I Resolve

I resolve not to kill.

Instead, I will respect all beings.

I resolve not to steal.

Instead, before taking or using anything that does not belong to me,

I will ask permission of the owner.

I resolve not to engage in sexual misconduct, or any sensory indulgence.

Instead, I will develop the mind of self-restraint and purity.

I resolve not to use false speech.

Instead, I will speak the truth in a wise way and at the right time.

I resolve not to use harsh speech.

Instead, I will speak words that benefit others and foster peace. 

I resolve not to use divisive speech.

Instead, I will speak words that foster harmony and understanding. 

I resolve not to use enticing speech.

Instead, I will speak sincerely and truthfully.

I resolve to refrain from greed.

Instead, I will open my heart and practice giving.

I resolve to refrain from anger.

Instead, I will develop patience

and the compassion to see the suffering of others.

I resolve to refrain from ignorance.

Instead, I will discipline myself and calm my mind

so that I can face everything with wisdom.



Tahdah!!!

 The

How Will I Behave Today and the Rest of My Life?

website is published

and working!

It's the "working" part that gets the TADAH!. The digital eBooks took some work, hence I kept toting my 17" laptop back and forth to our IT building for Mr. Tao to help me publish the new format and then attempt to figure out why it wasn't working. I was afraid that people would either think that he wasn't very good at fixing computers (he is) or I was really tough on computers (don't think I am).

We started with our Australia server, then tried our Hong Kong server, and ended up on our China server. So the site is a touch slow, but it WORKS!

I'm so happy...

Oh! Click on Jacques and he'll do the rest.

Genus: Lonicera. Species: Amituofo

Question: What do we do about all those bad seeds we have planted in our innumerable past lifetimes? We can't undo what we have done, so what do we do now?

Response: Plant Lonicera.

Lonicera is commonly know as honeysuckle. But don't plant this species in your backyard garden, plant it in the garden of your mind. 

On the hill that rises up behind the Amitabha Buddhist Retreat Centre, there is a mass of honeysuckle. Each time we circumambulate the Buddha in the cultivation hall, we walk towards the window that frames the honeysuckle. Around the honeysuckle, we see wild grasses, weeds, small bushes. But none of these grow where the honeysuckle is.

Why?

The honeysuckle is thick and strong. its roots deep and plentiful. We could say that it is "singleminded" and "has good roots." No grass or weed seeds can grow where it thrives.

So we can emulate the honeysuckle. We plant the species "Amituofo" in the garden of our mind. With time, "Amituofo" will be deep and strong, our roots plentiful. And the bad seeds of our past misdeeds will be unable to grow.

No Disrespect Intended, But . . .

Periodically, I am asked about what might be called the "credentials" of Pure Land Buddhism. This is understandable in light of the scant amount of translated material from the two-thousand year history of Buddhism in China.

I received such a query recently and found the following in my Library folder. It is from A Buddhist Goal That Can Be Achieved In One's Present Life by Mr. Li Bingnan. (An account of Mr. Li's life can be found in Charles Brewer Jones' excellent Buddhism in Taiwan.)

Because of his great kindness and compassion, Shakyamuni Buddha taught us the method of reciting Buddha's name so that we may be born into the World of Ultimate Bliss. This is the simplest, surest way of getting off the revolving wheel of Birth-and-Death and gaining eternal life. All other paths are far more difficult. Many great scholars have studied this path and found out that the more they study it, the more they appreciate it and they are convinced that this is the path suitable for everybody.

It takes a very high level of wisdom and mental capacity to understand and appreciate the principles of this path. However, anybody can practice it and benefit fully. . . .

In the Flower-Adornment Assembly [The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra, translated by Thomas Cleary], both Wen Shu [Manjushi Bodhisattva] and P'u Hsien, [Samantabhadra Bodhisattva] the two sages who are the assistants to Shakyamuni Buddha, advised people to practice this path.

The two great Bodhisatvas of India, Ma Ming [Asvaghosa] and Lung Shu [Nagarjuna], advocated this path as the path for everybody.

In China, great Dharma masters of their times, from Hui Yuan to Yin Kuang, all started to practice other paths but finally switched to this path. Great master T'an Luan, whose mummified remains are still in preservation, and is known as the flesh-relic Bodhisattva, and great master Chih Che, who upheld the heritage of the Buddha, both advocated this path.

In modern times, the great master Ti Hsien of the Heavenly Platform (T'ien T'ai) school, great master T'ai Hsu of the Consciousness-Only School, great master Hung I of the Vinaya School, and great masters Hsu Yun and Yuan Ying of the Chan School all advised their followers to practice this path.

Lay Buddhists, such as Liu Lei of Lu Shan in Chin Dynasty, the Pai Le T'ien of the Tang dynasty, Su Tung P'o and Wen Yen Po of the Sung Dynasty, Yuan Hung Tao of the Ming Dynasty, and P'eng Ch'ih Mu and Yang Jen Shan of the Ch'ing Dynasty, were all top scholars and all practiced the path of Pure-Land, i.e., they all aspire to be born in the World of Ultimate Bliss through reciting Buddha's name.

There are countless numbers of persons practicing this path. Let us ask ourselves, is our wisdom superior to that of those great Bodhisattvas, great Dharma masters, and top scholars? If all these wise people practiced the path of Pure-Land, is it correct for us to despise this path?"

More Facebook . . .

A reader thoughtfully emailed me regarding my entry preceding this one on the facebook pages. She offered to help and brought up some points that I felt would be good to address.

First, I have no doubt of the sincerity of the person of the person who did the pages. Their sincerity was never a question for me.

So what was the issue?

Everything I write—on the blog, in books, for talks—is carefully considered. The more serious the material, the more the thought I put into it. I have a responsibility to present principles and information as accurately as I can. If I recommend something, readers deserve to have a good measure of confidence that I have looked carefully into it.

The “my favorites” section gave me much difficulty. As far as I could see, there was no indication someone else had done the pages. So people will think that the "favorites" listed are indeed mine. But there is no assurance that pages under the favorites are consistently — as in 100% — appropriate for a Pure Land Buddhist website. And what others consider appropriate may not accord with what I have been taught and thus wish to pass on to others. So while others can of course include sites as their favorites, they may not be sites I wish to tell everyone are “mine.” (Again, I have not looked at the favorited sites. To read every one would require more time than I can afford to take. So my concerns do not in any way reflect on the specific sites listed.)

When I recommend a website, I have to keep monitoring that site. (When I recommend a book, I have to have read and be comfortable with the whole book.) There is no way to do that when there are many sites. And as another person brought up, what if the favorites in turn have other favorites, etc., etc. Who is doing the monitoring?

Second, the person who offered to help said someone had done a beautiful page as a tribute to her deceased grandfather. I agree that that doing a page as a tribute is a beautiful way to honor someone who has passed away. But it would have been clear to all readers that the deceased person had not done the page. Such a fact was not made clear on the pages under discussion.

Furthermore, as a Buddhist monastic I am supposed to practice humility. Having a personal page on facebook makes me uncomfortable. Other people having pages is fine (including other monastics who are comfortable with the idea). I didn't even write the bio on this blog in the first person. I wasn't comfortable saying, "I did" and "I went." So I wrote something as short as possible and avoided personal pronouns.

It was even a struggle deciding whether to put my photo on this blog. But knowing how I like to see the photo of a book's author, I understood people would get an extra bit of information from the photo so I posted it.

What would have made the pages okay?

One very simple change.

The person could have made their own facebook page and placed the information on it. That way the favorites, the pages, would clearly have been their own.  

So simple.