant Mindfulness of Buddha Amitabha or One Mind Undisturbed, we can accumulate merits and virtues. But with just one outburst of temper, all is lost i.e. no more Constant Mindfulness of Buddha Amitabha or One Mind Undisturbed. Therefore, we need to remain vigilant so as not to lose our merits. The Buddha once said, if we practice the Ten Virtuous Karmas, we will not fall into the Three Bad Realms. Instead, we would likely be born in the heavenly realms if we practice these good conducts diligently. If we achieve the deep concentration along with the Four Immeasurable Minds of loving kindness [providing happiness to others], compassion [taking away bitterness of others], joy [liberating others from suffering and feeling happy for t...

The parami are then inclinations and potentials that we develop into clear intentions. Their development comes in three stages, the initiating, the gathering and the completion. Initially, one brings the subject to mind. Even this much is useful; it means that parami get built-in as a frame of reference, when other values such as fun, convenience, style, worldly performance and success can be taking over the mind. The "gathering" stage is when you apply the perfection in the face of opposition. Something in you does not want to bother, other people do not see the point, it is not convenient, etc, etc and etc. The third stage of completion, is when you know your fullness in that perfection will bring you through any obstacles, you can give up your life for it. You realise: "Why not? Life is going to end anyway, why not establish a mind in a position of strength while there is time?" So, when we establish our minds on one of these parami, we can put aside incli...

If we examine the nature of reality deeper, we will find that within this complex world, there are things and events that have a certain degree of permanence, at least from the point of view of their continuum. Examples of this include the continuity of consciousness and the mind's essential nature of luminosity and clarity. There is nothing that can threaten the continuity of consciousness or the essential nature of mind. Then, there are certain types of experiences and events in the world that appear evident at a particular point but cease to exist after contact with opposing forces, such as phenomena can be understood to be adventitious or circumstantial. It is on the basis of these two categories of phenomena that the teachings of the Four Noble Truths such as the truths of suffering and its origin become relevant. When we further examine this dynamic, complex and diverse world that we experience, we find that phenomena can also be categories in three ways: 1. The Worl...

As you grow in Dharma, you should have a teacher to instruct and advise you. The matter of concentrating the mind, of samadhi, is much misunderstood, phenomena occur in meditation that otherwise do not normally arise. when this happens, a teacher's guidance is crucial, especially in those areas in which you have wrong understanding. Often where he corrects you will be just where you thought you were right. In the complexity of your thinking, one view may obscure the other and you get fooled. Respect your teacher and follow the rules or system of practise. If the teacher says to do something, do it. If he says to desist, then desist. This allows you to make an honest effort and leads to making knowledge and vision manifest in your mind. If you do as I am saying, you will see and know. True teachers speak only of the difficult practise of giving up or getting rid of the self. whatever may happen, do not abandon the teacher. Let him guide you, because it is easy to forget the p...

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 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...

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.

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,...

Penetration means to enter something, not just to stand outside of it. when we want to understand something, we cannot just stand outside and observe it. We have to enter deeply into it and be one with it in order to really understand it. If we want to understand a person, we have to feel their feelings, suffer their sufferings and enjoy their joy. Penetration is an excellent word. The word "comprehend" is made up of the Latin roots "com", which means "together in mind" and "prehendere" which means "to grasp it or pick it up". To comprehend something means to pick it up and be one with it. there is no other way to understand something. If we only look at the sheet of paper as an observer, standing outside, we cannot understand it completely. We have to penetrate it. we have to be a loud, be the sunshine and be the logger. If we can enter it and be everything that is in it, our understanding of the sheet of paper will be perfect...

To speak most correctly, we cannot really learn from scriptures, from techniques or from those various teachings if we are to be truly successful. To successful reap any benefits for real, we must learn in the thing itself, namely the actual prison. Study the actual dukkha in itself, that prison itself. So, we would better look for and find this prison, which is what are we going to talk about. At this point, we are confronted by two choices: are you going to learn from outside or are you going to learn from inside? The distinction is crucial. The Buddha said that we must study from inside. The external learning is from books, ceremonies, practices and things like that. Everything that we must learn, the Tathagata has explained in terms of the body which is still alive. That means a living body, with a living mind, not a dead one. That's where real learning takes place, so learn there. Learn from that inside, which means learn within yourself while you are still alive, befor...

It may be just one simple word, but upadana is the most important thing. The heart of Buddhism is just uproot or cut off this upadana. Then dukkha will be finished. Please understand that this is the heart of all Buddhism, it is found in every sect and school. Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism or whatever kind of Buddhism you like, they are different only in name or in the external ceremonies and practices. But inside, it is all the same thing: the cutting off of upadana. Do not be sad, do not be disappointed or anxious, do not make trouble for yourself thinking that you haven''t being able to study all the schools of Buddhism. Do not worry if you haven't been able to study Buddhism in Tibet, in Sri Lanka, in Myanmar, in China or any other locations. It is a complete waste of time. There is just one single essence or heart of it all, namely to eliminate upadana. The labels of Theravada, Mahayana, Zen, Tibetan and Chinese reflect on...

Problems in life start when we are born. Otherwise, if we had not been born, would we be subjected to aging, sickness and death? Instead of seeing life's unsatisfactorily, many of us see its problems as something good, even desirable. Many people and even monks during the Buddha's time saw no fault in enjoying sensual pleasures as much as possible. Such indulgence in one's desires is very easy to practice, even animals can have their enjoyment too. By choosing to ignore such problems, they only look to fulfill their happiness. But their apparent happiness is just an illusory, a cover for a host of unpleasantness such as worry, anxiety, boredom, jealousy, anger, grief and depression that permeate their daily life and relationships around them. This way like a millipede walking around and round along the hoop, we will not be able to find an end to life's problem in the cycle of rebirth, which is never ending. Ignorance is the problem that is the starting point of the prob...

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...