Buddhism is known in the East as 'Buddha-Sasana' or 'Buddha-Dharma.' The Buddha himself called his teaching 'Dhamma-vinaya,' the Doctrine and Discipline. Buddhism is a complete system taught by the Buddha as a way of life or a total way of being, based on or stemmed from the Supramundane Wisdom he attained through his Enlightenment, in an attempt to lead and guide any human being towards Enlightenment as he had experienced, to realize and penetrate through the true nature of all existence, which bears the Three Universal Characteristics namely 1. Impermanence (Anicca), 2. Imperfection, dis-ease (Dukkha), and 3. Not-self, emptiness, voidness (Anatta), and to see the Ultimate Truth, and free oneself from dis-ease, unsatisfactoriness and suffering (Dukkha), achieving the state of ultimate peace, calm and happiness, living in perfect harmony with nature, i.e. Nirvana. In fact, the whole of Buddhist Teaching is a mass of flexible methods appropriate severally for different time, places and most importantly, for different temperaments of persons. Buddhism is a way of moral, spiritual and intellectual training leading to complete freedom of mind (Nirvana).

Buddhism is the teaching of self-enlightenment. No God, gods, or external power will help one to realize the truth. Everyone has the power of realization, the Buddha Nature, within oneself (whether one is aware of it or not), regardless of age, sex, race, dialect, literacy, occupation, or religious belief, but one has to work with one's own effort to realize it.

The Buddha is the title for Prince Siddhartha Gotama once he attained Enlightenment. He was born about 2,600 years ago in the southern part of Nepal (near the northern part of India). He is the founder of Buddha-Sasana or Buddhism, which he himself called Dharma-Vinaya. He attained Buddhahood through his own efforts and declared that it was possible for anyone to do the same. But he stressed that: "You yourselves must make the effort. The Buddhas only point out the Way."

Buddha is a state of mind, an intellectual and moral perfection. It means enlightenment: One who is truly enlightened is a Buddha. Buddhahood is the goal that anyone can attain. Buddhists believe there is no savior outside the brilliancy of enlightened wisdom.

The Buddhists have as their highest ideals, the Triple Gem, namely the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha (the Noble Order of Enlightened followers). In the strictest sense, the Buddhists do not 'believe' but understand, and they do not 'worship' but practice what they understand.

The Buddha taught his followers, on how to know which teachers are to be followed or not followed, as appeared in the Kalamas Sutra, which is considered to be the core of Buddhism, as follows:

Do not believe based on:

1 - 4: WHAT ONE LEARNS FROM OUTSIDE INFORMATIONS:

1. Mere report.

2. Tradition.

3. Hearsay.

4. Holy writings.

5 - 8: REASONING THROUGH INNER THOUGHTS/CONCEPTS:

5. Logic.

6. Philosophy.

7. Common sense.

8. Accepted notions or own ideas.

9 -10: PERSONS:

9. Competent person.

10. Our teacher.

The Buddha said that "When you yourselves know (by observation, experience and right judgment): 'Such things are censured by the wise, such things when undertaken and followed lead to harm and ill' - then you should abandon such things. But when you yourselves know: 'Such things are good, such things are praise-worthy, such things are commended by the wise, such things when undertaken and followed lead to the good and welfare of all beings' - then should you accept, hold to and follow such things." In other words, by using intelligence and wisdom, one can form a correct judgment of whatever ideas offered to us.

Dharma/Dhamma defies translation. There are several layers of meaning to the word ' Dharma.' [Dhamma: 1. the Dharma; the Dhamma; the Doctrine; the Teachings (of the Buddha). 2. the Norm; the Law; nature. 3. the Truth; Ultimate Reality. 4. the Supramundane, esp. Nirvana. 5. Righteousness; virtue; morality; good conduct; right behavior. 6. Tradition; practice; principle; rule; duty. 7. justice; impartiality. 8. thing; phenomenon. 9. a cognizable object; mind-object; idea. 10. mental state; mind factor; mental factor; mental activities. 11. condition; cause; causal antecedent. - Dictionary of Buddhism by Phra Dhampidok Payutto]. It can mean 'the Buddha's teachings,' 'the Middle Path taught by the Buddha that will lead to realizing the Ultimate Truth,' and 'the Ultimate of Nature,' or 'the Ultimate Truth.' The Buddha taught 'the secret of nature' which he discovered and penetrated through his enlightenment, that everything exists according to the flow of Nature (Samsara), and it exists according to the 'Law of Dependent Origination' (Paticcasamuppada), i.e., it exists according to cause and effect.

