Please Pray for Mo Lee Kai-Yin

1. ULLAMBANA

It’s the 7th lunar month already. It marks the month whereby all the unseen portals (or inter-dimensional gates) connecting our human realm with the preta realm are in a state of flux. It’s supposed to be easier for them to cross over here (and for you to cross over there too). At least this is the belief. As Buddhists, we must remain open-minded and exercise our bodhicitta beyond the tradition of Ullambana. It is popularly known as Month of Hungry Ghost. 

Here I am extending my prayers 😃 to any one of them that may accidentally wander into our realm. That's the first story.

2. PLEASE PRAY FOR MO LEE KAI-YIN

I'm putting my 2nd story in CAPITAL LETTERS to convey the seriously of this incident and the seriousness of my personal plea that you all also participant in some prayers (even if it is just for a brief moment) for the young man who got seriously hurt. 

I SEEK THE KINDNESS OF EVERYONE ALL TO KINDLY PRAY FOR THIS 27-YEAR OLD BOY BY THE NAME OF 

LEE KAI-YIN (ALSO KNOWN AS "MO") 

WHO WAS CRITICALLY INJURED WHEN A GIANT MONITOR FELL ON HIM AT THE HONG KONG'S COLISEUM DURING A "MIRROR BAND" CONCERT YESTERDAY. 

IT WAS REPORTED THAT HIS THIRD AND FOURTH VERTEBRA IS FRACTURED AND IT IS POSSIBLE HE COULD BE PARALYSED FROM THE NECK DOWN - IF THE INJURIES DO NOT HEAL PROPERLY. HIS HEAD AND LUNGS ARE ALSO INJURED. 

ALTHOUGH I DO NOT KNOW HIM, I REALLY PITY THIS YOUNG MAN. I PRAY FOR HIM AND I URGE YOU TO DO LIKEWISE. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

For you to realise how bad the injury was, you can watch this YouTube. But be warned, it could be traumatizing just to watch it. Watch it at your own risk! Perhaps you may recite "OM MAN PADME HUM" as you watch it. 

#MirrorBand #LeeKaiYin #HungryGhostMonth

I have previously also prayed for others in my channel - https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2013/11/yes-yong-vui-kong-spared-death-sentence.html

Subsequent comment:

After publishing this post, I have went on to inform my various Buddhist groups. I am quite happy that a lady in a Theravada temple had immediately used my message to update her own WhatApps group to pray for Mo Lee Kai-Yin too. I am very happy to see her quick reaction, despite being a Theravada. On the other hand, I do not see such reaction in supposedly people who are Mahayana. It is true that in the teachings it is said that even though you listen to Mahayana teachings, or you usually go to Mahayana temples, or you wear Mahayana robes, nevertheless it does not mean you have the Mahayana spirit. On the contrary, someone who does not, could have more Mahayana spirit as compared to someone who does.  

Gampopa: Instructions on Looking at the mind

This is extract of the chapter 18 of “A String of Pearls”, a collection of Gampopa’s teachings.

This particular part teaches us how to remedy our afflictions by way of meditation on the mind. He used the words “looking at the mind”. In the Maha Saipatthana Sutta itself, the Buddha did not provide much details on this in the chapter on Cittanupassana (“Contemplation on the Mind”). There are definitely more details in the Mahamudra texts of Tibetan Buddhism. Before "looking at the mind", two words you need to know in-depth what it entails, i.e. "looking" and "mind". 

-          Start of extract -

Looking at our own minds is beneficial and so brings happiness, but how do we go about looking at the mind to bring happiness? If we accumulate causal merit and then look at the resultant accumulation of wisdom, that is “looking at the mind”. Or, if your interest is in the Mantrayana’s generation and completion stages, then that is “looking at the mind”.

During the meditation session, know that everything that appears is the mind. Look at your own mind and see that it has no shape or colour. It is beyond any identification. All the conceptual elaboration of extremes of “is” and “isn’t” are naturally and spontaneously liberated, and the intellect is not engaged in anything. That is “looking at the mind” in a meditation session, which is the true “looking at the mind”.

Meditation on dream and illusion in the post-meditation periods is also “looking at the mind”.

Continually accustom yourself to looking at the mind in these ways. If you do this kind of practice, the Dharma will be a remedy for your afflictions. When the Dharma is a remedy for your afflictions, you have attained the ability to look at the mind. The Dharma teaches that:

“The afflictions agitate the mind

And sink you in the swamp of ignorance.”

It’s very important that the Dharma be a remedy for the afflictions.

