The Paradox of Our Age

We have bigger houses, but smaller families;
More conveniences, but less time;
We have more degrees, but less sense;
More knowledge, but less judgment;
More experts, but more problems;
More medicines, but less healthiness;
We've been all the way to the moon and back,

but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.
We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever,

but have less communication.
We have become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;
Tall men but short character;
Steep profits but shallow relationships.
It's a time when there is much in the window, but nothing in the room.

 

 ~ Dalai Lama

 

Not Yet Ready to Save the World

Question: I was wondering, I don’t have any 'altruistic' desires, to help the world. But I do want to stop my own suffering and improve my own happiness.

By ridding myself of the negative deeds, mental and physical, if I say to myself that it's enough for me to simply be happy and do these things, without having a desire to 'save the world', so to speak, does it mean that Buddhism is not for me because it seems from the thread above, to reach enlightenment is the ultimate aim we should strive for, which I don't. Doesn't this also mean that Buddhism is not the religion for me because foremost, I don't want to be a Buddha, and that being happy is just good enough for me, even if I continue to be in samsara, but in good rebirths?

Response: The mind to help all beings takes time to develop. Initially, we do not have this mind, only the wish to end our own suffering. We start from where we are, so you can still learn from and practice Buddhism. In the US, many of the people I teach are Christians. They feel Buddhism enhances their own beliefs and that there is no conflict as Buddhism is not a religion but a teaching of how to awaken. 

The basic teachings are to do no harm, to do what is good, and to purify the mind. You don't need to want to become a Buddha to practice these three precepts. The Buddhadharma teaches us to be moral and self-disciplined. Living a moral life is necessary for us to enjoy good rebirths. The Buddhadharma also teaches us to conserve our good fortune and how to keep creating more. We need good fortune as well if we are to enjoy good rebirths.

So the Buddha's teachings show us how to have good rebirths and how to have a happy life now.  

Near a Forest, a River, or a Brook

 

Among the followers of the Buddha, including lay practitioners, there were Buddhas of the past and great bodhisattvas. They manifested as ordinary people but were actually saints. The Essentials says: “The sound-hearers were listed first because they assumed the appearance of one who has renounced the world, because they always followed the Buddha, and because the spreading of the Dharma depends on the Sangha.” The sound-hearers always appeared as monastics who had renounced the world, but the bodhisattvas did not always appear as such. Most bodhisattvas had the appearance of lay people. The bodhisattvas did not always follow the Buddha but the sound-hearers did because they had not completed their study. The sound-hearers were bhiksus, and bhiksus were students of the Buddha who had not completed their study and thus needed to constantly follow the teacher. The bodhisattvas had completed their study and could thus leave the teacher’s side.

There was no set place for the Buddha to teach. Where did he teach? In a forest, by a river, or near a brook. There were no buildings or any facilities. They slept under the trees and ate one meal a day before noon. They lived in the wilderness. When the kings and ministers heard about the Buddha, they were full of admiration and sincerely wanted the Buddha to live in their countries to teach. The Buddha accorded with the conditions and went wherever people invited him. He was able to spread his teachings to a large area and to truly benefit all beings. The bodhisattvas also went everywhere to teach. Because there were many places where the Buddha was invited to teach and because he could not go to all of them, sometimes the sound-hearers were sent out to teach on his behalf. After teaching for a period, the students would come back, and other students would be sent.

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

True Confessions

I confess. I'm not a spider person. No, don't worry. I'm okay. I just mean that I'm not crazy about spiders. Or at least not Australian spiders. I'm fine with Daddy Longlegs. We had them in New York where I grew up. And I loved the movie Daddy Longlegs with Fred Astaire. But I'm talking about serious spiders. Big spiders. Lots of big spiders. I mean, I'm a Buddhist—I like everything in moderation. And that goes for spiders, too. Especially big ones.

So if I don't like spiders, why my preoccupation with them? I'm glad you asked.

As I said there are lots of spiders in Australia and I'm currently in Australia. To my great good fortune, Celine, the woman I am staying with, likes spiders. (No, don't start worrying again. She has a healthy, compassionate fearless view of spiders and admires their web-building genius. I do share her admiration on this.) So for the first week or so, I would call out "Celine—spider!" and she'd quickly come with a cloth to catch the spider and gently escort it out of the house.

Today as I was working and gazing out the window (strictly for therapeutic reasons to rest my eyes—honest), I noticed a bunch of white dots all clumped together next to a large white spider that had been fighting with another spider a few days ago in the same spot. (Apparently, I rest my eyes a lot here.) I got up and looked more closely. It looked like there were about a hundred little white dots. Oops.

I went to Celine and asked her about the wisdom of spider eggs on the outside of the window (with the screen that our cat Kahleen likes to climb to gaze in at me at eye level. This unfortunately has left many tears in the screen that are just the right size for playful baby spiders to use to come in to scare the Buddhist nun). Celine smiled comfortingly and said, yes, it was best not to have a hundred spiders hatching outside my room. (She was probably also concerned for the thunderous effect my "Celine—spider!" would have on baby spider ears. If spiders have ears. Trust me, I have NOT gotten close enough to see if they do.)

Anyway, Celine cleverly found a large leaf and scooped up Mama and her babies and walked out on to the grass. Celine then commented that she didn't want to put them down on the grass because the ants would eat them (Honestly, it's like a nature reserve here!). So the spider family was gently relocated to a safer location where the new babies would not be eaten by ants or deafened by the unusually loud vocalizations of Buddhist nuns...

Repaying Debts or Being Taken Advantage of?

Question: In adverse circumstances, I contrarily find it difficult to believe that I had “owed” these nasty people debts and that now all that had happened was simply a repayment.

I find it hard to believe that it was a past that is back to haunt me; a past that I can't see.

How can I see more clearly that the law of cause and effect really exists from life to life? I know that we can see the law of cause and effect in many aspects of life but surely we cannot extrapolate a universal principle thus, because of this? Could you advise?

Response: During the night of the Buddha’s enlightenment, he saw causality occurring. The boundaries of past, present, and future had dropped away and he saw the past and future as clearly as we see the present. He did not extrapolate the Dharma with it’s principles like cause and effect, he experienced them. He then encouraged us to experience them as a way to build our confidence.

As we begin to experience cause and effect in this lifetime (for example, when I am angry, I feel agitated and unsettled), we will begin to see that it also explains the consequences we are unable to link back to causes in previous lifetimes.

Initially, it is not necessary to believe in rebirth to benefit form the teaching. In fact, in the Kalama Sutra, we read how the Buddha postulated a scenario contrary to his experience—one where there is no rebirth and no karmic retribution. He did this so that those who were doubtful could still benefit from his teachings. He showed that even within such a scenario, one who remains free of greed, anger, and their resultant suffering will be truly happy!

As the Buddha showed, they do not have to accept rebirth in order to reap the benefits. Those who are free of greed, anger, and their ensuing suffering have a mind of loving-kindness, compassion, appreciation, and equanimity in this lifetime. They no longer experience greed, no longer crave the emotional high from acquiring that which is new—they simply appreciate what they already have. Craving and its shadow, disappointment, are eliminated as people become contented with their situation. 

A person who feels no anger will not feel angry or unsettled but will, instead, always feel calm and peaceful. Such a person will always be happy and at ease, and thus always be welcomed wherever he or she goes. Without craving and without anger there will be no suffering—just happiness, a lifetime of happiness. And all this can happen here and now, because even if one does not believe in rebirth, one will still benefit if one lives a life free of craving, animosity, and unhappiness.

And gradually, as one experiences the results of living in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings, one will have experienced enough to believe in what cannot yet be proven through direct experience.