Dharma can be summarized as follows:

'Ultimate of Nature'- Life is suffering. Nothing else in life but suffering: arising, sustaining, and passing away.

'Law of Nature'- There is an end to suffering. With mindfulness and awareness, one can overcome suffering through seeing the truth as it is, without distorted and biased thoughts of self delusion or self-image.

'Duty'- One should work out one's way with diligence to awaken one’s awareness, to understand life, so one would live one’s life with peace and happiness.

'Fruition or Consequence'- As a result of performing one’s duty accordingly through the Middle path, with one's effort and diligence, one would gain sustained awareness, and capable of freeing one's mind, attaining ultimate peace and happiness, Nirvana, and living in perfect harmony with nature.

In one simple word, Dharma is the 'Norm of Life & Universe.' Basically, Dharma is the truth of the way things are, while Dharma as the Buddha's Teachings is a reflection in words of this truth. It is always there and functions accordingly and perfectly at any moment, according to the law of nature, whether the Buddha existed and discovered it or not. The Buddha only discovered this secret through his Enlightenment. With his loving-kindness and compassion, he was compassionate was willing to share the truth with the human race, so they too would be able to understand and penetrate through the secret of this norm of universe, enable them to live in perfect harmony with nature. The Buddha's teachings are for everyone, and no one has never been excluded from becoming a Buddhist by age, sex, literacy, occupation, race, or color, but more importantly, one does not need to be a Buddhist to study 'Dharma,' and to understand this 'norm of life & universe.' It is the Dharma that, when well practiced, will bring us back to nature and the truth of the ordinary.

Sangha is the order or community of righteous followers, who carry on the torch of Buddha's Teachings by treading the path of self-enlightenment themselves, and helping others towards the same goal.

One may say that 'Sangha' is so named because of the beauty of its harmony. In fact, Buddhists learn to form a true Sangha, i.e., to be in harmony with one another, harmony of mind and body, and harmony with nature.

True Sangha means the Noble Order, or the Noble Disciples who are called 'Ariyapuggala.' They are the 'Arahat' - the enlightened one, the 'Anagami'- the non-returner, the 'Sagadagami' - the once-returner, and the 'Sota' - the stream-enterer.

The aim of Buddhism is to understand life as it truly is. Therefore, to understand Buddhism, one should know the meaning of 'life.' Life [Oxford Dictionary] means capacity for growth (Anicca or impermanence), functional activity, and continual change (Dukkha or imperfection, imbalance, conflict, stress), peculiar to animals and plants, before death (Anatta or voidness, emptiness, not-self). The definition of life by itself encompasses the true nature of all existence or the Three Universal Characteristics of All Existence.

Life also means state of existence as a living individual, living person, which in Buddhism this is seen as BODY (Rupa or Form) and MIND (Nama or Name).

The Three Universal Characteristics of All Existence (Tilakkana) are:

1. Anicca - Impermanence: Growth as seen in all life forms is a sign of impermanence. Impermanence allows all life forms to grow by replacing the old cells with the new cells, but this also results in aging during the process of what is distortedly called 'growing.'

Anicca is obscured by Continuity (Santati).

2. Dukkha - Imbalance, imperfection, stress, conflict, dis-ease, suffering: All life forms continue to change, as a result of inability to stop or contain themselves in a perfect condition, i.e. they are imperfect and continue to change due to aging, diseases, environmental factors, or other conditions influencing their living. They, as conditioned things, are in constant stress and continue to change in response to the threat of nature and environment, and even themselves of their own aging. In another word, all conditioned things are imperfect, and suffering (Dukkha).

