Buddhism As Education

Some people may say that when one chants mantras, one will also get help from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Indeed, when chanting mantras as practiced by Esoteric schools, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will also be there to help but it is not as good as chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha. When one chant mantras, one will have the help of one or two Buddhas or Bodhisattvas. To get the help of three to five Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is incredible. But when one mindfully chants the name of Amitabha Buddha, one will obtain the help of all Buddhas in the 10 directions and in the three time periods. This is why the merit of chanting the Amitabha Buddha's name is inconceivable. What does the proper thought arising means? It is "Amituofo": the most truthful and ultimate proper thought. The only important issue in our life is to constantly maintain proper thoughts, not to cling to deviated or erroneous ones and to be constantly mindful of Amitabha Buddha day and night witho

One develops right understanding by seeing impermanence, suffering and not-self in everything, which leads to detachment and loss of infatuation. Detachment is not aversion. An aversion to something we once liked is temporary. Imagine some food that you like - bamboo shoots or sweet curry, for example. Imagine having it everyday for five to six years; you would get tired or fed up with bamboo shoots. If someone were to offer you some, you would not get exited anymore. In the same way, we should see impermanence, suffering and emptiness in all things at all times i.e. bamboo shoots. We seek not for life of pleasure but to find peace. Peace is within oneself, to be found in the same place as agitation and suffering. It is not found in a forest or on a hilltop, nor is it given by a teacher. Where your experience suffering, you can also find freedom from suffering. To try to run away from suffering is actually to run towards it. Investigate suffering, see its causes and put an end

Many people who have studied on a university level and attained graduate degrees and worldly success find that their lives are still lacking. Though they think high thoughts and are intellectually sophisticated, their hearts are still filled with pettiness and doubt. The vulture flies high, but what does it feed on? Dharma is understanding that goes beyond the conditioned, compounded, limited understanding of worldly science. Of course, worldly wisdom can be used for good purpose, but progress in worldly wisdom can cause deterioration in religion and moral values. The most important thing is to develop super mundane wisdom that can use such technology while remaining detached from it. It is necessary to teach the basics first, i.e. basic morality, seeing the transitory of life, the facts of aging and death. Here is where we must start. Before you drive a car or ride a bicycle, you must learn to walk. Later, you may ride in an air plane or travel around the world in the blink of

When we live with another person, to protect each other's happiness, we should help one another transform the internal formations that we produce together. By practicing understanding and loving speech, we can help each other a great deal. Happiness is no longer an individual matter alone. If the other person is not happy, we will not be happy either. To transform the other person's knots will help bring about our own happiness as well. A wife can create internal formations in her husband and a husband can do so in his wife and if they continue to create knots in each other, one day, there will be no happiness left. In this case, as soon as a knot is created, the wife, for instance should know that a knot has just been tied onto her. She should not overlook it. She should take the time to observe it and with her husband's help, transform it. She might say, "darling, I think we would better discuss a conflict I saw growing". This is easy when the states of

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