A Personal Prologue to the 11th Dharma Session of Middle Way Buddhist Association

There was a difference to the 11th Dharma session of Middle Way Buddhist Association, held on Dec 15, 2007 at its venue at Pinellas Park, a rather welcome one I would say. And yet it continues a long tradition, not in terms of absolute time though, of a preceding meditation session and of being graced by great Buddhist teachers, in this instance, Bhante Dhammawansha.

After the mind invigorating meditation session, which by now most of the attendees are comfortable with, Brother Tom and Sister Lily convened the succeeding Dharma session by having everyone sitting around in a circle, as opposed to the usual classroom style, and, here comes the interesting and, though in hind sight (to me), rewarding difference: mutual introduction.

Thus far, most of the getting to know you and getting to share experiences with others on the path to Buddhist wisdom among the attendees have been ongoing on an individual basis conducted before the start or after the end of the session. Invariably, that gravitates, at least for me, to a rather personal selective process of interacting with anyone in immediate proximity. I have not been adventurous enough to actively seek out every attendee and engage everyone in sharing individual takes on this rather personal spiritual journey.

So, I was hesitant at best when Sister Lily started the ball rolling, and, one by one, everyone related the many varied motivations each has been driven by, and the as many paths, but ultimately converging, each has traversed. It reminded me of the scene of a typical AA meeting seen in movies, each participatant owning up to the reality of addiction and taking positive steps toward sobriety.

I have never been comfortable in spilling out my inner thoughts in a public setting, not the least of which is the specter of public speaking despite many years of honing the skill in my work, albeit still rather restricted to the professional side of my life. And my blogs are the first platforms, though still with a modicum of anonymity, that I have started sharing experiences that I believe can be beneficial to others.

But by the time my turn came, I was ready. After having listened to others' personal anecdotes, some rather unreservedly, my mental speech draft, in outline form, took shape. All I needed to do was filling the oral gaps with a bit of extemporaneous exploration. Here I would rather not try to paraphrase what others had said to obviate any inaccuracy on my part, but a recollection of my own delivery, with some judicious expansion befitting a written rather than a strictly transcribed format:

Coming from Malaysia, I grew up in a multi-racial setting within which different religious faiths are practiced. While I have stepped into temples and churches on many occasions, back then I did not subscribe to any particular faith, contented to be associated with the moniker free-thinker. Some of my sisters and brothers are devout Christians, but their religious affiliation did not rub on to me as I was preoccupied with worldly pursuits just like any other normal kid/teen/adult as I advanced in age, and so I thought.

On the other hand, wify was brought up in a traditional Buddhist environment, the influence of her paternal grandmother being instrumental in this regard. Since she does not drive, I became the designated driver for all her trips to temples and Buddhist centers, and believe me that adds up to a lot of trips over the years. The practice carried over to US when we came here in January 2004.

I like reading. So while waiting for wify to do her “things”, I naturally passed the time by picking up Buddhist books, of which there are usually aplenty in any temple. Introductory texts, interpretive Buddhist scriptures, both English and Chinese, became the fodder of my avid foray into the spiritual world of the printed word.

I started to identify with many of the core values enshrined in Buddhism: compassion, wisdom, universal love, thinking of others before self, and giving. Above all, I'm in tune with the Buddhist world view of self-determination, of internalization of Buddhist teachings through one's practice, and inner peace as the way to go.

In many ways, the virtuous acts mandated by the Five Precepts (no killing, no stealing, no adultery, no lying, and no intoxicating substances) are already suffused into my subconscious to become part and parcel of my daily life. Admittedly, I still have some way to go. For example, sometimes I have to constantly remind myself not to harm any ant that happens to crawl across my work desk (it used to be just a mere act of lifting a finger and be done with it). At other times I still have to resort to some white lies in order not to worsen an existing situation (a kind of delaying the truth telling if you will, but all in the absence of mala fide).

So I see myself as a Buddhist at heart, though I have yet to undergo the Taking the Vows ceremony to formalize the transition. But I will do that in due course, when I feel the time is right. I'm what and where I'm today in my relatively short sojourn of spiritual pursuit that terminates in the ultimate wisdom of the Buddhist teachings due to wify's steadfast adherence to Buddhism as a central guidance in her life. And for that I'm thankful.

Two of my great teachers in Buddhism, Bhante Dhammawansha and wify, who doubles as my better half in life too, taken in from of Bhante's residence at Clearwater, with the Bodhi Tree in the background.

Wify and I have been supporting the MWBA in anyway that we can since its inception in early March this year. And we will continue to do so in the future. In return, though I say that guardedly lest it be misconstrued as expectations, I have benefited much more from the great Buddhist teachers that we have had and am sure we will continue to have and the collective experience of fellow attendees.

