In this sermon, the Buddha presents the basic teachings of Buddhism in the form of the Four Noble Truths, which include the Noble Eightfold Path that leads to complete enlightenment. He also sums up this Path in terms of the Middle Way, an avoidance of the extremes of self-indulgence and self-torture. Not only is this sutra recited on Asalha Puja Day, but it is frequently chanted and reflected on by Buddhists across the world, for it contains the very heart of Buddhism. It is, therefore, well worth spending a few moments of our time reflecting upon this seminal teaching of the Buddha.
“These two extremes, bhikkhus, should not be followed by one who has gone forth: sensual indulgence, which is low, coarse, vulgar, ignoble, and unprofitable; and self-torture, which is painful, ignoble, and unprofitable. Bhikkhus, by avoiding these two extremes, the Tathagata has realized the Middle Way, which gives vision and understanding, which leads to calm, penetration, enlightenment, to Nirvana.”
That the Buddha is addressing monks – both ‘bhikkhu’ and ‘one who has gone forth’ refer to monks - should not be interpreted that the teachings themselves are not intended for nuns and laypeople; it’s just that when he delivered this sermon it was to five fellow monks. For, although it is often argued that the Buddha’s teachings are more easily lived in a monastic setting, many householders have also benefitted from them, realizing Nirvana just as their baldheaded brethren had done. The word Tathagata is a title the Buddha often used to refer to himself in the scriptures, and it is usually rendered in English as either ‘the Thus Come One’ or ‘the Thus Gone One’, both suggesting a being that is spontaneously living in the moment.
As to the Buddha’s description of the two extremes that we should avoid, they are both described as being “ignoble and unprofitable.” They are ignoble in that they are not worthy of someone endeavouring to lead an enlightened life, and unprofitable in that they will prevent us from leading such an existence. Self-indulgence is singled out for further criticism; the Buddha stating that it is “low, coarse, and vulgar.” That lax morals and their resultant actions are not conducive to living an enlightened life is no big surprise, for even in more worldly lifestyles they are generally considered undesirable, so even more so for one walking the Path of the Buddha.
This avoidance of self-indulgence and self-mortification is dubbed by the Buddha “the Middle Way.” If perfected, this way of living “gives vision and understanding” and “leads to calm, penetration, enlightenment” and “Nirvana.”
These benefits are listed in this order deliberately; it is no accident that vision precedes understanding and that both come before calm, which is followed by penetration, enlightenment, and finally Nirvana. Again, it is worthwhile giving our attention to this process so that we at least have a broad understanding of what the Buddha was getting at. In doing so, we may gain the insight needed to progress along the Middle Way far enough to meet the Buddha himself, for as he famously declared, whoever sees the Dharma sees the Buddha.
The first step in awakening to the Dharma (the truth of the way things are) is to obtain the vision that sees life as it really is, and not as we usually misperceive it.
This involves a radical shift in our awareness, a kind of profound simplification that opens us up to be able to understand the Dharma, the way life is. This understanding, which is not intellectual, but can be expressed intellectually at least to a degree, is a wisdom that arises out of direct perception of the Dharma.
With this understanding comes the calmness that Buddhists are often – correctly and incorrectly – attributed with. This calm arises from knowing the way things are which allows for a certain acceptance of life as it is.
For, if we know and accept life, then we will not be upset by its challenges and problems, but simply recognize that this is the way it is and act appropriately. Resting in this calm wisdom, we will then penetrate to the heart of the Buddha’s teachings, indeed we will fly like an arrow straight to the bull’s eye of the universe, seeing and knowing people and things just as they are, all flowing out of that which is neither a person nor a thing.
Next in the Buddha’s description the fruits of the Middle Way comes enlightenment, which is not so much seeing things as they are, but seeing ‘No-thing’ as it is. That is to say, it is seeing and living from the naked awareness of a Buddha. In this enlightenment, not only is the Dharma the Buddha, but so are we; there is no thing to separate “us” from “him.” Finally, the Buddha talks of Nirvana, a state of being that is literally beyond words, out of reach of the intellect, and so sublime that to even label it “Nirvana” should only be done with the knowledge that it is just a pointer and nothing more. Indeed, many Buddhist masters have often avoided mentioning Nirvana altogether, fully aware that much misunderstanding can arise from such talk. So, let’s swiftly move on to the next part of the sermon!
“And what, bhikkhus, is the Middle Way realized by the Tathagata, which gives vision and understanding, which leads to calm, penetration, enlightenment, to Nirvana?
It is just this Noble Eightfold Path, namely: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.”
Where the Buddha’s teaching on the Middle Way gives us a broad outline, the Noble Eightfold Path is a more detailed exposition of the route to enlightenment. Too detailed to go into here, the Eightfold Path is often summarized into the three trainings, Morality, Concentration, and Wisdom. Morality comprises Right Speech, Action, and Livelihood, and details how to live in harmony with the society and world we live in. Concentration includes Right Effort, Mindfulness, and Concentration, and guides us how to cultivate both peace and focus, and includes meditation amongst its tools. Wisdom is made up of Right View and Intention, and it appears at the beginning of the Path, when we learn of the Way, and at the end of the Way, when it is an expression of our own understanding. To perfect the Eightfold Path is not to be fully enlightened, but to be perfectly ripened awaiting “it” to occur spontaneously.
“This, bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of dukkha: Birth is dukkha, aging is dukkha, death is dukkha, grief, lamentation, pain, sorrow, and despair are dukkha, association with the disliked is dukkha, separation from the liked is dukkha, not to get what one wants is dukkha. In brief, clinging to the five aggregates is dukkha.”
Here, the Buddha introduces the notion of dukkha, or suffering, which is a central idea in his teaching. Life is full of suffering, in the many ways that he describes above, and even when we are enjoying ourselves, suffering is waiting for the good times to end, so it can rear its ugly head. It has many levels of intensity, from mild irritation all the way up to full blown-agony, and from the egoistic point of view it is impossible to completely eradicate from our lives. The Buddha, however, is suggesting that a life without suffering is realizable, if we walk the Path, and the reason is that dukkha has a cause:
“This, bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the cause of dukkha: The craving which causes rebirth and is bound up with pleasure and lust, ever seeking fresh delight, now here, now there; namely, craving for sense pleasure, craving for existence, and craving for annihilation.”
Craving is the cause of our suffering; because we desire life to be certain ways, when it doesn’t live up to our expectations we experience dukkha. Three basic kinds of craving are listed by the Buddha: craving for sense pleasure, for existence, and for annihilation. It’s pretty clear why desiring certain forms of pleasure will inevitably result in suffering, for as the Buddha stated earlier in the sermon, when we do not get what we want, we will suffer. As to craving for existence, this doesn’t only mean desiring to be alive, but also includes wanting to exist in a particular way or form, and when this is threatened or absent, we will suffer. Craving for annihilation causes suffering because while we are alive, the desire not to be, or not to be the way we are, will create dukkha. Furthermore, if we accept the theory of rebirth, even suicide is not a way out of suffering, for we will face the consequences of our actions in our next birth.
