FromwhatIread (5)

The book’s name: The Many Ways to Nirvana
Writer / Editor: His Holiness Dalai Lama / Renuka Singh
Publisher: First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Hodder and Stroughton Ltd; a division of Hodder Headline PLC
Content:
1. The Four Seals in Buddhism
2. Overcoming Negative Emotions
3. Self-development through the Six Perfections
4. Cultivating Equanimity
5. The Four Noble Truths and the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation

(The followings are my short notes I took while I read the book; it might be useful for anyone who has no time to read the whole book or it might tempt you to read the book; anyway, the points I got here might not be the same if your read it by yourself…)

The Fifth Chapter: the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Verse of thought Transformation (cont')

The Eight Verses of Thought Transformation by Langri Tangpa explains the Paramitayana practice of method and wisdom: the first seven verses deal with method – loving kindness – and the eighth deals with wisdom.


(1) Determined to accomplish all success, I shall always practice holding dear all sentient beings, who are more precious than wish-fulfilling gems.

(2) Wherever I go and whomever I accompany, I shall practice seeing myself as the lowest of all and sincerely hold others dear and supreme.

(3) In all actions, I shall examine my mind, and the moment an unsubdued thought arises, endangering myself and others, I shall face and avert it.

(4) Whenever I see a being of wicked nature, who is overwhelmed by non-virtue and suffering, I shall hold him dear, as if I have discovered a precious treasure, difficult to find.

(5) When out of jealousy, others treat me badly with abuse, insult and the like, I shall practice accepting defeat and offering the victory to others.

(6) When someone I have benefited, and in whom I have great hopes, harms me immensely, I shall practice regarding him or her as my holy guru.

(7) In short, both directly and indirectly, I offer every benefit and happiness to all my mothers. Secretly, I shall practice taking upon myself all their harmful actions and sufferings.

(8) With all these (practices) undefiled by stains of the superstitions of the eight (worldly) dharmas, by perceiving all dharmas as illusory, I shall practice, without grasping, to release (all sentient beings) from bondage.

The 8th verse explains that the practices should be done without their being stained by the wrong conception of clinging to true existence – the superstition of the eight dharmas. How does one avoid staining one’s practice in this way? By recognizing all existence as illusory and not clinging to true exiatence. Thus one is liberated from the bondage of clinging.

FromwhatIread (4)

The book’s name: The Many Ways to Nirvana

Writer / Editor: His Holiness Dalai Lama / Renuka Singh

Publisher: First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Hodder and Stroughton Ltd; a division of Hodder Headline PLC

Content:

1.     The Four Seals in Buddhism

2.     Overcoming Negative Emotions

3.     Self-development through the Six Perfections

4.     Cultivating Equanimity

5.     The Four Noble Truths and the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation

(The followings are my short notes I took while I read the book; it might be useful for anyone who has no time to read the whole book or it might tempt you to read the book; anyway, the points I got here might not be the same if your read it by yourself…)

The Fifth Chapter: the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Verse of thought Transformation

5. The Four Noble Truths and the Eight Verse of Thought Transformation. Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths: the truth of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering and the path to the cessation of suffering; 3 categories of suffering: the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and the all-pervasive suffering. The Buddha taught that the root of the three sufferings is the all-pervasive suffering; generally, the ultimate cause is the mind that is influenced by thoughts such as anger, attachment, and jealousy and is the main cause of birth and all other problems. The question arises whether or not these kinds of negative mind can be eliminated. We can do this by investigating how the things it perceives actually exist. Through investigation, we find no valid support for the grasping mind but the support of logical reasoning for the mind that realizes that the grasping mind is invalid. In battle, the mind supported by logic will always be victorious over the mind that is not. When we eliminate the disturbing negative minds (the cause of all suffering), we eliminate the sufferings as well. This is liberation or the cessation of suffering (the Third Noble Truth). To achieve this, we must find the method. This brings us to the Fourth Noble Truth.