What started off as a record of the day's proceeding, filtered by my own lens as it were, has kind of wandered off into an annotation of my personal journey of discovery in the vast seascape of spirituality. In the interest of maintaining an appropriate length for a blog article, albeit a subjective one, and more so for my own benefit of mulling over what Bhante Dhammawansha has delivered in an effort to better synthesize it into a coherent whole, I would stop here for now and leave this as an affirmation of my having found my true spiritual guide in life.

The Diamond Sutra: A Brief Encounter

The 2007 Thanksgiving holidays are now part of history, for most people that is. But mine would last for one more day, the following Monday, so that we could attend the Dharma talk by Ven. Jian Hu under the aegis of Middle Way Buddhist Association and held at its Pinellas Park venue. This is a return visit by Ven. Jian Hu since his first visit here in July. Conducted in Mandarin, the Dharma talk was scheduled from 9.30am to noon.

We left home just after 8.00am, joining the morning commute toward downtown. The usual traffic congestion only slackened after we were on the I-275 Bridge over the Bay. We reached our destination just before 9.00am, being the first to arrive. Being early birds have its advantages, for we got to savor the blooming flowers, the scenic landscape that surrounds the neighborhood, and the quiet moment save for the lone eagle soaring in the sky above us.

Sights and, well, more sights around the venue.

Then the attendees started to show up and the Dharma talk soon got underway as scheduled. Ven. Jian Hu chose to speak on the Diamond Sutra, one of the most profound Buddhist scriptures. Written in seamless prose, the Diamond Sutra is a favorite text for recitation. More important, the Diamond sutra is a unique text the understanding of which opens the gate to Buddhist wisdom that can be applied in our daily life.

Divided into 32 chapters, the seeming repetitions therein are a consequence of our coarse mind, misconstruing the need for detailed elaboration to ease understanding. The dichotomy into an over-arching theme and various differentiated sub-themes is analogous to our mastering of arithmetics where the rule of addition forms the core algorithm and the subtraction, multiplication, and division follow suit, being the derivatives of the former and hence forming the differentiated products.

The first chapter admonishes us to take care of everyday life, and not to neglect any matter because it is simple. It highlights the importance of practicing, and cultivating a mind of equality, just like the Buddha going about his business of holding the alms bowl, going from house to house in no particular order, for a simple meal, and returning to his residence, cleaning himself, and meditating. All done with mindfulness, focusing on the present and now, the stillness in the mind secure. The message: do the thing, then return to the original ground, mind serene and without discrimination. No attachment, none before, none now, and none in the future.

For lay followers like us, however, meal time can be a challenge as our mind is fixated on choice, often agonizing over which menu to select for the day. Similarly, it seldom rains in Southern California (or never as the song goes), and most people are so used to this phenomenon that they find it hard to deal with the rain when it comes, often lamenting and declaring the day ruined. Unlike Taiwan where precipitation can occur every other day and occur unannounced, the local people are prepared for this eventuality by bringing along an umbrella with them whenever they go outdoor. When the rain comes, open the umbrella. When sunshine returns, tuck the umbrella. No hassle, no bother.

This is the way of no discrimination, or Wu Wei. The mind is the source of all worries, and all troubles. All natural phenomena are transitory, just accept them as they come to pass, no thought arising.

The other way to handle matters is to cultivate appreciation. When the boss hands you a tough assignment, do not fret. Instead, appreciate the opportunity to grow, to learn.

Ven. Jian Hu then related the story of Subhuti, a disciple of the Buddha who looked for wealthy hosts in his alms round. While this may seem as a discriminating act, he did have a purpose. He wanted to induce these wealthy people into giving thereby gaining meritorious rewards for themselves. On the other hand, the rewards will be even more when we help those in dire needs and are destitute. However, the greatest reward will accrue if we harbor no expectations when giving.

The second chapter deals with making great vows to attain the Bodhi mind. Instead of making personal vows that are confined to our family circle like education/career goals for children, why not make great vows, for enlightenment, for nirvana?

To do that, we need to tame our mind. But where do we anchor our mind? On our children? On earthly matters? So doing does not guarantee liberation, as long as our mind is narrowly confined. We need to hop out of this attachment to the daily grind. It's not apathy, but seeing the bigger picture.

Ideally, we should set our mind on the triple learning of Precepts, Concentration, and Wisdom. But this is beyond us most of the time. But all is not lost as there are different paths we can embark on and tread on one that is compatible with our natural endowments, one that evokes a sense of synchronicity, a congruence both in time and in substance.

