Good Heart

By His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Anyone who has good thoughts, who does a lot to help others, and who leaves behind good memories is respected by people all over the world, regardless of whether they are religious or not. On the other hand, the ignorance, arrogance, and obstinacy of certain individuals, whether their intentions were good or evil, have been at the root of all the tragedies of history. The mere names of these ruthless tyrants inspire fear and loathing. So the extent to which people will like us naturally depends on how much or how little we think of others’ good.

Speaking of my own experience, I sometimes wonder why a lot of people like me. When I think about it, I cannot find in myself any specially good quality, except for one small thing. That is the positive mind, which I try to explain to others and which I do my best to develop myself. Of course, there are moments when I do get angry, but in the depth of my heart, I do not hold a grudge against anyone. I cannot pretend that I am really able to practice bodhichitta [awakened heart], but it does give me tremendous inspiration. Deep inside me, I realise how valuable and beneficial it is, that is all. And I try as much as possible to consider others to be more important than myself. I think that’s why people take note of me and like me, because of my good heart.

When people say that I have worked a lot for peace, I feel embarrassed. I feel like laughing. I don’t think I have done very much for world peace. It’s just that my practice is the peaceful path of kindness, love, compassion, and not harming others. This has become part of me. It is not something for which I have specially volunteered. I am simply a follower of the Buddha, and the Buddha taught that patience is the supreme means for transcending suffering. He said, “If a monk harms others, he is not a monk.” I am a Buddhist monk, so I try to practice accordingly. When people think this practice is something unique and special and call me a leader of world peace, I feel almost ashamed!

A good heart is the source of all happiness and joy, and we can all be good-hearted if we make an effort. But better still is to have bodhichitta, which is a good heart imbued with wisdom. It is the strong desire to attain enlightenment in order to deliver all beings from suffering and bring them to Buddhahood. This thought of helping others is rooted in compassion, which grows from a feeling of gratitude and love for beings, who are afflicted by suffering. . .

Our greatest enemy is to consider ourselves more important than others, which leads us and others to certain ruin. From this attachment to “I” arises all the harm, fear, and suffering in this world. What, asks Shantideva, am I to do with this great demon?

If there is no self-surrender,

Sorrow likewise cannot be avoided.

A man will not escape from being burned if he does not keep away from fire.

To free yourself from harm and others from their sufferings,

Give away yourself for others,

Holding others dear as now you do yourself.

He is liberated from the paths of the three times. He has opened his awareness to objects of knowledge. He has destroyed the sleep of ignorance. Therefore, a Buddha is expansive, like a lotus. One who has cut through the sleep of ignorance and has seen the emergent perfect wisdom is a Buddha, like a person who has awakened from sleep.

-- Chandrakirti

想改变别人，先改变自己

法照法师

 

有人的地方就有是非，就会有意见和批评。太在意别人的批评，不仅越活越痛苦，也会失去自己的看法和坚持，到最后甚至连人生的意义都将因此而动摇、蒙蔽，若果真走到这样的地步，把自我变成别人嘴巴的奴隶，岂不可悲？

 

佛陀从不勉强别人去做他不喜欢的事，佛陀只是告诉众生，何者是善？何者是恶？善恶还是要自己去选择，生命还是要自己去掌握。找回自己内心的宁静，念念观照一切皆是无常。唯有这样，遇到任何逆境就自然放得下，而能解脱自在，远离烦恼。这样才是懂得如理思维的人。佛陀的教法让我们知道：“世上没有任何人能够带给你痛苦，除了你自己！”智慧之言，的确值得我们深思。

 

欢喜就是能量

 

在道场中常听人说“法喜充满”，这个欢喜就是能量，是精力充沛的现象。有一句谚语“人逢喜事精神爽”，也有相近的意思，遇到自己很高兴、欢喜的事，可以不吃饭、不睡觉，精神都很好，这是因为心的能量特别丰富。为什么诸佛菩萨的能量那么充实、广大，永远不衰不竭？这皆是从欢喜心而生的。这个欢喜心在佛法里称为“大慈大悲”。诸佛菩萨对于尽虚空遍法界的一切众生、一切人事物，充满了真实、清净无染的爱心。我们世间人说“欢喜”，哪比得上佛菩萨的那种欢喜呢？他们生活在大慈大悲里，生活在爱心里，这皆是大爱。佛陀在《楞严经》也提到“若能转境，则同如来”。

 

一切唯心造

 

