Fly the Buddhist Flag

Wesak 2017 is approaching and is on 10 May 2017.

Fly the Buddhist Flag from our Homes to promote awareness for Rational Faith, Global Unity and World Peace, from the Full moon Uposatha on 11 April, one lunar month to Wesak, till the Full moon Uposatha on 9 June 2017, one lunar month after Wesak.

Dhammapada. 42-43

Whatever harm an enemy can do to an enemy,

Or a hater to a hater,
An ill-directed mind
Causes oneself even greater harm.

No mother or father
Or any other kin
Can do greater good for oneself
Than a well-directed mind.

The mind and the body exist in different planes of existence

Question:  Are life and death pre-destined and is it useful to know about our past lives?

Than Ajahn:  ‘Life and death’ is a process. Once there is birth, then there will be aging, sickness and death. So if you don’t want to have aging, sickness and death then you should not have birth. In order not to be reborn, you have to stop all your desires.

Knowing about past lives doesn’t make any difference to your practice. The only thing it can help you is to tell you that life is endless, that suffering is endless if you keep continuing to be reborn. So if you don’t want to have this endless suffering then you have to stop rebirth and the way to stop rebirth is to practise meditation so you can get rid of your desires.

Possessed of four qualities, one can be considered a good person. What four?

Possessed of four qualities, one can be considered a good person. What four?

The Buddha and the sick

What Happens When We Die? Here's What e-Buddhism Says!

e-Buddhism

The Buddha’s teachings offers the most satisfactory explanation of where man came from and where he is going. When we die, the mind, with all the tendencies, preferences, abilities and characteristics that have been developed and conditioned in this life, re-establishes itself in a new being. Thus the new individual grows  and develops a personality conditioned both by the mental characteristics that have been carried over from the previous life and by the new environment. The personality will change and be modified by conscious effort and conditioning factors like education, parental influence and society but once again at death, it will re-establish itself as life in a new being. This process of dying and being reborn will continue until the conditions that cause it, the mental factors of craving and ignorance, cease. When they do, instead of being reborn, the mind attains a state called Nirvana.

Regular Everything, by John Aske

BY BUDDHISM NOW on 24 FEBRUARY 2017 

We all like things to be regular, and what’s wrong with that, you might reasonably ask? We all want stable conditions as well. We don’t want anything to change, either — we want it to stay the same — or more or less, always.

Having a regular job, regular meals and somewhere regular to sleep at night can only be good, better than sleeping in a ditch and being hungry all the time. The gravedigger at Drewsteignton preferred to sleep under a hedge, he told me, because a roof ‘made the place stuffy,’ but he was an unusual man.

But these are all physical conditions, and though they can strongly affect the way we behave and think (our views and opinions), we must be careful that they do not blind us to what is really happening. It is not so much what we have, but what we depend upon having, now and in the future, that gives us problems.

Difference between give and receive

The Dalai Lama criticizes Trump’s “America First” policy

April 9, 2017 by Justin Whitaker

In the video posted by England’s Channel 4 News yesterday (below), the Dalai Lama also discusses the need for a compassionate cultural revolution in China and the possibility of the end of his line of rebirths.

Speaking of the Trump policy, he said:

“I believe, with admiration, America as a leading nation of the free world. So, some new thinking: ‘Only America’, ‘First America’, right?  ‘America First’ – I feel a little bit… disagreement. As a leading nation of the free world, America should act with that spirit…”

Question: When it is said that one is enlightened or awakened, what is he awakened from?

Than Ajahn: He is awakened from delusion. Delusion to think that everything belongs to him, everything makes him happy but in fact that everything that he has will make him sad and unhappy because one day everything will separate from him. If he doesn’t see this separation he will think everything he possesses will always make him happy. One day when things disappear from him, he becomes sad.

A Buddhist humour

Itivuttaka. 91

Even if one should seize the hem of my robe and walk step by step behind me, if he is covetous in his desires, fierce in his longings, malevolent of heart, with corrupt mind, careless and unrestrained, noisy and distracted and with uncontrolled senses, he is far from me. 

And why?

He does not see the Dhamma,
and not seeing the Dhamma,
he does not see me.

Even if one lives a hundred miles away, if he is not covetous in his desires, not fierce in his longings, with a kind heart and pure mind, mindful, composed, calmed, one-pointed and with restrained senses, then indeed, he is near to me and I am near to him. 

And why?

He sees the Dhamma,
and seeing the Dhamma,
he sees me.

Overcoming Ill Will

How to change the way we interact with those who anger us  

By Bhante Henepola Gunaratana  SPRING 2017 TricycleCourtesy Bhavana Society
As a practice that trains the mind to become gentle and considerate, metta is a powerful method to dissolve our habits of thinking about, speaking to, and treating others with ill will.

