Tuesday 31 May 2022

The Good Fortune Of Ageing

by Thrangu Rinpoche

If we consider it carefully, being able to live into old age
is actually a remarkably fortunate thing. If we had died while we
were young, we wouldn’t have had the chance to grow old.

Presently, in the 21st century, many countries have ageing societies and an increase in older members in the population. Although it is true that older people’s thinking differs from the rest of the population, it would be quite pointless to believe that we are no longer useful and just feel sorry for ourselves. Why is this so? If we consider it carefully, being able to live into old age is actually a remarkably fortunate thing. If we had died while we were young, we wouldn’t have had the chance to grow old.

NOW IS THE BEST TIME TO PRACTICE

We might not have had too much time to encounter the dharma and practice when we were younger. Perhaps we had to work hard to make a living and feed our families. Nevertheless, this period of toil has passed. Now that we are older and have retired, we have more opportunities to connect with and practice the dharma. We have more time to learn the dharma that benefits both current and future lifetimes. Thus, we need to really seize this opportunity and work hard at it. We can recite more prayers and do more good deeds, and especially practice the dharma diligently!

We should think about ageing in this positive way. If we examine our lives properly, we are not the only ones getting old; every single person in this world ages. It is an undeniable fact of life that we cannot change. Therefore, we need to make full use of this opportunity to practice the dharma. Doing so will definitely bring about results.

EXPERIENCE IS THE MOST PRECIOUS ASSET

If you are older now, you have probably experienced many ups and downs and have some life experiences to share with younger people. You can tell them about your successes and failures and what attitudes they should take towards achievements and challenges. Remind them not to give in to jealousy and pride when they enjoy moments of success, and not to become devastated and succumb to life’s failures.

Encourage youth to really think for themselves. As an older person, it is your responsibility to share your precious experience. No matter if they take it to heart or not, based on a virtuous motivation, you have to share your experience with your children or other young people. View it as your responsibility to provide advice.

EVERYONE AGES

Now that our worldly concerns in this life are coming to an end, we should be grateful for this invaluable chance to grow old. We should regard this as a wonderful thing and be joyful and happy. We are all similar in the fact that everyone in the world ages, so we should be grateful for being able to live to a ripe old age! Thinking like this is not only beneficial for our bodies, but it also allows us to feel more relaxed mentally. It has great benefits for both mind and body.

We should do prostrations or circumambulate stupas whenever we can. This is both a form of dharma practice and a type of physical exercise. If feelings of jealousy, pride, anger, or sadness arise, we must carefully examine them and realise their faults. We need to frequently remind ourselves how fortunate we are to have obtained a precious human body and to have engaged in the study of the dharma!



Knowing that the nature of anger and happiness is empty, just do not attach to them, and your karma will fall away.

-- Bodhidharma



Monday 30 May 2022

为什么现在年轻人有心理疾病的特别多?

妙祥法师

(为僧众讲述《佛说四十二章》的“财色招苦”篇)这人贪财,现在就没法说,因为现在世界上已经是崇拜金钱主义,人活着都没有缝(出路)。昨天还跟几个人谈到这个问题,有个居士就说:“现在这人哪,精神都不正常,很多年轻的都要‘出马’看病,精神恍惚。

过去都是岁数大的才去当巫医神汉的,怎么现在连年轻的精神也是这样。”我说:“你不能怪他,怪谁呢?怪现在没有这种德的教育。”(编者注:出马,指某些人利用迷信欺骗人,进行所谓的“鬼神附体”,为人看病,即民间所说的巫医神汉这一类的。)

现在的这种教育就是个财,有钱的就有了一切,没钱的什么都没有了。谁在讲理呢?就是财在讲理,有钱就有理,没钱就没有理。而且人堕落到这个苦里了,很多的人,特别是性格软弱、心地善良的人,他又不能与别人去争夺钱财,而且能力也有限度,所以他在这里就苦恼,他现在还不明白“财色招苦”的问题。

你看看现在的人,有时候父子的关系、母女的关系都得拿钱财来衡量,人和人的关系是看在钱财上,什么朋友、道友……都不存在,只看钱财。社会上也是,你有钱你就生存,没钱你就没法生存。

一切都是财,离开了财,夫妻俩第二天就要分手,那个跟那个走,这个跟这个走,儿女就扔下了。父和子的关系也是财,有钱呢,就跟你叫父亲;没钱呢,跟有钱的叫父亲。他把钱叫父亲,你没钱,你就不是父亲。

曾经有一个大学生上美国留学,然后定居。他母亲和父亲听说他结婚了,去看他,可能带了好几万去美国。住了七八天,他就问他母亲:“你什么时候回去?”他母亲当时就急眼了,她说:“我养你这么大,好不容易上这来了,才呆了七八天,你就开始撵我回去了。”不管你怎么说,他也不理她。就是吃饭在一起吃,吃完连话也不跟你说,扭头就走了。把她气得这个伤心,没办法。

后来她母亲说:“你还我钱,我把你从小养到这么大,你把钱都给我找回来,又上大学,又上美国……”从小养到大,你说得花多少钱?气了一大顿,好不容易把他说了。说了也不行,最后俩人生气,全回来了。就是说,现在的社会就是认钱、认色,娶了妻子有了色,父母那个钱财不能满足他的需要的时候,他对父母就产生了这种厌离心。

所以说,生活在这个世界上的人为钱色所困,没有道德,不知道钱是害人的,而且认为钱就是唯一的生存方式。他就把钱看成生命一样,没有钱就等于没有生命,所以这样的人就苦恼,在没有前途、没有道德的情况下,他的精神肯定要错乱的。

人活着就像在一个没有缝的铁锅里,处在黑暗里,钻不出去,多少人被这所困。你若说做坏事,他心地善良,不能去做,他也不能抢银行啊,是不是?银行不能抢,若被关起来,就死了。

又不能去骗人,去骗人吧,一个是没有那本领,另外,自己心里也不愿去做。再说,只要是你想骗别人,别人早就想骗你呢,是不是?他也不存在骗人的本钱。女人除非给人做“小姐”或做一些不应该的事情,痛苦万分,她又不甘心。

从小就已经看到自己没有什么前途了,关键是他这种追求金钱的思想一旦起来的时候,人就没有缝,你说得怎么天花乱坠,对他来讲都是在热锅上煎熬,最后人就变成精神不正常,没有解脱之力。所以说,现在年轻人精神分裂的特别多。主要是心里没有道德,没有解脱之路。

我说,他们如果能到咱这寺院来,心里就能开一点缝。咱这个僧团为什么没有进入深山去修行?为什么在这?就想给世间留一点缝出来,没有别的意思,让大家从痛苦中能喘口气,从那能出来,别死在那里。咱们不要钱、不摸钱,一切都不要,都舍去,就是给世间留这么一点缝隙。所以佛教能拯救这个,这是我们的责任。



Nurture your mind to loosen its grip on worries or fear, pressures to succeed, resentments or regrets, and instead look with love and generosity, embracing the potential in uncertainty, letting others be themselves, finding your inspiration.

-- His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa, Jigme Pema Wangchen



Sunday 29 May 2022

Participation in the World

by Venerable Sheng Yen

Compassion is undoubtedly the foundation of Buddhist teachings, and it is compassion that resides in the hearts of all  Buddhas and bodhisattvas. In order to foster compassion, the initial motivating force of an aspiring bodhisattva practitioner must be strong and secure. He or she must be equipped with correct views and effective methods. More importantly, the foundations for growth-a wholesome personality, compassionate sensibilities, and stability of mind-must be firm. To this end, bodhisattva practitioners should not only meditate regularly but also make use of every opportunity to interact with the world in order to hone their ability to help themselves and others.

A wholesome personality comes from the cultivation of the bodhi-mind, which can be described as the desire to help others overcome pain and suffering, along with the inclination to put the welfare of others before one's own. To eliminate self-obsession and self-clinging, practitioners of the Dharma, and of Chan in particular, should develop the inner strength needed to let go of self-centredness and work to reduce their inclination toward craving, aversion, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt. The less dominated we are by these afflictive emotions, the stronger our bodhi-mind, and the greater our opportunity for gaining entry into the Dharma.

The aforementioned inner strength comes from the recognition of the interdependent relationships between ourselves and others. This recognition moves us and draws from us the capacity to reach out toward a deeper and wider circle of sentient beings. Living with this kind of mindset naturally reduces our feelings of separateness, alienation, and self-centredness. This inner strength can help us participate fully in the world, allowing us to give ourselves to others and to receive others into our lives. In this way, we can gradually be freed from suffering and eventually reach the safe shore of enlightenment-Buddhahood. Such an attitude is precisely the  "right view" we often speak of in Buddhist discourse.

This right view can be manifested in many ways. Acting from the mind of compassion and understanding, one can naturally incorporate the ten good deeds, the five precepts, the four great vows, and the three sets of pure precepts into one's life. Should you feel intimidated by the scope of these precepts, or that you will probably not be able to observe some of the five precepts and ten good deeds with comfort and integrity, you can elect to postpone taking on those particular precepts and provisionally accept only those you feel able to keep, along with the three sets of pure precepts and the four great vows. The point of taking the bodhisattva precepts is not to make practitioners feel guilty or anxious, but rather to plant the seed of compassion and wisdom in their minds. A practitioner who takes and agrees to keep the bodhisattva precepts with some exceptions will still be considered a bodhisattva. By taking the bodhisattva precepts, you enter into the great assembly and become another son or daughter in the family of Buddhas.

As stated before, the goal of attaining complete enlightenment for all sentient beings is intimidatingly lofty. Its realisation is subtle and profound, and the path leading to it is long and arduous. The conditions for achieving Buddhahood are rarer and more precious than the finest of this world's jewels. Yet while Buddhahood is extremely difficult to attain, it is not impossible. We can attain it by mustering all our determination and putting forth all our effort. In other words, the "price" of Buddhahood is to give whatever it takes, to implement the  Dharma with wholehearted, unreserved devotion. That means striving to achieve supreme wisdom on the one hand, while dedicating ourselves to the lasting, genuine happiness and eventual deliverance of all sentient beings on the other.

By purifying and washing away afflictive emotions and fundamental ignorance, we will increase our insight into the true nature of reality or wisdom. We can use this wisdom as a mirror with which to not only see ourselves but to let others see themselves to help them wash away afflictive emotions and ignorance too. To this end, we should work tirelessly to improve ourselves and practice good deeds to benefit ourselves and others. This is precisely the task of a bodhisattva as set forth in all systems of bodhisattva precepts: to keep all pure precepts, to practice all good deeds, and to deliver all sentient beings. Once again, I encourage all practitioners, whatever your abilities or dispositions, to take the bodhisattva precepts, so as to decisively establish yourselves on the path of liberation.



