Table of
Contents
Teachings of Master Man Sang: Sutra of the Eight
Realizations of Great Beings
Buddhism in China (5): A Time of Flourishing
Story From the Sutras: Karma Is Impossible to Escape
Cornucopia:
A Bowl of Rice Is Only a Thought
Changing With Circumstances: Back to the Source
Pilgrimage to India: From New Delhi to Lucknow
By
Ven. Yin Chi
There was once a wise and virtuous king
who was getting on in years. Perhaps it was time to pass the throne to one of
the young princes, he thought. The king hoped to find a capable and upright
successor among his three sons, so his country could remain prosperous and
strong, and his people contented.
He
decided to set a challenge to test his sons’ ability and virtue. He summoned
the three to a huge but empty granary. To each he handed a small bag with some
cash inside. He instructed them to use the money and buy things to fill the
granary before nightfall. Whoever could accomplish the task would become the
new king.
The
eldest prince stared at the bag of cash in his hand. He couldn’t, for the life
of him, figure out how he could possibly fill the big granary with purchases
using such a pittance. He ordered his ministers to tell him what goods were the
cheapest. The second prince also impatiently pushed his household servants to
tell him what things cost the least.
The
youngest prince, as he mulled the tough task before him, unwittingly stepped
outside the palace grounds. There he saw a thin and shabbily dressed little
girl being buffeted by the chill winds. She was carrying a basket of candles,
which she was trying to hawk. When she spotted the bag of cash in the young
prince’s hand, her pitiful eyes gleamed with both hope and tears.
The
prince was gripped by a sympathetic impulse. If I can’t even help a little girl
in need, he thought, how can I be fit even to think about becoming king?
Besides, if I’m to buy useless things with my money, why not spend it on the
girl’s wares, so she can at least buy a decent meal? Without a moment’s
hesitation, the young prince exchanged the money the king gave him for the
girl’s candles.
When
the appointed time arrived that evening, the prices assembled at the granary to
report their achievements to the king. The eldest prince told his father he had
bought enough sugar cane dregs to fill a third of the granary. The second
prince showed the monarch he had excelled his brother by purchasing sufficient
straw to occupy half the granary.
When
the king saw his youngest son empty-handed, he asked him what he had bought.
The young man told his father humbly that he had only purchased a small basket
of candles. When he lit the candles, the dark granary was suddenly filled with
light. The king happily passed his throne to the youngest prince, who had shown
he could make the most effective use of money – and was full of compassion as
well.
As
this story tells us, the most important human virtues are wisdom and
compassion. This is especially true for rulers or managers of men. They must be
both wise and compassionate in order to perform well their task of managing
people.
Today,
there are endless conflicts between nation and nation, peoples and governments,
employees and employers. We have wars, violence, corruption, layoffs, strikes,
demonstrations … much remains to be done to improve social harmony. The
confrontations sometimes even lack a rational basis. The result is that both
sides suffer helplessly.
Society’s
greatest need now is for communication and governance. Those in public or
managerial positions must possess wisdom and harbor a selfless wish for the
well-being of society if they are to reconcile and resolve the conflicts among
different groups.
Consider
the youngest prince in our story. Because he has true wisdom, he does not waste
money in pursuing personal gain. He disregards recognition and profit, and
compassionately helps the needy. We reap what we sow. By giving, the prince
receives a greater reward. He does not seek profit, but it comes to him.
Wisdom
and compassion are essential qualities in a successful leader. So it is with
Bodhisattvas as they practice. According to The Great Vows of Bodhisattva
Samantabhadra: “Only by sprinkling the water of great compassion can we attain
the fruit of enlightenment.”
The
message is that the Bodhisattva spirit is rooted in benefiting others.
Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, for example, listens to the cries of those who are
suffering. He always considers sentient beings as the most important, seeking
to deliver them from suffering without any regard for personal comfort. As a
result, he achieves perfect merit in the course of helping other beings.