Regardless, foremost in our mind should be the emphasis that we are to tame the mind, and not the environment. In this respect, the Diamond Sutra emphasizes reiteration on constant practice in its approach, progressively dishing out in simpler terms the gems of Buddhist wisdom.

Oftentimes our vexation can be traced to our reluctance to accept reality, i.e, we eschew suchness, the reality that thing is as it is, or as is. This is not the same as fatalism, as we are enjoined to take care of matters as they arise through circumspection, with a discerning mind, and most of all, with compassion. As we embrace suchness, we can see with clarity karma at work, and subscribe to the notion of dependent origination and the principle of causality. All these will help ease us into a frame of mind that would treat any action of enmity, often the source of distress, with equanimity, and loving kindness.

The third chapter is making vows to help all sentient beings to be enlightened. We can all facilitate the attainment of such vows by striving for the six perfections (Paramitas) one of which is charitable giving.

The merits accruing from giving are generated by three considerations:

1) What is the state of mind? Do we expect something in return? Do we look at the ledger and act only when there is positive return? Or perhaps prompted by tax exemption given to gifts? The best approach is to practice no attachment, and to treat it as a simple act of giving, of helping others.

2) What is the object of the giving? Certainly if we are vegetarians who actualize compassion for animals, we would refrain from offering meat, and we should not worry about negative responses should they arise, which sometimes do either out of ignorance or habitual dietary pattern.

3) Who is the beneficiary? Certainly those who can least afford the gift, and the most needy. However, in a larger context, the ultimate target of giving is the triple gem of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. For they in turn are the most direct, the most extensive, and the most lasting media through which our liberation from suffering is realized. The world needs more places of worship, more Buddhist monks and nuns in order to reach a greater proportion of populace who are constrained by the lack of opportunity to seek an end to their suffering.

Due to time constraint, Ven. Jian Hu ended the Dharma talk by fielding some questions from the attendees before the whole class adjoined to a nice treat of vegetarian lunch courtesy of the volunteers.

The Sixth Dharma Discussion session of MWBA: Buddhist Talk, Taking Refuge Ceremony and Q&A by Venerable Jian Fu

At the heel of our attendance at the 2007 Buddhist Summer Camp in Orlando, we congregated, this time closer to home, at the Pinellas Park venue of the Middle Way Buddhist Association on the evening of July 9, 2007 to attend the Buddhist Lecture, From No Self to Liberation: The Paradoxical Wisdom of Emptiness, given by Venerable Jian Fu, the Abbot of the Zen Center of Sunnyvale. We were there too on the following night, July 10, for the Q&A session during which Venerable Jian Fu cited personal anecdotes and experiences to help illuminate the path to enlightenment. A Taking the Refuge in the Triple Gem ceremony was also held on July 9 at the conclusion of the Buddhist talk and I look forward to reading the personal experiences of those who have embraced Buddhism that very night formalized by their participation in the ceremony that included reciting the repentance verses and the Four Great Vows.

The participants of the Taking Refuge Ceremony with Venerable Jian Fu

Using his uniquely measured tone and even mode of delivery in a slightly accented English suggestive of many years of American education, Venerable Jian Fu started with a simple definition of the Buddha, it being the enlightened one. That state of ultimate bliss, actualized through liberation from suffering, is not beyond us as all sentient beings are endowed with the Buddha nature. What separates us from the Buddha is the concealment of Buddha nature from our own selves, under the cloak of greed, anger, and delusion.

To illuminate the above message, Venerable Jian Fu cited the famous Chan/Zen (Zen being the Japanese word for Chan Buddhism in Chinese) poem attributed to the Sixth Patriarch, Venerable Master Hui Neng:

Bodhi is no tree;
Nor is the mind a standing mirror bright.
There is nothing to begin with;
Where can the dust alight?

Here “nothing” is an allusion to emptiness while “dust” is a euphemism for contamination comprising the three mental toxins cited above.

Our polluted state of mind, and hence suffering, can be traced back to our attachment to the entity, self, or more aptly, our misconceptions of our self.

Firstly, our understanding of ourselves is not correct as we often take our earthly possessions to be part and parcel of our image of self. Putting those possessions in the right perspective as affording us the temporary right to use, Venerable Jian Fu enumerated five groups that de facto own our possessions:

1) The Government and its institutions including IRS and banks.
2) Natural disasters (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.)
3) Doctors
4) Thieves/robbers
5) Children.

One can also further add lawyers and the insurance group if the above list is not enough to shatter our illusion regarding our flimsy hold on our possessions at best.

