EH 63_Jan_2021 by Eastern Horizon YBAM

Editorial

Well-Being & Happiness during the Pandemic

As we enter 2021, the spread of Covid-19 continues unabated. First identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, it was declared a pandemic by WHO in March 2020. As of 24 December 2020, more than 78.7 million cases have been confirmed globally, with over 1.73 million deaths attributed to the coronavirus. In Malaysia, 100,318 people were infected and 446 have died. Public health actions, such as lockdowns and social distancing, have made adults and children feel isolated and lonely, and increased their levels of stress and anxiety. Indeed, in a crisis, our mental state often seems only to exacerbate the challenge, becoming a major obstacle in itself. How can Buddhism change this?

The parable of the arrow in the Sallatha Sutta, SN 36.6 shows how we can choose to respond mindfully in a crisis. The Buddha once asked a student: “If a person is struck by an arrow, is it painful? If the person is struck by a second arrow, is it even more painful?” He then went on to explain, “In life, we cannot always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our emotional reaction to the first. And with this second arrow comes the possibility of choice.” We have all experienced the pain of the first arrow of the coronavirus in one way or another. We are impacted by either sickness, travel restrictions, social distancing, or job losses, among others. But the second arrow — the anxiety about getting the virus ourselves, fear that our loved ones are at risk of being infected, worries about financial implications and all other dark scenarios flooding the news and social media — is to a large extent of our own making. In short, the first arrow caused unavoidable pain, but our resistance and fears to it are the emotional turmoils caused by all the second arrows which inevitably followed the first.

It’s important to remember that these second arrows — our emotional and psychological response to crises — are natural and human. In truth, they tend to bring us more suffering by narrowing and cluttering our mind, keeping us from seeing clearly the best course of action to take. When we accept the first arrow – that the Covid-19 virus is here – we are not being pessimistic, but realistic. We accept the reality of its presence in our midst. Buddhism offers us three strategies to cultivate resilience in the wake of the pandemic — reflect on its reality, accept its existence, and connect with others through kindness and compassion knowing the interdependent nature of life. All these strategies to cultivate mental resilience is done through mindfulness. Through mindfulness, we are able to better manage our minds in a way that increases our ability to withstand the first arrow and deflect the second before it strikes us. By being mindful means to live in the present moment. Our anxiety and worries arise because of past encounters or thoughts of what may happen in the future. However, the truth is that we can’t change the past, or determine the future to suit our happiness. The Buddha gave his disciples the same message in the Bhaddekaratta Sutta, MN 131. All we know is what we know in this moment. And in most cases, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, in this moment, we are fine. As Jon Kabat Zinn says, “Wherever you go, there you are.” So enjoy and savor the moment.. EH Benny Liow

CONTENTS 04

LEAD ARTICLE Enduring The Fires: From anger to patience

TEACHINGS Necessary Doubt

14 17 20 24 26 28

By HH The 14th Dalai Lama

By Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Why I Walk Two Paths By Dr Gil Fronsdal

Aging Is Reality By Lewis Richmond

Chan Practice and Making Wise Decisions By Dr Rebecca Li

A True Religion (Part 2)

By Dr Lobsang Rapgay

Social Welfare and the Coronavirus Crisis: A Buddhist Perspective By Dr Tavivat Puntarigvivat

JANUARY 2021

30 33 38

One Dharma: Many Buddhist Traditions By Dr Wong Yin Onn

Right Intention By Dr Rick Hanson

FACE TO FACE Developing a Mind of Balance By Mindy Newman

Transforming Buddhist Education: Lessons from Indonesia

FORUM The Many Faces of Insight

FEATURE How Taiwan uses Buddhist literature for environmental education

By Rasika Quek

What School of Buddhism Is Right for You?

ISSUE NO.63

By Dr. Edi Ramawijaya Putra, M. Pd

By Venerable Āyasmā Aggacitta, Venerable Min Wei & Geshe Dadul Namgyal

By Dr Natasha Heller

...................................................................... January 2021 ISSUE NO.63 (Published 3 times a year)

NEWS New York Buddhist Church to Celebrate End of Year with Online Offerings By Justin Whitaker

Soon, Sarnath to host cultural fests of Buddhist countries round the year

Thai Airways Launches “A Flight To Nowhere” For Religious Worshippers

59 61

By Rajeev Dikshit

BOOK IN BRIEF Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese By Joshua, Esler

DHARMA THOUGHTS Facing Fear

By Vijaya Samarawickrama

EASTERN HORIZON PUBLICATION BOARD CHAIRMAN EDITOR SUB-EDITOR

: Dr. Ong See Yew

: B. Liow <Bennyliow@gmail.com> : Dr. Ong Puay Liu

MANAGER : Teh Soo Tyng

ART DIRECTOR : Geam Yong Koon

PUBLISHER : YBAM <ybam@ybam.org.my>

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EASTERN HORIZON is a publication of the Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia (YBAM). A non-profit making project, this journal is non-sectarian in its views and approach. We aim to inspire, stimulate and share.

The opinions expressed in EASTERN HORIZON are those of the authors and in no way represent those of the editor or YBAM. Although every care is taken with advertising matter, no responsibility can be accepted for the organizations, products, services, and other matter advertised. We welcome constructive ideas, invite fresh perspectives and accept comments. Please direct your comments or enquiries to: The Editor EASTERN HORIZON Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia 9, Jalan SS 25/24, Taman Mayang, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, MAlAYSIA Tel : (603) 7804 9154 Fax : (603) 7804 9021 Email : admin@easternhorizon.org or Benny Liow <Bennyliow@gmail.com> Website : www.easternhorizon.org KDN PP 8683/01/2013(031165)

EASTERN HORIZON | LEAD ARTICLE

Enduring The Fires: From anger to patience By HH The 14th Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is the former political head of Tibet and the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people . He is the 14th in a line of successors considered to be incarnations of the bodhisattva of compassion. In 1989, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his nonviolent campaign to end the Chinese domination of Tibet. In August 1991, in a vast tent pitched in a meadow in the Valley of the Vizere in the Dordogne region of France, His Holiness the Dalai Lama expounded the dharma to an audience of 5,000 people. The weeklong teaching took the form of a commentary on the Bodhicaryavatara (The Way of the Bodhisattva), the celebrated text written by the 8th century Indian adept, scholar, and poet Shantideva.

Patience is one of the vital elements in the bodhisattva’s training. This third chapter of the Bodhicaryāvatāra , which deals with patience, and the eighth chapter, which deals with meditation, together explain the key points of bodhicitta. Good works gathered in a thousand ages, Such as deeds of generosity Or offerings to the Blissful Ones: A single flash of anger shatters them. No evil is there similar to hatred, Nor austerity to be compared with patience. Steep yourself, therefore, in patience In all ways, urgently, with zeal

As a destructive force there is nothing as strong as anger. An instant of anger can destroy all the positive action accumulated over thousands of kalpas through generosity, making offerings to the buddhas, keeping discipline, and so on. So we can say that there is no fault as serious as anger.

Patience, on the other hand, as a discipline which neutralizes anger, which prevents us from succumbing to it, and which appeases the suffering we endure from the heat of the negative emotions, is quite unrivaled. It is therefore of the utmost importance that we resolve to practice patience, and a lot of inspiration can be gained by reflecting on what is wrong with anger and on the advantages of patience. Positive actions are difficult and infrequent. It is hard to have positive thoughts when our minds are influenced by emotions and confused by adverse circumstances. Negative thoughts arise by themselves, and it is rare that we do a positive action whose motivation, execution, and conclusion are perfectly

pure. If our stock of hard-won positive actions is rendered powerless in an instant of anger, the loss is immeasurably more serious than that of some more abundant resource.

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Those tormented by the pain of anger, Will never know tranquility of mind, Strangers to every joy and pleasure; Sleep deserts them, they will never rest. Anger chases all happiness away, and makes even the most peaceful features turn livid and ugly. It upsets our physical equilibrium, disturbs our rest, destroys our appetite, and makes us age prematurely. Happiness, peace, and sleep evade us, and we can no longer appreciate people who have helped us and deserve our trust and gratitude. Under the influence of anger, someone of normally good character changes completely and can no longer be counted on. Anger leads both oneself and others to ruin. But anyone who puts his energy into destroying anger will be happy in this life and in lives to come. Getting what I do not want, And that which hinders my desire: There my mind finds fuel for misery, Anger springs from it and beats me down. Therefore I utterly destroy The sustenance of this my enemy, My foe, whose sole intention is To bring me sorrow.

Whenever we think about someone who has wronged us, or someone who is doing (or might do) something we or our friends don’t want—preventing us from having what we do want—our mind, at peace before, suddenly begins to feel slightly unsettled. This state of mind fuels our negative thoughts about that person. “What a nasty fellow he is!,” we think, and our hatred grows stronger and stronger. It is this first stage, this unsettled feeling which kindles our hatred, that we should try to get rid of. Come what may, then, I will never harm My cheerful happiness of mind. Depression never brings me what I want; My virtue will be warped and marred by it. If there is a cure when trouble comes, What need is there for being sad? And if no cure is to be found, What use is there in sorrow?

We must make an effort to remain in a relaxed state of mind. If we cannot get rid of that unsettled feeling, it will feed our hatred, increase it, and eventually destroy us. Hatred is far worse than any ordinary enemy. Of course, ordinary enemies harm us: that is why we call them enemies. But the harm they do is not just in order to make us unhappy; it is also meant to be of some help to themselves or their friends. Hatred, the inner enemy, however, has no other function but to destroy our positive actions and make us unhappy. That is why Shantideva calls it “My foe, whose sole intention is to bring me sorrow.” From the moment it first appears, it exists for the sole purpose of harming us. So we should confront it with all the means we have, maintain a peaceful state of mind, and avoid getting upset. What disconcerts us in the first place is that our wishes are not fulfilled. But remaining upset does nothing to help fulfill those wishes. So we neither fulfill our wishes, nor regain our cheerfulness! This disconcerted state, from which anger can grow, is most dangerous. We should try never to let our happiness be disturbed. Whether we are suffering at present or have suffered in the past, there is no reason to be unhappy. If we can remedy it, then why be unhappy? And if we cannot, there’s no use in being unhappy about it—it’s just one more thing to be unhappy about, which serves no purpose at all.

It is only natural that we don’t like suffering. But if we can develop the willpower to bear difficulties, then we will grow more and more tolerant. There is nothing that does not get easier with practice. If we are very forbearing, then something we would normally consider very painful does not appear so bad after all. If we can develop our patience, we will be able to endure even major difficulties that befall us. But without such patient endurance, even the smallest thing becomes unbearable. A lot has to do with our attitude. All of us have some altruistic thoughts, limited though they may be. To develop such thoughts until our wish to help others becomes limitless is what we call bodhicitta. The main obstructions to this development are the wish to harm others, resentment, and anger. As the antidote to these, therefore, it is essential to meditate on patience. The

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more deeply we practice patience, the less chance there will be for anger to arise. Practicing patience is the best way to avoid getting angry. Now, let’s talk about love. In my opinion, all beings, starting with humans, appreciate love. Valuing love is a spontaneous feeling. Even animals like the people who are kind to them. When someone looks at you with a loving expression, it makes you feel happy, does it not? Love is a quality that is esteemed throughout all humanity, in all religions. Every religion, including Buddhism, describes its founder above all in terms of his capacity to love. Religions that talk about a Creator refer to his mercy. And the main quality of the Buddhist refuge is love. When we describe a Pure Land filled with the presence

of love, people feel like going there. But were we to describe those Pure Lands as places of warfare and fighting, people would no longer feel any desire to be reborn in such a place. People naturally value love and dislike harmful feelings and actions such as resentment, anger, fighting, stealing, coveting others’ possessions, and wishing to harm others. So if love is something that all human beings like, it is certainly something that we can develop if we make the effort.

causes. We may curse inanimate things like the weather, but it is with animate beings that we most often get angry. If we further analyze these animate causes that make us unhappy, we find that they are themselves influenced by other conditions. They are not making us angry simply because they want to. In this respect, because they are influenced by other conditions they are in fact powerless; so there is no need to get angry with them. Never thinking: ‘Now I will be angry,’ People are impulsively caught up in anger; Irritation, likewise, comes Though never plans to be experienced! Every injury whatever, The whole variety of evil deeds: All arise induced by circumstances,

None are independent and autonomous Yet these causes have no thought Of bringing something into being; And that which is produced thereby, Being mindless, has no thought of being so. Those who harm me come against me: Summoned by my evil karma. They will be the ones who go to hell, Am I not therefore the one to injure them?

Many people think that to be patient and to bear loss is a sign of weakness. I think that is wrong. It is anger which is a sign of weakness, and patience a sign of strength. For example, a person arguing a point based on sound reasoning remains confident and may even smile while proving his cause. On the other hand, if his reasons are unsound and he is about to lose face, he gets angry, loses control, and starts talking nonsense. People rarely get angry if they are confident in what they are doing. Anger arises much more easily at moments of confusion.

When others harm us, it is the result of our own past actions, which in fact have instigated them—for, in future, they will suffer because of the harmful act we ourselves have instigated.

Victims too of such conditions?

One might therefore wonder whether, by thus causing our enemies to accumulate negative actions, we accumulate negative actions ourselves; and whether

I am not angry with my bile and other humors, A fertile source of pain and suffering; Why then be wroth with living beings,

Suffering can result from both animate and inanimate

When others harm us, that gives us the chance to practice patience, and thus to purify numerous negative actions and accumulate much merit. Since it is our enemies who give us this great opportunity, in reality they are helping us. But because we are the cause of the negative actions they commit, we are actually harming them. So if there is anyone to get angry with, it should be ourselves. We should never be angry with our enemies, regardless of their attitude, since they are so useful to us.

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our enemies in so helping us to practice patience have accumulated positive actions. But this is not the case. Although we were the cause for their negative actions, by our practicing patience we actually accumulate merit and will not take rebirth in the lower realms. As it is we who have been patient, that does not help our enemies. On the other hand, if we cannot stay patient when we are harmed, then the harm done by our enemies will not help anyone at all. Moreover, by losing patience and getting angry we transgress our vow to follow the discipline of a bodhisattva. If, for example, a person condemned to death were to have his life spared in exchange for having his hands cut off, he would feel very happy. Similarly, when we have the chance to purify a great suffering by enduring a slight injury, we should accept it. If, unable to bear insults, we get angry, we are only creating worse suffering for the future. Difficult though it may be, we should try instead to think openly, on a vaster perspective, and not retaliate.

For the sake of my desired aims, A thousand times I have endured the fires And other pains of hell, Achieving nothing for myself and others. The present pains are nothing to compare with those, And yet great benefits accrue from them. These afflictions which dispel the troubles of all wandering beings: I should only delight in them. So far we have been, and are still, going through endless suffering, without this suffering doing us any good whatsoever. Now that we have promised to be goodhearted, we should try not to get angry when others insult us. Being patient may not be easy. It requires considerable concentration. But the result we achieve by enduring these difficulties will be sublime. That is something to be happy about! The rigmarole of praise and reputation Serves not to increase merit nor the span of life, Bestowing neither health nor strength of body, It contributes nothing to the body’s ease. Praise and compliments disturb me,

And soften my revulsion with samsara: I begin to covet others’ qualities and Every excellence is thereby spoiled. Praise, if you think about it, is actually a distraction. For example, in the beginning one may be a simple, humble monk, content with little. Later on people may start to praise one, saying, “He’s a lama,” and one begins to feel a bit more proud and to be more selfconscious in how one feels and behaves. Then the eight worldly considerations become stronger, do they not, and the praise we receive distracts us, destroying our renunciation.

Again, at first when we have little to compare ourselves with, we do not feel jealous of others. But later we begin to “grow some hair,” and as our status increases so does our rivalry with others in important positions. We feel jealous of anyone with good qualities, and in the end this destroys our own good qualities. Being praised is not really a good thing—it can be the source of negative actions. Those who stay close by me, then, To ruin my good name and cut me down to size, Are they not my guardians saving me From falling into realms of sorrow?

As our real goal is enlightenment, we should not be angry with our enemies, who in fact dispel all the obstacles to our attaining enlightenment. They, like Buddha’s very blessing, Bar my way, determined as I am To plunge myself in suffering: How could I be angry with them? We should not be angry, saying, ‘They are an obstacle to virtue,’ Patience is the peerless austerity, And is this not my chosen path?

It is no use saying that our enemies are preventing us from practicing, and that is why we get angry. For if we truly want to practice, there is no practice more important than patience. We cannot pretend to practice without patience.

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If we cannot bear the harm our enemies do to us, and get angry instead, we are obstructing our own achievement of an immensely positive action. Nothing can exist without a cause, and the practice of patience could not exist without there being people who do us harm. How, then, can we call such people obstacles to our practice of patience, which is one of the fundamental practices of a Mahāyāna practitioner? We can hardly call a beggar an obstacle to generosity. There are so many charitable causes, such as beggars, in the world; whereas those who make us angry and test our patience are very few—especially if we avoid harming others. So when we encounter these rare enemies, we should appreciate them. Like a treasure found at home, Enriching me without fatigue, Enemies are helpers in the bodhisattva life, I should take delight in them.

When we have been patient toward an enemy, we should dedicate the fruit of this practice of patience to him, because he is the cause of the practice. He has been very kind to us. We might think, why does he deserve this dedication when he had no intention to make us practice patience? But if objects need have an intention before they deserve our respect, then in that case the dharma itself, which points out the cessation of suffering and is the cause of happiness, yet has no intention of helping us, should not be worthy of respect.

We might then think that our enemy is undeserving because, unlike the dharma, he actually wishes to harm us. But if everyone was as kind and well-intentioned as a doctor, how could we ever practice patience? And when a doctor, intending to cure us, hurts us by amputating a limb, cutting us open, or pricking us with needles, we do not think of him as an enemy and get angry with him, so we do not practice patience toward him. But enemies are those who intend to harm us, and it is because of that that we are able to practice patience toward them.

If we really take refuge in the buddhas, then we should respect their wishes. After all, in ordinary life it is normal to adapt in some way to one’s friends and respect their wishes. The ability to do so is considered a good quality. If, on the one hand, we say that we have heartfelt devotion and take refuge in the Buddha, dharma, and sangha, but on the other hand, in our actual actions, we take no notice of what displeases them, and just walk over them, that is truly sad. We are prepared to conform to the standards of ordinary people but not to those of the buddhas and bodhisattvas. How miserable! If, for example, a Christian truly loves God, then he should practice love toward all his fellow human beings. Otherwise, he is failing to practice his religion: his words and deeds contradict each other.

