Angry Buddha

A woman who practices reciting Buddha Amitabha's name, is very tough and recites "NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA" three times daily. Although she is doing this practice for over 10 years, she is still quite mean, shouting at people all the time. She starts her practice lighting incense and hitting a little bell.

A friend wanted to teach her a lesson, and just as she began her recitation, he came to her door and called out: "Miss Nuyen, miss Nuyen!".

As this was the time for her practice she got annoyed, but she said to herself: "I have to struggle against my anger, so I will just ignore it." And she continued: "NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA, NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA..."

But the man continued to shout her name, and she became more and more oppressive.

She struggled against it and wondered if she should stop the recitation to give the man a piece of her mind, but she continued reciting: "NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA, NAMO AMITABHA BUDDHA..."

The man outside heard it and continued: "Miss Nuyen, Miss Nuyen..."

Then she could not stand it anymore, jumped up, slammed the door and went to the gate and shouted: "Why do you have to behave like that? I am doing my practice and you keep on shouting my name over and over!"

The gentleman smiled at her and said: "I just called your name for ten minutes and you are so angry. You have been calling Amitabha Buddha's name for more then ten years now; just imagine how angry he must be by now!"

~ Being Peace, Thich Nhat Hanh 

Prayer for Peace

 

Time has no beginning;
it has no end.
Throughout immeasurable eons,
violence and conflict have abounded,
and body and spirit deeply wounded.
May the time for healing begin now.

Immersed in anger,
polluted by selfishness.
As though ensnared,
humanity has been beset by ignorance.
But wisdom and compassion lie buried within.
May serenity and insight arise now.

We are not separate:
we are one.
Seeming differences are inconsequential
for our hearts are the same.
Respect and harmony are waiting to awaken.

May universal peace begin now.

Seeking or According with Situations and People: A Follow-up

(This entry is a follow-up to a comment on the September ninth entry. Richard's question is a good one and often comes up in discussions.)

Comment: Dear Venerable Wu Lin, Please could you comment how sui yuan [according with conditions] relates to practices such as goal setting and visualisation. It also seems to me that in Liao Fan's Four Lessons, Liao Fan makes a vow because he wants to attain specific goals.

Response: Yes, at first Liaofan made wishes and with his diligent practice of goodness, he received what he wished for. But he did not wish for a longer life than his predicted fifty-three years or for a second son. Yet he lived to write his book at seventy-four and had another son. We can see that even when Liaofan did not seek what would make him happy, he still gained happiness as a result of his good deeds.

We unawakened ones who are still working at letting go of old habits, like attachments, can still set goals. The trick is to accord as we're letting go and setting those goals.

For example, before I started this blog, I had never thought of writing one. Then one day, I realized I would not be able to leave the apartment as much because of my mother's condition. This meant fewer opportunities to teach. On the spur of the moment, the idea of a blog came to me. I could talk about Buddhism without leaving the apartment!

My ongoing goal, which led me to become a nun, has been to propagate Buddhism. The blog arose on its own—an idea that suddenly occurred to me. I needed to learn how to create a blog and will always be learning how to improve it so I have an additional goal of a better blog. But I’m not trying to force it to happen.

As with so much of the practice, there are many gray areas between the black and the white. According with conditions takes much searching for the right balance between forcing what we wish for to happen and being a couch potato.

Neither too Kind Nor too Harsh

Master Kuang-ch’in said "Treat others neither overly kind nor too harsh."

Yesterday I wrote of according with—not seeking—affinities. The master’s advice shows some ways we can do this. He’s talking about balance, about the middle way.

If we are either too kind or too harsh, we push the extremes in our relationships with others.

On the one hand, if we are too kind, although our kindness may well be sincere, we may stifle others and keep them from growing. If we are too kind while our kindness is not sincere, we are acting falsely and thus misleading others. When the individual learns of our insincerity, it is most likely that he or she will feel negatively toward us.

On the other hand, if we are too harsh we run the serious risk of fostering an enmity. While firmness is necessary at times, we need to temper it with wisdom, not with anger or other negative emotions. Without wisdom, we can force the other person into a corner. He or she might come out fighting and we will have an enmity. Or the individual may simply give up and we will have stifled the other person and hindered their growth.

So acting too kind or too harshly runs the risk of not helping the other person and fostering an enmity. No good karmic consequences. No helping others. No middle way.

Seeking or According with Situations and People

My Teacher, Ven. Master Chin Kung, often speaks about how we should sui yuan, not pan yuan. In other words, we should accord with yuan rather than seek yuan. Yuan is usually translated as either conditions or affinities. By according with and not seeking conditions or affinities, we do not force them.

If the opportunity arises for us to do something or be with someone, we can take the opportunity to do so. But if it feels like we have to force something to happen then we are not according but seeking.

The problem with seeking conditions and affinities is this forcing on our part. If we force something and it is not supposed to happen, we will be setting ourselves up for disappointment as we develop expectations that cannot be met. Expectations unfulfilled, we do not gain the happiness we seek.

Finding the line between according and seeking can be tricky at first. With time and experience we will gradually learn to discover that line intuitively. When it feels like our emotions and desires are overcoming our being at ease with the situation, we may well have found our line, and just stepped over it.