When asked about the importance of receiving teachings on dedication, Gape Lama answered, "Whatever Dharma practise we engage in, large or small, we must dedicate the merit. If we fail to dedicate, then whatever merit we have accumulated can be lost very easily in a moment of anger, or in giving rise to any afflictive emotion or action.

-- Padmasambhava, Guru Rinpoche



Saturday 28 May 2022

做最真实的自己

文|东子

我们生活在一个忙碌的信息化时代, 每天过着日复一日的单调生活,戴着连自己都看不清的面具与人相处。可此时的我们是否认真思考过,自己喜不喜欢这样的生活?

的确,对于现代人来说,穿梭在各种复杂的关系中,面对来自不同地域的人,生活不再那么惬意,人与人之间的交往也不再那么单纯,面具于是成了人们沟通的桥梁。或许我们自己都不知道自己到底戴过多少张面具,其中哪一张才是真正的自己。不同的场合需要展现不同的姿态,只有戴上了面具才能在这个社会里生存,即使它会成为一种可怕的习惯。无论我们愿不愿意,面具都已经融入了我们的生活,是人之常情,是合乎其理的。

然而,失去自我的生活是苦不堪言 的,一个人每天都要扮演着不同的角色,应付着性格各异的人,既不想事事顺从别人的心意,又不能义正词严地表达自己的不满,因此内心世界的空洞便越来越大。终有那么一天,我们会在喧嚣闹市、灯红酒绿中迷惘、惆怅、寂寞、空虚,成为一个失去灵魂的人,这样的人生意义何在?

人活着首先应该充实自己,而不是一味迎合他人。别人不了解我,我不着急,着急的是自己不了解自己。有时候做人就该秉承“走自己的路,让别人说去吧”的原则,如果过于在意别人的看法,那就是在为别人而活,只会让自己活得更累。我们无法改变别人的看法,但我们可以弥补自己的不足,可以完善自己,只有愚蠢的人才会想着放下自己的身架去讨好别人,去奉承别人。

我们是做一个自己,还是演一个自己?曾经看过—本书,书里面概括的两个标准我都很赞同:一是不要活在别人的剧本里,二是不要让别人的标准扰乱了自己的生活。

假如一生都活在别人为你设计好了的场景里,不能不说是一件很悲哀的事情。不管那个设计师是父母还是朋友,也不管他们的出发点如何,如果那不是自己所想要的生活,就应该果断地拒绝,就不要轻易去接受,人生最重要的就是要能够主宰自己的人生,规划自己的生活。

人活于世,我们都是赤裸裸地来,又赤裸裸地离开,既然明白逝后将是万事空,就应该看淡眼前的一切身外之物。为了让生活更加美好,我们都曾不懈地追求过某些事物,都曾给自已找过一个外在的人生目标,可在追寻的过程中,我们却常常迷失了自我,陷入了物质欲望的漩涡。一个让别人的标准凌驾于自己生活之上的人,很难快乐地生活。

人生苦短,或许我们总是为了生活而违背自己的心,或许我们在戴着不同的面具上蹿下跳,但我们必须坚守自己最真实的个性,有句话说得好:你的生命就像你的家,如果因为你的不坚持,会让别人进来帮你布置,但不要忘了,在里面住一辈子的人是你自己。



When you refrain from anger, you are protecting others not just from your anger but also from getting caught up in their own.

-- 7th Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche



Friday 27 May 2022

Pilgrimage

by Anam Thubten Rinpoche

Many modern people who practice spirituality in a nontraditional or more secular fashion might not think about visiting a shrine or holy site, although they may go away from their homes to spend time in nature or participate in meditation retreats for a period of time. Going to see some famous historic religious sites as a tourist might not count as a pilgrimage, however.

Notre Dame of Paris, the Potala Palace, the Ajanta Caves, and the Borobudur attract many people who are purely interested in the historical significance or outstanding architecture; their only “prayers” might be to take some photos. The same people who visit Notre Dame will also go to the Louvre Museum and see the Mona Lisa for the same purpose of cultural exploration; they may also stay in luxurious hotels and try expensive French wine and cheese. Flocks of tourists paying visits to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood to behold the footprints of movie stars and starlets, or going to the headquarters of world-renowned corporations such as Google to get a selfie next to the logo, don’t have anything in their mind that has to do with sacred.

The idea of pilgrimage is becoming increasingly antiquated and irrelevant to the younger generation in some parts of the world. Yet there are also many cultures today where pilgrimage is as alive as it always has been. It is an important observance for many Buddhists across diverse traditions. Millions of Buddhists aspire to see Bodh Gaya, where Shakyamuni Buddha became awakened under a tree. Once they get there, they don’t just spend time taking pictures, nor do they wine and dine; if they do, it is just a supplemental activity. Their main objective is to pray and meditate; to experience karmic purification and gain wisdom and insight into the nature of reality.

Because of modern conveniences, the quality of pilgrimage is becoming watered down. Taking a flight or a train, with constant access to food and restaurants, and having a hotel with countless amenities, is how many travel to see these ancient sites. It can be too comfortable and mechanical in comparison to the way people did it in the old days.

Before the modern era, people in Tibet would walk for days with only simple comforts to reach a holy site. They would usually carry staples themselves, or bring an animal to carry their basic necessities. For them, the starting point of their journey was as important as arriving at the destination. The whole journey was dedicated as a spiritual practice, with a daily focus on prayer and meditation. These pilgrims often went through an authentic conversion on such a journey, which was the initial intention that inspired them in the first place. Nowadays, fewer and fewer have the willingness to follow in the footsteps of those pilgrims of the past; today everything is expected to happen quickly and comfortably — including enlightenment.

A favourite memory that still revisits me after many years is walking in the snowy Himalayas on a pilgrimage as a young boy, making tea in the open air by boiling water from fresh rivers flowing down from the high mountains; eating tsampa while laughing with friends; reciting mantras that invoked connection with the sacred and love; and the ecstasy of seeing the holy mountains and images, washing the heart of all its pains. These are priceless moments that cannot be recreated easily at personal will, due to the impact of the time we are living in today, an era of comfort and technology.

Now and then, a deep grief arises in me over the loss of these old traditions. Some of the people who walked with me are gone from this world. Yet I wish their beautiful memory of such a journey is still travelling somewhere in the universe, even though their physical forms are already dissolved. Many memorable moments can never be fully captured or described in any way unless one has been in that specific time and place.

It might have to do with being brought up in a Buddhist culture that many of us feel the sense of the sacred upon visiting holy sites in the East. Unlike other parts of the world, Asia is full of Buddhist holy sites associated with buddhas and bodhisattvas. They are everywhere in China, India, Japan, and Korea. In the last few years, my friends have taken me to some sites in Asia that are historical as well as blessed by great masters of the past. A feeling of pure joy arises in me each time I visit them; I feel I’m embraced by something utterly wholesome. Sometimes I wish that there were Buddhist holy sites in the West where we could go on a pilgrimage and feel the same kind of blessing. Some might say that if our mind is open enough, anywhere can be a holy site.

I have had the good fortune to travel to the heart of Canyon De Chelly in the US a few times to do Chod retreats with some wonderful friends. The inside of the canyon is quite rugged and devoid of any touch of modernity. We hiked a few hours both ways, going in and coming out. Each of us brought our camping tents and gear, along with simple food. I ate lots of ramen noodles for their convenience, which is not part of my usual daily diet. Almost every day, we took long walks and then sat and performed rituals. To me, it was such a powerful pilgrimage that words cannot describe its full impact, which is still continuing in me. There are a few memories that I would like to cherish for the rest of my life. This is one of them.

In the end, pilgrimage is not so much about feeling holy or encountering divine visions along the way, but it is an invitation to each of us to look into all our attachments and let go of them. Can we experience a profound sense of letting go of all the comforts that are part of a modern pilgrimage? We might like to try to keep the tradition of ancient pilgrims that can help us go through life-changing experiences by dropping our inner bondage.



Of all the worldly passions, lust is the most intense. All other worldly passions seem to follow in its train.

-- The Buddha



Thursday 26 May 2022

印光法师家教思想的现实意义

文|慎言

印光法师是近代著名高僧,净土宗第十三代祖师。他不仅对净土宗的弘扬和发展作出了卓越的贡献,而且在家庭教育方面也提出了很多切实可行的观点。法师认为,良好的家庭教育对一个人的成长至关重要。由于法师的弟子均为在家居士,他在给弟子的开示中,特别劝诫弟子要采用善巧的方法教育好子女。法师还特别强调了教育好女儿的重要性。法师认为,教育子女的责任在于母亲,母亲的素质如何,直接关系到孩子未来的品行。

首先,法师指出教育子女的重要性。法师认为,对子女的教育好坏不仅关系到家庭的幸福,也关系到子女的前途和未来。法师在《复永嘉某居士书四》中谈到家教时指出:对子女的教育应当从娃娃抓起,要让他们从小学会孝敬父母,尊敬师长,为人忠实厚道,讲究诚信,还要教育子女养成勤俭节约的好习惯,以及谦恭待人的态度。好的品行养成了,上学才有了接受好教育的基础。加上学校的好的教育,子女品学俱佳,将来就可以成为社会有用之才。

法师还告诫弟子,教育子女要严格,切不能一味溺爱。待子女稍长大时,要让他们经常做一些力所能及的事情,养成勤劳节俭、朴实惜福的好习惯。法师说:凡彼力能为者,必须令其常做以习勤(如洒扫执侍等)。凡饮食衣,勿令华美。但凡抛撒五谷及损坏什物,无论物之贵贱轻重,必须告其来处不易,及折福损寿等义。

印光法师的这些言教,对于现代做父母的有深刻的教育意义。现代社会由于人们的物质生活水平高度发达,而现在的孩子大多都是独生子女,他们不仅受到父母的宠爱,更受到爷爷奶奶和外公外婆的宠爱。

由于父母对子女的过分溺爱,导致现代的孩子养成了好吃懒做、任性自私的习惯。这些孩子在家庭中不仅衣来伸手,饭来张口,不用说帮助父母搞卫生和洗碗,就是本来可以自己洗的衣,也都依赖父母帮他们洗。由于在家中长期不劳动,有的孩子离开家上大学时,连基本的生活自理能力也没有,于是就出现了许多大学生不能适应大学生活被劝退的悲剧。最近中国就有媒体披露,某大学女生在新学期开学后,将自己没洗的衣打包寄回老家让奶奶给洗。

由于现代人的家庭条普遍较好,吃穿都不愁,又加之父母对孩子的要求有求必应,使孩子们养成了爱慕虚荣、奢侈浪费的习惯。有很多孩子从小到大,每年添置很多新衣,还没穿上几天就因为赶不上潮流就丢弃了。这些孩子在吃饭时也挑三拣四,饭菜不合口味不吃,剩饭剩菜不吃,常常一碗饭吃不上几口就丢在一旁。这些孩子的奢侈浪费着实令人心痛。