“This, bhikkus, is the Noble Truth of the cessation of dukkha: The complete cessation, giving up, abandonment of that craving, complete release from that craving, and complete detachment from it.”
This may sound a bit of a tall order, to say the least, for while we are alive as human beings, we will surely have desires that will sometimes be fulfilled and sometimes not, resulting on suffering. The Buddha, however, teaches that it is indeed possible in this very life to achieve “the complete cessation” of dukkha, for whilst on the conventional level of experience we are human beings, at the “deeper” or more fundamental level of being, we are ‘No-thing’ at all. It is human ‘things’ that experience dukkha, so if we let go of identifying with being these ‘things’, and realize the ‘No-thing’ that we truly are, we are realized from suffering, for ‘No-thing’ has no desires whatsoever, and therefore no suffering. And how are we to achieve this? The Buddha has already told us: the Noble Eightfold Path:
“This, bhikkhus, is the Noble Truth of the way to the cessation of dukkha: Only this Noble Eightfold Path; namely, Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.”
The Buddha goes on in the sutra to explain in some more detail how he used the Four Noble Truths as reflective tools to meditate on and achieve full enlightenment, but the gist of his teaching is contained above, and it is this which is recalled on Asalha Puja. If we can appreciate these teachings and then put them into practice, we will be walking the Middle Way of the Buddha established roughly two thousand years ago. This Path has many interpretations from Thailand to Japan, Tibet to Vietnam, not to mention all the newer forms arising across the globe today. If they keep to the well-trodden Path that the Buddha taught all those centuries ago, they will lead to the same place: no place at all. For, it is as this ever-present ‘No-thing’, this ‘Buddha Space’ that contains all, that we are freed from our desires and the suffering that arises from them. May all beings be truly happy!
This was originally inspired by a great post on Buddhist Images in Comics by the Rev. Danny Fisher.
At the suggestion of the Ven. Dr. Yifa, who told me that the kids were all huge fans of the film Bulletproof Monk (which is based on a comic book), I presented on Buddhism and comic books. My presentation, entitled Bulletproof Monks, Green Lamas, and Thunderlords: Images of Buddhism in Popular Comic Books, was thrown together rather quickly (with invaluable assists from the super-fun website Comic Book Religion Database), but I think I still able to start an interesting conversation with the kids and parents.
I might make a real paper out of this material some day, but I’ll tell you a little bit about it now (with a few examples).
I hope that he does do a real paper off of this material…The seedy kingdom of dork would be pleased. I’ve been wanting to list a few of my favorite comics that have a heavy or light dose of Buddhism present within the pages (and ideally not as sub-standard as Wolverine bowing to a Shinto shrine once in a while).
After reading Blake Wilson’s “Six Buddhists that wil kick your ass” I decided to reprint (in true comic fashion) this old post and provide my own “ass-kicking” Buddhist comic characters and comics.
* Lone Wolf and Cub ~ Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima: There is a nice undercurrent of the koan Mu running through this entire series. Granted, its flowing underneath an orgy of death, violence and boobs but it is there none-the-less. Also as a prime example of Zen practice in parenting; The interactions between Daigoro and Ogami Itto are simply amazing and the ending of this series will haunt you for weeks.
After Ogami Ittō’s wife Azami gives birth to their son, Daigorō, Ogami Ittō returns to find her and all of their household brutally murdered, with only the newborn Daigorō surviving. The supposed culprits are three former retainers of an abolished clan, avenging the execution of their lord by Ogami Ittō. However, the entire matter was planned by Ura-Yagyū (Shadow Yagyu) Yagyū Retsudō, leader of the Yagyū clan, in order to seize Ogami’s post. During the initial incursion, an ihai (funeral tablet) with the shogun’s crest on it was placed inside the Ogami family shrine, signifying a supposed wish for the shogun’s death. When the tablet is “discovered” during the murder investigation, its presence condemns Ittō as a traitor and thus forfeits his post.
The 1-year-old Daigorō is given a choice by his father: a ball or a sword. If Daigorō chose the ball, his father would kill him, sending him to be with his mother; however, the child crawls toward the sword and reaches for its hilt. This assigns him the path of a rōnin, wandering the country with his father as “demons” – the assassin-for-hire team that becomes known as Lone Wolf and Cub, vowing to destroy the Yagyū clan to avenge Azami’s death and Ittō’s disgrace. (from Wikipedia)
* Vagabond ~ Takehiko Inoue: More violence and a fictional retelling of the life and times of Miyamoto Musashi (a famous Japanese swordman). One of the main characters is Takuan Soho – A practicing Zen Monk in the Rinzai tradition (the writings of which can be found in the book “An Unfettered Mind“). Takuan runs through the series as trainer/father-figure and guide to Miyamoto Musashi (and, ironically, his rival Sasaki Kojiro). Blunt and honest, Takuan helps to capture Miyamoto Musashi by appealing to his human frailities and then sets him free to become a better swordman. In true Buddhist fashion those same frailities that got him caught in the first place are the ones that make him a stronger swordman.
* Shaman King ~ Hiroyuki Takei: Loaded with more religious references than a camel has spit. Its fun and it makes me laugh….especially the duo of Buddhist monks that turn into a mega-metal band. Silly for the most part and not really ass-kicking. Miyamoto Musashi pops in as a (hungry?) ghost in this series.
* Butsu Zone ~ Hiroyuki Takei: The adventures of Senju (The Thousand-Hand Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva) who is quested by Amitabha to protect Sachi, an incarnation of the Buddha Miroku. Miroku is supposed to appear in an era when the Dharma is completely forgotten, become enlightenmented, reiintroduce the dharma, becoming a successor of Śākyamuni Buddha. Senju is there to guide and help plus Bodhisattva MECH-SUITS!! So awesome. Read it for free here
* Buddha ~ Osamu Tezuka: Well, its a comic version of the life and times of Gautama Buddha and it looks like Astro-Boy. To be honest I have not read this one yet. But I have admired it from afar and I have a Borders Gift Card burning a hole in my pocket…
And Lastly….
* Buddha for Beginners ~ Stephen Asma: I can’t recommend this book enough. It gives an accurate and humorous explainations (and illustrations) of Buddha and Buddhist thought. An outstanding graphic novel with good content that is useful for beginners and experts alike.
I am sure that I missed a few good comics out there with a flavoring of Buddhism…I’ve been out of the “Comics-Geek” game for a while so if you have some other additions, please throw them into the comments section below!
The Reverend Danny Fisher, Blake Wilson and John Pappas…Buddhist dorks unite! The Trifecta of Geekdom!
Do not accept any of my words on faith, Believing them just because I said them. Be like an analyst buying gold, who cuts, burns, And critically examines his product for authenticity. Only accept what passes the test By proving useful and beneficial in your life. The Buddha
INTRODUCTION
Dharma is a Sanskrit word with many meanings, but in this case, we will mainly use it in the meaning of the "Buddha-dharma" or the teachings of the Buddha. Probably the shortest summary the Buddha himself gave of his teachings is
"I teach on suffering and the way to end it".
Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical teacher gave many teachings during his life, and it is not very simple to condense these all into a small, comprehensive package. Moreover, during the last 2,500 years, various different traditions have developed in Buddhism (see history), which all are based on slightly different interpretations of his teachings, and emphasize somehwat different practices.
