Ramblings of a Monk » Sutra

News: Upcoming talks and events

Wakeupnow — Wed, 16 May 2007 11:14:55 +0000

In-Brief

The significance of Vesak Day @ 25 May 2007 (Private talk, Maris Stella High School)
Million Lotus Celebrations @25 ~ 26 May 2007 (Public, Ngee Ann City)
NTU Buddhist Society Alumni Vesak Celebration @ 27 May 2007 (Alumnus & friends, Venue TBC)
Dharma talk for Little India Vesak Celebration @ 29 May 2007 (Public, See below for venue)
Meditation Practice @ 31 May 2007 (Public, Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery)

Details after the jump …
Talk: “The significance of Vesak Day”
Date: 25 May 2007, Friday
Time: 8.00am
Venue: Maris Stella High School

Participation: This is a private session with the school only.
Organiser: Maris Stella High

Event: Harmony In Action (Vesak Celebration)
Date: 25 ~ 26 May 2007
Time: Whole day
Venue: Ngee Ann City

Participation: Public.http://www.vesakcelebrations.sg/
Organiser: Singapore Buddhist Federation

Event: NTU Buddhist Society Alumni Vesak Celebration
Date: 27 May 2007
Time: 9:30am ~ 12:00pm (duration is about 2.5 hrs)
Venue: Little Bodhi Student Care Centre
Blk 159, Woodlands St. 13
#01-665
(Behind Marsiling MRT)

A short talk on Vesak will be given.

Participation: NTU Alumnus & friends. General public are also welcome.
Organiser: NTU Buddhist Society

Talk: Little India Vesak Celebrations
Date: 29 May 2007
Time: 8.00pm (duration about 1 to 1.5 hrs)
Venue: Event premise is bounded by Serangoon Road, Burmah Road and Birch Road

Participation: Public.
Organiser: Little India Vesak Celebrations

Dharma Practice: Meditation
Date: 31 May 2007, Thursday (Vesak day)
Time: Session 1 – 10.00am ~ 10.45am
Session 2 – 03.00pm ~ 03.45pm
Venue: Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, Dharma Hall.

Participation: Public.
Organiser: Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery

OT: British History Timeline

Wakeupnow — Tue, 01 May 2007 02:29:55 +0000

OT stands for Off Topic, and in this series, we take a look at a BBC web site showing a very impressive view of the British History Timeline.

I’m not exactly a fan of BBC or the British folks, but hey, always good to have some general knowledge. Last I check, it’s good for small talk, party conversation and the Bodhisattva Path. Enjoi!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/timelines/british/index.shtml

Events: Om Mani Padme Hum on 6th April, 2007

Shi ChuanGuan — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:43:27 +0000

There will be an “Om Mani Padme Hum” 12hr chanting day on 6th April, 2007 at Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, Singapore.

Location:

Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery
88 Bright Hill Road
Singapore 574117

Participation fee: Sincerity and kindness

Date & Time: 6th April 9:00am ~ 9:00pm

Details:

The chanting day will be split into 6 continuous sessions of 2hrs each.

Session 1: 9:00am ~ 11:00am
Session 2: 11:00am ~ 1:00pm
Session 3: 1:00am ~ 3:00pm
Session 4: 3:00am ~ 5:00pm
Session 5: 5:00am ~ 7:00pm
Session 6: 7:00am ~ 9:00pm

Each session will have:

Homage to the Buddha
Triple Refuge
Mantra chanting
Dedication of Merits

Guiding Monastic:

Chuanguan bhikkhu

Please contact KMSPKS Youth Ministry, Billy @ you...@kmspks.org or 6849 5346 or sms: 9765 4322 for participation slots.

Dharma talk by Master MiuKing: Mahaprajnaparamita sutra

Wakeupnow — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 06:44:40 +0000

Here’s a first segment of a series of talks by Master MiuKing on the Mahaprajnaparamita sutra.
I’ll continue to encode the talks from DVD for upload to google video.

摩訶般若波羅蜜經系列
三歎品第30 / 現滅諍品第31（四之一）
妙境長老宣講
（1999年溫哥華）
1 of 4

We are being replaced … as we speak!

Wakeupnow — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:38:48 +0000

I mentioned in one of the talks that our physical bodies are replaced totally over a period of time. I got curious and went looking for a reference.

