The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast Archives
The Buddhist
Hour
Radio Broadcast Script 269
Sunday 23 March
2003
Today’s script is entitled:
‘Blessings for
our Teachers’ long life’
Our Buddha Dhamma Teacher, John D. Hughes is critically
ill in hospital. John’s wife Anita and student Julie O’Donnell
are attending to him 24 hours each day.
We thank all the
Doctors, Advisers, Nurses, Staff, Chief Deva and his retinue at the
Maroondah Hospital for their dedication in caring for our Teacher.
In today’s Buddhist Hour Broadcast we will share with
you some of the things we are doing and learning to help our Teacher
with his recovery.
We dedicate the merits of this script to
increasing the health, strength and long life of John D. Hughes.
Our
Teacher is very important to us as he embodies the Buddha, the Dhamma
and the Sangha.
Sogyal Rinpoche explains that “the master
is doing nothing less than introducing the student to what the Buddha
actually is, awakening the student to the living presence of
enlightenment within. In that experience, the Buddha, the nature of
mind, and the master’s wisdom mind are all fused into, and
revealed as, one. The student then recognises, in a blaze of
gratitude, beyond any shadow of doubt, that there is not, has never
been, and could not ever be any separation: between student and
master, between the master’s wisdom mind and the nature of the
student’s mind.”
On hearing of our Teacher’s
illness and admission to hospital Venerable Master Ru Sun attended
and blessed our Teacher John D. Hughes.
Master Ru Sun
recommended the Medicine Buddha Practice for students of John D.
Hughes to increase his health and long life.
To begin the
process Master Ru Sun prepared some blessed water for John D. Hughes
and advised and on how the water could be used to prolong the life of
our Teacher.
His instructions were:
Boil some water
and let it cool. Then add the cool water and the blessed water
together.
Offer the water on the main altar at the
Temple.
Offer fresh flowers, water, round shaped fruit and
other suitable puja offerings on the main altar.
Chant the
Medicine Buddha Mantra forty-nine times, or more if you wish.
Then
offer some of the blessed water to John D. Hughes, some to the Devas
and Devatas, and some of the water is kept to use for the next
day.
Repeat this process for forty-nine days.
As the
number of mantras chanted increases, the water becomes more
concentrated.
Students are encouraged to chant the Medicine
Buddha mantra daily at their homes and bring the blessed water to
offer to their Teacher at the hospital every day for 49 days.
We
have assembled a special Medicine Buddha Alter in our main hall. We
have photographed this altar and printed copies for students to place
on their altars in their homes.
The result of this practice
will be the safe recovery of our Teacher John D. Hughes.
The
special healing blessings of the Medicine Buddha may be attained by
reciting his name or mantra.
For centuries, Buddha Dhamma
practitioners have recited this mantra prayer to bring an ultimate
healing of spiritual disease, as cures for everyday problems of the
body and mind.
The purpose of doing this Puja is manifold.
Ultimately, it helps all beings to overcome suffering and sorrow
through the attainment of Perfect Enlightenment.
When
practiced mindfully, vast merit can be shared with all beings for the
purpose of their enlightenment. The Puja is a powerful method of
brightening the mind and the bright mind can remove defilements of
greed, hatred and ignorance.
For maximum benefit to the
meditator, the Puja should not be treated as a mindless ceremony, but
be practiced as a meditation with the development of continuous
mindfulness.
Students have been chanting the Medicine Buddha
Puja each day at our Temple.
We will now chant Homage to the
Medicine Buddha and the Medicine Buddha Mantra three times:
NAMO
BHAGAVATI. BHAISAIJYA GURU VAITUREYA PRABHA RAJAYA.
NAMO
BHAGAVATI. BHAISAIJYA GURU VAITUREYA PRABHA RAJAYA.
NAMO
BHAGAVATI. BHAISAIJYA GURU VAITUREYA PRABHA RAJAYA.
NAMO
BHAGAVATI. BHAISAIJYA GURU VAITUREYA PRABHA RAJAYA. TATHAGATAYA
ARHATI SAMYAKSAMBUDDHAYA. TADYATHA. OM. BHAISAIJYI. BHAISAIJYI.
BHAISAIJYA. SAMUDGATI. SVAHA.
NAMO BHAGAVATI. BHAISAIJYA GURU
VAITUREYA PRABHA RAJAYA. TATHAGATAYA ARHATI SAMYAKSAMBUDDHAYA.
TADYATHA. OM. BHAISAIJYI. BHAISAIJYI. BHAISAIJYA. SAMUDGATI.
SVAHA.
