Buddhism Discussion

[wilfgene]

24 minutes ago, fab said:

 

The chinese stream only abandons the chinese language.

 

Most of these homophobic beliefs are taught at home.

By the very same people who abandoned the language in the first place.  You may care to check out 'An Amorous Journey - A History of Homosexuality in Ancient China'.  Conservative?  

A taxi driver explained wanting to 生存。  Just as choosing head over hair?  Manchuria over China?

As well as @Greenliv's deliberation over Give and Take.

By the way, this stream is not that stream.  

Doesn't this thread remind you of the doctrine of '只有共產主義能救中國'?  Buddhism's turn?

Edited October 24, 2020 by wilfgene

[Why?]

9 hours ago, fab said:

https://www.diffen.com/difference/Buddhism_vs_Taoism

 

The issue in sg, especially ethnic chinese,  is not so much of religion,  but rather,  majority of them are conservative and traditional. 

Conservative and traditional value does not mean the Chinese do not accept their children if they have found out to be gay. No buddhist family will chase their children away or kick them out of the house like Christian family do.  Some family, still accept their handicapped child or those with birth defect. I dont see why they will deny a perfectly healthy gay children of their own.  However, LBGT hate stemmed from other religion influence and Buddhism has nothing to do with gay hate.  The western Christian influence on family having gay child and called the family a sinner and the child a devil,  is definitely not Buddhism teaching.  It has to come from Christian or Muslim fundamentalist and our main stream as its messenger, to the larger public.  There was a main stream station owned by SPH, who allowed Christian to impose their own belief into the public audience, thus became a negative source spread into every household with radio station.  LGBT hate, has nothing to do with ethnic race, but religion's work and our government is not helping to educate either. They agreed with the "conservative" as an imaginery hurdles, and allowed S377A to be kept and then wanted public to believe majority of such Chinese existed.  I said no,  it is the religion that is the real problem to gay rights.

Edited October 24, 2020 by Why?

[TT2880]

😄

[Steve5380]

On 10/23/2020 at 11:07 PM, Guest Good religion said:

Unlike Christian and Muslim. Buddhism is not an intrusive religion.  Which explains why LKY like this religion more than other religion and warn the next generations of leader to guard against the festering of Muslim and Christian in politics. S377A has nothing to do with Buddhism. Our current weak leader has insecurity syndrome and allowed itself to be subdued by intrusive Christian group who took up a number of position within the govt system.

 

It's fortunate that Buddhism is not an intrusive religion.   But Christianity is not an intrusive religion anymore, with few exceptions.  There was a time when Christianity proselytized all over the world, centuries ago, but this has declined. I have never experienced Christian intrusion.  My family sent me to Catholic schools, but this was their choice. 

 

It is Buddhists who are not sufficiently intrusive. Too passive.  Why the SG majority with Asian religions allow Muslims and Christians to have such a strong influence in politics?  And even if the government is weak,  why aren't the Buddhists who believe in "live and let live" confront the Christians who group together to pressure for the condemnation of gays?

 

I find that Christianity and Buddhism have in their essence the same level of love and compassion.  But Christianity does not influence its followers to detach themselves from the evils of this world and meditate them away, to see the world as "empty" and embrace enlightenment.  Instead, we should be pragmatic and actively fight for the common good.

[TT2880]

Invaluable opportunities to practice tolerance

 

Hard times build determination and inner strength. Through them we can also come to appreciate the uselessness of anger. Instead of getting angry nurture a deep caring and respect for troublemakers because by creating such trying circumstances they provide us with invaluable opportunities to practice tolerance and patience.

 

His Holiness the great 14th Dalai Lama

from the book "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life"

[Steve5380]

32 minutes ago, TT2880 said:

Invaluable opportunities to practice tolerance

 

Hard times build determination and inner strength. Through them we can also come to appreciate the uselessness of anger. Instead of getting angry nurture a deep caring and respect for troublemakers because by creating such trying circumstances they provide us with invaluable opportunities to practice tolerance and patience.

 

His Holiness the great 14th Dalai Lama

from the book "How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life"

 

When Thio Li-Ann, the key figure in the 377A debate,  sees you respond her troublemaking with "a deep caring and respect", with infinite tolerance and patience,  she will make a barbeque out of you and chew around and lick up to the last of your bones.  

.

Edited October 25, 2020 by Steve5380

[TT2880]

The Five Aggregates (五蕴)。。。

[TT2880]

Hello.

 

To understand Buddhism acceptance of LGBTQ, you may refer to the story of the first Bhikkhuni ordained by the Buddha. If you see the significance of this event on women in India, 2500 years ago, you will see the answer.

 

Thank you. 

Edited October 27, 2020 by TT2880

[TT2880]

 

 

 

[TT2880]

Always be gentle with yourself. Especially now during the greatest challenges we’ve ever faced in our lives with this pandemic, be gentle with yourself. When you find yourself being self-critical, back off and soften. When you find you are undercutting yourself, remember this attitude is not fair. You deserve better. When you are feeling sorry for yourself, take a few slow deep breaths. Remember you are alive. Remember, not just you, but many others also are feeling sorry for themselves. Now more than ever we need to take good care of ourselves. We need to be gentle with ourself. We need to be gentle with others. Even if we are physically isolated, we can still from the heart be connected in community. 

