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Buddhist Hour
Radio Broadcast on Hillside 88.0 FM
Script 342 for Sunday 15 August 2004


This script is entitled: Emulating your Teacher

On Tuesday 10 August 2004 we created an altar for the construction of a life size image of our teacher John D. Hughes.

We plan for the image to be completed for Founders day on 9 September 2004.

Measurements were taken for the height and width of the legs, hips, torso and shoulders for the construction of a metal rod frame. On Saturday 14 August 2004 work commenced on constructing the image framework in the new dining hall.

Four threaded steel rods passed up from ground level through holes drilled in the floor. Incense, jewels, copper money, flowers, a stupa containing a mantra and bone relics of John D. Hughes and a business card of John D. Hughes were offered and placed in a post hole below the floor where the image will stand. The four steel rods will be cemented into the post hole.

The rods pass through specially cut steel plates at waist height, chest and shoulder level. Two smaller rods are fixed to the shoulder plate vertically for the head. The image is life-size and stands on a 110-mm lotus base.

A photograph of John D. Hughes standing was fixed to the wall behind the image at head height.

An altar was created in the dining hall, with a pair of John D. Hughes sandals at the base and flowers on each sandal as offerings. Water and food offerings were placed on the table surrounding the plaster face cast of our teacher.

Generating the Volition to Practise Generosity.

Let us consider for a moment or two the "skills of business" of the Buddha. Starting as a penniless beggar, he built a "self help" system which could feed, house and instruct something like half a million Monks and Nuns in suitable environments within a time span of half a century. The charity of the Buddha is praiseworthy. The Buddha and his Sangha, driven by their accumulated merit from many past world cycles, was the basis for the fruition of such business skills.

Dana is the first perfection.

Dana means, "giving". Apart from material giving, it includes giving time and service to the community in the form of teaching, counseling and work training.

There are four types of dana.

The highest form of giving is Dhamma Dana, which is the strategy of showing persons how to remove hate, greed and ignorance and therefore they can obtain nibbana. The whole process of Dhamma Dana depends on having a person who is capable of learning what is taught. Accordingly, great emphasis is placed in practical Buddhism, on making people teachable.

The process of questioning is characteristic of the Buddha's method of instruction. Buddha Dhamma does not want to replace anything today. Buddha Dhamma presents no threat to any religion, sect or denomination. The fundamental attitude needed for success in the Buddha Way is that a critical examination should be made by the person wishing to learn Buddhism to see if the Doctrine being taught is wholesome or unwholesome. If the Doctrine being taught is unwholesome, it will not match the litmus test of Buddhist Teachings.

Conflicts exist owing to the divergence of value judgements. The necessity to criticise other religions, when teaching Buddhism, is not mandatory. As a matter of fact, our teacher found, over the last two decades, that the coherent nature of the Buddha's Teaching is such that it does not require many references to other Doctrines.

We wish to return to the theme of "self help" as a method of reducing racial and religious differences between people.

A product-mission matrix suggests that a simultaneous departure from familiar products and familiar culture is a drastic and risky strategy. When synergy is not an important consideration for an organisation, (because that organisation has matured into a comfortable pattern of delivery of goods and services), this departure may be chosen as "the way to go".

However, if the organisation is not mature, change on two fronts at the same time would most likely destroy the organisation's essential nature.

It is for this reason that we advise groups not to try to be "all things to all beings". It is better to be aware of the fact that conglomerate groups have less staying power than monopurpose or concentric structures.

The success and stability of the Chan Academy arose because of strict observance of these concepts, since its inception.

Buddhist groups have been proliferating in the Western world in recent years and it is our wish to help them remain intact for centuries to come.

It is vital all Buddhist groups practise the three Refuges Buddha Dhamma Sangha and the Noble Eightfold Path.

Style and image may be left to chance by ignoring cultural models or having vague specifications. However, our Teacher suggests this approach is most likely to bring about the decay of groups.

Unless style and image are well thought through on a sound model, a slight change in the distribution of heterogeneity (even if it is unobserved) can produce a serious identification problem. Expressions of ignorance are no excuse for cynicism in measuring and monitoring the 'internal trust' of an organisation's style and image.

Buddha's style and image is the "standard" to be held as a model. An item that means one thing in a given year should mean the same thing a decade from now. For these reasons, your Centre's Directors have focused upon style and image along these lines, which, we feel sure will maintain the stable factors needed to give a sound structure for the years ahead.

The image of the Chan Academy is a stable discussion centre of cohesive Dhamma activity.

The style of the Chan Academy is fivefold.

The first style element is that of friendliness, for obvious reasons.

The second style element is a professional manner in conducting the business activities of the company.

The third style element is scholarly, since the Buddha Dhamma texts and commentaries comprise a vast literature. The third Council of Buddhism, convened by Asoka, decided to send missionaries to neighbouring lands. Asoka confined himself to the practical side of the Buddhist religion across his large empire. This period was important for the development of scholarship in art, sculpture, writing and literature. This tradition spread across many countries.

