Wake Up to the Revolution

by Thich Nhat Hanh

We can all experience a feeling of deep admiration and love when we see the great harmony, elegance, and beauty of the earth. A simple branch of cherry blossom, the shell of a snail, or the wing of a bat—all bear witness to the earth’s masterful creativity. Every advance in our scientific understanding deepens our admiration and love for this wondrous planet.

When we can truly see and understand the earth, love is born in our hearts. We feel connected. That is the meaning of love: to be at one. Only when we’ve fallen back in love with the earth will our actions spring from reverence and the insight of our interconnectedness.

Yet many of us have become alienated from the earth. We are lost, isolated, and lonely. We work too hard, our lives are too busy, and we are restless and distracted, losing ourselves in consumption. But the earth is always there for us, offering us everything we need for our nourishment and healing: the miraculous grain of corn, the refreshing stream, the fragrant forest, the majestic snow-capped mountain peak, and the joyful birdsong at dawn.

We need to consume in a way that keeps our compassion alive. Yet many of us consume in a way that is violent. Forests are cut down to raise cattle for beef or to grow grain for liquor while millions in the world are dying of starvation.

Reducing the amount of meat we eat and alcohol we consume by 50 percent is a true act of love for ourselves, for the earth, and for one another. Eating with compassion can already help transform the situation our planet is facing and restore balance.

There’s a revolution that needs to happen and it starts from inside each one of us. We need to wake up and fall in love with the earth.

You don’t need to be an “excellent meditator” to start with. All you need to do is have your heart and mind make the following agreement: “Let’s rest. There is no reason right now to wander around following thoughts or worrying. Let’s be relaxed and open.” There is not even any need to shut down your thoughts. Just be there with them, but not overly concerned or engaged. Let there be total openness, and just relax within that.

-- Dza Kilung Rinpoche

人格贤善的判断标准

索达吉堪布

当然，每个人对人格贤善的判断各不相同，有人认为脾气好、性格好、做事勤快，就是人格贤善；有人认为漂亮的人，就具有人格魅力；有人认为心比较软，就是人格很好；有人认为个性坚强，肯定是好人……人格贤善的标准有这么几点，希望大家好好记住：

一、“言行恒时随顺友”：言行举止跟上上下下的亲友和睦相处，跟谁都合得来，不会动辄横眉怒目、处处与人作对、不论到哪个团体都搅得鸡犬不宁。从世间角度讲，人格好的人对上者恭敬，对下者悲悯，对中者和睦。

大家在发心时一定要注意，任何团体都会有许许多多矛盾，人与人在一起难免磕磕碰碰，但人格好的话，对谁都能观清净心，别人说什么也可以随顺。佛陀在经典中说“我要随顺世间人”，佛陀尚且如此，我们凡夫人就更需要了。当然，随顺他人并不是没有原则，别人生贪心你也随顺，生嗔心你也随顺，不是这个意思，而是对如理如法的行为应当随顺，跟谁接触都十分融洽。

不要所有人都上去时，你非要背道而驰，就像藏地有个比喻说：“一百头牦牛上山的时候，嘎巴牛（牦牛中的败类）非要往下跑。”这种说法还是很形象的。人格不好的人，行为上处处与人冲撞，就算坐车从色达到成都，一路上也会跟好多人吵架，在任何地方都会惹是生非。所以不好的人离开后，大家都觉得很舒服，好像眼翳去除了一样，要吃顿饭庆祝庆祝。但一个好人离开了，所有的人会特别伤心：“怎么办啊？我们中午不想吃饭了，那么好的人都走了，呜呜……”

不过，人格的好坏在表面上也看不出来。我每次刚认识一个人时，往往有这种分别念：“他是好人还是坏人呢？”有时候这个人言行举止很不错，但接触一段时间后大失所望；有时候这个人似乎比较坏，结果越接触越觉得他非常好，很让人信赖。

二、“秉性正直”：不管说话还是做事，心要正直，不贪执自方、嗔恨他方，也不会做什么都把自己放在主要位置上，一直不公正地评价，而是始终以真理为主，不偏袒任何一个人。所以，为人正直十分重要，《二规教言论》中也讲了许多这方面的功德。

三、“心善良”：如果为人正直、随顺别人，但心肠狠毒的话，人格也好不到哪儿去。现在有些领导和学者，话说得特别漂亮，可一直有自私自利、害人之心，那做什么都徒劳无益。因为心是一切之根本，宗喀巴大师也说：“心善地道亦贤善，心恶地道亦恶劣。”心善的话，一切都是光明的；心恶的话，只有趋往黑暗了。

这三点做人的道理非常重要。法王又进一步指出，倘若你想长期利益自己，暂时利他是很好的窍诀。作为一个凡夫人，完全不考虑自己是不可能的，但考虑自己的过程中，如果损害其他很多人，自己的事业也不会成功。虽然为了自己而帮助别人是一种狡猾，最好不要有这种想法，但退一步说，假如你实在不能利他，那为了自己的利益，也应该对别人好一点，这样才有自己的生存空间。

记得有一次乘飞机，我旁边坐了个年轻人，看起来很有才华，他是一个企业的总经理，平时不信佛教，但我们聊起来还是有共同语言。他说：“应该要做好人，多帮助别人。实际上企业若想成功，一定要帮助周围的人，这样才有空间生存下去。假如我一味地顾着自己，别人也是很聪明的，谁都能感觉得到，最后我不会有什么成果。”我觉得他讲得挺有道理，点点头说：“我们佛教也是这样赞叹的。”确实，不管依止上师也好，依止企业家也好，如果你始终想着自己，别人不一定看得上你，但若尽心尽力地帮助别人，大家就会对你另眼相看。所以，一个人要想自己得利益，暂时帮助别人是很好的窍诀。

上师曾一边开玩笑一边说：“我通过多年的生活经验发现，如今很多人不会做人，每天自私自利地想着自己，这不一定很好。比如有的年轻人喜欢某个人，就把对方束缚得死死的，拼命地占为己有，结果往往适得其反；而有的人喜欢对方，就全心全意地支持他、帮助他，对方也毕竟是人，最后会接受你的心意。只可惜很多人不懂这个道理。尤其是修学佛法时，不知道人格很重要，没有人格的话，高深莫测的境界不可能生起。”

Just as he pulled the sinner out of the well when he was the monkey bodhisattva, so you too should guide evil people compassionately without expecting good in return, even to one’s detriment.

-- Dharmaraksita

How to Transform Anger in 4 Steps

by Judy Lief

According to Buddhist psychology, anger is one of the six root kleshas, the conflicting emotions that cause our suffering. Its companions are greed, ignorance, passion, envy, and pride.

Anger can be white hot or freezing cold. Anger can be turned outward to other people, to a particular situation you are stuck with, or to life in general. It can be turned inward, in the form of self-hatred, resentment, or rejection of those parts of yourself that embarrass you or make you feel vulnerable. Anger can cause you to kill; it can lead you to commit suicide.

Anger is fuelled by the impulse to reject, to push away, to destroy. It is associated with the hell realm, a state of intense pain and claustrophobia. That quality of claustrophobia or being squeezed into a corner is also reflected in the origins of the English word anger, whose root means “narrow” or “constricted.”

Anger can be extremely energetic. You feel threatened and claustrophobic, and that painful feeling intensifies until you lash out like a cornered rat. Or it can manifest as a subtle simmering of resentment that you carry along with you always, like a chip on your shoulder.

Like the other kleshas, anger is a part of our makeup. We all have it, but we deal with it very differently, both as individuals and culturally.

Because the experience of anger is so potent, we usually try to get rid of it somehow. One way we try to get rid of it is to stuff it or suppress it, because we are embarrassed to acknowledge or accept that we could be feeling that way. Another way we try to get rid of our anger is by impulsively acting out through violent words or actions, but that only feeds more anger.

Since anger is a natural part of us, we cannot really get rid of it, no matter how hard we try. However, we can change how we relate to it. When we do, we begin to glimpse a quality hidden within this destructive force that is sane and valuable. We can save the baby while we throw out the bathwater.

In Buddhism there are many strategies and practices for dealing with anger. The overall approach is to start with meditation. In the context of formal sitting practice we can begin to understand the energy of anger, as well as the other kleshas, and to make a new relationship with it. On that basis, we can begin to apply this insight in the more challenging environment of day-to-day living.

HOW MINDFULNESS UNDERMINES AGGRESSION

The formal practice of mindfulness is the foundation for exploring the powerful energy of anger. It is hard to deal with anger once it has exploded, which is why meditation practice is such a helpful tool. By slowing down, and by refining our observational powers, we can catch the arising of anger at an earlier stage, before it has a chance to overtake us completely.

The practice of sitting still, breathing naturally, and looking attentively at one’s moment-by-moment experience is in and of itself an antidote to aggression. This is true because anger and other emotional outbursts thrive on being unseen. They thrive on the ability to lurk below the surface of our awareness and pop up whenever they please. So extending the boundary of your awareness takes away the natural habitat that sustains the kleshas.

Through meditation, we learn to tune in to what we are feeling and observe that experience with dispassion and sympathy. The more we can do that in formal mindfulness practice, the less under anger’s iron grip we will be. In turn, the more chance we will be able to transform our relationship to anger in the midst of daily life as well.

Where does anger arise? It is in the mind. So by taming the mind we can establish a strong base for understanding how anger arises in us and how we habitually respond to it. We can see how anger spreads and settles in our body, and how it triggers formulaic dramas about blame and hurt. We can expose our conceptual constructs about anger, our justifications, defensiveness, and cover-ups. On that basis we can go further using the following practice.