以上种种不可理喻的事例,给现代年轻的父母敲响了警钟,从严管教子女,培养子女谦恭有礼、勤劳朴实、惜福节俭的优良品格已经刻不容缓。要知道,人的福报毕竟是有限的,不惜福就会折福。为了更好的教育子女,就应当以印光法师的言教来教育子女,把他们培养成有益于他人和社会的人。

其次,教育女儿的重要。在重视对子女教育的同时,印光法师特别强调了教育女儿的重要性。法师认为,女儿是一个家庭的未来和希望,女儿长大将会作人妻,为人母。女儿的素质如何,直接决定了其未来子女的综合素质。只有当下教育好女儿,才能成就将来的贤妻良母,才能使未来的家庭和睦幸福。法师在《复夏寿祺居士书》中说:子女跟随母亲的时间比父亲长,从母亲身上学的东西比父亲多,受到母亲的影响比父亲大。母亲如果贤惠,她的言行举止,都足以为子女效法,天长日久,在子女心中便养成好的规矩。如果母亲对子女能加以善巧的教育,培养出来的子女一定会知书达理。从这点来说,培养好现在的女儿,就是培养将来的贤妻和良母,也就是培养贤能聪慧的后代。

印光法师提出的重视教育女儿的观点,很值得现代人认真反思。我们都知道,华人的传统观念都重男轻女,男尊女卑,认为儿子是自己的人,女儿是人家的人。在这种观念的影响下,古代的女性基本失去了受到良好教育和参与社会活动的机会,以至于造成很多有才华女性的才能被扼杀。不仅如此,古代还有很多针对女性的歧视和约束。古人都认为女人无才便是德,还要求妇女在丈夫过世后,要从一而终,不许再嫁,否则,便会被人们认为伤风败俗,大加鞭挞。一个男人可以拥有三妻四妾,反而被人们夸赞为有本事。为了取悦男人,满足男人的感官刺激,从南唐开始,中国的女性从幼年开始便被迫接受裹小脚的痛苦。在男人赞许的“三寸金莲”之下,不知流淌了多少女性的血泪。

男尊女卑的思想观念直到现代还留存在许多人的思想中。在思想落后的农村,如果夫妻没有生男孩,便会被人瞧不起。很多家庭为了能生个儿子传宗接代,即便生了四五个女孩后仍不罢休。为了躲避计划生育的追查,有的人背井离乡,过着乞丐一般的生活,直到生个儿子才善罢甘休。

在子女众多,家庭贫困的家庭,儿子可以得到受教育的权利。而女儿很多上不了几年就被迫辍学了。家庭的重男轻女,也引起了女孩的不满,有的女孩怨恨父母的偏袒形成了不良的性格,也有的离家出走,染上了不良习气。在现代社会的雇佣制度上,也形成了对女性的歧视。有很多单位在用人时,为了自身利益的考虑,在招工时不招或减少招收女工,原因是女工将来结婚生子影响工作。这些人为的歧视,给女性造成了严重的身心伤害。

对于中国长期以来形成的男尊女卑的思想观念,印光法师给予当头棒喝。他通过入情入理的分析,提出在教育子女的同时,侧重教育女儿的观点。女儿是一个民族的未来和希望,女儿长大后将为人妻,为人母,承担着相夫教子的责任。一个品德高尚又有才华的女性,不仅可以影响丈夫,还能够培养出品行端正,学有专长的子女。若每个女性都如此,我们国家将会日渐强盛,人们的文明程度也会明显提高。因此,在现代社会提倡关爱女童,教育女儿的观念是事关民族前途和未来的大事。

第三,母教的重要。印光法师在谈到家庭教育时,认为母亲在教育子女中的作用比父亲更重要。法师在《复朱石僧居士书》中说:一个家庭中妻子承担着相夫教子的重任。有贤妻才能促进丈夫的事业发展。妻子同时还承担着教育子女的职责。作为 一个母亲,她应当严格管教子女,让子女懂得做人的道理,切不能娇惯子女,以免子女走上邪路。法师还指出,坏人太多,社会不安定,都是由于母教的缺失。

法师指出,母教的正确与否,直接关系到一个家庭安定幸福,也关系到子女将来品行的好坏,以及子女将来能否成为贤才。法师在《复白慧导女士书》中说:在家教中母教最为重要,一个妇女能够相夫教子,则丈夫不仅事业有成,德业日进,儿女也能成为贤能善良之人。印光法师强调了母亲在教育子女中的重要作用,也对母亲的基本修养提出了自己的看法。法师认为,母亲要成为子女的表率,首先要在德行方面有一定的涵 养,其次还不能娇惯子女,否则便会祸害子女。再次,母亲要尽到教育子女的责任。

法师所提出的这些母教的观点,颇值得现代母亲深思。从德行方面来说,现在有很多做母亲的年轻人,不仅起不到教育引导子女的作用,反而处处充满私心。他们对待自己的父母能够倾其所有,在所不惜,而对待公婆却是冷眼相待,口出恶言。甚至有的作母亲的因为对婆婆有意见,还教唆子女疏远辱骂公婆。佛教主张冤亲平等,年轻母亲对待公公婆婆应当像对待父母一样,才能够给子女树立敬老孝亲的良好形象。

母亲对子女不能过于娇惯宠爱,娇惯的结果是培养出的子女专横自私,一事无成。子女的品行不好,责任不在子女,而应归罪于母亲。再看看我们周围,有许多做母亲的对子女百般娇惯。当她的子女与别人家的孩子发生矛盾时,她们会给自己的子女撑腰,导致她们的子女有恃无恐,为所欲为。即使是自己孩子有过错,她们非但不责怪,还会找别人家孩子的毛病。以这种方式培养出来的孩子,其霸道蛮横的气焰可想而知。我们常说“有娘养,无娘教”,“小孩没娘,说来话长”之类的俗语,这些俗语都告诉我们母亲在教育子女中的重要作用。而现代的很多母亲非但没有教育好子女,反而将子女引向邪路,有的甚至导致子女走上违法犯罪道路。

在现实生活中,有很多做母亲的生养了子女,却没有尽到教育子女的责任。那种为了生活所迫骨肉分离的母亲,尽不到教育子女的责任实属无奈。但我们常见到有很多作母亲的,能够尽到教育子女责任,却弃之不顾。其中有的母亲是为了家庭矛盾拿孩子赌气,也有的是另有新欢置骨肉于不顾。但不管哪种理由,那种有教育子女的能力,却逃避教育责任的母亲都令人不能容忍。

正因为现代母亲都有很多需要改进之处,印光法师所提倡的母教重要性的观点才显得尤为重要。现代的母亲若能认真领会法师母教的意义,并将这些言教用来教育子女,相信自身素质会有很大的提高,才能够培养出品学俱佳的子女。

印光法师从教育子女和母亲素质等方面论述了教育子女的方法,强调了母亲在家教中的重要地位。现代的年轻父母,若能正确领会和运用法师的家教思想,不仅能够培养出知书达理,事业有成的子女,还能造就出称职的母亲。



The fear of death and infernal rebirths due to my evil actions has led me to practise in solitude in the snow capped mountains. On the uncertainty of life’s duration and the moment of death I have deeply meditated thus have I reached the deathless, unshakeable citadel of realisation of the absolute essence. My fear and doubts have vanished like mist into the distance, never to disturb me again. I will die content and free from regrets. This is the fruit of Dharma practice. 

-- Milarepa



Wednesday 25 May 2022

Finding Excellence, A Buddhist Land (Part 5)

by Joseph Houseal

There are not so many places left on Earth where the population is virtually 100 per cent Tantric Buddhist. Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh, India, adjacent to Tibet, is one of them. Core of Culture, the organisation I direct, has completed its summer 2016 Cham dance research fieldwork there and is able to bring forward a wealth of information about Buddhist dance, meditation, and history that has never before been made public.

The pervasive Buddhist character of Spiti Valley is part of the protection surrounding the serious practice of Tantric Yoga in the monasteries there. No commercialism, nor Hinduism, nor Islam, nor communism have negatively impacted the practice of Buddhist monasticism yet. Conversely, monastic Tantric Yoga is part of the protection surrounding the Buddhist population. I have written accounts of our visits and the Tantric practices related to Buddhist dance in the first four parts of this series. This is the fifth and final instalment of “Finding Excellence.”

Bhutan, where Core of Culture worked during the final five years of absolute monarchy, is another Buddhist land. Bhutan was a Buddhist kingdom and is now a Buddhist democracy. The pure spiritual flavour of a place, the immersive values rooted in peace, the cultural coherence and ritual integrity are all qualities of Buddhist lands that simply cannot be found in pluralist societies, occupied territories, colonial outposts, and disputed borderlands. There is something profound to be learned from these few remaining Buddhist lands. Indeed, we learned much about the nature of dance itself.

The nature and impact of change is most clearly seen against a baseline of unadulterated cultural practices. While Bhutan remains a mostly Buddhist nation, the culture had more integrity under the direct rule of kings than it does as a fledgling democracy, with its attendant capitalism that has infected the population. Bhutan is open for business. A fundamental change occurs when Buddhist monasteries, monks, and festivals become commercial commodities.

Not unlike western art scholarship and museum culture assigning commercial value to ancient religious art, the industry of tourism overlays a value system on Buddhist architecture and rituals based on their power to lure tourists and bring money to hotels, taxis, restaurants, and merchants. Basically, the tourism industry, often with the full support of the government, treats Buddhist sites and rituals as natural resources like mountains and rivers. Everyone makes money from it except the monasteries, mountains, and rivers.

The tourism industry is the single greatest destructive influence on Buddhist lands. Surely its impending ingress into Spiti Valley bodes darkly for the preservation of Buddhist values and cultural expression. Tourism is literally making inroads, as excellent new roads have been constructed through certain sections of Himachal Pradesh. Thankfully there are still plenty of perfectly awful, dangerous, harrowing roads to dissuade the leisure traveller. 

This is, therefore, a very important time to be conducting research in Spiti Valley as it is on the cusp of change. The abbots and rinpoches in the Spiti monasteries were emphatic: Cham dance ceremonies are not for tourists, were never intended to be, and tourists are not invited. Is it surprising, then, that we encountered some of the most rigorous integrations of dance and meditation in Spiti among the many monasteries of the Trans-Himalaya we have visited over the past 20 years? Is not this integrity and spiritual accomplishment worth protecting and carrying forward?