Dukkha is obscured by Movement, motion (Iriyapatha).

3. Anatta - Not-self, emptiness, voidness: All life forms end in death. They have no capability to be immortal, and hence they cannot say that their lives belong to themselves. If their lives belong to themselves, they should be able to control or tell them not to get old, not to get sick, and not to die, and it continues to get old, get sick, and die, against one's own will. Billions of dollars have been spent in the health care industry to stop or reverse these processes without success, and at the most one can only prolong one's life (the most revered and beloved thing to oneself) to a limit, but yet unable to avoid death, the final state of life. As one cannot have a complete control of one's life, therefore life is not-self or anatta.

Anatta is obscured by Cohesiveness, mass (Ghana).

A person or a living individual consists of BODY (Rupa or Form) and MIND (Nama or Name). Buddhism, with its scientific outlook, sees life or a living individual is a combination of the FIVE AGGREGATES (Khandha - Pali/Skandha - Sanskrit or the Five Groups of Existence) OF CLINGING (Upadana) or Upadana-Khandha, namely:

1. MATERIAL FORM (Rupa): This is the BODY or physical aspect of a living individual. It is comparable to water foam, temporary holding the shape.

2. FEELING (Vedana): It is comparable to water bubbles, popping up all the time.

3. PERCEPTION (Sanna): It is comparable to mirage, without reality but an illusion.

4. MENTAL/THOUGHT FORMATION or VOLITION (Sankhara): It is comparable to a banana tree trunk, without any core or true trunk upon peeling.

5. CONSCIOUSNESS (Vinnana): It is comparable to a magician, who keeps performing magical tricks.

BODY or Material Form merely represents a combination of the 'Four Elements,' namely: Earth (solidity), Water (softness, cohesiveness), Air (gas, vibration), Fire (metabolic heat). Body continues to change, grow, get old, and finally die against one's own will, so when one looks deeply into it, there is no true self to be clung to.

MIND is made up of the latter four aggregates. Mind is a combination of CONSCIOUSNESS and MENTAL CONCOMITANTS or MENTAL ACTIVITIES (FEELING, PERCEPTION, MENTAL FORMATION), all of which continue to change all the time, without a true self entity to be clung to, therefore soulless or not-self (Anatta).

Clinging to the Five Aggregates or Body & Mind results in suffering, as one would enforce the self concept or self-image into them, trying to keep, control, and condition them, and labeling them as ours, without realizing that we have no power to control them. They continue to change according to the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence, and refuse to perform as we wish, resulting in conflicts and suffering.

Man is comprised of a psychophysical unit of Mind and Matter (Name and Form, or Mind and Body), but 'Mind' or 'Psyche' is not a soul or a self, in the sense of an enduring entity, something ready-made and permanent. It is a force, a dynamic continuum capable of storing up memories not only of this life but also of past lives or experience.

To the psychologist, 'Psyche' is no more a fixed entity.

To the scientist, 'Matter' is energy in a state of stress, change without real substance.

The Buddha stressed that, 'Individual' or 'Being' is a combination of 'physical' and 'mental forces or energies,' a change with continuity (Santati).

He did antedate modern science and psychology by over 25 centuries.

The Buddha pointed out that LIFE or the FIVE AGGREGATES OF CLINGING are not-self (Anatta), and empty (Sunnata). One clings to life or these Five Aggregates of Clinging, although there is nothing to be called 'Life' or to be held to or clung to. One does not realize this fact, and so clings to what one likes. When one cannot hold on to it, one suffers, and this is known as dis-ease, imperfection, stress, conflict, suffering (Dukkha), as one’s body, one’s mind, and even the world one lives in are impermanent (Anicca), and not-self (Anatta) [The Three Universal Characteristics of Existence: Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta], void and empty (Sunnata). If one cannot even hold one's own body and mind together as a true self, how can one expect to cling to other things and hold them? These are the ultimate truth and true nature of all existence. Once this is seen and penetrated through, there is realization or enlightenment.

All states are not-self or soulless: SABBE DHAMMA ANATTA.