Here’s one:

http://www.contouring.com/chapter1.html

The physical body that each of us possess (or possesses us) is made up of roughly 50 trillion cells. About 30 billion of these are nerve cells. Every day millions of cells throughout our bodies are being replaced. This takes place through the normal process of attrition and replacement. Indeed 98% of our body is replaced within one year. The remaining cells are replaced the following year. In fact, 10% of all cells in your body are replaced every 3 weeks, 25% of the cells are replaced every 5-6 weeks. The cells that make up our skin is totally new every thirty days. The cells that make up the soft muscle tissue of our internal organs is replaced in two to three months. The liver is replaced within six weeks, while the stomach lining takes as little as four days. Some cells, such as those closely involved in the process of digestion, are replaced as rapidly as every five minutes!
The understanding of how rapidly the body re-creates itself is quite encouraging. In his book Quantum Healing Dr. Deepak Chopra uses the analogy of the body as a river. Just as the river is constantly flowing, full of varying speeds of movement, so do the replacement of cells in our bodies. We are not merely stagnant physical beings that age and ultimately die. We are, in contrast, being ever renewed. Understanding this means realizing that next year you be an entirely different person than you are now. No matter what you do in the next twelve months, at least on a cellular level, you will be an entirely different person.

That’s almost a word for word description given by various Buddhist monks to describe our existence! Interesting isn’t it?
So, think about it, we are not the same person for long … and neither are others around us. Physically or mentally, our existence can at most be described as a constant process, a constant flux (what a paradox!). So the next time we bear a grudge on someone, think about it. Who are we grudging against? The dead cells or the emotions and mental states that fluctuates and has ceased to exist?

Diamond Sutra 金剛經

Wakeupnow — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 04:02:48 +0000

Below is a work in progress. I’m penning (doesnlt look right somehow) down a simple commentary on some phrases from the Diamond Sutra 金剛經.

一切有为法
All conditioned phenomena
如梦幻泡影
are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows,
如露亦如電
dew and lightning
應作如是觀
such is how one should reflect and observe!

Q1: What is meant by “All conditioned phenomena”?
A1: Conditioned phenomena refers to that which exist due to conditions. Without conditions, such a phenomena cannot arise. They are without intrinsic properties, characteristics. They are empty or void of such properties. The properties are Empty. Such is meant by “All conditioned phenomena”.

Q2.1: What is meant by “dreams”?
A2.1: Dreams refer to the experience that arises during sleep wherein, one may experience an apparent sense of being in a scenario that may be real or fictitious. One may further engage in normal activity with others in the dream such as talking, walking, eating etc. In some cases, one may even dream about dreaming. In general, dreams are a series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep. Upon waking, dreams are just a memory if at all. The characteristics of dreams is that they appear, and only appear to be real when one is in the state of dreaming. In reality, they are intangible and upon waking up, nothing in the dream can be grasped. Such is how dreams are to be known.

Q2.2: How is it that conditioned phenomena are like dreams?
A2.2: Conditioned phenomena appear to be tangible and solid, as though they possess their properties in their own right. In reality, they are empty of these properties. The characteristics and properties that they seem to be possess are as real as the ones in dreams, ultimately intangible. This is how conditioned phenomena are to be known to be like dreams.

Q3.1: What is meant be “illusions”?
A3.1: Illusions refers to erroneous mental representation. That which is a false representation of the actual situation is an illusion. Often used to describe performances by magicians and tricksters. Also known as sleigh-of-hand, magic, tricks etc.

The characteristic of illusions is that they are false representation of a phenomena that leads to false perception of the said phenomena, resulting in believe of attributes or properties that are in actual fact absent. It is strongly associated with falsehood.

Q3.2: How is it that conditioned phenomena are like illusions?
A3.2: Conditioned phenomena appear to has solid properties and attributes that it projects when in actual fact, it does not. They tend to lead one to perceive these qualities to be inherent in them although they are really dependent arising.

In this way, conditioned phenomena are like illusions, as they tend to lead us to perceive and believe in something that is actually absent. Like an illusion, conditioned phenomena can therefore be said to be of a lying nature, to have falsehood as its nature.

Q4.1: What is meant by bubbles?
A4.1: Bubbles refer to the collection of spherical or semi-spherical pockets of air or gases trapped within a layer of fluid.

The characteristic of bubbles is that they are very vulnerable, short lived and easily ruptured or destroyed.

Q4.2: How is it that conditioned phenomena are like bubbles?
A4.2: To be completed.

Off on a retreat …

Wakeupnow — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:55:53 +0000

ok, so my retreat is dwindling to an end, and I’ll be back in Singapore next week, but I thought I’ll just post a note so that the electronic weeds don’t cover up this blog!