In general, it is the notion of enemies that is the main obstacle to bodhicitta. If we can transform an enemy into someone toward whom we feel respect and gratitude, then our practice will naturally progress, like water following a downhill course.

To be patient means not to get angry with those who harm us and to have compassion. That is not to say that we should let them do what they like. For example, we Tibetans have undergone great difficulties at the hands of others. But we are not angry with them, since if we get angry we can only lose. This is why we are practicing patience. But we are not going to let injustice and oppression go unnoticed. EH

TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON

Necessary Doubt By Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo (born 1943) is a Buddhist nun in the Drukpa lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. She is an author, teacher and founder of the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in Himachal Pradesh, India. She is best known for being one of the very few Western yoginis trained in the East, having spent twelve years living in a remote cave in the Himalayas, three of those years in strict meditation retreat. Vicki Mackenzie, who wrote Cave in the Snow about her, relates that what inspired the writing of the book was reading Tenzin Palmo’s statement to a Buddhist magazine that “I have made a vow to attain Enlightenment in the female form - no matter how many lifetimes it takes.

Perhaps because of our Judeo-Christian background, we have a tendency to regard doubt as something shameful, almost as an enemy. We feel that if we have doubts, it means that we are denying the teachings and that we should really have unquestioning faith. Now in certain religions, unquestioning faith is considered a desirable quality. But in the buddhadharma, this is not necessarily so. Referring to the dharma, the Buddha said, “ehi passiko,” which means “come and see,” or “come and investigate,” not “come and believe.” An open, questioning mind is not regarded as a drawback to followers of the buddhadharma. However, a mind that says, “This is not part of my mental framework, therefore I don’t believe it,” is a closed mind, and such an attitude is a great disadvantage for those who aspire to follow any spiritual path. But an open mind, which questions and doesn’t accept things simply because they are said, is no problem at all. A famous sutra tells of a group of villagers who came to visit the Buddha. They said to him, “Many teachers come through here. Each has his own doctrine. Each claims that his particular philosophy and practice is the truth, but they all contradict each other. Now we’re totally confused. What do we do?” Doesn’t this story sound modern? Yet this was twenty-five hundred years ago. Same problems. The

EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

The Nuns of Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery

Buddha replied, “You have a right to be confused. This is a confusing situation. Do not take anything on trust merely because it has passed down through tradition, or because your teachers say it, or because your elders have taught you, or because it’s written in some famous scripture. When you have seen it and experienced it for yourself to be right and true, then you can accept it.” Now that was quite a revolutionary statement, because the Buddha was certainly saying that about his own doctrine, too. All through the ages it has been understood that the doctrine is there to be

investigated and experienced by each individual. So one should not be afraid to doubt. In fact, Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor wrote a dharma book entitled The Faith to Doubt. It is right for us to question. But we need to question with an open heart and an open mind, not with the idea that everything that fits our preconceived notions is right and anything that does not is automatically wrong. The latter attitude is like the bed of Procrustes. You have a set pattern in place, and everything you come across must either be stretched out or cut down to fit it. This just distorts everything and prevents learning.

TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON

If we come across certain things that we find difficult to accept even after careful investigation, that doesn’t mean the whole dharma has to be thrown overboard. Even now, after all these years, I still find certain things in the Tibetan dharma that I’m not sure about at all. I used to go to my lama and ask him about some of these things, and he would say, “That’s fine. Obviously, you don’t really have a connection with that particular doctrine. It doesn’t matter. Just put it aside. Don’t say, ‘No, it’s not true.’ Just say, ‘At this point, my mind does not embrace this.’ Maybe later you’ll appreciate it, or maybe you won’t. It’s not important.”

When we come across a concept that we find difficult to accept, the first thing we should do, especially if it’s something that is integral to the dharma, is to look into it with an unprejudiced mind. We should read everything we can on the subject, not just from the point of view of Buddhadharma, but if there are other approaches to it, we need to read about them, too. We need to ask ourselves how they connect with other parts of the doctrine. We have to bring our intelligence into this. At the same time, we should realize that at the moment, our level of intelligence is quite mundane. We do not yet have an all-encompassing mind. We have a very limited view. So there are definitely going to

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be things that our ordinary mundane consciousness cannot experience directly. But that does not mean these things do not exist.

Here again, it is important to keep an open mind. If other people with deeper experiences and vaster minds say they have experienced something, then we should at least be able to say, “Perhaps it might be so.” We should not take our limited, ignorant minds as the norm. But we must remember that these limited, ignorant minds of ours can be transformed.

That’s what the path is all about. Our minds do become more open and increasingly vast as we progress. We do begin to see things more clearly, and as a result they slowly begin to fit into place. We need to be patient. We should not expect to understand the profound expositions of an enlightened mind in our first encounter with them. I’m sure we all know certain books of wisdom that we can read and reread over the years, and each time it seems like we are reading them for the first time. This is because as our minds open up, we begin to discover deeper and deeper layers of meaning we couldn’t see the time before. It’s like that with a true spiritual path. It has layer upon layer of

meaning, and we can only understand those concepts that are accessible to our present level of mind.

I think people have different sticking points. I know that things some people find very difficult to grasp were extremely simple for me. I already believed many of the teachings before I came to the buddhadharma. On the other hand, some things that were difficult for me, others find simple to understand and accept. We are all coming from different backgrounds, and so we each have our own special problems. But the important thing is to realize that this is no big deal. It doesn’t matter. Our doubting and questioning spur us on and keep us intellectually alert. Our doubting and questioning spur us on and keep us intellectually alert.

There have been times when my whole spiritual life was one great big question mark. But instead of suppressing the questions, I brought up the things I questioned and examined them one by one. When I came out the other end, I realized that it simply didn’t matter. We can be quite happy with a question mark. It’s not a problem at all, actually, as long as we don’t

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solidify it or base our whole life on feeling threatened by it. We need to develop confidence in our innate qualities and believe that these can be brought to fruition. We all have Buddhanature. We have all the qualities needed for the path. If we don’t believe this, it will be very difficult for us to embark because we have no foundation from which to go forth. It’s really very simple. The Buddhadharma is not based on dogma.

But why is it so difficult for us? Basically it’s because of our state of mind, because we lack knowledge of who we are and our role here in this life. Because we don’t know who we are, we feel separate from everybody else. There’s this sense of “me” that creates all our fears, angers, attachments, jealousies, and uncertainties. But the Buddha said that it doesn’t have to be like that. Our inherent nature is pure. All we have

to do is rediscover who we really are, and that’s what the path is for. It’s very simple. It’s not based on faith, but rather on experiments and experience leading to realization. It’s not a matter of learning what this lama says, or what that tradition says, and then believing it’s going to save us. It’s not going to save us. Of course we need to know what the Buddha said. We need to know what great teachers in the past have said, because they have been there ahead of us and have laid down maps for us to follow. But it’s a bit like reading a travel book. You can read a travel book and feel you’re

already there, but in reality you’re not there. These are somebody else’s travel experiences. And when you do go there, you will have your own unique experiences. Following the path is about experiencing it for ourselves. It’s not taking on what other people have described. It’s not based on blind faith. Of course, you need a certain amount of confidence to buy a ticket and start on your journey. You have to believe that the country exists and that it’s worthwhile to go there. But beyond that, the important thing is just to go. And as you go, you can say to yourself, “Yes, that’s just the way they described it. That’s right. It does look like that.” EH NOTE: Details for those who wish to support the Nunnery are as follows:

Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery P.O. Padhiarkar, Via Taragarh District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh 176081 INDIA Tel. (+91) 98163 12062 Email dgloffice@gatsal.org

Source: Tricycle, SUMMER 2002. www.tricycle.org

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Why I Walk Two Paths By Dr Gil Fronsdal

Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders’ Council. In 2011 he founded IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. Gil has an undergraduate degree in agriculture from U.C. Davis, and in 1998 he received a PhD in Religious Studies from Stanford University studying the earliest developments of the bodhisattva ideal. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; The Buddha before Buddhism; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications. You may listen to Gil’s talks on Audio Dharma.

When I began my Buddhist training at the age of 21, I had no interest in liberation or compassion. The great Buddhist ideals of the arhat [one who has attained enlightenment], bodhisattva and buddha held no attraction for me. Rather, having discovered how satisfying meditation felt when I became settled in the present moment, I took up Buddhist practice as a way to have a more calm presence in my life. As a new practitioner of Buddhism, I began to find a peacefulness that was more meaningful than any of the other ways I experienced myself. Eventually I learned that Buddhist practice involves more than simple presence and peacefulness. I came to find great meaning in the Buddhist goals of liberation and compassion. I also came to appreciate the different idealized portrayals of people connected to these goals—arhats, bodhisattvas and buddhas. An arhat is someone who is liberated by following the teachings of a buddha; a bodhisattva is someone training to become a buddha; a buddha is someone who discovers the path to liberation. Now, after years of practice, my approach to these ideals has become somewhat idiosyncratic. Rather than focusing on their literal meaning, I view the arhat as representing our capacity for liberation, the bodhisattva our ability for compassion, and the buddha how liberation and compassion work together in partnership. To the degree that I distinguish the arhat and the bodhisattva, I prefer to see them as walking hand-in-hand.

My approach is in stark contrast to that of people who emphasize one practice ideal at the expense of the other. It is also in contrast to the historical tendency to use the bodhisattva/arhat distinction to separate from and condemn other Buddhists. I experienced this when I practiced in Asia. After practicing Zen in Japan on the bodhisattva path, I practiced vipassana in Thailand, where the focus is on the arhat path. In Thailand, I was told that the Japanese bodhisattva path was heretical. When I returned to Japan, my Zen teacher told me that in Thailand I had been practicing with Mara, the Buddhist devil.

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The traditional understanding is that one can follow either the path of the arhat or the path of the bodhisattva. But one cannot follow both. A practitioner on the arhat path learns and follows the Buddha’s teachings to liberate him or herself, ideally in this lifetime. A practitioner on the bodhisattva path aims to become, in some future lifetime, a buddha, or someone who in one’s final rebirth discovers the path of liberation for oneself and makes it available to the world. According to this divided schema, one can either be motivated to attain liberation for oneself or one can be motivated by compassion to help others become liberated. As I was not initially motivated by either liberation or compassion, I was surprised when I discovered these were becoming important to me the more I practiced. The value of compassion came first, seemingly through a side door. Having tasted a degree of peace early on, which came from the simple practice of presentmoment awareness, I took up intensive Zen training. But I soon found that this peace was elusive, as I encountered deep guilt, insecurity, and suffering. I was shocked at how self-centered I was and how painful that self-centeredness could be. Because the only practice I knew was to be mindfully present, I spent a lot of time, both in formal practice and in my daily life, trying to have a settled presence with my suffering. Years later, I realized that in doing this I was slowly being “compassioned.” My resistances and defenses gradually relaxed, and in their place grew tenderness and kindness. It was a process that seemed to soften a crust around my heart. An important rite of passage into experiencing this compassion was the monthly Bodhisattva Full Moon

Ceremony at the Zen center where I practiced. I remember well the first time I participated in the ritual, in the dim light of the Buddha hall, with 50 others practicing the deep, slow, resonating chanting and synchronized bowing. I was moved by something that seemed to well up from the depths of the earth. That ceremony helped me recognize the tenderizing of my heart that was beginning in the depths within me. The central ritual of the Bodhisattva Full Moon Ceremony is the recitation of the four bodhisattva vows. The first vow expresses the intention to live for the benefit of others: “Beings are numberless, I vow to liberate them all.” Perhaps because this is so impossibly ambitious, it bypassed my logical mind and resonated with something that felt truer than my self-identity or desires. This something came with a feeling of warmth, ease, and openness in my chest. With time, I came to identify this with a compassion that did not seem personal or mine.

For me, this vow and the bodhisattva ideal came to represent the compassion emerging from the practice. It was a compassion intimately linked to the inner freedom that came as the practice loosened up my fears, insecurities, and attachments. Over time, the bodhisattva ideal became increasingly important to me, not as something to believe in or adopt from outside myself, but as a meaningful way of expressing the way my open heart was responding to suffering in the world. Caring for the suffering of others became as important as caring for my own suffering. Some of my Zen teachers taught that the bodhisattva’s impossible dedication to save all beings is a metaphor for relating to others with a liberated mind. As this

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mind frees one from attachment to personal identity, a bodhisattva helps others without attachment to being a helper. With a liberated mind, bodhisattvas have no need to even consider themselves bodhisattvas. In fact, to be preoccupied with seeing oneself as a bodhisattva actually limits freedom and compassion.

As I understood the bodhisattva ideal through Zen teachings, a bodhisattva’s practice is to liberate oneself and at the same time to care for others. To liberate yourself without any empathy for others would mean your heart has not opened fully. It would be like trying to open your fist while some fingers remain tight in your palm. Trying to liberate others without having experienced some spiritual freedom yourself would mean you didn’t have firsthand experience of what you most wanted for others. It would be like trying to teach others a language you hadn’t even learned.

After ten years of following the bodhisattva path through Zen practice, I continued meditation practice in Thailand and Burma, countries where the arhat path is emphasized. Practicing there, I had the opportunity to go on long vipassana retreats, on which I could continue to develop the basic practice of mindful attention to the present moment that I had started at the age of 21. Nonetheless, studying vipassana meant I crossed the great historical Buddhist divide between the Mahayana and the Theravada traditions, the former based on the bodhisattva ideal and the latter mostly focused on the arhat ideal. In crossing this divide, I was aware of some of the Mahayana critiques of those on the arhat path: that they are selfish and they lack compassion, and that the liberation arhats attain is inferior and perhaps even misguided. My encounter with Theravada Buddhists in Thailand and Burma showed these criticisms to be unjustified. I did not encounter selfish Buddhists. Rather, I met many practitioners on the arhat path engaged in helping others. Theravada temples are often involved in supporting their surrounding communities. In

addition to being places that offer spiritual guidance and teachings, Theravada temples can function as community and medical centers, schools, orphanages, and homes to the homeless. In fact, Theravada

temples are often more involved in serving their local communities than were the Zen temples where I lived in Japan.

My longest silent Theravada retreat was eight months long, with most of the time spent alone in a small room. I can well imagine someone thinking that this was a selfish thing to do. After all, it entailed months of focusing only on myself, with little connection to helping others. But vipassana meditation is a practice of liberation that can carry one beyond selfishness. One cannot progress along any path of liberation if one is selfish; to be selfish is to be enslaved in attachment. As mindfulness develops, one will become acutely aware of the suffering and limitation of self-centeredness—a natural motivation to overcome it grows. Liberation is the end of selfishness.

It was true that during the long vipassana retreats, we were not supposed to focus on compassion. My Burmese teacher was quite explicit about this. He didn’t want us to add anything extra to the direct mindfulness practice we were cultivating. However, the consequence of doing intensive vipassana practice was the rise of a powerful sense of compassion. This is partly because one learns how deep and subtle human suffering can be. One discovers an underlying layer of suffering that is not personal and does not arise from the stories and events of our particular life. To thereby realize the pervasiveness of how people suffer, while at the same time having an open and relaxed heart, evokes empathy and compassion for others. The ability to see suffering grows as a person is liberated from self-centeredness and attachments, much as one may only see how hazy the air has been when there is a day without haze.

So with practicing vipassana on the Theravada arhat path, my capacity for compassion continued to increase. As I practiced vipassana, I found that my heart was freed from some of the greed, hatred, and delusion that obscured my capacity to be sensitive and empathetic. This growth of compassion was also supported by the Theravada practice of cultivating lovingkindness, something I had not been taught in my years of Zen practice.

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Having engaged in practices associated with the arhat path, and with practices associated with the bodhisattva path, I look upon both with great gratitude. For me, both have been paths of liberation and compassion. The rhetoric of the arhat ideal may emphasize liberation while the rhetoric of the bodhisattva ideal may emphasize compassion, but in the heart, liberation and compassion cannot be separated. The cultivation of liberation and compassion go together like the front and back of an open hand. Clinging, attachment and mental bondage are like clenching the hand into a fist. When the fist is opened, liberation and compassion are both there. Now that I have been practicing Buddhism for over 35 years, I am less and less inclined to use the categories of arhat, bodhisattva, or even buddha. I don’t see much need for them. My Buddhist practice is now guided by my heart’s capacity for liberation and compassion. Increasingly, I look at the world through eyes informed by these two qualities.

Everything I have learned about Buddhism teaches me to loosen my attachment to all things. This includes concepts such as bodhisattva and arhat, the Mahayana and the Theravada. I have found these concepts useful when they help free me from clinging or help me help others. I find them harmful when they are what I cling to. And when I am not attached, I find I am happy to let these concepts go. I have no need to see myself, or others, through these categories. Instead, with this non-attachment comes my wish that all beings may be free of suffering. This article was originally published in the Fall 2011 issue of Inquiring Mind, (The “Bodhisattva” issue). Inquiring Mind was a Buddhist journal that was in print from 1984–2015, and has a growing number of articles from its back issues available at www.inquiringmind.com. EH Source: Tricycle, Sept 19, 2018. www.tricycle. com

Aging Is Reality By Lewis Richmond

Lewis Richmond, an ordained disciple of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, was for many years Religious Director of Green Gulch Zen Temple. He is presently the founder and president of a software company, and is preparing a book of essays on Buddhist themes. He is the author of four books: the national bestseller Work as a Spiritual Practice; the award-winning Healing Lazarus (a memoir of his experience with and recovery from a rare neurological disease); and most recently, the highly praised A Whole Life’s Work, a sequel and companion to his first book, and the awardwinning Aging as a Spiritual Practice. This article published with the kind permission of the author.

Although I studied Buddhism as a young man, it wasn’t until I reached the later years of my life that I truly understood the Buddha’s first encounters with old age, sickness, and death. It’s an inescapable truth that we all grow old and die. I’m in my seventies now. (If you decided to click and read this article, you may also be well along in your years.) Even though I started studying Buddhism as a very young man, the profundity and depth of the

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teachings really began to hit home for me as an older person. I came to realize that aging is the essence of what the Buddha taught. He said that we need to live our lives in accordance with reality—not in accordance with opinions, speculations, or doctrines. Aging is reality. Not too long ago, I was at a lecture given by a Tibetan lama. In the middle of the talk, the lama said that one of the simplest and most important teachings he got from his teachers was that “dharma is reality.” Afterward, I asked him what he meant.