Indian middle-class tourism, catered to by a sprawling ancillary industry, has turned the charming city of Manali into a lawless nightmare. Rather than escaping India’s urban centres further south, tourists bring the worst of urban behaviour to once lovely places. Simla is another famous city struggling to bear the weight of an excess of tawdry tourism. Cham ceremonies in Ladakh are overwhelmed with tourists, and battling them has become part of the experience for the monks and foreigners alike.

During our monastery visits in Spiti Valley, the very mention of the word “tourist” would cause the monks to mime the act of taking photographs. To the monastic leaders here, tourists and the prioritisation of, or surrendering to, photography are one and the same. Death by paparazzi.

The Sakya sect monastery Sakya Tengon Lundup Choekor Ling towers over the town of Kaza, which serves as the seat of the regional government. Nawang Tashi, the lama tipa, or functional leader of activities at the monastery, shrugged when I asked him about tourists or problems with tourists during their festivals: “What can you expect from foreigners except ‘click, click, click’? They are not many, but they are ignorant and they always leave — they never stay for the full ritual. They are more like mosquitoes or flies than a big problem, but they are an irritation. They are not really interested in what we are doing, but rather what they are getting.”

“Kaza is the seat of government for Spiti and so the monastery serves a more public function than other remote monasteries here that have the opportunity to restrict who attends,” Nawang Tashi observed. “Government and military officials always attend, tourists passing through, and school children from around the district come. The monastery works with all the institutions in Kaza.”

“There is a two-year meditation retreat requirement before becoming the champon (dance master) at Kaza monastery, and the philosophical aspects of Cham are emphasised. Kaza monastery is primarily a place where Buddhist monks can continue their education in philosophy, debate, and liturgy, and at any given time, as many as 120 of our 200 monks are away at higher centres of learning. Forty monks know Cham well, and 40 boys are in training.”

Kaza monastery was the only monastery in Spiti we visited that named “quality and skill in dancing” as one of the factors in choosing dancers. The lama tipa, with the help of senior monks, look for monks who can dance well and uphold the prestige of the monastery and town of Kaza.

“Almost 100 per cent of the attendees at the Cham festivals are Buddhists — 50 per cent come for the ritual aspect, and because at least nine villages attend the festival, probably 50 per cent come for a social event,” said Nawang Tashi.

The Buddhist culture of Spiti Valley is fundamentally one of respect. The monasteries and villages survive on a mutual and symbiotic relationship based on the noble and spiritual values of Buddhism. Between the five major monasteries that rotate hosting celebrations in Spiti to mark the birth of the Buddha, more than 40 associated villages are involved in expressing themselves with dances and songs alongside the monks who perform the dances of their tantric practice. This is a remarkable danced expression of the mandala of monasteries and villages that etch the mountainous landscape; that defines this Buddhist land.

As I ponder what work is meritorious for Core of Culture to undertake going forward, I can think of nothing more rare and meaningful than documenting the Tantric dances, the “Mandala of Vajrayana Buddhism” as it is lived in Spiti Valley; to ensure that the ongoing and authentic practice of Cham dance is performed as a monastic discipline, and not as a tourist commodity. Spiti will surely change, as all things do, but for now, I can only be grateful to have encountered another true Buddhist land and to learn everything we can from this amazing remnant of how the world once was when Buddhism pervaded every aspect of life and landscape.





Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.

-- His Holiness the Dalai Lama



Tuesday 24 May 2022

如何作人

法王如意宝晋美彭措

世上每一个人,对于色声香味触等法,无始以来就在不断地串习。因此,当我们值遇世间妙欲的时候,每个人的贪心都非常大。但世间法究竟的意义为何?在处于世间法和佛法之中时,世间法又该如何做?作人到底该怎么作?所以在下面就给大家讲一个关于作人的方法。
  
我们作为一个人,首先必须要依靠本尊和护法神,再凭借福德和前世的善业,这样就如国王拥有了手下的军民,自己的名声、财产等一切都能圆满自在地获得。
  
为了积累福德和亲近护法神,自己应时时刻刻对三宝生起信心,这也是作人非常重要的一件事。对积资诸善事,比如闻、思、修行、诵经等等,我们应该象森林当中的猛火,进行精进修持。
  
我们作为一个人,无论在哪方面,与天人相比都是比较低等下劣,在天中也有智慧圣尊,因此我们应时常依靠天神和护法神的力量承办一切所欲。象二十一优婆塞、格萨尔王的眷属等等,有如海一样无边的护法神众,比如国王的很多事情就是依靠众多的大臣们去办理,同样,如果依靠这些护法神的力量,让他们经常给予帮助,那自己所想的一切事情就都会圆满成功,因此大家念护法神至关重要。
  
念护法神时,需要有供品作供养。比如在"八大法行"的仪轨中,对八大圣尊中的每一位虽然都有不同窍诀的修法,但其中的共同之处就是对护法神都必须要作赞美和供养。因此,对护法神要供养美酒、糖果,或者是食子,供品是越丰盛越好。对供品方面的要求,一是应该清净整洁,二是要准备某些油类的食品,比如当行者用糌粑作供养的时候,如果里面一点酥油都没有,那可能就不是太好。
  
假如我们念格萨尔王时,一点供品也没有,我觉得这就不行。连一点茶叶一点水果都没有,那么护法神就不一定很高兴。因此,在供护法神时应该准备一些供品,古人有:"若人求天尊,天尊要食子"的说法。
  
有许多的比如象八部、十八部的智慧护法神,本来他们都是智慧身,不会有什么分别念。但当时他们被降伏时,莲花生大士是这样给他们讲的:"你们要帮助瑜伽士,瑜伽士也一定会对你们作供养、赞叹。"所以如果一点供品都没有,只是在口头念诵一下护法神的祈祷文就不一定能起到明显的作用。
  
敌人势力的黑暗越来越深的时候,我们就应该使寂静慈悲的白色月光越来越皎洁明亮。如果我们经常用身语等慈悲的行为来对待所有的人,那本来欲对自己制造违缘的仇敌,也会逐渐对自己生起欢喜心。
  
不管我们遇到什么样的人,无论是上等、中等还是下等的人,我们都应该一视同仁,一心一意地用慈悲心来对待他们。这样即使我们有些过失,他们也不会宣扬而是极力隐藏,并且很乐意地将我的名声也是传遍世界。
  
倘若我们喜欢别人帮助自己,那自己也应该要帮助别人,这样他们一定会欢喜。若是喜欢自己的人越来越多,那怨敌的势力就会减弱。在赞叹我们的人当中,有的人是真心实意地在赞叹,而有的人本来是不太愿意,但他所说的有些语言反而成了对我们的宣扬。
  
所以真正要想降伏对方,也应该用慈悲心和爱心来对待。如果自己怨恨的人较多,那也会妨碍自己名望的提高。比如我们学院刚成立的时候,当时对我生欢喜心的仅有几个人,后来我也是逐渐配合很多人,与他们和睦相处,这样我们学院就有了二十多人,后来又有了一百多人,再后来就是一千、二千至如今八千余人,这些也是因为我使自己的行为与别人相配合所带来的一点点功德。
  
有些人虽然受到众人的赞叹,但在内心却愿意尽量隐藏自己的功德,而不愿意宣扬出去。这样即使隐藏了一些功德,但如果众人喜欢自己,特别是与自己关系密切的人若对自己敬重喜爱,那他们也愿意讲述你的功德,这样自己的功德也会被歌颂赞扬到遥远的地方。
  
所以自己首先应具备功德,然后对内部的人一定要搞好团结,不能仇恨和轻视他们。对我来说,我对下面这些堪布们都比较重视,于是我就对他们讲说一些悦耳的爱语,这样他们可能就比较愉快和感激。现在世间很多人清楚我没有任何功德,但我的历史也有一些人会知道,此因缘就是这样来的。
  
有些人虽然不发慈悲心而降伏了一些敌人,自以为象大狮子一样威力强大,一些目光短浅劣慧者也象对待天人那样来恭敬和供养他,如此他本人也就更加贡高我慢。但是有智慧者可以明了,这种人的地位和势力并不稳固持久,因为对于势力强大但又傲慢和愚笨的人,就象铁钩可以勾招大象,有智慧的人依靠方便法也可以把他们降伏,我相信在整个藏地雪域有很多的大成就者和大修行者都具备这个能力。
  
若无智慧,仅仅是依靠力量,也不能降伏敌人。比如有些人对我们以粗暴的方式来对待,那这种人暂时好象转轮王一样地位权势显赫,事情也能成办,但是从最究竟来说,就象锯子锯木头,哪怕再粗大的木头也是会慢慢地被锯断,这种人将逐渐衰败。
  
有些人无论说话还是做事都是以虚伪、不诚实、不合理的方式来进行,如此习惯之后,自己无论作任何事情全都变成了狡诈的行为,最后他欺骗了无数的人。那么这种狡诈的人,在外表上暂时他的事情也能成功,比如今年他财势富饶可能有五十多万元,但以后逐渐逐渐就开始衰败,明年就只有三万了,再过几年以后就家破人亡了,其结果是终将毁坏自己。这种人就象山上的水,刚开始的时候,是高高在上,但逐渐逐渐地它就越来越下降,再没有一个上升的机会。所以以狡诈的行为来成办的事业,即空虚又不可靠,最终也不会有一个长远和究竟的利益。
  
而某一些人的行为公正端直,并且他也是以慈悲心来对待一切。这样因为他作事正直发心善良,虽然暂时那些末法时代的众生也可能害他,自己也可能会生起一些厌烦心,但从最究竟来说,他不但不会失败,而且他的事情也会越来越成功。
  
那些愚笨或是耍小聪明的人,谈不上有什么智慧,因为他们的目光短浅,就象是近视眼看不见很远的地方,他特别喜欢得到眼前这一点利益,并为此而辛勤奋斗,但结果他所作的事情不是利益微薄便是适得其反。而那些具有智慧和大能力的人,他的眼光开阔深远,所作所为都是作长远的打算,为了来世的一些事情也愿意去作,这样其结果是在他的今生和来世都会成熟无穷无尽不断的利益和安乐。
  
平时遭受一些违缘的时候,当时我让大家好好地祈祷,但有一些鼠目寸光的人,叫他念经他也不愿意参加;而有智慧的人,就一心一意地念诵,虽然暂时念诵的也比较辛苦,但结果对整个佛法和对我们自己的前途都有很大的意义。我想,只要我们认认真真地依照佛经论典和上师的教言去行持,就一定会取得胜利。
  
某些低等下劣的人,特别喜欢那些有权有势腰缠万贯的大人物,在此类人物面前身体是毕恭毕敬,嘴里也是讲说着阿谀奉承的语言,当有一位大官员来的时候,他们就人前人后跑来跑去地点头哈腰。但一般卑劣下等的人恭敬承事高高在上的这些大人物,也没有什么太大的意义,因为在世间利益方面他们也不会成全你什么,在人格、智慧以及出世间法的修行方面更不可能助你一臂之力。
  
