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The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast for Sunday 5 May
2002
Broadcast Script 223
Glossary
angst: anxiety, distress, worry,
uneasiness
inundate: overwhelm, cover, provide with in
abundance
lucidity: the quality or condition of being lucid; brightness,
luminosity, rationality; clarity of thought or expression
Today's broadcast is called:
A review of recent Prajna
Paramita Teachings
The Prajna Paramita is not a tea party for
ordinary persons.
Attention to anything is a scarce commodity because of
three factors. Firstly, ordinary persons do not seem to produce more than 24
hours of attention per day.
Secondly, for ordinary persons their capacity
to pay attention is limited and as a result of these two things persons are
inundated with so much information they do not know what to pay attention
to.
In the Prajna Paramita minds that can be developed a person can see a
mandala of events which may have spanned several lifetimes, within say, one
minute of reflection. This may be summarised as saying ‘8,000 worlds in a single
glance’.
In the Prajna Paramita mandalas the person’s capacity to pay
attention is vastly increased. When entering a sphere of infinite knowledge,
such as is found in 2nd arupa jhana, the mind with Prajna Paramita can select a
constructive theme and examine information until it is resolved with the
knowledge ‘I do not need to give this any more attention’.
It might be as
simple as observing various persons on their deathbeds are totally
different.
Some holding a degree of lucidity about their own dying
process that enables them to have a peaceful death, while others end up viewing
a mass of fragmented rememberings of near and far events that creates panic and
confusion, fear and dread, angst and un-satisfactoriness about the dying
process, because they fear the dis-aggregation and re-aggregation of
events.
This aggregation enables entirely new kinds of values to be
viewed. It breaks down experiences and social organisational structures and
makes it possible to restructure lived experiences into a set of logical
events.
The Prajna Paramita minds can act as effective strategists
because they can honestly face the inherent many weaknesses inherited from their
parents and educational culture.
They can redesign, build upon and
reconfigure the elements of their culture to radically transform the value
proposition for the benefit of self and others, on which they live and that is
only the beginning of what re-aggregation of value propositions and lead
to.
On Tuesday 21 May 2002 the Prajna Paramita Teachings at our Centre
taught by Master John D. Hughes from Versak 1999 to Versak 2002 will conclude.
John D. Hughes Buddha Dhamma name is Sariputta.
Members wrote down what
they have learnt and we would like to share their observations with
you.
We apologise for any errors in understanding in the recording of the
Prajna Paramita Teachings that might have occurred.
Some students have
recorded their recollections of Teachings attended for the benefit of present
and future students of Prajna Paramita. Their recollections in no way claim to
be a comprehensive guide to the Teachings given and the students should cite the
Prajna Paramita texts and have a Teacher to guide them.
We have audio
taped the Teachings over time and in the later days, we videotaped the
Teachings.
The student wanting to learn Prajna Paramita, the Perfection
of Wisdom, ought to pay respect to the Buddha:
Om Namo Tassa Bhagavato
Arahato Sammasambuddhassa
Om Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato
Sammasambuddhassa
Om Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato
Sammasambuddhassa
The student ought to pay respect to Prajna Paramita (a
female goddess):
Om Namo Bhagavatyai Aryaprajnaparamitaya
Om Namo
Bhagavatyai Aryaprajnaparamitaya
Om Namo Bhagavatyai
Aryaprajnaparamitaya
The Prajna Paramita student ought to keep at least
Five Precepts at all times.
In Pali these are:
Panatipata Veramani
Sikkhapadam Samadiyami
Adinnadana Veramani Sikkhapadam Samadiyami
Musavada
Veramani Sikkhapadam Samadiyami
Kamesu Micchacara Veramani Sikkhapadam
Samadiyami
Surameryamajjapamadattana Veramani Sikkhapadam
Samadiyami
Before the Teaching starts, the student ought to have
established refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha (many times in
Pali):
Buddham Saranam Gacchami
Dhammam Saranam Gacchami
Sangham
Saranam Gacchami
Dutiyampi Buddham Saranam Gacchami
Dutiyampi Dhammam
Saranam Gacchami
Dutiyampi Sangham Saranam Gacchami
Tatiyampi Buddham
Saranam Gacchami
Tatiyampi Dhammam Saranam Gacchami
Tatiyampi Sangham
Saranam Gacchami
The student ought to request to be taught in a generous
manner. The Buddha Dhamma Teacher does not wish to teach any being that has not
made the request to be taught free of doubt. Without confidence (in Pali,
Saddha) there will be little learning. And remember, ignorance is not
remembering.
