The Life of Master Xuanzang - Translating Buddhist Scriptures

This video is about Venerable Master Xuanzang's life and Buddha's teaching sharing by some commentators. If you understand Mandarin, you can watch this video. There are seven episodes. 

Heart Sutra: Perceiving All Five Aggregates Are Empty

 “When Guanyin (Avalokiteshvara) Bodhisattva was coursing in the deep prajnaparamita (wisdom), he perceived that all five aggregates are empty, thereby transcending all suffering. — Extracted from the Heart Sutra—

The Master taught us to start from contemplating the bodily sensation. When gradually we fell the body no longer existing, next comes the phase of sensation, perception and volition.

After transcending the stage of sensation, next its all about contemplating the mind which refers to mental activity or phenomena.

Someone who practise meditiation can remain calm and won't be affected or disturbed by his physical burden nor distracted and tempted by any conditions around him

We should realise that even these feeling such as purity, calm are all empty. They too are mental reaction and we should not attach ourselves to them. Otherwise we would indulge ourselves in it.

By contemplating the sensation as being empty, we learn to detach from the feelings of pain, pleasure, sorrow, joy, and equanimity, therefore reducing the burden of the body and mind.

Sky Concert Metta Today

I like listening to Imee Ooi rendition of Heart Sutra.

If you also enjoy listening to Buddhist songs by Imee Ooi, you can watch live streaming tonight at 8,30 pm Malaysia time GMT+8.

If you enjoy Buddhist music arts, you can donate. Click here for more information.

 

Burning Offerings in Singapore

In East Asian culture, the Chinese will have burning offerings during the Hungry Ghost Festival (which just ended last Wednesday) to their deceased relatives or wandering spirits. 

In this video, the humorous Mahayana monk, Venerable You Wei explained the burning offerings in Singapore. Watch this video by Mothership for more information.

From Wikipedia Origin of Hungry Ghost Festival

The timing and origin story of the modern Ghost Festival, however, ultimately originated from ancient India, deriving from the Mahayanascripture known as the Yulanpen or Ullambana Sutra.^{[5]:301,302 [note 2]}The sutra records the time when Maudgalyayana achieves abhijñāand uses his new found powers to search for his deceased parents. Maudgalyayana discovers that his deceased mother was reborn into the preta or hungry ghost realm. She was in a wasted condition and Maudgalyayana tried to help her by giving her a bowl of rice. Unfortunately as a preta, she was unable to eat the rice as it was transformed into burning coal. Maudgalyayana then asks the Buddha to help him; whereupon Buddha explains how one is able to assist one's current parents and deceased parents in this life and in one's past seven lives by willingly offering food, etc., to the sangha or monastic community during Pravarana (the end of the monsoon season or vassa), which usually occurs on the 15th day of the seventh month whereby the monastic community transfers the merits to the deceased parents, etc.,^{[6]:185 [note 3] [5]:293 [note 4] [7]:286 [note 5]}

Documentary of Master Xuanzang’s Pilgrimage

Master Xuanzang, a Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar and translator, bravely took the perilous pilgrimage to India with the goal to learn Buddhism. I am grateful to Master Xuanzang who spent 19 years of his life translating the Sankrist Buddhist scriptures to Chinese after 19 years of pilgrimage.

Master Xuanzang spent 19 years of his life translating more than a thousand of scriptures to Chinese.

If you want to know more about this great monk, you can watch this documentary of Master Xuanzang. 

Master XuanZang-Journey to the West Movie

This is a movie on Master Xuanzang, an eminent monk  who spent seventeen-year arduous journey to India for the Buddhist scriptures. The current Chinese Heart Sutra was translated by Master Xuanzang. He recorded his journey to India in the classic Chinese text Great Tang Records on the Western Regions which is an inspiration to Ming dynasty Journey to the West by Wu Cheng en. I'm inspired to read the book Great Tang Records on the Western Regions.  观自在菩萨，行深般若波罗蜜多时，照见五蕴皆空，度一切苦厄。舍利子，色不异空，空不异色，色即是空，空即是色，受想行识，亦复如是。舍利子，是诸法空相，不生不灭，不垢不净，不增不减。是故空中无色，无受想行识，无眼耳鼻舌身意，无色声香味触法，无眼界，乃至无意识界，无无明，亦无无明尽，乃至无老死，亦无老死尽。无苦集灭道，无智亦无得。以无所得故。菩提萨埵，依般若波罗蜜多故，心无挂碍。无挂碍故，无有恐怖，远离颠倒梦想，究竟涅槃。三世诸佛，依般若波罗蜜多故，得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。故知般若波罗蜜多，是大神咒，是大明咒，是无上咒，是无等等咒，能除一切苦，真实不虚。故说般若波罗蜜多咒，即说咒曰：揭谛揭谛，波罗揭谛，波罗僧揭谛，菩提萨婆诃。 The Heart Sutra by Faye Wong Master Xuanzang

How Does Buddhism View the Practice of Fortune-telling?

I enjoy reading and learning about Buddhism and also Chinese art of fortune-telling like Bazi (8 characters of hour, day, month and year stem and branches) and Zi Wei Dou Shu. Sometimes I analyse charts of my acquaintance and it correlate with their characters. 

What can one do if they realised their destiny chart is not so good? What is Buddhism view on fortune-telling? What can we do if we are born with a less than rosy chart? 

There is a saying that our birth chart bazi reveals our past karma. However we can do something and improve our lives and not be bound by the chart. In the video below which is based on Ming Dynasty Liao Fan real's story of changing his destiny by doing more good deeds and improving his life, it shows that we don't have to be bound by our destiny chart but we have the freewill to improve our destiny and it requires effort. 

Venerable Master Sheng Yen's said that the mind is the most important. We humans are related to this mind of ours. If you transform your mind, then your fortune will change as well. If someone's mind does not change, then his fate is basically set. If there is a change of concept of mind, the person's principles and direction in life will change and so will that person's future. 

Click here to read Liao Fan's Four Lessons 

Liao Fan's Four Lesson movie in English

Liao Fan's Four Lesson movie in Mandarin

 Master Sheng Yen on Fortune-telling: Fortune telling and fengshui may have their validity and usefulness, but people can actually change their fate through psychological transformation and good deeds. What matters is the mind.