EH 64_May_2021

Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia www.ybam.org.my

Y B A M

Unites more than 270 Buddhist organisations representing both the Theravada and Mahayana traditions throughout Malaysia Provides guidance to students to establish Buddhist societies in schools, colleges and universities Conducts regular training courses on Buddhist teachings, missionary techniques and leadership building Arranges lectures on Buddhism by both local and visiting foreign Buddhist scholars and teachers Assists in conducting the annual Malaysian Buddhist Examination

Organises various welfare, cultural and education activities for the benefit of the Buddhist community at local, state and national levels Publishes Eastern Horizon, Buddhist Digest, Berita YBAM and other Buddhist books and pamphlets in English, Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia Makes representation to the authorities on matters related to the Buddhist Community

Be a part of us.

We offer Affiliate Membership for organizations and Associate Membership for individuals

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Coping with the Pandemic through Loving Kindness 2.0

YBAM 50th Anniversary Live Stream 29 July 2020

Zoom Meeting

The former Chairperson of Puzhao Buddhist Vihara Management Committee Bro. Chong Hung Wang sharing the challenges and obstacles during its construction.

YBAM General Secretary Bro. Hoi Jun Wai introducing the Administrative Structure of YBAM.

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Bro. Sek Chin Yong, the Immediate Past President of YBAM, explaining the duties of the YBAM Standing Committees.

‘Awakening of Metta’ Activity Series

21 November 2020 – 01 January 2021

Zoom Meeting

Bhante Mahinda giving his Closing Remarks for the series of activities on 01 Jan 2021.

Venerable B. Sri Saranankara Nayaka Maha Thera giving his blessing to the audiences.

The countdown, minute by minute, for the ‘Million Minutes Metta Practice’.

The daily goal in the ‘Metta Countdown Calendar’ for the participants.

Parents and their children participating in the Omamori Making session.

Miri Buddhist Society Youth Section presenting their performance.

Bro. Saw Hung Yeat conducting a game session with the audiences.

4/18/2021 12:00:37 PM

Coping with the Pandemic through Loving Kindness 2.0

YBAM 50th Anniversary Live Stream 29 July 2020

Zoom Meeting

The former Chairperson of Puzhao Buddhist Vihara Management Committee Bro. Chong Hung Wang sharing the challenges and obstacles during its construction.

YBAM General Secretary Bro. Hoi Jun Wai introducing the Administrative Structure of YBAM.

EH_May_2021_Cover_PRINT.indd 2

Bro. Sek Chin Yong, the Immediate Past President of YBAM, explaining the duties of the YBAM Standing Committees.

‘Awakening of Metta’ Activity Series

21 November 2020 – 01 January 2021

Zoom Meeting

Bhante Mahinda giving his Closing Remarks for the series of activities on 01 Jan 2021.

Venerable B. Sri Saranankara Nayaka Maha Thera giving his blessing to the audiences.

The countdown, minute by minute, for the ‘Million Minutes Metta Practice’.

The daily goal in the ‘Metta Countdown Calendar’ for the participants.

Parents and their children participating in the Omamori Making session.

Miri Buddhist Society Youth Section presenting their performance.

Bro. Saw Hung Yeat conducting a game session with the audiences.

4/18/2021 12:00:37 PM

Editorial

Carrying the Torch of Openness and Respect for all Buddhist Traditions

The Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia (YBAM), which began in 1970, celebrated its 50th anniversary early this month, after much delay last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As an organization representing Buddhist youths, it has always espoused a non-sectarian approach towards all three Buddhist traditions. When it started Eastern Horizon magazine in 2000, the same non-sectarian attitude was reflected in its editorial policy and contents, carrying the theme, “Many Traditions, One Wisdom”.

What is the essence of this non-sectarian approach?

YBAM was definitely not out to establish a new nonsectarian Buddhist tradition. Presently, we already have three main traditions – Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna – with many schools and lineages within them. In fact, practitioners of the Dharma do not leave their own traditions, but rather continue practicing as their particular traditions prescribe. A non-sectarian attitude inculcates the spirit of respecting the differences between traditions and appreciates them, while also establishing a dialogue to create common ground. It is important to preserve variety; over millennia, as the Dharma moved out of India, it encountered new cultures and civilizations, thus the evolution of Buddhism into different traditions ensued.

More than anything else, Buddhism has also been enriched during such encounters in various countries where it has taken deep roots.

However, it is important to take great care that the teachings and practices of the different Buddhist traditions, lineages, and their unique styles, do not become confused with one another. To retain the original style and methods of each teaching lineage preserves the power of that lineage experience.

However, harking back to the popular adage: “there are 84,000 Dharma doors”, there is a need to appreciate differences and acknowledge the importance of having

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this variety for the benefit of practitioners with different needs. All teachings can be seen as skilful means and therefore the roots of sectarian feelings should shrivel and die. We must not allow Buddhist spirituality to be like competitive sports where it is hoped that one’s lineage or teacher wins out over all others.

A good example of a great Dharma master on the world stage who personifies the essence of a non-sectarian approach is His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Though he is a Tibetan monk ordained in the Gelug order, he has acknowledged that one of the main Gelup meditations is a lineage brought to Tibet by the Kagyu teacher Marpa.

And he said 30% percent of the remainder of his practice centers upon a Nyingma lineage. At the same time, he has met and exchanged ideas with many Japanese, Chinese, and Theravāda masters. In fact, he strongly encouraged Buddhists of all traditions, including Tibetans who belonged to the Vajrayāna tradition, to study the Pāli scriptures of the Theravāda school. And many Malaysian Buddhists still remember the late Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda, beacon of Buddhism in this country, and a strong advocate of a non-sectarian and ecumenical approach to all three Buddhist traditions. Many will also remember the extraordinary time when he shared the same stage in a seminar with Dharma Master Hsing Yun of Fo Guang Shan to speak on the theme of “Two Masters, One Message”.

As YBAM continues on its journey to promote Buddha Dharma in this country, on behalf of the readers of Eastern Horizon, I pray that at least for another 50 years, and hopefully more, it will continue to promote the spirit of a non-sectarian approach towards the study and practice of Buddhism for the benefit of all sentient beings. EH 6 April 2021 Benny Liow

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CONTENTS 04

12

04

LEAD ARTICLE Appreciating the Efficacy of all Buddhist Traditions

09

TEACHINGS Association with the Wise

12

By Ven. Master Miao Jing

By Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi

Attachment

By Ajahn Brahm

14

What does a Buddhist Monastic Know about Real Life, Anyway?

19

Faith and Values: A Buddhist response to the coronavirus pandemic

21 23

By Ajahn Amaro

By Ven. Thubten Chonyi

The Investigating Mind

By Sayadaw U Tejaniya

FEATURE Overlooking official responses: Thai Buddhist institutions and Covid-19

ISSUE NO.64

MAY 2021

21

32

26 30

Our World in a Time of Change

By His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Covid Experiences from Sri Lanka: Effects and response

By Dr. B.D. Nandadeva

32

FACE TO FACE Buddhism and the Challenges of Modern Youth

36

To Forgive and to Forget

40

By Venerable Chuan Guan

By Derek Pyle

Zen and Skillful Means to Benefit All beings

By Reverend Domyo Burk

44

Bringing Buddhism to Beginners

48

Mindful Parenting

By Tan Buck Soon and Datuk Charlie Chia Lui Meng

By Jenty Siswanto

By Dr Thomas Borchert

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May 2021 ISSUE NO.64 (Published 3 times a year)

52 57 60

FORUM Practices to Open the Heart

By Venerable Āyasmā Aggacitta, Venerable Min Wei & Geshe Dadul Namgyal

BOOKS IN BRIEF

NEWS Venerable Wei Wu Named 2020 Khyentse Fellow Walking the Bodhisattva Path

By Florence Koh

62

DHARMA THOUGHTS Gratitude: A gateway to happiness

By Vijaya Samarawickrama

EASTERN HORIZON PUBLICATION BOARD CHAIRMAN EDITOR SUB-EDITOR

: Dr. Ong See Yew

: B. Liow <Bennyliow@gmail.com> : Dr. Ong Puay Liu

MANAGER : Teh Soo Tyng

ART DIRECTOR : Geam Yong Koon

PUBLISHER : YBAM <ybam@ybam.org.my>

PRINTER : Nets Printwork Sdn Bhd

Lot 52, Jalan PBS 14/4, Taman Perindustrian Bukit Serdang, 43300 Sri Kembangan, Selangor, MALAYSIA. Tel : 603-89429858 Email : info@netsgroup.com.my COVER DESIGN : Geam Yong Koon

EASTERN HORIZON is a publication of the Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia (YBAM). A non-profit making project, this journal is non-sectarian in its views and approach. We aim to inspire, stimulate and share.

The opinions expressed in EASTERN HORIZON are those of the authors and in no way represent those of the editor or YBAM. Although every care is taken with advertising matter, no responsibility can be accepted for the organizations, products, services, and other matter advertised.

We welcome constructive ideas, invite fresh perspectives and accept comments. Please direct your comments or enquiries to: The Editor EASTERN HORIZON Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia 9, Jalan SS 25/24, Taman Mayang, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, MAlAYSIA Tel : (603) 7804 9154 Fax : (603) 7804 9021 Email : admin@easternhorizon.org or

Benny Liow <Bennyliow@gmail.com> Website : www.easternhorizon.org KDN PP 8683/01/2013(031165)

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EASTERN HORIZON | LEAD ARTICLE

Appreciating the Efficacy of all Buddhist Traditions

By Ven. Master Miao Jing

Venerable Master Miao Jing is the Founder of Great Compassion Bodhi Prajna Temple Canada and North America Karma Kagyu Bhikkhuni Institute. Ven. Master Miao Jing has studied Mahāyāna Buddhism for decades and had her ordination under Mahāyāna tradition. In 2011, Master Miao Jing began her study of Vajrayāna Buddhism under the teaching of Guru H.H. the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the Headmaster of the Karma Kagyu Lineage. Ven. Master Miao Jing is one of the very few Bhikkhunis who practices both Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhism and integrates them into her Dharma teachings in the West. For the past few years, she has been a proponent of H.H. 17th Karmapa’s vision to restore the ordination of Bhikkhuni’s precepts in Vajrayāna activities and in 2018 she hosted the 1st International Buddhist Bhikkhuni Forum in Canada to further this cause.

To support Great Compassion Bodhi Prajna Temple, Canada please visit www.gcbptemple. org and www.nakkbi.org

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It still feels chilly in the early spring in my temple set in a forest in Canada. After the routine morning prayer and meditation, I slowly open my eyes while sitting on the futon. The sunlight coming in through the window turns the main Buddha Hall warm and lands gently on a Tibetan Thangka which I brought back from India. It reminds me of the teachings given to me by my root Guru, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje. I could vividly recall what His Holiness had said to me during the break of a retreat, “I hope that in the future, there will be more practitioners like you who are willing to integrate the study of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna, as this will be very beneficial to Buddhism as a whole.” This message resonated in my mind.

I was born in a traditional Buddhist family in Taiwan, where traditional Eastern culture and Buddhism merge together and flourish. Chanting was a part of our morning routine and as a kid I often woke up with the hymns of wooden fish and the Great Compassion Mantra which was the first Mantra I learned to recite. While growing up, I often visited Mahāyāna Buddhist monasteries with my parents.

As a teenager, I immigrated to Canada, a multicultural nation that respects different cultures and religions. I became an ordained Bhikkhuni under Mahāyāna tradition and systematically and stepwise studied the Mahāyāna foundation. Being a nun in Mahāyāna Buddhism led me to a constant quest — How can Buddha’s teachings lead us to the ultimate realization of the supreme Buddhahood? Is it through Mahāyāna? Or is it through Vajrayāna? Or is it a blend of both? Throughout my journey from the East to the West I have been searching for the answer. Then by a fateful circumstance, I met His Holiness the 17th Karmapa who led me on the path to practice Vajrayāna. From then on, I began my journey of practicing both Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna.

I was fortunate enough to join a retreat in Bodh Gaya, India under the guidance of His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa. It was on a late afternoon in November, and

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LEAD ARTICLE | EASTERN HORIZON

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HH Karmapa at GCBP Temple shine room giving a speech, 2017

Welcoming HH Karmapa to GCBP Temple, 2017

Opening speech at International Forum, 2018

I was meditating under a sacred Bodhi tree where Buddha Shakyamuni was enlightened. I was contemplating on “Pure View”.

Although I had already gained an intellectual understanding of Tathāgatagarbha and Pure View in Mahāyāna, I had no realization nor experience with it.

HH Karmapa blessing GCBP Temple by presenting a little Buddha, 2017

During the break in the retreat, I walked up to His Holiness Karmapa and respectfully asked, “What is the Pure View? How can I attain it?”

“All phenomena are pure by nature,” His Holiness said with a smile.

I was completely shocked by his enlightened words. My understanding of Pure View had always been conceptual and dualistic — pure vs impure. His Holiness’ reply was so simple yet powerful, like a transmission of over nine hundred-year-old unbroken Kagyu lineage to me through an awakened Master. At that moment, I experienced a new state of clarity which shattered

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EASTERN HORIZON | LEAD ARTICLE

International Forum closing, 2018

my frame of mind formed from decades of dualistic thinking. Since then, experiencing the True Nature was no longer a theoretical concept but an experiential possibility for me. I truly appreciated my past extensive practices in Mahāyāna tradition which had led me to this moment of clarity and purity through the practices in Vajrayāna tradition. My momentary realization turned into a strong motivation to practice both Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhism.

Generally speaking, the different traditions of Buddhism are nominally distinguished by their titles.

When guiding beings on their paths to unfold their True Nature, the different traditions guide them with different practice methods suitable to their roots and conditions. Fundamentally there is no difference in their mind cultivation. In fact, true refuge taking means taking refuge in the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) and under all Buddhas in the Ten Directions.

By taking refuge in only partial Buddhadharma, the attained merits and wisdom are also limited. Paying respect and taking refuge in the Three Jewels without any differentiation is a necessary learning path for a Buddhist practitioner.

If we practice Buddhadharma with a self-centered, differentiating mind, we will discriminate between the three Buddhist traditions (Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna, also known as the Three Vehicles) in terms

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Master Miao Jing teaches youth how to meditate

of their beliefs, merits, and blessings. As a result, strange thoughts will appear in our mind: “These Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are different from one another, and their blessings are different in form and size.” In fact, in paramārtha-satya, the absolute truth, there is no distinction among all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and the True Nature of all beings. Ultimately, every Buddhist practitioner pursues the attainment of Anuttarāsamyak-saṃbodhi, the fully enlightened stage, also known as the Buddhahood. If we only embrace some Dharmas but reject and obscure others, how can this enlightened stage be attained? Therefore, it is critical that cultivators respect and have faith in all Dharmas and humbly learn them.

In the Hundred Parables Sūtra, Buddha Shakyamuni gave a metaphor: “The Master’s Aching Legs and His Two Disciples”.

In this parable, the Master asked two disciples to each look after one of his aching legs. When the first disciple was treating one of the Master’s legs, the second disciple got jealous of him, thinking that he had the better treatment for the Master. The first disciple also thought that his own treatment method was the best. So, each disciple sabotaged each other by hurting the other leg with a stone and insisted on his own treatment.

Eventually they injured and disabled both legs, and the Master couldn’t walk anymore! Although the left and

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LEAD ARTICLE | EASTERN HORIZON

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Welcoming HH Karmapa at GCBP Temple, 2017

right legs are divided, both belong to the same person.

In order for the Master to be able to walk freely with both healthy legs, the two disciples should have adopted each other’s treatment methods and jointly cured the Master’s aching legs. Buddha used this analogy to tell practitioners that different Buddhist traditions should cooperate and integrate with each other without any differentiation in order to flourish Buddhadharma.

Similarly, realizing that Sūtrayāna (Causal Vehicle) and Vajrayāna (Fruition Vehicle) are two sides of one entity and are complementary, will help cultivators in attaining true enlightenment.

The Lotus Sūtra says: “All the Buddhas of the past expounded the teachings for the sake of sentient beings, using incalculable and innumerable skillful means and various explanations and illustrations. These teachings were all for the Single Buddha Vehicle. All these sentient beings, hearing the Dharma from the Buddhas, finally attained Buddhahood.”

Shakyamuni Buddha expounded on the teachings of the Three Vehicles for the purpose of guiding practitioners of different capacities and predispositions. As the Buddha explained in the “Lotus Sūtra’’, ultimately there is the Single Vehicle of Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, and there is no second nor third Vehicle. The most obvious explanation can be found in the Lotus Sūtra where the Buddha expelled

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the expedient practices, unveiled the true essence of Buddha’s teaching, and stepwise expounded the steps of leading all sentient beings to the perfection of practices.

There is no separation in the original teachings from the Shakyamuni Buddha 2500 years ago. It was Buddha’s disciples who categorized his teachings into different Buddhist traditions, Schools, and lineages to benefit all beings.

In the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha addressed Śāriputra: “All the acts of Buddhas are always for one purpose.

The Buddhas manifest their wisdom and insight solely to inspire sentient beings to attain Buddhahood. O Śāriputra! A Tathāgata teaches sentient beings the Dharma only through the Single Buddha Vehicle. There is no other, neither a second nor a third. O Śāriputra! The True Nature of all the Buddhas of the Ten Directions is exactly like this.”

As a Buddhist or non-Buddhist, regardless of their stage of cultivation, one should cherish and clearly recognize that the Dharma they cultivate is very extraordinary.

Furthermore, one should equally praise and rejoice over other Buddhist traditions as being equally extraordinary. If someone only wants their tradition to prosper and belittle other traditions, the motivation of their cultivation is questionable. If one is attached to their own tradition and armed with prejudice and jealousy toward other traditions, they may lose their

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EASTERN HORIZON | LEAD ARTICLE

pure motivation to cultivate the mind and benefit others. The motivation of practicing Buddhadharma is to help all beings be free from suffering and attain happiness, to liberate ourselves and all beings from saṃsāra, and ultimately to attain Buddhahood. The Buddha gave teachings of eighty-four thousand Dharma Doors to guide practitioners with different roots and conditions in their cultivation. A practitioner’s behavior should be like bees picking nectar, to absorb the essence of cultivation from different traditions. By doing so, one should not be disturbed by the defilement of attachment to self and others and allow our minds to absorb the essence of mind cultivation.

sentient beings and Buddhism as a whole.

teacher, the same Shakyamuni Buddha, the same guide, and the same Buddhadharma. So, we should not differentiate between different sects of Buddhism with the dualistic mind of mortals. We should not oppose and discriminate amongst one another using the same differentiating mind. All Buddhadharma can only be fully understood by the Awakened Ones and not by deluded beings through speculation and discrimination.

Therefore, we should not slander the teachings of other Buddhist traditions and Schools, whether Theravāda, Mahāyāna, or Vajrayāna.

way can we have an open and comprehensive study of Buddhadharma that encompasses the entirety and integrity of the Buddha’s teachings.

“School with No Differentiation” is an open mindset.

It is an opinion and viewpoint. As mentioned earlier, we are all studying under the same fundamental

The different traditions of Buddhism are like the different branches of a giant tree. They are all originating from the same root. The strength and prosperity of the tree rely on the branches collaborating and mutually supporting one another. In recent years, there are more collaborations between different Schools of Buddhism. For example, in 2017, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, in order to restore the ordination of Bhikkhuni’s precepts in Vajrayāna, invited Buddhist nuns from the Mahāyāna School in Taiwan to Bodhgaya, India to transmit Bhikkhuni’s precepts (Dharmaguptaka). This is a major step to restore Vajrayāna Bhikkhuni’s precepts and collaborate across Buddhism Schools. This is also a concrete example that under the cross-school lineage, the Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Schools can transform and grow with each other’s mutual support and inclusion and benefit

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Thus, from my personal journey of learning Buddhadharma, I realized that it was important to have pure contemplation toward non-sectarianism. Nonsectarianism is not a matter of abandoning teachings of one’s own sect and studying others. Its main principle is to be able to understand the teachings of one’s own tradition first and then study and rejoice in other traditions. As His Holiness the Karmapa said, “It is good to study without sectarian differentiation, but one must not lose one’s own view.” This is the part where we can contemplate and be open to learn. In short, we need to first practice our own tradition wholeheartedly.