“Well, I travel all around the world and people will come and sit at my feet and listen to everything I say. Sometimes they host big events for me and banquets,” he told me. “And none of that is dharma. That’s not reality. Reality is impermanence. Reality is change.” My own teacher, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, once said a very similar thing. After he gave a talk at Tassajara Zen monastery in California, a student raised his hand. “You know,” the student said with some distress, “you’ve been talking on and on about all these complicated Buddhist teachings, and really, I don’t understand anything that you’re saying. Is there something you can tell me that I can understand?” Everybody glanced around the room, laughing nervously. It seemed like such an impertinent question—but Suzuki Roshi took it quite seriously. He waited for all the laughter to die down. And then he quietly said, “Everything changes.”

The Tibetan lama and Suzuki Roshi were both stressing the truth of impermanence. I learned from these teachers that we need to live our life in accordance with how things actually are—and that you can, perhaps, see this reality most clearly reflected in your own aging body and mind.

I have a memory of another dharma talk with Suzuki Roshi in which a student asked, “Why do we meditate?” It seemed like such a throwaway question, but Suzuki Roshi didn’t take it that way and actually responded in a way I did not expect. He said, “We meditate so that we can enjoy our old age.” At the time, he was probably in his mid-sixties and recovering from a year-long bout of illness, yet he seemed to be enjoying himself and laughed a lot, as he always did.

I’m not sure I understood what he meant back then, but I think I do now. In order to embrace and enjoy the stage of being an older person, of coming toward the end of life, we need to have a grounding and basis in what reality is.

Teachings on the reality of “old age, sickness, and death” are core to the Buddhist tradition. On the surface, “aging is reality” it doesn’t sound all that nice—it may come off as possibly morbid or depressing. (In fact, when my son was younger, he would tell his friends, “My dad’s a Buddhist teacher,” and his friends would turn up their noses. “Oh, that Buddhist thing—I could never get down with that whole ‘life is suffering’ thing,” they’d say.) It’s

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funny—the point of stressing the reality of aging, illness, and mortality is not to make people depressed. It’s a way to remind people of the nature of reality: everything ages and eventually passes away. This is, of course, true for every human being who ever lived. It doesn’t matter whether you’re rich or poor, powerful or powerless. For many of us today, the truth of mortality is harder to avoid than it’s ever been in our lifetimes. The global coronavirus pandemic is a reality we most definitely cannot deny or avoid. I find it useful to think about COVID-19 as a “lightning bolt” moment—a moment of realization not unlike the Buddha’s first encounters with old age, sickness, and death. The story of the young Siddhartha Gautama, before

he became the Buddha, leaving his father’s palace and encountering an old man, a sick man, and a dead man, reads like a fairy tale. It almost certainly isn’t literally true, but it’s psychologically profound. When the Buddha was born, there had been a prophecy made that he would either grow up to be a great king or a great spiritual leader. His father, a ruler himself, did not want his son to go down the spiritual path, so he prohibited the young Gautama from ever leaving the palace so that he would never see anything that might distress him. But eventually the Buddha’s curiosity compelled him to sneak out from the palace grounds, along with his loyal servant, Chandra. The first thing he saw was a person who was sick. He asked, “Chandra, what, what’s the matter with the person?” And Chandra said, “Well, that person is ill. They’re ill, that’s illness.” The same thing happened when he saw an old person and corpse: two more moments of the Buddha encountering our inescapable reality. Yet the fourth person the Buddha saw was a monk with a serene countenance, which awakened him to the possibility that there is a way to see past these harsh truths of death, disease, and aging.

With the coronavirus, we’ve partially returned to the same world that the Buddha lived in, which is a world of uncertainty, fear, and anxiety. It may seem like we’re in

a miasma, a soup of reality we’re drowning in. But the thing is—whether we realize it or not—by tuning into this suffering, we are living out a form of the Buddha’s teaching. Confronting your aging, the possibility of sickness, and the inevitability of death, makes you a natural Buddhist. There’s wisdom to be had in delving into all aspects of your aging being—not just now, in a time when aging makes one even more prone to death by COVID-19—but always.

I believe that when you come face-to-face with your mortality—whether you’re meditating or not, whether you’re calm or not—you’re actually practicing the Buddha’s core teaching. Now that we’re putting on masks and gloves and standing six feet apart, our fear of death is constantly activated. But these consistent

reminders that we are subject to impermanence can serve as helpful reminders to practice Buddhism as the Buddha did—by facing our fears of old age, sickness, and death with courage and the desire to alleviate our suffering and the suffering of others.

The article is excerpted from a talk given by Lewis Richmond in his Tricycle online course, Aging as a Spiritual Practice. Find out more about this six-week exploration of growing older as a pathway to insight and psychological growth at learn.tricycle.org. EH

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Chan Practice and Making Wise Decisions By Dr Rebecca Li

Rebecca Li, PhD, is the founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma Community (https:// chandharmacommunity.org), USA. She began practicing in 1995 when she was in graduate school in California, and attended her first seven-day intensive retreat in New York with Chan Master Sheng Yen, founder of Dharma Drum Retreat Center (DDRC), in the following year. Currently, she teaches meditation and Dharma classes and gives public lectures, lead Chan retreats at Dharma Drum centers in North America. On June 5, 2016, Rebecca received Dharma transmission from Simon Child (Dharma heir of Chan Master Sheng Yen), and became a second generation Dharma heir in the Dharma Drum Lineage of Chinese Chan. Rebecca served on the board of Dharma Drum Retreat Center from 2004 to 2017 and is a sociology professor at The College of New Jersey where she also serves as faculty director of the Alan Dawley Center for the Study of Social Justice. This article is reprinted with the permission of the author.

(This article is based on a talk given at the Chan Meditation Center in December 2016.)

We face life choices throughout our lives. Not just when we are young, making decisions about which school to attend, which major to take, and which career to pursue, but also when we are older. Life choices do not end with having our first job out of school. After we start our first job, we may have to decide whether to stay in this job, whether to seek a promotion, and how to balance work demand and other responsibilities and things we want to pursue in our life. We also need to decide whether we want to have a love relationship, maintain certain friendships, all amidst the need to think about how much time we would like to devote to our birth family. If we marry, we need to decide whether to have children, and if so, how many and how intensively we would like to raise them and how involved we want to be in their lives.

When we approach mid-life, we may find ourselves wondering if we should change the direction of our life and when we would like to retire. We review various aspects of our life–career/job, friendship, family, and time for our personal interests–to see if we are maintaining a balance that reflect our values and priorities. We then decide whether we need to make any adjustments, and if so, how. All these choices affect whether we live an authentic life and feel fulfilled or get lost in life and feel unsatisfactory and unfulfilled.

One of things I often hear when people are wrestling with decisions shaping the direction of their life is “I want to make a difference.” What is not uttered is often “but I also need to make a living…” What seems to be underlying this dilemma is the common yet mistaken belief that only a certain kind of job allows you to make a difference. In fact, every job, every role, has its functions. If we do it conscientiously with the intention to bring benefit to others while making a living, we are making a difference. Very often, we think of careers like doctors, social workers and advocates for important

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L-R: Chan Master Sheng Yen, Rebecca Li, John Crook (2008)

causes as jobs that make a difference. Yet, I have met

many people who are making a difference by doing a good job and fulfilling their responsibilities in what we might consider a normal, “ordinary” career.

Recently, I met a contractor who remodels bathrooms. He is honest, does a good job, finishes everything nicely and meticulously, and charges for his service fairly. When he was recommended to my brother, he was a huge help as renovating one’s home can be very stressful and can result in conflict in the family if things do not go well. Being a good contractor allows homeowners to feel reassured that they can count on someone honest to do the work right and to help guide them through difficult decisions. It’s a great help in their lives. When we work this way, we are helping others. And this contractor has no shortage of business.

Hence, we can make a difference regardless of what we do for a living as long as it is something that is right for us in skill level, temperament, and life circumstances, so that we can devote ourselves to doing a good job. In this way, we can fulfill the functions for which our position is meant and contribute to the society. A question we need to ask is: what is important in my life? I do not mean “what should be important in my life” but “what is actually important in my life” and we need to be honest with ourselves. Is it material comfort? To be part of a community? To be prominent

Rebecca Li speaking at the Conference on “Buddhist Action: Morals, Vision, and Justice” in New York City, 2018.

in our profession? To innovate? To devote to our family?

It is really important to emphasize that we need to ask ourselves, not other people. We may seek out advice from important people in our lives, such as our parents, mentors, or close friends, and their advice can serve as a reference. But we need to be true to our values and priorities, which may be very different from those who advise us. We may respect and love them very much, but it is ultimately our life, and we need to take responsibility for it. Another question is: are we ready to take responsibility for the consequences of our choices? Or are we seeking and listening to others’ advice to avoid taking responsibility for our life? A number of years ago, someone who has been married for years shared with me that he was having difficulties in his marriage and asked me if he should get a divorce. I told him that he needed to figure it out himself so that he could take responsibility for his decision. Otherwise, he could tell himself that it was not really him that decided to get a divorce and thus it would be someone else’s fault if he was not happy with the outcome. The practice of Chan can help us see into our mind more deeply so that we can understand our real motivation in asking for others’ advice and check if we are ready to take full responsibility for any choices we may make.

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Meditation in session

When we ask ourselves what is important in our life, it is often not so straightforward. We need to really know ourselves in an honest way so that we know clearly what will make us feel miserable based on our personality and temperament, what an ideal situation would be, and since ideal situations seldom occur what is acceptable if we don’t get what we are shooting for. All these questions can only be answered when we have a clear sense of our own values and priorities as well as our habits, strengths and limitations. For example, we might say that we are not materialistic and don’t need to make a lot of money. Well, maybe we meant we don’t need to live in a mansion and be chauffeured around, but even an ordinary middle-class life-style, with a nice home, good health care for the family, and annual vacations, is a materially rich life by many people’s standards. And we may have to put a lot of time and effort into education and training in order to obtain that. Years ago, when I was getting ready for the job market, I looked into various kinds of higher education

institutions. When I saw that a research university position would require me to spend most of my waking hours working on my research and trying to get published in addition to teaching, I knew that was not for me even though I really loved doing research and these positions are often seen as more prestigious. I like more balance between research and teaching which is afforded to me at an undergraduate institution. Being able to devote time to the Dharma was also very important for me and I knew that my physical condition could not handle trying to fit everything into my waking hours if I worked at a research university. Engaging in meditative and contemplative practices that allow us to gain more insights into our priorities, habits and tendencies can help us take a more honest look at ourselves. Such practices also help us cultivate clarity, to see clearly the consequences of our choices, and that there are trade-offs however much we would like to have it all. We can have both career and family, but decisions we make every day to devote our time to achieve more in our career will mean foregoing opportunities

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to spend time with family (perhaps missing family gatherings, shorter family vacations, more interruptions in our time at home, etc.). Are we clearly aware of the ramifications of our decisions? Very often, they may not be obvious, especially if we do not allow ourselves to pay attention. If we reduce the amount of time spent with family members, our relationships with them will not be as close as if we spent more time with them. It is also not just the amount of time but the quality of it. Are we distracted by our work when we are spending time with our family members? I know some kids who feel closer to their uncle who spent quality time with them than to their father who was usually looking at his phone when “spending time” with his kids. We may also be secretly wishing that members of our family would still feel really close to us even though we never have time for them. Are we aware that we may be

people who only need to sleep three hours and achieve great things plus have a full family life, people who are so devoted to their calling that they can work nonstop but they fail to mention that they were biologically unusual with excessive energy that allowed them to do so much with very little sleep, etc. We need to recognize the appeal of these messages in our culture–that “everything is possible if we put our mind to it.” While it is true theoretically, each person should reassess what is possible based on their unique circumstances. This requires understanding and fully accepting our own limitations as well as recognizing our strengths.

Of course, it goes the other way around as well. When we decide to devote more time to the family, less time goes to our work. We can work more efficiently, have better time management, sleep less, but we may still find that we are slower in generating the same result compared to our colleagues who put more time into their work. Can we accept the fact that our decision may mean putting our career on a slower track, which perhaps also means that our house or cars or vacations will not be as fancy as the ones our more careeroriented friends/siblings have? Without clarity about what we are actually choosing and the consequences, we may accumulate resentment, disappointment and frustration in our heart without even knowing it. One can end up feeling very angry, bitter or regretful in later life without knowing why.

It is, therefore, important to have time to ourselves so that we can have the opportunity to see into our mind. In these periods of self-reflection, we take an honest look at what we are actually doing and ask ourselves if we know what we are choosing. We ask if we are making the right choices for ourselves, amidst the unfolding causes and conditions, rather than merely fulfilling other people’s wishes. This takes courage. Being true to ourselves is not being disrespectful to or dismissive of others, but thinking hard and long about our choices and taking full responsibilities for the consequences of our decisions. When we live authentically, we make a difference just by being ourselves whatever we do. EH

entertaining these thoughts, secretly hoping that we can be exempt from the law of cause and effect? Reminding ourselves to investigate our thoughts and feelings helps shed light on them, and if we are honest with ourselves, it will become clear that we need to re-examine our priorities, values and choices.

Accepting the ramifications of our choices is not as easy as it may sound. It is easy to fantasize about the best case scenario or to have an unrealistic estimate of our ability to achieve the impossible, especially if we read a lot about the life stories of highly unusual people–eg.

Are we able to accept that we are ordinary people, not super human? Accepting our ordinariness is no ordinary task and is recognized as an important achievement in Chan practice. After an honest

reflection of our values and priorities, strengths and limitations, we will have a clearer sense of the general direction of our life. This clarity can guide us through life, as we adapt to changing circumstances and take advantage of emerging opportunities and still stay true to ourselves without losing our way.

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A True Religion (Part 2) By Rasika Quek

Quek Jin Keat aka Rasika Quek is a retired Chartered Quantity Surveyor. Born in 1958 in Johor Bahru, he now resides with his family in Subang Jaya. He has worked domestically and internationally in academic, consultancy, construction and development organizations. His last position before retirement was as Project Director in AECOM, the world's largest public-listed Project Management company. He has been a speaker in his field and has given talks domestically and internationally in Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. He was given a commendation by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) of Malaysia for his contribution to the industry on Building Information Modelling (BIM).

In his younger days, Rasika gave talks at Buddhist centers throughout Malaysia. While at university, he was Chairman of the University of Technology Malaysia (UTM) Buddhist Society. He was the founder Chairman of the Metta Lodge Buddhist Centre, Johor, and founder Secretary of the Buddhist Wisdom Centre, Selangor. He was also one of the originators of the Kota Tinggi Hermitage and the Selangor Buddhist Vipassana Meditation Centre in Petaling Jaya. He is currently a non-executive director of the Santisukharama Hermitage in Kota Tinggi and Sukhi Hotu Sdn. Bhd.

When one goes to the gym, one can’t help but marvel at the array of fitness equipment and apparatus designed to keep you in shape and tip top condition. Weight lifting machines, treadmills, stationary bikes, leg muscle building machines…. You name it, they have it. Basically, these machines will give you a workout that will cover the following:1. Endurance 2. Speed 3. Heart-beat rate 4. Urgency 5. Time elapsed.

The acronym for these will be e-SHUT. The way one trains in the gym is similar but not the same for training of mindfulness of the body and mind. ENDURANCE One must have the endurance to overcome the 5 hindrances or obstacles to one’s meditation until one’s

final goal is achieved. This means where there is lust one must note lust, where there is aversion one must note aversion, where there is sleepiness one must note sleepiness, where there is restlessness one must note restlessness and when there is doubt one must note doubt. One should note attentively, ardent and fully mindful otherwise such hindrances will slow down our progress and make our meditation painful and slow.

SPEED We must be aware of the pace of our noting – not too fast or too slow. When one is sleepy, one should note the sleepiness with quick notings. When one is restless, one should slow down the mind and gently and softly coax the mind to go slow. Just as one is cycling on slopes, one should pedal harder and faster when going uphill and with less speed when one is going downhill. HEARTBEAT Our heartbeat indicates how hard our heart is working pumping blood round the body. During the night,

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our heartbeat tends to be slower to give the heart a chance to slow down so that we can get some sleep. In a meditation retreat, about 4 – 6 hours of sleep is adequate. The remaining hours are spent in walking, standing, sitting meditation and observing our daily activities.

In a retreat, we get our exercise through walking meditation. But not just any walking but walking with full awareness of each and every lifting, pushing, stepping and sensations on the legs and soles of the feet. Although superficially, walking may not look like much but with full awareness the various movements and sensations one experiences can be ‘interesting’ and keeps one mind from straying from one’s experience of the walking. Just to re-iterate how important walking is, the Treasurer of the Dhamma, Venerable Ananda spent the whole night doing walking meditation and attained Arahantship just as he was about to lie down to take a rest.

There are usually 3 forms of walking meditation that is practiced: 1-step, 2-step and 3-step walking meditation. During standing, one can note the standing for a maximum of 1 to 5 minutes if there are distracting thoughts and sensations which are prominent.

URGENCY We must have a sense of urgency in our practice, lest death makes short shrift of our efforts. Just like an athlete who trains hard knowing that the day of competition is drawing near, one practices meditation with the realization that death is getting nearer with each passing day. No one can bargain with death. When it comes, that’s it. Game over. This sense of urgency is felt more at the higher stages of insight knowledge after udayabaya ñāṇa, knowledge of clear rising and falling of phenomena.

TIME ELAPSED During insight vipassanā practice, one shouldn’t look back or pine for past memories. This will lead our minds astray. We won’t be at the present moment. We should stay centered in the present. Be at the moment, mindful of every object that comes along. Let the mind “sink” into every object that comes along as we watch with full awareness. In order not to miss any object, we should be

guarding our six senses carefully so that no defilement is allowed to slip through. If we do not do so, we may also think of the future and its events. If this happens we must note “thinking, thinking, thinking” with an attitude of letting go of such thoughts. After all, they are mere imaginations of things not yet come and cannot be true. Stay in the present, not the past or future. THREE CHARACTERISTICS Just as one cannot precisely control the speed and heartbeat rate during exercise, one has no real control over one’s experience of the physical and mental objects. This is anattā or no-selfness. Just as one huffs and puffs during workout, one experiences dukkha or suffering while observing painful sensations during meditation. Just as the athlete may encounter joy, elation, frustration and hopelessness alternatingly,

one will experience anicca or impermanence. In short, the observation of each and every meditation object must come with the clear insight of dukkha, anicca and anattā as its true nature. One realizes that there must be something better to these three characteristics which are burdensome and oppressive.