The Buddha gave some remarkably modern-sounding advice just before his passing away on how to approach the teachings, called the Four Reliances:
Rely on the teaching, not on the person; Rely on the meaning, not on the words; Rely on the definitive meaning, not on the provisional; Rely on your wisdom mind, not on your ordinary mind.
These kind of statements may clarify a bit why there is not simply 'one Buddhism'; every individual is encouraged to use their own intellect and wisdom to figure out what the teachings mean for them.
WHAT IS BUDDHISM?
This question is easier asked than answered. Lama Anagorika Govinda expressed it as follows in 'Living Buddhism for the West':
"Thus we could say that the Buddha's Dharma is, as experience and as a way to practical realisation, a religion; as the intellectual formulation of this experience, a philosophy; and as a result of self-observation and analysis, a psychology. Whoever treads this path acquires a norm of behaviour that is not dictated from without, but is the result of an inner process of maturation and that we - regarding it from without - can call morality."
THE KALAMA DISCOURSE
One time, when the Buddha passed through the city of Kalama, people asked him: "So many teachers were here, and all of them gave us excellent teachings, but they contradict each other. What should we do?" The Buddha then gave the so-called Kalama Discourse and expounded on ten aspects that one should consider when listening to spiritual teachings. (See the full text of the Kalama Sutra.) Summarised, the Buddha said:
"Do not believe a spiritual teaching just because: 1. it is repeatedly recited, 2. it is written in a scripture, 3. it was handed from guru to disciple, 4. everyone around you believes it, 5. it has supernatural qualities, 6. it fits my beliefs anyway, 7. it sounds rational to me, 8. it is taught by a respectable person, 9. it was said to be the truth by the teacher, 10. one must defend it or fight for it. However, only when it agrees with your experience and reason, and when it is conducive to the good and gain of oneself and all others, then one should accept the teachings, and live up to them."
Or, as the Buddha taught:
"My teaching is not a philosophy. It is the result of direct experience... My teaching is a means of practice, not something to hold onto or worship. My teaching is like a raft used to cross the river. Only a fool would carry the raft around after he had already reached the other shore of liberation."
"If you were to follow the Dharma purely out of love for me or because you respect me, I would not accept you as disciple. But if you follow the Dharma because you have yourself experienced its truth, because you understand and act accordingly - only under these conditions have you the right to call yourself a disciple of the Exalted One."
"The most important thing is not to get trapped in what I see everywhere in the West, a "shopping mentality": shopping around from master to master, teaching to teaching, without any continuity or real, sustained dedication to any one discipline. Nearly all the great spiritual masters of all traditions agree that the essential thing is to master one way, one path to the truth, by following one tradition with all your heart and mind to the end of the spiritual journey, while remaining open and respectful towards the insights of all others. ... The modern faddish idea that we can always keep all our options open and so never need commit ourselves to anything is one of the greatest and most dangerous delusions of our culture, and one of the ego's most effective ways of sabotaging our spiritual search." From Sogyal Rinpoche's: Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
"Few people are capable of wholehearted commitment, and that is why so few people experience a real transformation through their spiritual practice. It is a matter of giving up our own viewpoints, of letting go of opinions and preconceived ideas, and instead following the Buddha's guidelines. Although this sounds simple, in practice most people find it extremely difficult. Their ingrained viewpoints, based on deductions derived from cultural and social norms, are in the way. We must also remember that heart and mind need to work together. If we understand something rationally but don't love it, there is no completeness for us, no fulfillment. If we love something but don't understand it, the same applies. If we have a relationship with another person, and we love the person but don't understand him or her, the relationship is incomplete; if we understand that person but don't love him or her, it is equally unfulfilling. How much more so on our spiritual path. We have to understand the meaning of the teaching and also love it. In the beginning our understanding will only be partial, so our love has to be even greater." Ayya Khema; When the Iron Eagle Flies
"Three qualities enable people to understand the teachings: objectivity, which means an open mind; intelligence, which is the critical faculty to discern the real meaning by checking the teachings of Buddha; and interest and commitment, which means enthusiasm." His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Reason well from the beginning and then there will never be any need to look back with confusion and doubt. His Holiness. the Dalai Lama, from The Path to Enlightenment
Unfortunately, there are questionable teachers, traditions and centers in the Buddhist world. Bad enough, the only website that simply listed them was pestered out of existence, so please, do use your critical intellect to analyse and test them as the Buddha advised, before you get seriously involved, I did list a few on this page with controversial teachers and groups. Putting your trust in a spiritual teacher is not a small matter, see also the page on a Spiritual Teacher.
FAITH
Buddhism appears to put less emphasis on faith than many other religions, still the very first words of Shakyamuni Buddha as a teacher were:
"Opened are the gates of immortality, you that have ears to hear, release your faith."
In Buddhism, faith is defined as: a positive attitude to virtue and objects worthy of respect. It is said to be the doorway for all positive qualities. Several different types of faith are distinguished: a. Uncritical faith: motivation is for no apparent reason b. Longing faith: motivation is led by an emotionally unstable mind c. Conviction: motivated by sound reasoning Although the first two types of faith may be helpful, it is explained that they may easily collapse 'when the going gets rough'. In other words, the uncritical and longing faith may easily be forgotten when difficult decisions are to be made. Only the conviction which has arisen from a sound understanding will form a good basis to work with. This is one of the reasons why most Buddhist schools emphasise critical study and proper understanding from the beginning onwards.
The many teachings of the Buddha are written down in traditional scriptures. The oldest collection of these were written in the Pali and Sinhalese language, and form the basis of the current Theravada tradition; the Pali Canon. The teachings of the Mahayana school were written in Sanskrit. (For a brief explanation of these schools, see The Three Vehicles.)
(The following text is mainly derived from the Asian Studies website of the Australian National University.)
The early Buddhist canon is traditionally referred to as the "Three Baskets" (Skt: Tripitaka; Pali: Tipitaka), consisting of: (1) Vinaya: rules of conduct, which are mainly concerned with the regulation of the monastic order; (2) Sutras: discourses purportedly spoken by the Buddha, and sometimes by his immediate disciples; (3) Abhidharma, which includes scholastic treatises that codify and interpret the teachings attributed to the Buddha.
According to Buddhist tradition, this division was instituted at the First Buddhist Council. This canon was written in the Pali language which is believed to have been derived from a dialect used in the region of Magadha. The Second Council introduced some modifications to the rules of monastic discipline, and later councils added other texts to the canon. Initially, the canon was transmitted orally, but after a time of political and social turmoil King Vattagamani of Sri Lanka ordered that it be committed to writing. This was accomplished between 35 and 32 BCE. The Sutras and Vinaya were written in Pali, but some of the commentaries were in Sinhala. The Sinhala texts were translated into Pali in the fifth century CE. (More historical information in the Timeline page.)
