Download Making Sense of Ch`an

Introduction
to
Buddhism
(IV)
Dr. Robert LAW
Buddhist Lodge of Laity, Jan. 2008
Dependent Origination 緣起法
• “ This is, because that is ; This is not, because that
is not . This comes to be , because that comes to
be. This ceases to be , because that ceases to be”
• “ He who sees Dependent Origination sees my
teachings “
• “ My teacher (the Buddha)’s teaching is all about
•
Dependent Origination”
Dependent Origination
• All teachings are based on it . If a teaching
does not accord with it , then it is not the
teaching of the Buddha
• Impermanence is implicit in this teaching.
• Main implication : we think we are an
independent entity , but we are , in fact ,
not.
Emptiness ( Sunyata 空 )
• All phenomena arises as a result of various
factors which are constantly changing . As such ,
all phenomena are also constantly changing and
thus empty of an inherent self (essence)
What is Emptiness ?
• It is Dependent Origination
that I call Emptiness ---------------•
Nagarjuna
•
龍樹菩薩
•
(circa 150 CE,S India )
• Emptiness, thus no-self
• Not Nihilistic
Eternalism and Nihilism
• The world believes in these two extremes
• Buddha--- the Middle Path
• Swing between the two extremes from day
to day .
Karma ( Kamma) 業
• Literally means “ action”
•
In Hinduism--- ritual action
•
In Buddhist --- any action by body/mind,
•
i.e. thoughts also count
• …..anyone who murders will be subject to
judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is
angry with his brother will be subject to
judgment……..anyone who says, “You fool!”
will be in danger of the fire of hell
Gospel according to Matthew 5- 21
• Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has
already committed adultery with her in his
heart
Ibid 5-28
The Law of Karma
• A law of cause/effect --- one thing leads to
another .
• Examples of good karmic acts ( physical
action and thoughts)--- generosity ,
kindness etc.
• Evil karmic acts ---- stealing , killing.
Karma
• Helps to explain the present situation, human
suffering , “fate”, inequality in mankind .
• Predict possible outcome
• Not absolute determinism. If everything is predetermined , there is no point for moral life
• No everything is due to karma. Buddhism accepts
hereditary and environmental factors and nature.
Questions about Karma
• Where is Karma ?
•
Just like fire and wind , and Internet
•
Banking !
• What really is Karma? An energy force ?
• You carry nothing but your karma when you leave
this world. 萬般帶不走 ,只有業隨身-- a
misleading way of talking about Karma ?
• More like a credit card account for everyone on
earth .
Karma
• Two Levels :
•
•
This life ------- experience retribution
•
of bad deeds sooner or later.
•
Next Life ……………?
What is Rebirth ?
• Greek ---- Man can be reborn up to 10 times….
Can be reborn as animal or insects
• Many primitive tribes believe in people returning
to a new body after death .
• The ethicization of karma and rebirth in more
advanced cultures
• The Chinese idea of rebirth comes from Buddhism
• Sri Lanka---- Most people, monks included,
devote themselves to acts of merit , the aim of
which is a good rebirth in heaven or on earth
•
•
Gombrich R ( 1971) Precept and Practice-Traditional Buddhism in
the Rural Highlands of Ceylon , page 322
• Burma---- 2 most common reasons given for
keeping precepts : fear of hell and the precepts
were ordained by the Buddha
•
Spiro, Melford ( 1971) Buddhism and Society : A Great Tradiiton and
•
its Burmese Vicissitudes , page 449
“Unfortunately”, the Ultimate Truth is :
• Nothing is really what it appears to be
• Heaven and Hell do not exist in the way that
ordinary people perceive them
• Rebirth does not happen in the way most people
think it happens
• If you grasp onto your ordinary perception of
things , you will continue perpetually in a state of
dukkha
•
Robert Law’s Sayings ,cira 2007
Rebirth in Buddhism
• NOT an uninterrupted continuity of the
entire personality
• Kalupahana (1995), Ethics in Early Buddhism , page 105
• NOT a transmigration of a person’s
consciousness— the story of a monk called Sati
Mahatanhasankhaya Sutta ( Majjhima Nikaya ,Sutta 38)
• But why do people have these misconceptions? ---craving
for an eternal self
What the early scriptures tell us
• Every presently existing being is but one link in a
chain of continuing existences in various forms
from a beginningless eternity in the past on into an
endless future eternity
•
Winston King ( 1994), A Buddhist Ethic without Karmic Rebirth ? J of
Buddhist ethics Vo1. , 1994.
• Caution: are we trying to limit the scope of the
ultimate inconceivable truth with our limited
vocabulary , knowledge and experience of the
universe ?
The Mud-Pool of Dharma
Neither the same nor different
Ven Nagasena( in The Milindapanha)
•
consciousness ?
A most mundane question
So if that crab is not really me , what is
the purpose of a religious life ?
What is there in it for
ME ?
------ why should I sacrifice my
present comfort and “happiness” for
the common good ?
• Love your enemies , do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you , pray for those who abuse
you
•
Gospel according to Luke 6. 27
• Do to others as you would have them do to you
•
Gospel according to Luke 6. 31
• Blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness , for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven
Gospel according to Mathew 5-21
“Unfortunately”, the Ultimate Truth is :
• Nothing is really what it appears to be
• Heaven and Hell do not exist in the way that
ordinary people perceive them
• Rebirth does not happen in the way most people
think it happens
• If you grasp onto your ordinary perception of
things , you will continue perpetually in a state of
dukkha
•
Robert Law’s Sayings ,cira 2007
• Yes , for contemporary Buddhists.