Sutra
of the Eight Realizations of Great Beings
THE
FIRST REALIZATION: Worldly things are impermanent and nations are fragile. The
Four Elements are empty and a source of suffering. The Five Aggregates lack
independent existence. They appear and vanish, changing all the time. They are
insubstantial, devoid of a permanent nature. The mind is the source of evil,
the body a repository of wrongdoing. By making such observations, we will
gradually transcend life and death.
In terms of substance, our bodies are
devoid of self and unable to control its own destiny. Our physical bodies are
the result of our karma. It arises from all the good and bad deeds triggered by
our minds. It is the medium through which we experience the positive and
negative karma we created.
“The
mind is the source of evil, the body a repository of wrongdoing”: Our minds are
the root of our negative actions. “Body” refers to the karma-created body of
our present life. “Repository” means a place whether many things are gathered.
A person’s good and bad deeds all arise from his thoughts. The karmic fruits of
these actions are experienced by our physical bodies as pleasure or pain. Those
who often think wholesome thoughts and do good deeds will enjoy satisfactory
experiences throughout their lives. Those with unwholesome thoughts and evil
actions will necessarily suffer. Positive and negative karmic consequences
follow us the way a shadow trails the form that casts it.
The
Avatamsaka Sutra says: “The mind is like a painter, capable of creating manifold
worlds. The Five Aggregates arise from it, producing all manner of dharmas.”
Our thoughts work like an artist, who can paint a fearsome demon or a great
beauty. If the painter’s mind is full of positive thoughts, the result will be
a wholesome, beautiful work of art. If negative thoughts predominate, the
painting will be terrifying, diabolical. In fact, the mind is also the source
of good. Evil may be rooted in the mind, but so is the Buddha.
“The
mind is the source of evil, the body a repository of wrongdoing” refers to the
fact that the true nature of sentient beings are clouded over. Selfishly, they
do things that harm others while benefiting themselves. Thus a single selfish
thought is the root of evil. For an unwholesome thought leads to negative action
against sentient beings; at the same time, it plants a seed of suffering that
we inevitably will experience. Family conflicts, husband-wife quarrels,
unworthy descendants, natural disasters … when the conditions are ripe, we will
suffer the consequences of our actions.
Even
so, aware that they are the root of evil, we should start working on our minds
if we wish to escape suffering and achieve happiness. We need to be conscious
that our minds determine our actions. Both good and bad deeds begin in the
mind. We should therefore discipline our mind and resolve to turn it into the
source of good. If our minds are benign and our deeds wholesome, happiness
would naturally be our lot. We would suffer neither physically nor
psychologically.
To
avoid suffering and gain happiness, we must do good and refrain from evil,
working on the karmic roots. As we suffer the negative consequence of past bad
deeds, we must understand the principle of cause and effect, sincerely repent,
and resolve to do good and avoid evil. If our minds become wholesome, our
experiences too will change accordingly. Such karmic changes will allow us to
leave suffering behind and enjoy contentment.
All
suffering comes from continued rebirth. Many people believe we are conscious
when alive, and that everything ends when we die, that all is over. This notion
is wrong. The Buddha tells us that we go through cycles of rebirth. In this
life, we are born from our parents, grow up, age and die. It is the same as we
go endlessly from lifetime to lifetime.
Master
Sheng’an said: “As we go from rebirth to rebirth, the
remains from our bodies outnumber all the specks of dust in the cosmos. Even
are the
With
his Buddha eye, the Buddha saw that beings have undergone endless rebirths
according to their karma. They have gone to the heavens and the hells, and they
have been reborn as oxen and horses. Over countless lifetimes, they have had no
control over their own destinies, suffering greatly. So he taught us that
beings are born and they die, and that this process is endless and causes great
suffering.
“By
making such observations, we will gradually transcend life and death”: We
should be aware that worldly things are impermanent. We need to understand the
laws of karma, and that the Four Great Elements experience suffering and are
empty. We should reflect, and be conscious that the mind is the root of evil
and the cause of the karma that makes us undergo endless rebirths, suffering in
the process. To extricate ourselves from the sea of suffering, we must start
with our minds. We must avoid evil and do good, performing meritorious acts even
as we face impermanence. In this way, we accumulate merit and wisdom, and turn
our minds into the source of wholesomeness. Our physical selves would then
experience happiness and joy. If we adopt such a perspective on worldly
affairs, we will gradually remove ourselves from the suffering of repeated
rebirth.
