The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast Archives
Buddhist
Hour
Radio Broadcast on Hillside 88.0 FM
Broadcast 314 for
Sunday 1 February 2004
This script is titled: Buddha
Dhamma Questions and Answers
The famous poet Rudyard Kipling wrote "I
keep six honest serving men. They taught me all I know; their names
are What and Why and When, and How and Where and Who".
For
today's broadcast in seeking to explore the concept of applying
Buddha Dhamma we use Kipling's six honest serving men to frame the
analysis.
In last week's broadcast we answered the question:
"What is Buddha Dhamma?"
Buddha Dhamma is a system
of living taught by the Buddha Shakyamuni. Buddha Dhamma is a system
that can help one come out of suffering, when practiced and realized
each for himself or herself, it stops the cycle of birth.
In
this discussion of Buddha Dhamma we answered the question: Who was
the Buddha? We also explained the Buddha's first teaching on the Four
Noble Truths and we will continue this theme this week.
To add
to this description we quote Venerable Master Chin Kung:
"Buddhism
is the most profound and wholesome education directed by the Buddha
toward all people.
"The content in Buddha Shakyamuni's
forty-nine years of teaching describes the true reality of life and
the universe. Life refers to oneself, universe refers to our living
environment. The teachings directly relate to our own lives and
surroundings.
"Buddhism is an education, not a religion.
We do not worship the Buddha, we respect him as a teacher. His
teachings enable us to escape from suffering and attain
happiness.
"A student of the Buddha does not just read
Buddhist texts, but studies them to reach a deeper understanding of
life and the universe and puts the teachings into practice in
everyday life."
What are the Four Noble Truths?
The
Four Noble Truths, which Lord Buddha taught in his first sermon after
receiving Enlightenment, are a fundamental teaching of Buddhism.
(i)
All sentient beings are bound to suffering, because
(ii) They act
under the influence of Ignorance, Greed and Hatred. All these
delusions come from the basic Ignorance, not knowing the true nature
of oneself and of what one perceives. However,
(iii) Suffering
can stop, leaving one in perfect, everlasting happiness (Nirvana).
(iv) There is a way, or Path, to receive this cessation of
suffering by eliminating the delusions.
These Truths may
appear very simple, or even obvious, but actually they are very
profound. Only a Buddha can understand them completely.
Who is
Buddha Dhamma for?
Buddha Dhamma is not a religion for a
particular race or chosen people. Buddhism aims at the enlightenment
of all beings. Its teachings are Universal and not relative to any
particular geographic area of any country.
Although it
originated in India, it soon made the world its home. The recent
spread of Tibetan Buddhism to many countries is a living example of
these facts.
Tibetan Buddhism preserves the pure traditions
of all the various levels of teachings taught by Lord Buddha, and
their subsequent development in India, long after these traditions
died out in India itself.
On Friday 30 January 2003, Members
of our Chan Academy Australia attended a teaching by Buddha Dhamma
Master Sogyal Rinpoche. Sogyal Rinpoche is a renowned Teacher and the
author of the Tibetian Book of Living and Dying that has sold half a
million copies world wide.
Sogyal Rinpoche is said to have "a
remarkable gift for presenting the essence of Tibetan Buddhism in a
way that is both authentic and profoundly relevant to the modern
mind".
A brief summary of the teaching as interpreted by
one of our Members is given here. We apologise for any error,
omission, simplification or misinterpretation in the brief summary
presented.
Sogyal Rinpoche said we are all looking for
happiness but happiness and sadness are both dependant on the mind.
Buddhism is about transforming the mind and heart.
Sogyal
Rinpoche said most of the suffering in the today is from thinking too
much and leads to problems like depression. It is like we water the
misery and make it grow.
The advice is not to commit any
unwholesome actions. You may think that to be very difficult. Try as
much as possible not to do any harmful actions. This is the most
basic thing.
The word Dhamma is used rather than the word
religion. Dhamma is the nature of everything.
We take refuge
in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha.
Many great Masters
have said, "If you cannot help at least do not harm."
Cultivate
virtue and adopt positive action in body, speech and mind.
It
is the foolish who look for happiness outside themselves.
Happiness
is not outside it is inside. Transform and tame your mind then you
have freedom.
Body, speech and mind are the three doors
through which we do negative or positive things.
Science is
now seeing correlation between body and mind.