Meanwhile, we should not be so attached to our own sects as to exclude others, and we can learn from other sects without preconceived notions. Only this

A great example of the non-sectarian practice of Buddhadharma can be seen with the Great Compassion Mantra, which originated in Vajrayāna, but has become a very well-known Mantra widely recited in Mahāyāna Buddhism. In fact, many Vajrayāna Mantras are very popular and widespread in Mahāyāna Buddhism. In our daily practices, we have long been blending Tantric practices into the Mahāyāna practices and never felt them out of place. With the foundation of Mahāyāna teachings and open-mindedly bringing in Mantra recitation and visualization practices from Vajrayāna, we can quickly transform our mind stream from vexation into Prajñā or wisdom.

His Holiness the 17th Karmapa has demonstrated to be a great proponent of integrating Vajrayāna and Mahāyāna practices. In an auspicious visit to our Temple (Great Compassion Bodhi Prajna Temple) in 2017, during the blessing ceremony, His Holiness expressed, “Even though my stay here is not long, it means a lot to me, and the meaning is significant. The reason is this Temple and two Masters provide the profound understanding of different branches in Buddhism, namely Mahāyāna Buddhism and Vajrayāna Buddhism.

What’s better is that they ingeniously fuse various ideas

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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON

together. I am quite convinced that everyone will be able to experience joy through various Buddhist lineages and bring harmonious joy into each Buddhist family. In this way, everyone will learn more about various strands of Buddhism and achieve further wisdom and happiness.”

His Holiness Karmapa’s encouraging words marked an important milestone for the Temple and for myself.

We humbly believe that we are just a small leaf of this giant Buddhism tree. Nevertheless, I personally hope that with this initiative, we can bring a new perspective of non-differentiating Buddhadharma practice to the modern Buddhist community.

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As practitioners in the twenty-first century, we must uphold Buddha Shakyumuni’s original intent to deliver the essence of Dharma from 2500 years ago.

We can all learn with an open mind and land our feet on the cultivation that is suitable for our roots and conditions. We should aim to equally respect other traditions and schools, and cultivate our mind with inclusive and harmonious Buddhadharma. By following virtuous teachers and stepwise practicing in learning, contemplation, and cultivation, with a grand view of non-differentiation between traditions, we can flourish the giant Buddhism tree and bring prosperity and harmony to Buddhism as a whole. EH

Association with the Wise

By Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Buddhist monk from New York City, born in 1944. He obtained a BA in philosophy from Brooklyn College and a PhD in philosophy from Claremont Graduate School. After completing his university studies he traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received novice ordination in 1972 and full ordination in 1973, both under the leading Sri Lankan scholar-monk, Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya (1896-1998). From 1984 to 2002 he was the editor for the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy, where he lived for ten years with the senior German monk, Ven. Nyanaponika Thera (1901-1994), at the Forest Hermitage. He returned to the U.S. in 2002 and currently lives

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and teaches at Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York. Ven. Bodhi has many important publications to his credit, either as author, translator, or editor. These include The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (Majjhima Nikaya, 1995), The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Samyutta Nikaya, 2000), and The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (Anguttara Nikaya, 2012).

In 2008, together with several of his students, Ven. Bodhi founded Buddhist Global Relief, a non-profit supporting hunger relief, sustainable agriculture, and education in countries suffering from chronic poverty and malnutrition.

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EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

The Mahā Maṅgala Sutta, the Great Discourse on Blessings, is one of the most popular Buddhist suttas, included in all the standard repertories of Pāli devotional chants. The sutta begins when a deity of stunning beauty, having descended to earth in the stillness of the night, approaches the Blessed One in the Jeta Grove and asks about the way to the highest blessings.

In the very first stanza of his reply the Buddha states that the highest blessing comes from avoiding fools and associating with the wise (asevanā ca bālānaṃ, paṇḍitānañca sevanā). Since the rest of the sutta goes on to sketch all the different aspects of human felicity, both mundane and spiritual, the assignment of association with the wise to the opening stanza serves to emphasize a key point: that progress along the path of the Dhamma hinges on making the right choices in our friendships.

Contrary to certain psychological theories, the human mind is not a hermetically sealed chamber enclosing a personality unalterably shaped by biology and infantile experience. Rather, throughout life it remains a highly malleable entity continually remolding itself in response to its social

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interactions. Far from coming to our personal relationships with a fixed and immutable character, our regular and repeated social contacts implicate us in a constant process of psychological osmosis that offers precious opportunities for growth and transformation. Like living cells engaged in a chemical dialogue with their colleagues, our minds transmit and receive a steady barrage of messages and suggestions that may work profound changes even at levels below the threshold of awareness.

Particularly critical to our spiritual progress is our selection of friends and companions, who can have the most decisive impact upon our personal destiny. It is because he perceived how susceptible our minds can be to the influence of our companions that the Buddha repeatedly stressed the value of good friendship (kalyāṇa-mittatā) in the spiritual life.

The Buddha states that he sees no other thing that is so much responsible for the arising of unwholesome qualities in a person as bad friendship, nothing so helpful for the arising of wholesome qualities as good friendship (AN I.vii,10; I.viii,1). Again, he says that he sees no other external factor

that leads to so much harm as bad friendship, and no other external factor that leads to so 1 much benefit as good friendship (AN I.x,13,14). It is through the influence of a good friend that a disciple is led along the Noble Eightfold Path to release from all suffering (SN 45:2).

Good friendship, in Buddhism, means considerably more than associating with people that one finds amenable and who share one’s interests. It means in effect seeking out wise companions to whom one can look for guidance and instruction. The task of the noble friend is not only to provide companionship in the treading of the way. The truly wise and compassionate friend is one who, with understanding and sympathy of heart, is ready to criticize and admonish, to point out one’s faults, to exhort and encourage, perceiving that the final end of such friendship is growth in the Dhamma. The Buddha succinctly expresses the proper response of a disciple to such a good friend in a verse of the Dhammapada: “If one finds a person who points out one’s faults and who reproves one, one should follow such a wise and sagacious counselor as one would a guide to hidden treasure” (Dhp. 76).

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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON

Association with the wise becomes so crucial to spiritual development because the example and advice of a noble-minded counselor is often the decisive factor that awakens and nurtures the unfolding of our own untapped spiritual potential.

The uncultivated mind harbors a vast diversity of unrealized possibilities, ranging from the depths of selfishness, egotism and aggressivity to the heights of wisdom, self-sacrifice and compassion. The task confronting us, as followers of the Dhamma, is to keep the unwholesome tendencies in check and to foster the growth of the wholesome tendencies, the qualities that lead to awakening, to freedom and purification.

However, our internal tendencies do not mature and decline in a vacuum. They are subject to the constant impact of the broader environment, and among the most powerful of these influences is the company we keep, the people we look upon as teachers, advisors and friends. Such people silently speak to the hidden potentials of our own being, potentials that will either unfold or wither under their influence. In our pursuit of the Dhamma it therefore becomes essential for us to choose as our guides and companions those who represent, at least in part, the noble qualities we seek to internalize by the practice of the Dhamma. This is especially necessary in the early stages of our spiritual development, when our virtuous aspirations are still fresh and tender, vulnerable to being undermined by inward irresolution or by discouragement

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from acquaintances who do not share our ideals. In this early phase our mind resembles a chameleon, which alters its color according to its background. Just as this remarkable lizard turns green when in the grass and brown when on the ground, so we become fools when we associate with fools and sages when we associate with sages. Internal changes do not generally occur suddenly; but slowly, by increments so slight that we ourselves may not be aware of them, our characters undergo a metamorphosis that in the end may prove to be dramatically significant.

If we associate closely with those who are addicted to the pursuit of sense pleasures, power, riches and fame, we should not imagine that we will remain immune from those addictions: in time our own minds will gradually incline to these same ends. If we associate closely with those who, while not given up to moral recklessness, live their lives comfortably adjusted to mundane routines, we too will remain stuck in the ruts of the commonplace.

If we aspire for the highest -- for the peaks of transcendent wisdom and liberation -- then we must enter into association with those who represent the highest. Even if we are not so fortunate as to find companions who have already scaled the heights, we can well count ourselves blessed if we cross paths with a few spiritual friends who share our ideals and who make earnest efforts to nurture the noble qualities of the Dhamma in their hearts.

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When we raise the question how to recognize good friends, how to distinguish good advisors from bad advisors, the Buddha offers us crystal-clear advice. In the Shorter Discourse on a Full-Moon Night (MN 110) he explains the difference between the companionship of the bad person and the companionship of the good person. The bad person chooses as friends and companions those who are without faith, whose conduct is marked by an absence of shame and moral dread, who have no knowledge of spiritual teachings, who are lazy and unmindful, and who are devoid of wisdom. As a

consequence of choosing such bad friends as his advisors, the bad person plans and acts for his own harm, for the harm of others, and the harm of both, and he meets with sorrow and misery.

In contrast, the Buddha continues, the good person chooses as friends and companions those who have faith, who exhibit a sense of shame and moral dread, who are learned in the Dhamma, energetic in cultivation of the mind, mindful, and possessed of wisdom. Resorting to such good friends, looking to them as mentors and guides, the good person pursues these same qualities as his own ideals and absorbs them into his character.

Thus, while drawing ever closer to deliverance himself, he becomes in turn a beacon light for others. Such a one is able to offer those who still wander in the dark an inspiring model to emulate, and a wise friend to turn to for guidance and advice.

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Attachment

By Ajahn Brahm

Ajahn Brahm (Ajahn Brahmavamso Mahathera), born Peter Betts in London in 1951, is a Theravada Buddhist monk. Ajahn Brahm grew up in London and earned a degree in Theoretical Physics from Cambridge University. Disillusioned with the world of academe, he trained as a monk in the jungles of Thailand under Ajahn Chah. A monk for over thirty years, Ajahn Brahm is a revered spiritual guide and the abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery, in Serpentine, Western Australia— one of the largest monasteries in the southern hemisphere. He is also the Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia, and spiritual adviser and inspiration for Buddhist centers throughout Asia and Australia. His winning combination of wit and wisdom makes his books bestsellers in many languages, and on his teaching tours Brahm regularly draws multinational audiences of thousands.

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Probably the most misunderstood term in Western Buddhist circles is that usually translated as ‘attachment’. Too many have got it into their head that they shouldn’t be attached to anything. Thus jokes abound such as the one on why the houses of Buddhists have dirt in the corners - because they don’t allow even their vacuum cleaner any attachments. Some misguided pseudo-Buddhists criticise those living a moral life as being attached to their precepts and thus praise immoral action as a sign of deep wisdom. Bah! Others in traditional Buddhist circles create fear of deep meditation by incorrectly stating that you will only get attached to the jhānas. It all goes too far.

Perhaps the pinnacle of mischievous misinformation was said by Rajneesh who claimed “I am so detached, I am not even attached to detachment” and thus conveniently excused all his excesses.

The Pāli word in question is

upādāna, literally meaning ‘a taking up’. It is commonly used indicating a ‘fuel’, which sustains a process, such as the oil in a lamp being the fuel/upādana for the flame. It is related to craving (taṇhā). For example, craving is reaching out for the delicious cup of coffee, upādāna is picking it up. Even though you think that you can easily put the cup of coffee down again, though your hand is not superglued to the cup, it is still upādāna. You have picked it up. You have grasped.

Fortunately not all upādāna is unBuddhist. The Lord Buddha only specified four groups of upādāna: ‘taking up’ the five senses, ‘taking up’ wrong views, ‘taking up’ the idea that liberation may be attained simply through rites and initiations, and ‘taking up’ the view of a self.

There are many other things that one may ‘take up’ or grasp, but the point is that only these four groups lead to rebirth, only these four are

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fuel for future existence and further suffering, only these four are to be avoided.

Thus taking up the practice of compassion, taking up the practice of the Five Precepts or the greater precepts of a monk or nun, and taking up the practice of meditation - these are not un-Buddhist and it is mischievous to discourage them by calling them ‘attachments’. Keeping the Five Precepts is, in fact, a letting go of coarse desires like lust, greed and violence. Practising compassion is a letting go of self-centredness and practising meditation is letting go of past, future, thinking and much else. The achievement of jhāna is no more than the letting go of the world of the five senses to gain access to the mind. Nibbāna is the letting go once and for all of greed, hatred and delusion, the seeds of rebirth. Parinibbāna is

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the final letting go of body and mind (the Five Khandhas). It is wrong to suggest that any of these stages of letting go are the same as attachment.

The path is like a ladder. One grasps the rung above and lets go of the rung below to pull oneself up. Soon, the rung just grasped is the rung one is now standing on. Now is the time to let go of that rung as one grasps an even higher rung to raise oneself further. If one never grasped anything, one would remain spiritually stupid.

To those without wisdom, letting go may often appear as attachment. For example a bird on the branch of a tree at night appears to be attaching firmly to the branch, but it has actually let go and is fully asleep.

When a bird lets go and the muscles around its claws begin to relax they

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close on the branch. The more it relaxes, the more the claws tighten.

That’s why you never see a bird fall off a perch even when they are asleep. It may look like attachment but, in fact, it is letting go. Letting go often leads to stillness, not moving from where you are, which is why it is sometimes mistaken as attachment.

So don’t be put off by wellmeaning but misinformed L-plate Buddhists who have completely misunderstood upādāna and attachment. Attach without fear to your precepts, your meditation object and to the path for it will lead to Nibbāna. And don’t forget to purchase the attachments for your vacuum cleaner too!” EH Source: BSWA Newsletter, Perth, Australia, December 1999

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What does a Buddhist Monastic Know about Real Life, Anyway?

By Ajahn Amaro

Born in England in 1956, Amaro Bhikkhu received a BSc. in Psychology and Physiology from the University of London. Spiritual searching led him to Thailand, where he went to Wat Pah Nanachat, a Forest Tradition monastery established for Western disciples of Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah, who ordained him as a bhikkhu in 1979. Soon afterwards he returned to England and joined Ajahn Sumedho at the newly established Chithurst Monastery. He also resided for many years at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, making trips to California every year during the 1990s.

In June 1996 he established Abhayagiri Monastery in Redwood Valley, California, where he was co-Abbot with Ajahn Pasanno until 2010. He then returned to Amaravati to become its Abbot.

Ajahn Amaro has written a number of books, including an account of an 830-mile trek from Chithurst to Harnham Vihara called Tudong – the Long Road North, republished in the expanded book Silent Rain. His other publications include Small Boat, Great Mountain (2003), Rain on the Nile (2009) and The Island – An Anthology of the Buddha’s Teachings on Nibbana (2009) co-written with Ajahn Pasanno, a guide to meditation called Finding the Missing Peace and other works dealing with various aspects of Buddhism.

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Amaravati monastery in rural Hertfordshire, UK.

We are often asked, “What does a Buddhist monastic know about real life?” This is a very good question because many people may think that we don’t have to deal with real life in the monastery: “Things are easy for you, but outside the monastery wall we have to deal with real life; we have a much more difficult job.” Their impression is that once you have given yourself to the holy life, then you float around on little purple clouds, existing in exquisite mutual harmony at all times, exuding undifferentiated love and compassion for each other, and, finally, at the end of a life of ever-increasing blissfulness and profound insights into the nature of ultimate reality, deliquescing softly into nirvana leaving behind a soft chime of ringing bells and a rainbow.

Not so. I’ll get on to that in a minute. I’m joking a bit, but this is the kind of image that people may have of monasteries. It’s another world, something that other people do.

The Buddha was asked a lot of questions in his time, and he once said there are four ways to respond to a question. The first way is to give a straight answer.

The second is to ask a counter question. The third is to

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Amaravati in spring, 2014

rephrase the question. The fourth is to remain silent. As I look at the question at hand, what comes to mind are two counter questions: What is a Buddhist monastic?

And what is real life?

Most people probably don’t know all that much about how the monastic system actually functions in the Buddhist world. To many, Buddhist monks are simply people who magically appear and disappear, like

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The Sangha officially opening Amaravati, 1985

wandering teachers or circuit preachers. There’s not really a cognizance of what a monastery is, how it functions, or where a Buddhist monastic comes from.

Even the word “monastery,” like the word “morality,” often has a certain emotional effect. Your blood starts to get cold, and you think, “That’s a place for other people, and there’s something about it I don’t really like.” I certainly had the same feeling at one time: You disappear behind a 20-foot-high wall into a life of scrubbing floors, freezing nights, and grim asceticism.

That’s “the monastery.”

In many Buddhist countries-Tibet, Korea, China, and Japan-they did create a remote, enclosed, and selfsufficient model. However, in Southeast Asia, at least where Buddhism was not repressed by the various rulers, they sustained the original mendicant model that was established at the time of the Buddha. The monastery is actually like a cross between a church, commune, and community center. It’s not just a place where nuns and monks live; it’s everybody’s place.

In Thailand, for example, there are about 50,000 monasteries. Every village has a monastery; big villages have two or three. It’s like a synagogue or church with six rabbis or half a dozen ministers. One or two do most of the talking, and the others live, learn, and help out. It’s a commune of spiritual seekers, and it’s also a place where community life happens. Many village monasteries host the local town meetings or “county” fairs. The monastery is the heart of the community, not

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that place out on the hill that nobody ever enters.

Of course, there’s a degree of variety. Forest monasteries place an emphasis on meditation and tend to be outside of villages and a little further away. Those that are extremely popular will try to sustain a bit more quiet, with visiting hours at such and such a time. There might not be anyone to receive you. But generally speaking, most monasteries are open; they are everybody’s place.

At its heart, a monastery is sustained as a spiritual sanctuary. What creates a monastery is that everyone who comes through the gate undertakes to live by a certain standard, to conduct themselves in a certain way in terms of honesty, nonviolence, modesty, restraint, and sobriety. Within that zone, it’s a safe place: no one is going to rob you, to chat you up, to try to sell you anything, to attack you, to lie to you, to be drunk. It’s an environment that maximizes the supportive conditions for helping you to cultivate kindness, wisdom, concentration-the whole range of wholesome spiritual qualities.

There are also teachers available. You might think that a great master like our teacher, Ajahn Chah, may have spent his life up in the mountains, meditating under a tree. He did that for a number of years, but once he opened a monastery, he spent much of the next thirty years sitting under his hut receiving visitors from ten o’clock in the morning often until midnight. That’s the teacher’s job: the doctor is in. Not every monastery

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Monastic community, 2019

functions in that way, but it’s generally the job of certain members of monastic communities to be available to anyone who drops in. If you want to talk to the Ajahn, you don’t schedule a private interview, you just hang out until there’s an opportunity to ask your question.

In this respect, intrinsic to a Buddhist monastic life is the fact that you can be called upon to some degree or another to share with other people the wisdom and understanding you have developed. Whatever good is developed in the lives of the inhabitants of the monastery is made available. Of course, some people are not disposed to be teachers. Yet just aspiring to control your bad habits and get your mind a little bit clearer is in itself a great gift and a blessing to others. It’s a beautiful example.

So if this is a Buddhist monastic life, then what is real life? People often think real life means having a credit rating, a retirement plan, a job, a sex life, a house, a car, and a fixed pattern of living. But couldn’t you also say a real life means simply having a body and mind? Or a personality, a feeling of identity? For people who ask the question, the implication is that those who don’t have financial responsibilities, children, parents to look after, or marriage partners somehow experience a life that is intrinsically different. All the rough and tumble of the lay world is somehow intrinsically different. Seeing Buddhist monks or nuns on show-sitting in robes, statue-like and serene-it is easy to think, “They are

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not like me: they haven’t got sore knees like me; they haven’t got profane thoughts going through their minds like me; they haven’t got worries and anxieties, thoughts about the past and future all the time like me; they don’t have a difficult parent like me.” Well believe me, the monastery gate does not create any radical alteration of human nature as you pass through it. Come live in the monastery for one week, and then ask yourself where real life is.