 

~ His Holiness the great 14th Dalai Lama

[TT2880]

One way or another, directly or indirectly, all emotions are born from selfishness in the sense that they involve clinging to the self. Moreover, he discovered that, as real as they may seem, emotions are not an inherent part of one’s being. They are not inborn, nor are they some sort of curse or implant that someone or some god has thrust upon us. Emotions arise when particular causes and conditions come together, such as when you rush to think that someone is criticizing you, ignoring you, or depriving you of some gain. Then the corresponding emotions arise. The moment we accept those emotions, the moment we buy into them, we have lost awareness and sanity. We are “worked up.” Thus Siddhartha found his solution—awareness. 

 

If you seriously wish to eliminate suffering, you must generate awareness, tend to your emotions, and learn how to avoid getting worked up. If you examine emotions as Siddhartha did, if you try to identify their origin, you will find that they are rooted in misunderstanding and thus fundamentally flawed. All emotions are basically a form of prejudice; within each emotion there is always an element of judgment.

~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

[Steve5380]

14 hours ago, TT2880 said:

One way or another, directly or indirectly, all emotions are born from selfishness in the sense that they involve clinging to the self. Moreover, he discovered that, as real as they may seem, emotions are not an inherent part of one’s being. They are not inborn, nor are they some sort of curse or implant that someone or some god has thrust upon us. Emotions arise when particular causes and conditions come together, such as when you rush to think that someone is criticizing you, ignoring you, or depriving you of some gain. Then the corresponding emotions arise. The moment we accept those emotions, the moment we buy into them, we have lost awareness and sanity. We are “worked up.” Thus Siddhartha found his solution—awareness. 

 

 

This is strange!

 

Love, compassion, empathy, sympathy, they are all emotions.  What is this "clinging to the self"? It is totally natural that we have self-hood.  Of course we should discourage our negative emotions and cultivate the positive ones.  But this work involves... our self!

[TT2880]

During this pandemic that is destroying so many peoples’ lives, it is very important to take good care of ourselves. In order to practice compassion for others, we must first put our own house in order. We must take care of ourselves if we are going to take care of others. This means practicing kindness to ourselves. This means not putting ourselves down. This means cutting ourselves some slack. This means hugging ourselves. This means letting go of self-criticism. This means loving ourselves. This means forgiving ourselves. This means being grateful for what we have. This means not feeling guilty. This means not disparaging ourselves. This means letting go of anxiety and fear. This means unconditional love towards ourselves, every day. 

 

~ His Holiness the great 14th Dalai Lama

[Steve5380]

6 hours ago, TT2880 said:

During this pandemic that is destroying so many peoples’ lives, it is very important to take good care of ourselves. In order to practice compassion for others, we must first put our own house in order. We must take care of ourselves if we are going to take care of others. This means practicing kindness to ourselves. This means not putting ourselves down. This means cutting ourselves some slack. This means hugging ourselves. This means letting go of self-criticism. This means loving ourselves. This means forgiving ourselves. This means being grateful for what we have. This means not feeling guilty. This means not disparaging ourselves. This means letting go of anxiety and fear. This means unconditional love towards ourselves, every day. 

 

~ His Holiness the great 14th Dalai Lama

 

Good advice.  We should do this even without pandemics!

[TT2880]

Right Mindfulness #RightMindfulnessbuddhaland 🌱Right Mindfulness is a part of The Mental Discipline Path along with Right Effort (#righteffortbuddhaland) and Right Concentration.
🌱Right Mindfulness traditionally is the seventh part of the Eightfold Path of Buddhism, but that doesn't mean it is seventh in importance. Each part of the path supports the other seven parts, and so they should be thought of as connected in a circle or woven into a web rather than stacked in an order of progression.
🧘🏿What Is Mindfulness?
🌱The Pali word for "mindfulness" is sati which means "retention," "recollection," or "alertness."
🌱Mindfulness is a whole-body-and-mind awareness of the present moment. To be mindful is to be fully present, not lost in daydreams, anticipation, indulgences, or worry.
🌱#Mindfulness also means observing and releasing habits of mind that maintain the illusion of a separate self. This includes dropping the mental habit of judging everything according to whether we like it or not. Being fully mindful means being fully attentive to everything as-it-is, not filtering everything through our subjective opinions.
🌱#Meditation takes a big part in developing mindfulness. Meditation is practiced in many schools of Buddhism as part of mental development. The Sanskrit word for meditation, bhavana, means "mental culture," and all forms of Buddhist meditation involve mindfulness.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2020 by TT2880

[TT2880]

If you do something good for others, it is a mistake to expect anything in return, or to hope that people will admire you for being a bodhisattva. All such attitudes are a long way from the true motivation of bodhicitta. 

Not only should you expect nothing in return; you should not be disturbed in the slightest when people respond ungratefully. Someone for whom you have risked your very life may return your kindness with resentment, hatred or harm. But just love him all the more. A mother with an only child is full of love for him no matter what he does. While she is suckling him, he may bite her nipple and badly wound it, but she will never get angry or love him any less. Whatever happens, she will continue to care for him as best as she can. 

 

Many people do not have the good fortune that you enjoy of having met a spiritual teacher, and thus cannot find their way out of delusion. They need your help and your compassion more than anyone else, no matter how badly they may behave. Always remember that people who harm you are simply the victim of their own emotions. 
Think how good it would be if they could be free of those emotions. When a thoughtless child wrongs a thoughtful adult, the adult will not feel resentment, but will try with great love to help the child to improve. 

～Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

[kitsune]

 

Today is Lhabab Duchen which celebrates one of the great deeds of the Buddha.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2020 by kitsune

[wilfgene]

8 minutes ago, kitsune said:

 

Today is Lhabab Duchen which celebrates one of the 8 great deeds of the Buddha.

