Buddhism As Education

The interlocking chain of the twelve links demonstrates the entire process of evolution and explains the individual's existence in samsara. There is no concept of there being some kind of central, unifying creator around which everything evolves. While we are experiencing the consequences of one set of twelve links, the ignorance and karmic action links of another cycle have already been set in motion. Thus, there are ever-rotating, interlocking chains of twelve links of dependent origination constantly keeping us bound to the wheel of life, which is how our evolution through cyclic existence is explained. The Buddha actually taught the twelve links in two ways. One charts our evolution through cyclic existence from ignorance to karmic volitional acts to consciousness and so on down the chain, while the other presents the same process in reverse, explaining how we escape from samsara and reach enlightenment. By bringing an end to ignorance, volitional acts are prevented; by ...

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...

Impermanence is a keynote in the Buddha's teachings. Down to the smallest dust speck, nothing is permanent. If it was't so, the Buddha had said, then there is nothing to practice for. Everything is conditioned, due to cause and condition joining together to create an effect, different combinations of different conditions giving rise to different effects. In many of His suttas, He tell us to reflect on our condition: Subject to parents who have died or will die one day, how could we ourselves then be permanent?? We therefore cannot progress any further in right understanding without first understanding the first of the Four Noble Truth: The Truth of suffering. The Buddha never used words casually. In this case His choice of the word dukkha had a purpose to show the cause of life. Here it means not so much the suffering of aches and pains but "du" (to be disgusting) + "kkha" (nothing, empty): that is what we assume to be doesn't exist. What we take to be a...

The Human realm is the world of our everyday experience. It contains all the other realms of existence that humans create for themselves. This is the realm where the individual searches for self. Humans are fundamentally unsure about the nature of many things - including his true identity. But it is in this world that transcendental insight into the true nature of self can be attained. This is the world where the individual can be conscious enough to be aware of his state of dissatisfaction and seek liberation, becoming enlightened, freeing oneself from the wheel of life and death. A truly living human person is one who realizes his special position and treasures it, as it is not easy to be reborn as a human. We must not take this life for granted, not realizing its significance. The human realm is the most favorable realm as it contains a mix of pleasure and pain - giving us ample opportunity to realize the true nature of life. Rebirth in the other realms is unsatisfactory as constant...

The Human Hell Being live life habitually seeing the world full of dangerous strangers out to get take their advantage - everyone seems to be constantly threatening. Their prime motivation is to eliminate or evade their menaces and are in a state of open enmity with everyone they encounter. They suffer agonies of insecurity and fell the pain and humiliation of imagined wrongs. Because of how they behave towards others, they bring into being the enemies they imagine. Hell beings are dominated by mental state of hatred (aversion), fear and/or even violence. They live in hell in this world as they make every situation a place of torment for themselves. If one is to die tuned to this mindstate, one is likely to reborn in hell.

Hell is a horrible dimension of intense constant pain and torment where its beings are subjected to the most excruciating tortures inflicted by vengeful demons and beasts. The fiery heat of the hot hells corresponds to the passionate intensity of hatred and fear while the freezing coldness of the cold hells corresponds to the cold cruelty of hardheartedness and apathy. Hel consist of sub-planes, each of which specializes in particular kind of karmic punishment appropriate to a certain kind of unwholesome action. Beings in hell either burn with rage or are tortured by anxiety. They do not see that their tortures are manifestations of their own guilty minds. The duration of life in hell also feels unbearably long. A world war can be the equivalent of hell where violence, hatred and fear is everywhere. Being forced to face strong personal phobias such as flying in a plane or entering an unknown place can also be hellish experience.

The Buddha taught that there are six realms of existence (Samsara - this world of pavalent suffering) that we are continually reborn into. These six realms correspond to the six mindstates that we fall into again and again due to Craving, Aversion and Ignorance. These six world are physically existent in our world and other dimensions - some seen and others unseen. They are worlds manifested through the force of Karma of sentient beings. The six realms are also psychological worlds (mindstates) that we repeatedly get in and out of in this life (or even in one single day). None of these six realms are permanent - not even Heaven or Hell. The moment the Karma of one's existence in that world exhausts, one is reborn accordingly to residual karmic forces. The first three worlds are called the lower realms - where great suffering is prevalent. The other tree worlds are called the higher realms - where there is generally more happiness, though suffering still exist. None of these worlds ...

Karma and rebirth together explain many unresolved mysteries. the inequality of mankind and their experience (even twins are different in character) talents of geniuses and child prodigies spontaneous arising instinctive likes and dislikes in infants intellectual differences between parents and their children sudden outburst of emotion and changes in character untimely death and unexpected changes in fortune

Not only is there scientific evidence to support the Buddhist belief in rebirth, it is the only after life theory that has strong evidence. During the last 30 years, parapsychologist have been studying reports that some people have vivid memories of their former lives. For example, in England, a 5 year old girl said she could remember her "other parents" and talked vividly about what sounded like the events in the life of another person. Parapsychologist were called in and they asked her hundreds of questions to which she gave answers. She spoke of living in a particular village in what appreared to be in Spain, she gave the name of the village, the name of the street she lived in, her neighbours' names and details of her daily life there. Se also tearfully spoke of how she had been struck by a car and died of her injuries two days later. And when these details were checked, they were found to be accurate. There was a village in Spain with the name that the 5 year old gir...