• Emphasis on Karmic rebirth is unnecessary
• Both Buddhism and Buddhist ethics may be better off without
Karmic-rebirth.
• No logical way to prove the validity of Karmic-rebirth
• But it makes the Universe ethically meaningful and Man master of his
destiny
• The Buddha is aware that it is not easy to
convince ordinary people of :
the validity of the doctrine of karma and
rebirth
and thus the need to lead a moral life.
A weak argument
•
===
?
needs a good wager
• The Buddha’s wager ( apart from karmic
rebirth) to persuade his followers to lead a
moral life.
• But, first, what is a wager ?
Blaise Pascal ( 1623-1662) famous
wager to the atheist:
• If there is no God anyway,
There is nothing to lose .
• If there is a God ,
The benefit is infinite !
• But if there is a God and
if you do not believe in
Him , then………….
The Buddha’s wager( apart from an
afterlife) for one to lead a moral life
• Human birth is rare , no time must be wasted – the sea turtle
parable
Mijjhima-Nikaya 3 ,1
•
• A noble disciple….endowed with blameless conduct of body,
speech and mind….experiences happiness and joy.
•
Anguttara-Nikaya 4, 62
• “This person [who does evil] will earn the contempt of the
intelligent ones in this life
Mijjhiam-Nikaya 1 , 403
And , above all , just in case there is some sort of after life…………..……………..
Concluding remarks (I) on the
justification for a moral life .
• Parable of Poisonous Gases in this room :
• 3 choices :
•
1. Leave the room ASAP( blind faith)
•
2. Leave after a brief consideration of the
•
reliability of the information ( faith
•
after short investigation)
•
3. Conduct your own test of the gases in this room,
•
and end up………………
•
•
Robert Law ( 1950----) talking to fellow
•
•
Buddhism students , 30 Nov . 2007.
Happiness in Buddhism
• Every man wants to be happy , but in order
to be so, he needs first to understand what
happiness is ----------------JJ Rousseau
•
(18th century French philosopher)
• So what is happiness ?
What is happiness ?
• Confusion with sensual pleasure
• Confusion with success, achievement ,
possession which are all transient and
sources of dukkha
• .
What is Happiness ( Cont’d)
• 15% of western population show
personality trait of “true altruism”.
• Psychological studies : Altruistic
individuals tend to be happy individuals
• The evolutionary basis of Altruism
•
----- of Man and Ant
What causes unhappiness ?
• By the age of 35 , 15 % of North American have
experienced a major depression
• Suicide accounts for 2% of all deaths world-wide
ranking above war and murder.
• Ignorance --- unable to see the real nature of
things
• Craving --- desire that can never be satisfied
Matthieu Ricard---------Officially the
Happiest Man on earth
What is happiness ?
• An optimal state of being with an exceptionally
clarity of mind , loving kindness, absence of
negative emotions, and disappearance of selfish
whims
•
•
•
•
•
------Matthieu Ricard
Ph D in Molecular Biology, Institut Pasteur
Tibetan Monk in Nepal
French Interpreter for the Dalai Lama
Treatment of unhappiness –Learn to
be happy
• Suffering is intimately linked to misapprehending
the nature of reality
• The strategy of no-self ---- selfishness( “selfcenteredness”) is a source of disruptive thoughts–
obsessive desire , hatred, jealousy. “ To attain
Buddhahood for the welfare of all sentient beings.
• Happiness is a skill in life which must be learned
and cultivated.
How to cultivate happiness
• Step 1--- understand the Dharma , Right view –
human nature has potential to perfection . Yes ,
our mind can be transformed.
• Step 2--- Meditation ----- to develop a clear mind
with full mindfulness and altruistic outlook
• Step 3 ---- Practice the Dharma and maintain a
mind with clarity and awareness 24 hours of the
day .
Learning to be Happy
• We can’t all become Olympic javelin
athletes, but we can all learn to throw the
javelin and we can develop some ability to
do so ---------------Mathieu Ricard
• So, how about settling for being happy most
of the time ?
Problems in cultivation
• Apparent “failures in life” – job, wealth , position
in society .
• A detached zombie with no feelings ?
• Altruism and generosity being exploited ?
• --------- beware of “idiotic” compassion
•
and kindness without wisdom.
Conclusion (I)
• The goal of exploration in spiritual life is to gain
complete control of the mind
• With the elimination of hatred , greed and
ignorance , one becomes incapable of harming
others.
• Along the way , one becomes a happy person
while contributing to the happiness of others.
Conclusions ( II ) How to do it ?
• Be generous – not only with money, but
•
kindness, forgiveness.
•
Your loss is someone else’s gain.
•
Story of the Great Wall book vendor.
•
Your employees .
• .
How to do it ( Cond’d)
• Accumulation of just enough wealth:
• ---- have a reasonably comfortable life
• --- beyond a certain degree of wealth , the
•
degree of happiness stop increasing
How to do it ( Cont’d)
• Right Livelihood
•
Choose an occupation that does not
•
involve cheating or “justified cheating” (as
•
far as you are concerned anyway)
•
Difficult in the modern world ?
• Spend time in Meditation( introspection)
•
Caution about retreats ,do not get dependent
•
on them .
How to do it ( Cont’d)
• Try to maintain a positive outlook in life 24 hours
of the day by cultivating positive emotions
• -------- on waking up each morning, spend
•
a few minutes cultivating a
•
positive frame of mind.
• -------- spend a few minutes each night
•
cultivating a mood of loving•
kindness before you sleep .
Namo Amitabha !
• Wishing you all a happy life for
the rest of your years
• -And Many Happy Returns ! (?)
•