 

 

 

Too tantra an image.  Like those in jumping cat temple on Lake Inle.  Out-of-contextness with agenda.

[TT2880]

 

~ Being Practical ~

 

Researching the teachers and teachings before making a commitment is a good idea. However, sometimes we go too far and think that all of our doubts must be resolved and questions answered before we can engage in practicing the path to freedom. One sūtra (MN 63) tells the story of Bhikkhu Mālunkyāputta, who has a surge of doubt because the Buddha did not respond to his questions: Is the world eternal or not eternal? Is the world finite or infinite? Is the soul the same as the body or are they different? After death, does a Tathāgata exist, not exist, both, or neither? In his confusion, Mālunkyāputta thinks that he cannot continue to practice the Dharma unless those pressing issues are resolved, and so he approaches the Buddha. 

To instruct his disciple, the Buddha uses the simile of a man shot by an arrow. Suppose someone is wounded by a poisonous arrow and taken to the doctor. The wounded man arrives at the clinic, in pain and bleeding profusely, but rather than letting the doctor treat him, he insists on first knowing the social class of the person who shot the arrow, the name and clan of that person, his height and complexion, where he lived, and the type of bow, shaft, feathers, sinews, and arrow that were used. Clearly he would die before all his questions were answered. And even if he were successful in obtaining that information, it would not stop the bleeding nor extend his life. Similarly, if we think, “I will not practice the Dharma until all my questions are answered and doubts resolved,” this life will end and no practice will have been done. 

For that reason, the Buddha told Mālunkyāputta that he teaches, “This is dukkha, this is the origin of dukkha, this is the cessation of dukkha, this is the way leading to the cessation of dukkha.” The Buddha teaches the four truths because they are beneficial to learn, they will help people to live the holy life, and they lead to disenchantment with cyclic existence, the giving up of sensual craving, cessation of dukkha, peace in the mind, direct knowledge of the way things are, and nibbāna. He leaves other topics aside because learning them is not necessary or conducive for this purpose. Whether the world is eternal or not has no relevance to the important task of eliminating afflictions and ceasing saṃsāra. The Buddha recommends that Mālunkyāputta leave aside his questions and focus on the path that leads to liberation. In that way, Mālunkyāputta will not waste time on senseless doubts. 

Like this, we should focus on what is important and not be distracted by pointless speculation. If we do not instantly understand a Dharma topic, we can temporarily put it aside and focus on those Dharma topics that help us here and now. Later on we can return to those other topics. Not all our questions can or will be answered at once. Let’s be practical and remove that poisonous arrow of the afflictions before it takes our life.

 

~The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso

[TT2880]

頂禮十方常住三寶南無阿彌陀佛_/|\_

 

感恩 淨空老和尚慈悲開示：

 

［ 凡是無常的，我們都要放下 ］

 

古人有所謂人生如戲，像一齣戲一樣，人生如一局棋一樣的。凡是無常的，佛都教我們放下，包括身體，這身體是無常的，它有生老病死。所以人要明白這個道理，人才懂得自愛。

自愛，自在哪裡？身不是自己，性是自己，靈性是自己。靈性要迷了，俗話叫靈魂，實際上它不靈，它迷了，是迷魂，迷魂才到處投胎，到處搞這些把戲。如果它真靈，它就出六道輪迴。什麼人靈？阿羅漢以上，阿羅漢就超越輪迴。超越輪迴之後，一下就明白了，佛經上講的淨土、穢土，回頭一看六道輪迴，穢土，嚴重染污。

他一覺醒來的時候，他到四聖法界，那是淨土，那個地方清淨，一點染污都沒有。這是十法界裡上面的四法界，聲聞、緣覺、菩薩、佛，淨土。六道是染土，染污。六道裡面有善惡，善是三善道，惡是三惡道，淨土裡頭沒有善惡。換句話說，淨土裡面的眾生不造業了，都醒悟過來，不再造業。而且淨土裡面的人接受佛菩薩教誨，為什麼？佛菩薩幫助他再向上提升。他才提升到第一個階級，好像讀書，學士學位拿到，再往上，碩士學位，再向上，博士學位，佛菩薩能幫助他拿到最高的學位。

迷惑顛倒只有六道眾生。這是學佛第一步，你看把這些道理搞清楚、搞明白，這叫看破。無住、無執著，這就是放下。無住、無執著，你自在了，你才真正享受到什麼叫幸福。你只要有住、有執著，你不自在，為什麼？你起心動念是貪瞋痴慢。他起這個念頭。如果把這個東西放下，欲望放下，起心動念是生智慧。我們用最簡單一句話來說，起心動念是仁義禮智信，他動這個念頭。言語行為不離開這個準則，這是性德。

 

文摘恭錄—淨土大經解演義（第四七五集）2011/7/3

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piUWFd6bCOg

[Why?]

In Singapore, not many people study Buddhism but there was a growing interest for youngster to take up classes in the temple.  Buddhism, is just a religion inherited from ancestors.  Your grand grand parents were buddhist and then passed it down to your grandparent and then your parents (largely the obedient and traditional generations) before they passed it down to you. You may continue to adopt your parents religion or freely choose your own belief.  In our large family of young generation, not everyone follow the ancestry belief. There are Christians, Staunch Taiwan Buddhist, Thai Buddhist  Catholics, Atheist and Agnostist.  I can't single out which one is truly an expert in their choosen belief.   Buddhism in Singapore, emphasized on ritual rather than the understanding scriptures. Chanting is almost repetitive and offering is pretty standard (Flower, Water, Fruits, candle) and each with its symbolic meaning that "nothing is permanent". 

