Ramblings of a Monk

Today is the official day for Qing Ming 清明节, a day (or period) where Chinese would traditionally remember their ancestors by visiting the cemetery and perform religious services for them.

A student from the English Dharma Class at SBF (Singapore Buddhist Federation) asked me what practices Buddhists should be observing during this day or period.  Below are my thoughts on it.

Buddhists rightly speaking should spend Qing Ming recollecting the kindness of our forefathers, and honouring them by remembering how they may have lived a blameless life or have conducted themselves in a manner worth emulating.  One could then try emulating their good deeds or perform charity in their name!  Further, we can also emulate the holy ones who have come before us by observing the eight or five precepts.  With all the positive merits accrued, one can then make a sincere wish, dedicating merits to them, wishing them well and having good conditions to learn the Dharma!

In addition, we can and should reflect on how, while we depended on our parents and forefathers for helping in bringing us into human rebirth, they, including many others, have also in some ways helped us in our lifes and made it possible.  Just consider how someone in modern society do not make any raw product themselves; we depend on many many faceless strangers to bring us the clothes we wear and food we eat daily.  We also live in houses and apartments that are more often than not built by foreign workers whom we would never get to meet in our life, and whom we depend our lifes on.  We can reflect on how our modern life is possible because of the contribution of hundreds, thousands and millions of people out there, working, ekking out a living.

But I paid for it, one may protest.  It is easy to think that once we pay for a service or product, we do not owe others anything.  While money is part of the equation, we often overlook how we owe it to the support and hardwork of the innumerable nameless and frequently faceless workers in order for our money to have any use or value at all.  To these people, we owe them their time, labour and youth making our life possible the way it is.  Our life is convenient as a result of their inconveniences.

Finally, we should also reflect on the Samyutta Nikaya 15.14-19 Mata sutta (Mother), where the Buddha shares his insight on how we have wandered on in samsara since beginningless times, and that it is not easy to find someone whom we have not been related to before.  Everyone is related to us in some way before!

In this way, we can reflect on how we are interdependent on each other so loosely, and yet so intimately.  From there, we can develop deep gratitude towards both people who are close to us, and those who once seemed to be complete strangers.  Within this deep gratitude, then the self-centric tendency may be gradually worn away and our hearts and mind may open up to others, and truly care for them.  In this way, we pay tribute and respect to all our forefathers from this life and the past, and repay their deep kindness meaningfully.

That is how we can all honour the departed during Qing Ming, whether as Buddhists or non-Buddhists.

So how did you spend Qing Ming this year?

Life sized statue of the Buddha from the Tang Dynasty period (618-906 AD)

應以何身得度者，即現何身而為說法 does not translate to “Teach the Dharma in the local language”.  The Chinese text would translate loosely to “Depending on the need of the audience, (one) shall manifest in whatever form/appearance to teach the (Buddha) Dharma”.  This is the crux of the teachings in “妙法蓮花經 觀世音菩薩 普門品” Saddharma-puṇḍarīka sūtra, chapter on Samantamukhaparivarto nāmāvalokiteṡvara-vikurvaṇa-nirdeṡa.

Confused yet?  Ya, thought so.  For those of us who are do not read sanskrit or Chinese, the above lines might as well have been written in greek or an alien language, which brings me to the earlier statement, that one shall manifest in whatever form/appearance to teach the Dharma, depending on the need of the audience.  That should include adopting whatever language is appropriate for conveying the message.  The language is but a medium, a tool while style and prose just an expression of that medium.  The intended message is what is important.  And because of that, language, style and prose should be chosen to encourage communication.  The communication of the message, of the idea, rises above previous trio in importance.

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Preface

In this HowTo series, we explore the Pureland Practice. The contents herein is set at level 100 ~ 200, meaning it’s targeted at introductory to beginners’ level.

100 – Introductory
200 – Beginner
300 – Intermediate
400 – Advanced

This article was first drafted in 2007 and intended for publication on this blog. It was later revised and published in the December issue of Vaidurya 2008. It is now published here for public reading.