THE POISON TREE: A 4-STEP ANGER PRACTICE

One traditional analogy for a progressive, step-by-step approach to dealing with anger and the other kleshas is the poison tree.

How do you deal with a poison tree? The first thing you might do is prune it, to keep it from getting too large or from spreading. But that just keeps it under control. The tree is still there.

However, once the tree is a more manageable size, it might be possible to dig it up and get rid of it completely, which seems to be a slightly better approach.

But just as you are about to do that, you may remember that a doctor once told you that this tree’s leaves and bark have medicinal qualities. You realise that it doesn’t make sense simply to get rid of that tree. It would be better to make use of it.

Finally, according to this story, a peacock comes along, notices the tree, and without further ado, happily gobbles it up. The peacock instantly converts that poison into food.

1. PRUNING THE TREE: REFRAINING FROM INDULGING IN ANGER 

The first step is to refrain from speech and actions based on anger. When anger arises, it has usually already taken us over by the time we notice it. The intensity of the emotion and our reaction to it are so tied as to feel almost simultaneous. We are desperate to do something with this anger, either to feed it or to suppress it.

In this step, we refrain from doing anything, no matter how strong the urge to do so may be. The practice is to stay with the experience of anger. We begin on the boundary, with the second-thought level, where we are tempted to add fuel to the flame or try to stomp it out and get rid of it. The practice is to engage in neither of those two strategies. It is to be with our anger without interpreting it or strategising.

Our reactions tend to be so strong and immediate that initially we may not really get to the anger itself. But as our reactivity becomes less heavy-handed, a small, almost miniscule gap opens up between our anger and our reaction. In that gap it is possible for us to be with the anger and at the same time refrain from being caught up in it. We can relate to our anger more purely and simply, without second thoughts.

2. UPROOTING THE TREE: SEEING THROUGH ANGER'S APPARENT SOLIDITY 

Once we are able to be with anger with more openness and less judgement, the second step is to look at it more precisely.

When anger arises, we examine it. We ask questions. To what do we attach the label “anger”? Is it a sense perception, a thought, or a feeling? How real is it? How invincible? Is it still? Is it moving? When we try to pin it down, does it slip away? Where does it come from? Where does it live? Where does it go? What are its qualities? Its texture? Its colour? Its shape? What gives anger its power over us?

In this step we examine anger as a simple phenomenon. Where is the anger coming from? What is it aimed at? Is it our fault or is it the fault of someone or something else?

Look as directly as you can. What are anger’s roots? What is feeding it? Go level by level, deeper and deeper. Can you find its root cause?

3. DISTILLING THE MEDICINE: UNCOVERING WISDOM IN THE MIDST OF PAIN

In the third step we contemplate what it is about anger that is harmful and what might be of benefit. How could anger possibly be a form of medicine? If we got rid of our anger what would be lost?

Here the practice is to discern the difference between harmful anger and anger that benefits in some way. Clearly, the mindless expression of anger through words or deeds leads us to harm others and suffer harm ourselves. Yet repressing our anger also causes harm. The anger doesn’t actually go away but shows up in devious ways, wearing a disguise. So is there another option?

According to Tibetan Buddhism, there is a flip side to anger: there is wisdom in it. Normally we are too caught up in our personal struggles to connect with this wisdom, but anger actually has an integrity and a sharpness. It is a messenger that something is wrong, that something needs to be addressed. Anger’s awakened energy is said to be crystal clear, like a perfect mirror. It tells it like it is with no dissembling. Anger clears the air. It is immediate, and it is abrupt, but it grabs our attention and gets the point across. Anger interrupts our complacency and mobilises us to take action.

When we encounter injustice being done to another, when we see violence inflicted on innocent beings, when we see the ways that humans justify almost any crazy act of violence, it is heartbreaking and makes us angry. So anger could be the catalyst that causes us to act with courage and compassion to address violence, injustice, and entrenched ignorance. And the more clearly we see such tendencies in the world around us, the more we come to recognise within us traces of these same tendencies to violence and dissembling. So anger has the power to strip the screens from our eyes, to cut through our ignorance and avoidance of harsh realities.

The destructive force of anger is real and apparent. In addressing its destructive force, we practised restraint in the first step and we began to see through anger’s apparent solidity in the second. Now we are working with the wisdom potential of anger.

In fact, it may not be the anger itself but our tendency to hold on to our anger and its accompanying story line and self-absorption that is so harmful. When anger awakens us to a real problem that must be addressed, we can respond by wallowing in the anger and feeling good about ourselves for doing so. Or we can actually listen to whatever message that anger is bringing to us, while at the same time dropping the messenger. Then we can deal with what has been exposed to us by anger’s clear mirror.

4. THE PEACOCK: ENGAGING ANGER WITHOUT FEAR AND HESITATION 

The final step is not actually a further practice, but more the result or fruition of mastering the other three steps. We continue to practice refraining from impulsive displays of anger, seeing through the apparent solidity of anger, and opening to the messages anger brings without clinging to the messenger. When we can do all that with ease, we may finally begin to be able to make use of anger as a tool or skillful means. If anger is called for and would be useful, we are not afraid to apply it. And when destructive anger does arise, we are not seduced, nor do we run away from it. We gobble it up on the spot. Not a trace remains.

When you realise emptiness, it would be absurd to do anything negative. When you realise emptiness, compassion arises with it simultaneously.

-- Mahasiddha Padampa Sangye

皈依法的重要性

多识仁波切

提起“三宝”和“皈依法”这两个词，凡懂一点佛教常识的人，都能轻而易举地说出它们的含义。

“三宝”指佛、法、僧，“皈依”指皈信三宝。似乎很简单，但实际上要了解这两个词的内涵并不容易。

什么是“佛”？什么是“法”？什么是“僧”？为什么称“宝”？这“佛”是有形的，还是无形的？这“佛”有什么品质特点？这“佛”和其他宗教的神灵、救世主、太上老君、自在天、玉皇大帝、耶稣、王母娘娘等信仰对象是否同一类型的东西？若有区别，区别在哪里？佛法是指佛陀的思想主张呢，还是事物的本质规律呢？佛法和儒道杂家的学说是同类的东西吗？不同之处在哪里？佛法是释迦牟尼创造的吗？释迦牟尼之前有没有佛法？若无佛法，释迦牟尼根据什么证道成佛？历史上的释迦牟尼早在二千多年前就已逝世，现在还有没有释迦牟尼？若有，是怎么个有法？在何处？是什么样子？若没有，难道佛教徒信仰的是一个并不存在的东西吗？佛就是庙里供的那个样子吗？有些人为了恶意贬低佛教，诬蔑佛教是“庸俗的偶像崇拜”，你能说明他们的说法错在何处？

“僧宝”就是指出家的和尚吗？三宝中的“僧宝”是指具备见道自度和度众能力者，你认为凡出家的男女信众都具备这个条件吗？为什么不去皈依神鬼，要皈依三宝呢？皈依的实质是什么？皈依能解决什么问题？

皈依是指领取“皈依证”，取得入教的资格吗？接受皈依的法师、律师应具备什么样的资格和条件？凡是穿法衣的人都有传皈依法的资格吗？皈依仅仅是初入佛门例行的手续吗？念念皈依法就能起到皈依的作用吗？皈依上师，是否“三宝”会成为“四宝”？皈依的标准是什么？皈依后要做什么？不能做什么？成了开悟的圣人，成了在地的菩萨，还要不要“皈依三宝”？……

以上这些问题，别说一般的信众，就连那些咬文嚼字、照本宣科的和尚、法师和那些只知佛法皮毛不知其精髓的世俗学人，能有理有据、准确无误解答的恐怕也不多。不是说这些问题有多么深，而是由于社会风气不良，正法泯灭，邪法、假法盛行，很少有人关心这类佛法的深层要害问题。由于在很多人心目中，佛法的感召力没有金钱的诱惑力大，他们学佛法、研究佛经的目的仍不出名利二字，因此，治学的态度极不严肃扎实，浅尝辄止，浮光掠影地走过场，以满足名利的欲望。在这种情况下，那些正信弟子更需要正法的营养。

作为“三宝”的弟子，首先应该了解“三宝”，对“三宝”有一个正确的看法，在此基础上建立理性信念，进行身心一致、言行一致的真正“皈依”，并且坚持信心永不退转。做到这一点是非常重要的。写这篇文章的目的，就是为了让更多的人了解“三宝”，产生正信，做到名符其实的皈依。有人也许认为，皈依法是初入佛门的人所需要的“基础法”“小法”，已“皈依”过的人、已入道的人不需要皈依法，如果有这种想法，就充分证明此人对佛法一窍不通。皈依法是佛道入门之法，也是佛道中自始至终需要坚持到底的大法。佛法八万四千，归结在一起就是大小二乘和显密二法。显密二法的法理归结为三法就是根、道、果三法。“根”指生命的本质规律和解脱成佛的基因或者前提，具体地说，就是众生的被污染的光明心，即如来藏、佛心。如没有这个大前提，其余解脱、成佛的道果都无从谈起。使本具的光明心离垢去污、去妄见真的智慧和方法便是“道”。光明心净化，变为法身便是“果”。道果之法，深似海洋，广如虚空，但归根结底，超不出“三宝皈依法”的范围——这是印、藏历代佛学大师共同得出的结论，并不是我的新发现。从这个意义上说没有比皈依法更大、更重要的法。