A Time of Flourishing
In the 3rd Century of the Common Era, Sima Yan ended the period of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu and unified
Scholars
of Chinese cultural history, including Mr. Tang Yongtong
and others, have called the Wei Jin and the Six Dynasties a cultural “dark
age.” Why? Their reasoning is that during this period,
Other
specialists hold the opposite opinion. They believe the Wei Jin and Six
Dynasties was a time Chinese culture flourished. Although
No
matter which school is right, the fact is that Buddhism once flourished in
After
the Jin Dynasty, Buddhism became increasingly entrenched in
In
fact, the great majority of monastics at the time were capable of lecturing on
the scriptures. One prominent example was Master Kumarajiva, whose many sutra
translations were widely known. His disciples spread these texts far and wide,
and taught them as they did so. So it was that Buddhism began to flourish during
the Wei Jin and Six Dynasties because of a confluence of favorable
circumstances.
Letting Go
Zen Master Jindai
was very fond of orchids. In the yard of his monastery, he grew hundreds of
orchid species. In addition to teaching the scriptures, the master took good
care of his flowers. People said the orchids were his very life.
One
day, Master Jindai had to leave the monastery on
business. He instructed a young disciple to water the flowers. But the disciple
was careless and tripped over the orchids, knocking over an entire column of
pots. The flowers were completely ruined.
The
young monk was scared witless. After much thought, he decided it would be best
to confess everything to his master and apologize. He would be ready to accept
whatever punishment awaited him.
When
Master Jindai returned and found out what happened,
he wasn’t the least bit angry. On the contrary, he tried to comfort his
disciple. “The reason I love orchids,” he explained, “is I can use them to make
offerings to the Buddha as well as to beautify the monastery. The reason is not
so that I can get angry! Everything in this world is impermanent, so we should
not get too attached to things we like and be unwilling to part with them. That
is how a Zen practitioner should behave!” His disciple learned something from
the episode and practiced even more diligently.
When
we practice, we are trying to cultivate a life free of attachment from external
things so we can be at ease under all conditions. A cultivator’s mind should be
of a higher quality than that of other people. When we meet with untoward
circumstances, we do not merely suppress our anger. We should try to understand
its cause and to let it go. If we can do this, our anger will not stir even when
we face great loss.
In
fact, all external things are governed by the laws of cause and effect, and we
have no need to be upset. What we should do is simply to free ourselves from the suffering of
everyday life.
Karma Is Impossible to Escape
Once, a group of ascetics tried to kill
the Venerable Moggallana. By doing away with Moggallana, they thought, they
would damage the Buddha’s reputation. So they hired some assassins to go to a
place near Rajagriha to wait for the Arhat.
The
killers besieged the monastery for two months, but was unable do their work
because of Moggallana’s supernatural powers. In the third month, Moggallana
suddenly remembered he had yet to repay a karmic debt he owed from a previous
lifetime. So he stopped using his special powers. As a result, the assassins
were able to get their hands on Moggallana and beat him severely. Thinking he
was dead, they left him in some bushes and fled.
Moggallana
used his powers of concentration to revive himself. Badly hurt, he went to
Jetavana Grove to pay his last respects to the Buddha. He told the Buddha his
wounds were too severe, and he would soon enter nirvana. The Buddha allowed him
to give a final Dharma talk to the monks. Moggallana complied, then paid
respects to the Buddha once more. Shortly after taking leave of the Buddha,
Moggallana entered nirvana.
When
word got around that Moggallana had been killed, people were both sad and
angry. The king ordered the assassins hunted down and executed. But why did an Arhat with special powers like Moggallana die in such an
unseemly manner? The Buddha was asked to explain. “From Moggallana’s practice
in this lifetime,” the Buddha replied, “it seems he should not have met such an
end. But in a previous life, he committed a great sin against his blind
parents. At first he had been a filial son. But after his marriage, he allowed
his wife to poison his heart and soul. She wanted him to do away with his
parents. He took his sightless parents into the woods with a cart and beat them
to death. He even laid the blame on others. So he has been suffering throughout
many kalpas. Those who have injured others will
necessarily suffer greater hurt than that which he inflicted.”