It is then one makes a strong adhiṭṭhāna (determination) to be free of physical and mental objects which are subject to the three characteristics. One seeks out true peace which can take one out of the ocean of saṃsāra. It is the cessation of nāmarūpa (mind and matter) which brings about true peace or Nibbanā. For this to happen, one’s insight gained through mindfulness must be ardent, strong, continuous and mature. It is like being an accomplished athlete who has gone through his course of professional training without let up until he reaches his final goal of victory. May all beings be well and happy and free from suffering! EH

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What School of Buddhism Is Right for You? By Dr Lobsang Rapgay

Lobsang Rapgay is an assistant adjunct professor and research psychologist at University of California, Los Angeles, and the former director of UCLA’s Behavioral Medicine Clinic and Program. He was born in Lhasa and was a monk for 18 years. Dr Rapgay was a speaker at the Global Buddhist Conference in Malaysia in 2012. This article was published with the permission of the author.

People turn to Buddhism for a variety of reasons ranging from emotional or psychological issues, family conflicts, health problems, and a feeling of emptiness in their lives to dissatisfaction with the religion they grew up with. But with the overwhelming variety of Buddhist schools, teachers, and centers, it is difficult to know where to start. Some newcomers end up at a center associated with a teacher whose work caught their attention. Others may follow the recommendation of a friend or family member to go to their first local Buddhist center. Before they know it, they find themselves engaging in the practices of a particular lineage often without questioning the underlying meaning. Then, many people end up

abandoning the practice because they aren’t able to relate to the traditional setup or hierarchy at a particular Buddhist center. While this variety of schools and styles can be disorienting, it’s also one of Buddhism’s greatest strengths. The Buddha adapted his teachings to meet the needs of people with different personalities. He recognized the importance of difference in

individuals’ temperament and emotional and intellectual makeup. If newcomers had a way to find the school that was best suited to them, perhaps they could find refuge instead of confusion and alienation. No tradition is the “best” one, but you can find the practice most suited to your needs. Doing so requires familiarizing yourself with the various traditions, researching teachers and centers, and allowing yourself to experiment with different communities until you find one where you feel comfortable and supported. First, be honest with yourself about what your personality style is. If you feel like you can’t accurately judge yourself, the online DISC personality test is an excellent free selfassessment. Unlike most personality

tests that are based on assessing psychopathology, DISC is determined by a person’s day-to-day behavior pattern. To match your personality style with the appropriate Buddhist tradition and school, you need to familiarize yourself with the main ones, each of which has its own underlying philosophical and conceptual framework and practice

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modalities. (Vajrāyāna, for instance, is more nonconventional and commitment-based than, say, Theravāda Buddhism.) And each has its own religious and cultural underpinnings. Often a teacher may overemphasize these components, overshadowing the core philosophies and practices. They may overlook introducing the Four Noble Truths and Eight-fold Path as the core teachings of the Buddha. Instead they might introduce you to the teachings of the founder of their particular school. Reading a book not just by a well known teacher but also by reputable scholars can

help you get a good idea of not just the differences among the traditions and the schools within them but also about the core underlying teachings. After getting an idea of the tradition and school you prefer, it’s important to find a good teacher. Though an emotional connection with a teacher is a critical factor, also consider if the teacher or their qualified assistant teachers have enough availability. An amazing teacher won’t do you much good if you can’t consult with them regularly. Given the demands of Buddhist practice, a cohesive and supportive modern sangha is critical. Remember that while the teacher is the central figure, the sangha is no less important. We know from research on group process, or group dynamics, that a community can function parasitically—discord eats away at the sangha—when the members

fail to recognize their role and relevance in the success of the group’s activity.

As far as the practice center is concerned, you should have a good idea of the setup and the hierarchy. If a center is secretive about the authority of the teacher and the administration, and questions are discouraged, this might not bode well for optimal learning and growth. It is also critical that there are ethical guidelines that govern student-teacher relationships and that there is an independent committee to address these issues of conflict and potential abuse.

It might also be worthwhile to revisit the priority of your Buddhist practice in relationships to other priorities such as family, work, finances, and health. Knowing how much time and emotion you can commit to the practice can help to draw up a plan of your practice for the next year. Based on the time you can commit, you should determine the type of practice, and how deep you should get into the practice.

At the same time you should assess your level of motivation, which plays a major role in the success of your practice. Research show that people who take on a practice with intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation are more likely to develop a deep interest and commitment, while people with extrinsic motivation tend to look for instant rewards and gratification. People who are intrinsically motivated to turn to Buddhism are likely to fully commit themselves

emotionally as well as in terms of time. People who turn to Buddhism to avoid negative consequences or instantly obtain external rewards may restrict their commitment to a part of the teachings that meets their fancy.

Finally, newcomers should familiarize themselves with the three stages of in-depth study, critical analysis, and contemplative meditation. Studies show that students who simply listen, memorize, chant, and meditate may be engaging in what is known as surface learning. They tend to take

what is taught at face value without really grasping the underlying meaning of the teaching because they don’t question and analyze the teachings for themselves. Deep learners rely on understanding the meaning behind the teaching by making arguments and finding evidence from their life experiences to confirm or disconfirm their assumptions. Keep these things in mind when exploring the various schools of Buddhism. The Buddha taught that there are 84,000 paths to enlightenment. Make sure to find the one that’s right for you, where you are getting the education and support that you need. EH

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Social Welfare and the Coronavirus Crisis: A Buddhist Perspective By Dr Tavivat Puntarigvivat

Dr Tavivat Puntarigvivat from Thailand received his B.A. (Economics) from Thammasat University, M.A. (Philosophy) from University of Hawaii under Rockefeller Fellowship, and Ph.D. (Religion and Society) from Temple University, U.S.A. He was a member of “Subcommittee on Ethics” of Thai Senate (2012–2014) and a member of “Committee on Reform of Thai Buddhism” of Thai National Reform Council (2015). He was chairman of “Comparative Religion” graduate program and was responsible for initiating “Religion and Development” graduate program at Mahidol University in Thailand. Dr. Tavivat Puntarigvivat is currently Director of Institute of Research and Development at World Buddhist University located in Bangkok, Thailand. His research on Thai Buddhist Social Theory was published by the World Buddhist University in 2013 and Social Theory on Religion by Mahidol University in 2019.

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that started in Wuhan, China in late 2019 has caused suffering to people all over the world. Human suffering is the main concern and the first Noble Truth in Buddhism. There are at least three kinds of suffering from a Buddhist perspective: physical, socio-political, and psychological. The success or failure of each country to cope with this pandemic depends on these following three factors: a sound health care system, quick and responsible decisions from governments, and a love that encapsulates a sense of sharing and cooperation among its people. Buddhist meditation has played an important role, in times of crisis, in healing psychological suffering.

Taiwan is a good example of a Buddhist response to the problem. Buddhism in Taiwan is probably the strongest in Asia. Taiwan has the best Buddhist medical

schools and hospitals situated around its islands. The democratic government of Taiwan was quick to lockdown the territory while carefully managing the local economy. The Mahāyāna Buddhist ideal of Bodhisattva (one who sacrifices oneself for the welfare of others) in Taiwan has inspired Buddhist social networks to bring social welfare among people. As a Buddhist country, Thailand has also developed a good health care system, together with the Buddhist culture of mettā-karunā (loving-kindness and compassion) among its people, but unfortunately the Thai dictatorial government has locked down the country without any clear plan for managing unemployment, leaving a lot of people to face the difficulties of a looming economic crisis. South Korea is a half-Buddhist, half-Christian country. It has done a good job in dealing with the coronavirus

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crisis, though there were setbacks at the beginning. It has a good health care system, efficient government policy and management, and cooperation among people. The victory of the Democratic Party (DPK) in a recent election reflected the success of the government in solving the problems caused by COVID-19. In South Korea, the spirit of love, sharing, and cooperation among people rooted in both Christianity and Buddhism has contributed to the success in combating the virus. People in different countries can learn from the experiences of South Korea and Taiwan, together with advice from the World Health Organization (WHO): testing for the virus, physical distancing, and wearing sanitary masks in public places.

themselves. The world is in a crisis of imbalance.

suddenly stopped traveling, and aviation and other forms of mass transportation have lost their business. Most countries have locked down most of their cities, towns, and neighborhoods. Businesses and entertainment outlets are shut down. Education and schooling have been put on hold and students are now learning online. Most foreigners have returned home. Urban workers have returned to their farmland or countryside. People from all over the world are adviced to stay at home. The busiest sections of most countries, however, are hospitals and the health care system. The world’s population is facing public health problems, and a substantial number of people are dying.

eventually swing it back to the other extreme. Human beings should learn and find the “Middle Way” to live peacefully with all other sentient beings and the environment on this planet.

The coronavirus pandemic in a way is a crisis of globalization. People from all over the world have

A history of over 400 years of capitalism and transnational capitalism, with its accelerating pace in the last 50 years, has contributed to the world’s crises: economic, political, military, ideological, social, cultural, public health, environmental, and ecological problems. Most countries overuse their natural resources to “overdevelop” their nations, especially major powers of the world, creating a huge income gap between the rich and the poor, leaving behind the non-degradable waste to the globe and excess carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Through food agribusiness, human beings create a paradise for themselves, but a hell for farm animals and other living species. Over-consumption leads to the serious issue of global warming, which in turn challenges the very survival of human beings

The outbreak of COVID-19, whatever its actual cause is, is a response from planet earth to the damage caused by human beings. The planet, by its natural mechanism, produces the coronavirus as an immune system to defend itself from the invasion and overpopulation of the strange “virus” called human beings. During this outbreak with human shelter-in-place, the sky becomes clearer, the ocean cleaner, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the lowest in decades, wild animals in the jungles and the oceans are less threatened and better able to survive: the planet is healing itself. Isn’t this what the most radical environmentalists have called for? Lao Tzu, the great teacher of Taoism, called it, some 2,600 years ago “reversing the movement of Tao (nature).” When we go to one extreme, nature will

Because mainstream economics dominates the world, most countries have increasingly competed for “development” by using up the limited natural resources to satisfy the unlimited human want (or greed). This imbalanced development by emphasizing the “supply side” has created tension among human beings witnessed in the two world wars and tension between human beings and nature witnessed in the ecological crisis. Buddhist economics would emphasize the “demand” side by limiting human want so that natural resources will be sufficient for everyone. The concept of “minimizing cost and maximizing profit” should be changed to “minimizing consumption and maximizing human well-being.” The goal of development should be shifted from Gross Domestic Products (GDP) to Gross National Happiness (GNH). To learn from the novel coronavirus crisis, human beings should find a “Right Livelihood” on the middle path for maintaining sustainable development and the balance of human beings and nature, thus creating a mutual coexistence for both. EH

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One Dharma: Many Buddhist Traditions By Dr Wong Yin Onn

Dr Punna Wong is an Associate Professor in Internal Medicine at the Monash University Clinical School in Johor Bahru. He has been sharing the Buddha Dhamma the last 2 decades in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Encouraged by the Dhamma family, he wrote “Walking in the Buddha’s Footprints” in 2016 and “Breaking Myths” in 2020. He considers the collaboration of more than 10 Buddhist Centres in Malaysia every Friday evening on the Internet for the series of “Breaking Myths” sharings his happiest contribution to the Buddha sasana.

The teachings of the Buddha have spread to all over the world over hundreds of years. Many cultures, races and nations have adopted His message of Peace, Compassion and a Noble life. With each assimilation, enrichment takes place as the Buddha Dhamma is inclusive and much of the local culture become absorbed into its practices. But we must recall that the Buddha did NOT start any religion! He taught for 45 years on how we all can lead a noble life, uplifting ourselves into higher levels of Mental development, Morality, Compassion and Wisdom. The religions that we see in the various traditions were created by His subsequent generations of disciples.

The 3 Refuges, the Middle Path, the Noble 8 fold Path and the 5 Precepts are common to all traditions. Anyone who keeps the 5 precepts well, are good people, and they may or may not even be formally Buddhists. Anyone in the various traditions and lineages who leads a Noble life adhering to the Harmless, Compassionate and Peaceful manner of life as taught by the Buddha is a good Buddhist irrespective of his tradition. It is Not what we call ourselves that is important but how we live our lives. Death recognises not what is in

the database of our ICs but what we did or not do in our lives! Our actions speak so loudly that few can hear what we say.

Many years ago I was at a meditation centre in Burma. This particular tradition teaches a rigorous method of Breath meditation. The Sayadaw asked my companions and I who had trained in various styles of meditation as to “Which is the BEST meditation method!?” It was a no win situation between being polite and Not speaking the truth or being Truthful to ones feelings BUT impolite! The Sayadaw laughed heartily when he saw our confused faces and said “The best meditation method for you is the one Most suitable for you and only YOU KNOW IT!”.

Even within a particular “yana” is found many sub traditions, let alone when seen across the globe and cultures. The uniting factors are the basic teachings, the CORE teachings of the Buddha. While much has evolved across the centuries forming layer over layers like the petals of the Lotus flower hiding the centre of the flower, we must understand that the many vehicles are all transport systems to the CORE teachings.

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It is often said that there are 84000 Dhamma doors through which one may access the Truth ie via the many traditions and lineages. What is very important and never to be forgotten is that these doors have a common denominator. 8 for the 8 fold path. 4 for the 4 Noble Truths and the 000 for the 3 universal characteristics of Impermanence, Suffering and Non Self!

All doors ultimately open to something; these core teachings of the Buddha is that inner sanctum. The Nikayas and The Agamas is the very centre of the beautiful lotus, all other commentaries, Thesis and life stories of the Buddha are the outer petals.

There is much that we can learn from each other when we open our eyes and realise that there is no patent right on Truth. To illustrate, we learnt from young that Samma Samadhi is Right Concentration and almost all English translations right from the days of Prof Rhys David had used this word.

However the Chinese translation found in the Mahayana texts meaning Right STILLNESS 正定 is a far more accurate translation of Samma Samadhi. Similarly there is much about meditation that one can learn from the Chan/Zen dialogs and stories. No tradition is ever perfect because the people now

manning it are imperfect people. Organised religion is often flawed because many of its elders and leaders are flawed imperfect beings.

We see the great wisdom of the Buddha who when pressed as to who will lead the Sangha after His death insisted that NO Human being would but that the Dhamma and the Vinaya will be our “leader”.

If we look at core teachings, see the wholesome acts, feel the love and compassion of the various Buddhists of the various traditions, there is seen only the Teachings of the Buddha actualised in life. Our actions speak so LOUD that no one can hear our sermons, and our sermons become meaningless sounds when we do Not actualise the teachings. Similarly the words of the Nikayas or Agamas are mere words trapped in some dusty cabinet if we do not apply the teachings to all aspects of our lives. I do not find it important to know how much theory a Buddhist knows, or which tradition he is from or under whom he trained! I find it much more meaningful to see how he had become a better person because of the Dhamma.

The Buddha taught a Noble way of life; is this ‘Buddhist’ living a harmless Noble life keeping the Precepts and Training his mind at his personal level, and interacting with others with Compassion, Wisdom, Love and Virtue? Then he is a true Buddhist, a true student of the Buddha Dhamma no matter what his tradition. Our uniting factor is the unchanging nature of the Dhamma, the Truths of Life, which are timeless.

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Whatever makes you more compassionate, more sensible, more detached, more loving, more humanitarian, more responsible, more ethical---The religion that will do that for you is the best religion. ~HH the Dalai Lama~

After death, the state of Buddha is undefinable (MN 22), hence there is more than enough room to accommodate the various traditions’ interpretation of His presence. “Whoever sees the Dhamma sees the Buddha”.

This teaching makes clear that the physical body of the Buddha is not the essence of His being, and that seeing His body doesn’t tell us much about Him at all. Even when one is sitting next to Him, or hanging onto His robe, if one doesn’t know His teaching or sees the truth He discovered ie the Dhamma, one is really far from Him. But when one sees the Dhamma, even if one is very far away, it is as if one is very close to Him, because one really sees what Awakening is about.

“He who sees Dhamma, Vakkali, sees me; he who sees me sees Dhamma. Truly seeing Dhamma, one sees me; seeing me one sees Dhamma”. Vakkali Sutta SN22.87 “Whatever makes you more compassionate, more sensible, more detached, more loving, more humanitarian, more responsible, more ethical---- The religion that will do that for you is the best religion.” ~HH the Dalai Lama~

Understanding this, we realise that the tradition is not important when compared to how wholesome we had transformed ourselves because of that tradition. From the Theravada tradition, we have the simile of

the Raft crossing the sea, from the Mahayana we have the teaching of Looking at the finger that points to the moon instead of looking for the moon, and in the process completely missing the moon. These teachings beg us to remember that the vehicle is NOT the goal, and ultimately even the raft is left at the shore, and the finger forgotten when we see the moon. Are we of the various traditions Not striving for the same shore of Nibbana?

Many of us will require many more lifetimes of Precepts, Mind Training and acquiring Wisdom before we reach the final goal, meanwhile we walk on wholesomely with Peace, Contentment and Compassion doing our best to create a better world. Is your tradition providing you with the raft to do all these and more, and its signboards pointing us in the Right Direction? If so, please carry on!

It is here in the Core Teachings and Wholesome actions that Buddhists of all traditions stand as one. EH

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Right Intention By Dr Rick Hanson

Rick Hanson is a psychologist, senior fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times bestselling author. His books have been published in 29 languages and include Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing: Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time, and Mother Nurture. His free newsletters have over 180,000 subscribers, and he offers a variety of online programs. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, he’s lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard, taught in meditation centers worldwide, and his work has been featured on the BBC, CBS, NPR, and other major media.

Introduction Of course, the first question regarding intention is, for what?

All the great wisdom traditions of the world, and all the great moral philosophers, have grappled with this question. What should we want?

There are many ways to approach this question. Some try to answer it in terms of discerning the will or desires of their sense of a Divine influence, of God. Others through resort to certain ideals or abstractions. And others through reliance on some kind of authority, such as a priestly class or a scripture. In the case of the Buddha – and also some moral philosophers – he approached this question pragmatically, in terms of what leads to more or less suffering, to more or less benefit or harm to oneself and others. Intentions are good if they lead to good results, and bad if they lead to bad results.

This approach has numerous advantages. It is down to earth. It draws upon our own observation of what happens, rather than relying upon the viewpoints of others. It provides a ready test for the worth of an intention: what did it lead to, what actually happened? And it keeps turning us back to ourselves, toward how we can be ever more skillful. The best available record of the actual teachings of the Buddha – what is called the Pāli Canon after the language in which they were first written – is chock full of encouragement and practical guidance for many kinds of intentions leading to good results.