藏传佛教称“皈依”“发心”“灌顶”为“三入门”，其中：“皈依”是入佛教之门；“发菩提心”是入大乘之门；“灌顶”是入密教之门。

这三重教义就像内外三层城墙：最外的一道城墙是佛教和非佛教的分界线；第二道城墙是大乘教和小乘教的分界线；第三道城墙也就是最里边的城墙，是密教和显教的分界线。每一层城墙只有一个门，别无旁门。这第一道门是佛教之门，要想进入佛门，必须从这道门进去，这道门就是：皈依三宝。进入佛城后，不想停留在小乘的境界，想进大乘菩萨境，就要进第二道门，即“发心门”。再进一步想进入不可思议、无比神圣的密教境界，就进第三道门，即“灌顶门”。

这三道门的关系是：要想进第二道门（大乘门），首先必须进入第一道门（佛教门）；要想进入第三道门（密法门），必须先进入第一和第二道门。从这个道理可以懂得，“灌顶门”和“发心门”的进入必须靠“皈依门”。因此，可以说“皈依”是门中之门，法中之大法。

修密法，首先要修皈依法和利众发心法，这一点必不可少，这也是门门相关、法法相连的原因。从这个道理，我们就可以知道那些不讲皈依、不讲发心、不走正道的所谓“密法”是些什么货色。凡正宗佛教密法的每一个观修仪轨，开头都规定“皈依”“发心”，这不仅仅是一种密法仪轨的程式，而是有它深刻的道理。

弥勒在《般若现观庄严论》、《宝性论》和《大乘庄严经论》中详细阐明：众生本具光明心，即佛性种子，从潜藏状态下显现、醒悟需要有适当的条件，就像深深埋藏在地下的植物种子如果没有一定的湿度和温度就不会发芽一样。

佛性种子醒悟发芽的主要条件有四个：

第一，要有佛法的环境。如果没有佛法存在，听不到佛法，没有学佛法的客观条件，佛性种子就不会发芽。

第二，要有指引善道的大乘师。若无具备佛法知识、德才兼备的导师，就无从得知佛名，受到佛法的教育。在这个意义上讲，师恩大于佛恩。宗喀巴大师在《菩提道次第广论》中，把“拜师”当作得道的根本，具有非常深刻的意义。由于密法比显法更重视师教和传承，视师为三宝的代表，是可见、可闻、可以感受到的现世的三宝，所以，在皈依法中首先提到“皈依上师”。有些研究藏传佛教的世俗学者不懂得“上师是三宝”的道理，说什么“藏传佛教有四宝”，这是十分可笑的。

第三，本人要有善良的愿望。若本人没有善良愿望，好比卵石在水中浸泡千万年石心也不会变得湿润柔软一样，虽在佛法中浸泡，也无法使他变得聪明善良。因此，这内因是非常重要的。

第四，要有佛性种子发芽成长的“福田”营养。“福田”是指“积德行善”。这积德行善就如佛种发芽、成长的“肥料”，若缺乏这福田肥料，佛性的萌芽和禾苗就像缺乏营养的婴儿一样，其生理和智力的发育会受到严重影响，变成先天和后天不足的“弱智”或者“畸型儿”。现在虽然学佛的人多，但重视种福田的人很少，这也是学佛不成功的一个主要原因。

以上佛种发芽成长的四个必备条件中，第一条佛法环境属于前生的修积，其余三条（亲师、发愿、行善）都包括在“皈依”“发心”二法中。因此，《佛性论》指出“皈依三宝”是佛种萌发的首要条件。我不知那些不讲皈依、不行善积德、缺乏营养的禅所生的“开悟”是什么样的“开悟”，在佛经中从来没有这种开悟。偏禅、外道的所谓“开悟”，和佛法中的“开悟”名称相同，实质上并不相同。因为那类偏禅的所谓开悟，既不要学法，也不要持戒、 行善积德，单凭某个所谓开悟的禅师的一半句什么“话头”，就能一步踏到彼岸世界，多么神奇啊!说佛法是不管用的语文般若，反而不如狂僧的一句话头，更有甚者烧佛像、谤佛毁法、杀生斩猫，已严重违背了皈依戒规。这种行为若能成佛，就没有成不了佛的人。所以说，他们的这种“开悟”和“成佛”与佛法中所说的“开悟”“成佛”，绝不是一回事。

至于那些气功师和巫婆神汉所谓的“开悟”本来与佛法无关，没有提它的必要，但是他们也都打着佛家的旗号，所以也顺便提几句，以供佛教信众辨认。他们所谓的“开悟”指什么，别人无法知道，但从传法者和学法者追求的目标和他们的言谈来看，“开悟”是指能看到一些一般人看不到的颜色、图像、光线，听到一些特殊的声音，能预感预测一些特殊时空的情况。这些都是属于“五眼”“六通”范围的功能。这些功能大部分都属世间功能，有的生来就有，有的通过特殊的药物和修炼都能做到，有些被人视为神奇的功能动物也有。这类功能和佛法中所说的“慧眼”和“见性开悟”没有任何相同之处。佛法中所说的开悟是指彼岸智慧，是经过资粮、加行二道的长期行善修慧、破除见惑后自然生出的一种直观直觉智慧。除了佛以外，这种见真智慧只有定中才有。出定后俗心复生，就成为分别智。而这种定中智的最大特点是无色无相——凡是懂佛法的人都知道，这是最起码的常识，哪有什么声音、光线、图像。所以说，那种见图像、声光的功能和佛教见性开悟没有任何共同点，把世俗的这类特异功能当成佛家的见道开悟，是缺乏佛教知识的表现。

Next, to meditate the spirit of enlightenment, while meditating the master-deity on your head, reflect in the following manner: If I ask myself whether I now have the ability to establish all sentient beings in complete and perfect Buddhahood, I will have to admit that I do not have the ability to establish so much as a single sentient being in a state of complete and perfect Buddhahood. Moreover, even if I attained one of the two kinds of arhatship, my work for others' welfare would be partial and I would lack the ability to lead all sentient beings to Buddhahood. Who has that ability? Complete and perfect buddhas do…. In brief since only buddhas possess every kind of good quality and are free of every kind of fault, to complete both my own goals and others', I must attain Buddhahood. For the sake of all sentient beings, my mothers, by all means, I will quickly, very quickly, realise complete, perfect and precious Buddhahood. Master-deity, please bless me so that I may be able to do so.

-- 4th Panchen Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen

How Sad Is Your Love?

by Mu Soeng

A phrase in one of the Korean liturgical chants has always seemed to me to be a gateway to a deeper understanding of compassion in the Buddhist tradition. The chant is called the Morning Bell Chant, and, as the name indicates, it is chanted in early morning hours, at all Korean temples and monasteries. Typically, one of the monks sits by a large hanging bell and hits it at periodic intervals in a prescribed manner. This protocol is followed whether the liturgy is done in the mountains of Korea or in a Los Angeles neighbourhood. The monk also chants in a traditional manner and, at periodic and indicated intervals, the congregation joins him in chanting the phrase, Namu Amita Bul, “Homage to Buddha Amitabha.”

The Morning Bell Chant is a curious commingling of three disparate Buddhist traditions that are all inherited from China: Huayen, Pure Land, and Zen. In the Morning Bell Chant, elements of these traditions are blended in a single sonic narrative that’s unique to Korean Buddhism. When and why this chant came to be adopted in its present form is a subject of many debates and interpretations among Korean Buddhists.

The phrase in the chant that has always captivated me is dae ja, dae bi, popularly translated as “great love, great compassion.” The Bodhisattva of compassion is a profound iconic presence in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Buddhism and, not surprisingly, provides the context for this phrase in the Morning Bell Chant. The Bodhisattva of compassion is called Avalokiteshvara in Indian Mahayana Buddhism; Kwan Se Um Bosal in Korean; Kuan Yin in Chinese; and Kannon in Japanese. In the Korean usage Kwan means perceive; Se means world; Um means sound; and Bosal means Bodhisattva; hence, “the Bodhisattva who perceives (hears) the sounds (cries) of the world.” The Sanskrit term Avalokiteshvara, while literally meaning “The Lord Who Looks Down,” is traditionally understood in Mahayana Buddhism as “He Who Hears the Sounds (Outcries) of the World.”

The Bodhisattva of compassion transformed from a male figure in Indian Buddhism to a female figure in China, Japan, Korea, and Tibet; this transformation remains one of the great mysteries of the Mahayana Buddhism that developed in North and East Asia. In traditional patriarchal societies, male archetypes were associated with the roles of priest, warrior, and merchant, and religious and social hierarchies flowed from this role-playing. These same societies associated compassion and caring with feminine qualities and assigned them to female deities in the religious pantheon. It is likely that as Buddhism evolved in early medieval China, the Taoist model of harmonising the two polar energies of yin and yang (yin as the feminine, compassionate, soft, nurturing, yielding, receptive, and yang as masculine, energetic, proactive, hard, unyielding) may have played a pivotal role in providing a complementary background for the Mahayana’s balance of wisdom and compassion.

Why was this balance needed? The early Mahayana practitioners in India may have felt that the extraordinary emphasis on wisdom in the earlier Pali Nikaya tradition caused or could cause one-sidedness in understanding the Buddha’s teachings. Although compassion is present in the Pali Nikayas as a quality to be cultivated, its role in these texts is secondary to the cultivation of wisdom. The innovation in Mahayana Buddhism was to raise compassion to equal standing, to somehow balance the shocking intensity of the wisdom of emptiness with a leavening of healing and helping through compassion.