The fourth style element is to be culturally adaptable, since Australia is a multicultural society and Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd. has many contacts with organisations in overseas countries.

The fifth style element is practicality. Practicality means lending a helping hand to persons in the community by teaching them to solve their own problems.

The Chan Academy can untangle complex and well-disguised new stresses that appear in society, in a cost-effective way, funded by active participation of our Members.

It is unlikely that there is any need to change our image and style within the next few decades.

Let not a man trace back the past or wonder what the future holds: the past is but the left-behind, the future ... but the yet- unreached. But in the present let him see with insight each and every dhamma, invincibly, unshakably, that can be pierced by practising.

Today the effort must be made; tomorrow death may come - who knows?

No bargain with His Deathliness can keep him and his hordes away.

But one who bides thus ardently, relentlessly, by day, by night - him the Tranquil Sage has called the ideal lover of solitude.

May you be well and happy.

May all beings be well and happy.

Geshe Michael Roach in his teaching titled "The Magic of empty teachers lists the qualities of a Teacher.

A grand master with a big toolbox.

The first quality is that the teacher should know what they are talking about. They should be very good at what they do. They should have a big toolbox; for example they should have a huge vocabulary. They should know the work of many Masters; they should have depth in what they do. They should know many great methods of what they do and should be very good at each of the methods.

The second like an open bowl of candy, open means they give you their all. They give you everything, they pour it into you, and they want you to come and take what they know.

The third quality is like a Desert Dandelion.

These little yellow-stemmed plants, a few inches high, that have black spikes that go out like a dandelion and on the end of the spike there are three little hooks. And they attach to you as you walk past them. And when you sit down they pierce your bottom. And you spend your precious time pulling them out. The idea is that the teacher's transmission is perfect, it's so smooth and seamless they cover you without you knowing it.

The fourth quality is like the air we breathe. The teacher must be like the air around us, available all the time around you constantly; you just breath and it comes in.

The fifth quality is like stainless steel; a teacher of any subject should have integrity. They should be clean of any scandal, they should be pure.

The sixth quality, teachers should be like a master sculpture of every stone, with a master plan.

The teacher is able to look at the student and see what they can do, what that student can become. They should have a vision of what they can become.

They should know what to teach for a particular student, first I will teach them this and in one year from now I will teach them this. And in five years from now I will teach them this.

They should have a twenty or thirty year plan for this student.

The seventh quality mother bird with a single motive.

A true teacher should have a single thing in mind, which is making the student a master, giving them what they wish, making their dreams come true, this should be their only motive.

They should look at this students hopes to become very good at something and say, "I will make their wishes come true".

A mother bird means the teacher puts the student first. They chose the happiness of the student before their own.

The teacher wants to bring happiness to others.

The eighth quality, like rocket fuel and a match.

The master teacher takes you beyond what you could do yourself; they push you beyond what you could do for yourself.

They have the vision of what you could become, with great kindness. The student normally resists, " I can't do that".

A match means somebody who lights your fire. A true teacher inspires you and you say, "I want to be like that".

The ninth quality like an echo. A great teacher must constantly help the student know, "How am I doing, am I doing O.K, how am I doing, they set up a system, by which the student can constantly review, like an echo, they must get back to the student about how the student is doing.

The tenth quality correcting and driving with a carrot and stick.

We go to a master to be corrected. A master teacher balances encouragement (which is the carrot) and criticism (which is the stick).

You did this really well, but this time do it like this.

The eleventh quality a gas pedal, a general with the orders.

If the teacher is going too fast you get discouraged and if the teacher is going too slow, you get bored. In either case you don't learn well.

A great teacher uses the gas pedal correctly.

Like a general means a teacher has an aura of authority.

They generate a sense of respect and decorum.

The teacher has control of the class. With orders means the teacher tells you clearly what they want from you.

They tell the student what is expected of them.

Like a pillow a good teacher has the ability to make you comfortable, they take the time and pay attention to the student.

Like an ant with winter coming. The great teacher must enter the class completely prepared. Making sure they have a plan.

Branching tunnels ready.

This means a good teacher when they enter a class with a plan should be ready to change it on the spot.

In the book, A Lamp for the Path and Commentary, "Reliance on the Guru "By my words, "Hear it from a guru", I mean the kind of Guru who causes one to beget the thought.

And if he is that, then he is also a Guru in the lineage of Asanga as well as of Santideva.

Now in the Stalks in Arra Sutra, when Srisambhava sees that (Sudhana) is wondering why he must rely on a Guru, he says:

"Noble Youth, a bodhisattva rightly guided by a spiritual Friend does not fall into bad destinies. A bodhisattva protected by a Spiritual Friend, makes no mistake he transcends this world. Showing reverence to a Spiritual Friend, he perseveres in not forgetting any practices. Adopted by a Spiritual Friend, he is unassailable by any deed or corruption.

