Buddhism As Education

I had recently visited the Sammaditthi Meditation Grove (SMG) situated at Lot 617, Tanah Kubur Cina, Sungai Pasir, 08000 Sungai Petani, Kedah. SMG is the latest Buddhist centre of Theravada tradition to be constructed in Sungai Petani. The construction of its Sima Hall had almost completed, kutis (monk's huts) are also been constructed to accommodate the resident and visiting members of the Sangha. Their daily activities include morning pujas, followed by breakfast and lunch danas, where devotees are encouraged to perform their meritorious deeds. Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu.

Single-mindedly chanting a sutra without wandering thoughts, distractions or doubt, this is called cultivating meditative concentration. From the beginning till the end, enunciating clearly every word without error or omission - this is cultivating wisdom, we call it fundamental wisdom. Thus, chanting a sutra is cultivating simultaneously the precepts, meditative concentration and wisdom. If one thinks about the meaning of the sutra while chanting it will ruin the cultivation of precept observation, meditative concentration and wisdom. This is treating the sutra as a worldly book. A Living Buddha Zhangjia once said: Buddhism does not emphasize on forms or rituals but rather true substance. If we pay attention only to the formality and fail profoundly comprehend the essence of the sutra's teaching, we will not progress any further than just being zealous about our faith and thus be easily manipulated by those with bad intentions. Chanting the sutras is cultivating the prece...

As it is extremely important to cleanse away the stains of black karmic debts and downfalls (from broken vows) tarnishing the three gateways (of your body, speech and mind), and especially (to remove) your karmic obstacles (which would prevent such rebirth), you should cherish continually devoting yourself to (applying) the complete set of four opponent powers (which can purge you of them). With respect to refraining from negative actions in the future, you can determine to maintain an ethical discipline that will protect you from committing negative acts in future, but what about the negative actions you have already committed? The only way to deal with these is to purify them. There is a Tibetan saying, "If there is one good thing about negativities, it is that they can be purified." However, there are different degrees of purification. One possibility is to completely eliminate the potency of a karmic act such that it can never ripen at all. Another is to diminish t...

As to what specific meditation practices you should engage with, take the topic of impermanence as an example. The significance on impermanence and death is not just to terrify yourself, there is no point in simply making yourself afraid of death. The purpose of meditating on impermanence and death is to remind us of the preciousness of the opportunities that exist for us in life as a human being. Reminding ourselves that death is inevitable, it is time unpredictable and when it happens only spiritual practice is of benefit gives us a sense of urgency and enable us to truly appreciate the value of our human existence and our potential to fulfill the highest of spiritual aspirations. If we can develop this profound appreciation, we will treat every single day as extremely precious. As spiritual practitioners, it is very important for us to constantly familiarize our thoughts and emotions with the idea of death so that it does not arrive as something unexpected. We need to accept ...

Consider the Buddha's compassion and skill. He taught us after his own enlightenment. Finished with his own business, he got involved in ours, teaching us all these wonderful means. Concerning practice, we need to follow him, we need to carry out all efforts in seeking and giving as we believe what the Buddha has taught us, that Path, Fruition and Nirvana exist. But these things are not accidental. They arise from right practice, from right effort, from being bold, daring to train, to think, to adapt and to do. These efforts involve opposing your own mind. The Buddha says not to trust mins because it is defiled, impure, does not yet embody the virtue or Dharma. In all different practices we do, we must therefore oppose this mind and when the mind is being opposed, it becomes hot and distressed and we begin to wonder whether we are on the right path or otherwise. Because practice interferes with defilement, with desire, we suffer and may even decide to stop the practice. Th...

The following attitudes are essential to success in practice. Most of them have been presented before, but we are bringing them together again here as a series of rules for application. 1. Do not expect anything. Just sit back and see what happens. Treat the whole thing as an experiment, take an active interest in the test itself. But do no get distracted by your expectations about the results for that matter, do not be anxious for any results whatsoever. Let the meditation move along at its own speed and in its own direction. Let the meditation teach you what it wants you to learn. Meditative awareness seeks to see reality exactly as it is. Whether that corresponds to our expectations or not, it requires a temporary suspension of all our preconceptions and ideas. We must store away our images, opinions and interpretations someplace out of the way for a duration. Otherwise, we will stumble over them. 2. Do not strain. Do not force anything or make grand exaggerated efforts. Me...

Within the last century, western science and physics have made a startling discovery. We are part of the world we view. The very process of our observation changes the things that we observe. For example, an electron is an extremely tiny item. It cannot be viewed without instrumentation and that apparatus dictates what the observer will see. If you look at an electron in one way, it appears to be a particle, a hard little ball that bounces around in nice straight paths. When you view it in another way, an electron appears to be a wave form, with nothing solid about it. It glows and wiggles all over the place around it. An electron is an event more than a thing. And the observer participates in that event by the very process of his or her observation. There's no way to avoid this interaction. Eastern science has recognized this basic principle for a very long time ago. The mind is a set of events and the observer participates in those events every time he or she looks inward....