If being patient and kind was a pronounced part of your character in your last life, such tendencies will re-emerge in the present life. If they are strengthen and developed in the present life, they will re-emerge stronger and more pronounced in the future life. This is base upon the simple observable fact that long established habits tend to be difficult to break. If you are patient and kind, it tends to happen that you are not so easily ruffled by others. you don't hold grudges, people like you and thus your experience tend to be happier. Or you might come into this life with the tendency to be patient and kind due to your mental habits in the past life. If in the present life you neglect to strengthen and develop them, they would gradually weaken and die out and perhaps completely absent in the future life. Patience and kindness being weak in this case, there is a possibility that in either this life or next, a short temper, anger and cruelty could grow and develop, bringing wi...

Yes, that is why one of the steps on the Noble Eightfold Path is Perfect Effort. It depends on our sincerity, how much energy we exert and how strong your habits are. Some people simply go through life under the influence of their past habits without making an effort to change. Such people will continue to suffer unless they change their negative habits. The longer the negative habits remain, the more difficult they are to change. The Buddhist understands this and take advantage of each of every opportunity to break mental habits that have unpleasant results and to develop mental habits that have pleasant and happy results. Meditation is one of the techniques used to modify the habit patterns of the Mind as to speaking or refrain from speaking, acting or refraining to act in certain ways. The entire Buddhist life is a training to purify and free the Mind.

The most important factor influencing where we will born and what sort of life we shall have is Karma - our intentional physical and mental actions. What we are is to determined very much by how we have thought and acted in the past. Likewise, how we think and act now will influence how we will be in the future. A gentle loving person tends to be reborn in a heaven realm or as a human being who has a predominance of pleasant experiences. The extremely cruel person tends to be reborn in a hell realm or as a human being who has a predominance of painful experiences. The person who develops obsessive craving, fierce longings and burning ambitions that can never be satisfied tends to be reborn as a hungry ghost or as a human being frustrated by longing and wanting. Whatever mental habits are strongly developed in this life will continue in the next life.

Our minds being obscured by ignorance finds it difficult to remember the past. Also, many changes occur in our body and mind as we die and are reborn, making recollection difficult. Not remembering something does not mean that it does not exist - we sometimes even forget where we parked our car! However, some people can remember their past lives in meditation. What is more important is how we live our present life. Knowing what we were like in past lives is useful only if it helps to generate determination to avoid negative actions or to free ourselves from rebirth. The important thing is to purify our previous negative actions, avoid creating more and put energy into accumulating positive potential and developing our good qualities. If we want to know our past life, we only have to look at the state of our present life. If we want to know about our future lives, we only need to look at what we are doing right now. This is because we received our present rebirth based on our past actio...

Our mind streams are like radio waves, which is energy transmitted at different frequencies. Radio waves are transmitted, travel through space, are attracted to and pick up by the receiver with the same tuning and is broadcasted as music. It is similar to the Mind. At death, mental energy travels through space, is attracted to and picked up by fertilized egg. As the embryo grows, it centres itself in the brain from where it later "broadcasts" itself as the new personality. Is being Reborn Good? The idea of rebirth can be very comforting as it offers chances to amend the mistakes you have made in this life and time to further develop the skills and abilities you have nurtured in this life. If we failed to attain enlightenment in this life, you will have the opportunity to try again next time. If you have made mistakes in this life, you will be able to learn from your mistakes. Things you were unable to do or achieve in this life may well become possible in the next life. Ultim...

Although all sentient beings have the Buddha nature (potential to become Buddha), their minds are clouded by ignorance since beginning. From ignorance springs craving (greed) and aversion (hatred), which cause us to be continually greedy for life and its illusory pleasures while hating or rejecting death and other displeasure. Each moment of ignorance was produced from the preceding moment without a beginning. Although ignorance has no beginning, it can be eradicated through attainment of Wisdom in Enlightenment.

Our mind that carries over from life to life has no beginning - its continuity is infinite. Each moment of our mind is a continuation of the previous moment. Who we are and what we think and feel depends on who we were yesterday. Our present mind is a continuation of the past mind. One moment of our mind was caused by the previous moment of our mind. This continuity can be traced back to childhood and even when we were a foetus in our mother's womb. Even before the time of conception, our mind stream existed in another body. Using the example of a number line, looking left from position zero, there is no first negative number and looking right there is no last number - one more can always be added. Likewise, our mind stream has no beginning or end. We all have had countless past rebirths and our mind will continue to exist infinitely. By purifying our mind stream, we can make our future existence better and better.

Our Mind that carries over from life to life has no beginning, its continuity is infinite. Each moment of our mind is a continuation of the previous moment. Who we are and what we think and feel depends on who e were yesterday. Our present mind is a continuation of the past mind. One moment of our mind was caused by previous moment of our mind. This continuity can be traced back to childhood and even when we were a foetus in our mother's womb. Even before the time of conception, our mindstream existed in another body. Using the example of a number line, looking left from position zero, there is no first negative number, and looking right, there is no highest last number, one more can always be added. Likewise, our mindstream has no beginning or end. We all have had countless past rebirths and our mind will continue to exist infinitely. By purifying our mindstream, we can make our future existence better and better.