 

Unlike other religion, the greatest benefit of Buddhism is that it does not set boundary.   The Three Universal Truths; The Four Noble Truths;  The Five main belief and The Noble Eightfold Path are guidelines to help you get out of the Karma and Reincarnation.  Broke any of those, like the 10 commandments, you are fucked!!  So don't tell me you know everything about  Dharma, because it mean nothing, except that you have a good memory and capablity of its recital and just that. 

 

I practised Buddhism by simply filter out noises (visual and non-visual) that are bad for my well beings, and then focus on saving every seed, in the garden and watch life grew out of the soil. Then I salvaged the sweetness of its fruit and smell the scent of its flowers.  I hugged the tree and say "Thank you!"

 

Every morning, i took my time to sweep away the fallen leaves and listen to nothing but the sound of the winds and birds chirping on the tree.  I kept nothing but nature, and leave nothing but nature.   I also tried to be more reserved in my banter and stopped being nosey.  If I don't like what I hear, I will walk away. If I don't like what I see, I walk away.  If I don't feel like talking, you can take my stage. 

 

By shutting all my senses, I am cultivating my strong senses to appreciate that life, is just as transient as a passing cloud and only then, you know it is not your place to judge what comes and goes......

 

That is my buddhism to you.  Oh wait... 

 

I am AGNOSTIC!!

Edited November 10, 2020 by Why?

[TT2880]

You know the psychedelic drugs hippies used to take, which gave them all kinds of hallucinations? None of those visions actually exist anywhere. They are only the magical displays of mind. When this magic dissolves, it is like waking up from sleep. When you wake up in the morning, there is nothing left of the dreams you had last night. The Buddha taught that everything is like magic, like a dream. It’s difficult to understand the analogy of magic, because nowadays there are no true magicians; they are only these tricksters from India. In the past there were real magicians, as I have told you. 

 

However, you do know dreams, don’t you? If you dreamed that you found a lot of money, or that you were enthroned as the king of the whole world, what happens to this the moment you wake up? Is there any reality to any of that? Or maybe you dream you are killed, and your body is thrown in a river. Yet when you wake up, you are still lying in your bed. Why is that? It is because you were only dreaming. We dream because we are asleep; in this state, all the illusory events seem to really happen. Likewise, the waking state unfolds during the ‘sleep of deluded thinking’; everything we experience is like a dream. Buddhas are someone for whom deluded experience has been cleared up. They are awakened from this dream. That is why the analogy of magical illusion or dream is used so often. All the pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, in the three realms and among the six classes of beings is like a magical illusion, like a dream.

 

If we do not know that ‘we are own best remedy’ and do not recognize our own nature, of course we will not even notice that what we think of as ‘my life’ is simply dream and illusion. In the moment of recognizing mind essence, you do not have to think that everything is dream and illusion: it is already cleared up. In actuality, if you are truly awakened, the whole illusion has dissolved. Deluded experiences are like clouds. Once the clouds disperse and dissolve, the qualities of the sun, which are primordially present, can manifest.

~ Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche 

[TT2880]

The path is much more personalised than what we think. 

 

Every act counts. Every thought and emotion counts too. This moment is all the path we have. This moment is where we apply the teachings. Life is short. Even if we live to be 108, life will still be too short for witnessing all its wonders. The dharma is each act, each thought, each word we speak. Are we at least willing to catch ourselves spinning off and to do that without embarrassment? Do we at least aspire to not consider ourselves a problem, but simply a pretty typical human being who could at that moment give him- or herself a break and stop being so predictable? 

 

The dharma can heal our wounds, our very ancient wounds that come not from original sin but from a misunderstanding so old that we can no longer see it. The instruction is to relate compassionately with where we find ourselves and to begin to see our predicament as workable. We are stuck in patterns of grasping and fixating, which cause the same thoughts and reactions to occur again and again. This is how we project our world. When we see that, even if it’s only for one second every three weeks, then we naturally discover the knack of reversing this process of making things solid, the knack of stopping the claustrophobic world as we know it, of putting down our centuries of baggage and stepping into new territory.

 

How in the world can we do this? The answer is simple. Make the dharma personal, explore it whole-heartedly, and relax.

~ Pema Chodron

[TT2880]

▪️The Fourteen Precepts of Engaged Buddhism

1. Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.
2. Do not think the knowledge you presently possess is changeless, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow-minded and bound to present views.
3. Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education.
4. Do not avoid contact with suffering or close your eyes before suffering. Find ways to be with those who are suffering, including personal contact, visits, images, and sounds.
5. Do not accumulate wealth while millions are hungry. Live simply and share time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need.
6. Do not maintain anger or hatred. Learn to penetrate and transform them when they are still seeds in your consciousness.
7. Practice mindful breathing to come back to what is happening in the present moment.
8. Do not utter words that can create discord and cause the community to break. Make every effort to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.
9. Do not say untruthful things for the sake of personal interest or to impress people. Do not utter words that cause division and hatred. Do not spread news that you do not know to be certain.
10. Do not use the Buddhist community for personal gain or profit, or transform your community into a political party.
11. Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation that helps realize your ideal of compassion.
12. Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war.
13. Possess nothing that should belong to others. Respect the property of others, but prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.
14. Do not mistreat your body. Learn to handle it with respect. Do not look on your body as only an instrument. Preserve vital energies (sexual, breath, spirit) for the realization of the Way.

