Perhaps an Age of True Peace?

We are living in a time of almost unimaginable change, a time in which our expectations are increasingly outpacing our world's ability to sustain them. How we face these changes has the potential to alter our future—for better or for worse. The following are a friend's thoughts, which she titled "A Cameo Appearance," on one possible outcome.

My heart has been so heavy with the slowly dawning understanding of the Earth’s peril. The bad news is all around me now. My grief has been devastating, and yet, with the help of Buddhist teachings, I have decided to look for the good news – because there is always another side to a problem. Good news – to see the hope and not the dark shadow of fear.

What good news can there be in this very hard time for the planet and its population?

Could it be that the apocalyptic conditions on earth will force us to wake up and face the truth of our actions? Could it be that this enormous danger will increase cooperation and force us to work together as a one-world community? We will be forced to allow creative entrepreneurship and inventiveness to succeed instead of feeding the greed of profiteers. Many wonderful ideas are being proposed to stop the downward slide of our world. Pockets of peace are still thriving and teaching us how to love the planet. It could be that this is the time for the “sinking boat” ethos to push us all together on this sinking planet.

Could it be that the great struggle for survival we are engaged in will trigger a mass consciousness rising and we will wake up in the dawn of the age of true peace that has been promised for all of us by many prophets over time?

Good Conditions

In last week's Monday classes, we read of how Anathapindika and Prince Jeta gave the Deer Park Monastery in Shravasti to the Buddha.

Very simply, when Anathapindika heard what a wonderful teacher the Awakened One—the Buddha—was, Anathapindika covered the ground of Deer Park with gold to buy the land as a gift for the Buddha.

Subsequently, the Buddha spent much of his time at Deer Park and delivered many of his great teachings there. Even though he was not a monastic and thus did not stay with the Buddha in the park, Anathapindika heard many of those teachings.

He was able to do so because of good conditions.

He had the conditions to be extremely wealthy. But he did not keep his wealth to himself. He had been given the name of Anathapindika for it meant the Benefactor of the Destitute. When he heard from his sister what a wonderful teacher the Buddha was, Anathapindika wanted to make an offering and decided that the Deer Park would be a fitting one. 

What is helpful to learn from this is that Anathapindika did not wait for Prince Jeta to have the idea of offering the land to the Buddha or for someone else to invite the Buddha to stay in Shravasti. Anathapindika planted the seeds to have the right conditions to be able to be close to the Buddha. Planting the right seeds, he reaped his good results.

What Does the Average American See 20,000 Times a Year?

In yesterday's post, I was addressing a question that is essentially about why it is so hard to settle on just one Buddhist practice. One of the reasons that occurred to me is so general that I decided to do a separate post on it.

Why is it so difficult for us to calm our minds? Not just regarding our Buddhist practice, but in everything. Why are we so rarely truly happy, so rarely at ease with ourselves? We have learned that it's because of greed. But why does it seem to be getting so much worse than it was before? Is it just a trick or our memories, or is something going on here?

Of course, there was greed before. Pick up a history book and you'll read all about greed: for wealth, for power, for a multitude of reasons. So what's the difference between then and now?

Television.

With the advent of television, what was to become today's advertising industry had an opportunity to insert themselves into the living room of every person who had disposable income, a criteria neatly met by the presence of the television. Purchase of a television=disposable income. Previously, advertising had been primarily painted on the sides of bars or on simple billboards. Then along came radio, but the effect was still limited.

But with television, visual and audio were combined in ways not previously possible. Advertising was no longer static for movement was added to the audio-visual mix. The new media didn't just say buy a Chevrolet from your local dealer, it showed a happy family driving in their beautiful new, shiny automobile. The implication was clear—buy one of our cars and your family will be the happiest family in the neighborhood. You could "See the USA in your Chevrolet." You could live the American dream. All you had to do was buy something.

Let's fast forward to today. Nielsen Media Research reported that during the 2005-2006 television year, the average American watched television four hours and thirty-five minutes a day. That equates to 20,000 commercials a year! That's more than people decades ago saw in a lifetime. 

What's the message of these commercials? Buy me and find happiness. Buy me and be powerful. Buy me and stay young. 