A deeper consideration of the phrase dae ja, dae bi offers a stimulating perspective for understanding the subtle nuances of “great love” and “great compassion” beyond the conventional meanings of these terms. Dae means “big, great, strong, and respected”; ja generally means “love.” But this “love” has a particular character to it. It is not erotic love; it is not sentimental love; it is not attachment love. It has a strong connotation of the kind of care given by a mother to her child; the implication here is that the nature of this care supersedes any love based on attachment. In other words, this experience of love is not needy or greedy. It emerges naturally and dynamically in response to the causes and conditions of the child’s needs and development, and is not an expression of neurotic symptoms. Of course what is being described here is an ideal of a mother’s love, and it may not be how each and every mother has experienced it.

The care and love given by a mother to a child is easy to associate with the Bodhisattva of compassion as a female archetype (Kuan Yin or Kannon or Kwan Se Um Bosal). In folk Buddhism throughout China, Japan, and Korea, this female figure is represented as having a thousand eyes and arms, through which she is able to help all those who seek her help. What seems to emerge in these narratives is the quality of care the supplicant expects to find in seeking a refuge in the Bodhisattva of compassion.

We can come to a similar kind of understanding when we consider that bi in the Morning Bell Chant, while popularly translated as “compassion,” has in its historical roots a nuance of meaning that is much closer to “sadness.” This nuance has more to do with a state of mind or a feeling-tone. Thus, the etymological nuances of both ja and bi are much closer to states of mind or feeling-tones rather than idea or concepts.

When the Bodhisattva of compassion looks down with her thousand eyes at the beings caught in the sea of suffering, she feels an enormous sadness for their situation. This sadness is not pity or pathos or commiseration. It is a response to the entire human condition. From the perspective of the Bodhisattva, human beings don’t learn much; they keep going around and around within the same grooves of samsara — greed, hatred, and delusion — in a never-ending cycle. The feedback loop of this cycle is dynamic, but it also remains self-enclosed and keeps itself in place over aeons and aeons. The Bodhisattva feels deep sadness that things are this way, just as a mother feels great sadness when her child goes through physical or psychological agony. The mother of the universe — as the Bodhisattva of compassion is depicted iconographically — does not personalise this sadness. She has seen this phenomenon of numberless beings caught in the web of their own creation for countless aeons. She reaches out with her thousand arms to these beings and helps them in whatever way she can. But this sadness and the resultant compassion and willingness to help are universal rather than personal.

We might understand how the derivation of bi lends itself to the emotion of sadness a little better if we look at our experience in a meditation retreat. During longer retreats especially, the space of personal experience opens up in a periodic up welling of sadness. When looked at closely, this sadness may be the culmination of earlier emotions like anger, rage, frustration, and so on that bubble forth, particularly during the earlier phase of a long retreat. These layered emotions resurface as a manifestation of deeply suppressed intuitions that one’s life has not worked out the way one had wanted it to. But these emotions, after they manifest themselves quite vividly, also spend themselves out. What’s left is a generalised feeling-tone of sadness, which is personal and yet not personal. One feels sad for the turns one has missed in one’s own life through the workings of greed, hatred, and delusion. This particular sadness is not regret and it is not quite sorrow as we generally experience sorrow. It’s something more subtle and finely attuned than sorrow or regret.

Within this sadness one also recognises a certain universal pattern — that one’s life is a microcosm of all human lives that have ever been lived. In recognising one’s own samsaric feedback loop, one also recognises how each and every person who has ever lived has been similarly caught up in the working of samsara. The feeling of sadness for the personal-yet-not-personal is understood as sadness for the fundamental nature of the human condition. One of the healthy outgrowths of this sadness is that one takes responsibility for all the mistakes one has made in one’s life rather than blaming them on someone else, or even blaming ourselves. Sadness is thus a process of growth and maturation.

Sadness for those mistakes and a non-blaming acceptance of their costs provide the essential ingredients for further insights to develop. With sadness as a backdrop, one resolves to care diligently for one’s actions from now on, so that one does not again harm oneself or others. This care or watchful concern is not an overt or covert scheme of “self-improvement” but a deep insight that the samsaric web we are weaving through our thoughts and actions have karmic consequences that ripple out endlessly. As one cares for one’s own being in an authentic way, one also has the sense of somehow being of some assistance to the rest of creation.

It may not be possible to precisely outline the details of this assistance, but one has the general sense of helpfulness. The aspiration implicit in the first great vow of the Zen tradition, “All beings, one body, I vow to liberate,” somehow becomes alive in one’s caring for oneself. An up welling of sadness toward one’s mistakes in life and the cumulative mistakes of all humanity helps serve as a backdrop to the arising of compassion. Our authentic experience evokes our authentic motivation, like the first musical note struck on a string instrument. How the other notes follow becomes a matter of great and delicate care.

Thus, a Mahayana understanding of Bodhisattvahood would mean that authentic practice is forever bound up with this palpable sense of care and sadness — the dae ja, dae bi of the Morning Bell Chant. It is not about an ideological insistence on upholding the paradigm of the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva paradigm is a feeling-tone; the doctrine that accompanies it is merely there to explain or amplify. It has no significance without the feeling-tone of care and sadness. And yet there’s nothing neurotic, sentimental, or self-indulgent about this feeling-tone. It is grounded in an awareness that, just as one has come to a place of sadness and care in one’s own situation, it is possible for others to come to the same place of reckoning. If this reckoning is cultivated deeply, the boundaries between self and the other dissolve and will continue to dissolve when constant vigilance to care and sadness is maintained. This is the promise of practice.

Realisation is not knowledge about the universe, but the living experience of the nature of the universe. Until we have such living experience, we remain dependent on examples, and subject to their limits.

-- Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

我心有佛

文｜张家提

据禅宗僧传《五灯会元》记载，由于战乱，普陀寺的众禅者决定迁移庙址。在迁移途中，只有豫通大师一人坚持早课，从不荒废。有人劝说：“此处无佛，大师可不必如此。”豫通大师答一偈子说：“此处无佛，我心有佛。既诚我心，是诚我佛。”

早晚功课是出家人每天早晚必须修持的功课，也是出家人修行的重要方式之一。通过早晚课诵不仅可以坚定僧人的信仰，培养僧人的道念，同时还可以使僧人养成有规律的生活习惯，有益于身心健康。在和平的岁月中，僧众都能做到坚持早晚功课，但是在兵荒马乱的岁月中，能够像豫通禅师那样在极端艰苦的环境中，依然能够坚持做早课的人，却并不多见。这还不算，最为令人赞叹的是豫通大师“我心有佛”的回答偈语。在豫通大师看来，坚持早课，不仅是对诸佛的虔诚，也是一个人应当具备的道德操守。在大师眼中，信仰是需要自去坚守的，不论有没有人监督，都需要自己持之以恒地自觉奉行。只有坚定自己的信念，才能不因环境的改变而退失道心，或放松自己的修行。

佛陀的大弟子迦叶尊者是“我心有佛”的人。迦叶尊者出家之后，专行日中一食、树下坐等头陀苦行，直至老年依然如此。佛陀怜悯他的衰老，对他说：“你长久苦行，如今年岁已高，应当稍自休息。”迦叶尊者依然苦行如故。佛陀对迦叶尊者坚持苦行大为赞叹，说：“你能为一切众生作依止，与我在世时没有区别。有同你一样修头陀苦行的人，则我的佛法就存在；没有行头陀苦行的人，则我的佛法将灭亡。你真是荷担如来大法的人。”

古代高僧中，有很多“我心有佛”的高僧。他们执着于自己的操守和信仰。隋代高僧智舜法师，赵州大陆人。长期专修禅定观想，但妄心频频生起，自己无法禁制。为降伏妄心，即引锥刺股，血流不止。有时为降伏妄心，便抱着石头右绕佛塔，从不停止，大腿上被锥子所刺之处，斑驳陆离如同锦鸟。

唐代的全庵禅师修道猛烈精进，很多时候，他在坐禅观照时达到了废寝忘食的程度。有一天，全庵禅师在靠着栏杆参究“狗子无佛性”的话头时，下起了小雨，由于全庵十分专注参究话头，竟然浑然不觉，直到衣服湿透了方才知晓。

唐代高僧哲侍者在睡觉时为防止自己贪睡，经常以圆木为枕，一旦睡着之后，圆枕就会转动，哲侍者马上就会醒来继续坐禅用功。日久天长，哲侍者就习以为常了。有人见到哲侍者如此苦行，告诉他用功太过，哲侍者回答说：“我于般若缘分素薄，若不如此，恐为妄习所牵”，说过依然如此用功。

《淮南子》有云：“兰生幽谷，不为莫服而不芳；舟在江海，不为莫乘而不浮；君子行义不为莫知止休。”像以上高僧那样“ 我心有佛”，坚持自己的信仰和操守，他们并不因无人知道而停止，也不因环境的险恶放松对自己的要求。这才是一个君子人所应行之事。

在俗世中也有很多人“ 我心有佛”，他们坚持自己操守和信仰。春秋时期卫灵公一次在宫中与大臣议事，当时已经是深夜时分，街边驶来马车之声清晰可辨。当马车行至宫门，车辙之声嘎然而止，仅能听到轻微的马蹄叩击地面发出的脆响。而经过宫门之后，马车复又加速疾驰而去。卫灵公只听声音便断定此人一定是蘧伯玉，因为只有他，才能在夜深无人之时，依旧克己复礼，坚守君臣之道。

东汉时期的名士杨震， 在调任东莱太守时，一次路过昌邑。县令王密是他在荆州刺史任内荐举的官员，得知杨震到来，王密晚上带十斤黄金作为礼物拜望杨震，感谢杨震当年对自己的举荐之恩。杨震严词拒绝了这份礼物，并说：“我了解你，你却不了解我，是什么原因呢？ ” 王密以为杨震故作客气， 便说道：“晚上没有人知道，有什么关系呢？”杨震十分生气，厉声说：“天知、地知、你知、我知，怎么能说没人知道呢？”王密羞愧难当，只得带着黄金悻悻而回。杨震为官清廉，从不接受私人拜谒。他的子孙经常蔬食步行。故旧长者有人劝杨震为子孙开办产业，杨震不肯，并说：“使后世称赞他们为清白官吏子孙，以此赠送子孙，不也是一份厚礼吗？”

无论是佛门和俗世，一个真正有德行修养的人，都能做到“我心有佛”，从而坚守各自的操守和信仰，成为受人尊敬和赞叹的人。

Conditions truly they are transient.