The Vinaya Pitaka section of the Pali canon consists of rules of conduct, most of which are aimed at monks and nuns. Most of these are derived from specific cases in which the Buddha was asked for a ruling on the conduct of particular members of the order, and the general rules he promulgated still serve as the basis for monastic conduct. The Buddha never gave an exhaustive 'list of rules', so the vows for monks and nuns have been compiled afterwards. The Vinaya section consists of five books:
The Sutra Pitaka (Pali: Sutta) section of the Pali canon is the collection of general teachings by the Buddha, traditionally divided into five collections (Nikaya):
(1) the "long" (Digha) discourses; (2) the "medium length" (Majjhima) discourses; (3) the "grouped" (Samyutta) discourses; (4) the "enumerated" (Anguttara) discourses, which are arranged according to the enumerations of their topics; and (5) the "minor" (Khuddaka) discourses, which comprise the largest section of the canon and the one that contains the widest variety of materials. It includes stories of the Buddha's former births (Jataka), which report how he gradually perfected the exalted qualities of a Buddha; accounts of the lives of the great disciples (apadana); didactic verses (gatha); an influential work entitled the Path of Truth (Dhammapada); and a number of other important texts.
The Abhidharma Pitaka (Pali: Abhidhamma) section includes seven treatises, which organise the doctrines of particular classes of Buddha's discourses. The Abhidharma writers attempted to systematise the profusion of teachings attributed to Buddha into a coherent philosophy. Their texts classify experience in terms of impermanent groupings of factors referred to as Dharma (Pali: Dhamma), which in aggregations are the focus of the doctrine (Dharma) taught by Buddha. The Abhidharma section consists of seven books:
(1) The Dhammasangani Pâli (2) Vibhanga Pâli, Book of Analysis (3) Dhâtukathâ Pâli (4) Puggalapaññatti Pâli (5) Kathâvatthu Pâli (6) Yamaka Pâli (7) Patthâna Pâli
The Theravada tradition in countries of Southeast Asia follow the Pali canon and generally consider the texts of Mahayana to be heterodox. (See also the Three Vehicles.)
SCRIPTURES - OTHER COLLECTIONS
Other schools developed their own distinctive canons, many of which have very different collections of texts, although the doctrines and practices they contain are similar. Some schools, such as the Sarvastivadins, used Sanskrit for their canons, but today only fragments of these collections exist, mostly in Chinese translations. Although Mahayana schools developed an impressive literature, there does not seem to have been an attempt to create a Mahayana canon in India. The surviving Mahayana canons were all compiled in other countries. Canons compiled in Mahayana countries contain much of the material of the Pali canon, but they also include Mahayana sutras and other texts not found in the Pali canon. The Chinese canon contains Mahayana sutras, Indian philosophical treatises, and a variety of other texts, but its compilation was not really systematic (as compared to the Tibetan canon). The transmission of Buddhist texts to China occurred unorganised over the course of several centuries, and during this time the tradition in India was developing and creating new schools and doctrines. The Chinese canon was transmitted to Korea and Japan. The Tibetan canon consists of the Kangyur and Tengyur, and contains a wealth of Mahayana sutras translated from Sanskrit, treatises (shastra) by important Indian Buddhist thinkers, tantras and tantric commentaries, and miscellaneous writings that were deemed important enough to include in the canon. The Tibetan translators had access to a wide range of literature, due to the fact that the canon was collected in Tibet many centuries after the Chinese one. Tibet and Mongolia both follow the Tibetan canon, which according to tradition was redacted and codified by Buton Rinpoche (1290-1364). In addition to this canonical literature, each school of Buddhism has created literature that it considers to be authoritative.
It is noteworthy that the Buddha never encouraged one authoritative 'fixed and firm' set of scriptures, as A.G.S. Kariyawasam noted:
"Once a couple of bhikkhus suggested to the Buddha that his teaching be written down in a rigid language wherein even a dot cannot be altered as in Vedic Sanskrit. The Buddha categorically disapproved the suggestion stating that it would be an offence to do so and laid it down as a directive that each person or a group of persons should master his teaching in their own mother tongue (sakaya niruttiya)."
TREATMENT OF THE SCRIPTURES
Because the scriptures represent the Buddha's teachings, and are regarded the true source of happiness for all sentient beings, anything containing Dharma teachings or names of your teachers should be treated with the greatest respect. These texts should not be placed on the floor or under other objects, one should not step over or sit on them, or leave them where they might become damaged or stained by food or drink. Ideally, they should be kept at a high and clean place, separate from worldly writings and wrapped in cloth when being carried around. Although this may seem strange to people who are not used to this tradition, it is said that treating Dharma texts with disrespect creates negative karma.
Should you need to get rid of Dharma materials, they should not be thrown in the rubbish, but burnt in a special way. Briefly described: do not incinerate such materials with other trash, but separately, and as they burn, recite the mantra OM AH HUM. As the smoke rises, visualise that it pervades all of space, carrying the Dharma to all sentient beings, purifying their minds, alleviating their suffering, and bringing them all to happiness, up to and including enlightenment. Some people may find this practice a bit unusual, but it is given according to tradition, and it forms an interesting practice of mindfulness.
Just for fun:
Prince Gautama who had become Buddha saw one of his followers meditating under a tree at the edge of the Ganges river. Upon inquiring why he was meditating, his follower stated he was attempting to become so enlightened he could cross the river unaided. Buddha gave him a few pennies and said: "Why don't you seek passage with that boatman. It is much easier."
Some people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it. Gordon R. Dickson
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day. Unknown
Is reincarnation true? How about an afterlife? Karmic Laws? Now, that absolutely must exist. Heated debates and discussions swirl around these and other such fascinating questions, but what are the answers? Well let’s head over to Nowind Monastery and see if Master Blumise can help shed some light on these intriguing questions. Zen Story - The Secrets of the Universe
Part 1: Totonaka the Fanatic
Monk Totonaka had just joined Nowind Monastery a few months back, and he was absolutely delighted with all the spiritual growth he had experienced there in that short time. You see for many years, prior to joining Nowind, Totonaka had worked furiously to try to awaken himself. He had meditated night and day, and had been absolutely obsessed with enlightenment. In fact, he had pushed himself so hard, that finally he suffered a full mental and physical breakdown due to the stress and endless hours he had put his mind and body through. It was then that he had sought out Master Blumise, who had been instrumental in not only nursing him back to health, but also helping him rapidly make progress on the path to enlightenment. Here is how Mastery Blumise had accomplished so much so fast.
You see when Totonaka joined Nowind, Master Blumise explained to him the profound Law of Reincarnation. He told Totonaka that this was one of many lives that he would live and that the work he did in this life would carry over to the next, just as the work he had done in previous incarnations were responsible for his current spiritual state. He indicated to him that there was no need to overstress his body and mind with excessive meditation practice, and that he should relax and let things take their natural course.
This advice was exactly the serum that Totonaka needed to cure his maladies. It made him relax and let go. He stopped meditating like a man possessed, which gave his body a chance to heal and recover, and he let go of his attachment to enlightenment, which allowed him to stop focusing on the future and come into the here and now. This led to Totonaka making rapid progress on the road to nirvana, and he eagerly shared this development with his best friend Junjo.
