Reaching Spiritual Maturity | Vesak Retreat with Chao Khun Keng | 18 May 2024

 I highly recommend this talk. Another interesting and engaging dhamma talk by Ajahn Keng. 

Another Interesting Sharing by Ajahn Keng

Another interesting dhamma question and answer session by Ajahn Keng. I enjoy listening to his talk as he is humourous and make learning dhamma fun. If you understand Mandarin, I highly recommend you listen to this talk.

The Heart Sutra Lecture 4 :The Five Skandhas

This is Lecture 4 of Heart Sutra from Venerable Guan Cheng from Canada. I find his explanation on the Heart Sutra really good. He asked when is the best season for your mind? It is when there is no obstacles in your mind. What are obstacles? They are mental afflictions like jealousy, greediness, anger, worries and etc. People have to learn how to have no obstacles in their mind. You have to first identify the obstacles, your problems and find methods to resolve it. 

The Heart sutra helps me greatly. For example, most of the problems come from the five skandhas namely form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. For example, there are some people with not so good intentions and will just say unpleasant things. So if I know this person is not so nice, I just treat what they say as 'sound', nothingness with no meaning attached to it and not pay any attention to what that person said and redirect my attention elsewhere like reading. Do not attach to what is said and just let go. Watch the following Heart Sutra Lecture 4 video on the five skandhas. Some people got too attached to what they saw and felt and got addicted to certain websites which create more suffering for them and their families. So be mindful and observe.

There are a total of 28 lecture videos for the Heart Sutra. Basically Buddha taught people to eliminate suffering by becoming conscious of the five skandhas and how it affect you. 

 Experiential thinking has to be introspective. Getting inside your mind to see it. You have to know how you see things, then you looking at the process of seeing things, perception.

Heart Sutra: Perceives clearly that the five skandhas are all empty

All living beings are made of the five skandhas of form, feeling sensation, perception, mental formations and consciousness which accumulate to form the body and they are known as the five aggregates of clinging. The five aggregates arise through causes and conditions, therefore they are illusory and not permanent. Do not be attached to not pleasant feelings and thoughts, and just let go of not helpful thoughts. When we observe he five skandhas are empty,  it doesn't mean it is nothingness. It means we have understood that it is the law of dependent origination and no longer cling to it. Everything is just arising and cessation. 

众生由色、受、想、行、识，积集而成身，故称五蕴。五蕴是通过因缘和合才现前的，所以说他是虚幻的，不是真实存在的。

Diamond Sutra

 Venerable Hui Neng, the Sixth Patriarchof Chan (February 27, 638 – August 28, 713) was said to attain awakening when he heard a verse from the Diamond Sutra 应无所住而生其心. Without abiding anything, give rise to the pure mind. 

 

When the Fifth Patriarch of Chan Venerable Hong Ren explained to him the Diamond sutra. Venerable Hui Neng was "suddenly and completely enlightened, and he understood that all things exist in self-nature.

 

应无所住而生其心，Without abiding anything, give rise to the pure mind 

云何应住，云何降伏其心 When does the cloud abide, how does the cloud calm the mind

佛说应无所住而生其心 Buddha said without abiding in forms, arises the mind

即是说心即是佛,佛即是心 Meaning Pure Mind is Buddha and Buddha is Pure Mind. 

他做了一首偈子Venerable Huineng came up with the following stanza when he understood the verse. 

何其自性本自清净！What is self, it is intrinsically pure

何其自性本不生灭！What is self, it is neither born nor extinguish 

何其自性本自具足！What is self, it is self-sufficient

何其自性能生万法！What is self, it can produces immeasurable dharma/ideas

 

From the Diamond Sutra

Subhuti, all great bodhisattvas should give rise to purity of mind in this way: they should not give rise to a mind that abides in form; they should not give rise to a mind that abides in sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharmas. They should give rise to a mind that does not abide in anything. 

Subhuti, a bodhisattva should turn away from all notions, and initiate the mind of anuttara samyaksambodhi. He should not give rise to a mind abiding in form, and he should not give rise to a mind abiding in sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharmas. He should give rise to a mind that does not abide in anything. 

When we contemplate the following verses from the Diamond Sutra, your mind should not be affected by forms which are transient, dependent on causes and conditions. 

一切有为法，如梦幻泡影，如露亦如电，应作如是观

“All conditioned phenomena
Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows, Like dew and lightning.
One should contemplate them in this way. “

All phenomena appear in the world is a combination of causes and conditions that is temporary by nature. It will pass. There is no permanent nature to form which is subjected to change due to causes and conditions, thus it is illusory. 