Their nature is to arise and cease,

Having arisen, then they pass away,

Their calming and cessation is true bliss.

-- The Buddha (Mahaparinirvana Sutra)

Buddhism in the New Millennium

by Phua Keng Chuan

What is the future of Buddhism in the new millennium? The mass media, such as the internet and mobile communication has brought a tremendous change in the world today. It has revolutionised the communication and affect the way we do in our everyday life. It brought people together through the sharing of knowledge. Buddhism, like all other religions is feeling the impact and it has to keep pace with this change.

Nowadays, we can spread the Dharma with new tools and ways that are more sophisticated. Globalisation and modernisation have led to a number of changes in Buddhism. It has posed new opportunities and challenges for Buddhist communities and it will eventually help to globalise the Dharma. Buddhism has been adapting naturally and simply for many centuries. The adaptability of Buddhism may be one reason for its success, as it is easily integrated into many foreign cultures during the past centuries. However, there are always views and opinions with misunderstanding about Buddhism. There is also a perception that the religion is gradually invaded by other faiths and it is degenerating. It may one day vanish from Asia where Buddhism has the roots.

The aim at the forum is to create a platform on how to update ourselves so that the truths will remain steadfast. Time is everything in our life and we have the opportunity to look forward. Buddhism looks at times differently. It signifies the declining of everything. It is an illusion as the elements of time are like a tip of our memory. We discover nothing but the past. The present has no beginning and ending. Time is like the water current and both are moving nature.

How do we make use of time to our benefits? The millennium is an indicator for us to do something. It is how we practise Buddhism in our present age. To Buddhism from the ancient time to the present era, it is a wide span of time to raise such an issue like this. The core of human beings is suffering and this is a problem that will still exist even into many millenniums.

Buddhism has global appeal. From the land of its birth in India, Buddhism has spread to many countries throughout Asia. In each country and civilisation that it encountered, it was understood and adopted to the ideas and customs of a country. In recent times, there has been an interest and a movement towards Buddhism in Western countries. We can also find different brands of Buddhism around the world. It is still keeping  the essence of how to end suffering. There is always a great diversity of Buddhist methods and Buddhist teachings and it fit very well with different societies and different cultures.

We must first self-realise the teaching and its truths, before we can pass on the teaching beyond the time factor - challenging everyone to come and see. Buddhism is not a philosophy, as we need to practise systematically. We can get the results by ourselves without asking Buddha for help. Therefore, Buddhism is still relevant regardless of time. There are different schools of Buddhism with different practices and it is still growing. When we visit big temples, we cannot see any monks but many Buddha images, and we may mistaken that Buddhism is degrading.

There is a different approach to practice Buddhism. The Western ideal of a religion is that there must be a God. However, Buddha says that let the God be in his space, while we Buddhists have to solve our own problems. Buddhism is beyond time and space. It is in our minds. The word, “Theravada” as with Theravada Buddhism was coined in Sri Lanka in 1950 to replace Hinayana. It created identities, while we live separately in our own country to preserve Buddhism. There are divisions and we need to build a platform like The World Fellowship of Buddhists (The WFB) to bring all schools of Buddhism under one umbrella. There is another word, “Dhammaduta” that appeared in the 5th century BCE and it was alien to most Western scholars. It means to spread Buddhism everywhere in solidarity. Today, we have the three schools of Buddhism - Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana, which can simply mean cleaning of the mind, compassion and wisdom respectively.

Fake Buddhism also poised other challenges to the religion. They created a problem with the world by taking some aspects of Buddhism into their own teaching and labelled them as Buddhism. For Buddhism to be sustainable, we must hold it in its own firm ground. The Buddhist symbol, the Dhammacakra is the turning of the wheel of Dharma perpetually. It carries unmistakable strength. Buddhism is still relevant and active to solve people’s problems in the next millennium. We may invite people from other religions to learn the ABC of Buddhism. It is a philosophy of Awakening, Balance (Sustaining) and Compassion.

How does Buddhism face challenges beyond itself? There are great values of Buddhism for the contemporary world. The doctrine and practice that Buddhism offered such as equality, fraternity and democracy are advocated by modern society. The Dharma is also in line with the trend of human development and scientific exploration. The advance of technology has led to the discovery of more Buddhist insights. The Buddhist scripture is huge as compared to other religions. It poses a big challenge to people that are nowadays busy with their working life. The other problem is the expansive propagation and language barrier and the lack of human resources and multilingual monastics to propagate the Dharma. Buddhism is also in line with solving contemporary social problems and contradictions. The world needs Dharma to bring peace and to address environmental issues. However, there are too many challenges for the potential of Buddhism. We must start thinking of what we can do about it.

The census of Buddhists population of the world as compared to other religions shows that Buddhism is declining. According to the report by the Pew Research Centre, the global Buddhists population of the year 2050 will be the same size as it was in 2010. With the exception of Buddhists, all the major religious groups of the world are expected to increase in number by the year 2050. Buddhists are projected to decline by 7% from nearly 500 million to about 462 million in the year 2060. Should we be concerned about numbers or does it matter if Buddhism continues to exist? Alternatively, is it just enough for people to learn the Dharma and benefit from it? The challenge to Buddhism now is how Buddhism will disappear. Will it be displaced by other religions? Will it replace with pseudo Buddhism or even abandoned by Buddhists.

The problems Buddhism is facing are not new. Whenever there is the distortion of Buddhism and the Dharma, the solution for us is to increase Dharma solidarity and to establish right view. The support within the Buddhist community is very important. There is a view that traditional Buddhism program has no appeal especially to the younger generation. We may want to change the approach, but we must be careful. There is also the problem of disconnection between members especially with the lack of support between members and temples. This problem cannot be solved easily and we must start with knowing our members. We may even fear the loss of members and it is here that we need collaboration between Buddhist organisations. Do the problems affect us if Buddhism continues to exist? It does matter if in future, Buddha images are not found in temples to inspire practice of cultivating pure thoughts for society; but in buildings and to be forgotten as historical relics.

In ancient India, the people and their beliefs were more complex. They believed in rites. When the Buddha was around, he discarded all that. This simple approach attracted many people, including the kings that allowed Buddhism to grow. When we looked at Buddhism that is taught today, it is full of ceremony. Nowadays, people are more educated. We should approach the Dharma in a simple manner. Buddhism will not attract people if they could not understand certain practice such as chanting. We understand that Buddhist rites and ceremonies are very rich and we would not advocate eradicating it. Perhaps, we should repackage it at a later stage for a better, deeper understanding.

We should teach in a language that everyone could understand. There are three areas of approach. They are simplifying, emphasis on practical applications in social experience and lastly to practice meditation. We may simplify the Dharma so that they can become more effective and easily understood by the majority of the people. Simplicity is the way that can lead one to enlightenment. We can teach Buddhist stories in simple language. For beginners in Buddhism, they will be shocked to see many rites and ceremonies. Therefore, it is important to demystify Buddhism for beginners. Our experience from the five senses is important. The known is the experience. The teacher can use expedient means to teach students that may even motivate them to learn more about Buddhism. Mindfulness is important because through meditation, one can become enlightened. It is an excellent way to introduce them to the Dharma. The people will come and enjoy learning the Dharma. We can also make use of technology, songs and story base to disseminate the Dharma.

The need for a calm and compassionate mind is important. There is discontent, conflict and unhappiness as the world is brought up in confusion. It is time we need cultivation. The challenges facing Buddhism can be personal, external and ideological. These are alienation, family and relationship stresses and high work demands. Other challenges such as poverty, globalisation, discrimination, environmental mismanagement, misinformation and indoctrination by the internet are not new.

What is the root of the problem? The challenges to problems are ultimately mind-made. They are spun out from the mind that is caught in greed, hatred and delusion. The root of the problem is the misguided mind. We can address these challenges with the cultivation of morality, concentration and wisdom. The application of a discerning mind, guided by compassion and wisdom may provide the holistic approach.

When sharing the Dharma, we should highlight the relevant of the Dharma by creatively communicating the Dharma. On the personal level, this is the positive transformation to personal well-being and ultimately to enlightened being. On the global level, this is the vision of ethical and compassionate humanity or pure land on earth. Science is also a good partner with Buddhism in addressing the demands of the new millennium. We can also share the peaceful and joyful Dharma such as the seven factors of enlightenment. These are mindfulness, discernment, energy, joy, tranquillity, concentration and equanimity. We may even broaden the network of Buddhist fellowship and favourable environment for engaging with the Dharma. This can be done by extending the supportive metta-charged fellowship and spiritual communities to cater to the need of the segregated small family social environment. The network can also provide the platform to reach out and share the Dharma.