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For example, in one sutta – a talk or discourse of the Buddha – he is offering a merchant guidelines for an ethical business, and in another he is advising a monk on the subtlest imaginable inclinations of mind in profoundly realized states of consciousness. In one of my favorite suttas, the Buddha tells his seven-year-old son, Rahula, that knowing how to act in life is actually very simple: before you do something, consider if it will lead to benefit or harm, and if it will be beneficial, go ahead; then, while you are doing things, keep considering if they are beneficial or not, and if they are, it’s alright to continue them. In this context of diversity and individuality of wholesome intentions, the Buddha singled out three in particular. They are contained in what is called Right Intention, which is one of the parts of the Eightfold Path; that Path is the last of the Four Noble Truths, and it describes the way leading to the end of suffering.

By the way, Right (or Wise) Intention is sometimes translated as “Right Resolve,” which conveys the determination, firmness of aim, heartfelt conviction, and persistence that are central to right intention. Let’s see what those three intentions were, that the Buddha thought were so important that they deserved such emphasis. Intention of harmlessness This is a broad aim of not causing pain, loss, or destruction to any living thing. At a minimum, this is a sweeping resolution to avoid any whit of harm to another human being. The implications are farreaching, since most of us participate daily in activities whose requirements or ripples may involve harm to others (e.g., use of fossil fuels that warms the planet, purchasing goods manufactured in oppressive conditions).

Further, in American culture there is a strong tradition of rugged individualism in which as long as you are not egregiously forceful or deceitful, “let the buyer beware” on the other side of daily transactions. But if your aim is preventing any harm, then the other person’s free consent does not remove your responsibility.

Taking it a step further, to many, harmlessness means not killing bothersome insects, rodents, etc. Even as you feel the mosquito sticking its needle into your neck. And to many, harmlessness means eating a vegetarian diet (and perhaps forgoing milk products, since cows need to have calves to keep their milk production flowing, and half of those calves are male, who will eventually be slaughtered for food). Nonetheless, we need to realize that there is no way to avoid all harms to other beings that flow inexorably through our life. If we are to eat, we must kill plants, and billions of bacteria die each day as we pass wastes out of our bodies. If we get hired for a job, that means another person will not be. But what we can do is to have a sincere aspiration

toward harmlessness, and to reduce our harms to an absolute minimum. And that makes all the difference in the world.

Intention of non-ill will Here we give up angry, punishing reactions toward others, animals, plants, and things. If such attitudes arise, we resolve not to feed them, and to cut them off as fast as we can. The Buddha placed great stress on the importance of releasing ill will. In the extreme, he said that even when we are being grossly mistreated by others, we should practice good will toward them, and wish them the best. To be sure, that does not mean turning a blind eye toward injustice and mistreatment – of ourselves as well as others – nor does it mean turning our back on skillful actions of protection, advocacy, and betterment. It is perfectly appropriate to defend yourself, assert yourself, pursue your own interests – and to do all that on behalf of others, too – as long as all that is done in the spirit of wisdom and good will. This stance is seen pointedly and poignantly in the Dalai Lama’s reference to “ . . . my friends, the enemy Chinese.”

Of course, in daily life, practicing with ill will is often extremely difficult – especially when we feel we’ve been truly wronged. For help, please see the article, “21 Ways

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to Turn Ill Will to Good Will,” at www.WiseBrain.org. As a summary, those ways are listed here: Be mindful of the priming. Practice non-contention. Inspect the underlying trigger. Be careful about attributing intent to others. Put what happened in perspective. Cultivate lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. Practice generosity. Investigate ill will. Regard ill will as an affliction. Settle into awareness of ill will, but don’t be identified with it. Accept the wound. Do not cling to what you want. Let go of the view that things are supposed to be a certain way. Release the sense of self. ” . . . ill will is suppressed by the first jhana based on lovingkindness and eradicated by the path of nonreturning.”

Resolve to meet mistreatment with lovingkindness. Cultivate positive emotion. Communicate. Have faith that they will inherit their own karmas one day. Realize that some people will not get the lesson. Forgive.

Intention of renunciation Renunciation is founded on a disenchantment with the world and with experience, based on right view. You see through all the possibilities of experience: you see their ephemeral, insubstantial, empty qualities, no matter how alluring or seemingly gratifying. You see the suffering embedded in the experience, the “trap,” as the Buddha put it. And you see the happiness, peace, and love available in not chasing after pleasure or resisting pain. Based on this clear seeing, you align yourself with the wisdom perspective and with the innate, prior, always

already existing wakeful, pure, peaceful, and radiant awareness within yourself. In so doing, you renounce worldly things and worldly pleasures. If they pass through your awareness – a sunset, a child’s smile, chocolate pudding, Beethoven’s 9th – fine; just don’t cling to them as they disappear as all experiences do.

Renunciation is NOT asceticism, or privation for privation’s sake. It is a joyous union with the path of happiness that happens to include a relinquishing, casting off, abandoning, walking away from any seeking at all of worldly gratifications.

At its heart, renunciation is simple: we just let go. Ajahn Chah: “If you let go a little, you will have a little happiness. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of happiness. If you let go completely, you will be completely happy.” Other Good Intentions Besides the three fundamental intentions above, what other aims or values would really serve you, and others? How about:

Feeling more relaxed and calm Deepening your well-being and capacity to contribute to others Working through something that’s been bothering you Giving up an addiction or other unwholesome behavior Coming to terms – and to peace – with a difficult life situation, such as a major illness Or you could shoot for the stars and focus on a primary purpose in life. Such as liberation, awakening, Nirvana, enlightenment. Or abiding in love – all the time. Expressing Your Intentions Once your intentions are clear, the next question is: How to express them? There are many ways, including

As thoughts in your mind As an image In writing As a collage with words and images Through physical expression, posture, movement, dance

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As a sense of being

When you think intentions, you know them to yourself. Putting them in explicit words is usually helps create real clarity in your mind. Some intentions co-exist as equally vital, but many times it’s important to establish what your top priorities are. It’s kind of like filling a bucket: you want to get the big rocks in first, then the pebbles, and last the sand. Your most important aims are the big rocks, and if you take care of them, everything else usually works out just fine.

The nonverbal expression of intentions is through imagery. For all the emphasis in education and in our culture on language – certainly an important tool – it’s good to keep in mind that most of the brain, and most of our mental processes (especially unconscious ones) have nothing to do with language at all. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words, and pictures in your mind of your intentions – including both the path toward them and their fulfillment – are very, very valuable.

You can also write out your intentions, perhaps informally – as in a to-do list – or formally, as affirmations. These are complete sentences, positively stated, with the result already existing in the present. Like this: “I am healthy, happy, and whole.” “My family is full of love and harmony.” “I am completing my college education.” “My wife loves me.” Collages are another powerful way to express your intentions. I have collages on the wall of my office at home that were made several years ago yet they still speak to me; I look at them, and know what I’m supposed to do. Or you could move your body as an expression of your intention, letting it move through you as you walk or dance or whatever

Last and definitely not least, you could get the feeling of the intention in your body, and rest in that sense of being. For example, if your intention is to be loving, rest in the sense of being loving. If it is to be highly focused and productive, get a sense of being that way, and then abide there. Be the goal you are aiming for.

Is the Intention a Goal or Already Realized? This last point brings us to the third question: Do you express the intention as a goal or as something already realized?

This gets at a recurring question, even a debate, in Buddhism (and also in psychology and in some religions): Is it about progressing toward an enlightened state, or is it about uncovering the enlightened condition that has always been present? I can’t do justice here to the nuances of that consideration, but I can say what many wise people think is at the marrow of the matter: both are true. (Darn that middle way.) In other words, it is powerful to focus on intention both as an aim toward a target, and as something that

is already the case. The phrasing, “May ____________ “ is a nice way to accomplish this, since “May I be happy” or “May the world be at peace” both embody an aim and an actuality. And of these two, aim and actuality, it’s usually best to emphasize the latter, the sense of the intention as already realized. For example, one thing that makes the affirmation form of verbalized intentions powerful (whether written, spoken, or thought), is that they are expressed in the present.

We are such a goal-directed culture, and there are so many associations of striving, frustration, and disappointment related to pursuing goals in the minds of so many of us, that there is often greater openness inside to intentions expressed as already true. We are already that way. Our circumstances are already that way. This also points us to a greater recognition of, and gratitude and appreciation for, what is already good and working and wholesome and wonderful inside ourselves and outside, in our world. This feels good in its own right, which is very good for your brain! And you! And others! And it directs us toward resources we may have missed, both inside and outside. There really is a

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profound wisdom and peacefulness already within us – in Buddhism, sometimes called Buddha mind, or bodhichitta. And a beautiful, wonderful harmony latent in the world.

For example, the “resting state” of the brain has a neurological coherence, a quiet hum of relaxed readiness, and a saturation with mildly positive emotion. That is what you return to when something is resolved, and that is what you return to if you start with a positive state and then jiggle it, such as with EMDR or other psychological techniques. All this means that the universe and mother nature and spirit are all on your side. So, in a sense, a lot of what anyone of us is really trying to do is to re-access a sense of the innate nature of the brain – of our own nature as beings – and settle ever more deeply into that always already true and present condition. Kind of like settling into a cozy comforter in our bed that is home base.

Perhaps take a moment to see if you can sense into your preexisting Buddha nature, inner goodness, spark of the Divine within – in whatever way you experience or name that. How Firmly Should You Pursue Your Intentions? Then, last, how firmly do you pursue your intentions? Again, neither too tight nor too loose a rein.

As with the balance of the capital city and the provinces, it’s worth considering what your tendencies are and if there is an imbalance. For example, some of us hold onto our goals to a fault (myself, ahem) going down with the ship – pull up! It’s a trap!! – while others give up way too soon or don’t take their own needs and wants seriously enough.

From the Buddhist perspective, the path that leads to the greatest well-being and goodness for oneself and others steers clear of over-striving on the one hand – clinging is, after all, the primary engine of suffering – yet is also guided by Right Intention and other wholesome aims.

The importance of this side of the balance – of perseverance guided by goodness – is seen in one of my favorite phrases of the Buddha. Appearing in many places in the Pali Canon, indicating its importance, it describes worthy practitioners as “ardent, resolute, diligent, and mindful.” All these speak to a real dedication.

In my experience, more people err on the side of being flabby or fearful in their resolutions, and not enough of an ally to themselves, than err on the side of being obsessively driven toward important goals. And of course, within the same person, there may be goals that he or she is too lax about as well as goals that he or she is too obsessive about. You could reflect on how you might come to better

balance for yourself with regard to your strength of resolution. Consider both the goals you could be too driven about . . . . and the goals you could be too lax about.

Conclusion As we consider the fruits of our intentions – Are they bitter or sweet? – it is easy to veer into the pitfalls of guilt and shame on the one side, and self-congratulation and conceit on the other. Instead, the wise course is to be clear-eyed, even-keeled, and encouraging with yourself, continually focused on your learning and growth, on how you can become a little better person every day. For yourself. For everyone around you. And for the whole wide world.

For details on Dr Rick Hanson’s work, please access www.rickhanson.net EH

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Developing a Mind of Balance By Mindy Newman

The Buddha said that a mind that is balanced is one that is in a state of equanimity. As an experienced mental health professional, how do you relate this understanding of a balanced mind from the Buddhist perspective to that of modern psychotherapy?

Mindy Newman, LMHC is a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist in private practice in NYC. She studied World Religion at Harvard Divinity School and Counseling Psychology at Lesley University, both in Cambridge, MA. Mindy is a regular contributor to Tricycle magazine, has taught meditation at Tibet House for the Nalanda Institute of Contemplative Science, and is a group facilitator for Dr. Miles Neale’s Contemplative Studies program. Mindy is devoted to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and considers her work as a therapist to be some of her most important dharma practice. Benny Liow asked Mindy several questions on how does one develop a mind based on equanimity, and other core Buddhist qualities such as patience and humility. The following is an extract of the discussions. You can read more about her at mindynewman.com.

I find in psychotherapy that clients often try to jump to equanimity by minimizing their feelings or rationalizing that something that happened to them is ok when it isn’t. So they outwardly sound very reasonable and calm, but what they are actually doing is suppressing their emotions. To the outside world they appear calm, but privately they are struggling with anxiety, depression or engaging in addictive behaviors. Paradoxically, before they can approach any genuine equanimity they have to stop repressing themselves and have their natural reactions. This means that for a period of time, they will seem more emotional to themselves and others than they have before. But as they process these intense reactions, they eventually, naturally become softer. Over the long-term, they have a better chance of deeper, true equanimity. It’s ironic that for many people the path to true calmness has to go through the difficult, intense emotions. So how would you teach someone to cultivate true equanimity within himself and towards others?

In psychotherapy, I help clients examine their personal histories and try to understand how they are unconsciously provoked to feel and act certain ways that are causing them distress. When we understand something deeply, we naturally become less reactive to it. Have you ever had the experience of a loved one or friend getting irritable with you, but because you knew that something else was bothering them that was causing their irritation that their treatment of you didn’t upset you that much? It’s like that. For example, one person may be very anxious about pleasing others and become distressed when they think someone is unhappy with them, while another struggles with anger when other people don’t meet their expectations. When both people understand what happened in their past that trigger these habitual reactions to particular interpersonal dynamics, they won’t be so bothered by someone being unhappy with them or failing them. From the Buddhist perspective, meditation is essential – and I assume that because the readers of this magazine are Buddhist as well, you agree! Of

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course there is samatha or calm-abiding meditation, which expressly helps develop equanimity in our minds. Tong-len meditation helps us cultivate compassion equally for all beings, those who are close to us, those who frustrate us, and those we don’t know. It is very useful for overcoming our aversion to others. We can also say the 4 Immeasurables prayer - the last line is the wish for all sentient beings to experience equanimity – and all sentient beings includes us! When we say this prayer on a daily basis it reminds us of equanimity as an aspiration we are making. The problem that sometimes arise with the practice of equanimity is that it leads to indifference. What must we cultivate to ensure that indifference or a ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude does not arise in our practice?

True equanimity is not indifference. If we find ourselves feeling that we “couldn’t care less” towards others, then we have accidentally slipped into a kind of numbing or detachment. This is totally understandable. The world is a difficult place, especially right now, and there are so many stressors we are coping with. Unconsciously there can be a strong pull to transcend suffering by numbing out. It’s very easy to unintentionally use meditation to do that.

When we find ourselves in this state of mind in an ongoing way, we don’t need to blame ourselves. We just need to reconnect with compassion. We can reflect on the suffering of those we love, especially if we have loved ones who are dealing with illness or some other trauma. We can read stories in the news and imagine what it would be like to experience the suffering described there. For me, when I contemplate stories of survivors of human trafficking it arises naturally. The horror they have experienced is unimaginable. The Covid-19 pandemic provides a lot of opportunity for this. For example, we can take a few moments to reflect on what it would feel like to die from this illness: unable to breathe, perhaps very scared, alone because our loved ones are not allowed to be in the hospital with us. People are experiencing this. Compassion arises naturally. Equanimity is also linked to the quality of patience.

In daily life, especially when dealing with difficult people, how do we ensure that others do not take advantage of our patience? Healthy boundary setting and communication are essential. Patience and equanimity do not equate to being taken advantage of. We have to be prepared to say “no” to others when this is happening. There’s a saying that I love that comes from 12-step programs, including Alcoholics Anonymous: “no is a complete sentence.” Meaning, we don’t always have to explain ourselves or justify setting boundaries with others, we can just politely explain that something doesn’t work for us. This is a very important skill to develop. Ironically, it can actually help us develop greater patience and equanimity. When we feel taken advantage of, we naturally have strong emotional reactions, but when we feel comfortable and confident setting boundaries, we don’t get as upset if we feel someone is trying to take advantage.

Buddhist teachings talk about non-self or the illusion of self. Humility is therefore an antidote for an inflated self. But how do we prevent humility from becoming negative self-criticism? I think genuine humility is more about equalizing ourself and others, not lowering ourselves as beneath others. In Buddhism, every life is precious. That’s why we abstain from killing. And if every life is precious, that includes our own. We don’t need to use harsh criticism to become more humble. If we find we are feeling superior to others, we can reflect on the good qualities they have that we don’t have in order to create a more realistic, balanced perspective. We also can think about the areas that we need to grow in order to deflate a sense of superiority, acknowledge our faults, so to speak. But this is different from negative self-criticism. Buddhist teachings also tell us that pride is not just thinking we are superior to others, but also that we are inferior. This may lead to false humility which can be a manifestation of an inferiority complex. How do you overcome false humility when it arises?

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The practice of rejoicing is important if we have low self-esteem and are prone to negative self-criticism. When we do something beneficial or compassionate or virtuous, we should rejoice in our activity so that we value ourselves. We don’t have to become inflated about it, but we can honestly acknowledge it to ourselves and appreciate it. This helps motivate us to continue in our spiritual path. For example, I rejoice in your taking the time to read this interview! You could be doing so many other things right now and you are reading something in the hopes of developing your mind. This is something to really appreciate.

If your apparent humility is really a cover for an inferiority complex, you need to build your self-esteem to a healthier level. This is where psychotherapy can be very helpful. In psychotherapy, with a therapist you feel comfortable with, you can explore the origin of why you feel so negatively about yourself and why it is hard to acknowledge your basic goodness. Maybe there are experiences you have had in your life with other people that left you coming to a conclusion about yourself that you are carrying around but are not fully aware of. By lifting unconscious beliefs to the level of our conscious mind, which is what happens in therapy, you can start to challenge them and change how you feel about yourself. And it’s also extremely important to make sure you are cultivating healthy relationships with people who help you feel loved and cared for for who you are. When we have developed a balanced mind, we should be able to experience calmness and peace in our lives. But we can also be attached to our calmness. What’s your advice how not to cling to our calmness, especially during meditation?

Remember that you are a human being and we are in saṃsāra. We are not Buddhas yet! Painful emotions are definitely going to arise and disrupt our calmness. We have to accept that until we are enlightened, we will absolutely experience this. Our job is not to be perfect, but to be in an ongoing process of developing agility and flexibility in our minds. Psychotherapists refer to this as emotional regulation. We have our emotions, even strong ones, but they arise and pass through. Of course calmness feels so much better, so we would prefer to

be in that state of mind all of the time. What has helped me in meditation, but took me a long time to figure out, is this: when thoughts or feelings arise that are very strong or very unpleasant I say to myself in my mind “It’s ok. It’s ok that you are there.” I find that giving the thoughts and feelings genuine permission to be there makes them quiet very quickly. It sounds so simple, but for me it’s been very powerful. And like I said, it took me a long time to figure this out and I’m definitely still working on it!