When we speak of paths, we refer to the 37 factors that bring enlightenment. When we speak specifically of the paths of the bodhisattavas’ vehicle (Mahayana), we refer to the ten levels and the six transcendent perfections. The essence of the practice of the six transcendent perfections is the unification of method and wisdom so that the two enlightened bodies – rupakaya and dharmakaya – can be attained. Since they can be attained only simultaneously, their causes too must be cultivated simultaneously. Thus together we must build up a store of merit, as the cause of the rupakaya, the body of form, and the store of deep awareness or insight as the cause of the dharmakaya, the body of wisdom. In the Paramitayana, we practice the method grasped by wisdom, and wisdom grasped by method, but in the Vajarayana, we practice method and wisdom as one in nature.

The Eight Verses of Thought Transformation by Langri Tangpa explains the Paramitayana practice of method and wisdom: the first seven verses deal with method – loving kindness – and the eighth deals with wisdom. 

FromwhatIread (3)

The book’s name: The Many Ways to Nirvana

Writer / Editor: His Holiness Dalai Lama / Renuka Singh

Publisher: First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Hodder and Stroughton Ltd; a division of Hodder Headline PLC

Content:

1.     The Four Seals in Buddhism

2.     Overcoming Negative Emotions

3.     Self-development through the Six Perfections

4.     Cultivating Equanimity

5.     The Four Noble Truths and the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation

(The followings are my short notes I took while I read the book; it might be useful for anyone who has no time to read the whole book or it might tempt you to read the book; anyway, the points I got here might not be the same if your read it by yourself…)

The Fourth Chapter: Cultivating Equanimity

4. Cultivating Equanimity. Talking about equanimity in the sense of alleviating attachment and hatred. Practicing equanimity is the same with cultivation of positive qualities like love and compassion: they can be based on reasoning and understanding from a particular religious basis. An individual practitioner can develop loving kindness and compassion by thinking that through such practices, he or she will achieve enlightenment because the Buddha taught this path. On the other hand, a person could develop such qualities thinking that the development of love and compassion would bring mental peace, physical well-being, or harmony and peace within his or her family. This kind of reasoning is not based on any religious tradition.

A biased mental attitude or partiality is a big hindrance and an obstruction to comprehending reality. For example, the reality is that things are dependent on multifarious causes and factors: things are interconnected, interdependent and interrelated. When we are unable to see this reality, then problems arise because we tend to pick out just one factor – whether it is the experience of happiness or that of problems and difficulties – and try to use it to explain a complex situation. We tend to highlight just one factor out of the many and focus exclusively on that particular cause or factor. Because of this, we are unable to solve many issues confronting us. In fact instead of solving difficulties, we sometimes create additional ones. To deal effectively with a particular problem, it is important to prepare ourselves mentally to understand the reality of a situation and to be able to see facts objectively. You can see why practicing equanimity is very important.

When we confront complex situations and try to solve the problems inherent in them, it is important to have a holistic attitude rather than a narrow mind. In Buddhist practice, when we talk about developing equanimity, we refer to two levels. 1^st – develop a state of mental equilibrium, reaching a point where you do not have any special attachment to one group and hatred towards another; 2^nd – do not make distinctions among other sentient beings; develop a powerful mind, wishing to benefit everyone without differentiation.

By understanding the four Buddhist seals you can reach different stages of equanimity. For example, in understanding the 1st teaching that all conditional phenomena are impermanent, you realize that all things are caused and that they are all transitory and impermanent. The second teaching, which says that all contaminated things are suffering means that just as my mind is contaminated and polluted and suffering is part of my nature, the same applies to all other people. Then I must ask how can I hate or get attached to other beings when we are all the same. When we talk of Nirvana as peace or liberation as the state of total peace, we realize that everyone possesses a Buddha nature and can easily develop equanimity.