The female deity Prajna Paramita is often described as "the
mother of all Buddhas".
Prajna Paramita means the Perfection of Wisdom.
In heaven worlds, beings have functional names.
In this response the
Sanskrit term Prajna Paramita is usually translated in English as the Perfection
of Wisdom will be used to refer to both the deity Prajna Paramita and the
Teachings of the Perfection of Wisdom held by the deity.
In the
beginning, the student requested to be taught Prajna Paramita by our Teacher. In
later practice, a direct request was made to the Deity and Her Retinue to
help.
The Prajna Paramita text recommended by our Teacher is titled: The
large Sutra On Perfect Wisdom With The Division Of The Abhisamayalankara,
translated from the Sanskrit and edited by Edward Conze, 1979, ISBN:
81-208-0752-9, Delhi, Publishers: Motilal Banarsidass 42 U.A. Bungalow Road,
Jawahar Nagar, Delhi, 110 007, India.
The original substance of the
Prajna Paramita texts were delivered on a platform provided by the Dragon
King.
The Sutra was spoken in seven places and in nine assemblies. This
verse facilitates remembering those places and assemblies:
“The first was
in the Bodhi field;
The ninth in the Jeta Grove;
The third and fourth in
the Trayastrimsha and Suyama Heavens;
The second, seventh and eighth were
held in the Universal Light Palaces;
The fifth and sixth took place in the
Tushita and Paranirmitavashavartin Heavens”.
Some of the Teachings were
by way of commentaries beyond textual transmission. The Teacher is the shower of
the way. The Teachers help us to access and learn the Prajna Paramita teachings.
Our Teacher recommends that we read the text with our best minds.
Having
access to the Prajna Paramita teachings in the written form is a blessing, but
no substitute for having a Teacher to guide.
The dedicated student will
learn from a Teacher and by studying the text repeatedly.
Our Teacher
guided us to take refuge in the Buddha Dhamma and Sangha, to take Five Precepts
and request to be taught before the Teachings. These practices bring us into the
present and prepare the mind to be taught. The students are requesting to be
taught how to course in perfect wisdom.
The aim of Buddha Dhamma
Teachings including the Prajna Paramita is to wake up and see things as they
really are. To avoid delusions and fantasy in meditation our Teacher recommends
keeping the eyes open when practicing.
There are forty types of
meditation in Buddha Dhamma practice. Eighteen of these are on death. One is on
the 32 parts of the body. A dedicated practitioner will meditate on some of
these topics this life.
At the highest level it is said that, the mark of
Prajna Paramita is no mark.
To course in the Perfection of Wisdom is to
have right view, to view all dharmas as inherently empty.
There are 18
kinds of emptiness.
Reflect on what percentage of your time during the
day you spent in the present. There is past time, present time, future time and
timeless time.
The knowledge that a lie cannot be repeated three times in
a row can be used to find out the truth about something. If you ask three times
and the question is only answered in the same way twice then the answer cannot
be verified as true.
Asking a question in response to a question instead
of answering the question asked is a common time wasting error. Texts may be
distorted.
On Tuesday 11 April 2002, our Teacher taught about finding the
real history behind texts and Teachings. He talked about the origin of mantra.
He was able to guide many students to find out for himself or herself the origin
of mantra.
Using the example of a baby cry of ‘wah wah’ the students were
able to see that female persons have an intuitive response to this sound of a
baby.
When a baby says ‘wah wah’ the minds of female persons go towards
the baby. Most times the minds of male persons do not.
Many texts are
written by male persons. Are men entirely responsible for these texts?
Behind the scenes, female persons are often initiating or guiding these
male writers and perhaps their help is not always acknowledged.
Some
texts acknowledge the help of the Dakinis.