Buddhist practices teach us to cultivate love and compassion. But first we need to cultivate compassion for ourselves since it is associated with both our emotional resilience and psychological well-being. What’s your method to cultivate selfcompassion? Self-compassion can be very hard, can’t it? It’s amazing how much easier it can be to direct compassion towards others rather than ourselves. And Buddhism is a path that sets very high standards that we are trying to reach - we are working towards enlightenment after all! I think the biggest way that I cultivate self-compassion is to try to understand my own suffering when it arises. Compassion is the wish that suffering be alleviated. So first I have to acknowledge that I’m suffering in some way. I might try to look at my situation as though I’m on the outside of it and think about how I would react to it happening to someone else. I also talk with loved ones and receive their compassion, which gives me a model of how to direct it to myself. And I really try to notice when I’m being too hard on myself. Personally, I find the Buddhist notion of aspiration to be very comforting. Buddhism is a path of selfdevelopment that is continually unfolding. We don’t have all of the qualities yet that we want to acquire, but we aspire to develop them. Aspiration as a concept makes space for us to be imperfect, because if we were fully enlightened we wouldn’t need aspiration! And just the fact that we want to develop these qualities is virtuous, and says something wonderful about us. There’s something about this concept that just helps me let go. EH

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Transforming Buddhist Education: Lessons from Indonesia By Dr. Edi Ramawijaya Putra, M. Pd

Are you born into a Buddhist family, or did you become a Buddhist later in life? I come from a Buddhist family as both my parents and ancestors were all Buddhists. They believe in Buddhism not just as a religion but as a living

Edi is Assistant Professor at the Sriwijaya State Buddhist College of Tangerang-Banten, Indonesia. He is also a Doctor of Applied Linguistics in English. Edi is an active Dharma worker too. The following is an extract of a conversation between Benny Liow, editor of Eastern Horizon, with Edi regarding Buddhism in Indonesia, with a focus on how young Buddhists in Indonesia are responding to Buddhism in the modern world.

philosophy that guide their daily lives. As such they participate in a variety of traditional Buddhist rituals such as paying homage to the Triple Gem, as well as religious ceremonies when someone in the family is born, fell sick, or pass away. Likewise, Buddhist philosophy guides them on the ethical aspects of daily living, including right livelihood and earning money. I was fortunate to have received Buddhist education from elementary school to the teritary level by Buddhist teachers and lecturers. I also attended Buddhist Sunday school (called Sekolah Minggu Buddhis) where every child received an informal Buddhist education. How many Buddhists are there in Indonesia? Is Buddhism practiced mainly by the Chinese community or by indigenous Indonesians?

According to Government statistics released in 2010, there are 1.7 million Buddhists in Indonesia. It equals to 0.72% of the total population. There are many different Buddhist traditions throughout the country. I would not say that the ethnic Chinese are the major followers of Buddhism because it is also common to find indigenous Indonesians who are Buddhists, such as among the Javanese, Sasaknese, Balinese, Bataknese, Tobanese, Sundanes, Betawi, and Papuans. If you travel through Indonesia you will find Buddhist temples (usually called Vihara/Wihara) bulit with local architectural style and ornamented with cultural items representing different ethnic entities. However, the Chinese Buddhists are mainly located in the cities. Their exsistence has long been regarded as an integral part of Indonesian Buddhist history and development. However, the Chinese Indonesian Buddhists tend to be eclectic, as some of their practices are combined with local Chinese beliefs and customs. The future of any religion, including Buddhism lies with the youths.

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Is Buddhism in Indonesia practiced mainly by the elders or youths? In Indonesia, we are fortunate that Buddhism is practiced by both the young and the old. The young Buddhists are active in youth societies affiliated with

different Buddhist traditions. They also attend classes in Buddhist schools where the teachings have been able to guide them to live peacefully and harmoniously with followers of other religions in the country. Being a minority religion in a predominantly Muslim country, our young Buddhists have been taught to be adaptable to a multi-religious and multi-cultural Indonesian society. Interestingly, many young Buddhists also spend their school breaks in meditation retreats, selfdevelopment camps, and participation in social services. At most Buddhist temples, there will be different religious services (puja) and activities to cater to the needs and interests of the younger Buddhists. However, the elders at the temples are also not neglected as well. Thus, most temples will organize different activities that are appropriate for the younger and older members. Do Buddhist schools and temples have a common syllabus and curriculum?

For schools at the primary and secondary level, they follow the national curriculum which has standard modules where students learn about all religions practiced in Indonesia, including Buddhism. Students are therefore taught three core aspects of each religion: its history, devotional aspects such as rituals and ceremonies, and its doctrine and ethical dimensions. At the tertiary level, there is more flexibility for the institutions to determine their own syllabus and curriculum as long as what is taught is not against the

core principles of the official ideology of Indonesia known as panca-sila.

How rigorus is the training of Buddhist teachers in Indonesia? Is the monastic Sangha involved in teaching or mentoring the lay teachers? There are 15 higher education institutions across Indonesia that offer teachers’ training for pre-service Buddhist teachers called Dharmacarya. These colleges are managed by either the state or private bodies. For private Buddhist colleges, they have the full support of the monastic Sangha that’s affiliated to them. The monastic Sangha will provide the leadership in organizing programs such as novice ordination (pabbaja samanera), female ordination (silacarini), retreats for Dharma study and meditation, and leadership camps. For the state-based Buddhist colleges, they have similar programs as well. So there’s degree level Buddhist education too?

Buddhist higher educational institutions do offer degree programs with academic requirements based on national education standards. However, Buddhist education at temples (vihara) does not lead to a degree as the focus is primarily informal and not academic in nature. Students who wish to pursue a degree in Buddhist studies can therefore study at one of the higher Buddhist institutions of learning in the country. How do traditional Buddhist teachings such as the law of karma, heavens and hells, renunciation and non-attachment relate to modern day education which is based on science and teachnology and empirical knowledge and reasoning?

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Buddha’s teaching is based on reasoning that is applicable in today’s world of science and technology. The basis of Buddhist education is to encourage us to be open-minded, inquisitive, and critical when investigating phenomena just like science. Buddhism also teaches us to be non-dogmatic and allows science the opportunity to test or verify whatever is found in the teachings. The Buddha believed that the truth can be found after careful investigation but not through blind faith or belief, just like what modern education would encourage us to do.

What would young Indonesians want to learn from Buddhism? In my opinion, the youths of today are existentially linked to the digital age. Their lifestyle is heavily influenced by technology, especially the internet. As such their learning is no longer through the traditional way, but mainly through social media and other forms of e-learning. Buddhist leaders, both monastic and lay, must be able to provide the Buddha’s teachings through technology if they want the young to study the Buddha Dharma. At the same time, young people today lead a very stressful and hectic life. This is where Buddhist meditation, especially mindfulness, will assist them to understand their emotions and develop peace of mind. Then they will find the ancient wisdom of the Buddha very relevant in their daily life. As an educator yourself, what do you regard as the key challenges facing Buddhist education in Indonesia?

The need to transform Buddhist education from merely a pedagogy to a principle of life is the paramount issue

to address. The teaching of the Buddha is not aimed at merely fulfilling one’s intellectual interest. The real purpose of the Buddha, out of his compassion and wisdom, is to assist all sentient beings understand reality so that they can live a happy and harmonious life. For instance, the essence of the Four Noble Truths must be contextualized with contemporary issues in the modern world. Buddhist education can utilize the approach of the Four Noble Truths in assisting Buddhists on effective problem solving. Thus, the orientation of Buddhist education must be revisited and revitalized especially in the way the teacher presents the Buddha Dharma to the students in a manner that they find Buddhism practical and relevant to their life today. EH

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The Many Faces of Insight The word insight in the context of Buddhism usually refers to seeing the true nature of reality, i.e. impermanence, suffering, and non-self in the Theravāda tradition; while in the Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna traditions, it will also include seeing both emptiness and our Buddha nature. The word insight is derived from the Pāli vipassanā (Skt. vipaśyanā) which literally means “special seeing”. We ask our three Forum panelists – Venerable Aggacitta, Venerable Min Wei, and Venerable Geshe Dadul Namgyal - about the term vipassanā and its wider meaning in relation to tranquillity (samatha) and mindfulness (sati) meditation in each of their respective traditions. In the Pāli Canon, the word vipassanā is rarely used compared to the word jhāna. For instance, when the Buddha asked his monks to mediate, he would say, “go do jhāna” instead of “do vipassanā”. Are these two words interchangeable? What about in the Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna traditions? Ven Aggacitta: No, they are not. Used as a noun, jhāna means a specific state of meditation associated with composure; but as a verb “to meditate” in general. Vipassanā can be translated as “special seeing” or “distinct seeing” and is insight into the true nature of constructions (saṅkhāras), arrived at by directly observing them as they have occurred.

Ven Min Wei: In the Chinese Buddhist tradition, the term dhyāna was originally transliterated with Chinese as chánnà and shortened to just chán in common usage, which is also normally used as a general term for meditation. With regards to the relationship between insight and dhyāna, the discourses in the Chinese Āgama say nothing about emerging from a dhyāna for the development of insight, but the Chinese Vimuttimagga suggests that one develops insight after dhyāna. However, the Yogācarabhūmi and the Mahāvibhāṣā

describe the development of insight while in dhyāna. According to the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment (Yuanjue Jing), dhyāna meditation is clearly distinguished from the standard definitions of śamatha and vipaśyanā, being a third type of meditation which both combines and transcends the other two. The Buddha responds by teaching three types of meditation practice, which are defined by the Sanskrit terms śamatha, samāpatti and dhyāna, understood as techniques applicable to practitioners of varying inclinations. Thus, dhyāna as calmness is the basis for vipaśyanā or wisdom to arise, which when properly cultivated, in turn, helps to deepen the calm, and so on. The four dhyānas then emerge again in a later stage in the cultivation of the path, arising in direct connection with insight, when they are regarded as supramundane dhyānas.

Geshe Dadul: Whenever we speak of vipaśyanā, we must understand its relationship with śamatha. In the ideal sense of the two representing separate milestones in a person’s spiritual (not necessarily religious) cultivation, śamatha marks the achievement of the mental skill to one-pointedly sit stably with a single object uninterrupted by distraction and lack of clarity for as long as one wishes. According to one method, the process of cultivating śamatha is marked by nine progressive stages that could take a couple of months or more with strict and arduous discipline, if one is successful. Vipaśyanā, on the other hand, is the mental ability to conduct focused probing into a chosen topic, again uninterrupted by distraction and lack of clarity for as long as one wishes, but with śamatha as its basis. So, attainment of vipaśyanā is preceded by the attainment of śamatha. Technically speaking, jhāna or dhyāna meditation begins only after attaining śamatha, and in the course of pursuing a particular dhyāna, most likely the first of the eight, going through its preparatory stages culminating in the actual dhyāna, one could

FORUM achieve vipaśyanā along the way and carry on with the rest of the journey through a combined path of śamatha and vipaśyanā. So, pursuing a dhyāna includes training in śamatha and Vipaśyana, but not limited to those.

Is the word vipassanā equated with any mindfulness techniques in your respective tradition? Ven Aggacitta: All types of spiritual cultivation, including meditation, require mindfulness. Ven Min Wei: With regards to the connection between vipaśyanā and mindfulness, the Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra of the Madhyamāgama has stated that the aim of mindfulness is to gain insight into the impermanence of the self. Therefore, vipaśyanā and mindfulness must go hand in hand during meditation. We might say that mindfulness is the central focus of vipaśyanā and the key to the whole process.

The Sūtra also mentioned that vipaśyanā meditation uses mindfulness and śamatha, developed through practices such as mindfulness of breathing, combined with the contemplation of impermanence as observed in the bodily and mental changes, to gain insight into the true nature of reality. Besides that, the Abhidharmakośakārikā states that vipaśyanā is practiced once one has reached samadhi by cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness. This is achieved, according to Vasubandhu, by considering the unique characteristics (svālakṣaṇa) and the general characteristics (sāmānyalakṣaṇā) of the body, sensation, the mind, and the dharmas. “The unique characteristics” refer to its self-nature (svabhāva), while the “general characteristics” signify that “All conditioned things are impermanent; all impure dharmas are suffering; and that all dharmas are empty (śūnya) and not-self (anātmaka).” Hence, vipaśyanā is a direct and gradual cultivation of mindfulness. They are mutually related to each other during meditation.

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Geshe Dadul: Mindfulness (smṛti), together with introspective awareness (saṃprajanya), is one of the tools for cultivating the concentrative states of śamatha and vipaśyanā. These tools of mindfulness and introspective awareness when combined counteract the hindrances, such as restlessness and laxity, to these concentrative states. So, vipaśyanā is not the same as mindfulness in our tradition. The early discourses on meditation in the Pāli Canon convey a unified role of samatha (calm abiding) and vipassanā, while in the Pāli Abhidhamma and the Commentaries, they consider samatha and vipassanā as two distinct meditation paths. How would you explain this seeming dichotomy? Is this true also in the Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna traditions? Ven Aggacitta: Your premise is not true. Samatha and vipassanā have always been considered two separate approaches in the early suttas as illustrated by the following.

The Vijjābhāgiya Sutta (AN 2.32) states that both of them have a share in gnosis or true knowledge (vijjā). The development of samatha leads to the abandonment of passion and liberation of the mind while that of vipassanā, to abandonment of ignorance and liberation of wisdom.

Tatiyasamādhi Sutta (AN 4.94) distinguishes samatha from vipassanā in terms of their objects of attention and purpose. The samatha yogi focuses on the mind (citta) to still and compose it (samādhiyati). The vipassanā yogi focuses on constructions (saṅkhāras) to “distinctly see (vipassati)” or understand them with wisdom. One who has attained samatha but not vipassanā should learn from the other and vice versa. One who has neither should learn both and one who has both should not be complacent but should strive on for total liberation. This latter portion is also echoed in Samatha Sutta (AN 10.54).

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Yuganaddha Sutta (AN 4.170) states that one can attain arahantship through four paths or one of them1: 1. Vipassanā preceded by samatha 2. Samatha preceded by vipassanā 3. Samatha and vipassanā in tandem 4. A mind seized by Dhamma agitation which later becomes composed. The fourth path seems to be samatha not preceded by vipassanā although the commentary explains Dhamma agitation as caused by spectacular vipassanā experiences, which makes it a redundant overlap with the second path.

Min Wei: According to Chan, Avataṃsaka, Tien-tai, and Pure Land traditions, concentration and insight are indivisible, and true concentration necessarily includes true wisdom, and true wisdom is inseparable from concentration. The Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng states: “Calming is the essence of wisdom. And wisdom (prajñā) is the natural function of calming (samādhi). It is to say, at the time of prajñā, samādhi exists, while at the time of samādhi, prajñā exists. How is it that samādhi and prajñā are equivalent? It is like the light of the lamp. When the lamp exists, there is light. When there is no lamp, there is darkness. The lamp is the essence of light. The light is the natural function of the lamp. Although their names are different, in essence, they are fundamentally identical. The teaching of samādhi and prajñā is just like this.” As a result, we could clearly notice the relationship between concentration and insight is a crucial point in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Geshe Dadul: In our tradition also, śamatha and vipaśyanā are two distinct practices that involve separate methods of cultivation and primarily serve different purposes. At the same time, the main goal of working on them individually is so that a practitioner

1 The Sutta says “through four ways or one of them”, but I think it’s more practical to interpret it as “through one of the four ways or a combination of them”.

possesses both and, thus, attain their union for efficaciousness in counteracting the kleśas (dissonant mental states) and their resultant duḥkhas. So, they may be ‘distinct meditation paths’, but once attained, they are best effective as a unified force in a practitioner’s mission of uprooting the kleśas. In his Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds, Shantideva says: Insight conjoined with serenity Completely destroys the afflictions. Knowing this, seek serenity at the outset. In his Songs of Spiritual Experience— Condensed Points of the Stages of the Path, the 15th century Tibetan sage and scholar Tsongkhapa, who founded the Gelug Order of Tibetan Buddhism, beautifully captures it when he says: In a mere one-pointed concentration I fail to see The potency to cut the root of cyclic existence; Yet with wisdom devoid of the path of serenity [śamatha], No matter how much one may probe, the afflictions will not be overcome. Wondrous are those who see this And strive for the union of serenity [śamatha] and insight [vipaśyanā]. I, a yogi, have practiced in this manner; You, who aspire for liberation, too should do likewise. The word “mindfulness” is a translation of the Pāli word sati (Skt. Smṛti), which means “to remember” or “memory”. But mindfulness is also understood as bare awareness and being non-judgemental. How did these two terms come to be associated with mindfulness?

Ven Aggacitta: This idea comes from the book The Heart of Buddhist Meditation (first published in 1962), written by Venerable Nyanaponika Thera after a meditation retreat under the guidance of Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw U Sobhana in Burma. He devoted one whole sub-chapter attempting to fit sati into and promoting his idea of “Bare Attention”. Eventually, that idea evolved into the currently popular understanding of mindfulness as “present moment awareness in a non-judgemental way”. I find this easier to reconcile than “bare attention/awareness”, as I shall explain.

TEACHINGS FORUM | EASTERN HORIZON

In the Pāli language, there is only one verb for “to remember” and that is sarati. Its noun is sati, which should be “remembrance” or awareness of the past.

Now, the question is: How far from the present must an event have happened in order to be regarded as past? Is there a minimum duration? There is no doubt that what happened aeons ago is past; so too what happened years, months, weeks, days, or hours ago. But as we get nearer to the present, say a micro or nano second ago, we realize that there is a very fine, ephemeral line between the past and the future which we call the present. And it’s so elusive because the moment I say “present”, it’s already past!

Since mindfulness is awareness of the past, its scope can span from the immediate past to the infinite past. The current understanding of mindfulness as present moment awareness is none other than awareness of the immediate past. Since the function of sati is merely awareness of a past object, it does not evaluate it and is therefore naturally non-judgemental. Evaluation is performed by other mental states, such as initial and discursive thinking aided by feeling (vedanā) and perception (saññā). Ven Min Wei: In fact, the term smṛti has many interpretations and translated as mindfulness, inspection, recollection, and so on. The meaning is sometimes related to not forgetting, referring to not forgetting one’s practice instructions, or not forgetting to keep the mind focused on a particular object of meditation.

Smṛti in Chinese word is nian, commonly refers to study; read aloud; think of; remember; remind. A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms gives basic translations of nian as: “Recollection; memory; to think on; reflect; repeat; intone; a thought; a moment.” Besides, from a scientific perspective, according to a

new study by psychology researchers from Ball State University, it was revealed that by just spending 10 minutes practicing mindfulness, it would help us ‘to remember’ more information and improve our memory.