Secondly, we act as if we treat our existence as a permanent one. Somehow impermanence is just beyond our comprehension.

Thirdly, we feel that we are in control, without realizing that living and dying are the same thing. We start dying the moment we are born.

Fourthly and lastly, we think we have an independent body, not realizing that inter-connectedness is the operative word. And Venerable Jian Fu illustrated the need for an attitude of sharing by telling the story of how denizens of the Hell and the Heavenly realms feed themselves. Both have the same setting: they all sit around a big table, full of food, and each has a three-foot long chopstick (let’s imagine these are the Chinese realms but the point is not lost).

Soon the hungry souls in the Hell realm are engaged in a chopstick war, each trying to knock the food off the other’s chopstick while unable to put the food into the mouth because of the length of the chopstick. And the day ended with none managing to get any eating done and the same scenario repeats the next day.

At the heavenly realm, the happy souls feed each other, putting their own chopsticks in other’s month. Soon everyone is satiated.

On emptiness, Venerable Jian Fu explained that the notion is not synonymous with non-existence. Rather, emptiness connotes that it is beyond description. It is awareness, and becoming mindful of what the mind is doing, the very essence of meditation in an effort to regain the self command, the discipline of the mind.

Venerable Jian Fu also expounded on the difference between love and compassion. Love is centered on the ego, the false self, and it has a flip side, hate. On the other hand, compassion is unbounded, extending to all sentient beings.

The contrast of love and compassion was elaborated further on the following night of Q&A by Venerable Jian Fu in response to a question from an attendee whether compassion is abstract. Answering firmly in the negative, Venerable Jian Fu reiterated that love, as conventionally used, has both positive and negative implications as exemplified by the roller coaster ride of a typical love-hate relationship between individuals. Compassion, in contrast, is love to all, motivated by a deeper sense of wanting to help others, to save others from suffering. We readily give, in efforts, in wealth, and in kind, to a worthy cause (e.g., victims of the 2004 South Asian Boxer Day Tsunami and the 2005 Katrina Hurricane). Those are tangible feelings and there is nothing abstract about them.

We need to control our mind so that we do not become slaves to our desires. In that respect, we want to live in the moment, which is distinctly different from living for the moment that only conjures up actions of doing whatever we want. But we don’t want to be a control freak either. The Zen practice aims to develop mindfulness, so that our mind is like a clear and still lake, and does not focus on the bubbles that may form on the surface. The freedom that ensues is in the sense of doing anything we want without making any wrong. In time to come with constant practice, we would transcend the duality of stillness and motion.

In responding to another question, Venerable Jian Fu explained that there isn’t any yardstick one can use to measure one’s progress, or even whether one is making any progress at all. But there are certain signs that when viewed together, do point to positive advances on the right track. These could take the form of being more at ease, of showing less agitation, and evincing an overall joyous disposition.

Venerable Jian Fu felt blessed that he has found a great teacher in his search for Dharma. While it’s OK to identify a teacher to guide us along, the important thing is to have faith in your teacher. In a similar vein, Matthieu Ricard, a French monk whose journey from a scientist to a Buddhist monk bears some uncanny resemblance to that of Venerable Jian Fu, has this to say about being under the wings of great spiritual masters in his book, Happiness – A guide to developing life’s most important skill (Little, Brown and Company, NY, First English Edition by Jesse Browner, 2006):

“The good fortune of meeting with remarkable people who are both wise and compassionate was decisive in my case, because the power of examples speaks more forcefully than any other communication. They showed me what is possible to accomplish and proved to me that one can become enduringly free and happy, providing one knows how to go about it. When I am among friends, I share their lives joyfully. When I am alone, in my retreat or elsewhere, every passing moment is a delight. When I undertake a project in active life, I rejoice if it is successful; and if doesn’t work out, I see no reason to fret over it, having tried to do my best. I have been lucky enough so far to have had enough to eat and a roof over my head. I consider my possessions to be tools, and there is not one I consider to be indispensable. Without a laptop I might stop writing, and without a camera I might stop sharing pictures, but it would in no way impair the quality of every moment of my life. For me the essential thing was to have encountered my spiritual masters and received their teachings. That has given me more than enough to meditate on to the end of my days!”

I can definitely see some more parallels between what I have read in Matthieu Ricard’s books and what I have gleaned from listening to Venerable Jian Fu’s talks and the two CDs featuring him that I managed to pick up on the display table on the first night (The Wisdom of Zen Buddhism – A journey from computer scientist to Zen Buddhist master, an interview by Jean Ramacciotti, and Buddhism and Modern Science, Dharma talk by Ven. Master Jian Fu, Seattle, Winter 2005): giving up earthly possessions, seeing the connections between Buddhism and science, being under the tutelage of great masters, being grateful, practicing detachment, and sharing the Dharma.