FromwhatIread (2)

The book’s name: The Many Ways to Nirvana

Writer / Editor: His Holiness Dalai Lama / Renuka Singh

Publisher: First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Hodder and Stroughton Ltd; a division of Hodder Headline PLC

Content:

1.     The Four Seals in Buddhism

2.     Overcoming Negative Emotions

3.     Self-development through the Six Perfections

4.     Cultivating Equanimity

5.     The Four Noble Truths and the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation

(The followings are my short notes I took while I read the book; it might be useful for anyone who has no time to read the whole book or it might tempt you to read the book; anyway, the points I got here might not be the same if your read it by yourself…)

The Second Chapter: Overcoming Negative Emotions

2. Overcoming Negative Emotions. Three levels on which to counteract negative emotions: 1^st level – follow the secular ethics and does not touch any religious belief; 2^nd level  - in this connection is taught by all major religions – they all carry the message of love, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and discipline; 3^rd level – the Buddhist way. Finding for the 4 misconceptions and maintaining the four mindfulnesses. The more profound your understanding of the selflessness of the person and selflessness of the thought, the more you will be able to understand the other side of the coin – the inter-connectedness of everything. The first three understandings are antidotes that would repudiate their misconceptions. By understanding the fourth misconception, we would uproot the seed of the misconception of the self. The complete elimination of negative emotion is Nirvana. Training the mind is very essential.

The Buddhist way of practice begins with study by hearing, reading, just absorbing information; don’t just rely on Buddha’s quotations. Rely instead on your investigations and experiments. In order to overcome our negative emotions, we need to use our intelligence to analyze, develop positive emotion like strong faith and compassion; in this way, wisdom and positive emotions can grow side by side.

The Third Chapter: Self-development through the Six Perfections

3. Self-development through the Six Perfections. Buddhist way to transform our emotions works not through faith or prayer but through the maximum use of intelligence and reasoning. Questions are very important. Without questions, we cannot get a proper answer. Without skepticism, without doubt, without investigation, we have no satisfactory answers. Therefore in the Buddhist tradition, intelligence is used to its maximum extent and study is essential.

Perfections = going beyond; beyond = the place or path of enlightenment; the place where we normally exist, in our ordinary form. The first two of the Four Noble Truth, that is true suffering and true origin of suffering, are on this ordinary side, and the other two truths, true path and true cessation, are the paths beyond. Therefore, the word “beyond” refers to true types of enlightenment, having gone beyond the cycle of existence, the cycle of samsaric existence and, therefore, beyond here could refer to the total extinction of afflictive emotions and suffering and, thereby, the achievement of liberation.

In order to make your practice one of perfection, you should have the clear goal of enlightenment, along with the wish that your enlightenment goes beyond liberation just for yourself; you should be free from all types of elaborations and achieving the development of wisdom-realizing emptiness; 2 types of wisdom-realizing emptiness: 1.being unable to see emptiness directly but realizing through a kind of generic image; 2. perceived or discerned directly and does not depend on a medium or generic image; and develop infinite altruism through wisdom and intelligence.

When we talk about the practice of perfections, particularly the practice of the six perfections, we discover the practice of the four ways of gathering disciplines for maturing one’s mind. Practices like concentration and the development of wisdom-realizing emptiness = meditations and techniques to improve or enhance one’s wisdom and one’s realization. There are two kinds of wisdom: 1. wisdom realizing the conventional phenomena; 2. wisdom realizing the ultimate reality, ultimate truth.

Giving = a mental state in which you are always ready to give your body, wealth and pleasures when others need them. The practice of giving and generosity is meant to enhance one’s wish to give to others.

Practice of morality = there are 3 types of morality: 1. the morality refraining from engaging in negative deeds; 2. the morality collecting virtuous qualities; 3. the morality of fulfilling the purposes of sentient beings. These 3 kinds of morality are linked.

Practice of patience = 3 types: 1. patience of being able to bear hardships and sufferings; 2. patience of voluntarily welcoming sufferings and hardships; 3. patience of developing ascertainment toward Dharma practice, which refers to meditating on emptiness.