 

 

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

[Why?]

@TT2280, any real life example of who has achieved those mentioned by Thick Nhat Hanh?  Kee Chiu please!  I love to meet that person.  Oh wait!!! is it possible to meet a walking Buddha in a busy city like Singapore? Even then, I don't think you will even notice him when he brushes you by, certainly not in the Sauna, nor in the mall and defintely not in parliament or in your office.  

 

 I personally believe you can't find anyone holy, I mean truly holy, other than in places like poor village area, among sea farer, in a mountain or inside a forest.  At least, those are places void of color, material and noise temptation.  May be, these are places where people find peace by living simply and during their quiet time, they wrote poems and compare themselves to city folks and then laugh it off over their tea time in quite places.  Those writings, eventually get compiled and passed down from thousands of generations and became a vintage philosophy, now known as scriptures,  being upheld as holy, when, in fact it could be a collection of diaries of an ordinary farmers, sea, mountain or forest dwellers, before the dawn of time?  

 

The above is a question I have always asked myself.   "Dharma" actually fit perfectly under the above situations.  Let me extract the examples of Thich Nhat Hanh's "philosophy" - Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. ...etc

 

On that note, does it not fit into my suspicious that only people in the village, mountain, sea, forest can see them more clearly than the city people?

 

So, it is not difficult to practice "dharma" by dwelling into the mind of those farmers, sea farer, forest dweller and mountain adventurer.  No glam pursuit, no applaud needed. Peace will naturally come to humanity like the good old days, in a once faraway places, now long forgotten?  That is how I thought "Dharma" was born with no connection to Hell nor Heaven.   

 

Edited November 27, 2020 by Why?

[fab]

You won't meet any Buddha in this world.

 

But, Boddhisattvas, many.

[Why?]

57 minutes ago, fab said:

You won't meet any Buddha in this world.

 

But, Boddhisattvas, many.

No one even come close to that. Many I know only Kaki Talk, Kaki Song.

[TT2880]

3 hours ago, Why? said:

@TT2280, any real life example of who has achieved those mentioned by Thick Nhat Hanh?  Kee Chiu please!  I love to meet that person.  Oh wait!!! is it possible to meet a walking Buddha in a busy city like Singapore? Even then, I don't think you will even notice him when he brushes you by, certainly not in the Sauna, nor in the mall and defintely not in parliament or in your office.  

 

 I personally believe you can't find anyone holy, I mean truly holy, other than in places like poor village area, among sea farer, in a mountain or inside a forest.  At least, those are places void of color, material and noise temptation.  May be, these are places where people find peace by living simply and during their quiet time, they wrote poems and compare themselves to city folks and then laugh it off over their tea time in quite places.  Those writings, eventually get compiled and passed down from thousands of generations and became a vintage philosophy, now known as scriptures,  being upheld as holy, when, in fact it could be a collection of diaries of an ordinary farmers, sea, mountain or forest dwellers, before the dawn of time?  

 

The above is a question I have always asked myself.   "Dharma" actually fit perfectly under the above situations.  Let me extract the examples of Thich Nhat Hanh's "philosophy" - Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. ...etc

 

On that note, does it not fit into my suspicious that only people in the village, mountain, sea, forest can see them more clearly than the city people?

 

So, it is not difficult to practice "dharma" by dwelling into the mind of those farmers, sea farer, forest dweller and mountain adventurer.  No glam pursuit, no applaud needed. Peace will naturally come to humanity like the good old days, in a once faraway places, now long forgotten?  That is how I thought "Dharma" was born with no connection to Hell nor Heaven.   

 

Hello.

 

Thank you for reading what I posted and triggered such an reaction and isn't that wonderful. Splendid even if you totally hate what you read. 

 

Thank you. 

[TT2880]

Just nice for the next topic. 

 

•●Anger°○

 

▪️ Mindfulness does not fight anger or despair. Mindfulness is there in order to recognize. To be mindful of something is to recognize that something is there in the present moment. We do not transform ourselves into a battle field, good fighting evil. We treat our afflictions, our anger, our jealousy with a lot of tenderness. “Breathing in, I know that anger has manifested in me; breathing out, I smile towards my anger.” Mindfulness recognizes anger, is aware of its presence, accepts and allows it to be there. Instead of fighting, we are taking good care of our emotion. If you know how to embrace your anger, something will change.

▪️ When anger arises, continue to practice mindful breathing and mindful walking to generate the energy of mindfulness. Continue to embrace tenderly the energy of anger within you.

▪️ Practicing mindfulness does not mean that you have to do everything on your own. You can practice with the support of your friends. They can generate enough mindfulness energy to help you take care of your strong emotions.
We can also support others with our mindfulness when they are in difficulty. When our child is drowning in a strong emotion, we can hold his or her hand and say, “My dear one, breathe. Breathe in and out with mommy, with daddy.”

▪️ So give your anger, your despair, your sorrow a bath of mindfulness every day—that is your practice. If mindfulness is not there, it is very unpleasant to have these seeds come up. But if you know how to generate the energy of mindfulness, it is very healing to invite them up every day and embrace them. And after several days or weeks of bringing them up daily and helping them go back down again, the symptoms of mental illness will begin to disappear.