And I’m blessed too to be able to cross path with both, be it in person or through writing.

My family and Yu Huei flanking Venerable Jian Fu

The 3rd MWBA Meditation and Dharma Talk Session: Zen and Liberation of the Mind

Today we had our 3rd meditation cum dharma talk session organized by the Middle Way Buddhist Association and held at the St. Pete venue, but conducted and delivered by Brother Shieh as Bhante Dhammawansha is away in Asia. In the first session on meditation, Brother enumerated the following steps for beginners to heed:

a) adjust body position to achieve a physically stress-free state so as not to affect the focus (hence minimizing the benefits of meditation) by first bending the body, while in the single lotus (left leg on right or right leg on left) or double lotus sitting position, so that the bottom is partly suspended, then sitting back, thereby attaining a stable foundation.

b) Take care of the environment by having free air circulation, but not having the air stream directed at you, and placing shower towel over the legs to keep the knees warm.

c) Exercise minor adjustments by relaxing progressively various parts of the body, starting with the head, forehead and moving toward the bottom.

d) Focus on the breathing action.

e) Keep eyes slightly open to stay awake, mouth slightly agape and tongue touching the top of the teeth to facilitate air flow.

f) Other ways of keeping focused are staying fixed on one thought, though it’s better to try not to think, chanting Buddha’s name (Amitabha), and focusing on Buddha’s statue that evokes respect.

g) If the mind starts to drift away, stop and bring the wandering mind back. The most important thing is to realize where your mind is.

h) While any time is a good time to meditate, doing it in the early hours of the morning does have its advantages such as the environment is likely quiet and we just start on a new fresh day.

i) The length of time considered enough depends on the individuals. For Brother Shieh, his focus is beyond the sitting moment as meditation is one mechanism to help one to learn.

j) There is inherently more challenges to doing individual meditation as then a conducive environment may be at a premium.

In his introductory remarks during the ensuing Dharma talk, aptly named Wisdom Class, Brother Shieh explained that while Buddhism acknowledges the importance of self in the sense that we are to find the solution to our own problems, it also points out the problem of self attachment.

After writing down several terms associated with Zen: silence, still, and stasis, without elaborating further "of what", he invited the attendees to name the first thing that came into mind when the word Zen was heard. The candidates include: calm, peace, floating/suspended, question, lost connection, peaceful meditation. This diversity of views reflect the works of individual minds, each being a response born out of past personal experiences and conditioned by individual circumstances. In other words, each exhibits awareness of his/her own mind.

In the material world, we see things in the binary mode, a dichotomy of good and bad, of right and wrong. However, the essence of Zen, which is the heart of Buddhism, is non-dichotomy, or undichotomized dharma. We should distinguish, but without attachment.

Buddha teaching can be likened to a vessel/boat that would enable us to cross the ocean. However, once we reach the other shore, a proxy term for enlightenment, we should let go of the boat and not carry it onshore.

To learn Zen requires thinking. Therefore Zen is silence, stillness, and stasis of the mind, a state of being that is not restricted to when we are not in motion.

In the same vein, wisdom is free from annoyances and afflictions, a state described as the liberation of the mind manifested by having no attachment to the past, the present, and the future. This is Zen as enunciated by the Sixth Patriarch of the Zen School through his verses: Detachment from external appearances; Not to be disturbed internally.

Conversely, sin in Buddhism is that which leads to annoyance/affliction. It’s all in the mind, and the way to attain wisdom is to change the way we think.

Tolerance, which connotes a disparity in status between one who tolerates and one who is tolerated, is not a concept in Buddhism because all are considered equal in Buddhism. We do not heap accolades on the good nor do we condemn the bad. We just accept without enforcement or doubt.

The Buddhist worldview is one of connection as nothing occurs just from this moment. While the past has gone, we should learn from the past.

Detachment is understanding that all occurrences/disappearances are based on “conditions”. There is no need to point fingers in a relationship that has gone sour, but we do need to work hard to improve the conditions, and to stay away from the wrong/bad conditions. In this respect, it’s imperative that we observe the Five Precepts, the basic Buddhist Code of Ethics, which stipulates no killing, no stealing, no misconduct, no false speech, and no taking alcoholic drinks, so as not to generate bad karma.

Before adjourning the 3rd session, Brother Shieh reiterated that Buddha nature is in all of us, and that what differentiates us, the laymen, from Buddha, the Enlightened one, is that we have not eliminated all illusions and attachments.