From the Buddhist point of view, life is happening at the level of the senses, where sense consciousness impacts sights, sounds, smell, taste, touch, body, perceptions, feelings, ideas, and emotions. That’s where we experience life. Whether you are inside the monastery gate or outside it, the impact is the same.

There’s a saying in Japan: “There’s many a shaven head surrounding a hairy mind.” When you enter the monastery gate, all your struggles with your parents don’t suddenly get switched off. All your sexual desires don’t suddenly fizzle out. All your feelings of selfcriticism don’t miraculously transform: “Now I am a monk. I like myself.”

In fact, the monastery is an optimum environment in which to experience real life. We get the raw experience of feeling sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch because all the normal distractions, mufflings, and mutings are absent. We can’t nibble or go to the fridge to help ourselves. Food has to be put into our hands before we

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can eat it. We don’t listen to music, have any radios, listen to the news, watch TV, read novels. We don’t play sports, do crossword puzzles, garden. Basically, you ain’t got nothin’ except your mind and the great outdoors. We live communally; everything is shared. We don’t have our own choice about whom we work with or how we work. We have no choice about the menu; the cooks cook what they want to cook with whatever shows up in the larder. We can’t just pop into town to do some shopping or take in a movie. We don’t have our own space.

Sometimes in the winter time we get cold and wet, and there isn’t a way to get as warm as we’d like to be.

Maybe I’m painting a bit of a rough picture, since at times it is also very pleasant. But what I’m really trying to say is that when you start to shed the familiar props, you get life in the raw. You experience the whole battery of loves and hates, of self concern, of the amount of things we need to have to make ourselves feel good. It’s like a junkie. As long as you have a good supply of clean stuff, everything is fine, but as soon as the supply starts to dry up, things get really hairy. Anyone who has been addicted-to cigarettes, food, affection, heroin, whateverknows what that is like. When the props aren’t there, we realize how dependent our life has become. By seeing this and processing it in a deep and clear way, we can understand it. Then we are more able not to be dragged around.

the way to cook courgettes but have to watch someone doing otherwise and swallow it, then things get really interesting.”

The interviewer was really shocked, but it was very insightful of the nun. She realized that she was far more attached to her ideas of right and wrong, good and bad.

“I think things should be this way.” “Monks shouldn’t talk like that.” “This is what Buddhism is, and this is what it isn’t.” She would get really upset because Ajahn Sumedho wouldn’t quote the Buddha’s discourses in his Dhamma talks but would use his own language and reflect from his own experience. She’d say, “We are Buddhists. We should be quoting the Buddha!” If we don’t meet them and know them, we are dragged around by our preferences, our loves and hates, rights and wrongs. As long as things go smoothly, we can be dragged around quite happily because we think this is just life. But as soon as our plans are frustrated, as soon as we meet with a situation that doesn’t go the way we like, then we lose it. We get lost. We die.

There was a very sweet incident that happened a number of years ago with the first nun in our community in England. She was a middle aged woman, had been married, had had quite a sophisticated life. A women’s magazine came to do a feature on the nuns, and they were interviewing her. They said, “It must be terribly difficult for you: sleeping on the floor, having one meal a day, getting up at 4 o’clock in the morning, being told what to do by all these young whippersnappers.

There’s a beautiful passage in the Dhammapada where the Buddha says, “Mindfulness is the path to the Deathless, Heedlessness is the path to death. The mindful never die, the heedless are as if dead already.”

In the monastery, we learn to deal with the body, with pain. Living communally, we learn a lot about forgiveness, commitment, honesty, patience. We learn how to deal with anger, jealousy, fearfulness, selfishness. We get the whole palate; every color is there. If you can’t deal with them, you don’t survive.

The effort within the monastic life is to know life as you experience it, as you feel it in a complete and deep way. In the monastery, you learn to understand how the feelings of love and hate, success and failure, praise and criticism all function. You learn to find that space that holds it, that knows it, and that can be with it and be still within all that occurs.

of a certain age to adjust to all these hardships, but that’s nothing. The really difficult thing is to give up your own opinions. That’s the hardship. When you know-not just think, but know-that you are right about

environment, can help you carry that learning back with you, and you can begin to experience the whole firmament of your daily life or your family life even while surrounded by people who are not resolute on a

“Oh,” she replied, “that’s easy, a piece of cake. Really. At first, I thought it would be very difficult for a woman

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Coming to the monastery as a lay person and participating in that life, plugging into that

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spiritual practice. After all, most people are caught up in the rat race and not intent on the realization of ultimate truth.

What the monastery provides in the world is a reminder that everything is okay, that we can live with whatever is happening, that we can ride the wave. For those who live outside the monastic sphere, our effort is to provide an alternative to the drivenness of the world. Even though you might be driving the car to work, holding down a job, looking after your aging parents, feeding your kids, or being with a loved one who is dying, it doesn’t have to be frantic. It doesn’t have to be obsessive. It doesn’t have to be burdensome. There is a manner in which we can relate to even the most impactful and potent, emotionally charged issues of life whereby they are held, they are understood, they are fully experienced, and they are not confusing. So real life then has to do with a mind full of life, an acceptance and appreciation of life, and the monastery is endeavoring to give us a sense of this real life.

Adapted from a talk given on August 3, 1998, in Caspar, California. EH

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Faith and Values: A Buddhist response to the coronavirus pandemic

By Ven. Thubten Chonyi

Ven. Thubten Chonyi is a founder of Friends of Sravasti Abbey, the religious center in Pend Oreille County. She was ordained at the abbey in 2008. In this short article she explains how a Buddhist would experience these difficult times.

I suppose every Buddhist will have a distinct and personal response to this question. For me, the coronavirus is a powerful teacher about life, death, change, compassion and resilience. In general, I think Buddhists recognize how the present times call us to strengthen our spiritual practice and deepen our refuge in Buddha and his teachings.

The pandemic vividly illustrates a core Buddhist principle: That beings are equally subject to birth, aging, sickness and death. That all things — physical and mental — are in continuous change, not remaining the same from one moment to the next. Consequently, although we crave stability and pleasant experiences, there is no real security and happiness is fleeting. We are not in control.

Reflecting on these truths is not depressing, as you might think.

For folks inclined to the Buddhist view, it’s a huge relief. “Oh. This situation — challenging as it is — is just another demonstration

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of how things are. I can accept what’s happening and assess the situation with a clear mind.” Furthermore, while Buddha didn’t teach that things are illusionary, he described how they are like illusions in that, upon analysis, they don’t exist in the way that they appear.

With proper understanding, this too is a relief.

We also have to marvel at the kindness that people are showing one another during this difficult time. Many people are reaching out to help others—think of the kindness of the essential workers who risk their lives— and society is showing its appreciation.

In addition, Buddhists are meditating and praying to calm our own minds and hearts and to cultivate qualities like love, compassion, wisdom and skill so that we are balanced and prepared to bring benefit.

Although we call on the assistance of fully awakened beings, we know we have to do our part, too. Prayer isn’t sufficient; action is necessary.

With faith and the aspiration to care for every being, we can bring joy into the actions we take to benefit others.

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Have a clear mind That doesn’t mean we just let the entire freight load of ills riding on the back of the coronavirus to trample us. But having accepted the situation, we can do so with a clear mind that’s not distorted by the additional grief of railing, “This shouldn’t be happening!” In fact, this is happening. Now, with a loving heart, let’s see how we can help others, regardless of who they are or what they believe. Our wish is to relieve suffering, no matter whose it is.

A human response Of course, some Buddhists also experience fear and grief, anxiety and regret, outrage and utter heartbreak.

I’m not claiming immunity from normal, human reactions to tragedy and loss. But Buddha teaches that disturbing emotions are key links in the chain of causes that induce our suffering. So, ideally, we draw from his 84,000 teachings to apply the antidotes to our fears.

We take this experience onto the spiritual path with confidence in another of the Buddha’s core teachings: That liberation from suffering and its causes is possible.

Are you searching for a spiritually challenging work?

Do you enjoy meeting fellow Dharma practitioners, Buddhist leaders, and Dharma masters? Would you like to introduce the latest Buddhist book you read recently?

How about researching into the latest web-sites on Buddhist activities around the world? And of course, what about telling us how you first came in contact with the dharma and what the dharma means to you today. Well, if you find all of these interesting, we can make it spiritually challenging for you too!

In every issue of EASTERN HORIZON, we publish special chat sessions with leading Buddhist personalities, essays on all aspects of Buddhism, book reviews, and news and activities that are of interest to the Buddhist community. We need someone to help us in all these projects. If you are keen to be part of this exciting magazine, please e-mail to the editor at Bennyliow@gmail.com, and we will put you in touch with what’s challenging for the next issue!

Let us share the dharma for the benefit of all sentient beings!

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The Investigating Mind

By Sayadaw U Tejaniya

Sayadaw U Tejaniya began his Buddhist training as a young teenager in Burma under the late Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw (1913– 2002). After a career in business and life as a householder, he has become a permanent monk since 1996. He teaches meditation at Shwe Oo Min Dhamma Sukha Forest Meditation Center in Yangon, Myanmar.

Sayadaw’s relaxed demeanor and easy sense of humor can belie a commitment to awareness he encourages his students to apply in every aspect of their lives.

His earlier life as a householder gives him a rare insight into the challenges faced by his lay students. His books, “Don’t Look Down on the Defilements, They Will Laugh at You”, “Awareness alone is not Enough” and “Dhamma Everywhere: Welcoming each Moment with Awareness+Wisdom” aptly characterize his teachings— accessible and true to the traditional teachings of the Buddha.

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I once was sitting in meditation while listening to my teacher, Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw, giving a dhamma talk. My mind was very calm, but suddenly I saw it become highly agitated. How did this happen?

How did anger arise in the mind so quickly when it was peaceful only moments before?

In that moment, I noticed something very interesting: my mind became curious about what had happened.

It wanted to know about itself. It wanted to know why it had lost its peacefulness and had become angry.

So it had backed up a bit, and it began to ask questions. Its interest in knowing itself then changed the mind’s quality away from anger.

It wanted to learn and know the truth, and, because of that, it began to gently watch the anger run its course.

As I continued to sit, I was able to watch aversion operating in the mind. On the one hand, the mind was straining to hear what my teacher was saying. On the other hand, a group of children were making noise just outside the meditation hall. I wanted them to stop, and I saw the

mind complaining about the noise and complaining that I couldn’t hear my teacher’s talk. Some strong feelings came up. The observing

mind saw everything that was going on in the mind.

Can you see how expansive the mind’s field of view was at this point? After it saw itself going back and forth between these two sides for a while, it saw the dissatisfaction, the aversion. The mind realized that it had taken one kind of sound, which was the sound of my teacher’s voice, and labeled it “good” and favorable, whereas the sounds of other people talking were “bad,” unwanted sounds.

In this moment of realization, the mind didn’t favor one object or another. It was able to hear sounds as just sounds, without buying into the story the mind was telling about good sounds and bad sounds. At that point the mind stopped both its craving to hear my teacher’s voice and its aversion to the voices of the people who were talking.

Instead, the mind just remained in the middle and continued watching with interest. The mind saw the

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Dhamma teachings in the West and East

suffering and just died down.

This is how to meditate— with interest and inquiry every time one or more of the three unwholesome root qualities [craving, anger, and confusion] arise.

The Buddha called this vital quality of inquiry in the mind dhamma vicaya, which means a mind that naturally investigates reality. It is a mind that studies itself by asking questions to discover what is happening and why it is happening. The mind wants to know the nature of the three unwholesome root qualities.

Often practitioners pay attention to mindfulness and right effort, but they forget to practice dhamma vicaya. They forget to investigate and to ask questions about experience in order to learn. But mindfulness is about understanding. You have to use wise thinking to decide how to handle things; you cannot limit your practice to continuously being aware. That’s not good enough.

The unwholesome roots are very dominant in the mind. They are very experienced, very skillful, and they will always get their way if we are not aware. If you don’t fully

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recognize them and bring in wisdom, they will take over the mind.

The equanimity that came when I was listening to my teacher and the visitors talk was the result of

true understanding of the nature of liking and disliking in the mind.

This arose through observation and investigation of the discomfort that I was feeling.

In this same way, as soon as you recognize any mental discomfort, turn your attention toward it to learn all that you can about it. If you can see subtle mental discomfort, watch it change: Does it increase or decrease? As the mind becomes more equanimous and sensitive, it will recognize subtle reactions more easily.

Always take the arising of an unskillful root quality as an opportunity to investigate its nature. Ask yourself questions! How do the unwholesome roots make you feel? What thoughts arise in the mind? How does what you think affect the way you feel? How does what you feel affect the way you think? What is the attitude behind the thoughts? How does any of this change the way you perceive pain?

The mind needs to be directed, and dhamma vicaya does that. Once you have set a direction for the mind, it will continue in that direction.

This is a natural quality of the mind.

If you leave the mind undirected, there will be chaos.

Take fear as another example.

If there is fear and you decide to investigate this emotion, you are setting the mind in the right direction. If, however, you try to get rid of this fear, you are directing the mind wrongly.

Give yourself time. Go slowly, feel your way through whatever is happening. Try to gather as much information as you can. That’s the function of awareness—to gather information. Whenever you feel there is an issue that needs to be looked into, investigate it. What is going on in the mind will seem rather chaotic at first.

You need to look at the same issues repeatedly and from different angles. As your awareness becomes more continuous, your fear will settle down, and you will be able to understand which issues are important and which are not.

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You will see the benefit of the practice more clearly and understand what you have learned at deeper levels. All this will further increase your confidence.

Never get discouraged when you lose awareness. Every time you recognize that you have lost awareness, be happy. The fact that you have recognized that you lost awareness means that you are now aware. Just keep looking at this process of losing and regaining awareness and learn from it.

Life is a reflection of the quality of the mind. If you really understand the mind, you understand the world. You gain this understanding by observing and learning. You don’t need to believe anything you don’t intellectually understand. Just keep investigating. Just keep learning from your personal experience. EH

Excerpted from Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Relax and Be Aware: Mindfulness Meditations for Clarity, Confidence, and Wisdom, Shambhala: 2019. pp 136.

US$17.95. www.shambhala.com

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Overlooking official responses: Thai Buddhist institutions and Covid-19

By Dr Thomas Borchert

Professor Borchert specializes in the religions of East and Southeast Asia. His area of research includes Theravada Buddhist traditions of mainland Southeast Asia and the minorities of China. Other research interests include religion and politics, monastic education, transnational Buddhist networks and the legal systems that govern religious actors in Asia (both religious and secular). He received a Ph.D. (2006) in the History of Religions from the University of Chicago and a B.A. (1992) from Swarthmore College.

He is the author of Educating Monks: Minority Buddhism on China’s Southwest Border (University of Hawai’i Press, 2017), and is the editor of Theravada Buddhism in Colonial Contexts (Routledge 2018).

In the last several months, stories have emerged about the ways that Covid-19 has affected Buddhists in Asia. While the long-term consequences on religious communities remain unclear, scholars are reporting on the effects of the pandemic on Buddhist practices across Asia. Many of these public facing essays focus on what are overtly religious practices, such as the online migration of Buddhist ceremonies in Singapore or dharma teaching in Nepal, or the use of protective rites against Covid from around the Buddhist world. This focus is most explicit in an essay by Pierre Salguerro that highlights how different types of Buddhists have protected themselves against the disease. The essay argues that journalistic accounts have primarily highlighted meditation as a Buddhist response and ignored

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apotropaic practices. While this is a useful intervention, the essay perhaps unintentionally reinforces a secularreligious distinction in matters of public health by suggesting that states engage in medical/scientific practices (encouraging face masks and hand washing, for example) while religions engage in magical protective rites. As a genre these essays—the first drafts of the scholarly efforts to make sense of the impact of Covid-19—tend to ignore institutional responses or actions, particularly those that are at the intersection of state and religious institutions.

Council (SSC) to alleviate the suffering of the Thai people and to mitigate the spread of the disease. These have included publicizing the receipt of a cash donation from executives of 7-11 meant to be redistributed around the country, donating masks to novices throughout the country, and postponing summer ordination programs and the annual Pali exams.

of the corona virus, most of which date from late March.

This document does not talk about prayer, rites, faith, or comparable matters. Rather, it is concerned with public health. It describes how the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand signed a declaration specifying measures and practices that monks and novices should follow to help prevent the spread of the disease.

the SSC are communicating as their primary response.

Rather, the official, institutional response has focused on public health and mundane, ordinary human needs.

A clear example of this oversight is evident in Thailand.

In late April 2020, the National Office of Buddhism (NOB) in Thailand released an eBook (in Thai) that detailed some of the efforts of the Thai Sangha (the monastic community) to mitigate the national impact

These measures include: limiting the movement of people into and out of the temple and forbidding novices to leave except to go out for daily alms; ensuring people wash their hands when returning to the temple; postponing important ceremonies (such as the 150th anniversary of the Supreme Patriarch’s own temple, Wat Ratchabophit); and following other public health measures of the government. The document also describes how the secretary of the Supreme Patriarch and the National Office of Buddhism put out a call to temples throughout the country to coordinate with local governments to establish centers to distribute food to people affected by Covid-19. Most of this eBook is a compilation of short reports of temples from throughout the country showing monks behind piles of food to distribute, laywomen working in temples to sew masks, and similar kinds of events.

In April and May, the NOB’s website also highlighted other work being conducted by the Supreme Sangha

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There is nothing extraordinary about any of these responses. They are all appropriate institutional responses to a public health crisis. Indeed, the relief efforts that are described on the NOB website are pretty prosaic, boring even. They deal with basic needs, such as food. They display posters that highlight guidelines for maintaining a social distance. They emphasize masks.

While some Thai monks are engaged in apotropaic rites in response to Covid-19, this is not what the NOB and

It is striking to me that most of the discussions of Buddhist responses to Covid particularly in Southeast Asia (and especially monks and gift giving, here and here) have ignored institutions, as well as how these institutions have advocated public health responses (though see here on the public health efforts of the Taiwanese group Tzi Chi). The reasons for this are complex, but I would highlight three.

First, the operations of Thai monastic institutions, particularly in their interactions with state agencies, have not been well or fully described in the literature studying Thai Buddhism. In part, this is because these institutions have a hybrid nature: they are shaped by state law, but they are not really or not directly a part of the state. The organization of the SSC is established in a law commonly referred to as the “Sangha Act.” The current version of this law was enacted in 1962, though significant revisions were made as recently as 2018. The Sangha Act delegates to the SSC the authority to manage the daily affairs of Thai monks, and the NOB, a governmental agency housed in the office of the prime minister, serves as its secretariat. The NOB is responsible for distributing the policies and rules

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established by and through the SSC, but it does not enforce them. The NOB’s website serves as a, if not the, official face of Buddhism in Thailand. However, serving as the official face of Buddhism in the country does not mean that it represents the interests of all monks, let alone all Buddhists.

In addition, the scope of the power wielded by the SSC is ambiguous. There is a clear bureaucratic edifice to the Thai Sangha, with the SSC at its head, which is also established in the Sangha Act. However, the responsibilities and reach of this ecclesiastical bureaucracy are spelled out in subsequent regulations only in very general terms. This has important repercussions for governing monks in Thailand.

For example, when monks commit infractions, jurisdiction for trying and punishing these monks is often ambiguous, leading to delays or the avoidance of punishment altogether.

Thus, while Thai monks are formally under the authority of the Supreme Patriarch and the SSC, the Sangha Act also gives individual abbots a great deal of autonomy to run their temples as they see fit. Because of the autonomy that individual abbots wield, even with something like the Supreme Patriarch’s call for temples to provide food for laity described above, authority is murky. The Supreme Patriarch is a powerful figure, and monks do listen to his instructions, but individual abbots are not required to take up his instructions.

Clearly, some temples followed them, but not out of compulsion.

Scholarship on Buddhism has seemingly not known how to describe the institutions of Thai Buddhism, as it is neither state nor not state. As a result, we have very little understanding of how the institutions work, of how monks govern one another beyond the disciplinary rules of the Vinaya, or how the monastic institutions interact with state institutions. In other words, we do not really understand how power and authority function in Thai Buddhism.