Junjo, like Totonaka was immensely interested in enlightenment as well, and when he heard how well things had worked out for Totonaka at Nowind, he too decided to join the monastery. Junjo’s problems though, were opposite of Totonaka’s. He was one lazy monk. He would meditate off and on, and indulge in all the sensory pleasures he could get his hands and body on. As a result, his body was bloated, his mind dull and his spiritual progress stalled.
Part 2: Junjo the Lazy
Here is how the conversation between Master Blumise and Junjo went.
“Junjo!” yelled Master Blumise.
“Yes Master,” came the delayed response, irritating an already agitated Blumise further.
“I don’t know where you learned this nonsense, but there is no such thing as reincarnation, soul, higher self, and the rest of that mambo jumbo rubbish! You get but one crack at this life and if you screw it up, that is it. There are no second chances. Either you get your act together and awaken, or you lie on your death bed and lament wasting this most precious of opportunities,” blasted Master Blumise.
“But, master, you told Totonaka…” Junjo tried to argue.
“Shut up! It is all lies. There is no reincarnation and being lazy and wasting this life is the greatest sin you can commit,” Blumise interrupted harshly. And that was the end of that. The transformation of Junjo was as remarkable as that of Totonaka. He too in a few short months, got his body and mind in shape by ending his indulgent ways, and made enormous spiritual progress by meditation regularly, intensely and seriously.
Analysis of Secrets of the Universe
There are important aspects about the hidden secrets of how the universe works that are important to realize and let’s discuss a few of these below.
1. Universal Secrets are Rarely Known:
Not many people really know the hidden secrets of the universe. It is not knowledge that is handed out casually and even those that are privy to some of these higher laws, only tend to have partial knowledge at best. Most of those who do claim to know and really just quoting things they have read and believed in.
2. Universal Secrets are Not Needed for Enlightenment:
Such knowledge is not required for enlightenment. For enlightenment you need to realize that which is false – the separate sense of self and psychological time, but you don’t need to know the intricacies of how the cycles of life and death work. You may choose to study these hidden laws and thus become an all knowing Buddha (in addition to being enlightened), but as I said, it is not required for enlightenment.
The third and final point about the Secrets of the Universe is perhaps the most important, and that is really the moral of the zen story above.
3. The Real Value of Such Universal Laws:
These universal laws should be seen more as tools to help you with your spiritual growth, so don’t get drawn into theoretical debates about their validity. That holds little value. Instead wield them as tools and apply them in any way that helps you make progress on the path to enlightenment.
This is what sets apart the wise teacher from the ordinary. The wise teacher, who is only ultimately interested in awakening you, will know how and when to bring up these laws to help you grow. Master Blumise needed Totonaka to relax, so he told him about the law of reincarnation, which led him to adopt a healthy practice, while on the other hand, Junjo needed a kick in the butt, so Master Blumise stressed upon him the value of his current life.
Such an approach is what I refer to as the first Law of Tantra, which says, whatever helps you with your spiritual growth, use it.
You are invited to sit beautifully, upright, and practise mindful breathing, breathing in and out. Breathing in, I feel calm, breathing out, I feel happy. [Bell] (Please breathe with us)
Good morning, my dear friends, today is the 11th of July in the year 2005, and we are in the Upper Hamlet, Dharma Cloud Temple. I would like to talk to you a little bit about the Buddha, about who he is.
First we have to say that the Buddha is not a god, he is a human being like us. This is very important to know. Buddha is not a god. The Buddha does not claim to be a god, a creator of the universe, and he is a human being like all of us. As a young person, he suffered like us, like we do, but because of his practice, he could transform his suffering, he could develop his understanding and his love, and he could became a teacher, a wonderful teacher.
He has helped many people transform their suffering, to cultivate great love, great understanding, and the best way to look at the Buddha is to see him as a teacher, a big brother. At the age of 80, he died. But that was not the end of him, because he had taught many, many disciples, monks and nuns and lay friends. These monks, these nuns, these lay people, they have also practised like him, they have also been able to transform a lot of their suffering, they have cultivated love, and understanding, so they are like the continuation of the Buddha. So the Buddha is continued by his friends, his disciples. And now, as we gather here, we have to look at ourselves.
We have accepted the Buddha as our teacher, we follow his way of practice, so that we can transform our suffering, cultivate our love, our understanding. So we are also the continuation of the Buddha. I’m very proud to be a continuation of the Buddha, because I am doing what he did during his life: transforming suffering, cultivating love and understanding. So I am a continuation of the Buddha, and when you look into me you can see the Buddha in me. But when you look into yourself, you see that you are a continuation of the Buddha also, because you are determined and you have accepted the Buddha as your teacher.
You learn his way to transform your suffering, to overcome your suffering, and to cultivate more love, more compassion, more understanding, more insight, so that we become happier, so that we become more capable to help the people around us to suffer less, and to be happy. So we must see ourselves in the best way, to look at ourselves as a continuation of the Buddha. The Buddha has never died. He has continued throughout 2,600 years, and now we are his continuation, each of us, not only Thay, but all of you are the continuation of the Buddha. You continue the Buddha as a monk, a nun, a lay person, because you are a practitioner of the Teaching of Awakening, the Teaching of Understanding, the Teaching of Love.
Buddha means the one who is awakened, and we are cultivating awakening – we are the continuation of the Buddha. And we should be proud that we are the continuation of the Buddha. It’s very nice to be a continuation of the Buddha. You can be a continuation of the Buddha even if you are still very young. If you know a little bit about how to transform your suffering, how to be more loving, more understanding, you are doing the work of the Buddha.
You are a continuation of the Buddha. So today, I would like you to find the occasion to sit down and discuss the topic: “How to continue the Buddha in a beautiful way, in the most beautiful way” O.K.? “How to continue the Buddha in a beautiful way.” When the Buddha was about to die…it means that his physical body will not be there, but his dharma body will be alive forever, and we carry within ourselves the dharma body of the Buddha, so the Buddha never died. When he was 80 and he knew that he had to get rid of his old body, he was a little bit worried that his disciples and students and friends would cry, because some of us are still weak, and when our teacher dies, we cry.
The Buddha knew that after his passing away, many disciples would cry and miss him, because these disciples had not seen the dharma body of the Buddha – they had only seen the physical body of the Buddha. There are at least two bodies of the Buddha, and I want you to recognise the dharma body. The physical body of the Buddha only lasted for 80 years. Mine may last more than that because we live in a time when there are more doctors, there are more medicines, more care, and that is why many of our physical bodies can last a little bit longer than the Buddha’s! So the physical body of the Buddha only lasted for 80 years.
That’s not too bad! But his dharma body may last a very long time. It depends on us whether the dharma body lasts a long or not very long time. Dharma is the teaching, the truth, the practice, and while he was still alive, he tried to transfer the dharma to his disciples, to his friends. The way to develop compassion and love, the way to look deeply in order to understand better, deeper, that is the dharma, and the Buddha did not do anything except show the dharma, transfer the dharma to the next generation, and Thay is trying to do the same! The whole day, he doesn’t want to do anything else. He wants to show the dharma and transfer the dharma to his friends and students.