比如一位贪心炽盛的老人若去追求一位年轻貌美如天女般的姑娘,姑娘不但特别不高兴,可能还会对他怒目相视,这个老人的追求是不会成功满愿。同样,低下的人在高等的人面前期望希求,也是根本不会如愿以偿的。
  
如果我们虽然积累了财产,但自己却没有机会去享用,如此财产就不会为自己带来任何利益,反而会对自己的生命和声誉造成危害。因为财产,给自己的今生和来世都招致众多的痛苦,那追求财产也就没有任何意义和价值。
  
如果我们经常对某个人生恶心口出粗语,那我们即使把自己所拥有的财产全部送给此人,他也不会对我们生起欢喜心,在将来某个时候他也可能会伺机作损害。《入菩萨行》中云:"纵人以利敬,恩施来依者,施主若易嗔,反遭彼杀害。"所以经常诽谤别人或说恶语,实际上这是在毁坏自己。
  
有些愚笨的人饮酒贪杯成癖,甚至在有些地方女人喝酒也是令人瞠目。释迦牟尼佛在经中早已说过:"凡我的后学者都不能饮酒",不要说在佛教方面,即使从世间的角度来讲,喝酒的过失也是非常大。
  
时常贪执饮酒的这种人,不要说晚上就是连白日也是处于黑暗当中,好象是要死不活的样子,既非活人,也非死人,就是处于这种状态。因为酒的缘故贪心也增长,于是这种愚笨人白天贪执饮酒晚上就贪着女人,他们就象是腐烂的尸体,生活也如疯子一般,就这样白天晚上都是处于非法当中虚度人生。
  
还有某些人,各种欲望层出不穷,他们在心里始终幻想着不能成功的一些希求与梦想,那这种人的生活根本就不会存在有安乐,他们实际上白天晚上都经常是在痛苦的煎熬之中度过。不知道自己的生命还能保持多少天,却在想要在这里作一件事情,要在那里作一件事情,天天这样打妄想,这种人真是很可怜。
  
总而言之,愚人的一切--他的财物、语言、行动以及他的身体和神识全无任何实益,此等一切只是变成愚人虚度人生的因。
  
无论是谁,他总会具有少分的功德,这样即使我们功德巍巍,那也要学会尊重他人,应该取受别人的长处。我们应把自己的功德看的很轻,而把别人的功德看的很重,这样自己的功德也就会越来越增上。
  
如果在处境窘迫的时候,别人曾出力帮助过我们,那我们在一生之中对此事都会难以忘怀。比如对那些贫穷可怜的人哪怕是布施五十元钱,那他可能在一辈子当中也不会忘记这件事;但对于一些位高权重、财富盈仓的人,哪怕你送给他大量的财产,他也不一定能记住。以前在文革期间,许多人对我的恩德都非常大,当时对我供养的一点酥油或是人参果,到今天我还是记得非常清楚,现在我受到的供品虽然众多,但却经常忘记。
  
这里意思是讲,当处于贫穷痛苦的时候,若别人对我作过帮助,日后自己财富势力圆满的时候,也不能忘记他,否则即使自己的名声地位再高,那实际上也就是一个卑鄙低劣的小人。现在有些人就是这样,自己稍微具有一点地位的时候,就把以前的恩人忘记了,这种人确实就是一个坏人。所以我们千万不能忘记对自己有恩德的人。
  
有些人把以前和自己关系友好的人舍弃,然后又重新交上一个势力比较大的人,但到了一定的时候,他又会故伎重演,所以和这种人打交道就没有什么意义。如果与某个人相处暂时关系虽然不是太友好,但这个人若是非常稳重,那你继续与他一起共事,此后你们俩人之间的关系也有机会变得非常友善。所以交友重要的是看人的品格,如果人格好一点,暂时虽然他心里面可能有点不高兴,但以后他也不会对你做很多的坏事。
  
有人正在与你好的时候,如果之前此人已经舍弃了以前的朋友,那这个人就不太可靠,总有一天他也会把你舍弃。从前,有三个新来的喇嘛向钦哲仁波切求法,当时钦哲仁波切就对他们说:"如果你们把以前所有的上师舍弃了,我才可以为你们传法。"其中有二个喇嘛认为他们以前的上师名望低下,而钦哲仁波切则是声名远播,于是他俩就同意把以前的上师全部舍弃。但其中一位喇嘛认为:虽然钦哲仁波切是一位非凡的大德,但以前的上师对我恩德宏深,我不情愿舍弃他们。后来钦哲仁波切开始给他们传讲佛法时说:"你们若把以前的上师舍弃了,总有一天也会把我舍弃,所以你们俩不是我的法器,你们不能听我的法,另外那个喇嘛则可以听受。"那个喇嘛就已经被钦哲仁波切摄受,后来在他面前闻受了许多的佛法,这个喇嘛的名字叫阿克窝热。
  
世上有些人便是如此,不但舍弃了自己的金刚上师,也舍弃了金刚道友,然后到了别的地方就开始诽谤以前的上师。虽然这种人后来又依止了其他的上师,但这也不稳定可靠,因为他依止了一段时间之后,又会舍弃这位新上师。
  
以前阿底峡尊者曾依止过很多的上师,尊者说:"在我众多的上师中,有的上师功德已经超过我,有的则与我平等,而有的可能不如我的功德,但不管怎样,他们对我都具有一份恩德,因此我非常恭敬他们。"而仲敦巴一生只有一位居士身份的上师和阿底峡尊者这两位上师,后来博多瓦问:"象仲敦巴那样依止的上师少好呢?还是象觉卧那样上师很多好?"上师就告诉他:"如果自己观清净心修得好,则象阿底峡尊者那样上师越多越好;如果自己信心不足,对这种人来说上师越少越好。"
  
现在末法时代的人,遇到一个上师立刻就跑去恭敬供养,随之马上又对他舍弃,这种人就没有任何修行境界。我们应该在一生中只依止少数的几位上师,这样对自己有很大的利益。有些人喜新厌旧心特别强,喜欢依止新鲜的上师,甚至有的还喜欢五花八门新鲜的外道法门,这些做法都是极端错误的,作为上师一定要舍弃这种人。
  
在这个世界上,本来有一些对自己恩德非常大的人,但我们并不报恩,甚至有的对恩人还要恩将仇报。本来是对自己作危害的恶人,反而对他毕恭毕敬,这种人也就是不知道报恩的人。甚至还有的对自己的依怙之人进行欺骗,对三宝生邪知邪见。
  
现在有些人,好象是在测试上师,本来他自己在心里面想着一件事,而在口头却说着另外一件事,或者他在面前说一套,在背后又是做另一套。这种对三宝没有信心有邪见的人,我们见到他也会对自己有很大的损害,更何况跟这种人一起来往。
  
知道报恩德、非常可靠(有些人朝秦暮楚,东奔西跑,这种人就是很不可靠)、对三宝也是有虔诚的恭敬心、思维并相信因果的这些人,护法神也会经常帮助他。看见这个人也会为我们带来吉祥和增上善根,即生和来世的许多事情也会圆满成功。
  
对三宝有信心、护法神经常保护的、对佛法非常虔诚的这些人,即使他的智慧和分辨取舍能力稍微不尽人意,但在他面前请教,他所抉择的问题也会非常正确。所以依止护法神经常保护的上师,自己的事情定会圆满成功。
  
对自己亲友一方很慈悲,而对怨敌一方也不会屈服,在远离怨敌方面意志坚定,知道辨别善恶,能保持自己的性格行为不是来回反复地变化,以前喜欢做什么事情,现在也在做,不是每天都在改变,这就叫做性格坚定的人。还有对三宝有信心,对众生慈悲,具有以上品格的人,无论他是何等身份,如果我们经常与他交往,爱护和依止他,是对我们有利的。
  
愚人交朋结友,首先是观察别人的财产、地位或是相貌。比如现在世间愚笨的人,娶一个媳妇也要门当户对,先看她本人的容貌,计算她家的财富。如今认定活佛也同样,若其父母有一定地位,人也长得比较庄严,很多人就会认定他为活佛。好象大多数的活佛就属于这种情况,他们都长相端严、财产富足,真正难看的活佛很少。
  
在古代,活佛长相并不一定端庄妙好。比如以前的布顿大师,是夏鲁派的创始人,当他生下来时,嘴巴鼻子都很大,异常难看。当时他的母亲特别痛苦,心想:"我只有一个孩子,而这个孩子又长得如此丑陋,谁也不愿意见他。"但这个小孩在很小的时候就能说话,他说:"布顿吧!我并不计较这些。"(布顿是藏文音译,义为孩子谁都可见),他长大以后成为了历史上一位著名的高僧大德。
  
还有许多的活佛,比如在格鲁派的历史中,其貌不扬的高僧大德也为数不少。现在若是娶媳妇,美妙一点也可以,但是认定高僧大德的时候就不一定要非常庄严美妙。以相貌的美丑好坏来决定是否结交朋友,这是愚人的观察方法。而那些有智慧的人,他首先是详细观察一个人的性格品行,然后才开始结交,这样就比较可靠,这是一个智者交友的方法。
  
有些人的地位越来越高时,他对以前下面的人就越看得起,没有一点儿傲慢心,对下边的人也是越来越慈悲。这样的人就象沙漠中大树的果实一样,是世间的庄严,如此他本人的地位和智慧,也象上弦的月亮会越来越增长。所以我们对下面的人一定要慈悲,而对上面的人又不能太过份地卑躬屈膝,即应不卑不亢。
  
从我个人来讲,我的上半生也是在穷困交迫中度过。我在九岁时,父亲就已经去世了,当时我们有几个兄弟姐妹,全都是依靠我母亲一个人含辛茹苦、想方设法把我们养活。现在我就比较富裕了,哥哥和妹妹他们几个也都生活得不错,我们这几个人虽然也是疾病缠身,但现在财富方面也是比较圆满。
  
这里意思是说,如果自己以前很贫穷,中间则已富足丰裕,但后来又可能变为穷困潦倒一文不名,那自己在中间富裕阶段,就不要太执著了,应该观想成做梦一样。就象上半生那样的贫穷痛苦,将来和下半生还有什么样的结果呢?我们谁也是确定不了。因此我们应该观想世间这一切仅是暂时性的,如梦如幻一样,这样即使自己以后遭受到损失,在内心也不会因原先暂时的富裕安乐而痛苦。这好比从梦中醒过来一样,那梦中的安乐和痛苦都是如幻般虚假无实,没有什么可执著的了。
  