We categorize the six perfections into the practice of method and wisdom by putting the practices of concentration and wisdom under the collection of wisdom; and the practice of giving, the observance of morality and a part of the practice of patience under the collection of merit. With regard to the practice of effort one part of it is included in the accumulation of merit and the other in the accumulation of wisdom.

One should realize that in order to practice Bodhisattvayana, also called Mahayana, the foundation of the practice is based on the teaching of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. On that foundation, the Bodhisattava’s practice is built. In the absence of these fundamental practices, the higher level spiritual practices are impossible.

FromwhatIread(1)

The book’s name: The Many Ways to Nirvana

Writer / Editor: His Holiness Dalai Lama / Renuka Singh

Publisher: First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Hodder and Stroughton Ltd; a division of Hodder Headline PLC

Content:

-The Four Seals in Buddhism

-Overcoming Negative Emotions

-Self-development through the Six Perfections

-Cultivating Equanimity

-The Four Noble Truths and the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation

(The followings are my short notes I took while I read the book; it might be useful for anyone who has no time to read the whole book or it might tempt you to read the book; anyway, the points I got here might not be the same if your read it by yourself…)

The First Chapter: The Four Seals in Buddhism

1. The Four Buddhist Seals or axioms: (1) all conditioned phenomena are impermanent; (2) all contaminated phenomena are suffering; (3) all phenomena are selfless and empty; (4) Nirvana is peace.

(1) All conditioned phenomena are impermanent: Within the universe of mind, whether it is a positive or a negative mind / emotion, there are two main causes: the substantial cause which is responsible for the production of the entity of that very nature of the mind; and the cooperative cause which is a kind of circumstantial factor which gives a particular mind the opportunity to arise. All producing causes are always the result of their own causes; therefore the cause/effect relationship or law of causality is a continuous circle. Impermanent means the momentary disintegration of a particular object or / the non-existence of the first moment of impermanent phenomena during the second moment and / the very first moment of that impermanent phenomenon which is produced in such a way that it is the cause of the phenomenon’s disintegration.

(2) All contaminated phenomena are suffering: “Contamination” – refers to the afflictive emotions or negative emotions and the imprints or predispositions of these afflictive emotions. When say all contaminated things are suffering, mean those objects which are either produced by afflictive emotions or are dependent on them. Three levels of suffering: 1st there is the suffering of suffering; 2nd there is suffering of change; 3rd there is conditioned suffering. When talking about all contaminated phenomena as suffering refer to the third level of suffering: conditioned suffering. This acts as the foundation for the other two levels of suffering. The mere fact of depending on causes and conditions produces afflictive emotions. Those are by definition, in the nature of suffering.

(3) All phenomena are selfless and empty: The meaning of selflessness that is commonly accepted by all Buddhist schools of thought is the absence of a person that is independent and substantially existent. One might have a subtle understanding of the meaning of selflessness so that a person has no independent or substantial existence; both the subject (the mind) and the object have no inherent, absolute or objective existence. Using this kind of analysis and investigation, we are able to conclude that the meaning of selflessness or emptiness is much more profound. And when talking about the non-existence of a person which is substantially existence and independence, they conclude that there is no object that can be enjoyed by such a person. On the basis of this reasoning, they assert that all phenomena are selfless.

(4) Nirvana is peace: Nirvana is peace or “transcendence of suffering is peace” (Tibetan usage)

-Nirvana refers to the state of cessation of afflictive emotions. When the mind is totally purified of afflictive emotions, that state of the mind is called nirvana. (Nagarjuna)

-4 kinds of misconceptions: 1. we tend to see what is impermanent as permanent; 2. we tend to comprehend what is unclean as clean and as something with essence or meaning; 3. we are inclined to see those selfless as having self-existence; 4. we are likely to view what is in the nature of suffering as a source of happiness and peace.

-One needs to meditate on impermanence and suffering Nature of samsara. The very existence of this body, the existence of our life, is actually under the influence or control of our afflictive emotions. Once we realize that suffering is the very nature of existence, it helps to reduce our unreasonable desire for things.

