Generally
Today’s session will be a brief introduction to Buddhism and we begin by discussing the Buddha Nature present in all living beings.
This subject of Buddha nature is a critical and complex topic, yet it is a matter of urgency for us to gain an understanding of it in order for us to have the faith and conviction that we have the potential to become a Buddha.
Until we discover that we have the Buddha nature within us, it will be quite difficult for us to be convinced that we can gain enlightenment.
The fundamental nature of our mind is pure and luminous with the capacity to know and see through the reality of life and events.
Even though we presently have many disturbing thoughts in our ordinary, samsaric life such as anger and attachment, this basic, pure nature of our mind is receptive to all positive information and imprints.
This continuum of mind will continue beyond death, life after life until our mind connects to the Buddha’s own mind, which has the same fundamental pure nature.
As the Buddha nature can be a complex subject, we need to rely on logic, reasoning and the truthful words of Buddha to attain a firm understanding on this topic.
Brief history of Buddhism
The Buddhadharma and its practices came into existence numberless aeons before.
The Buddhadharma did not suddenly appear nor was it created by Prince Siddartha, who later became the Buddha.
Dharma is the antidote/method/solution to delusions, that was cultivated by the Buddha.
Shakyamuni Buddha become enlightened and turned the wheel of Dharma 2600 years ago – but Buddhadharma did not start from that point; it started beginningless lifetimes ago.
Buddha existed beyond the time that we are able to count.
All Buddhas began like us ordinary beings. There is no Buddha that began as an “in-born” Buddha, as a Buddha from the beginning.
The great being we call Shakyamuni Buddha began as an ordinary, suffering being like us, who took rebirth by the force of karma and delusion, experienced lives like we have including previous rebirths as animal, god-realm being, human etc. just like us but cultivated the Path to liberation and to enlightenment.
The methods to gain liberation and enlightenment that we are studying today were received from Shakyamuni Buddha 2600 years ago.
Those teachings of the Buddha were then preserved by his disciples Shariputra, Maudgalyana, the Arhats, the Indian Nalanda Pandits starting from Nagarjuna and so on. Nagarjuna (whose image appears in LDC’s Nalanda Pandits’ Garden situated behind the bodhi tree; the one image with a few snakes behind him) came into this world 400 years after Shakyamuni Buddha passed away.
For the preservation and flourishing of the Buddhadharma, there was a great Buddhist institute of learning established after the Buddha passed away called Nalanda University, located near Bodhgaya.
The Nalanda Univversity scholars based all their studies on the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha.
The Buddhadharma focusing on the Four Noble Truths, the 8 Fold Path took root in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Pakistan, India, Nepal.
The Mahayana teachings based on the topics about but included the Bodhicitta (great compassion) found their way towards Tibet, China, Indonesia, even Malaysia which was on the route that the spread of Buddhism in Asia took.
The combined teachings of Mahayana Sutra and Tantra labelled as Vajrayana, spread to Korea, Japan, Mongolia and Tibet (note that there is Buddhist Tantra and Hindu Tantra which is entirely different). Buddhist Tantra is therefore part of Mahayana and not a creation of the Lamas.
The Vajrayana that we are connected to, have Tibetan lineage masters whose roots were primarily that of Indian and Mongolian masters.
The great Indian Pandits such as Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) also known as lotus born Buddha travelled to Tibet and later, Lama Atisha, who brought the Nalanda tradition of Dharma study to Tibet.
We regard Lama Atisha as the author of the teachings of Lam Rim (the graduated path to enlightenment) as he taught and wrote extensively on the entire Buddhadharma, enabling the practitioner to gain enlightenment by relying on those teachings.
Up till today, Lama Atisha’s works are relied upon by all the 4 schools within the Tibetan tradition – the 4 schools are - Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, Gelug.
Here at LDC, we follow the Gelug tradition established after great scholar Tsongkhapa gathered all the Buddha’s teachings together and founded the Gelug tradition. In short, we are Mahayana, Vajrayana, Gelug, Buddhist.
What is meant by Buddhist and non-Buddhist?