In fact, mindfulness has no other function other than to bring the mind back to the very present moment, and to improve our memory.

Geshe Dadul: Mindfulness (smṛti) is an umbrella term and is traditionally spoken of in conjunction with introspective awareness (saṃprajanya), another tool used in meditation with mindfulness. Although, smṛti literally means “to remember” or “memory”, it doesn’t mean thinking of the past or bringing something to memory in a meditation context. It means holding onto the object of meditation, preferably, all the time during the session and carrying it out smoothly drawing guidance from past instructions. The formats of meditation may vary according to what one is aspiring to achieve, and due to this, the object or focus of mindfulness in the meditation also varies. An attempt at getting a closer look and contact with the simple state of awareness, for whatever purposes— spiritual or secular, lends itself to designing a meditation where one opens the mind, letting thoughts, emotions, and ideas full freedom to exit or enter the mental space without being interrupted, and thus a mindfulness characterized as above is obvious. Of course, not all mindfulness practice involves anchoring to bare awareness and/or sustaining thoughtlessness. Mindfulness is the buzz word today in the modern world. During a meeting with Buddhist teachers in 2011, HH the Dalai Lama said that even a suicide bomber would like to cultivate some sort of mindfulness. Would you say that mindfulness now has lost its link to ethics, especially in the context of Right Mindfulness stated in the Noble Eight-fold Path?

Ven Aggacitta: I think we should make a distinction between right, wrong and ordinary mindfulness. Right and wrong mindfulness are applicable to spiritual practices that lead respectively to authentic liberation or non-liberation. Ordinary mindfulness is applicable to non-spiritual practices. So in general, mindfulness in itself can be regarded as non-religious or amoral. This squares with the declaration of the Brahmin chief minister Vassakāra in a dialogue with the Buddha (AN 4.35), where he said that mindfulness is one of the

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EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

four qualities of a great person with great wisdom in a worldly context.

In fact, the ethical quality of mindfulness is determined by the motivation behind its application. In the ultimate Buddhist sense, it is unwholesome if motivated by greed, hate or delusion but wholesome if motivated by non-greed, non-hate or non-delusion.

Ven Min Wei: The statement by the Dalai Lama is not totally wrong. However, this kind of mindfulness cannot be compared to that taught by the Buddha. Right mindfulness stated in the Noble Eightfold Path generally refers to practice of the Four Abidings of Mindfulness, memory of the Dharma, memory of a Buddha, and the inconceivable mindfulness of a Buddha. However, we should differentiate between mindfulness and right mindfulness. Generally, mindfulness means focus or concentration on doing something. For a suicide bomber, we might say that one also has to be mindful on doing unwholesome actions.

In Buddhism, unwholesome intentions include sensual desire, ill will, and cruelty. Wholesome intentions are renunciation, non-ill will, and non-cruelty. Therefore, right intention which means not harming others or ourselves, or both, is always based on right mindfulness.

Geshe Dadul: Of course, mindfulness mentioned within the Noble Eight-fold Path is presented in the context of a Buddhist practitioner bent on seeking simply nirvāṇa or samyaksaṃbodhi, or at least a fortunate rebirth in the next life. For that, the foundation of morality is crucial. However, to develop some mindfulness, which could come in many different levels, there is no necessity to profess any religion nor of subscribing to a set code of ethics. Surely, one would benefit by observing some discipline and restraint, at least during the training. After all, mindfulness practice can be pursued in a secular setting. In this regard we are not necessarily speaking of a very advanced state of mindfulness We read about the Buddha’s early disciples becoming enlightened after listening to the Buddha’s discourses, and they were not in deep

meditation. Can we attain insight just by listening to a Dharma talk or contemplating deeply on what the Buddha taught without formal Vipassanā meditation? Ven Aggacitta: Āvaraṇa-nīvaraṇa Sutta (SN 46:38) states that when one listens intently to the Dhamma, the five hindrances are abandoned and the seven factors of awakening go to the completion of development. In other words, awakening can occur.

There is a stock passage (e.g. in Sīha Sutta, AN 8.12) that describes how the Buddha gauges the mental readiness of his audience as pliant, softened, rid of hindrances, uplifted and confident, before revealing the Four Noble Truths for them to attain the Dhamma Eye, i.e. become enlightened. Based on this stock passage, I would think that the Dhamma mentioned in (SN 46:38) above should be about the Four Noble Truths or anything else directly related to the practice for liberation. However, if you have intently listened to such Dhamma talks or deeply contemplated such Dhamma numerous times before and you still haven’t attained insight to your satisfaction, doesn’t it make sense to increase your chances of making better progress by also practicing samatha and vipassanā? Ven Min Wei: In the Pāḷi Texts we find many instances of people who attained the various stages of enlightenment while listening to the Buddha’s teachings. But the Texts also show that not all who listened were enlightened.

In the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch it is said: To concentrate the mind and to contemplate it until it is still, is a disease and not Zen.

This is to say that meditation is simply a tool, those who attached to it, will not be able to attain enlightenment or wisdom. Therefore, from a Buddhist perspective, by merely listening and contemplating deeply on Dharma one can attain insight.

TEACHINGS FORUM | EASTERN HORIZON

In fact, if we always pay close attention to listen to the Dharma and contemplate deeply on what the Buddha taught, we can definitely experience the wisdom of impermanence, dependent origination, and selflessness without formal meditation. Geshe Dadul: During the time of the Buddha, most of his disciples were the fortunate ones who were laden with rich spiritual predispositions from the past. Thus, the generation of insight and other attainments would not have required as much effort as is required of us in our time. Relatively speaking, the time and place of Buddha’s appearance coincided with the presence of people who would resonate easily with his life and message due to their predispositions. In fact, that is exactly the reason why a Buddha in the Wheel Turning Supreme Emanation Body appeared where, when,

and how he did. Not only that, the first 500 years of the Buddha’s Mahāparinirvāṇa were considered the Period of Fruits, in that people continued to attain high spiritual levels at a relatively fast and easy pace. If we are as fortunate from our past efforts, or if we make as much efforts now, we may also develop insights before long. If insight means seeing ultimate reality, why are there different types of insight, e.g. the first level of insight of the sotāpanna (Skt. Śrotāpanna), the insight of the arahant (Skt. Arahat), and the insight of the Buddha? Isn’t there just one insight into ultimate reality? Ven Aggacitta: Indeed there are different types of ultimate realities at the mundane and supramundane levels and therefore different types of insights.

At the mundane level, insights are spontaneous, nonintellectualized events of understanding “things as they had occurred (yathābhūta)”, in varying degrees of profundity. From the Buddhist perspective, this means actually experiencing that all constructions (saṅkhāras) arise and pass away due to multiple causes and conditions and are therefore impermanent, suffering, and not-self. This is insight into mundane ultimate realities, which has to be repeated and deepened until it is matured enough for the leap into the supramundane.

Insight at the supramundane level means the point of breakthrough, the moment of awakening when one glimpses or experiences the ultimate reality of Nibbāna, the stilling of all constructions. The deeper the glimpse or experience of Nibbāna, the more defilements will be uprooted.

Ven Min Wei: No doubt, the ultimate reality in Buddhism is ‘Enlightenment’. But, regarding the capacity of the practitioners, we need to use different methods in accordance with one’s spiritual ability to achieve one’s goal. Though we have only one reality but there are many ways of cultivation to achieve it. As Maitreya states from the principle of thusness (tathatā), hearing the Dharma, and the various meditations such as śamatha and vipaśyanā are the

same without difference for acquiring understanding and ultimate truth.

Geshe Dadul: The nature of ultimate reality, i.e. emptiness, is identical across bases, yet one can speak of emptiness of the body, emptiness of the mind and so forth. Though these instances of emptiness attached with their bases are mutually exclusive, their emptiness are the exact same nature, of one ‘taste’. Likewise, one can speak of the insight of sotāpanna, the insight of the arahant, and the insight of the Buddha without contradiction, even if we presume that they are all always immersed into the same ultimate reality.

Of the two exhaustive categories of meditation, viz. analytical meditation and placement meditation, vipaśyanā belongs to the former whereas śamatha belongs to the latter. As its category suggests, vipaśyanā is a mental skill of undertaking a focused probe into any given topic or area. In a Buddhist context, these topics could include impermanence, suffering, non-self and others, not just the ultimate reality of emptiness. Even practices of compassion, loving-kindness, and gratitude involve a focused analysis and thus belong to a vipaśyanā type meditation. The goal of training in these other types of insights, however, is to eventually generate insight into the ultimate reality.

FORUM Did the Buddha teach that insight into reality can be attained suddenly (e.g. instant enlightenment) or must it be gradual? Ven Aggacitta: As can be seen in the previous answer, it is both gradual and sudden. In other words, the repeated observation of constructions and insight into their true nature is a gradual process culminating in the breakthrough which is a sudden realisation. This is corroborated by the similes of the profile that gradually formed on the carpenter’s adze handle and the rotting of weathered ropes mooring a ship to the pier respectively (AN 7.71). However, it may be possible that the fourth path mentioned in AN 4.170 (refer answer to Q3 above) could be a sudden one as it is not preceded by insight

development. This path may also overlap with the enlightenment achieved while listening to the Buddha’s discourse. Ven Min Wei: In Mahāyāna tradition, the term “sudden enlightenment” generally refers to the idea that insight into Buddha-nature, or the nature of mind, is sudden. It may be posited as opposite to gradualism, the original Buddhist approach which says that following the Dharma can be achieved only step by step, through an arduous practice.

As regards to this, the Sixth Patriarch addressed as follows: “So far as the Dharma is concerned, there can be only one School. It may happen that the founder of one school may be a northern person while the other is a southerner. While there is only one Dharma, some disciples realize it more quickly than others. The reason why the names ‘Sudden’ and ‘Gradual’ are given is that some disciples are superior to others in mental dispositions. So far as the Dharma is concerned, the distinction of ‘Sudden’ and ‘Gradual’ does not exist.”

Therefore, the term sudden and gradual has nothing to do with a superior or inferior way of practice. We might say that the distinction between ‘sudden’ and ‘gradual’ awakening is simply dependent on the spiritual capacity of the practitioner. Geshe Dadul: The so-called instant and gradual insights is a relative thing. None of them overrides the law of causality. It is just a matter of whether the causes are cultivated in the immediate timeline apparent to the contemporaries or in the long past, only remaining to be stimulated in the present. Examples at hand are cases of Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana under the guidance of the Buddha, Naropa under his teacher Tilopa, Milarepa under Marpa, etc. Written by Geshe Dadul Namgyal and edited by Martha Leslie Baker. Venerable Āyasmā Aggacitta is the founder of the Sāsanārakkha Buddhist Sanctuary (SBS) in Taiping, Perak, a Pāli scholar and a meditation teacher.

Geshe Dadul Namgyal is a Geshe Lharampa and senior resident teacher at Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta, Georgia, USA Ven. Min Wei is a teacher of e-learning at the International Buddhist College (IBC) and an independent translator of Buddhism. EH

FEATURE | EASTERN HORIZON

How Taiwan uses Buddhist literature for environmental education By Dr Natasha Heller

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges that the world faces. A United Nations report has cautioned that greenhouse gas

Natasha Heller studies Chinese Buddhism in the context of cultural and intellectual history. Her research includes both the pre-modern period (10th through 14th c.) and the contemporary era. Heller received her MA in Buddhist Studies from the University of Michigan, and her PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University. Before coming to University of Virginia, she was an associate professor in the department of Asian Languages and Cultures at UCLA.

emissions due to human activity are at a record high, “with no signs of slowing down.” Many nations are recording weather extremes, higher average temperatures and rising seas. Meanwhile, the first wave of increasing numbers of climate refugees points to how a changing environment will reshape human life. The changes in climate may have been caused by previous and current generations of adults, but it is the future generations that will have to deal with its worst effects. Today’s children will play a critical role in protecting the environment. Confronting the crisis will require much change – and education is an urgent first step.

As experts have said, this education will need to start early, so that environmentally friendly practices become habits at a young age.

Taiwan offers an example of how to teach children about caring for their environment. Environmental attitudes in Taiwan By the early 1990s, rapid economic development had led to environmental degradation in Taiwan, an island in the China Sea and home to nearly 24 million people. The air quality in the cities was hazardous, a third of rivers were polluted and garbage often didn’t make it to landfills. Today, however, the Taiwanese take pride in their island’s natural beauty – from coastal wetlands to lush green mountains – and in their success in protecting the environment.

Taiwan is especially known for its high rates of recycling and elaborate sorting systems that even include a category for food waste destined for pig slop. According to self-reported figures, Taiwan now recycles 20% more than the U.S. – and any visitor can attest to the seriousness of recycling efforts.

EASTERN HORIZON | FEATURE

Historically, bodhisattvas have been invoked to help people in times of extreme need (such as a storm at sea), and intervening for the good of the environment updates their role for contemporary times. In this case Buddhism is central to the story, and cleaning polluted spaces becomes a metaphor for spiritual purification. The reader looks to a bodhisattva or Buddha as guide, and is inspired to take action. A 77-year-old volunteer working at a recycling center run by a nonprofit Buddhist organization in Taipei, Taiwan

As a scholar of Chinese Buddhism, I have been looking at how religious groups address contemporary issues, including environmentalism, in children’s literature.

Teaching children In Taiwan, over a third of adults identify themselves as Buddhist, more than any other religion, making it a significant cultural force. Buddhist groups have been at the forefront of efforts to care for the environment. Included in their effort is Buddhist literature for children that reflects environmental concerns. Picture books on this topic take two approaches: In one, bodhisattvas – wise and powerful supernatural beings that can appear in the world to help human beings – serve as models for children in the way that they protect the environment. For example, in the book, “Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s

Great Battle against the Trash Monster,” published by the Buddhist organization Dharma Drum Mountain, the first page of the story introduces a bodhisattva who wants to transform the polluted world into one that is pure. This bodhisattva meets a young boy who says he has nightmares about a monster made out of trash. As it turns out, the monster has been appearing because the boy’s room is a messy mountain of garbage. When he cleans it up, the bodhisattva prompts him to properly sort everything he throws away, reflecting real practices. Then the little boy decides to become a “little pioneer of world environmentalism,” and accompanies the bodhisattva in cleaning up parks and beaches. In this story, the little boy’s concerns grow from his own room to the bigger world, with the bodhisattva modeling compassionate action.

Caring for the environment But in other cases, Buddhist organizations do not use figures like bodhisattvas to teach about environmentalism.

The stories do not feature bodhisattvas as characters, and the narratives may not be obviously Buddhist, but offer environmental education in the context of a broader Buddhist education. Being a well-rounded Buddhist, in other words, means knowing and respecting the environment.

They may use stories about plants and animals to teach children about such things as the life cycle of coal and symbiotic relationships between animals, like that of rhinoceroses and oxpeckers, which are popularly thought to eat ticks and other insects, though the reality is more complex. Children learn about biology and how living beings are interconnected. This lends itself to thinking holistically about the environment, and these stories

FEATURE | EASTERN HORIZON

often prompt children to look at the world from the perspective of other living beings. Published by a major Buddhist organization, the book “Record of the Wanderings of a Plastic Bag” goes a step farther in presenting other perspectives.

A plastic bag starts out as plaything for a baby, then becomes a place for the cat to nap. The family’s grandfather claims it to collect tomatoes, and when he is finished, he washes the bag and hangs it to dry. A bit later, he uses it to carry worn-out shoes to be repaired, at which point the bag blows away.

It travels joyfully on the wind accompanied by a leaf and a candy wrapper, but is eventually swept up into a garbage bag. A dog rips open the garbage, and the bag blows away again, only to be picked up by a child with a stick who treats it as a toy. After it is abandoned by the child – very sadly for the bag – it is picked up, recycled and transformed into shopping bag. This is a happy ending, reflected by the bag’s happy smile. The author, Liu Rugui, writes that she used the bag as a character in the hope of stimulating children’s compassion, leading them to cherish the objects that they use. “Cherishing,” according to Liu, leads to a deeper understanding of environmentalism. There is connection between being able to take the perspective

of a plastic bag –entailing both intellectual and emotional responses – and valuing that object, which otherwise might be seen as a piece of trash. Young readers are prompted to take the perspective of these nonhuman characters, changing how they think about the world and their own actions. This connects to the Buddhist teachings of karma and reincarnation, which mean that every intentional action has a consequence.

attributes human traits to animals and things, increased children’s concern for parts of the environment, as did their emotional investment in the stories. That is, certain types of books do seem to change children’s attitudes. As I found in my research, this is something Buddhist organizations recognize as well and incorporate into their educational mission. Growing up Buddhist means growing into environmentalism and global citizenship. EH

one could be reborn as an insect or endangered animal. On another level, taking the perspective of a plastic bag helps readers to understand how all elements of the universe are interconnected, a teaching that takes its most sophisticated philosophical form in Huayan Buddhism.

literature-for-environmentaleducation-129970

Equally important, although one couldn’t be reborn as a plastic bag,

Impact of children’s literature By showing children that they have responsibility in caring for the environment, these books work to produce what sociologist Bengt Larsson has called, in a 2012 paper, “ecological selves.” Although studies on the long-term effects of children’s literature are limited, there’s some evidence that this approach is effective in fostering concern and care for environmental issues. For example, a study in Australia found that anthropomorphism, which

Source: https://theconversation. com/how-taiwan-uses-buddhist-

EASTERN HORIZON | NEWS

From facebook.com

New York Buddhist Church to Celebrate End of Year with Online Offerings By Justin Whitaker

The New York Buddhist Church (NYBC), a temple in the Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land) school of Japanese Buddhism, will present a series of online events between 20 December and 1 January to celebrate the new year. Planned events include cultural demonstrations, workshops, readings, special services, and musical performances by artists, educators, and religious leaders from the community.

The activities, focusing on Japanese culture, Japanese American life, and Japanese Buddhism, will support fundraising for the temple. The celebrations in part welcome 2021, the year of the Ox in the lunar calendar observed by many Asia cultures, which will be celebrated from 12 February in traditional Asian settings. “This holiday season is different from all others as we are confined to our homes and unable to visit

and gather with friends and family,” said Rev. Earl Ikeda, NYBC’s resident minister, in a news release. “We decided to create an online presence that would bring people together to learn about the significance of Japanese New Year’s traditions, and how Buddhism influences different practices in the visual, literary, and performing arts. It is our wish to share this with the broader community in New York and beyond.” The first event will be on Sunday, 20 December at 1pm EST, when leaders will give an online introduction to the New York Buddhist Church, including its history, activities, and connections with the community in Manhattan. Sunday, 27 December, 2pm EST: demonstration of kadomatsu (gate pine) of the traditional Japanese

NEWS | EASTERN HORIZON

Alter at the New York Buddhist Church. From facebook.com

New Year decoration with Gail Inaba and Don Thompson; and flower arrangements for the New Year with Masako Gibeault of the Ryusei-ha school of Ikebana.