佛法中通常会引用一句话，那就是“一切唯心造”，与一般命相风水学中所说的“有于内而形于外”是有异曲同功之效，但“一切唯心造”这句话在佛教中之解释，除了在这方面引用之外，其意义则更广更深。在我们生命的旅途中偶然会迷失，也必然会有许多灰暗的时刻，但人生不会因为我们的迷失或灰暗而停止流转，世间的一切也不会因为我们的不幸遭遇而驻足。即便生命的顺逆有时会出乎我们的意料，但心情的悲喜，却是自己可以选择的。做怎样的抉择，决定了一个人在面对问题时的处理态度。

 

滚动的石头不会生苔，转动的轮胎才会前进，人生路上荆棘遍布，难免会出现爆胎的窘境，你的备胎从何而来？备胎能不能够让你继续前进？别再等待，赶快让备胎转动起来，打造人生新希望！相信每一次困难都是一种学习、突破，战胜困难就是抓住机遇，生活就好像登山一般，只有艰苦，毫不放弃地向前，才能走向山顶，迈向成功的人生！让我们一起点燃我们人生希望，让我们在面对人生的灰暗时，不仅照亮自己，也照亮别人。

 

只有自己能否定自己

 

一个人如果事事为了迎合别人，活给别人看，就会痛苦得不得了。今天如果你相信自己做得还不错，不在乎别人怎么看你的时候，你真的可以很自在。何谓天才？就是放对地方的人才；反过来说，很多人眼中的蠢材，很可能也只是放错地方的人才。例如：把你和一位土著被困在非洲森林里，既无食物，也无水喝，那么你将把这位土著当作天才，因为他懂得各种求生的技巧。相反地，如果把他带到办公室，要他使用电脑，那么情况将会截然不同，你可能会认为他是“蠢材”。的确，天生我材必有用。有些科学家连音阶都抓不准；有些画家连一封信都写不好，可是他们“把自己放对地方”，所以成就非凡。

 

在这个现实的社会里，即便是遭受旁人无情的冷落、批评、否定，甚至排挤，也不代表你就必须哀声叹气、自怨自悲，唯一能否定你的人，只有你自己！因此，绝不能为了别人几句批评或冷言冷语，就要难过痛苦，或者气得跺脚，因为那只会让自己更没信心而已。有人的地方就有是非，就会有意见和批评。太在意别人的批评，不仅越活越痛苦，也会失去自己的看法和坚持，到最后甚至连人生的意义都将因此而动摇、蒙蔽，若果真走到这样的地步，把自我变成别人嘴巴的奴隶，岂不可悲？

 

人生是自己的

 

有个故事是这样的：从前有一群青蛙在比赛谁能爬上最高的铁塔，比赛开始了，一大群的青蛙看着那高耸的铁塔议论纷纷：“这太难了！我们绝对爬不到塔顶的……”、“塔太高了！我们不可能成功……”听到这些话，有些青蛙便放弃了。看着那些仍然继续爬的青蛙，大家又继续说：“这太难了！没有谁能爬上塔顶的……”就这样你一言我一语，越来越多的青蛙退出了比赛。但有一只却越爬越高，最后当其他的青蛙都无法再前进的时候，它却成为唯一到达顶点的选手。

 

其他的青蛙都想知道，它是怎么做到的？于是便跑上前去询问，才发现原来它是个聋子！朋友，你知道这个故事告诉你什么吗？是的，嘴巴是别人的，但人生却是自己的，要走属于自己的道路！我们不必做个聋子，但却要永远充满希望、乐观和积极，不要只听那些消极、悲观的话，因为他们只会泼别人的冷水，浇熄你的毅力。别人的嘴巴，永远不能帮你走过人生的路，无论是康庄坦途，还是崎岖难行，都只能自己走，在那当中，如果得到的是鼓励和支持，就要永远感恩在心，并同样的去帮助别人；但是在那当中，若听到的是批评和闲语，也不要太难过，学学那只青蛙，奋勇直前，走好自己人生的大道吧！

 

生活因学习而丰富

 

唐代洞山良价禅师有一首偈语：“不求名利不求荣，只么随缘度此生。一个幻躯能几时？为他闲事长无明？”名闻利养，人人所向往，但是有名利就有伤害，有荣就有辱。人生就是一个道场，以谦卑的态度、慈悲的心智和勇于承担的精神，来完成人生之旅。路是人走出来的，但不是什么路都走得通，必须选择自己能完成的目标，用自己的双脚走出光明的前程。每一个人注定要走自己的路，要善用自已的长处和特质，由顺逆成败遭遇中走出光明未来。
 