-practicing compassion can indirectly reduce an afflictive emotion, but we cannot directly fight them. Instead, we can use the wisdom which understands ultimate reality: emptiness. Only this kind of understanding and feeling has an effect on these negative emotions. Of course, we can learn this only through our direct experience.

-The mental state, where all afflictive emotions are completely annihilated, is called nirvana.

Let's Talk About The "Middle Path"

What would you picture in mind when talking about the “Middle Path”?

I picture a funny 3-pathed way in my stupid mind: not left not right but the middle one; that’s what I used to have in mind about the Middle Path.

The Middle Path – is it possible or not or just a deceptive trap…!?

Every Buddhist including me would be very much acquainted with the phrase “Middle Path”, because it’s one of very important Buddhist teachings.

We heard about this since we were young, absolutely agreed and accepted it, no doubt no question…that the middle path is the right the good and appropriate way human beings should consider choosing to walk along…
However, I just realized that in all those days, I never ever really understand what this phrase really means and I never took this teaching into my life at all… I just accepted it and put it right where it was…or right up there on the shrine.
At best about what I used to give it some thoughts were… it’s the mild, soft and peaceful way like all monks who try to keep on practicing and always seeking solitude & secluded environments in order to be able to follow their minds and suppress them whenever they’ve gone out of the path and things like these…
And sometimes, I used to think things like: this “Middle Path” is impossible, impractical; it’s a trap designated to prevent ones from doing anything at all… Middle path means stay where you are!

Or Middle path actually means a new way…so right now in whatever ways you walk, make sure that you are walking in the middle way, if not, you should try to change it into the right (middle) way … things like these…
Not until lately when this phrase came up into my mind once again, I got some new pictures when thinking about the Middle Path…

I just realized that this sophisticated teaching didn’t mean to force us to walk on any other given path but your own, except to make sure that you made a good balance so that you won’t fail while proceeding on your way…

Therefore Middle path is not a path or a special alternative way but a right and appropriate management or arrangement. Taking the Middle path means you must have abilities to adjust or make a good balance, and by making a good balance, it’s not a simply easy task at all… you know that!

One should have some real guts walking the Middle Path, you agree?
Oh! Buddha, you left us with such a hard task for our own selves.

But anyway, I have to accept now that Middle Path is possible and very practical and it’s a real trap designated to encourage everyone to practice more in real world of our lives and putting more & more of our brain at work…

The Middle Path needs real lots of guts in you! Really!

That’s my understanding about “the Middle Path”. What's yours?

Let's Talk About "Truth"

Let’s Talk About “Truth”

(Specially given to someone who dares to stand for finding truth.)

            Somebody might confuse or mix up Truth with Fact; the two words are different.

In my opinion, Fact is thing or situation occurs at specific time and place, no one can change or deny it. Fact is something objective, it occurs outside anyone’s mind or wishes. Fact exists by itself, verifies itself by some explorers or fact finders, etc..

While Truth is thing or situation occurs at unknown time and space, seems unable to neither specify nor verify because Truth seems to be a thing subjective and abstract, mostly relevant to religious settings in such a way as often depends on personal belief or faith. Lots of World’s sages have been trying very hard to seek for Truth or even gone way up to Ultimate Truth; it’s up to whom you believe in their findings.

I myself believe the findings or a teachings of Buddha, like the one which said everything in this world is transient or changing all the time, the only eternal thing is Change. So Chang itself is Truth. Ultimate Truth is the Unknown, because the moment we claim that we know what it is, it changes to something else. Fortunately, this Buddhist teaching may be consistent with some latest scientific findings… interesting!

Therefore, if there’s anyone who dares to stand up for finding truth, that person should accept the very fact that there would be only some limited amount of people who will believe in the truth you claim to be found. Except you are someone whose findings have been proven times and again for such a long time as more than 2550 years like Buddha… that what you said about truth is believable.