Some texts acknowledge the
help of the Dragon King and His Retinue.
Our Teacher shared with us some
examples of how women have affected our organisation.
One of these was
the use of Om. Om can be traced to Hindu practice. Om is a sound that the devas
recognise. By saying Om merits are shared with the devas. It is because of an
Indian woman that Om is used before the mantra “Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato
Sammasambuddhassa” at our Centre. The original can be found in the Buddhist
canonical records of the Sermon on the Highest Blessings or Mangala Sutta where
the deva asked the Buddha what are the highest blessings. After the discourse
given by the Buddha this deva then responded “Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato
Sammasambuddhassa”.
It is suggested the deva’s voice may have emulated
the sound of Om.
It is important to make sufficient offerings and gain
merit to be able to remember Prajna Paramita.
The Prajna Paramita student
has taken refuge in the Triple Gem. He or she takes no other
refuge.
Prajna Paramita teaches that Bodhisattvas are beings that chose
to stay in birth to be able to help and teach those beings that can be taught,
that is both human beings and devas and devatas - sattadevamanussanam. Our
Temple is a sattadevamanussanam Temple.
During the Prajna Paramita
course, the student might make Bodhisattva vows to the Buddha.
It is
these vows that are the causes to keep coming back, and it is these vows that
stop Mara, the negative forces in the world, from interfering with the
Bodhisattva’s work. When completed, Prajna Paramita itself is out of Mara’s
reach.
The Prajna Paramita practitioner must practice 4 things: to
recognise blessings, cherish blessings, cultivate blessings and constantly sow
the seeds for blessings.
Ideally, the Prajna Paramita student is taught
by a Teacher, because although being taught with body and speech alone can lead
to the highest order knowledges, it is better if mind contact can be
made.
The Prajna Paramita student becomes a conqueror. It means to
conquer first, and to realise later. The Bodhisattva does not get stuck at
realising.
Some new Prajna Paramita students may have a latent death
wish. After cognating that this is the case, the student can free himself or
herself from the death wish. Not wanting to be is suffering just as wanting to
be is suffering.
All suffering comes from not
understanding.
Prajna Paramita supplies many tools for the students on
how to act and practice correctly in particular situations. Prajna Paramita
provides antidotes that need to be studied, realised and applied.
When
the student has practiced much and made much merit, he or she may be able to see
the link between the Buddha, Prajna Paramita and the Teacher.
The
student learning Prajna Paramita must come to understand the law of causes and
effects.
The Prajna Paramita student aims to understood the Five Groups:
rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara and vinnanam. That is, materiality, emotions,
perceptions, mental formations and mind.
There is not doubt that there
are wholesome and unwholesome mental states. The student practices to make the
wholesome mental states stay, and the unwholesome mental states to cease
arising. Prajna Paramita teaches to conquer your own minds, both wholesome and
unwholesome.
A being can only have one mental state at a time. To learn
Prajna Paramita, it is especially helpful to develop the wholesome cetasikas
kaya-muduta, pliancy of mental states, and citta-muduta, pliancy of
mind.
One of the students wrote:
“By the merit and guidance of my
Guru, Prajna Paramita Deity and Her Retinue I have been able to enter the Prajna
Paramita Teaching mandala.
My practice I offer in gratitude to my Guru,
Prajna Paramita Deity, Her Retinue and the Triple Gem.
I have been able
to know the areas of knowledge that I had to learn, I have been able to see how
to and what to do and how to measure the quantity and quality of knowledge
learnt in order to know what it is to practice as a Bodhisattva.
I have
been able to know what I must do in order to live my vow. I have been able to
know the meaning of my vow.
It is through hearing the Prajna Paramita
Teachings and reading the Prajna Paramita text that I am able to put into action
wholesome causes to come out of suffering by my own actions and have rebirths
that will enable me to tell other teachable beings about the Teachings of Buddha
Dhamma.”
Earlier our Teacher had taught the Prajna Paramita at our Centre
from 25 May 1992 to 9 September 1995.
A paper on the teachings titled
‘Comment on Three Years and Three Moons Teaching of Prajna Paramita at the
Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.’ by John D. Hughes.