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A second reason for the oversight by scholars of Thai Buddhism is clearly the effect of disciplinary orientation: most scholars of Buddhism in Southeast Asia have been trained either as anthropologists or as historians of religion. Our units of analysis, thus, are more likely to be the individual monastic, the texts they have produced, or monasteries, rather than the wider institutions that they build or inhabit. Erick White has suggested that since the early 1980s scholarly attention has turned away from the “mundane, conventional, veryday world of monastic affairs,” and argued for turning to look at how a variety of bureaucratic organizations—such as Buddhist schools and universities, among others—structure the lives of Thai monks and novices. As he highlights, much more work needs to be done on the way that the bodies like the SSC both govern Thai monks and intersect with state institutions. While recent work in the study of religion in Japan and Tibet has argued for the need to ask sociological and legal questions, with a few exceptions, this work remains limited in the study of Buddhism in Thailand and Southeast Asia.

Beyond disciplinary orientations, a third reason, I suspect, is that Buddhist studies, at least in Thailand, may also continue to have a romance problem; that is, the field still echoes the orientalist assumptions that were present at its founding. We are more likely to see Buddhists as religious actors primarily, rather than as people who also do Buddhism. This inclines us to look to their religious actions first, and may end up missing the prosaic relief efforts that do not always look religious, but could emerge from a variety of institutions. This means we tend to look at who we want Buddhists to be, rather than paying attention to what they may actually be doing. EH September 3, 2020

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EASTERN HORIZON | FEATURE

Our World in a Time of Change

By His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

The following conversation by His Holiness the Dalai Lama was with students in Russia.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, and a world renown Buddhist teacher. He is committed to promoting basic human values, to fostering interreligious harmony, advocating for the welfare of the Tibetan people and reviving ancient Indian knowledge. His Holiness was awarded the Noble Peace Prize in 1989 for his relentless pursuit of peace in Tibet.

Prof Nikolai Yankovski, Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, introduced himself and explained that he would be moderating today’s conversation instead of Prof

other animals, even those as small as insects, we want to lead an undisturbed happy life. What makes a difference is that human beings are intelligent and we try to use our

His Holiness opened his talk with the observation that we are all the same as human beings.

“We all want to live a happy life.

We don’t want suffering. Like

‘The twentieth century saw two world wars. We used our human intelligence and scientific knowledge for military purposes.

We developed ever more destructive weapons including nuclear bombs

Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Director of Institute for Cognitive Research, St. Petersburg State University, who had lost her voice. He clarified that the main participants in today’s meeting were students at Russian universities. He hoped the experience would be as significant for them as meeting His Holiness had been for him.

intelligence to find happiness. But sometimes we are short-sighted and narrow-minded about it. In the past, for example, we Tibetans would pray for the welfare of all sentient beings, but in fact we were really only concerned with Tibetans.

I expect it was the same for you Russians too.

Prof Nikolai Yankovski, Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, introducing the program with students from Russian universities and His Holiness the Dalai Lama from his residence in Dharamsala, HP, India on March 29, 2021. Photo by Ven Tenzin Jamphel

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His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaking on “Our World in a Time of Change” to students from Russian universities online from his residence in Dharamsala, HP, India on March 29, 2021.

Photo by Ven Tenzin Jamphel

and missiles armed with nuclear warheads. We only thought of ourselves. Now, we have to think of the whole of humanity, not just this or that nation. Since we all have to live together on this one planet, there’s no room for fighting on the basis of a division into ‘us’ and ‘them’—that’s an old way of thinking.

“When it comes to building a happier world, we have to see cultural and linguistic differences between us as secondary. We need to take the whole of humanity into account.

Previously, because we only thought in narrow terms, we stumbled into war with all the misery it entailed.

“Russia is a great nation with great potential to contribute to a happier world. I’m happy to have this opportunity today to talk to you students and to take your questions.”

A student at Kalmyk State University explained that he and his friends had volunteered to help those in need during the pandemic. He asked if they should risk their lives out of compassion.

His Holiness replied that if you

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truly practise compassion, you are primarily concerned with others rather than yourself.

“I greatly admire those who have helped people who were sick or alone, despite the risk to themselves. Active concern for others, even sacrificing your own life, is an expression of real compassion. Those of us who follow Indian spiritual traditions, such as Buddhism, believe that we live life after life. If you give up your life for the sake of someone else, you can be confident of a good life in the future. This echoes the Christian, Muslim and Jewish belief that if you sacrifice yourself for others, God will take care of you.”

His Holiness told a student from Buryat State University that faith should be combined with wisdom.

This means examining the teaching in the light of reason. It is said that people with limited education rely on blind faith. Those more able to exercise their intelligence rely on reason.

Asked by a student from St Petersburg State University

whether there is anything that is beautiful for everyone, His Holiness responded, “Warm-heartedness.

Even animals appreciate it. If you are motivated by loving kindness, it will be reflected in the happy expression on your face. Real beauty is inner beauty.”

A student from the Tuvan State University wanted to know if there is any conflict between pursuing technological development and spirituality.

“Technology is created and used by human beings,” His Holiness pointed out.

“If it is employed judiciously with a sense of altruism, the result will be good. A computer has no emotional response of its own. The effect it may have in any given situation very much depends on the person who uses it. If the person who uses it today is generous and kind, the effect is likely to be positive. But if the same piece of equipment is used tomorrow by someone who is angry and spiteful, the result is more likely to be detrimental.

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His Holiness the Dalai Lama listening to a question from a student during his talk on “Our World in a Time of Change” online from his residence in Dharamsala, HP, India on March 29, 2021. Photo by Ven Tenzin Jamphel

“We human beings are compassionate by nature. From birth we are sheltered by our mother’s love. We depend on others

for our very survival. Scientists observe that because we are social animals, we are naturally concerned about our own community and yet modern education concentrates on external things. If we were to cultivate a sense of emotional hygiene, the way we observe physical hygiene to preserve our health, we’d learn to tackle our destructive emotions and nurture a sense of altruism.”

A young woman from Moscow State University wondered how humanity would be if everyone became enlightened. His Holiness clarified that Buddhahood is a state in which the mind has been completely purified of negative emotions. The nature of the mind is clear light and compassion, whereas destructive emotions are rooted in ignorance.

However, it is because negative emotions have no sound basis that they can be eliminated and the clear light nature of the mind can be revealed.

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His Holiness stated that this was the practice of great masters of the past and is a practice he himself has followed. It’s because the nature of the mind is clear light that we can reduce and eliminate ignorance.

This makes us masters of our own destiny.

Another Buryat student enquired why more women than men seemed to be interested in the spiritual life. His Holiness conceded that he’s noticed that in the West, for example, there are more Christian nuns than monks. He speculated that women may be more aware of how dependent we all are on each other. He declared that the Buddha had given the same opportunities to men and to women inasmuch as both could receive monastic ordination.

A young woman from Moscow was interested to know how Buddhism had been affected by greater interaction with other cultures and systems of knowledge in recent times. His Holiness told her that at the time of the Buddha, followers of what later became the Pali Tradition did not scrutinize what he had

taught. Later, the masters of the Nalanda Tradition employed reason extensively. Those like Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti had very sharp,

independent minds. Chandrakirti taught that nothing exists by itself; things only exist by way of designation, which is a very subtle interpretation of the Middle Way. Other great scholars were unable to accept this because of fear of the notion that nothing exists the way it appears.

His Holiness emphasized that because wisdom is the antidote to ignorance, investigating different ways of thinking in the light of reason is immensely important. This approach, typical of the Nalanda Tradition, is what has enabled His Holiness and thousands of scholars from the monastic centres of learning in South India to engage fruitfully with modern scientists.

After a year in which students have related to their teachers and studied online and His Holiness himself has taught regularly online, he told a young Kalmyk woman that when it is possible, direct personal communication has its own benefits.

However, no Buddhist alive today

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His Holiness the Dalai Lama answering questions from the audience during his interaction with Russian university students online from his residence in Dharamsala, HP, India on March 29, 2021. Photo by Ven Tenzin Jamphel

has met the Buddha. What he taught has been preserved in Tibetan in the 100 volumes that record his words, the 220 volumes of subsequent Indian treatises and the 10,000 works by Tibetan scholars and the minds of those who read them. It’s a living tradition.

His Holiness assured a St Petersburg student that from a Buddhist point of view everything depends on us. This galaxy arises because of our karma. If we train our minds, cultivating altruism and wisdom we can put an end to the cycle of existence. Mind has no beginning or end. So long as it is shrouded in ignorance, we remain sentient beings. But once ignorance has been eliminated our mind becomes the mind of a Buddha.

However, His Holiness rejects giving in to difficulties that may arise because they are ‘the result of our karma’. He stressed that there are few situations that cannot be changed and that negative karma can be countered by creating positive karma. His Holiness explained that faced with circumstances beyond our

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control it’s good to be patient, but it is not appropriate to be patient with the suffering in general. Since we each have Buddha nature, it’s

much better to try to fulfil it by overcoming ignorance and suffering.

With regard to relations between science and Buddhism, His Holiness remarked that when he was in Tibet, he had virtually no contact with scientists, although as a child he was naturally curious. In India and elsewhere he has been able to meet with scientists and engage in discussions with them.

Subsequently, the study of science has been included in the curriculum of the monastic centres of learning.

Monks and nuns have learned about the physical world. Scientists have learned about the workings of the mind and emotions, as well as ways to cultivate and preserve peace of mind. His Holiness outlined the varying subtlety of different states of mind.

As to how to maintain peace mind when there is so much trouble in the world, His Holiness cited the example of problems that arise because of global heating. Many

of them, such as hurricanes and wild-fires, are beyond our control.

However, by cutting our use of fossil fuels and turning instead to

renewable sources of energy, such us solar and wind power, we can curtail the carbon emissions that are at the root of the problem.

The moderator, Prof Nikolai Yankovski thanked His Holiness for his helpful answers. He told him it had been a great pleasure to be in touch with him.

In his final advice, His Holiness noted that some Russian republics have traditionally been Buddhist.

“People who haven’t had the opportunity to study, who only engage in saying prayers and performing rituals shouldn’t be content with that. Study as much as you can. Compare what you learn with science. Bring the Nalanda Tradition alive. Thank you and see you again.” EH Source: https://www.dalailama. com/news/2021/our-world-in-atime-of-change. March 29, 2021

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Covid Experiences from Sri Lanka: Effects and response

By Dr. B.D. Nandadeva (UNESCO Facilitator)

Dr Nandadeva is a retired professor from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. He has a M.Sc. in Architectural Conservation (Moratuwa); a Graduate Diploma in Rock Art Conservation (Canberra), and Ph.D. in Art Conservation Research (Delaware). He is an independent consultant on tangible and intangible cultural heritage and in conservation science. Dr Nandadeva I represented Sri Lanka at the 11th and 13th Sessions of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2016), and Mauritius (2018), and the 41st Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Krakow, Poland in 2017. Currently, he is Vice-President of ICOMOS-Sri Lanka. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... https://www.youtube.com/watch?... https://www.youtube.com/watch... https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

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1. How has Sri Lanka’s Living Heritage been affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic?

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly affected Sri Lanka’s living heritage. Routine Buddhist rituals including the making of various offerings by devotees at prescribed times of the day at shrines are now done by the resident monks due to the lockdown.

Traditional craftspeople have suspended their crafts as the collection and transportation of raw materials and selling of craft items become impossible. Two other specific examples of living culture that were affected by the Covid-19 are outlined below.

1.1 Proscription of the annual Buddhist pilgrimages to Adam’s Peak: Many Sri Lankan Buddhists make annual pilgrimages to the summit of Adam’s Peak (2,243 m

above sea level) to worship what they believe to be the footprint of Buddha, and to invoke the blessings of the deity Saman, the mountain’s presiding deity and one of the four guardian deities of the island.

The pilgrimage season traditionally begins on the fullmoon day of December and ends on the full-moon day of April. This is an important element of the country’s living heritage that is associated with countless beliefs, rituals, folklore, poetry, taboos, and other cultural practices. The caretaker monks were forced to end the pilgrimage season in the fourth week of March due to the lockdown and proscription of large gatherings to prevent the spread of the virus.

1.2 Restricting the celebration of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year: Buddhist Sinhalese and Hindu Tamils of Sri Lanka celebrate their traditional New Year in mid-April to mark the entering of the sun to the house of Aries from the house of Pisces according to ancient Indian astrology. Celebrations include religious observances, dressing-up with new clothes, cooking milk-rice at an auspicious moment, family and extended family reunions at ancestral homes, showing gratitude to parents, pardoning each other for past mistakes and renewing relationships, exchange of traditional sweets among the neighbors, and community entertainment with traditional games.

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Celebrations end with ritual anointing events often held at temples, followed by leaving home at an auspicious time for one’s own vocation. As a measure to prevent the spread of the virus, the government requested the public to restrict the celebrations to be done within the family with no visits of the extended family and relatives, community gatherings or seeing neighbors, thus missing the most important cultural attributes of the celebrations.

2. Examples of the Use of Living Heritage to Cope with the Current Situation 2.1 Chanting of the Ratana Sutta (Discourse of the Precious Jewels) by Buddhist monks to ward-off the pandemic: Chanting of selected discourses of the Buddha known as suttas (sutra in Sanskrit), by monks to protect people from natural calamities has been a deeply-rooted cultural practice in Sri Lanka since the ancient times.

Accordingly, Buddhist monks at numerous monasteries chanted the Ratana Sutta for several days. The major chanting event began on 18th March at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in the World Heritage City of Kandy that was continued for seven days and nights, with the sanctified water being sprinkled over the country from the helicopter.

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2.2 Traditional String Puppet Drama to Advise the Public on how to Respond to the Pandemic: One practitioner of traditional string puppet drama has produced four short video clips to educate the public on responsible behavior to prevent the spread of the virus. He uses the traditional puppet drama characters and characters from contemporary life to convey the message. Although string puppet dramas are traditionally performed inside darkened spaces using purpose-built stages, these episodes take place outdoors in daylight, creating a sense of realism that makes it easy to convey the message across to the viewer. EH

Relevant links: Chanting of the Ratana Sutta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns__9L-AXz0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHQLDvmhWpY

Four string puppet video clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpICM3fHuMY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JgE7S84Ci8 https://www.facebook.com/production.naviya99/ videos/221879112493514/ https://www.facebook. com/production.naviya99/videos/216006639640241/

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Buddhism and the Challenges of Modern Youth

By Venerable Chuan Guan

Venerable Chuan Guan became a Buddhist monk in 2002, took his higher bhikshu ordination in 2003 under Venerable Dharma Master Miu King in Fa Yun Monastery, New Mexico, United States. He began his monastic training learning the sutras and practised meditation under the Mahayana Buddhist tradition while studying the Pali Canon. Returning back to Singapore in 2006, he continued his learning and practices, residing in Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, training under Ven. Kwang Sheng. From July 2009 to June 2013, he served in the Buddhist Library as a resident monk.

From July 2013 onwards, he is a resident monk in Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery. His focus is on Dharma learning, meditation, counselling, and spiritual services. Online, he reaches out to the Buddhist community via the blog www.buddhavacana.net. Benny Liow contacted Venerable Chuan Guan and asked him about his thoughts on the many challenges facing youths today and how can Buddhism assist them. The following are his responses to the questions.

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EH: To many young people, Buddhism doesn’t project the same vibrant, attractive image as some evangelical Christian churches, which welcome their congregations with community events, songful worship, and rock concerts. So what attracted you to Buddhism and your decision to become a monk?

Cheng Guan: Like many people, I inherited Buddhism from my parents, meaning that I started off with Buddhism mainly because our parents and oftentimes, grandparents, are Buddhists themselves.

However, it was really because Buddhism made the most sense to me, in particular its teachings. Having Religious Knowledge classes in mainstream government secondary schools definitely helped myself and many others in my generation (1986-89) to come in touch with the Buddha’s teachings.

In my teenage years and early 20s in university, I had a good number of friends who were Christians and in an ironic way, it was in part their aggressive proselytization that got me to really look at the Dharma and found the beauty in it!

Becoming a monk is another thing altogether.

Realizing that I am lazy in my spiritual practice and it would not lead to any spiritual progress if I stayed as a lay person, I decided not to walk the commonly trodden path. For if I did, I would have done what countless have done, and 30 years down the road, have a few more zeros behind the bank account, and then what?

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My ordination teacher, Master MiuKing (妙境長老) helped me realize that even if studied much Dharma, but do not put it to practise through meditation, I would still remain unenlightened. I am therefore eternally grateful to him for his kindness to accept me into the sangha.

However, whether one chooses to ordain or not, one should strive to 1) free ourselves of stress and suffering (right?) and 2) to do that, learn enough Dharma to know our stupid mind and defilements, and 3) try to work on #2 so we come closer to #1 and 4) then we can truly care and love those around us.

A common misconception is that Buddhism is about seeing life as suffering, being passive, and detached from material things, whereas young people seem to be just the opposite – optimistic, energetic, materialistic, and self-absorbed, as they grapple with establishing themselves, their careers, and their lives. How do you clarify this misconception when you meet young people?

Oh yes. Somehow, the First Enlightened (Arya, Noble) Truth is often presented as “Life is suffering”. To which I ask whether the Buddha and Arahants, while alive, were suffering?

When I meet young people, or for that matter anyone, I usually don’t dive in to drown them with Dharma. I chat with them, learn about what they are currently doing, their interest, what they are pursuing. I used to jump right in to try to enlighten people! haha Then I realised, the hard way, that I was being really presumptuous and almost self-righteous. If I do not know them as yet, who am I to tell them that the Dharma is suitable for them?

In most cases, getting to know them then allows for a more meaningful conversation, and if someone wishes

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to pursue worldly success, I share with them different aspects of the Buddha’s teachings on how one can do that. The difference is whether one pursues without scruples or not. Are we studying just to get good grades to get a good job or do we actually learn to take interest in the subject matter and strive towards mastery over it?

I often share with students that the answers to questions are often less important to how we get the answer, for that is the point of education, learning the principles behind and not simply memorising the answer. This same approach is found in the Buddha’s teachings where he would teach by asking questions to get the disciples to figure things out and not simply learn by rote.

The real misconception is that we can only act when driven by emotions like greed and anger, or when we are emotionally attached to things or people. That is, of course, the usual mode that we are used to. We don’t need Buddhism to learn that. We are already pretty good at it already!

The challenge is to strive for excellence not simply for self interest, not speak up only when we are angry, or care only for people or things we are attached to. That’s where the Buddha’s teachings on love, compassion, and wisdom (no-self and emptiness etc) can really help us relook at our usual world view.

Young adults may not be very interested in spiritual matters but when they are stressed with their work or are depressed because of broken relationships, they realize they need help. So how do you bring the Dharma to them when they are faced with such problems?

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First, as the saying goes, 無事不登三寶殿, one does not ascend the Triple Gem Hall if one is not in trouble.

This is usually used in a deprecating fashion to call out someone who only comes to us when in need.

But if we consider the Buddha’s numerous references to himself as a doctor, Dharma as medicine, and Sangha as nurses, it only makes sense if we go to the Triple Gem when we are sick. So for young adults not to be very interested in spiritual matters when things are going well, is actually very reasonable. Afterall, why should one visit a clinic or hospital if one is not sick, or not know that one is sick?

The trouble is if they are not acquainted with Buddhism, they would not feel comfortable to reach out to us for help when they really need it.

That’s why I often share with volunteer teachers in student Dharma schools, that the first priority is to help the students build a positive wholesome link with Buddhism, and not be in a rush to school them in the Tripitaka and get them to learn Dharma.

As Buddhism does not have a single holy book, what is the best way to introduce the Dharma to new Buddhists, both young and old?

There is really no best way that fits all. What has worked for many so far is to make it easy for them to ask questions during classes. When they attend the weekly Spiritual Group Cultivation (SGC) or follow up with informal lunch or tea sessions, they get to ask questions freely.