What are the development and characteristics of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism? What are the differences and similarities between them? The differences are lineage, language, teachings and form. There are practices that differ but the end goal is to cut across lineage and taking the Triple Gem as our common refuge. The other problems are the idolisation of a teacher, sectarian teaching and isolation. One of the main solutions is to take the Buddha as our teacher, the Dharma as our teachings and the Sangha as our guide. In all Buddhist traditions, the focus is on helping sentient beings. The different lineages are more like medicine and vehicle. Our goal is to end suffering. The lineages offer different approaches that are suited for individuals with different affinity and inclinations. The focus is on the Dharma and not on the method it is delivered. The Theravada and Mahayana tradition also stressed on the importance of meditation. Both are adapted to cultural differences.

The term, meditation means the cultivation of the mind. The nearest Pali or Sanskrit terms that corresponds to this is the word, citta-bhavana. In Buddhist tradition, the cultivation of the mind is usually presented in terms of two different but complementary aspects. They are namely “calm” and “insight”. The aim of calming meditation is to enter into deep “concentration” (samadhi) while the aim of “insight” meditation is to arrive at “wisdom” (prajna). We have Upatissa’s Vimuttimagga (path of freedom) which gives us 38 aspects of meditation and we have Buddhagosa’s Visuddhimagga, which gives us 40 aspects of meditation. Some of the objects of calming meditation are the ten devices, four formless, the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth jhana. Some of the obstacles to calming meditation are five hindrances, sensual desire, ill will, tiredness & sleepiness, excitement & depression, and doubt. There are also different schools of meditation in Mahayana Buddhism. They are the Sanlun, Fa Hsiang, Pure Land and Tiantai Buddhism. The Pure Land School emphasis on the practice of “nianfo” They usually mean “mindful recollection of the Buddha” It also means “the recollection or the bearing in mind of the attributes of a Buddha”. The Tiantai school of Buddhism emphasises samatha and vipassana meditation.

How are we going to practise Buddhism in this modern age? There are thousands of discourses taught by the Buddha. In ancient times, many people learned by memory using the oral tradition. Today we have every opportunity to learn. One can be a doctorate in Buddhist teachings. They give lecture but not practicing. Therefore, when a devoted Buddhist faces difficulty, he may not know how to handle the problem. Beliefs and devotion are also not important in Buddhism, as we do not consider the Buddha as a God. It does not help in salvation. Nowadays, it is difficult to learn and practise Buddhism because many things attract us. We have fast moving life-style. As life is competitive, we may have created serious problem. Therefore, we need Buddhism today. Everybody has stress and it is suffering. Anger should not overcome us. Let it come, watch it and conquer it. When practicing Buddhism, we can obtain beautiful results, and overcome stress. We need metta (love without attachment), karuna (compassion) and simplicity joy (being happy about people success).

Buddhism is also developing slowing in Western countries. However, the needs are different. Buddhist characteristics such as “come to see”, cause and effect, responsibility, “open to questions” and interdependence attracted many Westerners. Other traditional religions impose fear on people. Some Buddhist monks in America conducted meditation services and visited the homeless non-Buddhist for a nice friendly conversation. The approach is different. There are meditation program in prisons, schools and hospitals. There is also a need to train local people to work in the various places. For some Westerner, it is advisable that we do not emphasis on ritual, chanting, devotional activities, merit-making or doctrinal studies. We need to tell people that this is traditional Buddhism, but do emphasis on mindfulness. How can be we move forward? We need to have understanding and unity. It is also good to discuss non-Buddhist practises. As a Buddhist, we must learn to accept and appreciate and it is important that we must help to promote the Buddhist teachings.

There is a huge impact of globalisation on Dharma propagation. The economic globalisation leads to greed. Greed takes centre stage and it is institutional. Greed is also materialism. The Dharma of non-greed, non-hatred and non-delusion is important. The characteristics of globalisation are excessive consumerism, uncontrolled wastage of resources and instability, There are transnational religious organisation or religion in the business world. It has positive impact. The results are wider Dharma propagation, greater awakening, competition and mutual learning. However, their negative impacts are competition for limited resource, the rise of personality cults and the exploration of resources such as consumerisation. The rise of mega-pseudo-Buddhist cults is also subverting the Dharma. We need to expose them by educating the public on the truth about the Dharma.

Cultural Globalisation such as language, values and lifestyle have an impact on Buddhism. The English language, the common language of the world is not another language of Buddhism. Asians such as Oriental people are quiet by nature. Our food and dressings are also different. We also tend to follow the Western lifestyle of having Christian name. We need to propagate the Dharma by preaching corporate conscience to corporate leaders to counter greed. The Buddhist institution must practise what is preached. Buddhists also need to take part in Inter-religious dialogue with other religions. It is ideal to preach Dharma to all others and not only to Buddhist alone. For Dharma propagation, it is also useful to have a mastery of important words such as dukka or karma in English. As a Buddhist, we also need to live a wholesome Buddhist lifestyle and have social engagement.

What is meant to be a Buddhist practitioner? What are the positive development and challenge we face as a lay-people? To engage wholeheartedly in Buddhism takes valuable time for meditation, study, service or volunteer work and community. Modern technology, however increasingly dominates our everyday lives in work, education and society. We have the aspirations and ambitions. The progress of modern science and the advance in educational level of many people has a huge impact on the religious beliefs of many people. There is a way to escape the suffering in modern life. Science is trying to explore mindfulness. The Buddhist use of mindfulness stress-reduction program is useful. Many modern educated Buddhists are having demanding jobs, and practices such as mindfulness meditation provide much-needed relief from the pressure in day to day life. We have the desire to lead a less stressful and meaningful life.

While we concentrate on our own liberation, we also need the spirit of having the Bodhisattva vows to follow the Buddha’s example and help everybody to become enlightened. A Bodhisattva-aspirant generated the great aspiration to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings by actively giving service to people. The choice of us is either we follow the path to end our sufferings or to end the sufferings of everybody. With globalisation and fast changing world, people are becoming intolerant, more materialistic, egoistic and individualistic than ever before. Time is on our side as there is a growing need for us to act immediately. This is important for Buddhism to progress and flourish beyond the new millennium.

The essence of realisation is nowness, occurring all at once, with nothing to add or subtract. Self-liberation, innate great bliss, free from hope or fear is the fruition.

-- Marpa

放下得失的觀念

慧律法师

我們要怎樣才能活得快樂，那就要放下得失的觀念。真的，要放下得失觀念。今天你得到任何東西，先不要高興，有一天就會失去；你今天失去的東西，或許，有一天又會得到。這個世間，沒有永恆存在的東西，因此必須放下得失觀念。

人生常有許多無奈。比如，男孩子失去女朋友，痛苦得要死，要上吊、吃安眠藥、舉槍自殺、喝農藥，在台灣很多喝農藥自殺的。他們就是不瞭解，有些東西得到了，不見得就是好的。像台灣的大家樂賭得很盛行，賭得很瘋狂，有一個人很少中獎，後來去簽六合彩，中了四百多萬。去領錢的時候，卻遇到四個人，拿了武士刀出來，叫他把錢放下。台灣現在的治安已亮起紅燈，很嚴重了。

　　

有一天，內政部長許水德先生來拜訪我，他希望藉宗教的力量來改善社會風氣，用因果觀念來勸人為善。其實，新加坡的治安這麼好，如果能加上佛教的因果觀念，那就更好了，會使新加坡的社會國家更進步。有因果觀念後，人們就不敢去犯罪。比如說你叫我去綁票，打死我，我也不幹，叫我去殺人，我也不會去做，因為我有戒律的觀念。

　　

但我們剛才說那個中六合彩的人，到銀行領錢時，遇到四個人叫他把四百萬放下。他曾是海軍陸戰隊，身體很壯，雖然對方持刀搶劫，但他不甩這一套，因為他學過跆拳道。於是就大打出手了，結果四個人被他打死了兩個，但他身上也被砍了二十多刀，後來不治死亡。

　　

我們有個假設，假使不要中四百萬，也許就不會死。因為得到橫財，致使身中二十幾刀。所以我說：「諸位佛友，有錢沒有錢，學佛好過年。」因此，我們要放下得失的觀念，有錢不一定很好，有女人也不一定很好，擁有權力也不一定很好。也許會惹上殺身之禍，這很難講喔！平淡過日子，不是很快樂嗎？

一段因緣

　　

接著要講一段我自己以前的事，那段日子是我這生當中最痛苦的時候。那時我讀高中三年級，交一個女朋友。雖然我這麼矮，也有一段羅曼蒂克的戀愛史。但今天我出家，並不是失戀才出家，這一點必須先說明清楚。

　　

高三時交的這位女朋友，是我妹妹同班同學的姊姊。當時，我唸台北建國中學，那是一流的學府，分數非常高，在幾萬名考生中，才錄取幾千人，很難考上的。那時我教她數學，一教就教出了感情。

　　

後來她媽媽不同意，她對女兒說：「妳交的這位男孩子，長得很英俊，但是很矮。還有，妳看他臉色青黃不接的樣子，可能活不到三十歲。」

　　

好在，我今天已經三十八歲了。

　　