Ignorance does not mean being illiterate or uneducated. One may have many doctorate degrees or be the smartest person on earth, even a Nobel laureate, yet in Buddhistic view, one is still full of ignorance as long as one has not seen or realized the ultimate truths of life.

Due to ignorance (Avijja) or lack of understanding in 'The Four Noble Truths,' ‘The Dependent Arising,’ and 'The Three Universal Characteristics of Existence' or the true nature of all existence, human being would have tendency to perceive things in a distorted way through perversion, and things appear to be permanent, pleasurable, and belonging to oneself.

The Buddha taught that basically life is 'suffering' (Dukkha), and there is a way to end this suffering, and he guided us to the Middle Path or the Noble Eightfold Path, leading to the extinction of suffering, as illustrated in The Four Noble Truths.

Buddhism makes a distinction in what one encounters as two forms of truths namely:

1. CONVENTIONAL TRUTH: Truth based on the concepts drawn and accepted among the community, e.g., a carpenter, a doctor, a monk, male, female, monetary system, etc.

2. ULTIMATE TRUTH: Truth as it is in reality, without any change or transformation. It has always been there, whether the Buddha existed and discovered it or not. It is the true norm or the true nature within single one, e.g., people of different occupations or sexes are just human beings, and all are but companions of birth, and death, without any difference. Life is but suffering - arising, sustaining, and passing away.

The main ideas of Buddhism are contained in the statements known as the FOUR NOBLE or ULTIMATE TRUTHS and the MIDDLE WAY or PATH, namely:

1. SUFFERING (Dukkha): directs at the problems and problematic situations in life, which are to be observed, located and comprehended. It is represented physically by birth, old age, disease and death, and mentally by departure from the loved one, encountering an undesired situation, and not getting what one wants or desires.

2. ORIGIN OF SUFFERING (Dukkha-Samudaya): examines and explains the origin of the problems, by way of causality through the Dependent Origination or Dependent Arising (Paticcasamuppada) - the profound law of causes and effects, which is to be destroyed or eradicated, to experience a free life. Not knowing this Truth or being ignorant of the true nature of existence, people crave and cling to things, motivated by the defilements or impurities (Kilesa) or the 3 Unwholesome Roots, namely Greed/Desire, Hatred/Anger/Aversion, and Delusion. This results in the three kinds of craving/thirst (Tanha), namely: craving for sensual pleasures (Kama-tanha), craving for existence (Bhava-tanha), and craving for non-existence, self-annihilation (Vibhava-tanha). One suffers when one does not get adequate response.

3. EXTINCTION OF SUFFERING (Dukkha-Nirodha): deals with the goal of Buddhist endeavour, which is to be realized. This is Nirvana - the state of perfect peace, absence of defilements, and freedom from suffering, when one is able to eliminate ignorance with true knowledge and wisdom through mindfulness.

4. PATH LEADING TO THE EXTINCTION OF SUFFERING (Dukkha-Nirodhagamini patipada) or THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH, or MIDDLE WAY or PATH: defines the Buddhist way of life and contains all the ethical teaching and practice of Buddhism, providing the way and means, which is to be developed, to attain the goal set forth. This path consists of eight factors, namely:

4.1 Right View or Right Understanding,

4.2 Right Thought,

4.3 Right Speech,

4.4 Right Action,

4.5 Right Livelihood,

4.6 Right Effort,

4.7 Right Mindfulness,

4.8 Right Concentration.

The eight factors of the Path are organized into a system called the THREEFOLD TRAINING of MORALITY (comprising of Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood), CONCENTRATION or MIND DEVELOPMENT (comprising of Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration), and WISDOM (comprising of Right View and Right Thought). These practices are sometimes summed up in the 'THREE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES,' namely:

1. Not to do any evil,

2. To cultivate good,

3. To purify the mind.

This Noble Eightfold Path is the MIDDLE WAY or PATH, avoiding the two extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification, and this is the way to live a balanced life in which material welfare and spiritual well-being go hand in hand, run parallel and are complimentary to each other.