This is rather important to get new comers started.

Beyond that, we need to also revisit how we introduce the Dharma. Interestingly, if we look at how the Buddha approached this, he did not simply drown everyone he met with the full set of Dharma teachings at the get go. Rather, he spends time listening to their stories, their questions, their tribulations, then advising them according to what they need.

With a good impression, they can learn over time and

As a side note, a book I find very helpful would be “In The Buddha’s Words”, translated and compiled by Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi. The beauty of this book is that it consists of an anthology of suttas from the Pali Canon, spread

This applies to adults as well. Dharma programmes need to give Buddhists opportunities to interact with each other and with the Sangha as well. Fellowship building has to start on day one and not only when people have troubles. It does not work that way.

For didn’t the Buddha himself tell Venerable Ananda: “Spiritual Friendship is the Whole of the Holy Life”. SN 45.2 Upaddha Sutta: Half (of the Holy Life).

Another book that would be helpful as a primer would be the “What Buddhists Believe” by Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda. This can be a good start if the person is not quite ready to read the suttas as yet, and at the same time, it gives the reader a good overview of not just the Dharma, but also of Buddhism.

should they encounter difficulties in their lives, they would feel comfortable to reach out to us for a listening ear or a helping hand.

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over a framework which Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi has crafted skillfully. His own input stays at a minimum, consisting of an introduction to each chapter, so one gets in touch with the Buddha’s teachings without being daunted by the whole Tripitaka itself.

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Recommendations for books would come when they get interested already and not before that.

As there are different schools of Buddhism, how do you explain to a new Buddhist that the core teachings are similar, especially which aspects of the teaching they should focus on so that they will not be confused?

The Four Noble (Arya, Enlightened) Truths is at the core of all Buddhist lineages, as the Buddha positioned this as central and aims to help all who are ready, to be liberated from suffering. Any lineage or school that does not have this at its core is doubtful at best to be called a Buddhist group.

How can we leverage on the current interest in mindfulness meditation and neuroscience to promote Buddhism among youngsters as a modern and scientific religion or philosophy?

We need to meditate ourselves, change ourselves, improve ourselves. Then are we fit to share Buddhism with others, youngsters and seniors alike. Otherwise, who would be convinced?

To that end, we have a daily morning meditation group via zoom to make daily practices accessible for all.

In Japan, Buddhist temples are opening cafés and Buddhist-themed bars where laypeople can discuss their problems and learn about Buddhism with monks. While this makes Buddhism very contemporary, do you think this approach secularizes the Dharma, and whether we should encourage such trends?

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It does not have to be a dichotomy between outreach and temples/Buddhist centres. Temples and Buddhist centres can become a sanctuary for lay people to learn, practice Dharma, and at the same time, form a wholesome connection with the community and the Sangha.

Many teachings were given by the Buddha at lay people’s homes. This did not make the Dharma secular, rather it made it accessible. However, worldly activities like drinking and dancing were probably not present while the Buddha gave teachings.

There are Buddhist groups that have successfully incorporated Zen-themed cafes within temples and Buddhist centres without being overly worldly.

While we reach out to lay people, we need to remain focused on the core, which is Dharma, to be the vehicle for people to learn Dharma.

Our aim should never be to compete with worldly entertainments, for that path has no end to it.

As you are very much involved in community outreach in Singapore, can you share with us your major activities?

In Singapore, I work with various Buddhist temples and societies to give Dharma talks, meditation classes and retreats in person and via facebook and zoom. In addition, Little Dharma Works, the Buddhist society I serve as spiritual advisor, conducts community service programmes and fellowship outreach programmes such as walks and field trips.

For those who need more direct help, I also offer counselling in person and via zoom. EH

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To Forgive and to Forget

By Derek Pyle

Derek Pyle is a writer and activist from Oregon in the United States. He is dedicated to environmental and housing justice, and socially engaged Buddhism.

Derek cofounded the Buddhist Humanitarian Project as a response to the Rohingya refugee crisis, www.buddhisthumanitarianproject.org. Derek is currently working on a book about growing up as a millennial Buddhist. He can be reached at derekdpyle@pm.me. Derek responded to Benny Liow of Eastern Horizon on several questions regarding the need to forgive and to forget.

EH: Could you tell us how you got into Buddhism and did you follow any particular teachers or tradition in your practice?

Derek: I grew up in California, near the San Francisco Bay Area, where there is a lot of access to Buddhist teachings. My parents were followers of Thich Nhat Hanh in the early 1990s, and they were also connected to local Theravada communities. One of my earliest memories is going to Spirit Rock to see Thich Nhat Hanh speak there. Spirit Rock is a big retreat center now, but back then it was just a plot of land with a few trailers. I miss the trailer days!

I sat my first meditation retreat when I was fourteen.

It was a retreat specifically for teenagers, organized by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. We spent half the day in silence, and there were activities and small groups during the rest of the day. We talked a lot about our lives, bonding with the other teens. It was a really special community, and I returned many times.

In the United States, many Theravada retreats are led by lay teachers, who often teach together in teams. At the teen retreats, I formed a strong connection with one particular teacher, Heather Sundberg. Heather was a senior student of Venerable Ajahn Jumnian, an eccentric but revered forest monk from Thailand.

I practiced closely with Heather for many years, but I also continued to meet other teachers and traditions. I

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studied Buddhism in college, and I lived with a Tibetan monk for a year.

In the United States, many people equate Buddhism with meditation practice. This is especially true for white Americans, like myself, because we often come to Buddhism through rather commercialized versions of the practice. We forget about sutta study or the cultivation of ethics and paramis. I think it’s very important for Americans to understand the context of Buddhism, and that includes respecting the countries that have generously shared the teachings with us.

As my practice has evolved over the years, I feel much more drawn to practicing in monastic communities. I’m a lay practitioner, yes, but there is this ancient and reciprocal relationship between monastics and lay people, and I love that. The Dharma isn’t about spending a few minutes on the cushion each day, it’s a way of life. I feel most drawn to the Buddhist nuns at Aloka Vihara, a small monastery in Northern California. They are deep practitioners, and I feel very inspired by the community there.

How has Buddhism changed your perspectives of life over the years?

That’s a hard question because the Dharma has been so integral to my life. I can’t really separate the two. That was one of Ajahn Jumnian’s central teachings, which Heather passed on to me — the Dharma is everywhere.

Growing up, I had friends who suffered a lot. By the time

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I got to college, I knew of many people who had died really tragic deaths. Buddhism gave me a perspective and orientation to understand what was going on. This is sorrow and lamentation, the grief that accompanies life.

I’ve always been interested in and moved by death, how painful and mysterious it is. In my early twenties, I became a hospice care volunteer. I’m sure that’s unusual for people in their twenties, to spend their time making friends with people who will die soon — but it was really meaningful to me.

Spirit in Education Project, Myanmar

You’re writing a book which talks about forgiveness.

How has your understanding and practice of forgiveness been influenced by Buddhism?

I’ve written about forgiveness, yes, but it’s still

mysterious to me! I think it’s important to be in conversation with forgiveness, if that makes sense.

Forgiveness is a process. It unfolds over time, and it means different things as the months and years go by.

I think forgiveness is akin to letting go. It’s about accepting the things that have happened. Often this is a process of grieving, coming to terms with loss and pain. The Buddha taught us to understand suffering. We don’t turn away. We try to understand our losses and mistakes, and to understand the causes of this suffering.

We tend to our personal suffering, but we also see the universality of it — and that is one of the places where letting go can occur.

You talked about the atrocities against the Rohingyas in Mynmar committed by the military who are mainly Buddhists. How do we forgive them for their cruelty?

I think that is an important question, but I don’t know if now is the time for forgiveness. There were more than a million Rohingyas displaced from their land in 2017, and many are still living in refugee camps. The forced resettlements are brutal, and not a viable solution.

The Rohingyas who remain in Rakhine state are still being persecuted by the military, as are many other ethnic minorities in Myanmar, including Kachin, Shan, and Karen peoples. Forgiveness is very important but it

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Spirit in Education, Laos

is only one of many tools we have for meeting the world and its atrocities.

With the recent military coup in Myanmar, I think it’s very important we support the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). We must support people’s struggle for liberation, their wish to be free from oppressive regimes.

This is something we can support as Buddhists. My friend Hozan Alan Senauke, a well-known socially engaged Buddhist, is supporting CDM through the Spirit in Education Movement (http://www.sem-edu.org/.)

This is a group connected to the International Network of Engaged Buddhists. They are promoting peace and democracy in Myanmar, and I encourage people to support their work. In the United States, donations can be made to Spirit in Education Movement through Hozan’s nonprofit Clear View Project.

It’s also essential for the UN and our governments to impose sanctions against Myanmar’s military.

The boycott campaigns, led by groups like Justice for Myanmar and Burma Campaign UK, are also very important. The Myanmar military partners with

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multinational corporations to fund their violence, and it is up to us to divest from these businesses. We cannot live a life of non-harming if we are helping to fund oppressive militaries and genocide.

Buddhism is always portrayed as a religion of peace and non-violence. How can we explain the Rohingya crisis or the military coup since Myanmar is a devout Buddhist country?

The Buddha warned that we would struggle to maintain his teachings. Even the Sangha is subject to corruption — this is what the Buddha called the decline of the Sasana. In Myanmar, extremist monks in the 969 Movement claim that Buddhism must be protected from Islam. They claim that the Rohingya, who are Muslim, threaten the purity of Buddhism — but really, it’s the 969 Movement and their hateful rhetoric that threatens Buddhism. This why we started the Buddhist Humanitarian Project, as a vehicle for addressing these issues from within the Buddhist community – and as a way to provide aid to the Rohingya refugees.

When considering issues of conflict and community, an interesting book is The Buddha’s Teachings on Social and Communal Harmony, which was edited by the Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi. It’s a comprehensive collection of Theravada suttas. The book emerged through conversations with students studying at Nagaloka in Nagpur, India. These is a community who was deemed Untouchable within the Indian caste system, and through seeking an alternative to this oppression, they converted to Buddhism.

When we look at the suttas, we see that the Buddha didn’t ignore conflicts. He had profound compassion and ethics, but he didn’t sit around telling everyone to play nice. Sometimes the Buddha would censure people, or even tell them to leave the community.

Is forgetting the same as forgiveness?

I wondered about that for a long time, but I don’t think so. I don’t think we need to forget in order to forgive. If we try to forget something, if we are intentional about it, we are probably just pushing away the feelings or the

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Spirit in Education Project, Cambodia

Spirit in Education Project, Thailand

memories. Forgiving is about accepting, and letting go.

When I asked Heather about forgiving, she told me to read The Book of Forgiving by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Reverend Mpho Tutu. This isn’t a Buddhist book, the authors are Catholic, but the book is profound.

It comes out of the post-Apartheid South Africa, when the South African people were tasked with healing their country after the years of atrocities committed by the National Party government. The book is quite personal, and I highly recommend it. Mpho Tutu talks about her own process of healing after a murder occurred in her own home.

It’s important to consider the timeliness of forgiveness.

When we are still very angry, we can’t force ourselves to forgive. If harm is actively happening, we might need to focus first on ending the harm. Forgiveness is, in my experience, a process — all we can do is locate ourselves somewhere within that process. Forgiveness has its own timeline.

How can we have compassion for those who commit cruelty to others?

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This is hard to answer because there are so many kinds of cruelty in the world, and compassion can manifest differently in each scenario. When we look at the brutality of Myanmar’s military, we see horrific cruelty — soldiers invading Rohingya villages to burn them down, and throwing people into the fires. It’s estimated that 18,000 women and girls were raped by soldiers.

I can’t imagine what it’s like to experience such unbelievable cruelty. Is compassion about accepting that these things happen? I don’t mean condoning them, not at all. I mean, can we actually accept the facts? Can we admit to ourselves that these horrors happen — they aren’t distorted facts or “fake news.” This requires equanimity but I think it takes compassion too.

Compassion can be fierce. When we condemn the military’s 2021 coup in Myanmar, we are displaying a form of ferocious compassion. We are standing up to say, “We love these people too much to allow this to happen.”

I think compassion is also about understanding the tragic universality of our experiences. The Buddha said we’ve cried enough tears to fill all the world’s oceans.

This is samsara. When we recognize that the world’s pain and suffering spans across countless eons, a natural response is compassion.

What are your thoughts on making this world a little more sane?

The world is a big place! I tend to think of what we can accomplish in our own communities. For me, community isn’t just what town I live in, it’s where I

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have relationships, the lineages I am connected with, the people and cultures I am indebted to. So, I think we should start our communities.

In Southern Oregon, where I live, I have always known people who were homeless or living on the streets.

When COVID-19 hit, I was very concerned with how it would affect those communities. Many of the usual homeless services were shutdown during the lockdown.

People on the streets still had the same needs, but now they weren’t getting much support. A group of friends decided we would give out soap and hand sanitizer, distribute sleeping bags and meals, things like that. We didn’t wait for the situation to change, we created a grassroots community solution.

The same goes for our humanitarian work in Myanmar. I have never been to Myanmar but I have a connection to the country and its people because of my time studying Burmese meditation methods, here in the United States.

This formed a kind of relationship, and therefore a responsibility to get involved.

When we think in terms of the world, it’s pretty overwhelming. After all, what can we do about samsara? But when we think of our own relationships and communities, there is a lot we can do. We don’t need to wait for someone else to come along. We can try stuff out, collaborate with friends, and see what happens. If we have a spiritual practice like Buddhism, we can use that to guide our efforts. There are endless opportunities to cultivate generosity and ethics, to deepen our practice. The Dharma is everywhere! EH

Spirit in Education Alumni Annual Assembly, 2019

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Zen and Skillful Means to Benefit All beings

By Reverend Domyo Burk

Rev. Domyo Burk is a Sōtō Zen priest and teacher. She is the founder and guiding teacher of Bright Way Zen in Portland, Oregon, on the west coast of the United States. She also produces the Zen Studies Podcast and is the author of several books, including Idiot’s Guides: Zen Living. After practicing for five years as a lay person, Domyo was ordained by Rev. Gyokuko Carlson in 2001, She spent seven years in full-time residential Zen training at Dharma Rain Zen Center, received Dharma Transmission (empowerment to teach) in 2010. In addition to serving her Zen community, Domyo spends a significant amount of her time organizing for Extinction Rebellion, a movement dedicated to mobilizing people for mass, nonviolent civil resistance to avert total climate collapse.

Benny Liow decided to interview Rev Domyo after listening to her Zen Studies Podcast which was very inspirational, where she also adopted a very nonsectarian approach in her discussions of the Buddha Dharma. She has kindly responded to Benny’s many questions about Zen.

Eastern Horizon: You’re ordained as a Zen priest after many years practicing Zen as a lay person. What brought you to Buddhism and specifically to Zen? Domyo: I become a Buddhist when I was 25 years old. I had been raised mostly without religion, although I attended Catholic school. When I realized as a teenager that I didn’t believe in God, I figured religion wasn’t for me.

However, in preparation for a tourist trip to India, I learned about the Buddhist Four Noble Truths in a guidebook which discussed some Indian history.

The fact the Buddhism started from the premise that life was marked by dukkha – dissatisfactoriness, stress, or suffering – resonated deeply with my personal experience. Like Siddhartha

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Gautama, who become the Buddha, I lived in very fortunate circumstances but I was existentially miserable anyway.

No other religion or spiritual tradition I encountered addressed or explain this situation.

Not only did Buddhism identify my experience of suffering, it promised a way to become free of that suffering, as well as concrete path of action for achieving that liberation. And every teaching or practice I tried out as a consequence led to positive results in my life. I knew very early on that I would spend my whole life walking the Buddhist path.

I also quickly became attracted to Zen. Though I was able to explore quite a number of different Buddhist schools, I chose Zen because I found I loved

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Zendo after 2016 Expansion

meditation and Zen writings, and because the Zen approach to radical nonduality was the only thing that made sense to me. That is: Ultimately nirvāṇa is not separate from saṃsāra, it’s only our own minds which create the problem.

The word Zen itself is derived from the Sanskrit word Dhyāna for meditation. How is meditation in Zen different from Vipassanā, which is the other popular form of meditation?

I don’t do Vipassanā meditation, so I hesitate to say too much about it.

However, my best explanation of the difference between Vipassanā and Zen meditation, or zazen – specifically my Sōtō Zen school’s form of zazen, referred to as silent illumination, shikantaza, or “just sitting” – is that Vipassanā is systematic exploration of the Dharma using the power of concentration, while zazen is diligently letting go of everything except sitting in an upright posture, thereby allowing our true nature to manifest. One of our most famous ancestors, Zen master Dōgen,

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actually emphasized that zazen is not meditation practice! We’re meant to let go even of trying to make anything special happen in our sitting.

It’s likely Shakyamuni Buddha himself wouldn’t even recognize zazen as Buddhist meditation!

However, the essence of Buddhism is that we test teachings and practices for ourselves. If they follow the moral precepts and lead to freedom from suffering, and to greater wisdom and compassion, then they are legitimate. I personally believe zazen is like another pathway up the same mountain, and that mountain is samādhi, or calm state of nondual experience. Vipassanā involves discipling the mind until it becomes calm and concentrated, while zazen involves allowing the mind to settle like a pool of water. When it comes to what you might call meditative concentration, I think the results are ultimately the same.

Zen, like all schools of Buddhism, is about understanding reality. So what is reality in Zen Buddhism?

From the point of view of Zen, reality cannot be grasped. That’s the nature of reality – it’s an endless unfolding of causes and conditions.

Any time we think, “Oh, now I see reality!” we are wrong a millisecond later. Ultimately, reality is empty of anything that can be grasped, or anything we identify as inherently existing, independent, or enduring.

This is also true of our self.

Anything we perceive as a human being will be limited by our bodies and minds, so even if there was some ultimate “Reality” to be observed, we couldn’t claim to have perceived it “directly.” However, that’s not a problem. We can observe our own direct experience, and thereby awaken to the empty or boundless nature of reality, including self. This is profoundly liberating, because it relieves us of the preoccupation of “I, me, and mine” that drives so much of our suffering.

To awaken to reality, we need to let go of the mental map we’ve created of it. Usually, we aren’t perceiving openly, we’re perceiving through the filter and preconceptions of

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our mental map. We immediately think, “How does this thing I’m encountering relate to me, and to all the other fixed objects and beings in my personal universe?”

By practicing meditation, we learn to let go of our attachment to our mental map. It’s not easy, and when we let go it isn’t permanent, but even a little loosening of our grasp relieves some of our dukkha and helps us relax into more natural and beneficial way of being.

If the main focus of Zen is meditation, why are there elaborate liturgies such as bowing and chanting, and extensive writings in the form of numerous sūtras?

The Zen school originated in China as the Ch’an school, which differentiated itself from other schools by emphasizing meditation and idea that you could achieve Buddhist liberation without dependence on any of the other traditional components of Buddhism, including sūtras, study, chanting, ceremonies, devotional practices. However, the Ch’an school never actually got rid of any of those practices; an occasional teacher might have taught without them, but the lineage as a whole kept all of the traditional practices around.

All practices in Mahāyāna Buddhism, of which Zen is a part, are seen as skillful means. This means they intended to produce a certain kind of benefit, but that certain practices work for some people and not for others. This is like medicine – what medicine you use depends on the illness

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you are trying to cure, and on the constitution of the patient. In Zen we recommend zazen for almost everyone (although it may not be the best practice for people suffering from certain kinds of mental illness), but we willingly acknowledge the benefits you may receive from liturgy, bowing, chanting, and studying sūtras. Such benefits include the cultivation of humility, compassion, and gratitude, and the challenging of certain fixed ideas and assumptions.

The reality of change and suffering is easily seen today with the never ending spread of the Covid-19 virus, which has killed thousands of people. Is there an explanation from Zen Buddhism for the rise of this global pandemic?

In Zen Buddhism we understand that much of the suffering in the world is caused by humans. Because of the three poisons of greed, hate, and delusion, we destroy the natural world and make pandemics like Covid-19 more likely. Our appetite for travel and global trade means pandemics can spread around the entire planet in months. The three poisons have caused unimaginable inequities in terms of resources between countries and within societies, causing much more suffering and death than necessary.

