Did the Historical Buddha teach the contents of the Abhidhamma?

As the Year 2023 approaches its end, I would like to clarify something. In recent days, we have Ajahn Brahm in a dharma talk said that the historical Buddha did not teach the Abhidhamma as it is in its present form. Well, actually he is right. Even in the manual of Abhidhamma, in its preface, it is printed there that it is a text compiled in the centuries after Gautama Buddha's Pari-nibbana. In my opinion, even though that is a fact, I dispute that the Buddha did not teach the contents of Abhidhamma. If you know what is the contents of Abhidhamma, you will agree with me that how is it possible that the Buddha did not teach or touch on any of its topics within Abhidhamma? Consciousness, 5 senses, 5 aggregates, karma, etc etc - these are common subjects of Dhamma given by the Blessed One. Indeed, he would have taught it in one way or another. It is just that when he was alive, nobody compiled it in the manner as it is today. The Blessed One also might not have taught it chapter by chapter as it is in its present format. So, I will dispute if someone says the Abhidhamma is NOT the Budha's teachings. But I will not dispute if someone says the Abhidhamma (in its present format) was not ever taught by the historical Buddha at that time. Do you understand the difference? Also, when someone says, it is not "the Buddha's teachings", you have to ask them just what do they understand by "the Buddha"? Do they mean only the historical Buddha? Or, the Buddha Jewel, which includes all Buddhas of the three times? Also, when Buddhist take refuge in the Dharma Jewel - do they understand it to refer only to the teachings of the historical Buddha? CERTAINLY NOT. The Dharma Jewel includes all teachings by the ARIYA ONES. As long as the Dharma teachings is in accord with the THE NATURE OF TRUTH and GENERAL INTENTION TO CROSS OVER SENTIENT BEINGS TO THE AWAKENED STATE, then it is a valid Dharma. 

It is the same with regards the Visuddhi Magga (The Path of Purification) text. This is a compilation or text by a Venerable One and has been a very useful text referred to by many Buddhists until today. While this is clearly not something taught by the historical Buddha, it is nonetheless a Buddhist/Buddha's teaching, and hence a valid Dharma. 

#Abhidhamma #VisuddhiMagga #AjahnBrahm 

Since this is the last posting of the year, I would like to record my humble thanks to all my readers. For the year 2023, it gathered about nearly 27,000 views. Hope you all have a fulfilling and blessed year in 2024 and thereafter. May the Triple Jewels continue to bless all of you! 

Year 2023 has been a very tough year for me personally. But on the spiritual front, I managed to improve my practice as well as enhance my Dharma studies this year! In this sense, I do not regret the decision I have made to achieve that. Some renunciation is necessary to push yourself forward. If you cannot give up some of your worldly things, you will not be able to achieve what has always been your dharma aspiration. I do see next year as possibly another tough year. However, this time, I am armed with some important Buddhist teachings, such as Right Mindfulness, which I hope to employ to the best of my ability to face the vicissitudes of life. That's all I have to say. I found a new Dharma teacher as the year comes to an end. One whose guidance is able to complete the guidance I received from the Myanmar Sayadaws. I will be going back to the worldly battles next year, thanks to his blessings. Thank you, Venerable Bhante! I also want to thank the deity who is usually pictured as a little boy deity accompanying Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, i.e. Seng Cai Tiong Choo. And finally, to Bhagawan Swami. My humble thanks!

If you have the time, try reading this post from the past - https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2009/02/where-does-holiness-come-from.html

Contemplation of the Illusory Self

I created the below pictogram showing how the illusory self is actually consists of a construct of the 5 aggregates (skandas) and the 4 elements (earth, water, fire and air/wind). The 5 aggregates are form (rupa), feelings (vedana), perception (sanna), mental formations (sankhara) and consciousness (vinnana). In turn, the form is made up of 4 inter-acting elements, namely earth, water, fire and wind). In the Buddhist texts, it is mentioned the body (rupa) is made up of 32 parts (Satipatthana Sutta) while in others it is mentioned 40. Due to the cleverly well-coordinated interaction amongst these elements with the 5 aggregates, there arises an illusory self. The illusory self start thinking that it is self-running and able to control itself. Like, it is the master of itself, when in actual fact, its very existence depends on so many separate elements and aggregates. Contemplating this on daily basis will help us dissolve some of our hard clinging to our long standing concept of "self". Indeed, this "self" is what is referred to in other religions as "soul".  