Introduction

Pureland Buddhism is ubiquitous in Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. Throughout most, if not all, Chinese temples and monasteries in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hongkong, China, worldwide, pureland practise is more well known than perhaps meditation practises like anapanasati (breathing meditation) and satipatthana (Four foundations of mindfulness). In certain cases, a Buddhist may even know only to chant “Amituofo” and nothing about the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold path. Sometimes this is due to the literacy level in the audience and other times, due to the level of the sangha community. Try explaining the Four Noble Truth and Eightfold path to an 80 year old granny who can barely understand you or try getting youths to understand the dharma talks of elderly monks who only speak some native chinese dialects or who can only manage a strongly accented chinese dialogue. In such cases, it may prove trying for both parties.

Due to the increased literacy level of Singaporeans, such scenarios are fortunately, greatly reduced. The Sangha today are mostly conversant in English and Chinese and in certain cases even in a third or fourth foreign language. With language as a tool rather than a barrier, Buddhists can learn more about the Buddha’s teachings, as did the monks and lay folks did 2550+ years ago. This then bring us to the topic at hand, how do we learn and practise Pureland in today’s context? Is pureland practices only meant for the elderlies or can the younger generation embrace it just as well? Should we restrict ourselves to mere recitation of “amituofo” or should we do more? Is there such a need? If so, what else are we to do? These are some questions we will look at and offer some thoughts about it, hopefully intriguing you enough to think about it as well.
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http://confusion.tweakblogs.net/blog/1418/why-functional-programming-doesnt-catch-on.html

The above is an interesting article about functional programming and why it fail to catch on.

Every introduction to a programming language shows you the recursive method to calculate Fibonacci numbers. It’s abstract, many people do not relate to it very well, but it’s only a single example. However, the documentation for FP languages seem to consist solely of these kinds of highly mathematically inspired examples. No ‘Address’ class to be found there. Hasn’t anyone written a functional equivalent of the Pet Store application to demonstrate the power of FP for the regular work that most of us do?

This is sometimes the challenge I hear from people, that they find it too theoretical to apply certain religious concepts (be it Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam or the religion you dig!) in their every day life.  While some faith’s tenets and ideals are meant to be other-worldly, Buddhist teachings are meant for daily applications.

When we attend Dharma classes, we need to relate it to our daily experiences and reflect upon how our life can be further improved.  Is there anything we could have done or said differently?  What can we do in future to be more considerate towards others?  Was there relevance at all?

People that want to improve the world often overlook one fundamental problem: you cannot improve the world just by being right. You need to convince others of that fact if you want to exert influence. If you cannot convince them, find out why you cannot convince them. I think there is a bright future ahead for functional programming, as soon as someone stands up to convince the masses.

We need to be convinced for ourselves that the teachings really do work out.  We need to try it out and see for ourselves.  The Dharma is meant to be explored and experienced, not merely for recitation.

So start now, see if you can pick something about your day that you can change about.  And see if you can apply the Buddhist teachings, then share your findings here.

Hi all,

Here’s the web site for the Singapore Buddhist Federation
http://www.buddhist.org.sg/sbf/

A snippet here:

English Dharma Course
(Info on Chinese Dharma Course is available at the site above)

Objective:
To develop participants’ understanding in basic Buddhist teachings for life enrichment.

Contents:
Lectures and panel discussions on the life of Buddha, a brief history Buddhism, Buddhist teachings, application of Buddhist teaching in daily life.

Entry Qualifications: Age above 16 and fluent in written and spoken English.
Duration of Course: 3 years with 2 semesters per year.
Date: Every Friday from 6th of March 2009
Time:8.00pm – 9.30pm
Venue:Singapore Buddhist Federation
59 Lorong 24A Geylang, Singapore 398583
Tel: 6744 4635 Fax: 6747 3618

Registration
Fee: Adult $50; Student $25
Certificate of Completion: Certificate of completion of the course will be issued to each participant who has satisfied the set criteria Registration:
1. Photocopy of NRIC or Passport;
2. One recent passport sizes photo.
3. Registration at:
Buddhist Federation,59 Lorong 24A Geylang, Singapore 398583
Tel: 6744 4635 Fax: 6747 3618
Off hours: 0900 am to 5.00 pm Mon to Fri; 0900 am to 100 pm Sat

* Registration form is available for download at the above site.

Hi all,

Hope the new year is treating you well.  I just came back from a three month retreat and thought I’ll share something here.  (Strictly speaking, because of immigration requirements and some talk engagements I committed to, it was not a full three months! )

Below is an email excerpt I sent to fellow buddhist on meditation.  Thought I’ll share it here as it may be useful for some of us trying out meditation.
1.  Feeling frustrated the day after meditation
Hmmm …. that’s an interesting one.  Before I jump to any conclusion, maybe some clarifications:

+ How long do you meditate per session?
+ How many times per day?
+ Do you do walking meditation with the sitting?
+ How many times do you meditate per week?