Delusions and attachment obstruct our communal cooperation to remedy our situation.

At the same time, in Zen we understand that karma – the results of our willful actions – only accounts for part of the situation in

our lives and in the greater world.

Everything is the result of causes and conditions, but some of those causes and conditions are biological, genetic, chemical, etc. Some things are due to chance, such as the earth ending up a particular distance from the sun, a basic prerequisite for everything on this planet, including the Covid-19 pandemic. So not everything is due to human choices.

Not everything can be blamed on willful choices or controlled by us.

That said, our responsibility is to relieve as much suffering as we can, and refrain from actions based in the three poisons. Why are human beings subject to the three poisons to begin with? The Buddha would say that is a question that does not “tend to edification,” meaning it’s really not helpful to spend your time contemplating it. This is the world we live in; the important question is how are we going to conduct ourselves from here on out?

The Covid-19 pandemic has created much uncertainty in life.

If one already has fear, anxiety and worry in our mind, how can one still meditate to overcome them?

I would say that, in Zen, we don’t meditate to overcome troubling emotion such as fear, anxiety, or worry. Certainly, there are Buddhist practices – such as mindfulness of breathing, mettā practice, or chanting – that can help you break free, momentarily, from a distressing and repetitive series of negative thoughts or images.

Ultimately, though, once our emotions are even a little bit

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Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia www.ybam.org.my

Y B A M

Unites more than 270 Buddhist organisations representing both the Theravada and Mahayana traditions throughout Malaysia Provides guidance to students to establish Buddhist societies in schools, colleges and universities Conducts regular training courses on Buddhist teachings, missionary techniques and leadership building Arranges lectures on Buddhism by both local and visiting foreign Buddhist scholars and teachers Assists in conducting the annual Malaysian Buddhist Examination

Organises various welfare, cultural and education activities for the benefit of the Buddhist community at local, state and national levels Publishes Eastern Horizon, Buddhist Digest, Berita YBAM and other Buddhist books and pamphlets in English, Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia Makes representation to the authorities on matters related to the Buddhist Community

Be a part of us.

We offer Affiliate Membership for organizations and Associate Membership for individuals

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Tan Buck Soon has a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Universiti Malaya. He began his engineering career with the Government, and later founded his own highly successful engineering consultancy. He was the former President of the Methodist Boys’ School (Penang) Buddhist Society, Publication Secretary of the University of Malaya Buddhist Society, former President of the Buddhist Graduates Fellowship, and founding President of the Bandar Utama Buddhist Society. He is a regular Dhamma speaker at colleges and universities and a meditation teacher.

Charlie Chia is an Advocate and Solicitor and a NonExecutive Director of GDB Holdings Berhad.

A Chartered Quantity Surveyor, he was a former Group CEO of United Malayan Land Bhd, CEO of Malton Berhad, and Director of Naza TTDI Sdn Bhd. He has founded various Buddhist organizations, namely the Buddhist Missionary Society Youth Section, Kota Tinggi Buddhist Society, Metta Lodge Johor Bahru, and Kuantan Buddhist Association. In 2017 he was conferred the Nalanda Award for his contribution to Buddhism in Malaysia.

Benny Liow, who has known both Buck Soon and Charlie for decades, regards them as role models of highly successful lay Buddhist leaders, and therefore an inspiration for young Buddhists to emulate. Both of them very happily share with Eastern Horizon their passion for the Dharma and what motivates them in their missionary zeal all these years.

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Bringing Buddhism to Beginners

By Tan Buck Soon and Datuk Charlie Chia Lui Meng Both of you have been active in Dharma work for over 40 years since your student days in the university. What started you on Buddhism?

Buck Soon: I came into contact with Buddhism in 1972, at the age of 14 when I attended a Buddhist Sunday

School in Wat Ping Bang Onn, Penang. At that time, I was very keen to study the life of the Buddha, how he taught the Dharma to different types of people, and how he established the Sangha. I was also fascinated with the Pali chanting (Thai style) that was done every Sunday.

In 1975, together with a few schoolmates, I started a Buddhist society at the Methodist Boys’ School, Penang.

When I entered University Malaya, I continued to be active and served as an executive committee member of the campus Buddhist Society. After graduation, I was part of a group of friends who started the Buddhist Graduates Fellowship (now known as Buddhist Gem Fellowship). In 2000, together with some Buddhist friends, we started the Bandar Utama Buddhist Society (BUBS) in a popular residential area in Petaling Jaya.

Charlie: It was in 1970, as a young 15-year-old, that I was first introduced by a friend to Seck Kia Eenh (SKE) Buddhist Temple, Melaka. As I had stated in my school report card that I was Buddhist, I was curious to find out about Buddhism. So I enrolled in the temple’s Sunday School. After a few classes in Sunday School, I seemed to be naturally attracted to Buddhism, like a fish would take to water!

However, at SKE I was just a normal participant who enjoyed the activities of Sunday School but didn’t join any Committee or volunteer to support any missionary activities. It was while studying at Universiti Teknologi

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Malaysia (UTM) where I had joined the Buddhist Society that I became active in organizing Buddhist activities in campus, and subsequently served as its Secretary, Vice President, and President in my Final Year of my tertiary studies.

After graduation, while working in Kuala Lumpur, I accompanied the late Chief Reverend (K Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera) on his many visits to give talks at various Buddhist Societies in the local universities. This further deepened my understanding of the Buddha Dharma. After some time, Chief Reverend asked me to give Dharma talks and this helped to strengthen my confidence as a Buddhist speaker.

What motivates your strong interest in Dharma work for over four decades?

Buck Soon: The main motivation that sustained my strong interest in the Dharma is the inspiration from the Buddha’s great compassion towards mankind.

What the Buddha did was incomparable considering his great sacrifice of the luxuries he had in exchange for a life of a wandering ascetic in the forest. After his Enlightenment, he spent 45 years teaching the Dharma and established the Sangha which is still available today.

My interest in the Dharma is also sustained through my interaction with members of the Sangha, who inspired me through their conduct and practice. Having studied and practiced the Dharma, I find it useful to lead a meaningful life, having a goal in seeking liberation from suffering. I strongly feel that as a gratitude towards my teachers, I should provide the causes and conditions for others who are interested in the Dharma to know about the teachings of the Buddha.

Charlie: At UTM, the late Chief Reverend became my teacher and mentor. I spent my weekends and holidays studying Buddhism under him and he motivated me with his very systematic approach to the teachings.

My association with Buddhist student leaders and community leaders at the Brickfields Temple further motivated my missionary zeal.

I was also fortunate to meet another Buddhist teacher, Venerable Piyasilo (now Bro Piya Tan of Singapore) in

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SKE in the late 1970s. His teaching materials known as the Integrated Syllabus and Buddhist Studies contributed immensely to my understanding of Buddhism. I was impressed by his slogan of “Know Dhamma and Make Dhamma Known” which continues to motivate me till today.

As I deepened my understanding of Buddhism, my life was also transformed. I had developed more positive mental qualities and became a much better person with many more friends. I then realized that the more wholesome actions I do, the more happiness I experience. My faith in the Buddha’s teachings inspired me to continuously share the Teachings with others, and reinforced my earnestness to develop and support a sustainable Buddhist Community. Thus, when I started working for the Public Works Department and was required to be transferred frequently to different towns, I took the opportunity to start a Buddhist society each time I was relocated to a new place.

You were active with outreach programs in your younger days. How relevant are these activities to attract youths today?

Buck Soon: Outreach programs such as social gatherings, trips, youth fellowship, and leadership

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training camps are some of the activities that I organized in the past and I believe they are still relevant today. In order to grow in the Dharma, we need spiritual friends to guide us and it is through these activities that we create and develop this friendship and bonding.

Spiritual friends will guide us in the right path towards doing good, avoiding evil, and purification of the mind.

Charlie: As a youth, I remembered many enjoyable social events that were organized at SKE but they always had strong elements of Buddhist values in them.

We need to be skillful when teaching youths so that we are not perceived as trying to instill fundamentalist teachings to them in the early stage, but to sow the seeds of a wholesome nature that will stay in their mind stream for a long time. Such an approach will encourage youths to remain as Buddhists and not be easily

converted to other religions which tend to be more persuasive but aggressive in their missionary approach.

Youths should be taught skills that they can apply in their career and in their dealings with colleagues, family members, and life partners.

For example, we can organize leadership programs through Holiday Camps, Cell Groups, and community out-reach that incorporates wholesome fun and fellowship, but at the same time important values of kindness, respect, self-control, patience, gratitude and compassion for others. Such programs will eventually help to develop Buddhist leaders with strong fundamentals in Buddhism for the community.

For someone with no knowledge of Buddhism, how should we introduce them to the Buddhist path?

Buck Soon: For new Buddhists who have no knowledge of the Dharma, I would ask them to compare how much time they spent on their spiritual well-being compared to their material well-being. Usually this will prompt them to want to know more about the Dharma. I would also introduce the idea that happiness is a result of doing good deeds since most people are inclined to want happiness in their lives. I would also explain to them that just as we need food for the body, we need food for the mind, and the Buddha Dharma is food for the mind as it feeds the mind with wholesome thoughts leading to wholesome speech and action.

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Charlie: I will introduce Buddhism as a philosophy of living that is not dogmatic or superstitious, but a spiritual path that recognizes our intelligence and ability to self-achieve. Like scientists, the Buddha taught us to understand the root cause of our problems so that we can solve them. Adopting a middle path approach, there are therefore no extremist views in Buddhism.

The Buddha’s formula on life is universal, and therefore open to all who cares to follow it and not for a selected few. If they truly practice the Buddha’s method, they will experience peace and the joy of living. In a way it is a Do It Yourself (DIY) religion, and the rewards of mastering this skill and knowing the truth is the best gift of life.

Clearing misconceptions of Buddhism among Malaysian Buddhists was what the late K Sri Dhammananda did through his talks and publications. What are the common misconceptions today, and how do we overcome them?

Buck Soon: Two common misconceptions are that Buddhists must be vegetarians and that the Buddha was a pessimist.

During the Buddha’s time, the monks’ training rules did not allow them to cook and they have to walk to the villages, which can be quite far away, for alms round for their daily meal. They ate whatever the lay

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Charlie: The late Chief Reverend was a pioneer in helping cleared misconceptions about Buddhism among Malaysian Buddhists. As misconceptions are a result of ignorance, we need to keep educating the community about what are true Buddhist beliefs and practices. Many of misconceptions are derived from old customs and traditions and strong adherence to animism and fear of nature. Such fear and misconceptions can be alleviated

by Right Understanding and Right View. So we have to continue the good work of the late Chief Reverend.

As a leader of the Buddhist community, what are your hopes and aspirations for the Buddhists in Malaysia?

people offered to them. As not all lay Buddhists were vegetarians, meat would also be offered as part of the meal. The principle is that as monks they were to accept whatever food is offered to them, vegetarian or non-vegetarian. But as Buddhism spread to other parts of the world, the local culture was incorporated into the religion. In China, there was no practice of laity offering food to monastics, and if monks were to go for alms round, it would be perceived as “begging”. Hence, monastics prepared their own in the monastery. As the first precept is to abstain from killing, the monks did not consume meat and became vegetarians. I always remember what our late Ven. Dr. K Sri Dhammananda said in one of his Dharma talks: “What you put into your mouth is not important but what comes out from your mouth is more important”.

Secondly, Buddhism is not pessimistic even though the Buddha talked about suffering as part of the Four Noble Truths. If the Buddha had only proclaimed there is suffering (first noble truth) and explained the cause (second noble truth), then he can be accused of being a pessimist However, it is important to note that the Buddha explained that there is an end to suffering (third noble truth), and that the solution to ending our suffering is to follow the noble eight-fold path (fourth noble truth).

If we fully understand the four noble truths in totality, then Buddhism is realistic rather than pessimistic.

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Buck Soon: My hopes and aspirations for Buddhists in Malaysia are that more so-called Buddhists will come to Buddhist centers to learn the Dharma or even through the internet and other online media. If there are Buddhist centers that have Sunday schools for children, parents should take the opportunity to send their children to these Dharma school so that they can be trained from a very young age. It is easier to teach them when they are young because they have less preconceived ideas. Of course, there are also adults who come to learn the Dharma and progress very fast in their practice. Besides that, I also hope that more Buddhists would seriously take up the practice of meditation besides practicing generosity and morality. It is through meditation that we can develop mindfulness and wisdom which is a pre-requisite for liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

Charlie: There was a renaissance of Buddhism in the early 1980s when young student leaders graduated from the universities and began to organize outreach activities. We also had the presence of great Dharma teachers like the late Chief Reverend during the period.

Through the efforts of these young leaders, many new Buddhist centers were set up and they became the focal point for many educated Buddhists to attend Dharma classes and learn meditation. As many of these leaders are no longer the young leaders they used to be, I hope we will have more leaders who are younger who can then take over the Dharma torch for the Buddha’s teachings to shine for the benefit and well-being of future generations of Buddhists in Malaysia. EH

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Mindful Parenting

By Jenty Siswanto

Jenty Siswanto is an advocate of promoting mindfulness in daily life.

She struggled with emotional ups and downs as a college student, and during her career, while moving up the corporate ladder. With the benefit of meditation training and a positive mindset, she not only survived the ordeal of riding on her emotional rollercoaster but she also gained lasting happiness and confidence along the way.

Jenty has a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Marketing from Curtin University of Technology, Australia; and a Diploma in Food and Beverage Management from Bandung Tourism Institute (NHI). She lived in Kuala Lumpur from 2000 to 2003 and was a Sunday School teacher at the Buddhist Institution Sunday Dharma School. Jenty has also spoken at a TED session which can be accessed as follows: https:// youtu.be/zb9UGngfvI8

Tedx Talk: Happy Parents will Change the world

Where did you learn mindfulness?

How long have you been practicing and promoting it as a parent?

It started when I began reading Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s books and participated in discussion groups which focused on his writings. From there, I gradually developed a better understanding of the Dharma, and of my emotions which were causing me so much suffering.

My visits to the world-renowned “Plum Villages” in Europe and other parts of the globe with my family have had an immense impact on my practice as well. The first was in 2007, when my husband and I

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Benny Liow asked Jenty to share with Eastern Horizon her thoughts on how she applied mindfulness practice as a parent and as a Dharma social worker and teacher in Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country. arrived at Plum Village in France.

We stayed at Lower Hamlet during the off-season retreat. It was spring, beautiful, serene and peaceful.

During our short stay, we learnt that meditation wasn’t just about sitting and walking, but a practice which could be integrated into our daily lives. The visit made a deep impression, and I promised myself that I would bring my son along for future retreats.

In 2015 I brought my son to Plum Village for a Children’s Retreat in 2015; he was then 12 years old, a rebellious age. It was his first retreat and not one which he attended willingly. Initially, he was

sulking but by the end of the first day, he had made friends and settled in, playing badminton and football with them. We were there for a week, and the experience changed my relationship with my son.

After the retreat, I found it easier to communicate with him and I became more than just a mother to him; I was also his friend. On my part, I stopped yelling at him, whenever he did anything which I wasn’t pleased about, and instead, adopted a gentler tone.

In 2017, we went to Plum Village Hong Kong for a family retreat.

By then, my son was 14, and he fitted right in with the interesting

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With students from Tri Ratna Student School

programs for teenagers. That particular retreat was memorable because it made me realize the power and effectiveness of mindful training. My husband also shared with his group that ever since I started attending Plum Village retreats, I had complained less and became calmer.

Among the many valuable lessons I learned during my retreats was how to handle my emotions; how not to act at the moment anger arises when someone “triggers” our ego.

Our immediate response to anger often ends in regret. At the height of our anger, we need to pause for a moment, and take a deep breath before responding. Even though the anger may still be there, we are in a much calmer state and less likely to react foolishly.

I have benefitted a lot from mindfulness training. It has made me a better mother. Before, my son was a victim of my emotions.

When I became impatient with him, I would yell, and in process, I was setting a terrible example for him to follow. Children tend to imitate what we adults do to them.

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Photos taken with organizing commitees of Plum Village Retreat in Indonesia

We all want to be the best parents we can be for our children, and to achieve this goal, we need practice.

For me, Plum Village retreats have been a tremendous help. I have lost count on how many I have attended, possibly 12-13 times, not only Europe and Hong Kong, but also in the US. If you can’t go physically, then attending online retreats is another option which you can do from home. Check their website www.plumvillage.org, for programs offered globally.

You are an active Buddhist leader in the local community. Can you share with us your activities and the impact they had on the community?

I am a believer that education can change our fate. Through education, the poor among us can have a better life.

I am a committee member of the Tri Ratna Buddhist School Foundation.

It’s a non-profit organization staffed by volunteers. We run a Buddhist school - classes range from kindergarten to high school with about 700 students. We have

80 teachers, not including other staff. Apart from the academic curriculum, what makes our school unique is the Buddhist values which are taught and put into practice on a daily basis.

For example, when we teach our students the Four Noble Truths, we use them as lessons on “problem solving and decision makings”.

Suffering is a problem. In life, problems exist, and we need to find the cause of our problems. Once we have determined the cause, we need to know the solution, before finally, solving the problem.

To teach loving kindness and compassion, we ask our children to practice eating vegetarian food

at school. We transformed our school canteen, which is equipped with a clean, stainless steel, industrialized-open-kitchen, into a meatless restaurant. We provide free breakfast and lunch to our teachers and staff. We don’t sell bottled water to protect the environment. The school has water dispensers where students have access to free drinking water where they only need to bring their own water bottles.

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Vegetarian Cooking Class with Mothers from Parents Association

Our efforts to save the environment and spare the suffering of animals may be small, but every little bit counts, and in the long run, will add up to a lot. A single policy can make a significant change happen.

It was not easy in the early days to convince parents of the importance of such policies. Some complained and even refused to cooperate.

How do you teach mindfulness to children?

Before we can teach mindfulness to children, we need to be mindful ourselves.

Mindfulness needs training, it does not come naturally. At

Plum Village, we practiced five mindfulness precepts. Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh re-phrased the five Buddhist Precepts (pañcasīla) to make them universal, so that even non Buddhists can practice them in their daily lives. They are: 1. reverence for life; 2. true happiness; 3. true love; 4. loving speech and deep listening; and 5. nourishment and healing. Details on the Five Mindfulness Precepts are available as follows: https://plumvillage.

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With Ven Arya Maitri, Ven Dharmavimala and Ven Nyana Prabhasa and friends at Tri Ratna School's Foundation Committee

org/mindfulness-practice/the-5mindfulness-trainings/ Children need to see mindfulness in us first before they can learn from us. The stillness, patience, sincerity, and love - they have to feel them when they are around us.

Children love to play, have short attention spans, and sometimes they don’t listen. We need to discipline them. It is difficult to make children sit still and be quiet long enough to meditate. But happily, there are other methods to hold their attention, such as “pebble” meditation. They are given 5 pebbles, and asked to breathe in and breathe out very slowly, counting the pebbles from 1 to 5.

Those who finish counting are given the pebbles in a nice bag, which they can bring home to practice.

Games are used to stimulate their awareness of their surroundings, and they are taught to enjoy their games, and to love their friends.

How can we make meditation fun for children?

Eating meditation is appealing to our younger students. We give them

a biscuit in a wrapper and say to them: “Open the biscuit wrapper, look at the biscuit in front of you.

See the shape of the biscuit, then slowly put the biscuit into your mouth. Taste it, is it crispy? Do you like the biscuit? As you eat the biscuit, say thank you to the person who gave you the biscuit. When you finish eating biscuit, share your thoughts on this process.”

What about challenges when teaching mindfulness to teenagers?

Teens are full of energy, some love outdoor activities, some prefer singing, shopping, or playing music; while others may not even know what they like.

Some teenagers have lots of negative energy - they complain incessantly, are never satisfied, and may even be overly demanding. It is tiring to deal with them, and they often wear their parents down.