It’s a very nice thing to do because the dharma helps. When you suffer a lot, when you are angry, when you are in despair, when you feel very lonely, then if you know how to take up the dharma and practise, you feel much better after a few minutes, and that is the dharma body of the Buddha.
The physical body may die after 80 years, but the dharma body may live forever. And as you receive the dharma body into yourself, you practise the dharma, the dharma helps you to suffer less, to be happier, to be more compassionate, and then you also have a dharma body, and your dharma body is the continuation of the Buddha’s dharma body. Is that clear? And I want to tell you that you have a physical body, but as a student of the Buddha, you also have a dharma body, and you have to take care of your dharma body. That dharma body does not only serve you, but it serves many people in society and in the future, so take care of your dharma body by the study and the practice of the dharma. And Thay cares very much about his dharma body. We have to feed the dharma body by our practice.
We have to take good care of our dharma body so that it will be vigorous, solid, because when the dharma body is strong, we don’t suffer. You suffer because your dharma body is too weak, and when you come to Plum Village, you learn ways in order to make your dharma body strong by the practice of the dharma every day, by the practice of walking mindfully, sitting peacefully, eating happily, and so on. So the dharma is not just a dharma talk. The dharma should be the living dharma. A book about the dharma is the dharma also, but it is not the living dharma.
The living dharma is seen in our daily life. While you walk, you sit, you smile, you work, you speak, the dharma should help you to be more joyful, calmer, more compassionate, friendlier, and when others see that, they recognise it is the living dharma.
It’s not the dharma through words in a book or speech – it’s the living dharma, so when you smile to the other person with compassion, and forgive him or her for the mistake he had committed, then you are expressing the living dharma. You don’t say anything, you just look at him or her and smile with compassion; you are expressing the living dharma. And that’s more precious than the oral or written dharma, you see? And by doing things like that, looking at other people with the eyes of compassion, or forgiveness, or helping people to suffer less, you are generating the living dharma.
The living dharma always makes you happy and makes other people around you happy. And that is why it is very nice to receive the living dharma from the Buddha, from your teacher, from your big brother or big sister in the dharma, so that you may begin to cultivate that living dharma in you. The dharma body is like a tree, like a plant, you have to take care of, to cultivate every day so that it becomes a strong plant, a strong tree.
It will bring flowers and fruit that make you happy and make people around you happy. That is why taking care of the living dharma in you is very important. And that is why the Buddha has at least two bodies, the physical body and the dharma body, and you also, you have at least two bodies. People can see your physical body, but they may not have seen your dharma body. When you speak, when you act, when you think, the dharma body may manifest, because the dharma body can manifest in compassion, understanding, forgiveness, and you can also help other people to cultivate their dharma body.
This is a very wonderful thing. And if all of us continue like this, to consolidate our dharma body and help other people to nourish their dharma bodies, we are wonderful continuations of the Buddha. The Buddha is not on the altar, the Buddha is in us, and is recognisable. The Buddha can be recognised through his dharma body that all of us have in us.
When your dharma body is clear, is powerful, you are a happy person. You can help many people to suffer less. And that is why, please remember that each of us has a physical body, but we do have also our dharma body.
So when the Buddha was about to die, I mean as a physical body, he was a little bit worried that a number of his disciples would cry, would suffer, because these people had not seen very clearly his dharma body. That is why he gave this teaching…please listen.
When he was 80, and he was afraid that some of his disciples would cry too much after his physical body disappeared, he taught like this, “My dear friends, there is a beautiful island within, that you may take refuge in every time you suffer. Don’t take refuge in anything, in anyone, except in the island inside.” And this is a very wonderful teaching. At that time he was in the city of Vaishali. I have visited this city several times. When you cross the Ganges River, you arrive at the city of Vaishali.
And he met with groups of students in Vaishali, and he went to visit many other sanghas, small communities of practice, monks and nuns and others, and he met with dozens of groups of friends and disciples like that, and he spoke about taking refuge in the island within yourself. Don’t take refuge in anything, anyone, but take refuge in the island within yourself.
The island within yourself is for you to discover. It’s a very safe place. It’s a place where you feel calm, you are not disturbed, and you feel happy. You feel protected.
Every time we feel we suffer so much, we feel we are attacked by every side, we feel that no-one loves us, that everyone wants us to suffer, every time we fail in everything we do, then we have to remember there is a very fine, beautiful place that we can go home to in order to take refuge, and that place, you have to discover…it is not located in space. It’s easy to go to Paris, because Paris is located in space. You look at the map, and you see in what direction Paris is, you just go in that direction and you find Paris, but this island of self, this refuge where you can feel safe, feel happy, feel connected, feel calm, that island of self you have to discover by your practice.
I would like to tell you a story that will help you to understand better the practice of taking refuge in the island of self. About 30 years ago, I was practising and living in the northern part of France and there was a hermitage called “Les Patates Douces” and I went to a solo retreat in that hermitage, and that morning, it was beautiful, and I decided to spend the whole day in the wood. The hermitage was situated in a kind of forest called “La foret d’Othe” and I like to do walking meditation and sitting meditation in a wood, so that morning, I decided to spend the whole day in the wood.
I brought with me a bowl of rice, some sesame seeds, a bottle of water, and off I went to the forest and wanted to stay the whole day there. I enjoyed it very much, but at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon black clouds began to gather and I knew that I could not stay longer in the wood, that I had to go home to the hermitage. Before I left the hermitage I had opened the door and all the windows so that the sunshine could come in, and now the wind had begun to blow and I knew that I have to stop my stay in the wood and go home to the hermitage to take care of it. When I arrived at the hermitage, I found the situation not pleasant at all.
The wind had blown very hard, and all the papers I put on my table were blown a little bit everywhere, and then it’s cold, it’s miserable in the hermitage, cold and dark and disorder, it’s a mess! The first thing I did was to go and close all the windows because I didn’t want the wind to continue its work of destruction, so I closed the windows and I also closed the door. And then I made a fire in the chimney and when the fire began to come alive, I began to collect all the sheets of paper on the ground and put them on the table and then took the little brick I had to put on it, and tried to make the hermitage tidy, in order.
By that time, the chimney was very pleasant already. By that time it was warm, it was pleasant, it was cosy in the hermitage and I sat by the fire, I toasted my fingers, and I listened and enjoyed the wind and the rain outside. And that is my practice.
There are days when you feel that it’s not your day, everything goes wrong. And the more effort you make, the situation becomes worse. Of course you have gone through days like that in your life. You fail in everything, you suffer, you get angry, people blame you, you are not happy, you are frustrated. And you tell yourself that you have to make more effort, but the more effort you make, the worse the situation becomes, and then you know that it’s time to stop, it’s time to stop everything, it’s time to go home to yourself and take refuge in yourself.
You have to close your windows, the eyes, the ears; you have to close the five windows. You should not be in touch with the outside any more; you have to close the windows of your hermitage. Because there is a hermitage within yourself – that is the island of self that I want you to discover. If you continue to be on the outside, then you continue to suffer, you know.