 

~ From “Anger,” by Thich Nhat Hanh

[wilfgene]

3 hours ago, Why? said:

@TT2280, any real life example of who has achieved those mentioned by Thick Nhat Hanh?  Kee Chiu please!  I love to meet that person.  Oh wait!!! is it possible to meet a walking Buddha in a busy city like Singapore? Even then, I don't think you will even notice him when he brushes you by, certainly not in the Sauna, nor in the mall and defintely not in parliament or in your office.  

 

 I personally believe you can't find anyone holy, I mean truly holy, other than in places like poor village area, among sea farer, in a mountain or inside a forest.  At least, those are places void of color, material and noise temptation.  May be, these are places where people find peace by living simply and during their quiet time, they wrote poems and compare themselves to city folks and then laugh it off over their tea time in quite places.  Those writings, eventually get compiled and passed down from thousands of generations and became a vintage philosophy, now known as scriptures,  being upheld as holy, when, in fact it could be a collection of diaries of an ordinary farmers, sea, mountain or forest dwellers, before the dawn of time?  

 

The above is a question I have always asked myself.   "Dharma" actually fit perfectly under the above situations.  Let me extract the examples of Thich Nhat Hanh's "philosophy" - Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. ...etc

 

On that note, does it not fit into my suspicious that only people in the village, mountain, sea, forest can see them more clearly than the city people?

 

So, it is not difficult to practice "dharma" by dwelling into the mind of those farmers, sea farer, forest dweller and mountain adventurer.  No glam pursuit, no applaud needed. Peace will naturally come to humanity like the good old days, in a once faraway places, now long forgotten?  That is how I thought "Dharma" was born with no connection to Hell nor Heaven.   

 

大隱隱于朝，

Keeper of the Royal Archive, may be?

How is your relationship with your fellow clansmen in the ancestral village?

2 hours ago, fab said:

You won't meet any Buddha in this world.

 

But, Boddhisattvas, many.

A few more to come before Meitriya.

 

1 hour ago, Why? said:

No one even come close to that. Many I know only Kaki Talk, Kaki Song.

A few more to know, or assume you know.

[Why?]

1 hour ago, TT2880 said:

Hello.

 

Thank you for reading what I posted and triggered such an reaction and isn't that wonderful. Splendid even if you totally hate what you read. 

 

Thank you. 

I don't hate what I read.  I thought Dharma (in the absence of obtaining its real scriptures)  should be as simple as how one would prefer to live peacefully (differing from person to person) without setting boundaries. and not based on volumnous rules that sounds too academic, when no one (naturally) was capable of  practiced what they preached. Keeping strict vegetables diet alone is not enough.   According to Ancient belief, Dharma came in tonnes of scriptures (bible pales in comparison)  probably hidden in some unknown mysterious holy cave not to be make known publicly.  Even then, who has the capability to translate and interprete them in layman term?  The lazy way to dicipher them is to set a based point : Do good go heaven, do bad go hell, and then set rules/precept/truth based on that basic points (TT2880).  On the surface, you don't need Dharma to know that.

 

Besides, I have not known of any lawyer who fought cases using Dharma, or politician set country policies based on Dharma, or your boss employ you because you are well versed in Dharma.  I have worked in a religious charitable organisation and I can safely tell you that chanting is part and parcel of every meeting, before the real meeting began. It is a form of respect to the Lord.   Every of my colleagues can chant with precision, sharpness and almost  so magical it truly carried my breath away. I can't even chant a single proper sentence.   Unfortunately, when it comes to work and team spirit, "arrows" flew all over the places.  I quited, not because I hate the job but to preserve my good impression about the objective (to help the poor) set by the company, not the people who chanted Dharma all day long and then threw darts at each other thereafter.

 

 I know it hurts some people, and don't get me wrong. I held Dharma with high esteem if its intention is to save all living things and cultivate peace.  I don't respect people who deliberately appeared on national TV with a brush, painting ar large"孝" on a canvas , and then cast a rather pretentious close up mask 慈 on their  face, with a mouthful of rhetorics about  爱心 and then after 5 to 10 years, you seldom see them contribute much of what they've preached and eventually got kicked out of the election. 

 

However, my real life  experiences are a form of  buddhism learning itself, and "慧" teached me how to differentiate between  truth and fiction, kindness and exploitation of human nature.  I don't need lenghty Dharma to get some form of human understanding.  Oh wait!! 

 

I am Agnostic.

 

I am exonerated from possible bashing here. 

Edited November 27, 2020 by Why?

[TT2880]

4 hours ago, Why? said:

I don't hate what I read.  I thought Dharma (in the absence of obtaining its real scriptures)  should be as simple as how one would prefer to live peacefully (differing from person to person) without setting boundaries. and not based on volumnous rules that sounds too academic, when no one (naturally) was capable of  practiced what they preached. Keeping strict vegetables diet alone is not enough.   According to Ancient belief, Dharma came in tonnes of scriptures (bible pales in comparison)  probably hidden in some unknown mysterious holy cave not to be make known publicly.  Even then, who has the capability to translate and interprete them in layman term?  The lazy way to dicipher them is to set a based point : Do good go heaven, do bad go hell, and then set rules/precept/truth based on that basic points (TT2880).  On the surface, you don't need Dharma to know that.

 

Besides, I have not known of any lawyer who fought cases using Dharma, or politician set country policies based on Dharma, or your boss employ you because you are well versed in Dharma.  I have worked in a religious charitable organisation and I can safely tell you that chanting is part and parcel of every meeting, before the real meeting began. It is a form of respect to the Lord.   Every of my colleagues can chant with precision, sharpness and almost  so magical it truly carried my breath away. I can't even chant a single proper sentence.   Unfortunately, when it comes to work and team spirit, "arrows" flew all over the places.  I quited, not because I hate the job but to preserve my good impression about the objective (to help the poor) set by the company, not the people who chanted Dharma all day long and then threw darts at each other thereafter.