If we have
negative minds then our body is susceptible to sickness. When you
smile you are strong.
You can transform the mind. It is up to
you.
Thoughts come and go and sometimes we grasp them when
they are gone.
You have to look after yourself. No-one can
help you honestly speaking. You have to take care of your mind and
have dignity and respect.
The teachings of wisdom and
compassion are tools.
The past has gone and the future has
not yet arisen, the present is the space in between. This is the
whole point.
Sogyal Rinpoche relayed a conversation between
his Master and an Indian Diplomat. The Indian Diplomat was asking the
Master how to meditate.
The Master said, "Look at it
like this, when the past thought has gone and the next one hasn't
come, there is a gap, right."
The Indian Diplomat said,
"Yes".
The Master said, "Well, prolong
it".
Initially the whole point of meditation is to use
mindfulness to settle the mind, when the mind is settled then to
remain in this pure cognizance, free of any thoughts. In the present
there are no thoughts.
When you start thinking it has already
past. You discover a mind beyond thoughts.
We think that
thoughts and emotions are the mind but the mind is really like the
sun and the thoughts and emotions are the rays.
Samsara is the
mind turned out and Nibbana is the mind turned
inwardly.
Padmasambhava said, "Seek not to cut the root
of phenomena, cut the root of the mind."
There is no end
to thoughts. How can you stop all the thoughts? This is like coming
home or turning inwardly.
When we are scattered all over it is
like nobody is home.
Think of water. If you do not stir the
water it becomes clear. In the same way the mind becomes clear if you
leave it alone. We always manipulate and fabricate by too much
thinking.
To settle the mind, focus on breathing this is a
natural expression of mind and source of energy.
The essence
of meditation is to remain in a state of non-distraction.
The
Rinpoche talked about the Four Noble Truths and that all of the
Buddha's teachings are included in these Four noble Truths.
The
Four Noble Truths are each the effect of a particular cause.
It
is useful here to answer the question, What is Karma?
All
pleasures and pains basically derive from the mind. Through acting
with an undisciplined mind, clouded by delusion, one accumulates good
and bad deeds. The traces of these deeds are carried by the mind from
life to life until one meets suitable circumstances, then their
result is experienced. Bad actions lead to suffering, life after
life, until the accumulation of them runs out. On the other hand,
every good action which one does will at some time cause one to
experience happiness. Every moment of happiness is the result of some
good action of helping others in the past. Every moment of pain or
suffering is the result of a bad action one has done. This is called
the Law of Karma. "Karma" is a Sanskrit word which simply
means "action".
One's karma, or past actions,
determine both the form of one's next life and the circumstances one
will meet in that life. To be born as a human being at all one needs
exceptionally good karma, but even as a human being one can meet with
unfavourable circumstances. According to the theory of karma,
children who are born deformed or die young are merely receiving the
fruits of what they have done in a former incarnation. People are
ultimately responsible for their own destiny and the pattern of their
next incarnation.
Tibetan Buddhists therefore consider it
essential to prepare for death in this lifetime. They believe that to
be born as a human in a land where the Buddhist teachings are
practiced is extremely difficult to achieve. Once this 'Perfect Human
Rebirth' is lost, it is almost impossible to regain. Unless one has
practiced Buddha Dhamma in this life one will not receive another
Perfect Human Rebirth for many, many lifetimes.
But if one
practices continuously, one can go on meeting the Buddha Dhamma
teachings life after life. One's spiritual advances in one life are
retained in the next so that it is possible to progress gradually.
To incarnate means to assume a body or to be "made
flesh". To reincarnate means when "your body dies, another
birth arises to give "you" a new body. Buddhists accept
reincarnation as a fact.
Belief in reincarnation is very old.
It was held by some of the early Greeks, Romans, also other religious
groups including early Jews and Christians. In the Christian Church,
it was condemned at the time of the second council of Constantinople
held by the Emperor Justinian without the Pope's approval in 553 A.D.
However, there are several references to reincarnation in the Old and
New Testaments, and many Christians have also believed in it.
(The
status of Justinian's condemnation of Originism is controversial. For
further information see Head and Cranston, "Reincarnation - An
East-West Anthology". The Pope, although in Constantinople at
the time, boycotted the Council, and furthermore the condemnation
does not even seem to have been officially enacted by that council.)