If your practice is perfect, you will realise the meaning of deathlessness. If you have medium practice, you will be on the path. If your practice is minimal, you will not be reborn in the lower existences. It’s important to practice with effort, and it’s important to meditate.

Without meditation, you can only slightly turn your mind away from desire, so you will not be liberated from death. Hence, meditation is vital. Through meditation, appearances will be overcome, and you will be naturally liberated from all belief in reality. Therefore, meditation is important. But does meditation itself actually exist? It’s taught that:

“There is no meditation and no meditator.”

-    End of extract - 

Reflect on Gampopa’s teachings and I invite you to read, such as this https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2010/11/tara-mantras-to-help-avert-calamities.html

Do check the previous posts, in case you have missed any.

#Gampopa #Mahamudra #deathlessness #cittanupassana

Questions by King Milinda: What is being reborn?

I find the below notes on the exchange between King Milinda and Nagasena very instructive as far as the concept of REBIRTH and NON-SELF (or, "emptiness" if you wish to use this term) is concerned. My understanding of how rebirth happens is consistent with this conversation and the twelve links. 

Note: "MIL" = King Milinda and "Nag" = Nagasena

- start extract

Mil: What is your name?

Nag: It is only a convention, and no [permanent] individual exists behind it.

Mil: Who then does all your acts? Who is responsible for Karma?

Nag: Are any of the parts of my body my self? No. Are any of the skandhas my self? No. Is my self the sum total of the skandhas? No.

Is Nagasena nothing but a sound?! Extreme Nominalism from Latin nomen (name). Not the famous medieval nominalist William of Ockham, but his obscure predecessors such as Roscelin (ca. 1050-1120 CE). Roscelin’s position on the Trinity was that since we use three different names for each person of the Trinity, there then must be three gods. Roscelin was forced to repudiate these teachings at the Council of Soissons in 1093.

Nagasena then uses the metaphor of the chariot. It is not any one of its parts, neither the sum of its parts, or anything other than the sum. "Chariot" is nothing but a sound, too.

Nag: How did you arrive here, dear King?

Mil: Because of the parts being connected in a certain way, the name "chariot" came into use.

Nag: Because of the arrangement of the parts of my being, the name "Nagasena" came into use.

In neither case is there a permanent individual "essence" chariot or Nagasena.

A nun's poem (p. 93)--a very significant fact.

For just as for an assemblage of parts

The term "chariot" is employed,

So, when the Aggregates [skandhas] are present,

The expression "living being" (jiva) is employed

(Samyutta Nikaya 5.10.6)

We might say that the argument here has shifted to a bundle theory of the self rather than nominalism, but one might object that Nagasena is still speaking linguistically not metaphysically. The nun says "expression" of jiva not a real individual.

Gilbert Ryle and the "Category Mistake" in his book The Concept of Mind (1953).

Greek either/or dialectic meets Buddhist neither/nor (p. 94). Read dialectic essay on web.

Section Title: There is No Continuous Personal Identity

Isn’t this misleading on the part of our editor? Shouldn’t it read: No continuous substantial identity?

Mil: Is the person who is reborn the same person or different (i.e. either/or)?

Nag: She is neither the same nor different (i.e., neither/nor dialectic). Example of Embryo and Child and Mother--we are all changing in every moment.

p.. 95 (top): But there is a continuous thread "solely because of dependence on this body, all these are embraced in one."

Example of Lamp and Flame--Flame is different, but the lamp remains the same? Lamp is like the five skandhas? "Uninterrupted succession of mental and physical states (nama-rupa)." The changing "person"--the "flame" of the nama-rupa--is neither the same nor different. The best description of personal identity?

The Example of Milk and Butter--Fresh milk->sour milk->fresh butter->clarified butter (ghee).

One would be mistaken to say it is the same, but also mistaken to say that it is different. Therefore, neither the same, nor different is the best way to describe the continuing person. Neither/nor dialectic again.

Chain of causation is the basis for moral responsibility--"They who know causation know the Dharma." Or: They who know causation (as interdependent coorigination) know their Dharma-karma. That is, they know not only what to do, but also what their karma is.

FIRE IN THE FIELD

"The fire I failed to put out is one thing, and the fire that set fire to this man's field is another; I am not guilty."

Different nama-rupa but karma is carried over with full moral effect.

99: "Although one nama-rupa comes to an end at death, and another nama-rupa comes into existence at rebirth, nevertheless the second comes straight from the first. Therefore, the man is not released from his evil deeds."