In a recent meditation retreat, the teacher provided us with some guidance on how to go about contemplating the above. I find it very useful and therefore, I came up with this chart/pictogram. It is meant as a supplement to our main vipassana meditation method. 

Try other blogpost if you like this one - https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2022/08/meditation-practice-must-result-in.html

#5aggregates #4elements #illusoryself 

"Go Ahead" drama: Story of 3 Siblings and A Good Father

I has been a long time since I last posted something on a movie or TV drama series.  This is a drama series of a father with huge bodhicitta. He has a daughter and 2 foster sons. This drama is so good that I must write about it and invite you guys to watch it too. IT REALLY IS THAT GOOD! 

 
I would like to invite you guys to watch "GO AHEAD" a made in China TV drama series produced by mainly Huace Pictures, with collaborations with  Beijing Laoyou Film and Television Culture Film, Zhang Xincheng Film and Television Culture Studio and Beijing Xingyun Culture Communication Co., Ltd. It was aired in China's Hunan TV on Aug 10, 2020. It was also aired in Iqiyi. Netflix has a right to air it also. The name of the series in Chinese pinyin is Yi Jiaren zhi Ming. It was a family themed drama and shows the bond between brothers-sister and their fathers (particularly the foster father). It was very well received globally. The drama has very good soundtracks and some are very touching emotionally. When played at the right moment, your tears will flow naturally. Filming was mostly in Xiamen and Fukien provinces of China.

It starred Tan Songyun (as the playful Li JianJian), Song Weilong (as the quiet Ling Xiao) and Zhang Xincheng (or Steven Zhang) (as the heartful He Ziqiu). All of the casts performed well, but if I have t choose one person to receive a BEST ACTING AWARD, it would be Zhang Xincheng. He played He Ziqiu very well. He displayed very moving emotions several times during the whole drama, in particular at the time when he had to get his foster father's permission to study abroad. That was a class act by him. Li Haichao (the foster father played by Tu Songyan) also acted very well and deserves my high praise. Let me just give you a synopsis in my own words. 

Li Haichao's wife had just passed away recently and now lives with his daughter. Just the 2 of them. He runs a small noodle restaurant in a sub-urban area in China.  Then one day, a family of 3 moves into their neighbourhood. This is what the episode 1 starts with. Ling Heping is a local policeman and his wife has a very bad temper and quarrels all the time. The wife, Chen Ting, is a mentally psychotic woman and finds fault with Long Heping and her son (name is Ling Xiao) almost over every little thing. They are not a happy family and the entire apartment community can hear them quarrel and he hiusehold items smashed every time they quarrel. The one that suffers the most is the 7-year-old Ling Xiao. Apparently the wife became like this after the daughter they had accidentally died due to swallowing a walnut. She blames it on Ling Xiao. But the story is weird in that it says that at the time of the accident, both Ling Xiao and his little sister were the only ones at home and the parents locked them from outside. I really don't understand how any parents can lock their children from outside. Any robber can just break the lock outside and come into the house. And if anything happen (as it did in this story), the children cannot get out of the house. They are basically trapped inside. So, I think this is ridiculous. The husband is depicted as always busy with his work and not at home most of the time. This is also his mean of escape from his quarrelsome wife. This leaves his wife living with the son at home most of the time. The son, Ling Xiao really suffer, not just from physical beatings but more terribly from mental torture that (as you will see in the drama) continues to plague him mentally for the rest of his life. He becomes withdrawn, extremely introverted and extremely possessive of the person he loves. Most of the time when the father and mother fights, Ling Xiao will sit outside the apartment house, at the staircase, alone reading his storybook. They are at the 3rd floor. And Li Haichao and Jianjian lives just one level lower, at the 2nd floor. Li Haichao took pity on Ling Xiao and will always invite him to come over to his house to have meals. At home, Ling Xiao's mother has very little time to cook and I can see most of the time Ling Xiao only eats instant noodles. Soon, little Ling Xiao warms up with Jianjian and Li Haichao and started to see him as his foster father. Ling Xiao's mother divorced with Ling Heping and left for Singapore, leaving Ling Xiao to Jianjian (since she asked for him when Chen Ting walked out). So, this is the story of Ling Xiao. 