NAMO BHAGAVATI. BHAISAIJYA GURU VAITUREYA PRABHA
RAJAYA. TATHAGATAYA ARHATI SAMYAKSAMBUDDHAYA. TADYATHA. OM.
BHAISAIJYI. BHAISAIJYI. BHAISAIJYA. SAMUDGATI. SVAHA.
The
great Buddhist Teacher Padmasambhava is an emanation of the Medicine
Buddha.
Each day our Members chant Padmasambhava’s mantra
and request his help to heal our Teacher.
Sogyal Rinpoche
wrote: ‘Using the mantra, offer your heart and soul in fervent
and one pointed devotion, and merge and mix and blend your mind with
that of Padmasambhava or your master.
Gradually you will feel
yourself coming closer to Padmasambhava, and closing the gap between
you and his wisdom mind. Slowly through the blessing and power of
this practice, you will find you actually experience your mind being
transformed into the wisdom mind of Padmasambhava and the master: You
begin to recognise their indivisibility. Just as if you put your
finger into water it will get wet, and if you put your finger into
fire it will burn, so if you invest your mind in the wisdom mind of
the Buddhas it will transform into their wisdom nature.”
Geshe
Acharya Loden wrote that by remembering death you develop a strong
desire to practise and meditate.
With our Teacher’s
illness his students are relying on their own will, (in Pali language
cetana), energy (in Pali viriya) and strength (bala).
Some have
come to see each for himself and herself the rising and falling of
phenomena.
In the Great Nirvana Sutra it is said:
Of
all ploughing, ploughing in the autumn is supreme.
Of all
footprints, the elephants is supreme.
Of all perceptions,
remembering death and impermanence is supreme.
Everything
produced is impermanent. All products disintegrate because their very
existence is a result of causes, conditions and the collecting
together of parts which do not have the power to sustain their
product permanently.
The term impermanent is applied to any
phenomenon which has the characteristic of disintegrating moment by
moment. For that reason something can be both enduring and
impermanent, as is the case with the continuity of mind.
A
house is produced from a variety of parts, causal actions and
conditions. It endures for a period of time but cannot sustain itself
permanently. Eventually it disintegrates into rubble.
Observe
your body and you will vividly see impermanence. Remember when you
were young, strong, handsome or pretty, then look in the mirror for a
dramatic illustration of impermanence!’
A knowledge of
biology will give many examples of the constant change, decay and
renewal of the body, of which ninety eight percent of the cells are
renewed over a period of just one-year.
You can also recognise
impermanence by observing your mind. It constantly changes: elated
today and depressed tomorrow, calm in the morning, agitated by noon,
full of altruism one moment and obsessed with self concern the next.
Your mind constantly changes because, being a product, it is
impermanent. Atisha was known to sit by a river recollecting
impermanence by observing the river’s continuous flow –
always moving and constantly changing.
Geshe Loden explained that
the advantages of remembering death can be considered more
extensively under six headings. The first of these is:
Your
actions become very beneficial. Remembering impermanence gives you
the feeling, ‘something is going to change’ which makes you
very anxious to act.
For example, suppose a shop has
something that you covet, perhaps a unique piece of jewellery. If you
were to learn that it is going on sale at a reduced price within the
next few days, you would be excited and anxious to buy it. You may
start to thing ‘I must act immediately, otherwise it will be
gone next week and I will never be able to buy it, no matter how much
money I have.’ In the same way, when you remember impermanence
and see that this life is not going to last for long, you develop a
strong desire to act now while you still have the chance to meditate
and practise Buddha Dhamma. Your energy is greatly increased.
The
other five headings to be considered are:
Your Dhamma practice
becomes powerful
It is important at the beginning of your
practice
It is important at the middle of your practice
It is
important at the end of your practice
and
You will die with a
peaceful and happy mind.
A Medicine Buddha Altar including an
image of Padmasambhava has been set up in the critical care room
where our Teacher is being cared for.
Each day students take
some blessed water to the hospital and offer it to our Teacher, and
some to offer to the devas, thanking them and requesting they
continue to help.
By volitionally contributing to the
longevity of a Great Buddha Dhamma Teacher the students are
practicing the highest of meritorious actions.
In the days
since our Teacher’s admission to hospital we have contacted many
Venerable Monks, leaders in the Buddhist community and friends in
Australia and Overseas.
One Venerable replied to a student who
thanked him for helping our Teacher by telling the student that the
Mahasangha thanks the students for keeping this great teacher in the
world to propagate the Buddha Dhamma.
We thank them for the
many blessings received for our teacher over the past week.
Venerable Tang from the Quang Duc Temple in Fawkner blessed
John with chanting and a reading of the Heart Sutra from the
Prajnaparamita.