The
Buddha added: “Even though Moggallana practiced diligently in this lifetime and
attained Arhat status, there is no way to avoid the
fruits of karma. However, those who become Arhats
will no longer create new karma, and they will willingly bear the consequences
of previous karma.”
A Bowl of Rice Is Only a Thought
Two dissatisfied young men went to see a
Dharma master. “Master,” they said, “we have been picked upon in the office –
it’s really awful! We have come to seek your advice. Should we quit our jobs?”
The
master closed his eyes. After a long while, he spat out: “It’s just a bowl of
rice.” He then waved his visitors away.
Back
at the office, one of the men tendered his resignation and went home to farm
the fields. The other stayed put.
Time
flew. Soon, ten years had passed. The man who went home to farm used modern
management methods and improved his crops. He became a successful agricultural
expert. The one who stayed with his company didn’t do badly either. He kept his
cool, worked hard and became valued. He rose to the position of manager.
One
day, the two men met up again. “That’s strange,” said the agriculture
specialist. “The master gave us the same reply, ‘It’s just a bowl of rice.’ I
understood immediately. Only a bowl of rice – how difficult could things be?
Why stick around at the company? So I quit.” He asked his former colleague:
“Why didn’t you heed the master’s words?”
“I
did,” replied the manager with a smile. “The master said, ‘It’s just a bowl of
rice.’ If being provoked or blamed is what I want, I can find uncommunicative
bosses with and difficult colleagues anywhere. We only want a bowl of rice,
right? So avoid conflicts and don’t be too calculating, and things will be all
right. Wasn’t that what the master meant?”
The
pair paid another visit to the master, who was well advanced in years. Once
again he closed his eyes and said after a long spell: “It’s only a thought.”
Then he waved his hands …
Wasn’t
that meaningful? Often, outcomes are determine by a mere thought. Whether
something is good or bad is hard to say; it depends on how we see it in our
minds.
Another
way to think about this: “If you feel your boss or your colleagues are hard to
get along with, you should nonetheless try your best to do so. Then you need
not fear encountering people who are even more difficult in future.”
Adopting
a positive, pro-active perspective gives us great support and strength. If you
have to leave your company, hopefully it’s to pursue some ideal, not because of
an unhappy experience, or because you dislike someone. For ideals are lasting,
while troublesome events or persons are temporary. By taking a longer-term
perspective and sticking with our ideals, we will not be troubled by these
difficult people and events. To stay or to leave then becomes an easy, relaxed
choice.
Our
mind is like a factory. Materials come in damaged or scattered, but they leave
as whole, functioning products!
-
From the Internet
By
Ven. Yin Chi
QUESTION: I have a friend who is a Buddhist and has taken the Five
Precepts. But he often plays the Mark Six lottery, and deeply believes he is only
buying a hope by doing so. Is this attitude correct? Does such action violate
the Precepts?
ANSWER:
Of course the attitude is wrong. Such a justification merely seeks a pretty
pretext for his action. In reality, to play the Mark Six is to buy a hope driven
by greed and an attitude of obtaining gain without effort.
Buddhism
teaches peoples to espouse the concept of cause and effect – or karma. Wealth
comes from giving, being generous. The Dharma also teaches us to eradicate the
Three Poisons of greed, anger and ignorance. Since frequently playing the
lottery gives free rein to greed, such actions contravene karmic laws as well
as our attempts to temper the Three Poisons. And to seek gain without effort
would go against a strict interpretation of the precept against theft. Of
course, compared with actual thievery, it constitutes a light transgression of
the precept. If one has taken the Bodhisattva Vows, such action would
definitely transgress the precept of “quieting our minds.”
Contravening
the precepts or not, as Buddhists it is wrong for us to harbor greed in our
hearts. It is something we should strive to avoid.