There are some people who remember their lives, they may
recognise their former relatives, friends and possessions, and places
where they lived. Further evidence of earlier lives is that certain
young children show strange abilities. One child could speak at three
months old and another could speak several languages by the time he
was six. A child born in Germany in 1721 spoke within a few hours of
his birth and knew world history at the age of three and could speak
three languages. The child predicted his own death that occurred at
the age of four. Some children can solve very complex mathematical
problems. Others can compose music at an early age. A famous Western
musician, Mozart could compose at the age of four.
A person
born in one country, on visiting another, might find the scenes there
familiar. Possibly, this is evidence that this person lived there in
a former life.
In all Tibetan Buddhist orders, the title
"Lama" (literally, "superior") is reserved
strictly for Tulkus or incarnate lamas, and for Gurus who give formal
teachings, whether or not they are monks or Geshes. Thus the term
"Lama" can never be taken as a synonym for "monk".
Rather it is the equivalent of the Sanskrit word "Guru".
When an assistant Abbot becomes Abbot, he earns the title
"Rinpoche" (Precious One). If he so chooses, he can start a
line of incarnate Lamas after him. These successors will also bear
the title "Rinpoche" from birth and be regarded as Lamas.
The title "Geshe", which means a spiritual friend,
refers to a degree not unlike a doctorate. From the age of about
eight, until twenty-five, the candidate must study and thoroughly
master five main subjects, and to pass several oral examinations on
them in public. His Holiness the Dalai Lama too had to take such
examinations in front of thousands of monks in Lhasa.
Certain
advanced beings do not have to incarnate but do so voluntarily in
order to assist others. In Buddhism these beings are called
Bodhisattvas. Some of them have reincarnated again and again on this
planet. One of these great beings is the Dalai Lama.
Who is
the Dalai Lama?
Tibetans believe that the Dalai Lama is an
incarnation of the great Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The Dalai Lama,
apart from being spiritual head, has been in charge of Tibet since
the time of his 5th reincarnation in the l7th Century until the
Chinese occupation in 1950. "Tenzin Gyatso" is the
particular name of His Holiness the l4th Dalai Lama (the present
Dalai Lama). He was born on 6th July, 1935 in Amdo in the far
north-east of Tibet.
It is not necessary that death and
rebirth should occur at the same time since there may be time when
the spirit is elsewhere. The l3th Dalai Lama died in 1933. The
present Dalai Lama is a reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama who was
a reincarnation of all the other Dalai Lamas. He was found and
identified as the true incarnation by a special committee of senior
Lamas.
Among his own people, the Dalai Lama is generally
known as Kun-dun which means "Presence". The present Dalai
Lama was installed to office when he was only four years old. When he
was a very young child, he could recognise the friends he had when he
was the l3th Dalai Lama. As a boy, the Dalai Lama was intelligent and
eager to learn and was not shy.
In 1950, before he was sixteen,
the Dalai Lama was enthroned as a Ruler of Tibet. This ceremony
normally takes place when the Dalai Lama is eighteen, but was hurried
on because the Chinese were about to take over Tibet. The Chinese
occupied Tibet in 1950. The young Dalai Lama visited Peking in 1954
to try to understand the Chinese.
The Dalai Lama has been in
India since early 1959. Tibet is occupied by the Chinese. After the
Lhasa uprising against Chinese occupation, the Dalai Lama fled across
the Himalaya mountains to India with a number of his countrymen. The
Government of India offered him and his people a home and he now
lives at Dharamsala, a Himalayan Hill station in the Kangra district
of Himachal Pradesh.
The Chinese destroyed most of Tibet's
great monasteries, libraries and sacred art works. The Dalai Lama and
his followers preserve the old Tibetan books and traditions at
Dharamsala in India and elsewhere. Over 100,000 Tibetans have left
Tibet and now live in different countries. Although the l3th Dalai
Lama had spent some time in India, in the 192O's, there had not been
much contact between the Indians and Tibetans in the recent past. In
the years since the Dalai Lama and his followers arrived in India,
the Indian Government has helped to settle the Tibetans. In
Dharamsala, schools have been established to teach about Tibetan
Buddhism. Many Westerners have trained as lay people, monks and nuns
at these schools over recent years.
The Dalai Lama stressed
that, even if someone harms or hurts you badly, you should think of
his good qualities and this develops humility towards others.