Oh and guess what, it’s 2007! Yes I know, January is almost over, but that’s what happens when you go into a retreat (of sorts) … you loose track of time!

So anyone with audacious New Year’s resolution to share? For those who missed out making a New Year resolution, you have a second chance next month with the Chinese New Year.

Did the Buddha do charity?

Wakeupnow — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 10:21:53 +0000

Of late, I’ve been thinking about something. “Did the Buddha do charity?”

Of course the mere inclusion of Buddha in such a question would invoke hordes of Buddha-fans who might flame this entry as its preposterous to even conceive such a question, much less ask one, and to post it online at that. Purists would start asking questions like “Define ‘Charity’” or “When we say ‘Did’, are we referring to the Buddha in his final life, as a monastic, as a prince or are we referring to his numerous past life?” … or perhaps my personal favorite would be “What do you mean by Buddha? Are we referring to the historical Buddha or the very concept of Buddha-Nature” … etc etc.

While it may really seem like they are splitting hairs, those questions are very real and helps define the extent of our question. It can also shed light on the current status of Buddhism and perhaps whether there are alternatives to our current way of applying Buddhism to modern society.

If we start of with the first premise of time, we can refer to the Buddha in the following three periods:

When he was a Bodhisattva in his various previous lives,
When he was a Bodhisattva as a prince in his final life, known to us as Prince Siddhartha,
From the point onwards as a samana (homeless one, monk etc) until he became enlightened, beginning his dispensation of Dhamma-Vinaya and ultimately entering into Final Liberation (Paranibbana).

In this sense, Buddha would refer to the historical Gotama Buddha, including his past lives as a Bodhisattva.

Charity here refers to Dana, or giving. Giving in Buddhism includes many different things, from the simplest giving of material support to the highest giving of the Dhamma.

To start off, the Buddha is a man of charity. He gave everything, boundlessly, unconditionally. As a Bodhisattva many aeons ago, He started off by giving up his wordly habits towards seeking wordly happiness (sensual pleasures). He ended his pursuit of worldly dreams and goals and began His long and ardous journey towards Buddhahood. Of course this is more like giving up, of renounciation and not giving, as in giving all these to others, as in charity. But with this giving up, he also started the outward giving. In the Jataka tales (Khuddaka Nikaya, Pali Canon. BenShen Jing in the Chinese Canon [Da Zang Jing]) he is cited to have performed numerous, or countless acts of giving, ranging from giving of wealth, food, assistance, lodging, time, protection, his wife, part of his own body and even his very own life in some cases. All these he did. And he did over many years, many thousands of years, many aeons. And over these many years, he perfected his Giving, ie Paramita of Dana (Perfection of Giving). From the Mahayana sutras, we will also see how the various Bodhisattvas, including the Buddha when he was still a Bodhisattva are described to have made offerings to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the ten directions (all directions in other words) and also gave to all sentient beings, ranging from the highest heavens to the lowest hells. So its safe to say that he definitely gave in material terms in his past life, prior to him becoming the Buddha.
It is said that in his final life as a prince, he gave some flesh to an eagle to avoid the eagle killing a snake for a meal. The suttas are quite scant on his personal life as a philanthropic prince. As far as I’ve learnt from the Pali Canon and some post-canonical literature, prince Siddhartha led his youth basked in luxury, carefully crafted by his father, King Shuddhodana, to prevent prince Siddhartha from coming to see the four sights of Sickness, Old Age, Death and Renounciation. That being the case, it seem to lead me to believe that while the prince was kind and compassionate to all the royal maidens, guards and his kins, he had little if any opportunity to express his kindness and compassion in the form of charity. From the Mahayana sutras, again scant details if at all, depict him as a humanitarian during his princehood. Most Mahayana sutras describes the path of the Bodhisattva, and hence focused on the Buddha’s past lives as a backdrop for teaching the Perfections (Paramitas) to the aspiring Bodhisattvas. The final life as a prince, according to Mahayana sutras was said to be a ‘walk-through’ demo, just to convince unenlightened beings that it is possible to become enlightened as a wordling, as a human being. Caveat emptor here being that I’ve not read every single one of the Mahayana sutras and hence would love to hear comments from readers who can cite specific canonical Mahayana sutras illustrating the Buddha in his princehood performing philathropic deeds. For the Pali Canon, I’ve not found any specific instances from the Digha Nikaya, Majjhima Nikaya, Samyutta Nikaya nor the Anguttara Nikaya (Anthologies) or selected suttas from Khuddaka Nikaya such as the Dhammapada, Theragatha, Therigatha etc, that supports a philanthropic prince Siddhartha. Again, I would love to stand corrected.