That is why in moments like that, you have to go home to the island of self, and the first thing you do is exactly what I did with my hermitage, to close the five windows. And you know that eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, are the six windows you close. Don’t look, don’t listen, don’t touch, and don’t think. Stop everything in order to prevent the strong wind from the outside to continue to blow in and to make you miserable, because the eye is a window, the ear is a window, the mind is a window, and if you keep them open, the wind of suffering, the wind of disturbance will continue to come and make the situation worse and worse.
Don’t try any more. Stop trying and shut the windows. You shut also the door, and you have to go to the chimney and make a fire. You want to get a feeling of warmth, cosiness, and comfort by practising mindful breathing, going home to yourself. And rearrange everything, your feelings, your perceptions, your emotions, they are all scattered all over, it’s a mess. You have to recognise each feeling, each emotion, and you have to collect them like I collected all the sheets of paper that were scattered a little bit all over.
Practise mindfulness and concentration, and tidy up everything within yourself. You are going home, you have gone home to your island of self, and you are transformed into a place that is cosy and pleasant for you to take refuge in. Everyone has a hermitage within, very safe, very cosy, very comfortable, very calm, and they have to go home to that hermitage. The expression that the Buddha used is “dípá atta dípá saraná.” “Atta” means self, “dípá” means island, and “saraná” means refuge. “Taking refuge in the island of self.” This is the dharma talk that the Buddha gave when he was 80 to many groups of friends and disciples. If you rely on the outside, you get lost. That is why you have to go home and rely on something that is reliable, that is the island of self.
There are many ways to go home to the island of self. One of the ways is to practise mindful breathing and concentrate on your breath. You will discover the island of self. The other way is to do walking meditation. Every step brings you home to the here and the now, and then you can open the door of the island of self and go into it. In Plum Village, we have written a few songs about the practice of taking refuge in the island of self. Maybe we ask Sister Chan Khong to sing to us. We have it in French, we have it in English, and we have it in German and so on…
Sister Chan Khong sings:
Breathing in, I go back to the island within myself There are beautiful trees within the island There are clear streams of water There are birds and sunshine and fresh air Breathing out I feel safe I enjoy going back to my island. Thank you Sister Chan Khong, everyone…
We remember the teaching of the Buddha when we are tired, when we feel that we are not solid, we feel we are victims of the environment and victims of our emotions, and then what we should do is to go home right away, to the hermitage, to the island of self. And with the practice, we will discover that is the safest place to go back to. And after some time being in the island of self, in the hermitage of self, you recover yourself and then you are in a much better position to get in touch with the world outside.
And Thay has said that it takes time, it takes practice in order to recognise, to find our island of self, because the island of self is not exactly in the body. When we say inside, that does not mean exactly inside the body, it is not really located in the body. We have a better chance to find it in the dharma body than in the physical body. And everyone has that island. No waves can reach that island, so standing on the island, we are very safe, we recover ourselves, restore ourselves, become strong, and then we are ready to go out again, to help.
And so even if you are still very young, you know that there is an island within yourself. Every time you feel you suffer so much, nothing seems to go right, you have to stop making efforts, you have to go home to that island right away. And taking refuge in the island for five, ten, fifteen minutes, half an hour, you know that you feel stronger, much better within yourself. Taking refuge within ourselves… “Monks, you should know how to take refuge in the island within yourself”…that was his teaching.
I think the young people can stand up and make a bow and go out and practise.
[Small bell] (Please breathe with us)
Dear Friends, one of the ten epithets that Thay uses to describe the Buddha is Sugatha, and it may be translated in French as “Le bienheureux”. It means that the Buddha is a happy person, the happy one. It means that it is possible to be happy and according to the teaching and the practice happiness can be there, can be touched in the present moment, in the here and the now.
The freer you are, the happier you are at the same time, because freedom is the ground of happiness, and freedom here means freedom from afflictions. When you are caught by sorrow or by regret, caught in your sorrow or in your regret concerning the past, you are not free. You are not free from the past. You keep thinking about the past. And because you don’t have freedom, you suffer. That is why we have to free ourselves from our sorrow, or our regret concerning the past, so that we can establish ourselves in the present, because in the present, there is life, with all the wonders.
It is regrettable if you are caught in the past, and you are not capable of touching all the wonders of life that are available in the here and the now. The practice should be able to liberate us from the past. Of course the sorrows, the suffering of the past are still there within our body, within our mind, and we have to learn how to recognise them, embrace them tenderly and tell them, “It’s OK. We will be able to take care of each other.”
And out of this suffering, out of this pain, we can create the flower of peace and happiness. When we visit the lotus pond, we know that these beautiful, refreshing lotuses are born from the mud. Without the mud, the lotus cannot come to life, and suffering plays a role in creating happiness. We cannot grow lotus on marble, we have to grow it in mud, so happiness is born from suffering.
Happiness is the lotus flower, and the suffering is the mud. So the practice is how to make use of the suffering, make use of the mud, to create the flower, the happiness, and this is something possible. If you are an organic gardener, you know that you don’t want to throw away the garbage because the garbage can be transformed into compost to nourish the plants, the flowers, the vegetables. And suffering and happiness are both organic. Happiness, if you don’t know how to handle it, will turn into suffering very soon.
The love, in the beginning, that you cherish so much, if you don’t know how to take care of it, it will turn into something sour. And that is why flower turning into garbage is what happens every day. We have to learn the art to maintain the flower longer. We have to learn the practice in order to make our love, our happiness last longer. And if it happens that some of them turn into garbage, we should know how to turn them back into flowers. For someone who has wisdom, insight, when she looks into the heap of garbage, she can already see the flowers in the garbage.
If the flower is on her way to the garbage, the garbage also may be on her way back to the flower. And according to the teaching of the Buddha, both suffering and happiness are of an organic nature. And something we do know is that you cannot recognise suffering unless you have suffered. Suffering is a kind of background that can help happiness to be seen clearly, because sometimes happiness is there but you cannot recognise it and you continue to suffer. Suppose this is something black, and if you want to see it clearly, you should put it against a background that is white. But if you put it on something that is darker, it is harder to see. Happiness is like that. If you look for it in the background of suffering, then you can recognise it and suddenly you become happy.
The other day, yesterday, we said that we feel that happiness is somewhere there, but we cannot touch it, but we know it is there, because when it is gone, we know very well that it has gone. It is no longer there. That is why when happiness is still there, we should be able to touch, to recognise, and with what can you touch and recognise happiness? Can you touch happiness with your finger? It is by mindfulness that we can touch happiness and recognise its presence.
To me happiness is the capacity to be happy, mindfulness is the awareness that happiness is there. Happiness should become the object of our awareness in order to be a real thing. When you are a young person, you can run very fast, you can jump; you can do many things that a young person can do. But being a young person, you may not realise that you are young, until you grow old, and you begin to regret that you have not profited from your youth, you see? There are those of us who have plenty of conditions to be happy, but we are not capable of being happy because we are not capable of recognising these conditions of happiness.
And what helps us to recognise the conditions of happiness is our awareness, is our mindfulness. If you have lived through a war, if you have suffered because of the war, it will be easier for you to acknowledge, to recognise peace when it is there. There are many youngsters who have not lived through a war; they don’t appreciate the peace that is there, and they try to look for war, and that is why mindfulness is very important, mindfulness is the source of happiness. Cultivating mindfulness is cultivating peace.
