Simple Wisdom

Hear what is said.

Retain what is important.

Speak what is worthy.

Attach to nothing.

The Illusory Mind or the Enlightened Mind

Ordinary beings have an illusory mind, the mind that arises and ceases. In other words, ordinary beings have wandering thoughts. Enlightened beings have true minds that constantly dwell on truth. They do not have wandering thoughts, only deep concentration. Deep concentration is the state without discriminatory wandering thoughts or attachments.

However, this does not mean that we are idle all the time; we continue to do our job with a pure and completely aware mind. When the external environment no longer hinders or affects us, we have attained deep concentration.

Understanding this principle, we will know how to correct our improper behavior. When our six senses encounter the external environment, our thoughts, words, and deeds are improper because our senses follow the external conditions and we allow afflictions to take hold. We have been wrong for countless eons and this is the root of our improper behavior. We have buried our true nature and have allowed afflictions, especially those of views and thoughts, to be dominant. Thus, we have transformed the One True Dharma Realm into the Six Realms of Reincarnation. How are the Six Realms formed? They are formed by our attachments.

The first mistake from the view or thought affliction is our attachment to our bodies as we think that this body is “I”. This is why the Buddha told us there is no self and therefore our attachment to self is wrong. With the initial attachment to self, we have a mistake that is hard to undo. This body is not “I”. This body is something that we possess just like the clothes that we own.

If we understand this, we will realize that humans do not have births or deaths. Death is just like taking off our soiled clothes and birth is like putting on a new set of clothing. In the cycle of reincarnation, our birth and death is like changing clothes.

What then is “self”? In India, some religions believe that the spiritual self is I. In China, we call it the soul. In Buddhism, we call it the spirit. This state of believing that the spiritual self is “I” is higher than that which views the body as “I.” Why is it such an improvement? Because when one believes that when revolving in the cycle of reincarnation the spiritual self takes on a body just like someone takes on a piece of clothing, there is no fear of death. Rather, death is regarded as something quite normal.

If we have accumulated only good karma in this lifetime, then we will be reborn into the Three Good Realms—changing from a human into a heavenly being and having a much more beautiful and dignified appearance, a longer lifespan and greater good fortune. This is to “sow a good cause and reap a good result.” However, if we were to do bad deeds, then our body will change for the worse.

~ Ven. Master Chin Kung

Protons, Neutrons, and Quarks

Trying to find new ways to explain what I’ve tried to explain before is always an interesting challenge. In this morning’s online class with some good friends back in Indiana, I was struck by another way to think of how we are not separate.

One of the main teachings in Buddhism is that there is no independent self, we are in actuality, all one. This is one of the most difficult principles to grasp because our eyes tell us we are separate. I’m inside my skin and the rest of you are outside of me and inside your own skin. So we certainly all appear to be separate. And we do look quite different.

But if we think down to the basic building blocks of say protons and neutrons, or even quarks, those are in each of my cells. They are also in the air around me, they are in the window I look through, in the trees beyond the window, in the clouds, and even in the stars that I know are there even if I cannot see them during the day.

The same particles that make up my body are in everything around me. They take different forms: me, the window, the trees, and the sky. But inside of me, my skin that encloses me, and the air next to my skin are all made of the same atomic particles: quarks, neutrons, and protons. So there really is no separation. What comprises me, comprises everything in the universe.

I truly am one with everything.

In the Eye of the Beholder

Ordinary people see everyone as ordinary.

Arhats see everyone as arhats.

Bodhisattvas see everyone as bodhisattvas.

Buddhas see everyone as Buddhas.

Wise people see everyone as teachers.

Pure Land practitioners should see everyone as Amitabha Buddha.

So if we look down on anyone,

we look down on Amitabha Buddha.

If we have conflict with anyone,

we have conflict with Amitabha Buddha.

~ Ven. Master Chin Kung

Linear or Cyclic?

In the East, people have largely thought of time as cyclic. We are born, we die, and we are reborn. What we think, say, and do will come back to us. A cause leads to a result that in turn becomes a new cause.

Viewing life as cyclic, the interconnectedness of everything becomes apparent. What I do here impacts what happens there. So before I say or do something, I need to first consider what I am about to do. To do this, I need to know what my intentions are. To know my intentions, I need to know my “self,” who I am. Such introspection lends itself to reflection, reflection to realization, realization to awakening, awakening to joy.

In the West however, we think of time as linear, a forward progression. People such as economists, politicians, scientists, and corporate executives have usually interpreted that to mean that our civilization will progress into a future that stretches endlessly before us. A future of more—more economic growth, more power to influence the lives of others, more scientific advancement and technology, and more unwitting customers.

We in the developed countries who enjoy some degree of good fortune also have our vision of more—more income and anticipated wealth, more living space to store more possessions, longer vacations to destinations farther away from home, new technologies to solve any problems we encounter, and medical advancements to cure diseases and the problems we bring upon ourselves by ill-chosen habits, to name just a few.

We have envisioned ourselves moving along an imaginary highway that stretches out into the future. We have seen ourselves as always advancing faster and higher. Any problems along the way would be handled by those economists, politicians, scientists, and corporate executives.

But with such forward-focused thinking, we have missed the interconnectedness. We have often distanced ourselves from our parents and grandparents, thinking them old-fashioned, so we cut off our past. We have used not only our fair share of what the Earth offers but our children’s share as well, so we have cut ourselves off from our children. We have seen ourselves as individuals apart from the world, so we have not realized that the suffering of others is also ours. We have immersed ourselves in self-indulgence, so we have suppressed our innate goodness that seeks awakening and perfection.

We have advanced more in the past one hundred years than at other such time in history. But we advanced in only one direction, and an unsustainable one at that. We haven't paid near enough attention to the inner advancement. And so it is hardly surprising that many are looking around and saying "This needs to change. We need to change. I need to change. Now."