Based on my personal experience, I found it exhausting and I needed help. If we ask the right people, it will ease our burden. If parents

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My husband has been very supportive of what I do

practice mindfulness at home, their children will feel the positive energy flowing in their home, and that may have a calming effect on their children.

At our school, we organize an annual Teens Retreat for our students. Our school is affiliated with the Ekayana Buddhist Temple which owns a retreat center in the Jakarta Highland area. During the retreats, the children not only do sitting, walking and eating meditation, but fun activities are also incorporated into the program to make the retreats stimulating and joyful as well.

How can parents be a role model for children in the practice of mindfulness?

Parents want the best things for their children. They are determined to take care of all their needs.

Meanwhile, they boss their children around and control their movements, forgetting that their children also need space.

Parents need to loosen our grip a little and learn to let go. They need to practice the Five Mindfulness

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My son, I dragged him from children retreat to teens retreat, Plum Village Tradition. Everytime he said "NO" but always ended up enjoying the retreat and had new friends and learnt something new.

Training themselves until it becomes inherent in their nature before they can be role models for their own children.

What do you see as the key benefits of children learning mindfulness?

Being an only child, my son was used to getting things his way. And as his mother, I sometimes let him have his way because I didn’t want the hassle of arguing with him. I took him to Plum Village Retreat during 3 phases of his life - pre-teen, early teen, and late teen. I found each time he came back from Plum Village, he became easier to deal with emotionally and was less moody.

He is competitive and often represents his school in Mathematics competitions. He doesn’t always win, and losing can generate negative emotions, as it isn’t easy to admit that there are others who are better than him.

However, over time, he appears to be handling losing well. When he loses, he is quiet for a while, and after an ice cream treat, he smiles and is his usual self again.

Or when he argues with me, he will be angry with me and retreat to his room quietly, without raising his voice at me, or banging his door shut. Sometimes, he will say he needs some time on his own. If he is in the wrong, he will apologize afterwards. Of course, it works both ways, I would not hesitate to say sorry if I were in the wrong. It just goes to show that mindfulness has helped our family to communicate better with each other.

Can you share your happiest moments with mindful parenting?

I think mindfulness has made me sharper, more focused and aware of my surroundings. I have become, overall, a much happier person. I accept and live with the fact that things don’t always run smoothly or turn out the way I want them to.

Mindfulness heals our emotional wounds. It gives us clarity when we are dealing with issues affecting our peace of mind. And, when times are tough, I always have a place to go home to, to myself. EH

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Practices to Open the Heart The practices taught by the Buddha as the four Brahmavihāras or sublime states of loving kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity, are common in all Buddhist traditions. They are said to be excellent, lofty and divine or abodes of the gods (brahmas). They are the ideal way of conduct towards living beings in all situations arising from social contact. They are also the great removers of tension, the great peace-makers in social conflict, and the great healers of wounds suffered as we sojourn in saṃsāra. Eastern Horizon asks our teachers from the three Buddhist traditions how these sublime states should be understood and practiced, especially for the lay practitioners.

The idea of practicing loving kindness (Skt. maitrī/Pāli mettā) equally with everyone is to develop a sense of impartiality.

For a monastic, this is the motivation to remove oneself from personal attachments to family and material possessions.

But a lay person has a special obligation towards his/her family members, including some form of attachment, and it is not practical for them to treat their spouse and children on an equal footing as others. So how does a lay practitioner practices mettā then?

Aggacitta: I don’t agree with your premise that the practice of mettā is for developing impartiality and detachment because I am not aware of any sutta that states so. On the contrary, there is overwhelming evidence from the suttas to show otherwise. A few examples follow.

I think most Theravādin Buddhists are already aware of the eleven

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benefits accruing from the practice of mettā as enunciated in Mettā Sutta (AN 11.16), none of which can corroborate your premise.

One sleeps easily, wakes easily, dreams no evil dreams. One is dear to human beings, dear to non-human beings. The devas protect one. Neither fire, poison, nor weapons can touch one. One’s mind gains concentration quickly.

One’s complexion is bright. One dies unconfused and—if penetrating no higher—is headed for a Brahmā world.

The practice of mettā is also considered one of the four guardian meditations in the commentaries, obviously based on some of the above benefits as well as on Satti Sutta (SN 20:5). Here the Buddha declared that a non-human being would be unsuccessful in trying to derange the mind of one who is skilled in mettā meditation.

In the famous simile of the saw in Kakacūpama Sutta (MN 21), the Buddha said that even if one was carved up savagely by bandits with a two-handled saw, one should not get angry but remain sympathetic, with a mind of goodwill, with no inner hate. One should keep infuse them with abundant, immeasurable, mettā that is free from hostility, and ill will. Then one should extend that same mettā to the whole world.

Obviously, this is not easy for anyone, lay or monastic, to do.

In Mettābhāvanā Sutta (Itv 27) the Buddha declared that mettā meditation ranks the highest among all meritorious deeds, leading to fortunate rebirths.

From these, it is obvious that attachment to animate or inanimate objects is not a deterrent for the practice of mettā which is basically kindness and goodwill towards others in thought, word and action.

However, its quality may vary depending on its purity as I shall explain below.

Min Wei: For most people, the practice of loving-kindness towards one’s spouse, children, relatives or friends is assumed much easier to be achieved compared to generate it to all sentient beings. In Buddhism, so called love with attachment, discrimination, prejudice, or clinging is not genuine love. We should in the first place to be kind to ourselves, and gradually extend it for the well-being of all beings.

In practicing loving-kindness, it displays the fact that we care for ourselves, and at the same time, it shows that we care for others as well. Therefore, it helps to develop our compassionate mind towards others, especially strangers or a difficult person.

In Mahāyāna Buddhism, all sentient beings are said to be our previous relatives; therefore, we must resolve to liberate them. All sentient beings have the Buddha nature, they are all future Buddhas though presently, they are deluded.

In a nutshell, we should practice the four immeasurable states of mind to help them.

Dadul: It may be helpful to remember that loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity are not the same as

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FORUM the immeasurable loving-kindness, immeasurable compassion, etc.

Each one of us has given rise to all of the attitudes in the first group on several occasions even in this very life. However, it would be extraordinary for any one of us to have generated genuine forms of any one of those in the second group, considering that these states require certain technical criteria, such as that of having a dhyāna (meditative stabilization) for their mental base. Of course, we can all strive for them in the meantime and train in some aspects of them.

Also, the practice of loving kindness is not the same as the practice of equanimity. Cultivating the sense of impartiality is the practice of equanimity, and this equanimity forms the basis for practicing all the rest of the immeasurable attitudes, including loving kindness.

The practice of the immeasurable attitudes involves addressing the manifest and explicit feelings of anger, attachment, apathy, and jealousy, dealing with the grosser ones first, gradually working through to the less intense ones.

While restraining strong and blinding afflictions to ones’ in-group or out-group, one could attend to the needs of one’s spouses and children, etc. more effectively, creatively, and realistically out of a sense of responsibility and dutiful care.

If one practices mettā towards one’s own spouse or children, how do we ensure that it is mettā, and not attachment, that will arise?

Is it possible to differentiate it during our practice?

Aggacitta: It depends on what you mean by practice. If it’s just at the mental level, the Visuddhimagga cautions that radiating mettā to

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a member of the opposite gender can evoke sexual lust. A mother once reported that she couldn’t send mettā to her children because memories of their disobedience evoked anger instead. Lust and anger are the two enemies of mettā.

Worldly loving-kindness cannot qualify as genuine mettā because it is mixed with expectations and attachments. The best way to check if attachment is involved is that you will feel disappointed, frustrated, or upset if your “mettā” has not brought the desired effects.

Any form of attachment results in suffering (2nd and 1st Noble Truth), whereas genuine mettā does not.

Min Wei: In fact, true lovingkindness should avoid self-interest and attachment. Loving-kindness is the wish for others to be happy.

That sounds easy, but it is supposed to include everyone, not just our friends and people we know. When we cultivate loving-kindness, we are trying to extend it, first to all the people we love, then to the people we feel neutral about, and eventually to the people we dislike.

Therefore, only when we able to cultivate till this immeasurable level, then it can be considered as practicing loving-kindness.

Loving-kindness is a practice of cultivating understanding, love, and compassion by looking deeply, first for ourselves and then for others. If you are not capable in generating it towards yourself, it is very difficult for you to take care of others. In the Buddhist teaching, it is very clear that to love oneself is the foundation to love all other beings.

Dadul: Actually, in the case of all of the four immeasurable attitudes, one needs to seek the aid of wisdom in refining them or freeing

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them from their constraints and limitations. The same is the case here with mettā. We need to look deep into the basis of our practice.

On what ground is one generating loving-kindness towards one’s own spouse or children? Is it primarily just because they are related to you or because of a much deeper reality of who they are as individuals? Has any element of exaggeration crept into the perception of who they are?

Is there any string attached to one’s act of love, such as an expectation in return, or is it driven by a sense of one’s civil responsibility toward them and an appreciation of their rightful expectation from you, upon the foundation of lovingkindness for them? If one sincerely wants to care for one’s spouse or children, one should take a more realistic approach and ask if it is attachment or mettā. Attachment is generally blind or fabricating, and short-sighted and narrow-minded, whereas loving-kindness is less clouded, far-sighted, and spacious.

Looking into these can open our eyes to not just the possibility, but even to the sensibility of engaging with mettā, not attachment, towards our loved ones.

The goal of mettā meditation is to cultivate kindness to all beings, including oneself and one’s family. What is the goal of the other three sublime qualities of compassion (Skt./Pāli, karuṇā), joy (Skt./Pāli, muditā), and equanimity (Skt., upekṣā/Pāli, upekkhā)?

Aggacitta: The object of mettā is beings in general. Compassion is for suffering beings, sympathetic joy for beings who are happily successful, and equanimity for all beings who are subject to the vicissitudes of life.

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Min Wei: The rest of the three sublime qualities of the Brahmavihāras are mutually important and should be cultivated alongside. Therefore, one who cultivates loving-kindness will also cultivate compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. This is the nature of the Four Immeasurable Minds.

The aim of compassion is to remove suffering from our hearts and minds, so we can do it for others.

Sympathetic joy means seeing others freed from suffering. It is simply to extend our lovingkindness and compassion by rejoicing in all the good deeds that others did.

Equanimity is giving up all things, e.g., distinctions of friend and enemy, love and hate, etc. It takes a person beyond love and hatred as well as helps one to get rid of attachment and aversion.

The goal of the three sublime qualities is built on the foundation of having a kind disposition in all our actions, words, and thoughts as we interrelate with others.

Dadul: Yes, that is the same for the other three as well. These practices are called “immeasurables” because they are directed to immeasurable beings, have the potential to generate immeasurable merits thereof, can lead to immeasurable qualities, and generate immeasurable insights into our own skills and capabilities. One goal is to free ourselves from the hard grip of those afflictions and to allow our innate potentials to flourish.

Buddhism believes that compassion is innate in us. But a look at history where millions

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have died because of war and conflict reveals another side of human nature. This sounds like a faulty syllogism. How to be compassionate when others are not?

Aggacitta: I am not aware of such a concept of innate compassion in Theravāda Buddhism. On the contrary, I think that the concepts of latent defilements (anusaya) and tendencies (vāsana) carried forward from past lives determines the predisposition of an individual. So for some people, compassion may need to be deliberately cultivated.

Those who are not compassionate can be viewed as pitiful beings overwhelmed by the three roots of unwholesome states: greed, hate and delusion because they lack wisdom. Forgive them. They eventually have to suffer the dire consequences of their actions.

Min Wei: As the Buddha always taught us that, “Hatred never ceases through hatred. Hatred is only overcome by love.”

Therefore, only when we practice loving-kindness and compassion, otherwise war and conflict will never come to an end. Strictly speaking, if there is no compassion, there will be no peace at all.

Violence, conflict and war happened due to our wrong perceptions towards each other. It just cannot be removed by weapons. In fact, compassion and understanding are the two main keys which can help to remove it.

Understanding is the key that opens the door of love and acceptance of oneself and others. All should start from ourselves. If we cannot understand our own true nature,

there is no point in talking about loving and accepting others.

Dadul: Compassion is a broad term. It can include the very coarse attachment-mixed instinctual sense of care to one’s offspring to a fully refined universal compassion of a Buddha. This points us to the universality of the potential to not just generate it, but also to develop and refine it further to the fairest possible state one can imagine.

Indeed, millions have died because of war and conflict triggered by anger, attachment, apathy, and jealousy. That is because we have yet to achieve universal practice of these immeasurable attitudes. We can be quite sure about how many more would have died and suffered if it hadn’t been for the restraint of many others. If we choose not to be compassionate because others are not, then that would only mean more destruction and more suffering.

Besides, being compassionate in the face of opposition and threat need not impede our ability to stand up against them and respond to them appropriately. It does require our calm and a response out of intelligence and concern, not out of anger or rudeness.

There’s so much in the world that calls for our compassion, but when it is all consuming and overwhelming, grief may set in and we fall into despair. How do we deal with such adversity like a warrior without falling victim to grief and despair in our compassionate work?

Aggacitta: That is the purpose of the fourth brahmavihāra, equanimity. Initially one tries to practice the first three, but when none can work any longer because of insurmountable unsupportive

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FORUM circumstances, then one can resort to equanimity by accepting the fact that we are all products or victims of causes and conditions oftentimes beyond our control.

Despair should not happen if one truly understands that since we are all products of causes and conditions, all the time and effort expended to deal with such adversity also contribute to the ever changing causes and conditions and may help to bring about the desired outcomes to some extent. Even if they don’t, be satisfied that at least we tried our best and we should accept that there are other more powerful causes and conditions at work.

Min Wei: Mahāyāna Buddhism greatly emphasized our compassionate work must be accompanied along with wisdom to ensure we achieve the right effect.

Wisdom without compassion leads to suffering, as we should also take care of ourselves during the process in benefitting others. Wisdom is the result of understanding the true nature of all things. We usually go through our lives seeing the world from our ego-based perception.

Therefore, we have to understand boundaries and the way in benefitting others to the best.

Compassion without wisdom is often misguided. We should always contemplate how to truly relieve others’ suffering, and how should we go about etc. All these require wisdom.

Therefore, in order to have a truly balanced and complete compassion, we must develop both wisdom and compassion. In some Buddhist teachings, wisdom and compassion are sometimes compared to two

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wings that work together for flying or two eyes that work together to see deeply.

Dadul: We do not start out with the will power or the capacity to solve all the problems that exist. Nor does our practice of these positive attitudes immediately bring us all the confidence and clarity to face the setbacks of ourselves and others.

One has to go slowly in pace with the growth of one’s inner strengths.

While persisting with our inner work, we should focus on where we can have impact, no matter how small that effort may feel. We have to aim at creative, effective, and realistic solution to problems that are within our power to shift. Also, we practice to not get fixated on and stuck in our own feelings of suffering that may arise in relation to seeing the suffering of others. This mind caught up in its own suffering is not able to be so helpful and can even cause more harm. With a heartfelt desire to be of real help, our focus is shifted from our own suffering to a mind intent on doing what it can to support the sufferer. This empathic concern is a natural step toward the mind of compassion that moves into action to benefit, even if that benefit is simply a calm and loving presence.

When we mention sympathetic joy (muditā), it is always referring to rejoicing in the goodness or happiness of others. It is possible to rejoice in one’s own virtuous actions, but without it becoming self-adulation, arrogance and conceit?

Aggacitta: Among the 10 recollections (anussatis), two are about cultivating joy when reflecting on one’s own virtuous moral conduct and liberality. So by corollary, it should also be possible

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to do that for one’s other virtuous actions.

Min Wei: In fact, real happiness or love always brings joy not only to us, but also to the ones we love. If our happiness or love does not bring joy to both of us, it is not true love or happiness. However, we should not give up one’s own welfare, even for the sake of much welfare to others.

Some commentators have said that sympathetic joy means the happi­ ness we feel when others are happy.

However, the explanation is too limited. It discriminates between self and others. In fact, real sympathetic joy should be filled with peace and contentment. We rejoice when we see others happy, and of course we rejoice in our own well-being as well. How can we feel joy for another person when we do not feel joy for ourselves? Joy is for everyone.

Dadul: Scriptures emphasize that it is equally important to rejoice in one’s own virtuous actions. Certain texts suggest rejoicing in the innate Buddha potential in oneself and others, something that we each, always possess. All the virtuous deeds are nothing but incidental expressions of that nature. Keeping the practice of muditā from falling into self-adulation, arrogance, and conceit would require us to generate a realistic assessment of the situation and circumstances around the achievement, and appreciation of the far-reaching benefits that may accrue from it. Scriptures mention that rejoicing in one’s own and others’ virtues is the least laborious yet the most effective way of accumulating more merit from existing merit.

For equanimity to arise, one needs to cultivate an attitude of non-attachment towards people

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EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

and things we love. But as lay people, we all have a certain amount of attachments to relationships, our career, and our material possessions. Is there a perfect balance we can develop in our lay practice?

Aggacitta: I think that it is the other way round: because of equanimity born of insight, non-attachment naturally unfolds. Let me explain.

All the four brahmavihāras can arise naturally when one has sufficiently cultivated introspective mindfulness continually in as many aspects of one’s life as possible. In other words, one has been able to experientially verify that whatever goes on in one’s mind is a product of present causes (e.g. sensory triggers) and past conditions (e.g. past experiences).

One thus gets a glimpse of not-self (anatta) or emptiness (suññata) with the realization that there’s no one in control, and that whatever arises in the mind is empty of independent existence, but is instead a complex product of multiple causes and conditions.

Such a realization can be very impactful and profoundly change one’s worldview: from that of a control freak to one who understands the true nature of conditioned reality. By induction one understands that all things and beings are also in the same boat, thus bringing about a sense of oneness: we are all the same, yet different. This therefore results in the natural arising of mettā for all beings, compassion for those suffering in various ways, sympathetic joy for the happily successful ones and equanimity for the helpless victims of circumstances.

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Min Wei: The concept of equanimity does not mean that Buddhists cannot or should not get involved in a social reality, or to have our belongings; rather it teaches us to be wise in using them. Equanimity is the best way of experiencing phenomena. We even can realize that the quest for enlightenment does not require detaching from the world. In regard to this, we should practice concentration to develop equanimity because when our minds are concentrated, when we understand that things arise due to causes and conditions, we stop struggling to control the results.

Dadul: These practices do not anticipate getting rid of attachment, anger, jealousy, and apathy altogether. Rather they aim at mitigating the grosser ones during the sessions and hopefully doing a better job in maintaining a relative restraint against the gross afflictions in post-meditation period, and going from there to slowly but gradually levelling the mental ground free from manifest anger, attachment, etc. It’s helpful to recognize that having attachment or nonattachment towards relationships, etc. is not about either possessing them or not. Rather, it is about having a realistic assessment of their promises and limitations and maintaining a healthy relationship with them based on that assessment.

Is there a proper sequence as to which particular quality among the four we should start, and do we practice all four qualities at the same time during our meditation?

Aggacitta: As I explained above, sufficient practice of continual introspective mindfulness can automatically bring about any

of the four brahmavihāras in the appropriate circumstances.

However, before one can achieve that level of realization, one may need to jumpstart by deliberately radiating mettā, etc. to the relevant beings. Traditionally one starts from mettā and progresses successively until equanimity. Nonetheless a skillful teacher should be able to assess the student’s inclinations and recommend a suitable one to begin with.

It will certainly stand one in good stead to cultivate each separately so that the appropriate one can be activated when needed.

An important point to note is that equanimity should be the last resort only after having tried the others; otherwise it can become mere apathetic indifference.

Min Wei: It is not necessary to start strictly from a sequence of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity one after another when practicing meditation.

It depends on one’s basic character or spiritual ability. All the four sublime qualities can be cultivated simultaneously.

According to Nagarjuna, practicing the immeasurable mind of lovingkindness extinguishes anger in the hearts of living beings.

Practicing the immeasurable mind of compassion extin­guishes all sorrows and anxieties in the hearts of living beings.