那個時候，由於她媽媽反對，我們相處的時間不是很長，不久就離開了。可是，因為第一次談戀愛，純純的愛，分手的時候很痛苦。哪裡像現在是老船長，不會暈船，現在是了解、太了解了。以前又不知道佛法，不知道怎樣過日子，每天想看書，她的倩影就跑出來。只要聽到電話聲響，就想是不是她？很緊張。後來人家不要我了，我也就決定不要她了，是她先不要我，我當然也要放下。

　　

唉呀！朋友啊，你們不知道那種感情的痛苦喔！要放下那段情，實在很難！很難！真的沒有那麼簡單。沒有被火燒過的人，不知道火的厲害，你明明知道沒有緣，要放下就是沒辦法。

　　

後來就跑去台北大橋，想著橋下的河水這麼深，跳下去就OK了，很快就解決了，就解脫了。但再看看這麼高，那不行啊！跳下去？不行，太痛苦了，死也要找一個快樂的死法啊。於是從臺北橋走下來，在淡水河邊走著走著，走在淡水河邊還是很痛苦。再想一想，衝下去淹死就算了。那時是冬天，摸摸淡水河，啊！好冷喔！這跳下去萬一沒死，就麻煩了。死了就一了百了，沒死會感冒，還要吃那種﹁黑矸標﹂，太麻煩了。後來想一想，不行，家裏還有母親。唉！那種思念的執著，真的很痛苦。

　　

後來，我讀到一位美國博士所寫的︽青年人的希望︾，這本書寫得太棒了。又看到︽人生的座右銘︾，那時還沒有接觸到佛教，如果那時已經接觸到佛教，那就太簡單了。她要離開那就趕快，我好方便﹁唸經﹂，妳不要吵我。但當時在我最痛苦之時，我翻到這本書，才讓我度過最痛苦的時刻，它寫著：﹁時間總會過去的！﹂意思是說，時間慢慢地會消失，痛苦也會消失的。

　　

假設說，我得到她，跟她結婚，也許現在已經開始吵架了，那可不一定喔！所以你看到漂漂亮亮的，那都是短暫的，那些都不是真實的。有一天她就要去整容、拉皮，還要割屁股來補臉皮。台灣以前有很多歌星影星都這樣子，多麼痛苦，為了這個臉皮。所以說，我要告訴諸位，當你今天面臨最痛苦的時候，你要認命，你要明智的告訴自己：「時間總會過去的！」

The foolish man, in wishing for happiness, works only toward his own distress. Someone under an evil influence, in wishing to be freed from pain, deprives himself of life.

-- Sakya Pandita

Dependent Arising

by Geshe Sonam Rinchen

If things were not empty of inherent existence, nothing could function and neither actions nor the agents of those actions would be feasible. It is their emptiness of inherent existence that allows everything to operate satisfactorily. When we understand the dependently arising nature of things properly, we will also understand the four noble truths: suffering, the sources of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the paths of insight that lead to this freedom from suffering. So dependent arising is crucial.

We first need to know what dependent arising or dependent existence means in general. The Tibetan expression ten ching drel war jung wa (rten cing ’brel bar ’byung ba) is used as a translation of the Sanskrit prat¦ t yasamutp› da. In English the words “arising” or “origination” are often used to translate the Tibetan jung wa (’byung ba). This can be misleading because it seems to refer to an event or occurrence with implications that something is produced, but this is not necessarily so. “Dependent arising” refers to dependence on causes and conditions but also to dependence on parts and on attribution. Everything that exists is dependently existent. If anything exists, it does so dependently.

When we think about the spiritual traditions in which we have been brought up, does this idea fit comfortably with them? Or do we believe there is something that does not rely on other factors but is independent? In fact this emphasis on the dependent nature of everything that exists is unique to the Buddha’s teachings. There have been many excellent teachers who have said many excellent and helpful things, but the Buddha is praised as an incomparable teacher because of his unsurpassable explanation of reality in terms of dependent existence.

There are two kinds of dependently arising phenomena — products and non-products. Products fit into one of two categories — they are either with or without form. Those with form are easier to identify than those without. Science is mainly concerned with investigating what, from a Buddhist point of view, is form in varying degrees of subtlety. Products without form are different kinds of awareness and non-associated compositional factors, namely those things that are neither awareness nor matter, such as persons, time, birth, ageing, duration, and impermanence.

Some assert that when we reach a very subtle level of these products, for instance particles or infinitesimal moments of time, there exist things that are functional in as much as they are produced by causes and conditions and themselves produce results, which are nevertheless unchanging. But could such things actually exist? If anything is a product and produces other phenomena, it must undergo change itself.

It is difficult for us to conceive of anything that is unchanging. Is anything that we perceive through our five senses unchanging? If not, then permanent or unchanging phenomena must appear to the sixth kind of awareness, mental consciousness, and mainly to conceptual awareness. Shut your eyes and think of your home, of something in your home or of someone close to you. An image appears. To what kind of awareness does it appear? Not to visual or auditory perception but to mental awareness. Does the image that appears in this way undergo change or not? Perhaps you left a book on the left side of the table in your room. In the meantime someone has moved it, but the image of the book on the left side of the table still appears to your mind. It is considered to be a non-product since it does not undergo change moment by moment. Mental images constantly appear to us, so it’s worth exploring what kind of phenomena they are.

In the twenty-fourth chapter of his Treatise on the Middle Way, Nagarjuna says:

Whatever arises dependently

Is explained as empty.

Thus dependent attribution

Is the middle way.

Since there is nothing whatever

That is not dependently existent,

For that reason there is nothing

Whatsoever that is not empty.

Here Nagarjuna states the Madhyamika or middle way position. Everything that exists does so dependently and everything that is dependently existent necessarily lacks independent objective existence.

What are dependently arising non-products? They are phenomena that do not come into existence through causes and conditions and thus do not undergo constant change. They are dependent on parts and on attribution. Emptiness or lack of true existence is a non-product because it does not come into being through causes and conditions and does not undergo change. Emptiness is the fundamental nature of anything that exists but is nevertheless also dependently existent because, for instance, it depends on the phenomenon whose fundamental nature it is.

It is difficult for us to gain a clear concept of non-products since they are more subtle than the things that appear to our sense perceptions. It is essential, however, to understand that both products and non-products are dependently existent.

You don't have to do anything with your mind,

just let it naturally rest in it's essential nature.

Your own mind, unagitated, is reality.

Meditate on this without distraction.

Know the Truth beyond all opposites.

Thoughts are like bubbles that form and dissolve in clear water.

Thoughts are not distinct from the absolute Reality,

so relax, there is no need to be critical.

Whatever arises, whatever occurs,

simply don't cling to it, but immediately let it go.

What you see, hear, and touch are your own mind.

There is nothing but mind.

Mind transcends birth and death.

The essence of mind is pure Consciousness that never leaves reality,

even though it experiences the things of the senses.

In the equanimity of the Absolute, there is nothing to renounce or attain.

-- Niguma

如何处理信仰与家庭事业的关系

惟贤法师

我今天的讲题是：如何处理信仰与家庭事业的关系。如何处理信仰与家庭事业的关系？佛教讲修行的道路，离不开信解行证，什么是信解行证呢？

一、信

在佛教四众弟子里边，在家信众是多数，约占百分之九十，出家僧众是少数，约占百分之十。出家僧众专门讲修学佛法，就等于专业，这种专业比较单纯化，没有一切累赘，所以僧众是住持正法，居士是护持正法。作为僧众应该住持正法；居士作为广大的群众具有各种能力，很多事情僧众不能做，居士可以做，所以 居士作为护法是很恰当，而且很实际，很有力量。希望我们在座的各位都作为护法，来护持正法。正法是人天眼目，你们护持正法，也就是使众生的法身慧命得到保护，这个功德是很大的。那么作为这一群力量，比较特殊，是在家修行者。

从信仰方面来讲，信仰三宝、信仰因果、信仰业报，有因必有果，有功就有德，要坚定这个信仰。这个信是正信，不是迷信，也不是邪信，而是智慧的信仰、理智的信仰。这样的话，太虚大师讲过，梁启超讲过，欧洲的科学家爱因斯坦也讲过，所以首先要确立这个观点，建立这个信仰，养成正信，巩固正信。

二、解

从解上来讲，有信必须要有解，从解之中了解基本教理，从而就能够认识到为什么要信，认识到为什么要学，巩固正信，这是解的重要。

我以《维摩诘经》来讲，对于处在家庭来说，应该有个正确的认识。《维摩诘经》上讲：虽处居家，不著三界，示有妻子，常修梵行。

“虽处居家，不著三界”，虽然住在家里面，但是在内心来讲，不要有所贪恋，要认识到三界无安，犹如火宅，是并不安乐的，三界如是，家也如是，所以不著三界。

“示有妻子，常修梵行”，有妻子有儿女，但是要晓得，与家人的聚合都是缘分，缘聚则合，缘尽则散。内心要保持清净，要依照佛法修清净之行，梵行就是清净之行，也就是说不要留恋，不要沾染，要看得清楚。一切都是因缘会合，因缘是有生有灭，有聚有散，要有个正确的观察，这是《维摩诘经》里讲的。

《维摩诘经》中就讲到对于出家的四种鉴别：第一种身出家心也出家；第二种身在家而心出家，等于说我身在尘世、心在山林，那心胸就很清高，很淡泊；第三种身出家而心不出家；第四种就是身不出家心也不出家，这是一般人。所以说出家有出世俗家、出烦恼家、出三界家，真正意义上的出家，应该是出烦恼家、出三界家。出世俗家只能说是形式上离开家庭，穿了一件僧衣，但实际上他心里面没有修养、贪恋红尘，那么就等于没出家。因此，作为在家居士，你只要心里边清净淡泊，看问题清楚明白，有个正确的人生观，也就等于出家。