Karma (Sanskrit) or kamma (Pali) or deed, action is what one does intentionally with the body, speaks with tongue, or thinks in the mind. They are classified as good in intention, evil, or indeterminate. The Buddha taught in the Three Fundamental Principles to his followers to avoid doing bad deed (as it is bad and evil), and to cultivate good (as it is good). According to the Law of Dependent Arising or Origination, good deed would result in a pleasurable and good result, and bad deed would result in an unpleasurable and bad result, e.g. aversion and jealously would make oneself unhappy. Moral responsibility is thus firmly established in the following Buddhist Teaching:

"Volition, O monks, I declare is karma. Having willed, man acts, by deed, word, or thought." (Volition, which is will or a force, is a factor or activity of the mind. Kamma is the action or seed. Kamma-Vipaka is the effect or fruit.).

"I am owner of my karma, heir of my karma, born of my karma, related to my karma and abide supported by my karma. Whatever karma I have done, good or evil, of that shall I be heir (to receive or bear the fruits)."

In the other word, Buddhists have the capability to control one's own destination or future with good or bad deed or karma.

The Buddha also taught another aspect of karma which is unique to Buddhism and differs from other religions, that is the cessation of karma which can be achieved with the cessation of lust or greed, hatred or aversion, and delusion, through seeing one’s thoughts which conditioned one’s mind. This is world-transcending (Lokuttara), above good and above evil, and can be achieved through purifying one's mind with Insight Meditation to attain Nirvana, a state that ends the cycle of birth and death.

Buddhism does not subscribe to the belief of an everlasting, unchanging entity, as soul, supposedly residing in man and animals. As there is not true-self in one's life or individual, but the Five Groups of existence or Five Aggregates of CLINGING (Upadana-Khandha), therefore soulless, no-soul, no-self or not-self (Anatta), which is the main message of the Buddha, therefore there is no true rebirth of the individual, but only the cycle of birth and death, which are matters of relative truth.

In the strictest Buddhistic view, rebirth or the cycle of birth and death, has been described in the Dependent Origination or Arising (Paticcasamuppada). It actually means the arising and passing away of thought process. With clinging to ‘self’, or being self-centered, one would pre-occupy oneself with the self-image, similar to a visualized ‘hologram’ which is not truly there but emptiness or voidness (Sunnata), i.e, ‘not-self’ (Anatta), resulting in not seeing the truth as it is, and perceiving things in a distorted way. Everything that one comes in contact with through the six sense-organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind) would be blinded by greed, hatred, and delusion. As a result, one would see or hear only what one wants or likes to see or hear (and would not see nor hear what one hates or dislikes. Such phenomena have been confirmed by current scientific research studies), with further craving and clinging, becoming, and being born into or dwelling in the thought, until that thought ripens (Jara - aging) and dies down or passes away (Marana - cease, death), yet to be followed by another new wave of thought filling in the next gap. With ignorance or not realizing this truth, as one is so deeply embedded in the ‘self’ concept. One would constantly be involving in rebirth or the cycle of birth/arising and death/passing away of thoughts to please one’s own ego or this self-image. This will continue on and on, endlessly, innumerable times a day. Through mindfulness and awareness, one can see the thought process and catch the thought as it arises. Greed, hatred, and delusion, which normally sneak in with the thought and taint the thought, can no longer do so, as the unintentional thought has been quenched or seized immediately as it arises. One would see oneself, and realize the voidness/emptiness or not-self/selfless nature of one’s own self-image (like an empty hologram), and no longer allows the unintentional or ignorant thought to condition or cloud one’s mind. Rebirth would cease to continue, as its cycle is broken, and life would be a perfect one, totally free from all conditioning, conflicts, and suffering.

The Buddha stressed that one needs to put his teaching into practice, not just studying, to be able to see the Ultimate Truth and to penetrate through the true nature of all existence.

One meditates to gain mindfulness (Sati), awareness/ clear or ready comprehension/ wisdom-in-action (Sampajanna), concentration (Samadhi), and wisdom (Panna), so one would be able to penetrate through Not-self/voidness (anatta) and Emptiness (Sunnata), the true nature of all existence, and see things in reality as they truly are, without any biased thought or distorted idea and concept, freeing oneself from all the bondage, craving, and clinging, which form the root of suffering.