Dip.App.Chem.T.T.T.C. GDAIE. Nicolas S. Prescott. BSc (Hons). MBA and Julie M.
O'Donnell
These comments were edited by John D. Hughes for presentation
at a Conference arranged by Geshe Nawang Jangchup of the Lingshed Gonpa Cultural
& Welfare Society in Zanskar, Nepal from 3 to 9 July 1995.
Rather
than arrange the processes and references used over the three years into some
theoretically perfect ideal lexicon form, our Teacher constrained himself in
favour of a paper giving a more practical performance.
This earlier
Comment Paper may look like work in progress, but, in balance, it is more
important to share a small amount of merit with others of what Student "seed"
(Bodhicitta) insights have been developed over these three years rather than
stall for time to produce the ideal publication.
It would, of course, be
unreasonable to look for perfection in the results of our combined efforts.
Maturation of "seeds" (Bodhicitta) takes time.
The Comment paper was
published in the Buddha Dhyana Dana Review Volume 5 No.2 September 1995, pages
38 to 50. ISSN 0818-8254
This teaching review will be offered in our
mandala constructed on 29 April 2002. The major offerings on the mandala include
rice, milk and pink flowers.
A photograph of our Guru and his consort
was placed within the mandala. We will describe the construction of this mandala
on next week’s Buddhist Hour radio program.
The mandala was dissolved on
4 May 2002 CE as a Celebration of the 41st Birth Anniversary of
Anita.
You may view photographs of this mandala at
www.bsbonline.com.au.
May all beings be well and
happy.
This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes Dip.
App. Chem T.T.T.C. GDAIE, Anita Hughes R.N. Div1, Julian Bamford B.A. App.Rec.,
Evelin Halls Dip. Foreign Language Correspondence, Vanessa Macleod B.A. M.A. and
Pennie White B.A. Dip.Ed.
References
Buddha Dhyana Dana
Review. Volume 5 No.2 September 1995, pages 38 to 50. Published by Buddhist
Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd. ISSN 0818-8254.
ISYS Search: LAN1:
‘Comment on Three Years and Three Moons Teaching of Prajna Paramita at the
Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.’ by John D. Hughes.
Dip.App.Chem.T.T.T.C. GDAIE. Nicolas S. Prescott. BSc (Hons). MBA, Julie M.
O'Donnell. Buddha Dhyana Dana Review. Volume 11 No.2 September 1995.
Textual References used during the period of the Teachings
Extensive use was made of E. Conze's (1975) translation to the English
language of the "Introduction to The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom with the
divisions of the Abhisamayalankara" was used as a key basis for commentary
during these Teachings.
One basis for considering that the Prajna
Paramita Teachings are valid is that they are independent of temporal
circumstances (akaliko), at all times, and throughout the Universe. The Pali
term, lokajettha, meaning " oldest in the World" has been applied to Dhamma. In
this sense it follows the edict: ROYAL CHARIOTS WEAR OUT BUT THE DHAMMA DOES NOT
AGE.
List of References:
Over 2,000 texts were used over the 3
year and three moon period, however only the major texts have been listed as
references.
1. KEY TEXTS
A Systematised Collection of Chenian
Booklets. Vol. 1 No. 1 - 62. and Vol. 2. No. 63 - 100. Yogi C.M. Chen.
A
Systematised Collection of Chenian Booklets. Vol. 1 - 7. Yogi C.M. Chen. Edited
by Dr. Yutang Lin.
The Skill in Means Sutra (Upayakausalya). Mark Tatz,
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi.
The Vajracchedika-Prajna-Paramita
Sutra. The Prajna-Paramita-Hrdaya Sutra. Kumarajiva. Translated by Upasaka Lu
K'uan-Yu (Charles Luk). The Bhaisaijya Guru Vaitureya Prabha Rajaya Tathagata
Puja Prayer Ritual. Translated by John D. Hughes and Francisco So.
The
Sukhavati-Vyuha Sutra Puja Prayer Ritual. Translated by John D. Hughes and
Francisco So.
The 100 syllable Vajrasattva Mantra.
2.
PERIODICALS
The Buddha Dhyana Dana Review. Buddhist Discussion Centre
(Upwey) Ltd.