Practicing the immeasurable mind of joy extinguishes sadness and joylessness in the hearts of living beings.

Practicing the immeasurable mind of

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BOOKS IN BRIEF | EASTERN HORIZON

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BOOKS IN BRIEF equanimity extinguishes hatred, aversion, and attachment in the hearts of living beings.

If we learn the proper ways to practice lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, we can manage the illnesses of anger, sorrow, insecurity, sadness, hatred, loneliness, and unhealthy attachments more effectively and successfully.

Dadul: The general order is to cultivate equanimity first followed by the rest three in no fixed order among themselves. This makes sense because equanimity involves levelling the mental ground of the unwanted bumps and dents in the form of strong attachment, or intense anger, etc. With these obstacles relatively dealt with, the ensuing practices would be fairly well balanced. One could replicate this sequence even in a single sitting meditation by devoting a specific time and attention to each of them one after the other. Once one is familiar with all of them in general, then one can effectively work with them in any order.

Answers provided by Geshe Dadul Namgyal with editing assistance from Martha Leslie Baker, USA.

Venerable Āyasmā Aggacitta is the founder of the Sāsanārakkha Buddhist Sanctuary (SBS) in Taiping, Perak, a Pāli scholar and a meditation teacher.

Geshe Dadul Namgyal is a Geshe Lharampa and senior resident teacher at Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Kate Crosby, Esoteric Theravada. The Story of the Forgotten Meditation Tradition of Southeast Asia.

Shambhala, Boulder. 2020. pp 303. US$ 22.95. www.shambhala.com

In this insightful analysis, Kate Crosby, a professor of Buddhist studies at King’s College, investigates the history and cultural context of borān kammaṭṭhāna, a once-dominant traditional meditation system that was neglected and at times suppressed. It is related to, though quite distinct from Vipassana meditation that later became the hallmark of Theravada Buddhism in the 20th century. Crosby opens with an exploration of borān kammaṭṭhāna’s position in Theravada Buddhism throughout Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, and its marginalization during the colonial and postcolonial era. According to Crosby, colonialism’s focus on science and secularization undermined various spiritual traditions, leading borān kammaṭṭhāna to become disconnected from a holistic network of integrated practices. Through social and political shifts in Southeast Asia, borān kammaṭṭhāna was gradually supplanted by a Theravada tradition that emphasized textual study, scientific rationalism, and common sense understanding of texts. As for borān kammaṭṭhāna itself, Crosby explains that it is an orthodox practice following thirdcentury Abhidhamma frameworks that focused on integrating and systematizing early Buddhist doctrines. EH

Ven. Min Wei is a teacher of e-learning at the International Buddhist College (IBC) and an independent translator of Buddhism. EH

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EASTERN HORIZON | BOOKS IN BRIEF

BOOKS IN BRIEF

Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Relax and be Aware. Mindfulness Meditations for clarity, Confidence and Wisdom, Shambhala, Boulder. 2019. pp136. US$17.95. www.shambhala.com

The purpose of this book is to assist meditators to practice not just during regular daily sittings but in every moment of their daily life. The message from Sayadaw U Tejaniya is that we need to meditate every moment of our daily life. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 brings the readers to the key aspect of Wisdom, which is reflected in both Right View and Right Attitude, which must be accompanied by Right Effort. This is done through developing an investigate mind in our daily practice.

In Part Two, Sayadaw U Tejaniya explains how we can practice meditation on a daily basis through 31 short chapters, titled as a month of daily life meditations. In these 31 chapters, he teaches how to steadily develop relaxation, refreshment, and enlightenment. Some of the insights highlighted include “The right time to meditate is all day long, from the moment we wake up and open our eyes, until the moment we fall asleep at night,” and “Meditation shouldn’t make the mind or the body tired. If you are practicing correctly with right effort, it will definitely bring peace and joy.”

Though Sayadaw U Tejaniya offers simple and clear instructions for being aware, he explained that it does not mean the practice is easy, but if we are willing to engage, then they are very effective. His instructions and daily reflections encourage us to cultivate awareness and wisdom all the time—not simply in formal sitting and walking practice, but in the fullness of our lives. EH

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Y Karunadasa, The Theravada Abhidhamma, Inquiry into the Nature of Conditioned Reality. Wisdom, 2019.pp 449. US$37.95. Hard cover. www.wisdompubs.org

The author examines Abhidhamma perspectives on the nature of phenomenal existence. He begins with a discussion of dhamma theory, which describes the bare phenomena that form the world of experience.

He then explains the Abhidhamma view that only dhammas are real, and that anything other than these basic phenomena are conceptual constructs.

This, he argues, is Abhidhamma’s answer to common-sense realism—the mistaken view that the world as it appears to us is ultimately real.

Among the other topics discussed are • the theory of double truth (ultimate and conceptual truth), • the analysis of mind, • the theory of cognition, • the analysis of matter, • the nature of time and space, • the theory of momentary being, and • conditional relations.

The volume concludes with an appendix that examines why the Theravada came to be known as Vibhajjavada, “the doctrine of analysis.”

Not limiting himself to abstract analysis, the author draws out the Abhidhamma’s underlying premises and purposes. The Abhidhamma provides a detailed description of reality in order to identify the sources of suffering and their antidotes—and in doing so, to free oneself. EH

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EASTERN HORIZON | NEWS

Ven. Wei Wu

Ven. Wei Wu presenting an award to a graduating monk at the IBC annual convocation

Khyentse Foundation and Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche are pleased to honor Ven. Wei Wu as the 2020 Khyentse Fellow, the highest KF award to an individual, in recognition of his immeasurable and outstanding contribution to the promotion of Buddhadharma and Buddhist education over the past decades.

The Khyentse Fellowship was established in 2011 to recognize individuals who have devoted their

Venerable Wei Wu Named 2020 Khyentse Fellow

life and career to preserve, promote, and uphold the buddhadharma. Past recipients of the fellowship include Alak Zenkar Rinpoche (Tudeng Nima Rinpoche), Prof. Peter Skilling, Prof. Ven. Dhammajoti, John Canti and Wulston Fletcher and Prof. Gao Mingdao. This year, we are very pleased to award the fellowship to Ven. Wei Wu. We are particularly impressed and inspired by his work with the Than Hsiang Temple/ Foundation in Malaysia and the International Buddhist College in Thailand.

As an expression of our gratitude for Ven. Wei Wu’s unceasing work and his dedication and devotion to preserving and promoting the Buddha’s teachings and their applications in the world, Khyentse Foundation offers him an award of US$30,000.

Walking the Bodhisattva Path

In expressing his gratitude for the award, Ven. Wei Wu said, ‘I feel very honored and humbled to receive this fellowship from Khyentse Foundation. I share this honor with the members of Than Hsiang Temple/Foundation and International Buddhist College. They also rejoice in the great contribution of Khyentse Foundation for the promotion of buddhadharma.’

At a time when the entire world is going through all kinds of health, climate, economic, and political upheavals, we need bodhisattvas like Venerable Wei Wu more than ever before. We take this opportunity to officially acknowledge him for all his hard work, and we pray for his valuable efforts to continue and to flourish for the benefit of all sentient beings.

By Florence Koh

The connection between Ven. Wei Wu and me actually started long before I met him. It turned out that my dear late mother had mentored Venerable as a young boy in Penang.

Only years after my mother’s passing, when I took on the path of a Buddhist practitioner myself, did I come to know Venerable and see how much he has contributed

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to propagating buddhadharma in Malaysia and beyond. I was most impressed by his nonsectarian attitude toward Buddhism, which very much resonates with the lineage and practice of my teacher, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.

In an interview marking the 25th year of his ordination, Ven. Wei Wu

explained that although he founded Than Hsiang Temple in 1985, he was not ordained until 1992 because as a total quality management consultant for Proctor & Gamble, Hewlett-Packard, and other multinational companies, he felt that to be responsible to his customers he had to train a reliable successor before he could leave his lay career.

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Than Hsiang Temple dharma community activities | Above photos clockwise left to right: Than Hsiang Temple in Penang, Malaysia; Sevenday Amitabha name chanting; Dharma assembly at Than Hsiang, Than Hsiang kindergarten students, Than Hsiang Sunday school, Welfare financial assistance and senior care.

Before his ordination as a monk, he devoted much time and energy as an active lay Buddhist to building up Than Hsiang’s following and organization. Both in his role as a lay Buddhist and as a monk propagating the buddhadharma, Ven. Wei Wu has truly manifested boundless compassion and wisdom.

Than Hsiang soon became a leading Mahayana organization in Malaysia which offers not only dharma servicies but also various educational and community services ranging from kindergarten, Buddhist primary and secondary schools, welfare care, senior care homes and more.

Another thing that few people know is that Ven. Wei Wu was the first

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Chinese translator for Rinpoche in Malaysia back in the 1980s when Venerable was still a lay person. What an amazing connection he has with Rinpoche!

In 2005, Venerable embarked on another important mission: to seek common ground with other Buddhist traditions and collaborate with them to uplift the training and education of monks from various countries in Asia. He was the moving force behind the founding of the International Buddhist College (IBC) in Sadao, in southern Thailand. Buddhist scholars from all three traditions were invited to teach at this institute of higher education. Ven. Wei Wu’s vision is for this institution to be a center for serious students of Buddhism to interact and seek commonality,

through the highest standards of scholarly exchange.

A few years later, as the chair of KF’s Scholarship Committee, I had the opportunity to connect Khyentse Foundation with Ven. Wei Wu, which led to a steady long-term relationship between the foundation and IBC in supporting monks and nuns from countries of the Theravadin tradition.

I am delighted that Khyentse Foundation has granted Ven. Wei Wu the Khyentse Fellowship award, the highest recognition and honor the foundation offers to an individual.

I truly rejoice in his tireless efforts to propagate Buddhism and Buddhist studies, and I’m so very proud of this fellow Malaysian from my hometown!

EH

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EASTERN HORIZON | DHARMA THOUGHTS

Dharma Thoughts Vijaya Samarawickrama is an accomplished Dharma educator, teacher, and author. He retired after 60 years of teaching in schools, colleges and universities. However, he continues to give Dharma talks throughout the country, participates in inter-faith dialogues, speaks at various international seminars, and writes for Buddhist books and journals.

Gratitude: A gateway to happiness

By Vijaya Samarawickrama

Some people think that they can find happiness by simply changing their allegiance to a religion. This is why when they ‘become’ Buddhist they expect immediate results and plunge into meditation and vegetarianism and run from one retreat to another only to find themselves more stressed and disillusioned. Finally, they declare that Buddhism is too unrealistic in its goals and give up.

What they fail to realize is that the Buddha never promised instant enlightenment to anyone. He repeatedly referred to his method as a gradual path, comparing the Dharma to the ocean which is shallow at the beach but which gets progressively deeper as one goes forward. “The Buddha does not expect everyone immediately to follow the precepts leading to Nibbana. He knows human nature too well. To those whom this Path does not appeal he makes it clear that they can, by following the gentler courses of action, at any rate prepare themselves for the happier kinds of

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future existence” (Egerton C Baptist, Nibbana or the Kingdom?).

The first five monks he taught quickly grasped his meaning because they had ‘little dust in their eyes’ as a result of training over many lifetimes. But the Buddha knew that there were many others who had to take a longer route.

For example, he did not talk about meditation and Dependent Origination to women like Kisa Gotami or Patacara or to laymen like Sigala or Dighajanu.

Even when he addressed the gods, like he did in the Mangala Sutta on what brings the highest levels of well-being, he started with the simple basics of sensible behavior before proceeding to the complex psychological issues.

The Buddha’s method of spiritual training proceeds from the simple to the complex. It is divided into three parts namely, Sīla, Samādhi and Paññā which translates as Virtue or physical discipline, Concentration or mental discipline, and Wisdom. The Buddha is very clear that before one can attain wisdom, one must tame the mind to

see-things-as-they-really-are. And before the mind can be trained, the body has to be disciplined. The reason why many newcomers find Buddhism ‘too demanding’ is that they do not follow the sequence laid out by the Buddha and want to see miraculous results almost immediately, by attempting the most difficult practices first. Putting the cart before the horse, so to speak.

The Buddha divided his Teaching into two broad categories: mundane (lokiya) and transcendental (lokottara). The former leads to a sense of general well-being which acts as the foundation for the creation of the conditions which are necessary to eventually produce the highest level of happiness which we call Nibbāna. It was this two-pronged approach which made it possible for human beings with vastly different levels of spiritual and intellectual backgrounds to find happiness in their daily lives. It is no secret that people in countries with Buddhist majorities are well known for the levels of happiness they enjoy even though they might not have a sophisticated knowledge of the Teachings.

Perhaps what distinguishes the Buddha’s teaching from that of the Faith religions is that the Buddha declares that his Teaching is to be ‘self-realized, here and now, bringing good results, inviting investigation,

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Dharma Thoughts to be experienced by the wise, each for himself’. The Buddha strongly discouraged specious arguments and metaphysical speculation on unverifiable claims like the creation of the world and so on. In a famous parable he said that a man who wastes his time on unprofitable speculations is like a person who has been shot by a poisoned arrow. He refuses to allow the arrow to be removed until he has determined who shot the arrow, the archer’s ancestry and so on.

The immediate task is to remove the arrow. Similarly, humanity is struck by the poisoned arrow of Greed, Aversion and Delusion which is the source of all suffering. The task at hand is to immediately remove the cause and replace it with wisdom, love, and detachment. As soon as one sees this one begins to have ‘right understanding’ which sets him on the Noble Eightfold Path leading to Nibbāna.

An outstanding quality of the Teaching is that it can be practiced by anyone, irrespective of age or spiritual maturity. It is ehipassiko – inviting one to experience the results which can be tested immediately. The Buddha once told his adopted mother that one way to test the validity of his teachings was to see if it brings about a greater sense of peace and contentment. In this connection we can readily appreciate how effective the four Brahma Vihāras are in bringing about happiness to those who choose to practice them.

Gratitude is another virtue which can be practiced by anyone and which produces beneficial results. It is said that the very first lesson the Buddha taught after his Enlightenment was given without him uttering a single word and in the absence of even one human being. It is said that in the second week after the Enlightenment

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he gazed at the Bodhi tree for seven days without blinking to show his gratitude to it for providing him with shade and shelter during his last days as a Bodhisatta. Ever since, gratitude has been emphasized as an essential part of Buddhist practice for the obvious benefits it brings.

In one of the most popular of the teachings the Buddha addressed to laypeople, the Mangala Sutta, the Buddha enumerates 38 qualities which a person must develop in order to enjoy ‘the highest blessing’ on a mundane level. Amongst these he mentions kataññutā which is made up of two words: Kata: what has been done Aññutā: knowing or recognizing

So kataññutā means recognizing what benefit has been done to one.

This word is usually translated as gratitude. Before one can feel a sense of gratitude one must recognize that some beneficial action has been performed. It therefore implies that there is an appreciation of the action. Appreciation is defined as the recognition of the positive quality of something or some action.

But more than that kataññutā also involves a sincere and strong desire to reciprocate. So we can see that kataññutā involves much more than is conveyed by the English word ‘gratitude’.

Besides the gesture of gratitude towards the bodhi tree the Buddha also demonstrated his appreciation on several other occasions. He initially wanted to thank the two teachers who had instructed him while he was still a bodhisatta but upon learning that they had passed away only recently he decided to share the precious Dharma which he had discovered with the five

ascetics who had attended on him for six years. He also repaid his debt of gratitude first to his father, to his adopted mother and to Yasodhara who had been his wife in numerous previous lives. He even spent an entire rainy season in Tāvatiṃsa heaven to preach to his mother.

Of course as the Buddha he was above feeling any kind of mundane happiness as a result of his actions, but we worldlings (putthujana) can feel a deep sense of well-being for every manifestation of gratitude. This brings about positive states of mind which act as the basis on which the higher levels of happiness are created.

When gratitude is practiced regularly and from the heart it leads to a fuller, richer, and more complete life.

It is important to note that the first beneficiary of gratitude should be oneself. We must constantly bear in mind that human birth is something we have to be grateful for, no matter what the short comings. Added to that we can appreciate the numerous good fortunes that have come our way—to be born in a suitable locality, to enjoy good health, to have a good family and so on. Even if we claim that we have none of these things we can be grateful that we are born into the human plane where we come into contact with the Buddha Dharma and mould our lives in such a way that we can ensure an even better rebirth which will help us to gain the ultimate release from saṃsāra. All of this can be enhanced by developing the positive outlook which will make our efforts so much easier to bear.

In developing gratitude, we look out for the good in ourselves and the good in others, the blessing of being born human and the opportunities that come our way. EH

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FACE TO FACE | EASTERN HORIZON

manageable, we want to simply shine the light of awareness on our experience. As soon as we do this – as soon as we shift from dwelling on the subject or object of our fear, for example, and notice, “Ah, fear has arisen in me” – we are already somewhat free of being tyrannized by the negative mind state. This is what is done in classic Buddhist mindfulness practice, and it’s also what we do in zazen.

Then we need to refrain from trying to immediately get “rid” of the negative feelings or experiences, because that almost never works.

Patiently, we become more and more familiar with our experience.

It’s almost like making friends with our fear, anxiety, or worry. With gentleness and goodwill, we learn gradually what is going and what is needed, like a parent holding a crying baby. So, meditation is rarely an instant cure for our troubling emotions, but if you’re willing to engage the practice over time you may find more lasting relief from them.

This pandemic has humbled us and reminded us how we cannot guarantee our own future. Yet, we instinctively yearn for a way to assure and secure that future for ourselves and for our children.

Can Zen Buddhism show us where should we turn for safety?

Zen, like many Mahāyāna traditions, emphasizes that reality has two aspects, absolute and relative. The relative aspect of reality sees us going about our individual lives, encountering pain versus pleasure, success versus failure, justice versus

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injustice, etc. The absolute aspect of reality is that every last being, thing, and phenomenon is empty of any inherent, independent, enduring self-nature. Any discrimination as to self and other, good and bad, up and down, just and unjust, is ultimately a categorization applied by our mind. After all, if you look closely enough, you can’t find the boundary between you and me because the atoms of which we are composed are mostly made up of space!

Absolute and relative are simultaneously true and do not contradict each other all, even though they may seem to. Just as my finger is a separate entity at the same time it is only one part a hand, the concepts of absolute and relative describe reality viewed at different levels.

Why does this teaching matter?

Relatively speaking, we care deeply about ourselves and our children, and out of compassion and goodwill wish for safety, comfort, and happiness. This is natural and not a problem… until, of course, we get so caught up in our self-centered concerns that we lose perspective and come under the influence of greed, hate, and delusion. Becoming more familiar with the absolute aspect of reality is a medicine for this ill. Even as we put forth our best efforts to take care of our loved ones and make our world a better place, we can ground ourselves in gratitude. If you relinquish all of your discriminations and expectations about the world and simply engage with it directly, it’s a mind-boggling miracle we’re alive at all. And at the same time, we care

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for living beings. Both absolute and relative apply equally.

What would be your advice to someone who has just lost a loved one to this pandemic?

First and foremost, I wouldn’t give such a person Buddhist advice, I would give them advice based in modern psychology, which has added a great deal to our understanding of the emotional experience of individuals: Don’t let anyone tell you how you should grieve, or how long it should take.

Everyone’s experience is different, and none of us can predict how we ourselves are going to react to a given situation of loss. Be patient and gentle with yourself.

If someone wanted to hear something more, and they wanted to know specifically how to relate their loss and grief to Zen, I would encourage them to see the pain of their loss as a simultaneous manifestation of interdependence and no-self. Instead of being truly separate individuals with some kind of inherent, independent, enduring self-essence, we are dependently co-arisen with all beings and things and phenomena. Your loved one was part of yourself, whether your relationship with them was joyful or difficult. You were shaped in part by their presence, and you are forever changed by their loss. But also, they live on through you, in a very real way. The emptiness of self ends up being not an abstract and philosophical proclamation but an intensely personal, disorienting, but ultimately liberating experience. EH

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