A Buddhist can be characterised by 2 features – (1) ethical action (2) correct view.
Put in another way, a Buddhist adopts a particular method and view in relation to one’s spiritual path.
What is meant by method? It is the aspect of our attitude which is consistent with compassion.
If we cannot benefit others, we should at least avoid harming any living being (not only humans). Some other faiths regard animals as having been created by God for humans to consume for subsistence e.g. fish, prawns are created by God for us to eat and thus it would not be wrong to kill and eat them.
For Buddhists, in order to be a living being, that being’s life force must be accompanied/sustained/supported by mind or consciousness. Whether that being is form or formless, large or small, as long as it contains mind/consciousness, it is a living being.
What is meant by correct view?
This means knowing that things exist in a dependent manner and do not exist independently. For example, we need to understand that our life is dependent on karma (the law of cause & effect).
Our lives and experiences do not simply pop up without reason; or that our experiences are created by an external god who creates hell or heaven for us.
Everything is created by our own mind, which in turn gives rise to karma.
Good or bad, everything is dependent on causes.
We need to have the view which has an understanding of such dependent-arising. Dependent-arising can also been seen in this way – why is it we are able to refer to the north?
Because there is a south and an east etc.. Why is there such a thing as tall? Because there is the concept of “short “.
Suffering exists because we do negative acts; happiness rises because we do positive acts. In this way, all things dependent on karma and on our mind.
We need to have such a correct view and understanding. For instance, why is it my friend has high scores and I have low scores? There are causes – my friend studies 24 yours and I always party.
Or even though I try my best to study, somewhere in my past life, I indulged in heavily ignorant actions thereby affecting me in my present life.
By relating one’s situation to past causes and conditions, it enables one to accept experiences and results. We can think “ Since our situations are dependent on cause and effect, I have the hope and chance for something better by creating new causes for e.g. I have the opportunity to create the cause to get a better results, as that is a dependent-arising of my effort”.
Thus in order to be real Buddhists, we need to have these two foundation characteristics of the way we live our lives, namely having the method (of non-harm and helping others) and having the correct view (of dependent arising) and on top of that, taking Refuge in the Triple Gem.
Refuge means to feel from one’s heart that one’s protection and guidance will come from the Triple Gem and we pledge to follow their guidance. Whoever does not possess these, is not a Buddhist.
Buddha Nature
The fundamental nature of our mind is no different from that of the Buddha. The only difference between the Buddha’s mind and ours is like the clear sky and the cloudy sky in Indonesia these days, covered by Mr Merapi’s volcanic smoke!
Mind is like clear space - any event can manifest or be displayed on this clear space. Our mind though fundamentally a pure, “sky” is presently covered by clouds – what are these clouds? They are the afflicted emotions that arise due to delusions (ignorance, anger, attachment).
Although the sky over Jakarta is currently cloud-covered with volcanic dust, its nature is clear and has the potential to be totally clear again.
The clear sky is the Buddha nature; the clouded sky is our emotional states such as liking friends, disliking enemies, feeling jealous when others do well in studies and the like.
We can draw similarities between the eruption of a volcano and an eruption of our emotions. Why does a volcano erupt?
Within the earth, there is the fire element (similar to our anger), the water element (similar to clinging attachment) and the inbalance of the elements (similar to our ignorance).
Beyond this unstable formation of these different elements, everything is clear and luminous but within it, there can be ups and downs and breakage. Similarly, due to ignorance, anger and attachment, we are vulnerable to emotional eruptions which sometimes behave like volcanoes and tsunamis! (laughter).
We need to go back to nature, which is basically pure and stable. We need to practice conservation of our world. Due to our grasping habits such as demanding more electricity and more resources, these result in more pollution and more damage to the environment, giving rise to global warming etc.
Similarly, we often give way to our anger and attachment which arise due to ignorance and when we do not get what we want, we get unstable, we get upset and negative emotions arise.
These negative emotions act like the clouds covering the clear sky.
However, they are not permanent.