实践的路途中，对自己真实，肯负起责任，让自己进步和活得更好，就是一种见性的功夫。懂得飞越野心的牢笼，不被物欲所牵。执迷于名利、野心就无异入自己于牢笼。恬淡寡欲心智自由清朗，热爱自己的工作从实务中磨炼，学习老老实实地让自己在行动中成长。生命因为珍惜而可贵，生活因为学习而丰富！

 

学习动力是谦卑

 

人生的道场，必须学会爱，也要学会尽责，认清生活不是为了享受，还要为共存共荣的生态负起责任。人活着就必须面对生存的种种考验，要能突破许多局限，才能开展自己的人生。学习不是寻找现成的答案，最宝贵的学习是从亲身体验中得来。学习的动力是谦卑，凡事虚怀若谷，肯向别人讨教的人，总是学到最扎实的本事。学习路上培养求知的习惯，莫让时间荒废，忙碌中懂得安排，知所取舍，安心致志就是忙的艺术，忙的真谛。《六祖坛经》中说：“若开悟顿教，不执外修，但于自心常起正见，烦恼尘劳常不能染，即是见性。”

 

真正的生活法则是越过难关就有欢乐，克服困境才有喜悦，犹如 攀过山岭才能享受恬适。忙碌中留些清闲，别把自己绑得太紧，透过禅的修行，体验生活的喜乐和自在。自大、敌意和狭隘的精神生活，使人变得更怯弱，进而陷入更多的烦恼和困扰中。人要学会不自缚，才能离开烦恼的绳索。家庭成员的沟通要做好，冲突就减少，学习关怀、尊重、宽容、包容，一起造福才能一起享福。清醒地看清困扰的根源，保持中道来面对真实，点燃心灯觉照而自在。

 

佛教是一种道德实践的宗教，它虽具有高深的哲理，却又极注重道德行为的实践。一个佛教徒，必须要在日常生活行为中，随时随地积极行善，尽量避免过失，才能培养完善的人格。

 

法照合掌，愿佛弟子从心开始，学习完善自己，人成即成佛。善哉！

 

Never take pleasure in acts that harm. And when thoughts of superiority creep in, there and then, deflate your self-importance, and recall your master's personal advice. Or whenever you feel discourage or inadequate, raise your spirits and encourage yourself. and always meditate on emptiness.

 

-- Atiśa

 

Five Mindfulness Trainings

by Thich Nhat Hanh

The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.

1. Reverence For Life

Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.

2. True Happiness

Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking, and acting. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others; and I will share my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. I will practice looking deeply to see that the happiness and suffering of others are not separate from my own happiness and suffering; that true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion; and that running after wealth, fame, power and sensual pleasures can bring much suffering and despair. I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. I am committed to practicing Right Livelihood so that I can help reduce the suffering of living beings on Earth and reverse the process of global warming.

3. True Love

Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. Knowing that sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made known to my family and friends. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct. Seeing that body and mind are one, I am committed to learning appropriate ways to take care of my sexual energy and cultivating loving kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness – which are the four basic elements of true love – for my greater happiness and the greater happiness of others. Practicing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the future.

4. Loving Speech and Deep Listening

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and compassionate listening in order to relieve suffering and to promote reconciliation and peace in myself and among other people, ethnic and religious groups, and nations. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am committed to speaking truthfully using words that inspire confidence, joy, and hope. When anger is manifesting in me, I am determined not to speak. I will practice mindful breathing and walking in order to recognize and to look deeply into my anger. I know that the roots of anger can be found in my wrong perceptions and lack of understanding of the suffering in myself and in the other person. I will speak and listen in a way that can help myself and the other person to transform suffering and see the way out of difficult situations. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to utter words that can cause division or discord. I will practice Right Diligence to nourish my capacity for understanding, love, joy, and inclusiveness, and gradually transform anger, violence, and fear that lie deep in my consciousness.

5. Nourishment and Healing

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I will practice looking deeply into how I consume the Four Kinds of Nutriments, namely edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness. I am determined not to gamble, or to use alcohol, drugs, or any other products which contain toxins, such as certain websites, electronic games, TV programs, films, magazines, books, and conversations. I will practice coming back to the present moment to be in touch with the refreshing, healing and nourishing elements in me and around me, not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past nor letting anxieties, fear, or craving pull me out of the present moment. I am determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety, or other suffering by losing myself in consumption. I will contemplate interbeing and consume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my society and the Earth.