A lot of suffering comes from the mind which is influenced by forms like sight, hearing, touch, taste or perception. When someone criticised us, we get upset, when someone own something we don’t have, we want it. We are always influenced by the three poison, greed, anger and delusion. 

From the book, Miracles Happen: The Transformational Healing by Dr Brian Weiss, “ Chinese philosopher Hui-neng (6^thpatriarch of Chan Buddhism/Zen) wrote, “When we are free from attachment to all outer objects, the mind will be in peace. Our essence of mind is intrinsically pure, and the reason why we are perturbed is because we allow ourselves to be carried by the circumstances we are in. He who is able to keep his mind unperturbed (calm), irrespective of circumstances has attained enlightenment. “ 

 

A woman who went through a near-death experience shared,” I realized that life is like a dream”. She wrote, “ When you are born, you wake up into mortality in this physical body. When your physical body dies, you return to immortality.” 

 

I realised what is 无我 no-self as our consciousness or mind changes identity in various body forms in our many reincarnations. Thus there is no permanent self-identity. Do not cling to anger and just let go.

Diamond Sutra Part 1 is here

Happy Vesak Day 2024!

Happy Vesak Day to all Buddhists who follow Buddha's teaching. On this day, I spent about an hour meditating and thanking Buddha for his teaching after he was enlightened and awakened on this full moon day. Yesterday after work, I went to temple to pray. I am grateful that Buddha' teaching is still available now even though Buddha (Buddha means Awakened) already entered parinirvana about 2500 years ago. Buddha said everyone has Buddha nature. 

On Vesak day,  Buddhists commemorate  the birth, enlightenment and parinirvana of Gautama Buddha. The compassionate and kind Buddha spent 49 years teaching the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold path to end samsara. Buddhism or Buddha's teaching is not about pessimism. There is a way to end suffering and that is to follow the Noble Eightfold path which helps to end rebirth. 

Before enlightenment, Buddha spent 6 long years practicing asceticism and long fasting, causing his body to be weakened and he almost lost his life. While meditating one day, he heard someone playing a string instrument and came to the realisation that the Middle Path is the way for achieving the liberation of body and mind. 

"Cultivation is like playing a musical string instrument. The string will snap if it is too tight, or not make any sound if it is too loose. Indulgence in sensual pleasure or extreme penance are attachments. The Middle Path is the way for achieving the liberation of body and mind." 

After attaining enlightenment after 7 days of deep meditation, Buddha had compassionately taught sentients being the Four Noble Truths. Buddha reminded us to think and investigate his and others' teaching before accepting it.

The Four Noble Truths are

1) The truth of suffering. Like it or not, both rich and poor go through suffering. The suffering of old age, not getting what you want, separation, sickness. 

2) The truth of the  cause of suffering (craving, anger and delusion) 

3) The truth of the end of suffering. (There is a way to end suffering) 

4) The truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering is the Noble Eightfold paths.

The Noble Eightfold paths which helps to develop Sila (ethical conduct), samadhi (mental discipline or meditation) and panna (wisdom) 戒定慧 are as follows

1) Right Thought (be aware of your thinking with good intention. Eliminate greed, anger and delusion)

2) Right View (understanding of cause and effect, 12 links of dependent origination)

3) Right Speech (Refrain from lying, gossip, idle, harsh speech. If one has nothing helpful to say, be silent) Hmm, this is something I might need to work on it but hey I'm just stating the truth and my intention is to warn people. Not instead of me warning, people are complaining about the person.

4) Right action (moral, honorable and peaceful conduct). Hmm sometimes I'm quite mischievous. 因果真实不虚.

5) Right livelihood (Honest living, Refrain from making a living that harm others like selling weapons, intoxicating drinks, and toxins) This is why I don't support people making use of Buddhism  to make money especially in places like night clubs that sell alcohol. Buddha warned his disciples not to drink alcohol as it might cause them to be careless in their action and thus create bad karma. If that dj wants to perform, don't wear monk robe as real monks and strict Buddhists don't drink alcohol. Not drinking alcohol is one of the five precepts for lay Buddhists.

6) Right effort (prevent unwholesome state of mind)

7) Right mindfulness (be aware and mindful of one's thoughts and feelings

8) Right concentration (meditation)

On Vesak Day, this is the day for me to remember Buddha's teaching and to remind myself to be mindful. There were some days when I was not mindful and I reacted.