He
quoted another important verse:
If one whom I've helped my best,
And from whom I've expected much,
Harms me in a way I can't
imagine:
May I regard such a person my best teacher!
His
Holiness sees nothing wrong with material progress provided men take
precedence over progress. He has liked science and technology since
his childhood and he realises now more than ever before that material
progress is highly necessary to mankind, but at the same time he
believes material things provide us mainly with physical comfort, not
with mental peace. Good human qualities - honesty, sincerity, a good
heart - cannot be bought with money, nor can they be produced by
machines, but only by the mind itself.
How can we end our
suffering?
Following the various disciplines described by
Buddhists can stop the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. The fourth
noble truth is the Noble Eightfold Path leading to the cessation of
suffering: this is the way to end the cycle of birth, death and
rebirth.
The truth of the path leading to the cessation of
suffering is the noble eightfold path, that is to say, right view,
right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right
effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
Venerable
Thich Nhat Hanh explains the inter-related nature of the Four Noble
Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path:
"As we study and
practice the Noble Eightfold Path, we see that each element of the
path is contained within all the other seven elements. We also see
that each element of the path contains the Noble Truths of Suffering,
the making of suffering, and the end of suffering.
"Practicing
the First Noble Truth, we recognize our suffering and call it by name
- depression, anxiety, fear, or insecurity. Then we look directly
into that suffering to discover its basis, and that is practicing the
Second Noble Truth. These two practices contain the first two
elements of the Noble eightfold path, namely, Right View and Right
Thinking. All of us have the tendency to run away from suffering, but
now with the practice of the Noble Eightfold Path we have the courage
to face our suffering directly. We use Right Mindfulness and Right
Concentration to look courageously at our suffering. The looking
deeply that shows us clearly the basis of our suffering is Right
View. Right View will not show one reason for our suffering, but
layers upon layers of causes and conditions: seeds we have inherited
from our parents, grandparents, and ancestors; seeds in us that have
been watered by our friends and the economic and political situations
of our country; and so many other causes and conditions.
"Now
the time has come to do something to lessen our suffering, we find a
way to cease ingesting that nutriment, whether it is edible food, the
food of sense-impression, the food we receive from our intentions, or
the food from our consciousness. We do this by practicing Right
Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood, remembering that Right
Speech is also listening deeply. To practice these three aspects, we
take Mindfulness Trainings as our Guide. Practicing according to the
Mindfulness Trainings, we see that when we speak, act, or earn our
living, we do it with Right Mindfulness. Right Mindfulness lets us
know when we say something that is not Right Speech or do something
that is not Right Action. Once Right Mindfulness is practiced along
with Right Diligence, Right Concentration will follow easily and give
rise to insight or Right View. In fact, it is not possible to
practice one element of the Noble Eightfold Path without practicing
all the seven other elements. This is the nature of interbeing, and
it is true for all of the teachings offered by the Buddha."
By
practicing good actions with body, speech and mind you can come out
of troubles.
Next week we will discuss how you can apply the
noble eightfold path to your life.
If you are interested in
learning more about Buddha Dhamma you are welcome to attend our
Centre on Monday evenings at 7:30pm.
May all beings, in the
ten directions, seen and unseen, receive blessings from this
script.
We thank the Devas and Devatas of Learning for their
help in and guidance with the writing of this script.
May you
be well and happy.
This script was written and edited by
the Buddhist Hour Radio team: Julian Bamford, Leanne Eames, Evelin
Halls, Anita Hughes, Julie O'Donnell and Pennie
White.
References
Chin Kung, Venerable Master, (no
date) "A Path to True Happiness", Dallas Buddhist
Association, Texas.
Hughes, John D. (1982) Schools Commission
Project - Reduction of Racial Prejudice, Part 4, Section 2 on Tibetan
Buddhism, September.
Rigpa (2004) Programme 2004, Rigpa
Melbourne, Fitzroy.
Statistics
Words:
3276
Characters: 15768
Paragraphs: 101
Sentences:
204
Averages
Sentences per paragraph: 2.1
Words per
Sentence: 15.7
Characters per word: 4.6
Readability
Statistics
Passive Sentences: 9%
Flesch Reading Ease score:
60.7
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score: 8.6
Readability
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understand the document. For most standard documents, aim for a score
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Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level
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score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader can understand the document.
For most standard documents, aim for a score of approximately 7.0 to
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