We only listen

A 'Buddhist boot camp' in Thailand offers pain -- and gain

April 6, 2017 DENIS D. GRAY Nikkei Asian Review

A 10-day retreat with no talking, no mobile phones and plenty of meditation is not for the fainthearted

A man meditates on a bench in front of a lake in Lumphini Park in Bangkok. © AP

Variously savored for its sun, sand and smiles, Thailand -- always expert at detecting and cashing in on the latest tourism trends -- has in recent years multiplied its offerings to foreigners and locals seeking ''spiritual experiences.''

DAULAT TUANKU !

Theravada Buddhist Council of Malaysia (TBCM) and all its member organisations joins all Malaysians in celebrating the installation of our 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong – His Majesty Sultan Muhammad V, the Sultan of Kelantan on 24 April 2017.

TBCM extends our felicitations to His Majesty Sultan Muhammad V, with wishes for well being, happiness and peace throughout Malaysia.

Buddhism and Tales of the Supernatural in Early Medieval China

The Youming lu is a work that demonstrates Buddhist influence as it began to appear in Chinese narrative on a relatively large scale.

A Study of Liu Yiqing’s (403–444) Youming lu

Zhenjun Zhang

This book demonstrates the historical changes in early medieval China as seen in the tales of the supernatural—thematic transformation from traditional demonic retribution to Karmic retribution, from indigenous Chinese netherworld to Buddhist concepts of hell, and from the traditional Chinese saviour to a new saviour, Buddha. It also examines Buddhist imagery and the flourish of new motifs in the fantastic dreamworld and their relationship with Buddhism. This study relates the Youming lu to the development of popular Chinese Buddhist beliefs, attempting to single out ideas that differ from the beliefs found in Buddhist scriptures as well as miraculous tales written especially to promote Buddhism

Dhammapada 186-187

Anguttara Nikaya Lokavipatti Sutta: The Failings of the World

translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

"Monks, these eight worldly conditions spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight worldly conditions. Which eight? Gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. These are the eight worldly conditions that spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight worldly conditions.

‎"The body isn't really ours. Wherever you see anything that's "yours," uproot it, take it apart, and let it go. Take it apart: the earth, the water, the wind, the fire. That's all there's been to it, all along, since who knows when. That's all there is to it now. The problem is that we've been deluded about it and so we've latched onto it. We've been deluded just like everyone else. Deep down, doesn't the mind already know this? Of course it knows, for that's the nature of the mind: to know. We have to know. So bring this knowledge in and take it to heart. You have to be your own refuge, you know. If you're the sort that has to take refuge in other people, then you'll have to see things the same way they do, which means you have to be stupid the same way they are. So pull yourself out of all that and take a good look at yourself until things are clear within you". (Ajaan Fuang Jotiko. "A Single Mind: February 5, 1980", translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu)

If a Bhikkhu Should Wish

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. There he addressed the bhikkhus thus: “Bhikkhus.”—“Venerable sir,” they replied. The Blessed One said this:

“Bhikkhus, dwell possessed of virtue, possessed of the Pātimokkha, restrained with the restraint of the Pātimokkha, perfect in conduct and resort, and seeing fear in the slightest fault, train by undertaking the training precepts.”

“诸比库，应当具足戒与具足巴帝摩卡而住！应以巴帝摩卡律仪防护而住，具足正行与行处，对微细的罪过也见到危险。”
- 受持学习于诸学处《中部 6 . 若希望经》

“Sampannasīlā, bhikkhave, viharatha sam panna- pāti mokkhā; pāti mokkha saṃ vara saṃ vutā viharatha, ācāra gocara sam pannā aṇumattesu vajjesu bhaya-dassāvino; samādāya sikkhatha sikkhāpadesu.”
~Ākaṅ khey yasutta Majjhima nikàya 1.6 

Link to sutta: Majjhima Nikāya 6 ( https://suttacentral.net/en/mn6 )

Source:
Sàmanera sikkhàpadàni 沙马内拉学处
玛欣德尊者 编译 Edited & Translated by Mahinda Bhikkhu

English translation of MN 6, “If a Bhikkhu Should Wish”

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. There he addressed the bhikkhus thus:…

SUTTACENTRAL.NET

A Sotāpanna will contemplate aging, pain, and death as something natural

Than Ajahn: Desire has ten factors altogether. A Sotāpanna is able to stop three factors of delusion that cause desire. The first is sakkāya–diṭṭhi, delusion which sees that the five khandhas of body, feeling, memory, thinking, and sensory consciousness as myself, as belonging to me. In truth, they do not. The body is merely a puppet that we acquire through our father and mother.