另外《华严经·净行品》里智首菩萨向文殊菩萨提问，他提问的内容有十一个总类，每一个内容里面又有十种问题，实际上是一百一十个问题。这个提问主要就是说，做人怎样才殊胜？怎样才有功德？从这些方面来问的。文殊菩萨就进行了一百四十一个解答，其中就包括从在家到出家、日常生活的语言和行动，从大到小，从粗到细微。禅宗讲，生活就是道，平常心就是道，现实就是道。文殊菩萨的解答就体现了这个真义。

对于智首菩萨的提问，文殊菩萨有一句总的解答：“善用其心，则获一切胜妙功德”。你学佛走正道，你要想获得一切功德，就看你的心，要善用其心。这个善字很重要，等于儒家讲的要正心诚意。儒家讲：“格物致知，诚意正心，修身齐家，治国平天下。”格、致、诚、正，是一种修养功夫，不管儒家、道家、佛家都是共同的，不过浅深不同、宽窄不同而已。

文殊菩萨在这里说要善用其心，为什么众生有烦恼痛苦？世界上有争斗？这是什么原因？就是这些人不能善用其心，不能善用其心就恰恰能招来烦恼痛苦，一定要找出这个原因。文殊菩萨在解答里讲，不管你出家在家，你的行住坐卧、言语说话、动作走路，存心要善，要一切想到别人，想到一切众生，说的每一句话都是当愿众生如何，只想到众生，不是说愿我怎么样，这就是无我精神了。

一百四十一个“当愿”中，开头几首是关于家庭的。

(一)第一首：

菩萨在家，当愿众生，知家性空，免其逼迫。

你处在家，就要善对家庭，要认识到家的组合都是缘，有善缘有恶缘，顺心一点就是善缘，不顺心的就是恶缘，都是因缘组合，有聚有散，有分有离，都是性空的，这个要搞清楚，那么这样子就不会受逼迫，不会走投无路。

唐代有个庞道玄，他的女儿庞灵照，父女俩相当有道行。他女儿每天就以编篾活(篾活：指四川的竹器)来维持两个人的生活，而庞道玄有文采，不愿意当官，喜欢过清闲生活。他写有几首偈子，其中有几句：

日在空中行 夜在空中卧 空空空吟诗 诗空空相合 莫谓多言空 空是诸佛座

你们想想这个道理，一切都是观诸法性空，佛的境界就是空性，《华严经》上讲：

若人欲识佛境界 当净其意如虚空 远离妄想及诸取 令心所向皆无碍

心如虚空，其量无边，可以包容森罗万象。这个境界就大啊，在虚空是无挂无碍的。这个庞道玄父女，就是那么的高尚。

“莫谓多言空，空是诸佛座”，你不要说我什么都在讲空，你们要晓得空是如来的宝座，若能够证悟空性，与空性相契和，就登如来的宝座，能够了解空意就见了法身如来。《华严经》的法界观，就包括一切事物及一切事物的性与相，性就是本体，相就是现象，都包括在法界里面。

你能够观空，就能够见一切如来境界、如来净土，层层无尽。你能够观缘生法、观有，就可以晓得一切器世间、众生世间的“一、多、大、小”，从微尘 到整个世界，都看得清清楚楚。其中的佛，能够了空就是理性佛，处处都可以见到，有十种：正觉佛、愿佛、业报佛、住持佛、涅槃佛、法界佛、心佛、三昧佛、本性佛、随乐佛，这个境界大得很。所以对“空”字要有个正确的解释，不是“什么都没得了”，而是真空显妙有。了解空就能够证得无我，了解无我就可以与诸法平 等，境界就广大了。

(二)第二首：

孝事父母 当愿众生 善事于佛 护养一切

把父母当成佛想，一切众生在孝养父母时，要把父母当成佛想。这样子的话，你家中有佛，你要恭敬供养，这是彻底的大孝，希望众生都如是，那就可以普度众生，报众生恩。

(三)第三首：

妻子聚会 当愿众生 怨亲平等 永离贪著

妻子儿女聚会，其中有怨有亲，怨亲之中你不要有分别执著，亲固然可贵，怨你也要容忍，这就是缘嘛。佛法讲怨亲平等，冤家宜解不宜结，不要结怨，结了怨啊世世生生都解不了，那才不得了。怨亲平等，化冤为亲，这样子就免得贪著，从中受痛苦，受缠绕。

(四)第四首：

若得五欲 当愿众生 拔除欲箭 究竟安稳

你在五欲境界“财色名食睡”之中，就要正确面对这个境界。众生就是留恋于五欲，于五欲之中贪恋不舍就造业受苦。你看现在这个社会，歌舞厅、娱乐 厅、卡拉OK厅等很多，吃的、穿的、听的无不是欲，使人贪恋，但是作为学佛的在家菩萨、居家的居士，你就必须要正确对待。就像那个莲花一样，生在污泥之中，保持微妙香洁的品质，不为污泥所染。要有真正的菩萨行，才可以超脱。我如是，希望众生都如是。

“拔除欲箭，究竟安稳”，欲就等于箭一样，箭一射出来到身上，就要致命，丧失法身慧命，就使你不得解脱。能够看清楚欲箭而不沾染，就可以究竟安稳，永远的、彻底的得到安乐稳定，这才是真正的安乐稳定。

这四首诗都是说明在家居士应该建立正确的观点和行动，我们学佛后就必须以正法来解决与家庭和工作的问题，平心静气地平等对待一切，才处得好各种关系。只有这样，在家庭中才能够使一家人欢欢喜喜，在单位里才能与职工、群众和睦相处。

三、行

最重要的就是以因果思想，明因识果，修五戒十善之行，结合五戒十善发菩提心，以四无量心，修四摄之行。般若宗的第一代祖师龙树菩萨在《菩提资粮 论》里提出菩萨四种真实行，哪四种呢？(1)知性空而求业报；(2)知无我而生慈悲；(3)乐涅槃而行生死；(4)广布施而不求报。

第一，知性空而求业报。菩萨四真实行是很重要的，修学菩萨行要以这个为标准，我们要相信空的道理，但是不要否定因果业报的道理。由真空而妙有， 由妙有而真空，这是辩证的统一，不能说“空”是什么都没得了，业报都没得了，那是错误的。因此，在因果方面，我们就不能违背，处处要从因上着想，有好因必有好果。

第二，知无我而生慈悲。能够达到了解空的道理，就可以证无我的道理。无我就能达到身心广大、境界广大，视众生平等，他中有我，我中有他，你中有我，我中有你，平等平等的，相资相助。那么众生在苦痛中，我们就要有慈悲心去救拔，要修四无量心，不能只顾我不顾众生。所以知无我而生慈悲，一方面无我， 另一方面要生慈悲。

第三，乐涅槃而行生死。这也是菩萨行，我作为菩萨，希望清净解脱，涅槃就是清净解脱的境界，但是乐住于涅槃、耽住于涅槃，那是小乘思想，大乘菩萨他就不乐住涅槃。在生死之中度脱众生，这是一种无住涅槃。什么叫无住？由于大智慧不染生死、大悲心不住涅槃，这是莲花精神。度众生成佛，求菩提，证菩提，就在生死中求证，不是在生死之外，另外找个菩提、找个涅槃，这种莲花精神是最现实的，不能忽略这个现实。

第四，广布施而不求报。在行动上要修六度行，六度以布施为首，修财施、法施、无畏施。虽然行布施啊，但是不要执著，能施、所施、施果三轮体空，不求报，这是真正的布施。《金刚经》上讲：“布施者即非布施，是名布施。”行布施你不要执著布施，有执著就不是真布施，没有执著，三轮体空才是真正的布施。

四、证

证就是果了，有了上面的解和行，能得到什么果呢？身心得到受用，心胸就广大、安静，智慧高，看得远，自己的身心就可以得到解脱，与平常人不同，犹如脱胎换骨。进入因位菩萨境界以后，就与果位菩提相应。彻悟禅师讲：“以佛果地之觉彻我因地之心，以我因地之心证佛果地之觉，因该果海，果彻因源。”念佛都是种这个因，念一声佛号，这个佛就是果觉的佛，我们念就是因位的念，果觉的佛与因位的佛心相应，因果相应，就可以走入佛位，走入成佛的因位。因该果海，果彻因源，就是这个道理。

以上就佛教修行次第的“信解行证”，简单讲了一下，希望大家听到以后得到法喜，开启智慧，能很好地处理信仰与家庭事业的关系，在现实生活中悟到法性，证得涅槃，得到解脱！

The last four to five generations, or two hundred years of our time have brought unimaginable changes to humanity, and which are a kind of a two-edged sword, which have some apparent benefit, and un-seeable unapparent benefit, damage and challenges. The last two hundred years was one of the most changing periods of human history, and we shall have to review this period, seriously, and in depth. My generation and the earlier generations have done a great damage to nature, to the culture and to the traditions, and we have left nothing for your generation. Now you have to build your world by your own because whatever my generation and earlier generations were able to consume, the kinds of resources we have consumed, are enormous, and we have not shown any way how to restore these natural resources. So, you are now inheriting a very damaged and injured planet earth. So, this injured and damaged planet earth, how it can sustain itself in future for you, for your good living, and for a happy life, is a big question.

-- 5th Samdhong Rinpoche, Lobsang Tenzin