A Perfect Practice of the Buddhadharma

The guiding principles in Buddhism are awakening, correct understanding, and purity of mind. In other words, we are to:

1. be awakened, not deluded
2. have correct view, not deviant ones, and
   
3. maintain a pure mind, not a contaminated one.

To achieve these goals, we practice the Threefold Learning of discipline, meditative concentration, and wisdom. Buddhists will recognize these as the underlying principles in many of the Buddha's teachings, for example, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Six Paramitas.

Master Lianchi, also known as Master Zhuhong, the Eighth Patriarch of the Pure Land school explained how the Threefold Learning can be perfectly practiced through nianfo—mindfully chanting "Amituofo."

“We must also recognize that this discipline, concentration, and wisdom are equivalent to the Dharma-gate of buddha-remembrance. How so?

• Discipline [precept keeping] means preventing wrongdoing. If you can wholeheartedly practice buddha-remembrance, evil will not dare to enter: this is discipline.
• Concentration means eliminating the scattering characteristic of ordinary mind. If you wholeheartedly practice buddha-remembrance, mind does not have any other object: this is concentration.
• Wisdom means clear perception. If you contemplate the sound of the buddha’s name with each syllable distinct, and also contemplate that the one who is mindful and the object of this mindfulness are both unattainable, this is wisdom.”

~ Pure Land, Pure Mind, Trans. J.C. Cleary

The practice of nianfo, elegant in its simplicity, can help us to perfectly practice the Buddhadharma. 

In the Face of Violence

Hatred and violence are all around these days. Usually, we are not involved but what if we suddenly are? How are we supposed to react when we face a violent situation?

With wisdom.

Reacting to violence with violence only increases the existing hostility. It may appear to solve the problem at that moment but we are actually planting seeds for more anger and antagonism in the future. If only we had been able to act with wisdom in the past, then we would already have resolved this hatred. But having failed to do so once, we have enabled it to grow. And if we do not resolve it with understanding today, this anger and violence will increase and be even worse the next time it erupts. As the Buddha said, hatred never ceases by hatred but by the absence of hatred.

Facing a crisis is exactly when we need to have a calm mind. If we become angry, then we will just charge blindly into the situation and might even begin to behave violently ourselves. With a calm mind, we will have the wisdom to know what to do even in dangerous circumstances.

The sutras have accounts in which the Buddha encountered angry people and violent situations. But he knew the right words to get through to the people to help them stop what they were doing. We do not know the right words because our minds are not calm enough. Only when our minds are tranquil and clear will we be able to access our innate, nonjudg­mental wisdom. Then we will know the right words to speak and the right actions to take.

Relinquish Attachment and Discrimination

We practitioners ought to relinquish our attachments all the time so that we would be free of secular concerns towards the end of our lives. If you continue to indulge yourself, there is the grave danger that you may go astray at this crucial moment of rebirth. Therefore, try to maintain the serenity of your mind while discarding all distinctions of good and bad. You will then attain the state of "mindlessness." This, however, does not mean that you have become indifferent; rather, it means that you have let go of your sense of discrimination. The attainment of such a state will then be a clear indication of your genuine prowess in practice.

~ Analects of Master Kuang-ch'in

Nothing Brilliant: Just Some Contented Musings

When people become comfortable talking to me (and realize it would take a pretty strange question to elicit an eyebrow raise) the subject of leaving one's family to become a monastic often comes up. How can we leave our families, those we love, behind? Don't we feel alone?

As my Teacher explained one time, it's not as though we no longer have a family. Instead, we have a very large family for everyone is now in that family. It's all a matter of perspective.

As monastics, we also have a Buddhist family. Earlier this year, I was speaking to a monk at a monastery after the subject of my coming for an extended visit to give lectures came up. With a warm smile, he said I was very welcome to come as we're all children of the Buddha. Instant family!

More recently, I have begun writing to two monks. The first introduced himself and asked some excellent questions about Pure Land practice. He then mentioned this blog to another monk and now we're also getting to know each other. Another part of the family!

What is so wonderful is that thanks to technology, it becomes so much easier for us monastics to meet our siblings. It makes no difference that the siblings may belong to different traditions or are from different countries. The motivation to become a monastic, the strong wish to be of benefit to others, and the ultimate goal of awakening go beyond traditions and cultures. A brother is always a brother.

Giving from Our True nature

In the Monday morning class this week, I was talking about giving as a countermeasure for greed and craving. At the end of the talk, I said "When we learn to give as caring and generous people give—we will no longer feel tired. And even if we feel tired when we begin helping, after a while we will find that giving makes us feel more alert, happy, and energetic."

A former teacher who had taught for thirty-eight years raised a question about burnout. I know that her intentions, as were the intentions of all the wonderful teachers I know, had been to help children, not to benefit oneself.

Her excellent question provided an opportunity to elaborate on giving, one of the three forms of which is teaching. When we teach skills in school or in other surroundings, we are sharing what we know with others. By not holding anything back and teaching wholeheartedly, we will help people improve their lives. Obviously, learning how to provide for themselves and for their families is very important. But, the time frame for the helpful results is limited to, at the most, the person's current lifetime.

From the Buddhist perspective, the highest form of teaching is to teach about causality and the ways to awaken. These teachings provide benefits that are far more encompassing because they can improve not just this lifetime, but future lifetimes as well.

When we give unconditionally and spontaneously, we are giving from our true nature: the nature that wishes for all people to end suffering and attain happiness—forever.

Giving from our true nature and knowing that our wish is to help people not just for one lifetime, but for many lifetimes, is truly energizing.