While it is true that improper postures can cause some discomfort, it usually occur under some specific conditions.  Shed some light as above and we go from there.

2.  Becoming more sensitive to our surroundings and people
Becoming more aware and sensitive is always better.  So good start there! What we do with this new awareness and sensitivity is a different thing altogether.

While it would be good if after learning the Dharma and meditating, we are able to simply face all situations head-on and come out ok.  Unfortunately reality differs, as you have noticed.   Fortunately, the Buddha is kind and realistic enough to suggest that we take it gradually.

The Buddha is Realistic!

Not specific to your situation, but in the AnguttaraNikaya 5.161 Grudge, the Buddha do not advise the monks to go head on and reflect on emptiness or anatta.  Instead he suggested five ways to deal with it.  “If a grudge arises towards any person, then one should cultivate loving-kindness, or compassion or equanimity to wards him. Or one should pay no attention to him and give no thought to him. Or one may apply the thought: his only property is his actions; whatever he does, good or bad, he will be heir to that. In these ways, all grudges that have arisen can be removed. ” Search for “grudge” in http://www.triplegem.plus.com/tipintr3.htm

I feel that the Buddha’s very realistic approach may also apply in your case where you feel “something” towards people who seem to be doing things wrong.

1.  External
+  Avoid if possible.
2.  Internal
+  Do not give attention to what had been done
+  On that which we have seen, heard or suspected, hold your judgement *or* direct your mind to the positive qualities of these people
+  If you find that you cannot find anything positive about them, reflect on how others are not disturbed by the so called perceived negative or wrong actions.
+  Direct your mind towards the Triple Gem
+  Direct your mind inwards towards your own practice

To be honest, I went through a stretch where I had much -ve towards ppl around in much the same way as you did.  I came to a point where I reflected and concluded that a) how wrong they really are may be subjective and b) even if they are truly wrong, getting upset with them does not help them … *nor* me!  and c) “getting upset” is itself a defilement, never mind whether they are really right or wrong.  Hence I should resolve my own defilement of being upset before I go poking into ppl’s backyard.

!Applying our meditative practices to use!

When we meditate (止 samatha), we are really doing two things:
1.  Bring the mind away from its favorite past-times (aka distractions) and
2.  Anchoring it on the meditation object.

Easy said than done.

But we’ve done it before as well.  Although the mind may still wander off, we have succeeded in doing it before, both bringing it away from distractions to our meditation object.  We learn to maneuver the mind.

We also succeed in anchoring the mind, albeit maybe just for a few moments or seconds for some, in the meditation object.  This is commonly the breath, and we did do just that.

When frustration or -ve thoughts arise, it is like the mind wandering away from our meditation object.  We should extend our meditation skills to everyday life and catch ourselves when that happens.  After catching it, we should steer our mind away from those mental objects (thoughts or memories!) towards good or +ve (happy?) thoughts or objects.  Then we should anchor it there.

Try it and see what happens.  After some exercise, one should be able to do it easily.  That should allow the -ve thoughts to die down by itself.  This is the samatha method and it does only one thing.  Mitigation.  It does not solve the problem, but it gives us a breather *and* it breaks the momentum of the angry mind.  It weakens habitual anger if it is present and prevents its formation if not.

Our task is not complete yet

Meanwhile, our task is not complete yet.  Having this calmness is sometimes mistaken as the end goal for Buddhists.  That is plain incorrect.  This is like a pit-stop or a transit.  A shelter to wait out the storm.  While you slowly weaken the defilements, one should strengthen calmness and develop observation and insight into nama-rupa (mind-body).  Seeing truly how nama-rupa is, ie impermanent, subject to change, subject to suffering, is empty and non-self, one then cuts off the root of the problem, craving and attachment stemming from the distorted views of the world.

This requires 观 or insight meditation.  Bear in mind, this is not one particular meditation technique found only in one school or tradition.  As far as I am concerned, the different schools in the different traditions have different techniques for both samatha and vipassana that should lead to concentration and wisdom.  Use the one that works for you.

Footnote:

I didn’t go into specifics of insight meditation for the timebeing as I wanted the person to clear her present difficulties before moving onto the later exercises.