有些人的势力雄厚强盛,对敌人来说就象是猛火,自己虽然具足如此强大的力量,但对一般的众生却非常慈悲,犹如雪山一样,为众生带来消除烦恼痛苦的清凉。这样的人就是众生的庄严,也是世间的庄严。这种人确实具有世间上难以匹敌的势力,但在外面的言行举止上他却非常谦虚而稳重。
  
以前有一个大官叫桑魂,他的能力超群,他的方便和智慧谁都无法比。当时阿秋康寿是一个范围辽阔的地区,但也无人能与之匹敌。外表上他穿的也是简单朴素,跟一般人没有什么两样,我们做人就应该象他那样。
  
现在末法时代值得信赖的人少之又少,因此一般做事情时,不要信口开河,应以秘密的方式去做,这样就不容易遇到违缘。除此之外,也还需要具备猛厉的行为和怀柔的能力,比如装饰有红色绸缎的宝剑只属于胜利者,只握在大勇士的手中,具有降伏和怀业的这种人是真正的勇士。
  
对自方慈悲,对敌人勇敢,能辨别好和坏的这种人,是世间上英雄的标志。别人对你所做的是好事还是坏事,自己一定要知道。比如有些人本身修的慈悲心并不是太好,但却什么都不明白,稀里糊涂的样子,这种人就不是好人,是一个恶人,所以对怨敌和亲人应该分清楚。
  
没有人压着他,或是没有对他施行强制措施的时候,他始终是欺压很多的人。对别人能欺负就欺负,而对经常压迫自己的人就害怕--欺软怕硬。比如老虎正在凶猛咆哮的时候,就惊恐畏惧躲着它,老虎安祥平静对其很慈悲的时候,自己反而要杀了它,这就是一个愚笨恶人的行为。所以当别人慈悲相待的时候,我们的行为也不要太过份。
  
对世间上的恶人必须要消灭,不然他就会毁坏国家和团体,甚至整个世界也会因为此人而遭受众多的苦难。比如从历史上来看,众多有情的痛苦有时也就是依靠一、二个人的恶劣行径所造成,所以根据许多格言,对这种恶人,杀了则世界会太平,人们会得到安乐幸福。
  
现在不是讲修忍辱的时候,有些世间法也是比较重要。对于具有恶劣行为的人,必须要象对待麻疯病人的尸体那样毫不犹豫的加以舍弃,从释迦牟尼佛的传记和格萨尔王的传记中,我们可看出,对恶劣的人必须要清理、摈除和舍弃,所以诸佛菩萨也必须要对这些恶人降伏。
  
对那些性格极其恶劣的众生,若以坦诚柔和的态度无法调伏,那就必须显示一个猛厉的行为,这也符合世间的正规。因为众生的根机,就象酸、甜、苦、辣各种味道一样各不相同。大圆满前行中有一个公案,说是以前有二位比丘去拉萨求法的时候,看见松赞干布也是以幻化的方式来惩治许多犯罪的恶人。
  
因此,为了国家的安全和人民的安乐,必须向恶劣的人采取猛烈的行为。在国王教言中讲:对于不能悔改的恶人,除了砍断身体外,其它的比如捆缚和打击等各种手段皆可以允许使用。如果国王判处犯人死刑,这时作为上师可以劝谏国王,但若国王正以其它方式制裁一些恶人的时候,有时上师也不能去劝阻。
  
做事情有时需要端直,有时需要勇猛。该说话的时候,什么都不说,好象哑巴一样,这也不好;但无有必要时也不能讲太多的话,比如有些人会猜测或试探你,这时候就应寡言少语。一般做事应该公平正直,但当别人虚伪狡诈的时候,你也应虚与蛇委,不要给他讲实话。此外还应知晓时机,如说话的时间是否适合,是需要现出凶猛还是温和的态度,等等。
  
依靠佛法来行持国政的大国王、大法王,他们对所有的众生都平等地对待。比如松赞干布、赤松德赞、赤热巴金国王,他们对每一个众生都以慈悲心来对待,我们如今藏地雪域的佛法也是依靠他们的恩德而来。古代有些国王犹如太阳一般,对非常可怜的众生特别慈悲,这样的大人物真正可以算是人民的救星和庇护所。
  
本来对有权势的人,谁都会对他恭敬,但对可怜的人看得起,这在世间上则是极为稀有。有些人拥有相当地位时,对下面的人是怀恨打击,对上面的人则是摇头摆尾地巴结,并且贪着世间的一切财色,颠倒因果,这种人终将毁坏自己。所以当自己地位越来越高时,对下面的人也应该慈悲。
  
有些人虽然得到了崇高的地位,但却没有为众生和自己带来什么利益,比如有些高僧大德,对众生和佛法没有作出任何贡献,那这种人就象黑暗中摆放的一个装饰品,谁也看不见。有些大官和高僧大德对弘法事业起不到任何作用,这种人与一具尸体没有任何差别。
  
在世间上,勇敢无畏是作为一个军官必须要具备的基本素质,并且他对下属也应具慈爱之心,谁做的好,也应该赐予相应的奖励。在格萨尔王的时候,也是利他心比较强的人才被选做大臣。对人人都和睦相处,并且具有慈悲心,对上者恭敬,对下者爱护,也不贪求财利和自己的名声,这种人可以当首领。
  
作为领导,必须具足世间法和出世间法的智慧,高瞻远瞩,人品高尚,善于取舍因果,为人公正。如果是管理人员,必须要公正,处理问题不能有偏袒之心,应实事求是。并且,管理人员一定要是一个知取舍懂因果的人,否则,当经手一些财物时,就极容易造成贪污,如此就会将自己来世的前途和利益葬送掉。因此大家为常住发心的时候,一定要注意取舍因果,应该一心一意地为僧众办事,不要贪污。
  
作为管家,也不能对不如法的行为熟视无睹,释迦牟尼佛在世时,对僧团也需要管理整顿。你们若是好心好意,无论是用什么方式,根本就不存在有任何过失。当然对于任何一件事情,大家都应该共同协商,每个人也不要有嫉妒心和各种争论心。这样如理如法的管理,对世间和佛法的圆满都具极大的意义和必要性。
  
我在石渠求学的时候,当时发心人员也是轮流担当,这也是为上师和僧众办事情。这样发心做事对佛法和众生具有意义,对自己将来的闻思修行也有极大助益,为此大家应该同心协力积极发心。
  
贪污财产、邪命养活等这些颠倒因果的行为,都是会摧毁自己。即使有些人行为正直,内心也比较慈悲,但如果他经常贪污财产、不重因果,那这种人也终将把自己毁坏。在释迦牟尼佛的本生传中,以前有一只善良的动物曾对某人有救命之恩,但此人后来经不住钱财的诱惑,把那个动物给出卖了。所以不管是上师还是高官都不要贪着财产,如果过份地贪着,则他的很多行为必定是颠倒的。
  
如果一个人经常思维无常,对取舍因果方面也是特别小心翼翼,那他在将来会越来越安乐。我们在座的四众弟子,从今以后也应该一心一意地修持阿弥陀佛,往生极乐世界。人间的幸福与往生极乐世界的安乐相比,真是无比的鄙劣。现在这里的安乐,就象人们的问候语:"晚安"或"祝你晚上做个好梦"那样,但往生极乐世界并非晚上睡得香甜做个好梦般低下的安乐。
  
损失财物只是暂时的痛苦,损坏了名声则是一生的痛苦,损害了因果将是生生世世的痛苦。如果生起邪见,不承认因果,这就是对因果方面作了损害,如此结果在生生世世中都将损害自己的安乐。所以即使你无有任何财富也没关系,没有丝毫名声也可以,但你千万不要失坏了自己的正知正见。相信因果的正见千万不能摧坏,否则这就是你生生世世中的损失,对此我们应该小心谨慎如履薄冰。
  
愚笨的人经常贪著今生的事情,有智慧的人则作长远的打算并追求自身功德的完善,这些都是一切幸福圆满的因。若谁具有殊胜的功德,那就象清净的大海可以积聚天鹅一样,十方所有的高僧大德也会自然聚会在他的身旁。
  
真正清净戒律、具有智慧的这些人需要任何帮助时,大家都应自愿发心去做。同样有些低劣苦恼的众生请求我们帮助或向我们请教的时候,有能力的人也应该认真恭敬地伸出缓助之手。
  
末法时代把好和坏全都已经颠倒了。本来高高在上的人对你没有做什么好事,但你也是对他欢欢喜喜,好象大人物写一封信给你,也是对你做了一件大事,而那些可怜的众生对你哪怕是做了尽心尽力的帮助,你也是看不惯他,对此一点都不在乎。有些大德就象天鹅能分开牛奶和水一样,他能辨别出别人对自己是好还是坏。

人群之中有的人象如意宝一样,有些是相似的如意宝,有的则是假如意宝,有关人的行为,我已经为大家宣说了很多。同样在我们僧团当中,既有好人,也有坏人。大家也可能会说,这是最好的人,这是中等的人,这是下劣的人。自己对自己作观察的时候,也会知道自己究竟是何种人。最后望大家平时认真观察自己的身心,善能分别好坏,慎于取舍因果,既然想修行就须先做一个好人!



Inter dependency means we should not ignore anything. And we should understand the relationship between each one of us, including.... you yourself.

-- Shunryu Suzuki



Monday 23 May 2022

Finding Excellence, What Buddhists Do (Part 4)

by Joseph Houseal

Mutual amazement at what the other does not find extraordinary is a situation I regularly encounter when speaking with monk dancers. They usually cannot believe that someone like me exists — who cares only about the quality and transmission of ancient gnostic dance. And I am routinely astounded by some of the training certain monasteries require of their Cham dancers.

In the summer of 2016, we distributed a rare Buddhist dance treatise, The Snow Lion’s Attributes, published by Core of Culture, the organisation I direct, to monasteries in Himachal Pradesh, northern India, where ancient roots and relative isolation from destructive modernity have maintained for the world some of the most serious and undiluted practices of Vajrayana Buddhism, respected worldwide for its profound teachings in meditation yoga. Actor Richard Gere, who does meditation retreats in remote Zanskar, refers to Vajrayana monks as “the Olympians of meditation.”

Perhaps you will agree with me that the meditation requirements aligned with Buddhist Cham dance at the 1,000-year-old monasteries at Dhankar and nearby Kye are astonishing. My astonishment is based on nearly 20 years of research, documenting Cham throughout the Himalaya — particularly in Bhutan, where Cham practice is exuberant and skilful. It is refreshing after 20 years to still be so amazed and enchanted by the subject of my driving interest.