Coming past his princehood, we look at the Buddha’s early six years as a renounciate, or samana. He began his ‘career’ by learning from two of the most prominent meditation master of those days in India. The first being Alara Kalama and the second being Uddaka Ramaputta. Both were meditation masters who attained and taught the (formless) concentration of infinite sphere of nothingness and infinite sphere of neither perception nor non-perception. The Buddha learnt and attained both levels to completion but found that it still led to more becoming, ie rebirths, and hence was not the Final goal. Even then, during this period, it is not evident that he spend his time engaged in philanthropic activities such as charity etc.

After his stint with the two meditation masters, he went on to practise ascetism for six years or so together with five other ascetics. As an ascetic, he not only had little belongings, he even subsisted on little daily nourishments. At the extreme end, the Buddha was said to have survive on only one sesame seed a day! Surely it would be unlikely if at all for the Buddha to have organised fund-raising events to do charity or even did any much humanitarian work! As far as the Pali Canon and the Mahayana sutras are concerned, we also cannot find any evidence contrary to this.

At the end of this six years (some say five to six years, owing to some months spent with the two masters), the Buddha came to the realisation that extreme ascetism did not and will not bring about liberation for he had practised it to the fullest extent humanly possible. He then recall a meditation experience he had and decided to resume meditation instead of ascetism. Taking some nourishment, he strengthened his body and then began meditation. Reflecting on the nature of our very existence, he realised three insights over the three periods of the night. In the end, he broke through all attachments to the five khandas and put an end to delight, attachment, desire and craving for them, ceasing completely the cycle of birth and death, thereby becoming enlightened. He became to be known as Buddha, an Arahant or the Blessed One.

For the next forty-five years, He taught ceaselessly the Dhamma-Vinaya to the monks, starting with the five ascetic companions. His exhortation to the monastics were consistently the urgent need to meditate and attain Final Liberation. India in those days did not enjoy some mystical hey day where there were no calamities or suffering. Instead, through the Pali Canon, we see instances of drought, famine, floods, epidemics, war etc ravaging the people, including the monastics. In this backdrop, we see that the monks themselves were also affected frequently, when whole community of monks would be affected by the lack of alms food. There has thus far been no mention of the Buddha nor his monks organising any humanitarian work to provide food, shelter or medicine for the poor or needy. Instead, the Buddha and his monastics went on alms round, to let them practise generosity, sowing the seeds for *future* well being. Again, in neither the Pali Canon nor the Mahayana sutras, do we see any evidence pointing otherwise.

The one few instances was when the Buddha said that “If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving & sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the stain of selfishness overcome their minds. Even if it were their last bite, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared, if there were someone to receive their gift. But because beings do not know, as I know, the results of giving & sharing, they eat without having given. The stain of selfishness overcomes their minds.” Khuddaka Nikaya, Itivuttaka I.26 While this surely points towards the virtue of giving, this instance itself lends more to the giving of Dhamma, which enlightens someone to the virtue of giving. In this aspect, the Buddha gave many other discourses to the lay community on the virtue of dana (giving), further reinforcing that the Buddha Himself and his monastics probably did not participate directly in charity, at least not in the material sense.

In that case, you may now ask, what did the Buddha and his monastics do, if they did not do charity? And if they did not, then how do we contend with the present society? Should monks do charity if the Buddha himself in his final life did not directly get involved in material charity? Apparently, the Buddha and his monastics did not engage directly in material charity. They were samanas, ‘homeless ones’, with only the triple robes, an
alms bowl and some other personal artifacts. Being known as “those who prefer quietude”, it is difficult at best to picture the Buddha and his monastics organising some charity gala dinner (oops, they don’t take dinner at that!) or charity funfair. So what did the Buddha and his monastics do? Did they do no charity? No, they did do charity, but not the way we think of charity.

Instead of being directly involved in charity, they inspired others to do charity. Through their Dhamma discourses, they inspire the lay community to perform charity. Through their lifestyle, they provide the lay community an opportunity to offer dana, sowing the seeds for future well being. In this way, the needy is aided in the here and now, and in the future. And by laying a good foundation of giving, the heart is softened and nourished with loving kindness, making it conducive for further teachings. In one sutta, the Buddha gave a series of discourses to some lay people, starting from giving, extolling the superiority of rebirth in the heavens and ultimately ending with Nibbana as the Final Goal. In this way, the Buddha made clear that giving was not an end in itself, but was taught as a means for future benefits, possibly culminating in Nibbana. For the Highest Gift of all is the Gift of Dhamma, which leads to the Highest Blessing of all, Nibbana.
So yes, the Buddha did charity, the giving of Dhamma.