I like this story about how Buddha interacted with an angry man and was not affected by his insulting words. From my workplace, I see a lot of angry outburst because people tend to be affected by what others say and thus they kept thinking about unhappy thoughts. I was affected for a while but will just let go since I don't accept what they said after learning from this story. 

In this story, as Buddha was walking in a village, a very angry man insulted the Buddha and said that he had no right to teach others. Buddha was calm and serene as usual and he asked the man,  “Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?”

The young man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, “It would belong to me, because I bought the gift.”

The Buddha smiled and said, “That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy.  All you have done is hurt yourself.” 

On the night of enlightenment, Buddha attained the ability to recollect his past lives at dusk. In late night, Buddha attained the second knowledge which is the passing away and rebirth of beings according to their actions and closer to dawn, Buddha attained the knowledge of the destruction of mental defilements and came to be the fully self-awaked Buddha. Buddha had compassionately spent the next 49 years teaching sentients being the path to end suffering with the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold path. More than 2500 years later, with the advance of technology and past lives regression, it verified what Buddha had taught about rebirths and karma- cause and effect.  If you want to read about rebirths, you can read Dr Brian Weiss's book like Many Lives, Many Masters which touched on individual and collective karma and rebirths. 

Noble Eightfold paths

Be mindful of your action. Many people who died and returned back to their body shared that during their life review, they experienced the other person's emotion caused by their action.

The Eight Winds cannot move One fart blows across the river! 八风吹不动，一屁过江来

Saw this interesting explanation on the above verse on the Eight Winds article here. This is a story of how one of my favourite Chinese poets, Su Dongpo was upset by his friend's reaction to his poem. This story reminds me that we should be calm and not react impulsively. 

苏东坡在黄州时，有一天，诗兴来了，做了一首赞佛的诗：

稽首天中天，毫光照大千；

八风吹不动，端坐紫金莲。

这是一首意境很高的诗，不是对佛法有相当的造诣，绝对写不出这样的好诗。苏东坡写好了这首诗，自己反覆吟哦，觉得非常满意！诗中在赞佛的同时又暗含着作者自己有“八风吹不动”的超然境界。

他便把诗用信封封好，叫人送去对岸给佛印禅师看。他自以为佛印一定会大大的赞赏一番。然而，佛印禅师读到苏东坡的诗时，并不如苏东坡所预料的那样，而是在那首诗的下端，批上“放屁”两个大字，交给来人带回黄州。

苏东坡在看到“放屁”两个大字时，第一反应就是火冒三丈，连喊：“岂有此理？”

气呼呼地要找佛印禅师算帐，那知禅师早已吩咐下来：“今天不见客。”

苏东坡听了，更加火大，不管三七二十一，直奔佛印处，正要推门进去时，忽然发现门扉上贴着一张字条，端正地写着：

八风吹不动，一屁过江来。

聪明的苏东坡看到这两句，幡然醒悟，心里暗道：“我错了！竟为了那区区‘放屁’两个字而大动肝火，更何来‘八风吹不动’？”这就是佛印禅师给他的启示，让他不得不自叹修行不如佛印远矣！

Felt very tired after work. No time to translate. But found a good website from here and here with good introduction and translation.

Su Dongpo was a Song Dynasty poet and government official in Guazhou. Though the Yangzi River separated Guazhou from Jinshan Temple, Su Dongpo crossed it regularly to converse with the temple’s abbot, Chan Master Foyin, about Chan and the Way. One day, when Su Dongpo felt that his cultivation had reached full maturity, he composed the following poem and dispatched his young attendant to deliver it to Master Foyin for his approval: Bowing, Heaven within Heaven, I am the light that illuminates the boundless universe. The eight winds cannot move me, who am seated mindfully upon the purple golden lotus.

Upon reading it, the master dashed off a one-word comment for the young attendant to carry back. As soon as Su Dongpo read “fart” an uncontrollable anger began to rise. So he embarked for the other shore to debate the master. As his boat approached Jinshan Temple, Master Foyin was already waiting. Su Dongpo said, “We are the closest of Dharma friends. My poem, my cultivation — if you don’t praise it, that’s fine. But how could you insult me?” Acting as if nothing had happened, the Chan master asked, “How did I insult you?” When Su Dongpo showed him his comment, the master roared with laughter, saying, “Didn’t you say ‘the eight winds cannot move me?’ So how come a fart has blown you across the river?”

Cultivation is achieved, not by talk, but by action.

The “Eight Winds” in the poem referred to praise, ridicule, honor, disgrace, gain, loss, pleasure and misery - interpersonal forces of the material world that drove and influenced the hearts of men.