Vajrayana Quarterly. Guru Lau Yui-Chi.
3.
DICTIONARIES
The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary Edited by T.W.
Rhys Davids and William Stede.
A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms.
William Edward Soothill and Lewis Hodous.
A Sanskrit-English Dictionary
Sir Monier-Williams.
Reassessing the Buddhavarmsa (Buddhavamsa).
>From ancient times, the Buddhavarmsa of the Pali Canon (Chronicle of
Buddhas) has appeared as the fourteenth book of the Khuddaka Nikaya. The
Dighabhanakas excluded the Buddhavamsa from their Canon, but it was accepted by
the Majjhimabhanakas. Buddhadatta, a contemporary of Buddhaghosa wrote a
commentary on the Buddhavarmsa. According to the Burmese tradition, Buddhaghosa
was born in Northern India in the 5th. Century CE
Upali Karunaratna (1973)
is of the view that the Buddhavamsa can only be classified among the latest
productions of canonical Pali literature. Even if this was so, it seems most
likely it was intact, say, in 4th. Century CE
Prof. Jeffrey Hopkins' (1983)
major work- "Meditation on Emptiness"
notes that Nagarjuna who founded
Madhyamika through his writing of the Prajna Paramita was "further clarified" as
being Prasangita - Madhyamika by Chandrakirti's system. I was unable to find any
reference to the Buddhavarmsa being used a Tibetan source material in Prof.
Hopkins extensive references. It would be a good thing if the contents of this
Chronicle text, appearing as Pali Text Society Part 111 of the Minor Anthologies
of the Pali Canon, became better known in the Western World.
Twenty
years have passed since this Buddhist Text was translated to the English
language by I.R. Horner (Pali Text Society 1975).
At that time, it is
notable that her translation was accepted in the series of translations from the
literature of "Burma, India, The Khmer Republic, Laos, Sri Lanka, and Thailand"
(sic) by the national Commissions for UNESCO in these countries.
This
Chronicle is a supreme Bodhisattva parami text and, given the opportunity, it
could wake up ("inspire"?) many persons as it did in ancient times.
There is no intention to slander any other Texts or nationals in any
place.
Tapscott Don, Ticoll David, Lowy Alex. Digital Capital –
Harnessing the Power of Business Webs. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, London UK.
2000 ISBN 1-85788-209-1
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Document Statistics
Counts:
Words: 2434
Sentences:
126
Paragraphs: 111
Characters: 12237
Averages:
Words per
sentence: 17.4
Sentences per paragraph: 1.6
Characters per word:
4.7
Percentages:
Passive Sentences: 23%
Readability
Statistics
Flesch Reading Ease Score: 52.1
Flesch Kincaid Score:
10.3
Readability Statistics
Displays statistics about the
document's readability, such as the Flesch Grade Level and Flesch Reading Ease
Score. These statistics help you determine if you are writing at a level your
audience can understand.
Flesch Grade Level: Flesch Grade Level indicates
the Flesch Reading Ease score as a grade level. See the Flesch Scoring
Table.
Flesch Reading Ease Score: Indicates how easy the document is to
read based on the number of syllables per word and number of words per sentence.
These scores indicate a number between 0 and 100. The higher the score, the
easier the document is to read. See the Flesch Scoring
Table.
Flesch-Kincaid Score: Indicates the grade level of the document
based on the number of syllables per word and number of words per sentence. This
score predicts the difficulty of reading technical documents, and is based on
Navy training manuals that score in difficulty from 5.5 to 16.3. It meets
military readability specifications MIL-M-38784 and DOD-STD-1685.
Flesch
Scoring Table
|
Flesch Reading Ease Score |
Flesch Grade Level |
Reading Difficulty |
|
90-100 |
5th Grade |
Very easy |
|
80-89 |
6th Grade |
Easy |
|
70-79 |
7th Grade |
Fairly easy |
|
60-69 |
8th-9th Grade |
Standard |
|
50-59 |
High School |
Fairly difficult |
|
30-49 |
College |
Difficult |
|
0-29 |
College Graduate |
Very difficult |
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