BACK TO THE SOURCE
By
Ru Zang
On the spectators’ stand, a group of
students surrounded the grandfather of one of their schoolmates. They were
trying to snatch some sweets from his hand. To these mentally handicapped
youngsters, whose reflexes were slow, the staircases in the sports ground’s
stand posed special hazards.
The
kindly old man, as always, enthusiastically volunteered to serve as a parental
figure at the school’s activities. He would hand out candies to the students,
never failing to spark a joyous riot. After the pluses and minuses (including
the dangers) of his actions were delicately explained to him, he would restrain
himself a little. But he unfailingly resumed his ways before long.
The
old man came up to me after lunch. Smiling, he apologized for having again
caused a commotion. But he was quick to defend himself. Elderly people, he
said, were quite indulgent when it came to teaching their grandchildren; kids
should be allowed to have fun when engaging in outdoor activities. As for rules
and discipline, he added, let them learn these when they were back at school.
Schools
exist to provide a stable and safe environment for students to study and learn
various skills, so they can cope when they enter society. One of education’s
aims is to teach children to adapt to society and be accepted by it. In the
past, most parents agreed with such goals and adopted a cooperative attitude.
With
economic progress and the growing emphasis on individual rights, however,
people have become focused on their personal interests. They judge public
services in terms of whether these are sufficient, convenient and meet their
personal interests. Some parents even disregard objective realities as well as
their kids’ subjective limitations to demand that schools do things according
to their ideas. Sometimes, they go so far as to ignore such actions’ potential
effect on other students, or whether the resources exist to implement them.
Like
our society at large, they are quick to complain about the slightest
difficulty. And some of our media resort to incendiary means to fan the flames
of discontent, so as to please their audiences and expand their circulations.
Politicians, with their agendas, also do their bit. Rights and wrongs don’t
seem to matter. So long as they can muster enough of a crowd through extremist
methods, they will be able to oblige those in the right to submit. And as long
as their interests are served, these people will persist in their ways,
regardless of any inconvenience or damage they might inflict on society’s
silent majority. The frightening thing is that such incessant, externally
oriented demands gradually become the natural course of action. They have become the mainstream thinking in
our society.
Externally
oriented exploration and demands are a special feature of Western culture. It
has established Western knowledge and external political expansion, while
emphasizing individualist thinking. But its failure to accommodate other
cultures and peoples, together with the relentless greed it has unleashed, is
responsible for much of the turmoil in the world today.
Asian
cultures direct their demands inwards. The ancient schools of thought in
After its introduction into
We
should avoid being too calculating about gain and loss, and set a positive
example for others through our behavior. Such efforts will build momentum,
providing a direction for the bemused in our society. The dire straits we now
face are a consequence of our past greed and excesses. The task at hand is to
create positive karma so that we can enjoy a better future. If we do this, we
can easily weather the current storm.
FROM NEW DELHI TO
LUCKNOW
(Day 2,
Oct. 23, 2008)
Today we got up at 4 o’clock in the morning
and ate our breakfast at 5. We boarded coaches at 5:30 for the airport, to
catch a 7 o’clock flight for Lucknow. From there we would travel by coach to
Sravasti.
It
was
Once
inside the coach, we took the measure of this vehicle which would carry us
around throughout our Indian journey. The cars we saw on the roads may be old,
but our coach looked brand-new and was quiet spacious. We were very satisfied.
Besides
our tour leader, guide and driver, there were a couple of “little brothers” in
the coach. They were the team leader’s assistants and played important roles.
One was responsible for leading us around, while the other opened and closed
the coach doors, distributed bottled water and saw to it that we got on and off
our transport safely. After leader introduced his crew, our pilgrimage began in
earnest.
The
first destination of our trip was Sravasti, well-known to us from our
recitation of the scriptures. The delay of our flight meant it was already
after 9 o’clock when we disembarked at the airport. Since the coach journey to
Sravasti would take 4-5 hours, we were likely to have a late lunch as well.
As
he introduced
Our
pilgrimage destinations were not tourist spots; they were located in backward
rural districts. There were no highways to travel on, only unpaved roads, often
with tall trees on both sides. Our guide told us to be psychologically
prepared, as the road journeys would be long and bumpy. If we needed to relieve
ourselves, we should tell the driver early, so he could prepare appropriately.