Next is He Ziqiu. A most pityful boy. His fate is even worse than Ling Xiao. When he was born, he already has no father. His mother, He Mei, had divorced him without telling him that she was pregnant. Only later he was informed but already divorced. Both of them are from poor family. He Mei's family are farmers. She could not afford to bring up Ziqiu and when she was match-made with Li Haichao, she tried to be with him for a while. But the relationship did not last and He Mei had to go back to her family when her mother was sick. Before she went back, she borrowed some money from Li Haichao for her mother's medical treatment. She asked Li Haichao to take care of Ziqiu when she is away. But she did not return after that. She informed Li Haichao saying that she would terminate their friendship. Ziqiu returns to the farm to live with his grandmother and aunty (He Lan). After a while, He Lan visited Li Haichao saying that He Mei had gone to Shenzhen to seek her fortunes and will leave Ziqiu to Li Haichao to take care, if he is willing. The situation to Ziqiu is that he feels like nobody wants him. Poor Ziqiu. But Li Haichao is a good man and willingly goes to the farm to take back Ziqiu and provide him with proper schooling and a home. He will adopt Ziqiu as if he is his own son. He Ziqiu mistakenly thinks the money Li Haichao passed to his mother his some kind of marriage money and therefore, he now calls Li Haichao "Pa". He does not know his birth father from at all. So, He Ziqiu went to live with his foster father, Li Haichao, and his little sister, Li Jianjian. He Ziqiu is very pityful and will wrk hard to perform chores at home and at Li's noodle restaurant, afraid that Li Haichao may not want him and send him back to the farm. If send back to the farm, he will not be going to school anymore and have to work tirelessly in the farm. Li Haichao found out one night that He Ziqiu was washing clothes in the bathroom in the middle of the night. Really pity him. Ling Xiao will come join them for meals. And it is like this that the 3 of them grows up together and they regard themselves as "siblings". Both Ling Xiao and He Ziqiu willingly takes Li Haichao as their father - even more father than their actual birth father. They said they will take care of Li Haichao when he is old. And Ling Xiao's father, Ling Heping becomes the step-father of Li Jianjian and Ziqiu. 

The love and affection in this family is very strong. The drama shows their family life, their school life and friends. After leaving high school for the boys, the drama shows the difficulties they face when confronted with their "parents" who came back into their lives after so many years abandonig them. For Ling Xiao, it was his mother - Chen Ting. And for He Ziqiu, it was his birth father who is now rich and wants to claim back his son by paying the foster father a million yuan. Li Haichao and Ling Heping basically ask Zhao Huaguang go "F" himself. So, the drama shows the struggles Ling Xiao and He Ziqiu had to go through when these people returns to their lives. 

It has 40 episodes in the Huace TV channel in Youtube. There are English subtitles. There is a separate channel that has the entire series dubbed in English. But it does sound artificial. So, I would watch the original Chinese speaking one with the English subtitles. Do watch from episode 1. After completing the series, you may feel that you need to go watch the first few episodes again in order to understand the story properly, particularly those stories pertaining to He Ziqiu. One episode that I cannot stop re-watching is episode 10. That is when He Ziqiu had to divulge his intention to go abroad. It was ironic in that Li Haichao had already planned with Ling Heping with ask He Ziqiu to study overseas. But when it came to the brunt of it, he found out he could not let go of He Ziqiu whom he loves very much (I would say even more than he loves Ling Xiao). He has that special father-son affection and bond with He Ziqiu that he especially willingly took him back to care for the little boy whose mother had left him. And not knowing any other father except Li Haichao. That scene was very moving. Prepare your tissues in advance. As the story unfolds, there are other struggles in the lives of the siblings and their families and friends. But I shall not spoil it for you guys. HAPPY WATCHING! Oh yes, I welcome any comments in the comments section. I will post it to the comments section later. Thanks for your patience. 

#goahead #stevenzhang #tansongyun #songweilong 

I particularly like the soundtrack "Fearless" by Ma Di and "Rain" by Chen Yi Cheng. "If Rin" by Sa Ji is also not bad. 

If you wish to read my other drama reviews, one suggestion is this one - https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2012/01/journey-to-west-2011.html