The great garuda soaring in the sky sees the four continents effortlessly. With no trepidation in the abyss of deep ravines, she subdues with splendour the flocks of birds. Similarly, the four devils are realised as rootless by decisively cutting through experiences. Demons and devils and such are subdued by splendour. There is no trepidation about the three lower realms. Engaging in cause-and-effect dharma without knowing rootlessness definitely is like leaving the trunk and reaching for the branches.

-- Machig Labdrön

烦恼本身并不存在，是我们自己在制造问题。

烦恼是一切痛苦的根源，但烦恼本身并不存在，而是由于我们的执持、攀执，它才产生的。因此是我们自己给自己制造问题的。诸位相信烦恼存在，对不对？事实上，它并不存在，只是我们对它的存在深信不疑罢了。

我们常依赖佛或金刚萨垛，我们修金刚萨垛的法，希望他能帮助我们，清净我们的恶业。不过这要看我们依止的方式而定，它不表示用什么东西能洗刷我们，例如，倒水在我们手里等，便能洗净我们的一切恶业，这绝非是这样的。佛陀无法这样做，百分之百肯定，佛陀绝无法这样做。

佛的力量有多大？我们相信佛的力量十分大，而一切本尊，例如，金刚萨垛等的力量亦十分大，但他们却百分之百肯定无法洗清我们的恶业，以及我们身心上的问题和痛苦。他也无法像能量一样改变我们的业障而解决一切问题，还有佛极高的证悟也无法移转给我们。

那么佛的大力又是什么呢？对于他能帮助众生这事，我们又应该如何看待呢？这就是佛唯一曾展现给我们看的，他在成千上万长短不等的珍贵经典中宣说了许多让我们能了解的法。这不是故事或历史之类的东西，佛所教的都是他自己一生中实修的悟果。因此唯一能解决问题的方法，必须要由自己的修行中去学习体悟。

不单是学习而已，学习本身仍不足以起用，我们必须溶合学习和自己的体悟才行。也就是说，在透过实修后，我们才能领悟佛所教导的一切，而这一切我们本然具足。在我们展现了自己的了悟后，我们才能遮断轮回的痛苦。

-- 桑杰年巴仁波切

  

Every second of this human life gives us the freedom to choose between hell and enlightenment, samsara and liberation.

-- Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The Mahayana Motivation

 

The great tradition of Buddhism begins with the simple experience of looking at our minds and seeing that we want some kind of contentment. In a way, it is no more abstract than that. We look at our mind and we see the turmoil and we say, “How am I going to get out of this situation?”

 

In the Buddhist path we respond to our experience of samsara, the painful cycle of endless existences in which we are caught, with revulsion. One morning we get up and say, “That’s enough. I’ve been doing this for a couple of billion lifetimes, and I think that’s enough. I’ve been the highest of the high, and the worst of the worst, and everything in between, and I think that’s enough!”

 

But in order to break from samsara, it is necessary to understand samsara. That is what the arhats have done, those who have completed the hinayana path of personal liberation. Those of us within samsara would view them as incredible, heroic beings, because they have dared to look at samsara fully. They have not just dared to leave it; they have dared to stop and really see what is going on. It takes tremendous courage to do that, because when we look at samsara we are looking at ourselves — it’s hard not to take it too personally. It takes a strong mind, a courageous mind, to look at samsara and say, “I will learn this lesson. I will not flinch. I won’t try to manipulate it. I will just look at it.”

 

However, from the point of view of the mahayana, the path of the bodhisattva, the arhats are taking only a small step. Certainly it is an heroic step, like the first step of a child, and a very important step that one has to take. But it is still said to be only a small step towards liberation.

 

The bodhisattva is different from the hinayana practitioner in several ways. First, the understanding of truth, of reality, is very different in the mahayana. According to the bodhisattva, the mahayana teachings are the real words of the Buddha. Because of the students’ capacity the Buddha mostly taught hinayana — and very sensibly so, because people were suffering — but he also asked, “Do you just want a release from suffering, or do you want to understand the truth?”

 

When we get to mahayana, it is the truth. The truth of the mahayana is the most profound truth there is. When the Buddha — the one who sees the whole of the truth — speaks, he speaks about emptiness and luminosity, form and emptiness, emptiness and form. As practitioners, we find ourselves going back and forth between hinayana and mahayana view.