As
the coach trundled towards its destination, none of us fretted about the rough
ride. In our minds, we had already travelled back in time to the era of the
Buddha. We focused on the significance of Sravasti, a key base from which the
Buddha taught the Dharma.
During
the journey, we saw many backward, dilapidated dwellings. We learned later that
people still lived in these decrepit lodgings, which was hard to imagine.
Because our lunch would be late, our guide got off en route and bought lots of
bananas and apples to ease our hunger. Perhaps it was the Buddha’s unseen
assistance, but we didn’t feel particularly hungry – and the bananas tasted
wonderful.
Destination
No. 1: Where the Buddha Ascended to Tusita Heaven
As
we looked outside the coach’s windows, we saw expansive plains everywhere.
We
gazed in the direction he indicated and saw an unprepossessing hillock, with a
group of children and a few goats and cattle nearby. As we considered that this
was where the Buddha began his journey to Tusita Heaven to preached the
Ksitigarbha Sutra to his mother, we couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed at
how ordinary it looked, quite unlike a sacred location.
Our
guide indicated that we could disembark and take pictures. After all, this was
the first destination of our pilgrimage, so we were excited, despite the
disappointment. Getting off the coach, we saw that the surroundings were very
basic, with no adornments. The upslope wasn’t that easy to scale, but some
group members eagerly made their way to the top of the hill. When we made it to
the top, we felt a comfortable peace and tranquility as we gazed down at the
surroundings. The hillock wasn’t high, but there was a distinctive spiritual
feel to it.
We
recited the Heart Sutra and chanted “Homage to Shakyamuni Buddha” in putonghua, relishing the serenity of the
environs. When we had finished, we helped one another down the hill. We boarded
the coach and continued our journey towards Sravasti.
Our
plan originally was to have lunch before heading to Jetavana Vihara. Some in
our group pointed out that since it was already past lunchtime, doing so would
mean it would be twilight when we reached the vihara.
They suggested that we visit the sacred site before having a combined
lunch-dinner. After getting a consensus, we made straight for Jetavana Vihara.
It
was past 4 p.m. when we arrived there. Inside the grounds, visitors were few.
Maintenance staff were cutting the grass and an air of tranquility prevailed.
According to the scriptures, the vihara was donated
to the Buddha and his Sangha by Prince Jeta of
Sravasti after the respected elder Anathatpindika offered to cover its trees
with gold as a purchase price.
The
spacious stateliness of the monastery’s remains was hard to describe. Given the
size, we didn’t know where to start touring. Our guide pointed to a large tree
and said: “This is the great Bodhi tree.” Many Theravada monks were already
gathered under the branches, chanting or meditating. We hesitated to approach,
not wishing to disturb them. Later, we sat silently under the Bodhi tree,
meditated briefly and softly chanted the Heart
Sutra three times. Another Theravada group, dressed in white, arrived and
began chanting the Three Refuges and Five Precepts in Pali.
We did three circumambulations and left quietly.
Because
of the size of the vihara, we decided to walk around
once before breaking up for personal picture-taking. We then circumambulated
three times the platform where the Buddha preached the Dharma. Mrs. Luk bought some jasmine flowers from a local hawker, so
each of us could place a fragrant offering at the podium. We made our
reverences. There were no Buddha images around, only remains with red-brick
walls. Yet, as we made heartfelt offerings of flowers and paid our respects, we
experienced feelings that were difficult to describe.
We
proceeded to other remains, making circumambulations, reverences and offerings.
It was only when darkness fell that we reluctantly departed. As we were
leaving, we encountered other groups who were just arriving. We felt grateful
for the Buddha’s guidance in making the wise decision to forgo lunch, which
enabled us to tour the sacred site and make our reverences while it was still
light. Otherwise, like the latest visitors, we would surely regret having
arrived in darkness.
Afterwards,
we went to the best hotel in the vicinity for our first full meal of the day.
The servers were ready for us, having prepared cold soda drinks. We proceeded to enjoy our dinner, full
of the joy of the Dharma.