 WHAT IS REBORN? (p. 96)

Nama-rupa is reborn, but not the same nama-rupa. One person does the karma, another person is reborn because of it.

Hindus--same unchanging, eternal soul, different persons. But how can a pure soul carry impure karma? If karma is always changing, then it must be carried on the changing soul--the phenomenal self or jiva.

Mil: Does that mean that the first person is released from his evil karma?

Nag.: No. (But in a sense, Yes? The previous person really doesn't exist any more.)

METAPHOR OF THE MANGOES

The mango thief who, as a defense, claims that the mangoes the man planted are not the ones that he took. But that's absurd because the "last mango came from the first." Direct chain of causation by which karma is carried on nama-rupa.

- end extract

Source: https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/ngier/307/milina.htm

#nagasena #kingmilinda #rebirth #karma

If you like this post, try this one - https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2014/04/elephant-dream.html

Do read up the immediate previous days' posts in case you miss any. Check it up.

Plunging into discovering Mind-Body

I'm starting a retreat tomorrow. Hopefully so, provided Covid test is negative. But I feel that my karma is such that I must DO this. This is something I MUST do....even though I am not really into "slow-motion" stuff. But it's like inevitable. This is my spiritual path. This is my karma. So, I will make this a short post. Time to re-energize myself by taking the plunge. Hope to be back soon in "one piece". And of course, wish me "all the best" and I will share what I can share later on. See ya.

This is such a short post... until another post... do read the many thousands of post I have accumulated over the years. Perhaps read this - https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2012/12/kpis-for-meditation-retreat.html

#retreat #meditation #samathavipassana 

Sayadaw U Pandita: Saving Oneself is Not Selfish

Extract of teachings by Sayadaw U Pandita from “Timeless Wisdom”.

Defilements arise due to “seeing”, “hearing”, “smelling”, “tasting”, “touching” and so on. The Buddha eradicated all forms of defilements without anything remaining. The Buddha was endowed with the knowledge and compassion to guide beings. The Buddha knew what was beneficial and what was harmful to beings. Both knowledge and compassion are essential to guide others. If one does not have this knowledge, one does not know what is beneficial and what is harmful. The Buddha taught dhamma and vinaya that enabled beings to reap the benefits of the practice and to eradicate all defilements.

Only those who have practiced satisfactorily can guide others. Without direct knowledge and a realisation of the path, it is impossible to guide others. Some teachers try to teach without a realisation of the dhamma and from theoretical knowledge only. This can be dangerous as their understanding of the dhamma is incomplete. To teach others, one should clearly understand what is beneficial and what is harmful.

Years ago, when Sayadawgyi was teaching in Hawaii, a question was posed whether it was more important to work to free others first or free oneself first. Some felt that it was selfish to free oneself first. If two people are sunk in mud to nose level and one says to the other ‘I will save you”, it is not possible. One must free oneself first from the mud before saving the other. When Sayadawgyi was in USA, criticisms were made that practising to free oneself was selfish and that one should be selfless and save others. In actual practice, we must free ourselves first. Then, when we are free from defilements, we can save others and show them the way to be free from their defilements. During the time of the Buddha, there were those who attained mundane absorption, but didn’t know how to free themselves from defilements. It is only by cutting the currents of defilements through insight knowledge, stage by stage, that can free oneself and be in a position to save others!

-end of extract-

My comments

I do agree with the view that ultimately if you want to be able to help sentient beings, first you need to have some genuine dhamma realisation and some spiritual ability that comes with it. For example, the ability to read the person’s karma will definitely come in handy in understanding how to help a person. Otherwise, you could possibly make the person’s situation worse. Also, if the meditator has strayed from his/her path, if the teacher has been through the same path and fruition before, then the teacher can guide the meditator the pitfalls to avoid and/or how to overcome any problems that may have arisen. It is absolutely risky to be guided by  a teacher who can only make guesses. However, to strive for oneself, one MUST have a strong cause that is deeply rooted in the aspiration to safe others. This is referred to as “Aspiration Bodhicitta” in Mahayana Buddhism. At the very least, this should be present as a motivation to saving oneself. Otherwise, if it is just saving oneself for one’s own sake, then such efforts may result in other “issues” along the way. One example is, by having a strong aspiration for saving others, one can avoid getting stuck for too long in any deep samadhi states. One would then apply more effort on Vipassana methods to cut off one's defilements. This is just my personal opinion.

I invite you to read this other post - https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2011/11/peaceful-means-may-not-always-be.html

#SayadawUPandita #meditation #Bodhicitta