You can cultivate happiness.
Suppose someone has toothache during the night, and she suffers very much. She cannot sleep. And she knows that she has to wait at least until 9 in the morning in order to go to the dentist to get some relief. And during the time of suffering, she recognises a fact, she is awakened to a fact, that not having a toothache is a wonderful thing, is happiness. But in this very moment, not many people in this meditation hall have toothache, but we are not happy with our non-toothache! Our non-toothache is one condition of happiness.
And we have plenty of these conditions. Our eyes are in good condition. We need only to open our eyes in order to get in touch with the paradise of forms and colours. See – our eyes are a condition of happiness! But we do not seem to be happy with having eyes in good condition. Our heart is functioning normally, and that is a basic condition of happiness. There are those whose only wish is to have a normal heart like ours because they risk having a heart attack at any time, so their deepest desire is to have a normal heart.
But those of us who have a normal heart, we don’t seem to be very happy, because we lack mindfulness. So, breathing in, I recognise that my heart is there, I am aware of my heart, which functions normally. Breathing out, I feel happy to have such a heart. So mindfulness is the base of happiness. You recognise these conditions of happiness in you and you recognise these conditions of happiness around you against the background of suffering, and that is something we can practise.
[Bell] (Please breathe with us)
There are times when we are very sick, we are not allowed to get up and to go out, and we are too weak to do so. We are confined to our room, in the hospital or at home, and we know that the morning is very beautiful. The birds are singing, but our condition is not good enough. We have no strength in order to go out and enjoy the sunshine and the birds. We are confined to bed for ten days or twenty days, and our deepest wish is that we get well so that we can open the door and walk out into the garden and enjoy everything there.
Now, as we are not sick, we are not confined to our bed in hospital, we have the freedom and the happiness of going out, walking in our garden, recognising every tree, every bush of flowers, and making beautiful and peaceful steps, touching the beauties of life around us, but we don’t enjoy, we don’t remember that we enjoy health, we enjoy solid feet, we enjoy our lungs, and if we think of the time when we were very sick, when we wished very much to go out for a walk in the garden, then suddenly we feel happy, and we enjoy right away.
So suffering can serve as the background for us to recognise happiness, and that is why suffering plays a role in happiness, like the mud is crucial for the making of the lotus flowers. And this is an art; even if you have plenty of conditions of happiness, you are not happy because you don’t know how to recognise these conditions of happiness against the background of suffering.
And then suffering can also help us to be more understanding, more compassionate - the role of suffering - because in Buddhism, suffering is talked about as a noble truth, a holy truth, because if we know how to look deeply into the nature of suffering, we can see the path, we can get the insight, that is why suffering is a noble truth. And we have to recognise the role of suffering in life and in happiness, like the role of the mud in the making of the lotus.
We should not adopt that naïve attitude of running away, trying to run away from suffering, because if you run away from suffering, you cannot encounter happiness. Happiness can be seen right, can be touched right in suffering, and this can be experienced by your own daily life.
Many people think that the kingdom of God is a place where there is no suffering – there’s only happiness. I don’t agree with them, because I don’t want to send my friends and my children to a place where there is no suffering. In a place where there is no suffering, my friends, my children, my students have no means to cultivate their understanding and their compassion.
It is by touching suffering, it is by understanding suffering that compassion is born, that understanding is born. And if there is no suffering, there is no happiness either. That is why I don’t believe that the kingdom of God is a place where there is no suffering. We can say that in the kingdom of God, there is suffering, but there are people who can help us learn from suffering so that we can cultivate compassion and understanding.
Understanding brings about compassion. If you are not able to understand the suffering in yourself and in other people, there is no way for you to cultivate compassion and love. Because compassion and love are born from understanding, understanding can be obtained when you touch the suffering, and you understand the suffering. So the idea that the kingdom of God or the Pure Land of the Buddha is a place where there is only happiness, there is no suffering, this is a rather naïve idea.
We learn from suffering, and suffering plays a very important role in helping us to be understanding, to be compassionate, and suffering helps us to recognise our happiness when happiness is there. That is why we should not be afraid of suffering like the organic gardener should not be afraid of the garbage, because he knows how to preserve the garbage and to transform the garbage into the compost.
So the practice has two parts: the first part is to recognise the conditions of happiness that are there, the wonders of life that are available 24 hours a day, to recognise that the kingdom of God, the Pure Land of the Buddha is available, and we should be able to live in such a way that every day we can get in touch with the wonders of life and be happy. That happiness will help us to transform the suffering, the sorrow in us. That’s the first part of the practice.
The second part, the second aspect of the practice is with mindfulness you can recognise the suffering, the sorrow, the despair, the pain in you, and help you to look deeply into the nature of that suffering, of that despair, of that pain, because that is holy, and once suffering is understood, is embraced and understood, wells of compassion inside are born, and we are liberated from that suffering. We can transform it with our understanding and compassion. Everything should be found in our own mind.
We are used to blaming the environment for our suffering, we want to blame this person or the other person for our suffering, but in fact, the suffering comes from our own way of looking at things. Suffering comes from our minds, like happiness. If we cultivate our mind, if we know how to transform our mind, remove ignorance, remove wrong perceptions, get the insight, and then with that same environment, we don’t suffer any more. And we are capable of helping other people who are still in that situation, and who suffer.
Those with understanding and compassion, in whatever situation they find themselves in, don’t suffer, and they are able to help. But those who have no compassion and understanding, they are drowned in the ocean of suffering, and they think that the only way to stop suffering is to change the people around them, but the fact is that we have to change our way of looking, of seeing things, and this is a practice – recognise the suffering in us and in other people, embracing it, bringing insight, understanding and compassion in, we stop suffering, and we begin to transform the situation.
And these are two aspects of the practice. The first - to get in touch with the wonders of life, be happy - could be done by mindfulness. The second aspect - recognising suffering, learning from the suffering, cultivating our insight and compassion, that is also done by mindfulness, because mindfulness carries within itself the energy of concentration, and together, mindfulness and concentration bring about insight, and insight is the liberating factor. Smrti, Samadhi and Prajna – Prajna is the insight, understanding. And if we are equipped with these three energies, we are a happy person, we don’t suffer, and we are in a position to help the other person to do the same.
[Bell] (Please breathe with us)
Dear Friends, These dharma talk transcriptions are Teachings given by the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh in Plum Village or during various retreats around the world. These Teachings cover all areas of concern for practitioners, everything from dealing with difficult emotions, to realizing the interbeing nature of all and everything, and many more. This project operates from 'Dana', generosity, so these talks are available for everyone.
You may forward and redistribute them via email, and you may also print them and distribute them to members of your Sangha. The purpose is to make Thay's teachings available to as many people as possible. Please, the only thing we ask is to circulate them as they are, please do not distribute or reproduce them in altered form or edit them in any way.
Or, as the Buddha taught: 
The early Buddhist canon is traditionally referred to as the "Three Baskets" (Skt: Tripitaka; Pali: Tipitaka), consisting of:
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