It is the Spiritual Friend who impresses on him the things that need to be done. He turns his indifference aside and drives him forth from the city of samsara.

Therefore, Noble Youth, since that is so, you must walk continually in the presence of Spiritual Friends.

With mind like the earth, not sinking under the burden of all things. With mind like a diamond, not changing. With mind like a pup, not easily provoked. With mind like the Cakravala Range, unshakeable by any suffering.

With mind like a servant, uncomplaining in any work. Like a sweeper, dismissing overweening pride. Like a wagon, carrying heavy burdens. Like a ship, unwearied in its comings and goings. With mind like a wise son, ever studying the face of the Spiritual Friend – with such a mind give reverent service to the Spiritual Friend.

Noble Youth, you must see yourself as a sick man, and the Spiritual Friend as the doctor. His instructions are your medicine, and the cure of your sickness is taking to heart his prescriptions.

It is the Spiritual Friend who impresses on him the things that need to be done. He turns his indifference aside and drives him forth from the city of samsara.

It is our duty as students to build an image of our teacher, the one who guided us to the buddha dhamma, the one who lived his whole life to do this for us, to give us the medicine that will cure our ultimate suffering. The one who collected the resources to build this dhamma Centre, so that we may learn the Buddha Dhamma.

After his death we are continually reminded of him, what he taught, what he said throughout our everyday life, his words keep coming back, " Put your mind inside", "Keep five precepts", "make merit, make merit, make merit", "lend a helping hand", "chop wood, carry water", "fake it till you make it", "get me a cup of tea", "what do you want to know", "what did you learn", "generate the intention", "sit like a limp maggot", "don't go off like a packet of crackers", "practice like your turban's alight", " you are on the last carriage of the last train", "hurry, hurry", "I tell you nothing, I'll take you no where, but I'll teach you the dhamma", "work hard and be kind to your mother", "trees have coconuts, women have babies" and "what do you got to think with", "measure twice and cut once", "we want as many stars as we can get" and "I did it all single handed", "I wish I could write like that, I told you so" and don't say I never told you so", and where does it say in the Sutras winge your way out of suffering' and 'right your on'.

The following passage about the teacher is from the book "The Words of My Perfect Teacher" by Patrul Rinpoche.

"He is the great ship carrying us beyond the seas of samsaric existence,
The true navigator, unerringly charting the sublime path,
The rain of nectar quenching the inferno of emotions and actions,
The sun and moon dispelling the darkness of ignorance.
He is the earth, immensely patient,
The wish-granting tree, source of help and happiness,
The perfect vase containing the treasure of the Dharma.
He provides all things, more than a wish-granting gem.
He is a father and mother, loving all equally.
His compassion is as vast and swift as a great river.
His joy is unchanging like the king of mountains.
His impartiality cannot be disturbed, like rain from a cloud.

Such a teacher is equal to all the Buddhas in his compassion and his blessings. Those who make a positive connection with him will attain Buddhahood in a single lifetime. Even those who make a negative connection with him will eventually be led out of samsara.

Such a teacher is equal to all the Buddhas.

If even those who harm him are set on the path to happiness,
On those who entrust themselves to him with sincere faith
Will be showered the bounty of the higher realms and liberation.

As students we aspire to be like our Teacher John D. Hughes to gain the perfections we have spoken of today. This is the way we show our gratitude and heartfelt wish to meet our Teacher again and again.

This script is dedicated to our Teacher.

May you find our teacher.

May you be a blessing to your teacher.

May you be blessed with good teachers.

May we meet our teacher again and again.

May you be well and happy.

Today's Buddhist Hour Broadcast script was prepared by Anita M. Hughes, Julian Bamford, Lisa Nelson, Leila Igracki, Julie O'Donnell and Helen Costas.


References:

1. ISYS search on LAN1 - gathered from Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd. File dated 28 August 1996.

"A Lamp for the Path and Commentary" By Atisa, translated and annotated by Richard Sherburne S.J. (1983) page 51

3. "The Words of My Perfect Teacher" Patrul Rinpoche translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, Boston 1998

4. "The Magic of Empty Teachers" Geshe Michael Roach. 2001, Boston Arizona USA.

Words: 2977


This paper is for Free Distribution. It contains Buddha Dhamma material and is provided for the purpose of research and study.

Permission is given to make printouts of this publication for FREE DISTRIBUTION ONLY. Please keep it in a clean place.

"The gift of Dhamma excels all other gifts".


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Accordingly, we accept no liability to any user or subsequent third party, either expressed or implied, whether or not caused by error or omission on either our part, or a member, employee or other person associated with the Chan Academy Australia (Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.)

This Radio Script is for Free Distribution. It contains Buddha Dhamma material and is provided for the purpose of research and study.

Permission is given to make printouts of this publication for FREE DISTRIBUTION ONLY. Please keep it in a clean place.

"The gift of Dhamma excels all other gifts".

For more information, contact the Centre or better still, come and visit us.

© 2002. Copyright. The Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.

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