Sunday, November 30, 2008 at 7:32 am (buddhism, practice)
Tags: dharma, ethics, morality, precepts
For basic questions about Buddhism, a book called Good Question, Good Answer provides many straightforward explanations. For example, about doing right and doing wrong:
Any thoughts, speech or actions that are rooted in greed, hatred and delusion and thus lead us away from Nirvana are bad, and any thoughts, speech or actions that are rooted in giving, love and wisdom and thus help clear the way to Nirvana are good. To know what is right and wrong in god-centered religions, all that is needed is to do as you are told. In a human-centered religion like Buddhism, to know what is right and wrong, you have to develop a deep self-awareness and self-understanding. And ethics based on understanding are always stronger than those that are a response to a command. So to know what is right and wrong, the Buddhist looks at three things:
- The intention behind the act
- The effect the act will have upon oneself
- The effect it will have upon others
If the intention is good (rooted in generosity, love and wisdom), if it helps myself (helps me to be more giving, more loving and wiser) and helps others (helps them to be more giving, more loving and wiser), then my deeds and actions are wholesome, good and moral.
Of course, there are many variations of this. Sometimes, I act with the best of intentions but it may not benefit either myself or others. Sometimes my intentions are far from good, but my action helps others nonetheless. Sometimes I act out of good intentions and my acts help me but perhaps cause some distress to others. In such cases, my actions are mixed — a mixture of good and not-so-good.
When intentions are bad and the action helps neither myself nor others, such an action is bad. And when my intention is good and my action benefits both myself and others, then the deed is wholly good (p. 18).
From Good Question, Good Answer, by S. Dhammika. Available in English, Chinese and Thai from BuddhaNet.net (free download on the library page). Venerable Shravasti Dhammika is a Buddhist monk originally from Australia. He writes a blog titled Dhamma Musings.
Breathe.
2 Comments
Saturday, November 29, 2008 at 7:19 am (meditation, practice, self)
Tags: lying, precepts
On Thursday, I broke a precept. I did it unknowingly, stupidly. I didn’t realize until hours later that I had done it.
In the Fourth Precept, I vowed to abstain from lying. When I broke this precept, I was telling a story at the table as I was eating Thanksgiving dinner with a group of friends. The story was not important — and the lie, even less so. Without thinking, I embellished the story with an added detail that made it more colorful, more sentimental. The rest of the story was true, as far as I remember it.
What’s interesting is, I didn’t realize I had lied until the following morning, when I sat and meditated. In the midst of sitting, my lie appeared in front of me. I felt a bit surprised. Why did I do that? I don’t know. Moreover, how did I do it without even realizing I was doing it, at the time?
In practicing the precepts, we will break them many times. It is important not to give up. Breaking the precepts is like falling down when you’re walking. The thing to do is to get up and start walking again, and if you fall again, get up again, keep on trying.
From a dharma talk by Zen Master Wu Bong, Providence Zen Center, 1973.
Breathe.
2 Comments
Friday, November 28, 2008 at 12:53 pm (buddhism, practice, quotations)
Tags: mind, science
In the summer 2008 issue of Tricycle magazine, Jack Kornfield was interviewed. He was asked about the link between science and Buddhism. He answered:
In the opening page of my book, I quote the Dalai Lama: “Buddhism is not a religion. It is a science of mind.” But again, there isn’t one Buddhism. Buddhism also functions as a religion for many people — there’s devotion, religious rites and rituals, cosmology. In this way it functions as other religions do. But when you go back to the fundamental teachings, the Buddha’s main focus was much more a science of mind: Here is how the mind works, and this is how you liberate the mind and the heart from suffering, through compassion and generosity and the practrice of meditation (p. 48).
I always feel a bit cautious about the Western teachers of Buddhism — I don’t know which ones have made a New Age goulash from Buddhist and other philosophies. This interview left me with a favorable impression of Kornfield.
