Category: Buddhism

Being A Friend Worthy of Associating with

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In the Anguttara Nikaya 7.35, the Buddha said this

“He gives what is beautiful,
hard to give,
does what is hard to do,
endures painful, ill-spoken words.

His secrets he tells you,
your secrets he keeps.

When misfortunes strike,
he doesn’t abandon you;
when you’re down & out,
doesn’t look down on you.

A person in whom these traits are found,
is a friend to be cultivated
by anyone wanting a friend.”
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an07/an07.035.than.html

If one wants to have many friends, one should be a friend to many.
And one should have qualities of a friend worth associating with!

A Short Sharing on Dependent Origination & Emptiness

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Thanks to a question by a student, here’s a short sharing on Dependent Origination & Emptiness that I emailed her.

All phenomena are not independently existing in and of itself. Eg, a table that we use, comprises parts that were not table, and have not “tableness”. If the wooden parts had any “tableness” in them, then the tree from which these parts were made from cannot be made into anything else except a table.

Because the parts do not have any tableness, the ‘table’ that we use, arise dependent on the parts + many other factors as conditions. There is no coming, ie no independent table that exist, created or formed.

When the table is taken apart, there are parts that resemble a table, but do not form a table. So once again, there is no tableness in the parts and without conditions, the table ‘disappears’. It disappears in a sense that no table ceased nor was destroyed. Beyond the parts, there is no table that got taken out and thrown away or ceased.

The last part that even while we are using the table, there is still no inherent table, within the ‘table’, the parts or outside of them.

The same applies to all phenomena, to the five aggregates, to our relationship with our family & friends, to our role as a student now and a certain profession in the future. Precisely because all these
relationships and roles are dependent arising, that is why we can be a student, a daughter, a friend, a teacher, a granddaughter, a beloved one at different times, and sometimes simultaneously. However, we do not realise this sometimes. Clinging onto certain roles and how exactly they should be, we sometimes feel lost or out of place when in reality, conditions have changed, and the role we use to play have changed or is no longer suitable.

Realising dependent arising is to realise emptiness of all these, and to realise that with pervasive impermanence, none of these roles are inherent, intrinsic or permanent. On one hand, we learn to appreciate each moment of uniqueness of the relationships’ and roles’ development, thereby cherishing them. On the other hand, we see that no single moment or state of the relationship or roles can be clung on or attached to.

We learn to grow with it, watching mindfully, reflecting on the best course of development that would benefit ourselves and others best.

There are much more applications of this teaching we can apply in our life. I hope this answers your query.

May this understanding aid you and your friends and love ones on your path towards Buddhahood!

 

 

The World Is … Is Not Coming to an End!

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We have spent 127 days of this year, with 238 days left. There were much excitement a few months ago about the Ending of the World in 2012, and with all the reports on earthquakes and other natural disasters, is the world coming to an end?

nWithin the past 50 years, there were numerous claims to cataclysmic end of the world. None has come true. I’ve got a strange hunch that this one will be no different.

In Buddhism, we also have predictions, a different kind that had more definite and significant impact on all human beings, all sentient beings.

Instead of predicting an end of the world, the Buddha predicted that as long as there is craving and attachment, there will be suffering, and that when there is an end of craving and attachment, there is an End of Suffering, an End of Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Despair and Distress.

That much, the Buddha predicted.

So which future are you going to fulfill?

 

Reference:

http://fora.tv/2010/04/24/David_Morrison_Surviving_2012_and_Other_Cosmic_Disasters#fullprogram

Cook Like a Chef!

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Just because you are not working in a restaurant, it does not mean you cannot cook like a chef!

EDIT:

So yesterday I was at a neighbourhood eatery with Charles.  I commented how the dish would be very different if they had sliced the cucumber thinly.  Then we half commented that it is not a restaurant after all.  I’m not sure if it is such a mindset or sloppiness that welded the chef’s knife yesterday, but It dawned on me that we can have such fixed mindsets at times.

We box ourselves up into fixed roles that we identify with and become limited by such identification.   The only thing that comes from this is that we restrict our own growth.

But we didn’t start off this way mostly.  Sometimes, it start off due to external factors.  When we were young, or when we first started work, bright-eyed, we may have tried to do things and try things like there are no boundaries to what we are capable of doing.  Then we hit our first brickwall.  Our
first “No”.  Our first “rejection”.  The first “do what you are SUPPOSED to do”.  There.  The first block of the impenetrable stronghold of I-Cannot-Do-It is laid.

Instead of trying our best, and besting even our best, we tell ourselves “I am just an ABC, so I can/should only do XYZ”. We do that for one day, for two days, for three. We do that to ourselves for one week, for two weeks for three. We do that to ourselves for one month, for two months, for three. We do that to ourselves for years on end. In the end, we fulfill our own prophecy, that we can only do XYZ.

At some point, we unknowingly tell others that as well, that they should just stick to known territories and not try anything beyond.  “Don’t rock the boat”, “Don’t spoil the market”, “The overgrowth gets trimmed”.  Or so they say.  So we may end up perpetuating the very negative limiting cycle that got us boxed in at the first place.  But it does not have to continue this way.

Every day is a new start.  Every moment, the old mind and body ceases and a new mind and body is born.  With each new arising, there is a possibility of change.

Ready?

I Take Refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and the Sangha

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Buddhist take refuge in the Triple Gem, that is, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.

The Buddha, referring to the historical Buddha who attained to Perfect Enlightenment, Nirvana, to Perfection through humanly possible effort.

The Dharma, the Teachings, the way that the Buddha show to us, through which we too can perfect ourselves.

The Sangha, the community of monks and nuns, who are striving, have strived and those who have attained this very Perfection, Nirvana.

Taking refuge in the Buddha, we aspire to attain the perfection he attained.
Taking refuge in the Dharma, we apply the Teachings of the Buddha in our lives to change our negative mental habits that brings rise to much stress and suffering.
Taking refuge in the Sangha, we take them as our inspiration and guide, while supporting them in what ways we can.

Buddhist take refuge in this THREE refuges, not two, not four or five.

Just as a pass along the lamp during a candle procession from one to another, this Precious Teachings, the Dharma, was passed down to us from the Buddha through the monks, nuns and lay people till today. Having benefitted from it, it is our duty to preserve this Dharma and hand it down to future generations for their welfare and benefit.

What have you done to share the Buddha’s teachings?