 

 I know it hurts some people, and don't get me wrong. I held Dharma with high esteem if its intention is to save all living things and cultivate peace.  I don't respect people who deliberately appeared on national TV with a brush, painting ar large"孝" on a canvas , and then cast a rather pretentious close up mask 慈 on their  face, with a mouthful of rhetorics about  爱心 and then after 5 to 10 years, you seldom see them contribute much of what they've preached and eventually got kicked out of the election. 

 

However, my real life  experiences are a form of  buddhism learning itself, and "慧" teached me how to differentiate between  truth and fiction, kindness and exploitation of human nature.  I don't need lenghty Dharma to get some form of human understanding.  Oh wait!! 

 

I am Agnostic.

 

I am exonerated from possible bashing here. 

Hello. 

 

Beautiful words. 

 

Just to clarify. I said "if". If you aren't, you aren't. 

 

Thank you.

[Why?]

1 hour ago, TT2880 said:

Hello. 

 

Beautiful words. 

 

Just to clarify. I said "if". If you aren't, you aren't. 

 

Thank you.

My reply is not about "If" , but to clarify my view about the use of word "hate", which I deemed a strong presumption statement made by you.  Even IF I may not agree, I don't hate.  I hope that clarify further, to your clarification.  😁

[Steve5380]

10 hours ago, fab said:

 

You won't meet any Buddha in this world.

 

 

If one cannot meet any Buddha in this world, this means that there are no Buddhas in this world.

But this contradicts many reasonable beliefs.

It may be instead that one will not recognize a real Buddha.  They don't carry a sign that says "Buddha". 

 

8 hours ago, TT2880 said:

Hello.

 

Thank you for reading what I posted and triggered such an reaction and isn't that wonderful. Splendid even if you totally hate what you read. 

 

Thank you. 

 

These 14 precepts you posted are very good moral guides for anyone, not only Buddhists.

 

Very few people may fully comply with all of them, but this is not necessary to be a good, moral person.

 

I have known many people who complied with most of these rules in various degrees. The most outstanding of them was my late uncle Günther, an agnostic German Jew who was my model of decency throughout my youth.  He was not a monk in rugs living in a hut on a desert field and meditating all day long.  He was a normal employee, married with two children. He and my aunt were particularly kind to us, my sister and me, since we had tragically lost our father and lived modestly with our mother and grandmother.  Maybe what made a difference is that my uncles had escaped the Nazi in Germany and had witnessed some and heard many horror stories that came close to our family.  I am convinced that there are holy people out there that we may cross and not look twice at them because they look so common.

[Steve5380]

7 hours ago, Why? said:

 

----

 I know it hurts some people, and don't get me wrong. I held Dharma with high esteem if its intention is to save all living things and cultivate peace.  I don't respect people who deliberately appeared on national TV with a brush, painting ar large"孝" on a canvas , and then cast a rather pretentious close up mask 慈 on their  face, with a mouthful of rhetorics about  爱心 and then after 5 to 10 years, you seldom see them contribute much of what they've preached and eventually got kicked out of the election. 

 

However, my real life  experiences are a form of  buddhism learning itself, and "慧" teached me how to differentiate between  truth and fiction, kindness and exploitation of human nature.  I don't need lenghty Dharma to get some form of human understanding.  Oh wait!! 

 

I am Agnostic.

 

I am exonerated from possible bashing here. 

 

OOOhhh you are an Agnostic!  What a shame, how can you participate in this conversation?

 

I am kidding, I kind of agree with what you wrote. For the sake of simplicity, one could come very, very far by simply observing THE GOLDEN RULE.  

[TT2880]

Hello.

 

Certainly. You don't hate hate. 

 

Thank you. 

 

 

[Guest Silver spoon boy]

22 minutes ago, Steve5380 said:

 

OOOhhh you are an Agnostic!  What a shame, how can you participate in this conversation?

 

I am kidding, I kind of agree with what you wrote. For the sake of simplicity, one could come very, very far by simply observing THE GOLDEN RULE.  

 

What is golden rule?

[Steve5380]

9 minutes ago, Guest Silver spoon boy said:

What is golden rule?

 

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"

 

It is the most universal ethical principle of humanity.

[Guest Silver spoon boy]

9 hours ago, Steve5380 said:

 

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"

 

It is the most universal ethical principle of humanity.

OK, I get it. It means mutually agreed sex. 

[Steve5380]

59 minutes ago, Guest Silver spoon boy said:

OK, I get it. It means mutually agreed sex. 

 

You are close, but not quite there.

 

If you are a bottom, you should not do to a top as you would have them do unto you. 

[Guest Bohdi tree]

13 hours ago, TT2880 said:

Hello.

 

Certainly. You don't hate hate. 

 

Thank you. 

 

 

Now we see the problem why people like u who think u know sutra and behaved like crap publicly.  Is there no one here who are near to living Buddha?

[TT2880]

Hello. 

 

Thank you. Maybe you are right. 

 

Dependant Origination >

no absolute right, no absolute wrong >

Emptiness.