However, we have the way out to this, by just putting the frame around what we want to find, make it objective, call it Fact which we can verify it within times & places, and after you found it, humbly propose it to the public and let them judge by themselves whether to accept or deny it.

This is a more easy way, isn’t it? Thank gods that we still have alternatives, which make it possible for us to solve our problems.

That’s all my opinion about Truth; What’s yours??

Hey! Let's Talk About Meals...

Do you think 3 or up to 6 meals a day are too much?

Some might say… Hey! Who cares how many meals you have in a day? 
The thing we should better talk more seriously about is… How much more or less food should we have in each meal…

Yes? Because this alone can cause a lot of problems nowadays… like we found that some people got habits of eating too much and too many varieties in each of their meals… resulting in having lots of leftover foods and so on… while in some places there are some people who’ve been deprived of their important meals…

And other severe problems like some species of eatable animals are being extinct from over slaughtered; you can mention several…

OK! Let’s talk a little bit about Meals…

Have you ever asked… since when we divide our meals into 3 or 4 or up to 6 times a day? Long… Long times ago… Right? May be since some of our ancestors stop wondering around (as hunters & gatherers) and started plowing the land… and the mothers started cooking the meals for their household members…

And from then on… our pattern of 3-meal a day had been developed and getting more & more complicated as time goes by… Mainly we have Breakfast, Lunch, Supper and/or Dinner; in some places, they also have Morning Tea, Afternoon Tea, plus Dessert between meals… nowadays we heard about Brunch (said to be a late morning meal, usually larger than breakfast to replace both breakfast & lunch most common on holiday time), and Snack (said to be any food eaten in small amount at an unscheduled time), etc..

Now let me ask another question… the one that everybody already knows about… The status of World Population… How many of them when our ancestors started the pattern of 3 or 6-meal a day… and how many of them now? The answer is… only less than 100 millions then… and now what? There are almost 7 billions… 7 billions of humankinds living, eating, working, doing lots of activities on this planet Earth… How terrifying! 
What’s more gonna be left for us to eat… if each of us keeps on overeating during meals? Time for Change is right now, before it’s too late… Let’s simply start eating less than you use to… and don’t ever let it exceeds the level necessary for surviving… no matter how many meals you have a day… just eat only for surviving… can anybody do that? Yes you can… And with this style of eating, you’ll also surely get good health in return! I bet you certainly will… 
.......
And our slogan here is…
“Eat less to save the World and save ourselves.”

Let's Talk About Traveling

Don’t you ever doubt that Human might have an innate traveling  gene?

Do you like travel? I bet you do. Lots of people like traveling... and i’d like to assume that almost all human race like it. Think about our ancestor who migrated from Africa and travel to various places all over the World. How come the discovery of lots of Continents like America, Asia or the North & South Poles, if not because our ancestors like traveling...? 

Notice that throughout the history of human kinds, since the Homo Sapiens until today, there’re full of human movements or migrations & travelings in various manners or purposes; such travels like today are performed in the name of “Tourism”, mostly.

Have you ever felt curious why such a lot of people happen to feel fond of the same habit or hobbies... like traveling? Each year there’re almost 1,000 millions of people traveling around the World in the name of “tourist”. (World Tourism Organization, 2008). Why?

That’s because people love traveling! Nothing can beat it! I guarantee!

OK, there might be someone who don’t like... too lazy to scuffle...love spending time peacefully at home... or lying down reading books or watching TV etc.. 

But I still would like to see how they react when being on the way for traveling to beautiful places... (Like in the photos I put here).

A few days ago, I found an interesting news about a research study on which the Speed Gene in Horse have been identified. I started to think what if they find out that human beings have innate traveling gene....., that means people will never stop traveling... no matter what ever will happen in the future... like our World might run out of petrol gas or fossil fuel! don’t bother, people would eventually be able to find the way to keep on traveling all along... like our ancestors did... like sailing... hiking etc..

Then...tourism would surely be a very sustainable business of the world; tourism will last as long as human race still exist on earth, not extinct (sound a bit scary!).

Don’t you think so?