Since our basic nature of mind is luminous, the clouds of negative emotions come and go. Just as we can find scientific ways to keep the sky clear, likewise, we can keep our mind as completely clear and free of such negative emotions by developing more patience, kindness and by living ethically.
When we reach the stage where we have perfected all the qualities and good deeds which we started out to do (but were distracted by temporary delusions), we will awaken to our pure nature again and become a Buddha.
To become a Buddha, we do not need to travel to faraway places or take a long time to achieve it. We can become a Buddha right here on this very cushion but to do so, we need to understand what is to be adopted and what is to be abandoned such as cleansing our negative emotions, which would be like clearing the sky of the clouds which cover its clarity and brightness.
Based on Theravadan tradition, Buddha attained enlightenment 2600 year ago under the Bodhi tree.
According to Mahayana tradition however, Buddha gained enlightenment a long time ago but took a human rebirth to teach the Path through displaying the deeds of being born, renouncing the ordinary life, turning the wheel of Dharma for the sake of taming living beings and guiding them to enlightenment and lasting happiness.
At dawn, he destroyed the 4 Maras , namely the 4 Maras of death (physically Buddha faces death but mentally he was free from death); delusion; external factors activating our delusions; the aggregates (form, feeling, compositional factors, consciousness, discrimination/cognition).
Although Shakyamuni Buddha gained enlightenment when he was still healthy, he manifested physical death as a teaching on impermanence.
Becoming a Buddha is nothing about the physical body but about going back to one’s Buddha nature and remaining in that pure state without any distraction of the 4 Maras. If we tend to get angry for half the day, try to reduce it by one hour per day and engage in more virtue.
Construct a positive mind brick-by-brick with tolerance, kindness, compassion.
Q&A
I have a friend who wishes to take refuge but wants to study Hinduism. Is it possible?
Ans: He can be a Hindu philosopher but still be a Buddhist. He can learn about Hinduism but in terms of spiritual protection and guidance, he relies on the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Once I was in Penang, where I met a free thinker accompanied by a Christian girl-friend. I somehow felt he was under pressure by his girlfriend to become a Christian although he seemed to wish to follow the Buddhist teachings on karma etc..
I told him I too am a free thinker. This shocked him as I am a Buddhist monk. I then asked him about his definition of a free thinker. He asked me for mine first.
So I said “My mind is open to any form of good advice and teachings from any religion. After all, Buddhists can learn from any source, especially if it relates to virtue and in that sense, one is “free” to learn all forms of virtue.
I am a Buddhist philosopher monk”. He then asked me what being a philosopher monk involved. In answer to his question, I went through all the key points of karma, refuge, bodhicitta. You see, one can study Buddhism and live a life according to those principles. It would not matter whether one calls oneself a Buddhist or not.
Q: But if that person takes Refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, will he become a Buddhist?
Ans: Of course, if from the heart, one takes Refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as the objects of spiritual guidance and protection, then that person is a Buddhist .
It will not matter what such a person calls himself.
Outwardly, he may remain Hindu and perform Hindu practices but inwardly, he will be a Buddhist.
A Buddhist can pay respects to other faiths and gods but in terms of actual guidance on the spiritual path, then a Buddhist would need to rely on only Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Q: Is there any difference between 4 schools of Tibetan Buddhism?
Ans: Fundamentally, the teachings of all the 4 schools are the same.
The only difference is the way of presentation of the Dharma but the essence is still the same.
Certain people are naturally inclined towards the various traditions.
The Gelug tradition has more emphasis on the study of philosophy, on contemplation and meditation and less on ritual.
For the other schools, there is more involvement in rituals. As regards HH Dalai Lama, he is not only a Gelug but the embodiment of all the 4 traditions. Each tradition has its own lineage holders – for example, in the Gelug tradition, the lineage holder is the Gaden Throne Holder (or Ganden Tripa). HH Dalai Lama should be regarded as the root and the head of all the 4 schools of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
Politics is a separate matter. Politics is man made – some politicians say one thing in the morning and by the evening, it may change. But Dharma is not man made; it not changeable due to mere cultural factors.
End of Session
Prepared by Ms.Yeo Puay Huei