Venerable Rinchen Choesang wrote to
say:
Dear Fellow Dhamma Friends
We were sorry to hear
of John’s sudden illness. Our thoughts are with John and
yourselves and he is very much in our prayers.
Please send
John our best wishes for a swift recovery to good health.
May
the blessings of the enlightened ones shower upon him to ensure he
remains long in this world to propagate the precious Dhamma
teachings.
Please let us know if there is any way we can
assist you all at this time.
Yours in the Dhamma
Venerable
Rinchen Choesan
President
For Jamchen Buddhist Centre
Lama
Choedek Rinpoche wrote to convey to John and Anita that he is fondly
including him in his prayers and has asked everyone at his Centre to
do the same.
Steven S. W. Huang, President, The Lay Buddhist
Association R.O.C. (Taiwan), Vice President World Fellowship of
Buddhists wrote:
Please pass my greeting to him and hope he
will get well very soon. We will pray for him and hope he becomes
healthy as soon as possible.
Best regards
May Triple Gem
bless him all the times.
Ananda W.P. Guruge, Vice President,
World Fellowship of Buddhists wrote: “Please convey to Anita
that our thoughts and prayers are with her and John. Do please keep
me informed.”
Professor Dr. Bikiran Prasad Barua,
Chairman of the World Fellowship of Buddhists Standing Committee on
Publications, Publicity, Education Culture and Arts, from Bangladesh
wrote:
I pray to the Triple gem for his early recovery. His
good kamma will definitely give good results and he will be safe.
Please convey my best wishes to him and tell him Bangladesh Buddhists
pray for his good health.
Tomorrow I shall pray specially for
his early recovery and good health. He is a good friend of mine for
long days.
Please convey my sympathy to Anita and I am happy
that Anita is taking care of him.
May the blessings of the
Triple Gem be on you all and on Dr. John D. Hughes so that he
recovers from the sufferings.
With best wishes
Yours in the
Dhamma
John has been blessed by many Venerable Monks who
are praying and chanting for his health and long life.
Venerable
Ajarn Dtun
Thailand, staying at Bunyawat Forest
Monastery
Warburton
Venerable Choijiljab Dambajav
Dashi
Choeling Monastery
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Venerable Thich
Phuoc Tan
Quan Minh Temple
18 Burke Road Braybrooke
Venerable
Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche
Kagyu E Vam Buddhist Institute
North
Carlton, Victoria.
Venerable Nanda
Buddhist Society of
Victoria
Upfield, Melbourne
Venerable Doe
Venerable
Geshe Doga
Tara Institute, East Brighton
Venerable Geshe
Thubten Loden
Tibetan Buddhist Society, Yuroke Victoria
Master
Andre Sollier
Satsuma Dojo
Mitcham, Melbourne
Master
Francisco So
Clayton North
Dr. Ranjith Hettiarachi and
Pushpa Hettiararchi
Buddhist Foundation (Vic) Australia
Regional
Centre, World Fellowship of Buddhists
May the students intensify
their Buddha Dhamma practice for the long life of their Teacher.
May
the merit of these good actions bless the Chief Deva of Maroondah
Hospital, his attendants and advisers.
May all the Doctors,
Advisers, Nurses and Staff of the Maroondah Hospital be well and
happy.
May they make the correct decisions to prolong the long
life of John D. Hughes.
May they be guided by the Buddha in
their decision making.
May the merit of these good actions
increase the health, strength and long life of Anita M. Hughes.
May
the merit of these good actions increase the health, strength and
long life of John D. Hughes.
May all beings be well and
happy.
May you be well and happy.
This script was
written and edited by Julian Bamford BA(AppRec) and Pennie White BA
DipEd.
References
Loden, Geshe Acharya Thubten
(1996) Meditations on the Path to Enlightenment, Tushita Publication,
Melbourne.
Rinpoche, Parul (1998) The Words of My Perfect
Teacher, Shambhala, Boston.
Rinpoche, Sogyal (1995) Glimpse
After Glimpse, HarperSanFrancisco, United States of America.
Landor,
Jonathon, Images of Enlightenment cited in Medicine Buddha ,
available at URL http://www.medicinebuddha.org/medicine_buddha.htm,
accessed 14 March 2003
ISYS text retrieval on ‘harmony’
of Chan Academy Australia LAN1 22 March 2003.
Readability
Statistics
Counts
Words: 2188
Characters:
10985
Paragraphs: 134
Sentences: 137
Averages
Sentences
per paragraph: 1.6
Words per Sentence: 14.1
Characters per
word: 4.7
Readability Statistics
Passive Sentences: 10%
(13.7)
Flesch Reading Ease score: 58.5
Flesch-Kincaid Grade
Level score: 8.6
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