Bombarded by all these messages that we have to buy the advertiser's product to have what we want, is it any wonder our minds cannot calm down? That we're never satisfied with what we have? That we're on a never-ending search for today's holy grail—Madison Avenue's hyped dream of happiness.

Want a way to calm down?

Think before you turn on the television. Isn't there a better way to use your valuable time? If you do decide to turn on the TV, head for the good stuff like what is on PBS (educational television). If you watch commercial TV, turn off the sound on the commercials. Don't leave the TV on as background sound to break the silence of being alone. Don't constantly use the TV as an easy baby-sitter for your children. If you do need a short, ocassional break at least select something worthwhile—and commercial free—for them to watch. Keep the TV in the family room, where you can see what the teenagers and younger children are watching.

As with everything you do, choose wisely what you allow into your mind and into the minds of your children.

Is it Because...?

Yesterday I received an email from a Pure Land practitioner. I have not heard from him in a while so was glad to hear how he was doing. He told me that he "had been going through a series of distractions, learning about other Buddhist traditions, but kept being drawn back to Pure Land." He then wondered why it "seem[ed] so difficult to be at peace in a Buddhist tradition."

It's an interesting question to try to respond to.

Thinking about Christians and Jews I know, I have to say that these people do seem settled in their choice. In my classes here in Elkhart and South Bend, there are several people who attend either the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship or Unity Church of Peace. I haven't heard them saying how they try a church in one denomination for awhile and than in another. Yes, they attend my classes, but I focus on teaching about causality and ethics, not religious practices.

But in countries I have been in both the West and the East, a good number of Buddhists do seem to move around within the different traditions. They'll go listen to a visiting Theravada master one week, a Tibetan master another week, and a Pure Land master still another week.

Why?

Is it because westerners were not brought up in a Buddhist tradition while Christians and Jew were usually raised in their religions, so they are practicing the religion their parents did? But if that is the case, what about in Asia? I know many Malaysians (Malaysia being a country I have been fortunate enough to visit on several occasions) who also do not solely focus on just one tradition within Buddhism. I saw a similar occurrence of not settling on just one tradition in Singapore when I was based there for a few years.

Is it because people today misunderstand what the Buddha said to the people of Kalama about belief, that people today feel they can pick and choose from the different traditions and formulate their own style of practice?

Is it because people feel that since all the teachings are equally good, they do not need to choose just one?

Is it because we do not know that we need to settle on one practice as soon as we can so we can advance on the path to enlightenment, rather than widening the path where we stand, transfixed by all we hear?

I could go on asking "Is it because..." but I'd like to change this from a one-nun lecture to a group discussion. Why do you think people often find it "so difficult to be at peace in a Buddhist tradition."? Or do you perhaps feel that this is not an issue for many Buddhists?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this! 

Different Situations, Different Methods

Many practitioners have voiced the concern over what they should do because it was hard to maintain their aspiration for enlightenment and they often retrogressed. These practitioners stated the truth. It is indeed very easy to retrogress. It is up to oneself to think of a way to prevent oneself from retrogressing. Because people have different capacities and karmas, there is no one fixed method. If there were a specific method suitable for everyone despite their different capacities, then Sakyamuni Buddha would not have needed to teach eighty-four Dharma doors, or countless Dharma doors. He would only have needed to teach one Dharma door!

We each have to use different methods in different situations. For example, when we encounter a roadblock, we go around it. We should adapt ourselves to the circumstances. We will encounter many obstacles. When we do, we should use wisdom and expediency to overcome the obstacles in order to succeed in our practice. An expediency is the most suitable method. Master Chin Kung says that the method he uses to prevent himself from retrogressing is to give lectures. This is the method he has been using in this lifetime.

Some people say that Master Chin Kung likes giving lectures. He explains that giving lectures can help him from retrogressing. When he first started learning to give lectures, he spent forty hours preparing for one hour of lecture. He devoted all his energy and efforts to the preparation. Therefore, he had no time or energy for wandering thoughts. It is a very good method for him. One has to use a method that is effective in driving oneself if one wants to succeed in one’s practice. One should not relax one’s efforts.

~ Based on Ven. Master Chin Kung's 2003 lecture series on the Amitabha Sutra