 

The other key aspect that separates mahayana from hinayana is motivation. The hinayana practitioner feels the pain of samsara and says, “I can’t take it anymore. What can I do about it?” And having understood what samsara is, we can all sympathise with the hinayana practitioner. It is a worthy approach. We are not belittling it.

 

But the mahayana practitioner takes a much more radical approach. The mahayana practitioner wakes up one morning and realises, “Sentient beings from endless time have been roaming in samsara.” Here, we not only understand the pain of samsara and how we have been involved in it; we are also able to see what samsara is doing to all sentient beings.

 

The person who has this motivation is called “the great bodhisattva,” the warrior with the mind of enlightenment. Why? Because that person has transcended their own painful experience of samsara and has woken up to how all sentient beings are suffering.

 

Mahayana practitioners are inspired not just by the idea of forsaking their own enlightenment so they can help others; they actually drop what they are doing so they can go help somebody else on the spot. When they see somebody who is hungry, they want to take the food they are about to eat and give it to them. The other person’s hunger is overwhelming, their sense of compassion overcomes them, and they want to give their own food away.

 

Through truly understanding the nature of suffering, the basic fabric of mind becomes loving-kindness and compassion. This is the mind of enlightenment, the basic core of enlightenment. Usually our first thought is, “What can I get for me?” But the mind of enlightenment is actually our fundamental nature. It is said that compassion and love are much more in accord with our true nature than jealousy, pride, and so forth. Therefore, developing compassion and love is an avenue to understanding reality.

 

Motivation is an essential factor on the bodhisattva path. Sometimes we become preoccupied with wanting to discover the true nature of things, the ultimate reality. But if you look at the writings of great teachers such as Nagarjuna or Chandrakirti, persons of great intelligence who have pointed out the nature of reality, you will see that they also wrote long and beautiful compositions about compassion. This was the inspiration behind their teachings on emptiness — to give bodhisattvas a way to go about saving all sentient beings intelligently. The bodhisattva doesn’t run around randomly trying to help everybody. Intelligence and wisdom are involved.

 

The bodhisattva says, “For the benefit of all sentient beings, I will achieve liberation.” It is for the sake of others that the bodhisattva vows to achieve their own enlightenment, because then they will be able to help sentient beings in manifold ways. Sometimes people think the bodhisattva vow means that all the other sentient beings should achieve liberation first, but that’s not really right. We do have the view that we want everybody else to achieve liberation; however, the most practical thing we can do to make that happen is to achieve liberation ourselves. The more profound our realisation, the more we are able to help sentient beings.

 

But can all beings in fact achieve enlightenment? When we begin to do the practice of raising compassion, we inevitably come to a point where we ask ourselves, “Is it really possible for all sentient beings to achieve enlightenment?” After all, sentient beings are endless.

 

So we use our intelligence to look into it. In the beginning we are concerned with the diversity of sentient beings, not their ultimate nature. We contemplate how they end up in different situations through the nature of cause and effect. Then we come to understand that fundamentally all samsaric realms are the same, whether painful or pleasurable. We begin to see that the fundamental nature of all sentient beings is buddha nature — luminosity and emptiness. So of course all sentient beings can achieve enlightenment.

 

Having established that all sentient beings have the capacity for enlightenment, we contemplate whether we ourselves can liberate all sentient beings. We ask ourselves, “Can I — not anyone else — liberate all sentient beings endlessly?” That is really what the bodhisattva vow is about.

 

This is why the mahayana is called maha, “great,” because the conclusion the bodhisattva comes to is, “Yes, I can save all sentient beings. Even if I’m the last person left in the universe, I will work tirelessly. I will commit the rest of this life and every life from now on to saving all sentient beings — no holds barred, no insurance, no retirement plan.”

 

Mahayana is great in two ways. It is great in view, because we begin to see the true nature of things. It is great in motivation, because we dedicate ourselves to working tirelessly for all sentient beings. As a bodhisattva, our whole approach to life has changed. We no longer get up in the morning thinking, “What’s in it for me?” Instead, we get up thinking, “I am a servant, a shepherd, a vehicle, a bridge for all sentient beings to cross over.” What started out as, “I need to get out of here,” has become, “I’ll be the last person here, no matter what.”

 

-- Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

 

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 practise.

 

-- Milarepa