I still have attachments …

Wakeupnow — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 06:53:15 +0000

The other day, I received an email informing me of the recurring charges for this site. I was somewhat bemused and thought that this was a mistake. You see, the hosting for this site is charged annually. And these matters were handled by my kappiya (steward) so I thought that this was yet another rip-off by some obscure hosting site. Indignantly, I accepted that if the account was not duely cancelled, then the charges would be honored but to prevent future charges, I sent a request for account cancellation, not forgetting to just rant as a surprise that the account was still active eventhough I’ve not used it for awhile. I promptly received a cancellation confirmation email with a footnote that as per service policy, accounts not cancelled will be automatically charged with recurring bills. Fine and good. I’m all for policies and was not the least trying to get a waiver or anything. I thought that was the end of this episode, but boy, was I wrong.

By the time I checked my inbox and received the cancellation email, it was already 6~7 hours later. This was due to the time-zone difference and it was the next day already. A few minutes after I read the email, satisfied that everything was back to normal, I proceeded to clear other email accounts and check up on buddhavacana.net to see if there is any new posts or comments on the blog or forum. It returned me a generic advertisement page for web hosting services etc. *gulp*

Some of you may have realised by now the flow of events. For a second there, I thought the domain registration was hijacked or hacked by some rogue spammers. I clicked refresh a few more times and there was no redirection of URL or anything. Then the whole truth hit me smack in the face. Apparently the “rip-off” was a legitimate charge by the web hosting company of this site! By cancelling the account, someone somewhere in the states have deactivated the account for this site and now the web server was dishing out the default page, which is a simple advertisement for the web hoster.

My mind kinda kicked into “auto” mode, running through all the possible scenarios of Disaster Recovery Procedures (DRP) best practices. My earlier training in the IT industry meant that DRP was second nature and there was a certain sense of fear and at the same time, excitement, knowing that now was an interesting time to put these best practices to application. To be honest, I’ve not really done backups religiously. Only the source code, binary and an earlier revision of the web site was stored offline. So then I weighed my option and realised that a full recovery was not very possible. The site was out for at least 6~7 hours already and activating another account , restoring from the backups and waiting DNS resolution if I switch hosting company meant that it could be another few hours.

At that point, I started laughing. Laughing at the whole situation, but mostly at myself. I again asked myself, as I’ve done before “So the site is down, big deal!?” What if ~~impermanence~~ death or sickness were to strike tomorrow? What would happen? Apparently, attachment has subtly set in over the past 3 years. There and then, I caught another glimpse of attachment at work.

Its easy to see gross defilements such as anger and greed, jealousy and envy etc at work. Its easy for one to denounce harmful acts like killing, stealing, sexual misconduct (or sexual conduct for renounciates), lying and taking of intoxicants. It is also easy to renounce worldly affairs and put them aside. But it is also all too easy to rationalise to ourselves that we are doing Dhamma work and hence its ok. Doing Dhamma work *is* ok. Its great! Being attached to it to the extent of it causing worry and stress is not. Doing it is compassion, seeing the subtle difference between doing it and being attached to it is wisdom. Seeing the difference and abiding in purely doing it without attachments is putting that wisdom into action and being liberated, if not totally, at least somewhat.

After reflecting over this for awhile, I felt lighter at heart. I still sent an email to the web hoster to ask for help in reactivating the account. While it would still be good for it to be reactivated, for it was serving the online community with the daily reading software, Digital Buddha Vacana, I came to be at ease with the possible outcome that it might not be possible via this route, that I may have to recover the site from scratch, and possibly loose some of the content, design or structure of the site. I can live with that.

About an hour later, I got a reply from my hoster that they’ve reactivated the account. Lo’ and behold, the web site manifested itself again when I accessed it. A sense of relief somewhat, if not due to attachment, at least relief that I won’t have to spend several hours or day to recover the site. Oh wait, is that another attachment? … …
——-

Footnote: To the web hoster’s credit, the service level that I get for this site is pretty good and hence it becomes seamless and transparent. On the flip side, its seamlessness ultimately removed it altogether from the radar!