 

Thank you. 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2020 by TT2880

[TT2880]

The Four Truths of the Āryas - Part 1

 

~ The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso

The topics of the first discourse the Buddha gave after attaining awakening, the four truths of the āryas, well known as the “four noble truths,” form the foundation and structure of the Buddhist path. He taught these at the beginning for a specific purpose. Each sentient being has the innate wish for stable peace, happiness, and freedom from suffering. The longing for these motivates us to engage in many activities in an attempt to gain them. However, until now everything we have done has not brought about stable peace and joy because we live in cyclic existence (saṃsāra) — the state of having a body and mind under the influence of mental afflictions and karma. Within cyclic existence we encounter only duḥkha — unsatisfactory conditions and suffering. Without choice, we take a body that gets old, sick, and dies and have a mind that becomes anxious, fearful, and angry. The I — the person that is merely designated in dependence upon the body and mind — revolves in cyclic existence. Our five aggregates of body and mind are unsatisfactory by nature and constitute the first truth of the āryas, the truth of duḥkha. The causes of the five aggregates are mental afflictions — skewed attitudes and disturbing emotions, the chief of which is ignorance — and polluted actions.These constitute the second truth, the true origins of duḥkha.

 

The final true cessation — the third truth — is liberation and nirvāṇa, the state of peace, joy, and fulfillment that we seek. Here ignorance, afflictions, and polluted actions and the unsatisfactory experiences they cause have been extinguished from the root so that they can no longer arise. 

 

True cessations are attained by depending on a method that eradicates ignorance. This is true paths, the fourth truth, which consist primarily of the wisdom realizing the ultimate nature — the emptiness of inherent existence of all persons and phenomena — and the virtuous consciousnesses supported by that wisdom. These paths require time and diligent effort to develop; we cannot hire someone else to accomplish them for us, like employing a mechanic to fix our car. How to cultivate these paths and actualize nirvāṇa is the subject of this series.

[fab]

On 11/27/2020 at 10:30 PM, Steve5380 said:

 

If one cannot meet any Buddha in this world, this means that there are no Buddhas in this world.

But this contradicts many reasonable beliefs.

It may be instead that one will not recognize a real Buddha.  They don't carry a sign that says "Buddha". 

 

 

These 14 precepts you posted are very good moral guides for anyone, not only Buddhists.

 

Very few people may fully comply with all of them, but this is not necessary to be a good, moral person.

 

I have known many people who complied with most of these rules in various degrees. The most outstanding of them was my late uncle Günther, an agnostic German Jew who was my model of decency throughout my youth.  He was not a monk in rugs living in a hut on a desert field and meditating all day long.  He was a normal employee, married with two children. He and my aunt were particularly kind to us, my sister and me, since we had tragically lost our father and lived modestly with our mother and grandmother.  Maybe what made a difference is that my uncles had escaped the Nazi in Germany and had witnessed some and heard many horror stories that came close to our family.  I am convinced that there are holy people out there that we may cross and not look twice at them because they look so common.

 

Buddhas don't reincarnate, only Boddhisattvas do.

 

The next Buddha to come is  Maitreya. none of us will get meet him this life.

[wilfgene]

42 minutes ago, fab said:

 

Buddhas don't reincarnate, only Boddhisattvas do.

 

The next Buddha to come is  Maitreya. none of us will get meet him this life.

Tell that to chasers.

[Steve5380]

10 hours ago, fab said:

 

Buddhas don't reincarnate, only Boddhisattvas do.

 

The next Buddha to come is  Maitreya. none of us will get meet him this life.

 

I really wish you could meet Maitreya in your present life.

 

For us non-Buddhists, the concept of buddhas is represented by sages, spiritual leaders, Dalai Lamas, and... holy persons. These holy persons don't carry a title, a halo over their heads.  They are people like you and me who mix with the rest of humanity.  Maybe they could be Boddhisattvas in training?  I recognized one in my uncle, as I described earlier, and my late boyfriend had some of that essence too.  Imagine...  he was able to make ME a better person!

 

[Coolbriz]

10 hours ago, fab said:

 

Buddhas don't reincarnate, only Boddhisattvas do.

 

The next Buddha to come is  Maitreya. none of us will get meet him this life.

May I ask, the coming of the Maitreya, is that a form of reincarnation?

[fab]

4 minutes ago, Coolbriz said:

May I ask, the coming of the Maitreya, is that a form of reincarnation?

 

When Buddha comes to the Saha world, they will become boddhisattva.  Yes, you may term it as reincarnation except they do it willingly unlike unenlightened beings.

 

Guan yin pusa was also already a Buddha,  he was 正法明佛。

[Coolbriz]

59 minutes ago, fab said:

 

When Buddha comes to the Saha world, they will become boddhisattva.  Yes, you may term it as reincarnation except they do it willingly unlike unenlightened beings.

 

Guan yin pusa was also already a Buddha,  he was 正法明佛。

Ah ok, so Buddhas generally do not reincarnate as you mentioned, except the Maitreya, who has a mission to fulfill in this period? So Boddhisattvas like Di Zhang Wang, who vowed not to become a Buddha as long as the hell is not empty, chooses not to be one by choice? 

[wilfgene]

1 minute ago, Coolbriz said:

Ah ok, so Buddhas generally do not reincarnate as you mentioned, except the Maitreya, who has a mission to fulfill in this period? So Boddhisattvas like Di Zhang Wang, who vowed not to become a Buddha as long as the hell is not empty, chooses not to be one by choice? 

It's denominational.  For instance, is Dalai Lamas the incarnation of Avalokiteshvala?  Have you forgotten the 觀音佛祖 on Waterloo Street?