Monday, 28 December, 7pm EST: New Year interactive poetry workshop live on Zoom with Rev. Dr. Mark T. Unno, professor of religious studies at the University of Oregon (registration required). Tuesday, 29 December, 7pm EST: Buddhist sculpture demonstration with artist Thomas Matsuda, who will discuss his training in Japan and his singular interpretation of Buddhist sculpture.

Wednesday, 30 December, 7pm EST: mochimaking demonstration and assembling kagami mochi (traditional New Year’s decoration) with Rev. Earl Ikeda, resident minister of the New York Buddhist Church; a reading of the children’s book Thank You Very Mochi by author Paul Matsushima with his children; and a kakizome (First Calligraphy Writing of the New Year) demonstration with Yuri Ishizuka, calligraphy teacher, Japanese American Association of New York. Thursday, 31 December, 7–9pm EST: Joya-e (New Year’s Eve) service at New York Buddhist Church led by Rev. Earl Ikeda; music by shakuhachi flautist Auguste Elder; memorial candle lighting and ringing of the

Activities at the New York Buddhist Church. From facebook.com

gongs; Toshikoshi Soba (crossing over the New Year noodles), a preparation demonstration of the traditional midnight meal by Rev. Earl Ikeda.

Friday, 1 January, 11:30am EST: Shusho-e (New Year’s Day) service at New York Buddhist Church with Rev. Earl Ikeda; 2pm EST: kamishibai storytelling with Donna Tamaki; and 2:45pm EST: performances by jazz flautist and composer Christian Artmann and Duo YUMENO: traditional and contemporary world music for the New Year with Yoko Reikano Kimura (koto/shamisen/voice) and Hikaru Tamaki (cello). The New York Buddhist Church traces its roots to a head temple in Kyoto called Nishi-Hongwan-ji. The Jodo Shinshu school of Buddhism was founded by Shinran Shonin (1173–1262). The NYBC was founded in 1938 by Rev. Hozen Seki, who went on to found the American Buddhist Academy in 1948 to facilitate the study of Japanese Buddhism and world religions. The NYBC is a member of the Buddhist Churches of America (BCA), the oldest Buddhist organization in the mainland United States. The BCA currently has more than 60 independent temples and some 16,000 members throughout the US. EH Source: Buddhistdoor Global | 2020-12-10 |

EASTERN HORIZON | NEWS

Soon, Sarnath to host cultural fests of Buddhist countries round the year By Rajeev Dikshit | TNN | The Times of India, Dec 11, 2020

Sarnath, where Buddha gave his first sermon, now a UNESCO Heritage site.

VARANASI: Soon, citizens will be able to explore the culture and cuisine of several countries with Buddhist populations by just visiting Sarnath, the place where Buddha preached his first sermon. Sarnath will soon begin to host weekly cultural festivals of such countries round the year.

Apart from the series of cultural fests which is going to become its permanent feature, Sarnath is also going to get a four-lane connectivity with Ring Road for seamless access from any highway and from LBS International Airport. These two plans are the main components of the proposal prepared for the Rs 130-crore pro-poor tourism development project finalised as per the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The project will be funded by World Bank.

NEWS | EASTERN HORIZON

Talking to TOI, Varanasi DM Kaushal Raj Sharma disclosed that during the virtual meeting on June 20 this year, the PM had asked to look for a site in Sarnath where holistic cultural fests of Buddhist countries can be organized throughout the year. As per PM Modi’s vision, all Buddhist countries as well as Buddhist regions in India, like Ladakh, will get an opportunity to showcase their culture, art and cuisine. This vision is aimed at increasing the inflow of tourists. Sharma said that a plan to establish such a site at Sarnath is a key component of the proposal, which will be submitted to the state tourism department in a week or two. The proposal also contains the plan of widening the existing road which links Sarnath to the Ring Road. DM Sharma said, “Conversion of the existing road into a four-lane road will give the tourists and local residents easier access to Sarnath, as they will not have to pass through crowded city areas to reach the site.”

Regional tourism officer Kirtiman Srivastava said that for the past four-five years, growth of over 4% in the footfall of tourists (including foreigners) had been recorded every year in Varanasi. In 2019, he said, 64.47 lakh domestic and 3.50 lakh foreign tourists had visited the city, out of which, 7.82 lakh tourists including

1.40 lakh foreigners visited Sarnath. Srivastava said that Sarnath attracts foreign tourists mainly from Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Japan, China, South Korea and other south-eastern countries. It is also a prime attraction for picnickers, said Srivastava, mentioning how the Centre and the UP government took new initiatives like the light and sound show on the life of Buddha in order to enthral a greater number of tourists to Sarnath.

On June 29 this year, minister of state (independent charge) for tourism and religious affairs, Neelkanth Tiwari, had informed TOI that Sarnath bagged this mega project to ensure world-class facilities for tourists. The project would generate employment for the people living in its vicinity. The fund of Rs 100 crore saved from already completed or ongoing World Bank-funded projects is going to be utilised for it, said Tiwari. “The tourism officials have been asked to ensure that the serenity of Sarnath is not disturbed by any of their proposals,” he added. EH

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EASTERN HORIZON | NEWS

Thai Airways Launches “A Flight To Nowhere” For Religious Worshippers

Thai Airways International has launched a special flight for those who would like to pray on board. The idea is to complete a one-off flight as a part of the “Thai Magical Flying Experience” Campaign to over 99 of the holiest Buddhist religious sites. This flight, which is taking place on November 30, 2020 is also referred to as “flight to nowhere” as the passengers’ primary goal is not to travel from point A to point B but to enjoy the sightseeing experience while reciting mantras, instead. After 3 hours of flying over 31 provinces, such as Chon Buri, Rayong, Surat Thani, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Nakhon Pathom, Suphan Buri, Ayutthaya, Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, etc., the passengers will be taken back to point A which is Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. For the flight, they will be given a prayer book and a Buddha amulet to use while meditating and chanting. The airlines also invited a famous Thai astrologist Dr Katha Chinbanchorn to spice up the journey and lead the worshippers. The flight attendants will make the passengers comfortable by serving food and drinks. This pilgrimage flight is a creative way to recoup

losses encountered during the crisis. The ongoing travel restrictions negatively impacted the country’s tourism industry and its national carrier. THAI filed a restructuring plan back in May 2020. Its rehab plan was approved by the Central Bankruptcy Court on September 14.

Thai Airways ended 2019 with a net loss of $371 million (THB12 billion) and had $667 million (THB21.6 billion) of cash reserves.

To generate revenue, the national carrier has been selling “flights to nowhere” as well as flight simulator rides. Earlier in 2020, it also launched an airline-themed cafeteria selling in-flight meals in Bangkok. While sightseeing flights were introduced to the market quite some time ago, a “holy flight” is a more recent trend. Wiwat Piyawiroj, an executive vice president for Thai Airways International, explained that the initiative is expected to support the tourism sector, which is in line with the government’s policy. Flight tickets are around THB10,000 (€275) for business class and about THB6,000 (€165) for economy class. EH

BOOK IN BRIEF | EASTERN HORIZON

BOOK IN BRIEF

Joshua, Esler, Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese: Mediation and Superscription of the Tibetan Tradition in Contemporary Chinese Society. Maryland, USA: Lexington Books, 2020. pp 271. Hardcover. www.rowman.com

Joshua is a PhD graduate in Asian Studies from the University of Western Australia. His research was concerned with the reception and practice of Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese in Greater China. He also studied Mandarin Chinese during his PhD candidature, and actively participated in academic conferences concerning Sociology, Religious Studies, Buddhism Studies, Asian Studies, and Tibetan Studies in Australia, New Zealand, Macau, Mongolia, and Korea, respectively.

In China, ostensibly a nation of atheists, many young adults now have a strong connection to Tibetan Buddhism. This may seem odd because one would imagine if there is interest in Buddhism among the younger generation, it would be Han Chinese Buddhism such as Ch’an or Pure Land, and not Tibetan Buddhism. However, both Han Chinese Buddhism and Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism are alike in many ways. Tibetan and Chinese Buddhism are two different practices that were formed on the same teachings, tracing it back to the historical founder, Sakyamuni Buddha. Chinese Buddhism has attracted many Chinese followers because it connects with Chinese culture and history. But Tibetan Buddhism offers the followers a wider range of practices and rituals that are believed to help them reach enlightenment faster. As such, the movement is flourishing and has become fashionable among young people in recent years. Many young Han Chinese also would wear Buddha prayer beads on their wrists as fashion accessories, though not necessarily as a mark of religious devotion.

There are a number of reasons why Han Chinese find Tibetan Buddhism more attractive than other religions. Firstly, they think it is mysterious. At the same time, it also offers psychological comfort to these young people who find themselves lost amid China’s rapid social and economic changes. Thirdly, those tuned in to Western media would have been fascinated by the large number of Hollywood stars who are also followers of Tibetan Buddhism. And finally, the many positive

EASTERN HORIZON | BOOK IN BRIEF

encounters between Tibetan Buddhist scholars (including the much maligned Dalai Lama) and neuro scientists and psychologists have given it much credibility as a very modern religion.

This study by Joshua Elser is therefore timely as he analyses the growing appeal of Tibetan Buddhism among Han Chinese in contemporary China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Joshua examines the Tibetan tradition’s historical context and its social, cultural, and political adaptation to Chinese society, as well as the effects on Han practitioners. The author’s analysis is based on fieldwork in all three locations and includes a broad range of interlocutors, such as Tibetan religious teachers, Han practitioners, and lay Tibetans. The book is divided into six chapters: (a) The State, Popular imagination, and Traditional

Chinese Cosmology (b) Subscribing New Meaning on Guan Gong, the Chinese ‘God of War’. (c) The Confucian Revival and Tibetan Buddhism (d) Pragmatism, Protestantism, and Tibetan Buddhism in Hong Kong (e) Tibetan Deities and Spirits in Multi-layered Tibetan landscape (f) Chinese Ghosts and Tibetan Buddhism.

The conclusion of the book features the author’s research into how Tibetan Buddhism is engaging the modern day Chinese in China.

This book is highly recommended for those interested to know the increasing interest in Tibetan Buddhism in modern day China, including from the younger generation. EH

Dharma Thoughts Vijaya Samarawickrama is an accomplished Dharma educator, teacher, and author. He retired after 60 years of teaching in schools, colleges and universities. However, he continues to give Dharma talks throughout the country, participates in inter-faith dialogues, speaks at various international seminars, and writes for Buddhist books and journals.

Facing Fear By Vijaya Samarawickrama It has been reported that the most used word in 2020 was ‘lockdown. If one were then to ask what was the most commonly felt emotion the answer surely must be ‘fear’. Given global interconnectedness and density of population it is safe to say that at no other time in human history did we as a species feel so much fear in the face of an invisible common enemy. Fear is nothing new because over the 200,000 years that humans inhabited the world they experienced numerous tribulations never knowing when the next calamity would strike. Fear is so much a part of existence that the Buddhist scriptures enumerate no less than 25 different types of fear ranging from fear of rebirth, old age, disease and death to fear from fire, floods, wild animals, hunger and punishment.

We could even say that it was fear and the attempt to alleviate it that gave rise to religion. Anthropologists call this kind of fear Numina – the fear of the unknown. Driven by ignorance about the way the universe operates they attributed their sufferings to the working of malevolent forces which they tried to subdue by invoking the support of invisible benevolent powers designated as ‘gods’. The rites and rituals which were devised to invoke the protection of these gods eventually gave rise to the religions we have today. The irony is that while religions had their origins in the attempt to overcome fear they eventually gave rise to priesthoods which exploited fear, (particularly fear of punishment by supernatural powers) to control the masses. Over the years however, as ignorance gave way to

knowledge and an understanding of how the universe works, these ‘gods of the gaps’ were replaced by a more rational approach to confront the challenges posed by human existence. The Buddha was among the first thinkers to encourage humans to use knowledge to dispel irrational fear and anxiety.

While there has been considerable progress in reducing the element of fear in many aspects of life, however, we have been rudely alerted to the continued prevalence of ignorance and the experience of fear on a scale never experienced before. Covid- 19 was the great equalizer. Unlike in the past when geography served to contain natural calamities within limited areas, this tiny virus has served to remind all humans how puny and vulnerable they are. Rich or poor, developed or undeveloped, young or old, all of us experienced some form of fear driven by ignorance on how to combat it.

What is fear? The Penguin dictionary of Psychology defines it as an “emotional state in the presence or anticipation of a dangerous or noxious stimulant. Fear is usually characterized by an internal, subjective experience of extreme agitation, a desire to flee or to attack and a variety of sympathetic reactions”. Fear is an extremely complex emotional state which is expressed in myriad ways but in Buddhism it can be traced to a single cause among humans: “The cause of all fear is self-grasping ignorance and all the delusions such as selfishness, attachment and anger arise from that ignorance, as well as all the unskilful actions motivated by those delusions”. Fear arises in a person because

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Dharma Thoughts

ignorance, (the inability to see things as they really are) gives rise to the delusion of a permanent entity called a ‘self’ which feels threatened in some way or another. So it is False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear is closely associated with low self esteem when one feels unable to confront a perceived threat. As a result, fear manifests itself through negative feelings like jealousy and suspicion. The lower the self- esteem the higher the level of these emotions.

the Noble Eightfold Path. It is good to bear in mind that the goal is not to destroy the self, because a self does not exist in the first place. What needs to be destroyed is the delusion that such a self exists.

pain and death while external fear arises due to the fear of punishment or natural calamities.

fear is a powerful aid in helping a disciple on the path to perfection. It is clear therefore that all fear is the result of mental defilements. When one is steeped in ignorance one mistakes the unreal for the real and thus feels threatened. But we also saw that healthy fear can arise from the fear of wrong doing or inviting blame. Knowledge helps us differentiate between wrong and right behavior.

Along with this idea of a self comes the attachment to it and a desire to protect it against any perceived threat to its well-being. Fear arises when one feels unable to overcome the threat. So fear is caused by the attachment to a ‘self’ and the conviction that things exist ‘out there’ independent of our mind. There are two sources of fear, internal and external. Internal fear is due to the fear of

When one realizes the inherent dangers that come with wrong views and begins to understand the enormity of suffering caused by having to wander in saṃsāra, then one develops a healthy fear which has its roots in wisdom. There are two kinds of such fear – Hiri and Ottappa, moral dread and moral shame. This is the fear to do evil because of its consequences and the shame to do wrong because it degrades our status as humans. As long as one strives to reach perfection one should be guided by Hiri and Ottappa. One needs no God or fear of punishment to do this. While unhealthy fear is counter-productive and debilitating, healthy

How do we fight fear? If fear is caused by ignorance, then wisdom, the ability to see things as they really are become the only antidote. The Buddha says that the only beings who are truly unafraid are arhats (enlightened beings) because they have completely rid themselves of the illusion of an enduring personality, or nin-self (anattā). For an arhat, there is no-thing to be endangered, as much as there is no-thing to pose that danger. It is interesting to note that fear is always a possibility, something that will happen in the future. Arhats only live in the present moment, so the question of fear cannot arise in them. There is a story of a fierce warrior who threatened an old monk by saying, “Do you know that you are looking at a man who can run this sword through you and not feel a thing?” The monk replied softly, “And do you know that you are looking at a man who can be run through and not feel a thing?”.

In the final analysis fear is a state of mind and if we want to combat it we should pay attention to how the mind operates. The undeveloped mind is subject to the defilements, namely greed, aversion, and delusion. These defilements can be eradicated by purifying the mind. The first step to achieve this is to practice virtue. When one develops a mind of harmlessness one automatically shields oneself from external dangers. This is why arhats do not need to experience fear. “Wheresoever fear arises, it arises in the fool. Not in the wise man”.

Not all fear is bad or undesirable. The Buddha teaches that there are two kinds of fear, the unhealthy and the healthy. When one acts out of ignorance, unhealthy fear arises which can lead to an enormous amount of suffering. But when one develops wisdom, however dim, to understand the nature of human existence one can begin to work towards the destruction of the delusion of a self. This is Right Understanding, the first step on

Fear arises in an undeveloped mind, but it can be overcome by purifying the mind with virtuous behavior and understanding. Fear can stand for Forget Everything And Run or Face Everything And Rise. The choice is yours. EH

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Launching Ceremony of "The Melody of Truth & Beauty 3 - In Vows We Soar" Date: 21.11.2020

Time: 8:00pm – 9:00pm

The Launching Ceremony of “The Melody of Truth & Beauty 3 – In Vows We Soar’ is brought to the audience via online streaming.

Venue: FB Live

The performers singing classic Buddhist hymns in their first and second albums of ‘The Melody of Truth & Beauty’.

Yise Loo, Malaysia’s famous pop music singer takes part in the performance.

The performers presenting Buddhist hymns from their latest album.

The MC Dennis introducing the performers.

The team takes a bow at the end of their highly successful performance.

Dialogue Session with YB Tony Pua Kiam Wee and YB Jamaliah Jamaluddin Date: 23.08.2020 Time: 11:30am – 12:30pm Venue: YBAM ATC

YBAM President Tan King Leong introducing the organizational structure and the mission of YBAM to YB Jamaliah Jamaluddin.

YB Tony Pua sharing his journey from his life as a student to active political participation.

YBAM President and Deputy President Sin Yew Sen presenting a souvenir to YB Tony Pua.

YBAM National Council members welcoming YB Jamaliah to the YBAM Center.

Group photo with YB Tony Pua and YBAM National Council members.

Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia www.ybam.org.my

Y B A M

Unites more than 270 Buddhist organisations representing both the Theravada and Mahayana traditions throughout Malaysia Provides guidance to students to establish Buddhist societies in schools, colleges and universities Conducts regular training courses on Buddhist teachings, missionary techniques and leadership building Arranges lectures on Buddhism by both local and visiting foreign Buddhist scholars and teachers Assists in conducting the annual Malaysian Buddhist Examination

Organises various welfare, cultural and education activities for the benefit of the Buddhist community at local, state and national levels Publishes Eastern Horizon, Buddhist Digest, Berita YBAM and other Buddhist books and pamphlets in English, Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia Makes representation to the authorities on matters related to the Buddhist Community

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