In this video, Master Sheng Yen on what is the meaning of liberation in Thervada Buddhism view and how to achieve it. The real liberation is to liberate sentient beings from samsara or to free sentient beings from the cycle of birth and death.
How can we step out of the realms of birth and death? We have to practise precepts, concentration and wisdom.
Precept is to abstain from evil deed.
Concentration means that our mind is not affected by the external environment.
Wisdom means we can let go of everything at any time, have no attachment.
The ultimate purpose of the Buddhist teachings is to be free of suffering and attain bliss, gaining release from birth and death.
Tomorrow is Vesak Day, a day to commemorate Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinibbana. It's a public holiday in Singapore. Due to circuit breaker or partial lockdown, all temples will still be closed. I will spend the day at hometomorrow listening to Ajahn Keng dharma talk, watching videos relating to Buddha and chanting meditation. It is also important to observe the 5 precepts. For Mahayana Buddhists, it is the day to eat vegetarian food. There are also 8 precepts for lay Buddhist but I find it tough as one of the precept is to refrain from eating after 12pm, which means you only take one meal a day. Maybe I take 8 precepts when I'm ready to lose weight by taking 1 meal instead of 3 meals a day. Hmm, now I'm wondering how the monks can survive on 1 meal and without gastric.
I enjoy listening to two venerable Buddhist monks namely Singaporean Ajahn Keng and Taiwanese Master Sheng Yen who passed on in 2009.
Sadly there are some people who pretend to be Buddhist monks who beg for money in the street. For your information, real monks don't go to the street to beg for money. However for Theravada monks, they will go for alms round in the morning for food. Based on Buddhist monk precepts, they only eat one meal a day before 12 pm. A real monk will not look for fame and wealth as they know that these material possessions are impermanent and don't bring lasting happiness.
Happy Vesak Day to all my Buddhist friends and Happy holiday to my non-Buddhist readers and friends.
Last year I was delighted to attend Dhamma talk by Ajahn Keng in June.
Due to circuit breaker in Singapore, places of worships like temples are closed. Today is Buddha's birthday and its the day to remember Buddha's teaching. I used to be very bad-tempered. To me, Buddha is like my teacher, teaching me the path to cessation of suffering through the Noble Eight-fold path. If you can't remember, just remember to be kind and not hurt others.
缘起性空 All phenomena originates from emptiness
果从心生 Fruition is created from the heart
欲望因心而起 Desires arise from the heart
烦恼自生 Vexation comes from oneself
你要离苦得乐 If you want to abandon suffering and gain happiness
就要脱离贪,瞋,痴 You’ve to abandon greed, anger and ignorance.
I'm a firm believer of karma. Karma is cause and effect due to action. Good action leads to good results and bad action leads to bad results. In this video, Ajahn Keng, a Singaporean monk shared his experience of how he suffered for three years from killing many ants.
Whenever I see insect, I just ask them to go away. To prevent insects going to your home, try not to have food in open space and keep your home clean. Do not harm sentient beings, no matter their size.
In this video, Ajahn Keng shared that loving kindness is used to counter anger.
He also shared the power of concentration which can help you to gain knowledge.
Ajahn Keng also emphasised the importance of observing the precepts. There are some people who are psychic but without precepts, it lead to their downfall due to greed.
Recently one of my Buddhist friend asked me what is a Buddhist view on Pandemic. My initial view was the earth lacks balance. I feel human race has taken away so much from planet earth and torture other sentient beings like animals by rearing them for food. But upon deeper reflection , I thought about Buddha's teaching on the Four Noble truth which include Life is suffering. Besides the Four Noble truths, there is also impermanence. There will be an end to this pandemic when the causes and conditions are met. Meanwhile, just stay safe by staying at home, wash hands and wear mask if you need to buy groceries. May all sentient beings be safe.
Before Buddha parinirvana, he again reminded his disciples of the Noble Eightfold path on the path of liberation from samsara. His last words to the monks,"All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!" Besides the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold path, Buddha also taught the precepts, the 12 Dependent Origination, five aggregates of attachment and the six sense basis. Craving for sensual pleasure lead to endless rebirth.
If others teach otherwise like burning of paper houses or indulging in alcohol or sex, then it is not the teaching of Buddha.