In various Buddhist temples around the world, I have seen people praying fervently before one or another statue of the Buddha, offering incense and mountains of fruit (and even cans of beer!). These practices don’t seem to fit with the Buddhist practice I am learning, but then, I wasn’t interested in Buddhism as a religion.
People follow a variety of approaches to Buddhist practice, and it’s not necessary to judge them or try to incorporate all these varieties into one single practice.
Breathe.
P.S. Today this blog received its 1,000th hit! Thanks for visiting!
2 Comments
Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 7:10 am (buddhism, quotations)
Tags: dharma, lacewing, sutra, udumbara
All the Buddhas
Appear in the worlds far away
And are difficult to meet.
Even if they appear in this world
It is difficult to hear their teaching.
Even in immeasurable, innumerable kalpas
It is difficult to hear this Dharma,
And those who are able to hear this Dharma
Are also hard to find.
They are just like the udumbara flower
Which appears only once in a very long while
And, beloved by all,
Is considered a wonder among devas and humans.
From the Lotus Sutra, tr. Kubo Tsugunari and Yuyama Akira (Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Berkeley, 1993, p. 49).
The person who took the photo above (IwateBuddy on Flickr.com) wrote: “We call the lacewing eggs ‘udumbara flower.’ ” Green lacewings are insects about one inch long with four wings that have a lacy appearance. They lay their oblong eggs on the tips of threadlike stalks attached to plants.
According to the Buddhist scriptures, udumbara is an imaginary flower that only blossoms every 3,000 years when the King of Falun comes to the human world. According to the Fahua Text, a scripture that explains the Fahua Sutra, udumbara appear every three thousand years. Huilin Yinyi, a collection of Buddhist sutras, claims this heavenly flower is a sign of rare preciousness and a miracle.
From The Buddhist Channel.
Breathe.
Note: “Breathe” will be taking a little “breather” and will return on November 28. Be well and do good.
1 Comment
Friday, November 21, 2008 at 7:05 am (buddhism, practice)
Tags: teachers
I was looking up some terms such as Roshi and JDPSN, and I found this on a very helpful page at the Urban Dharma site:
Firstly, a good teacher has made progress in attaining freedom from ignorance. This means the teacher has arrived at some understanding about the nature of existence, and is able to show a genuine compassion. You should not hear a teacher quoting from a New Age bookshelf.
Freedom from ignorance also means a sufficient grasp of the teachings to be able to answer your questions. In fact, the Buddha was very clear that all followers should test all his teachings against their experience. The Buddha very much encouraged all visitors to ask questions. You should be able to get straight answers to your questions. Do be respectful, do be truthful with yourself, do focus on what matters to you, but do not be shy to ask, even the same question over and over. And do listen closely to the answers you hear. A good teacher will find a way to give you an answer that speaks to you, at your level of understanding.
Secondly, a good teacher is largely free from greed and lust. How can you tell? One way is to stay sensitive to an undue focus on your generosity. Be cognizant that your generosity benefits the community rather than accruing to specific individuals. Also look for signs of attachment to things and to people. What might be some signs that there is some funny business going on? Perhaps the teacher lives a fine and comfortable lifestyle. Perhaps there are too many women around who praise the teacher excessively and uncritically.
Thirdly, a good teacher is advanced in developing freedom from anger. Such a teacher might have a “lightness” in style and would not be trapped in his own “likes” and “dislikes”, exhibiting kindness towards others, even very ignorant and difficult students. You would not find an authoritarian attitude where something is so because it’s written here or there, or because the Buddha said so. In fact, any display of anger for any reason is a seriously unwholesome act. So-called “skillful” anger is no different from plain anger; it is therefore a dangerous concept.
Breathe.