There are dates, monastic roles and hierarchies, and changing schools of Buddhism that need unwinding to tell this story. Dhankar and Kye monasteries were built during the Guge Kingdom in the 11th century, part of an expansionist plan to extend the empire with trade, art, and religion. Dhankar and Kye marked architectural departures as they were developed into fortresses as well as monasteries, and so were perched on high cliffs, raised up strategically, in a way we associate with many monasteries now.

UNESCO has placed Dhankar Gompa on the Watch List of Endangered World Monuments. Both the mountain cliff and the ancient tower perched upon it are precariously holding on. Kye Gompa is nested on a mountain spur among mountains, a most dramatic setting. The Gelugpa subjugation of these monasteries was coupled with new architecture, purpose, and rituals. Both monasteries have endured attacks and invasions.

Dhankar was a hereditary and military monastery, aligning itself and its rituals with several Buddhist schools. Kye was a trading post and a centre of debate. The Gelugpa school, notable for being the school of the Dalai Lama, was not established until the 15th century. The monasteries in this account had half a millennium of rituals and dance before the Gelugpa asserted political authority and fortified the existing structures. Dhankar and Kye both became known for the seriousness of their meditation practice, just as Tabo Gompa in Spiti Valley was renowned for its scholarship and accomplished monks.

Here’s the time warp: Dhankar does the same Cham as ancient Tabo, which means it derives from a Gelugpa monk named Jampa Tharchen, who escaped from Tibet in 1957 and found refuge at Tabo. The lineage he taught belongs to Tashigang Gompa in Gnari, Tibet. Seemingly — and this needs to be clarified by further research — replacing the dances already performed there, ostensibly by offering a more authoritative and complete canon of Gelugpa Cham dances directly from Tibet.

In 1985, the Panchen Choegyal Nyima, from the legendary Tashilunpo Monastery founded by the first Dalai Lama in the 15th century, brought their lineage of Cham dances into India. A monk named Karchen Laktor taught these dances to Kye Gompa in Spiti, to Thikse and Spituk monasteries in Ladakh, and to a monastery in Nubra Valley.

In both cases, a fresh input of authoritative Cham, directly transmitted from Tibet, was integrated with local meditation practices hundreds of years old. This explains to a degree why the meditation requirements to perform Cham are so thorough at these monasteries. Although a young monk who could not contain himself during our meeting with senior monks blurted out the obvious standard that should not be overlooked: “Where the Dharma is strong, Cham is strong!”

The names of monastery roles and positions are not universal. The same title at one monastery can imply a different job at another. However, three positions are at play in this exposition of Cham and meditation. The omze is the master of rituals and chant — meaning he leads the accompaniment of Cham dances and has memorised all the ancient sutras, scriptures, and mantras that are chanted. This is encyclopedic commemoration.

The lama tipa is an archaic title for a regent, someone who rules in the name of someone else. He is not the abbot, but has all the authority and is also required to know how to run and manage every aspect of a monastery. The champon is the dance master, required to know every dance and to be able to teach it. At Dhankar and Kye, this implies knowing the tantric visualization and Deity Action Yoga empowering the Cham dances.

Prepare to be astonished. At Dhankar Gompa, the omze must undertake a two-year cave retreat practising his primary teachings before he can become the lama tipa, a position he fills for two years. He must then do a further one-year cave retreat specialising in Yiddam meditation in order to become the champon.

Primary teachings here refer to the teachings given to you by your own guru, and as such are entirely personal and designed by the guru for each person he teaches. No two are the same. It is a kind of development of the tantric personality of an individual. A Yiddam is a meditation deity, and in the case of a rising champon, the monk must accomplish the yogic act of conjuring the deity Mahakala, and further, making him move. The lama tipa at Dankhar explained that Mahakala is the root of all Deity Action yoga for Cham and any deity can be yogically extrapolated having mastered making a Mahakala visualisation move.

This is really the line between black and white magic as once a new being has been realised, the meditator, or sorcerer as the case may be, has the choice to make the being do anything, and it is at this point that tantric adepts can lose control over their own creations, just as Mickey Mouse did in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. This is serious, ancient yoga: older than Buddhism, older than the hills, and one reason Vajrayana Buddhism is so special for keeping these skills alive. This is the fine, much debated, tantric line between something actually happening and something symbolically happening.

At Kye Gompa, no meditation requirement exists for the position of omze, but he must complete one year of Yiddam meditation before becoming the champon and teaching the other dancers. The champon can keep the position indefinitely providing he completes a one-week Yiddam meditation retreat each year before teaching Cham.

Dhankar Gompa has the most intensive meditation retreat requirement for the position of champon of any monastery I have encountered in 17 years. Kye Gompa also clearly prioritizes the mastery of meditation as a pre-requisite for teaching Cham to anyone else. Clearly, these profound approaches to cultivating the inner person for a dance performance have nothing to do with theatricality or a public audience. In fact, these aspects seem mundane, irrelevant to our discussion.

The lama tipa at Dhankar was busily sweeping the 1,000-year-old tower where the special chambers of the Dalai Lama are situated when I accidentally met him after talking to two senior monks. I was thrilled to encounter him as he was about to embark on a year-long cave retreat to gain the yogic skill of conjuring Mahakala and making him move, and then becoming the champon. Perhaps too thrilled; he thought my excitement was unwarranted

He told me with some amusement that yogic mastery was not an amazing feat, nor peculiar to him, nor intimidating, but rather an aspect of ancient mental training protected by Buddhism since its inception when Guru Rinpoche subjugated and at the same time protected the ancient pre-Buddhist spiritual beings and the deep psychic and intellectual forces they embody and represent.

“You’ve been visiting the most remote monasteries of all sects, with a dance treatise, wearing a mustard-coloured suit and tie, and you think we are out of the ordinary?” he enquired with humour. “Deity Yoga for Cham? It’s a known thing,” he continued. “What Buddhists do.




要回光返照,常常作出自我检讨。常思己过,则近 “道 ”矣!一发觉有错误,就要马上进行修改,从一切境中去调整自己。每一个人要将几十年的习气去除,必定要下一番工夫!当你有感觉 “艰苦、烦恼 ”的时候,这就是在修行过程中所遇到的种种考验,这时你必须运用智慧来降伏心念上的障碍,拿出修行的精神来克服万难。因为 “有境才好修,无境不成道。

-- 廣欽老和尚



Sunday 22 May 2022

出家生涯初探

文|見安

一個人的前程志願,往往都是隨著因緣環境而轉變、向上增長。三寶難值難遇!佛法,如破暗之明燈,點燃心中勵慕出世志向,使我於凡塵俗世發厭離心、興出世願,選擇出家這條路;為法,而求依止僧團學習。

十方共聚的這塊園地猶如叢林,蘊育著的幼樹是我渴求增長的心。在僧團和敬中,我學習與大眾志操相攜;聖道的理念目標,為我修行之動力與槳舵。生命的軌道, 恆馳在佛法之薰習與實踐。師長的教誨、同參的提攜,如陽光日日照耀,增上我如法學習的心苗。法義的潤澤如同甘露,在聞熏中栽培善種。止觀的實踐是清淨泉湧之水流,漸漸浣滌身心粗重、散亂與昏沈。發菩提心、開發智慧、修學聖道……,在這裡,我們逐漸深刻自己對僧團、對眾生、對正法的使命,堅固道心乃至不退。

對自己的要求,不是希望得到一張能向人炫耀的漂亮成績單,而是能學習付出奉獻、學習無私發心。典座、行堂、香燈……,煮飯、劈柴、梵唄……,各種職事的學習使我改正懈怠輕忽的習氣,體會團體生活的謙忍融入。於動於靜磨練自己,能時時正知而住,積集修行資糧。在發心培福的當下,也希望能了解道場之運作,如何安僧住持,然後學習把心放下,無我的去服務,一切行事考慮護持他人。在每一個因緣聚會的當下,該做好的就盡力去做。調柔、和合、堅忍、不退轉……,匯成之道基能令正法久住。

我尋求依止,不是因為貪求僧團的和樂、個人的安心,而是與之相契的志業、趣向──尊重戒、勤習定、增上慧,順於聖道、趣向涅槃,使我願奉獻一生的身心,在這裡依止善知識修學止觀。一片精誠之志意,請求依止這和合僧團出家。

希求聖道、志向解脫,是我越諸塵累發心修行之初心。願能窮究佛法真理,光明顯亮、慈柔付出;能於一切有情無邊苦海,誓願拔其苦、與之樂,洞察同體悲,成熟自利利他之因行,圓滿究竟之佛果。大悲如來示現於世間,棄捨世人所貪逐追戀的榮耀富樂,面對著世間諸多苦難,為求真理,為一切眾生尋覓解脫之道,而發心出家。體悟佛陀的教誨,使我所追求之解脫,不只是短暫生命的超越,而是淪歷長劫迷妄之心的徹底澄淨。唯願最初之這一念心,迄於未來際劫,生生世世開展它為極樂之清涼菩提,溫渥眾生的心靈,幫助一切眾生出離生死大海。

願為一切眾生承擔,是自我肯定的泉源;願培養能為眾生付出的能力。佛法教理深入的學習,以掌握正確的菩提道次第。思惟、修習止觀,柔和那長夜以來為煩惱所覆剛強之心,增長進趣無漏般若之堪能。以戒法的實踐養護聖道資糧,如菩薩於微小罪生大怖畏,輕重等習等持。執事中動心忍性、勞己筋骨,磨練剛正不阿的僧格,預備自身以為菩薩行業之法器。小眾階段從基層作起,琢磨高慢學習謙卑。為實踐對眾生的承諾,擬定出家生涯的短程藍圖:

居士階段:

1、脫去在家習氣、想法,淘治心性轉俗情為道人心。

2、奠定修行正知見,培養出離心、菩提願。

3、明白出家正因,並謹慎出家動機。

4、了解僧團的志向目標,培養對僧團、師長敬重不移的心。

5、了解清淨的僧格為何,並學習之。

6、端正人品,培養處世恭謹、待人真誠謙虛之好個性。

7、心性穩固,知修行之所為何。

8、對事物之學習認真、負責,以歡喜心做事並珍惜福報。

9、思考並實踐如何將十善法運用在日常生活中。

10、探求契機用功的下手處。

沙彌尼階段:

1、契入佛法、真正向道,從聖法中摒棄俗見,建立道品。

2、建立僧格、莊嚴自處學威儀。

3、建立增上道心。

4、內心能真實調柔的接受勸諫。

5、學習溝通、和團體一起生活。

6、學習能為一切眾生善友,常能主動幫助別人。

7、自尊、自愛、調柔無驕慢,具足感恩心。

8、學習從做事待人、生活點滴中體會善法恩德。

9、學習發心做事,不要問值不值得,不要計較失去的時間。

10、從心性中升起對戒定慧三學之好樂。

11、做定課加強心力,把靜坐拜佛時的心情運用在日常生活中──以禮敬諸佛的心禮敬周遭每一個人。

式叉摩那階段:

1、學習身口意三業真實不虛。錯誤,勇於承擔;過失,虛心請教。

2、願以心甘情願、無怨無悔的心學習奉獻。

3、堅固納受大戒之心;決定自己當成法器。

4、學習獨立承擔職事上之責任;做事當下因果分明。

5、落實式叉六法於生活中。

6、對止作二持有基本的認識及操守,如法學行二年圓滿方求受具戒。

7、依循佛菩薩法語如理思惟、觀照起心動念,使善根有力、惡種不起現行。

比丘尼階段:

1、穩固獨立修行的能力。

2、從每念當下體認佛法;長養慈悲喜捨心,願常以四無量向一切眾生。

3、繼續深入學習佛法,觀照思惟,法隨法行。

4、在心性上受善法調練,在人品上獨立自主堅固荷擔。

5、以圓滿受持三聚淨戒為志,不捨棄每一位眾生。

6、是具足慚愧、感恩、犧牲與奉獻精神的法門龍象。

7、體會佛陀的深意,承擔以法毗奈耶攝僧、令正法久住之如來家業。

8、成為決志弘揚大乘佛法之比丘尼;嚴持聲聞戒行,學習菩薩律儀,大小無礙。

9、多方面學習,增上自己,使成為真正可以延續佛法的僧伽命脈。

10、訓練自己成為能領眾之人才。

11、以定心、慧心做定課,祈使一念之功德能達到法界,一切有情無情眾生皆能蒙受利益。

12、把所學之佛法宣講宏揚,並行持出來給眾生做榜樣。

出家之所以「非將相所能為」,在於其有著高遠的心志。一位發真實心出家的人,對聖道解脫有真實的懇切的意樂。不待他人的敦逼催促,自動自發地在內心下功夫,而後以「法界一切眾生都是我的責任」之心而上求佛道、下化眾生,從今日始乃至盡未來際。祈求諸佛菩薩證鑑此心,慈悲加被圓滿此願。

出家生活的調練,使生命不再是一場迷夢;能積極的開拓心田,遵循佛陀的教誨,走向一條自覺之路。每日聽聞佛法,學習法義,開啟我們的智慧;靜坐修止觀,如理思惟、將佛法納入心裡,點滴終將匯成清淨流。依止善知識,師資相攝是慧命所在。職事與修行的融合,開展一天的生活;待人處事的學習,貫穿每一個當下。依四念處行道,常觀無常、無我,認識煩惱的根源來自於執一切法為真實。師長、同參真心的勸諫,使我們在團體中以善友為依。向著法的僧團是我們清淨緣中之增上;我們受這僧團保護,亦學習為僧團奉獻,這是安身立命的定點。

受教的心是自我修正的開始;從小我到大我,生命的宏觀,如因陀羅網無量無垠。依著修學次第漸次通往菩提道;普於十方法界、遍及一切有情,深深印下共成佛道的心願。當下最重要的是,培養堅固不動的道心、毅力。在僧團的洪爐大冶中,勇敢的投入,鍛之、鍊之、成就之。

曾經在修行的路上,色身的病痛是唯一的障礙;從這裡面成長過,才深刻的感念到僧團、師長慈悲成就眾生的苦心。不曾因為如是障緣局限了學習的決志。內心專一精誠時,有什麼做不成的呢?在佛陀大智慧光明的指引下,在生活的歷鍊與實行中,磨練出足以承擔的力量,使我們在有限生命的盡處,開展出無量莊嚴之自性淨土。在心性的調熟,願力的堅固運為中,無悔的走向修行之行山願海。



Openness does not mean to give up all your power or autonomy to others. However, you are opened in a bigger way toward the whole universe in order to work with others positively in the situations you encounter.

-- Dza Kilung Rinpoche




Saturday 21 May 2022

Finding Excellence, Who is the Best Dancer Here? (Part 3)

by Joseph Houseal

Venture into remote places and you will find a joyful purity. During our recent summer fieldwork in Himachal Pradesh, northern India, we distributed copies of a Buddhist dance treatise, The Snow Lion’s Attributes, among the monasteries there, and used it as a touchstone for illuminating conversations about Cham practice. In Spiti Valley and the adjacent Pin Valley, Buddhist researchers have for decades examined Vajrayana Buddhism in what has long been an almost inaccessible area in which some of the oldest Buddhist monasteries practice tantric disciplines in an uninterrupted mental climate, unmolested by modern tourism and beyond the reach of urban turmoil. Blocked by snow for many months of the year, isolation has preserved authenticity. Spiti is on the cusp of change, however, and this is a critical time to carry out research.

Core of Culture, the non-profit organisation that I direct, is the first to examine the Cham dance traditions at these monasteries that define a “Buddhist land” wherein virtually 100 per cent of the population is Buddhist. Sanga Choeling Monastery, belonging to the oldest and original school of Vajrayana Buddhism, the Nyingma, sits atop a mountain range overlooking the vastness of Pin Valley in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh. This enormous valley is flanked by snow-capped peaks on both tapering ends, with waves of mighty rock undulating in the sky surrounding this Nyingma sanctuary founded by Padmasambhava in the 8th century. Some temples and the art contained within them date from 1330 CE. The newest building — a prayer hall and dance courtyard — is quite recent, courtesy of a foreign donor. Most of Pin Valley is a national wildlife refuge; a home to many rare things.

It is our custom when we work, to meet with the resident rinpoche, abbot, or high lama — for their blessing and permission, if nothing else. There being no telephone service across these peaks, we considered ourselves fortunate to have met with high lamas at every monastery we’d visited so far this season. However, the day we reached Sanga Choeling monastery, the oldest in Kungri, we learned that the abbot, Yomed Rinpoche, was away.

Young monks were working throughout the monastery and courteously offered to fetch the oldest monk they knew, who lived in the village. Our team was already returning to our vehicles when I told them to stop. “We don’t need to bother the old monk,” I told the teenage monk standing near me. “But tell me, who is the best dancer here?” The young monk, Tshering, 18, invited me to his room for tea and within minutes another monk, 23-year-old Palden Tundup, appeared. He spoke some English and was surprised that anyone, much less a foreigner, would ask for “the best dancer.” He was a little embarrassed that the designation “best dancer” was pretty much unanimously agreed upon by his fellow monks.

Palden Tundup explained that the rituals used at their monastery were from the Tantras of the Bhutanese Saint Pema Lingpa, with the exception of his 15th century dances. Also carried out were rituals of the Nyingma Terser tradition. Cham is performed twice each year, in a major Tsechu in October, as well as on the birthday of the abbot when several dances are performed.

Sanga Choeling has 75 monks and 38 boys. There is no champon or dance master. Instead, six jorpon, a type of monastery official, take responsibility for training and selecting the dancers. I asked how the dancers are selected and how he came to be the “best dancer.” He laughed and replied, “We all have to learn Cham movements when we are 12. So the dancing is easy, we know it from childhood. We enjoy doing it, it is almost second nature.” We’d seen as much when the monks started dancing upon our arrival.

I asked about a Chams Yig, or dance manual, and Palden Tundup casually answered, “Every monk has a copy. Knowing it is part of being a monk here.” In nearly two decades of carrying out Cham research in the Himalaya, where most monasteries do not even have a Chams Yig, or cannot find it, or don’t use it if they do have one, we had never before encountered a monastery in which every monk had his own copy and knew its contents.

“Really?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes!” he laughed, and told the young monk making tea to show us his copy. The poor lad couldn’t find it, so Palden Tundup instructed the monk precisely where in his own room his copy could be found, and within minutes it was produced for us. Since we consider a Chams Yig to be a kind of Holy Grail for ancient Buddhist dance and have produced an expensive and beautifully designed dance treatise to share. We were a little surprised, therefore, to be handed a stapled, mimeographed copy of the Tibetan manuscript, quite the worse for wear. I was dumbstruck.

Palden Tundup was amused that we thought his monastic exercise of Cham was so extraordinary. It is a scholarly, tantric, and choreographic discipline performed by every monk with whom he lives. He further explained that the battered document I was holding was written in two types of Tibetan script, and that it instructed in all aspects of Cham at once: dance, meditation visualisations, and mantra (empowered chant), which are performed with the dance.

“Since Cham dances are ingrained in our bodies from childhood, we don’t worry about the dancing part. It is the meditation visualisations that are difficult, but we see improvement every year,” Palden Tundup related. “The Chams Yig is really a guide to Deity Action yoga. We like reading it, because it is more than reading.”

The original manuscript was produced in some unspecified ancient time by a monk named Dorje Dundop, who spoke out the Cham teachings to a scribe, who recorded them in the document we held before us. The Cham teachings themselves were attributed to Dortol Lingpa — a title that intrigued us greatly. “Lingpa” is a title used for a terton, or “treasure revealer” who is privileged to receive the hidden teachings of Guru Rinpoche, which were intended to be discovered at a future time. Pema Lingpa, whose rituals were used by Sanga Choeling, was a terton, and the many extant dances of his remaining in Bhutan are ter cham, or dances specifically left for the future by Guru Rinpoche.

We are searching for answers. Sounding similar to “Dortol,” the terton Dorje Lingpa also revealed a canon of Cham dances in the 14th century, and these dances have been kept alive at three monasteries in Bhutan. Pema Lingpa and Dorje Lingpa are two of the five Treasure Kings who left major bodies of tantric practices for posterity. Clearly, we have work ahead of us, unwinding this mystery of ancient dance.

I have so far been unable to find any information on Dortol Lingpa, but it remains a primary point of inquiry for us, particularly considering the age of the monastery and the fact that it is of the Nyingma school, the oldest school of Vajrayana Buddhism, and one that has shown us on numerous occasions to have the most interesting dances. The Chams Yig at Sanga Choeling details 14 unique dances. It still astounds me that every monk here can dance from the age of 12, and further, is easily familiar with the contents of the ancient Cham Yig that they keep in their rooms.

I asked Palden Tundup for his thoughts on the future of Cham, and his answer came swiftly: “All of Kungri is proud to uphold the ancient Nyingma teachings. It is still the case that every family’s second son becomes a monk. We are very proud of this tradition, and it will not fade away any time soon.” The other monks in the room nodded in approval. I was impressed with his sincerity and the nobility with which he spoke of his own traditions.

“We’re all really good dancers, too,” Palden Tundup teased me, his joy infectious. “You should come and see our Cham ceremony. We don’t do it like a tourist show, but I can tell you would like it.”

He’s right about that.



Once the human mind becomes compassionate and arouses the basic nature of compassion then the individual automatically becomes ethical.

-- 5th Samdhong Rinpoche, Lobsang Tenzin