5 Comments
Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 7:36 am (practice, zen)
Tags: daily life, dharma
I’m back to sitting with Correct Situation, Correct Relationship, Correct Function. I don’t grok this yet. Intellectually, yes, I get the idea. But there’s still thinking involved. Thinking and not knowing. What I get, or think I get, is that one day I might understand at the heart level (not the head) what the Correct Situation is. And then, the Correct Relationship. And then, my own Correct Function.
We say if you meet a person who is hungry, give him food. If you meet a person who is thirsty, give her water. But sometimes when a person is hungry, food is not what he needs. Sometimes a person is thirsty, and water will not quench her thirst. We could make a big mistake, thinking we know what someone else needs or wants.
So, we can ask. “Are you hungry? Would you like a sandwich?” And if someone says yes, then we simply take him at his word. If she says no, then trust that “No” is all there is.
But sometimes I am inside a wall of safety, and I don’t want to ask the question. What is our relationship, right now? What is my function?
Breathe.
4 Comments
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 7:38 am (practice, zen)
Tags: Go
Many years ago, a boy I knew went to Japan to study the game of Go. When he came home he told us that part of his training was to play out the same opening sequences again and again and again. Endless repetition, mind-numbing, dull. Place all the stones on the board. Play out the complete joseki. Take the stones off. Place them again.
It seemed so pointless to him — he knew the joseki. He played it from memory. Why did his teacher make him repeat the same actions over and over?
One man nodded knowingly as he heard the boy’s story. “Teach the hand to remember so the brain can forget,” he said.
Thinking, not thinking. Heart, not head.
Breathe.
2 Comments
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 7:09 am (practice, self, zen)
Tags: thinking
Too much talking. Too much thinking. I remember standing with the bow drawn, waiting, trying not to think. That was a time when I didn’t know how not to think. Not thinking — what is that? How can I stand like this (dozukuri), and nock the arrow, and raise the bow (uchiokoshi), and draw the bow, and wait for the moment when the arrow must be released (hanare) — how can I do any of it without thinking?
Much later there was a conversation in a small room, and a teacher said to me: Of course you are all about thinking. Everyone is. Descartes said it, and we have believed it ever since. We believed it long before that.
What am I? Only don’t know. This “don’t know” is open and clear, empty, unlimited.
Breathe.
4 Comments
Monday, November 17, 2008 at 7:01 am (quotations, self)
Tags: Bruce Lee, martial arts, medicine
The way to transcend karma lies in the proper use of the mind and will. The oneness of all life is a truth that can be fully realized only when false notions of a separate self, whose destiny can be considered apart from the whole, are forever annihilated.
Who said this? Apparently, Bruce Lee (Li Junfan). Yes, the martial arts legend.
And where did I read it? In a book about Chinese medicine (Nourishing Destiny, by Lonny S. Jarrett). I wouldn’t normally be reading such a book, but someone was explaining the heart/kidney axis to me, and that led me to this chapter.
The alignment of this axis matches our alignment to the poles of heaven and earth, and its integrity is vital to our ability to manifest destiny in life (p. 6).
On the same page:
It is the interpenetration of the shen and jing through this axis that allows us to know ourselves through introspection and permits our original natures to flourish in the world.
I read that shen is mind or spirit, and jing is primordial energy inherited from our ancestors. Jing is centered in our kidneys; shen is in our heart; both influence us and our wellbeing. The chapter posits that we lose our true self in an instant of trauma early in our life — or, more accurately, we create our “small self” in that moment, and then we are out of balance and remain so. Our internal resources are misdirected outward instead of inward.
The nature of the false self is that it will usurp all resources available in order to maintain its possession of a person.
Breathe.
3 Comments
Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 7:13 am (quotations, zen)
Tags: koan, Mumon Ekai, teachings
Under blue sky, in bright sunlight,
one need not search around.
Asking what Buddha is
is like hiding loot in one’s pocket and declaring oneself innocent.
Gate 30, from The Gateless Gate, attributed to Mumon Ekai (1183-1260), Chinese Zen Master. See also this more complete version (49 gates).
Breathe.
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