Delusion/Ignorance/Self/Egoism is the root of Greed/desire (like), and Hatred/anger (dislike), resulting in personal conflict, problems, stress, and suffering (Dukkha). With awareness/mindfulness/attentiveness, unawareness/inattentiveness disappears, as Mind can dwell in only one phenomenon at any particular moment of time. With increasing awareness, Wisdom will arise, replacing Ignorance/not-knowing/unawarenesss. With Wisdom, conflict/suffering ceases to exist.

There are two main types of meditation: Tranquillity or Concentration Meditation and Insight or Vipassana Meditation.

Tranquillity or Concentration Meditation: is the system of mind development to gain tranquillity, using an object of various kinds, e.g., a crystal ball, a color disk, a Buddha image, etc. as a tool to focus one’s mind from wandering around. One would become blissful, happy, and tranquil, suppressing one’s own greed, hatred, and delusion while maintaining this tranquillity, as a rock covering the grass. Yet, when this temporary tranquillity fades away, one would still face with, sometimes even more pronounced, greed, hatred, and delusion, like the grass would be growing back when the rock is lifted, even more vigorously from a more hardy root.

Insight or Vipassana Meditation: unique to Buddhism, is the system of mind development to gain wisdom, through self-observation to realize the arising and the ceasing of Name (Nama) and Form (Rupa), experiencing the dynamic nature of the mind, catching the mind movement or thinking process as thought arises, seeing the true nature of oneself and all phenomena as Not-self (Anatta). The Buddha has simplified the system and perfected the technique into the Four Foundation of Mindfulness. It is systematized into the method of self-observation of Body, Feeling, Mind, and Dharma or Mental objects/events. The wisdom gained through self-realization will permanently free oneself, like the grass being uprooted will never grow back, as the unintentional thought is being caught as it arises. As a result, greed, hatred, and delusion can no longer sneak in with the thought. One would be free from mental impurities, and become totally free from mental conflict/suffering. One would live peacefully with the norm of life, which is but void and empty, without a true self identity.

Vipassana or Insight Meditation is the very most important key or the core of Buddhism, as it is the tool to arouse and awaken one’s own hidden Buddha Nature, through cultivating Awareness and Mindfulness to gain the Intuitive Wisdom, leading to Enlightenment, freeing oneself from all the bondage and clinging, and getting rid of all the suffering. Without it, Buddhism is but an empty shell of doctrines and theories without any true substance, as lacking the tool to get rid of suffering. With it, the Buddha’s teaching becomes alive, and provable to oneself, as it is the vehicle to take one to Nirvana.

Paradoxically, Buddhism arises directly as the accomplished result of Vipassana or Insight Meditation through which the Buddha attained his self-enlightenment, and realized the true nature of all phenomena. His teaching or Buddha-Dharma is but the reflection and expression in words of what he witnessed as the Ultimate Truths or ultimate reality, the norm of life and universe. One may even say that without Vipassana or Insight Meditation, Insight and Wisdom would not have arisen in Prince Gotama Siddhartha, and Buddhism would not have existed.

Insight Meditation allows one to see things in reality as they truly are. It makes one differentiate all the encountered phenomena into the Conventional Truth and the Ultimate Truth. It takes one beyond Name and Form, through Pure Perception without any biased interpretation, to the Primary Point, where everything encountered is only Substance (Vatthu), without Concept or Supposition but the Absolute (Paramattha), with the vibes of Voidness and Emptiness (Agahn).

Insight Meditation is basically the ultimate self-improvement system, based on self-development, with self-reliance, through self-observation inwardly and directly at oneself, perfecting self-recollection/remembrance or mindfulness, cultivating self-awareness, gaining self-realization - seeing oneself and the Buddha Nature within oneself, attaining self-enlightenment - acquiring supramundane or ultimate wisdom, resulting in self-awakening from ignorance, and self-emancipation - freeing oneself from suffering. Yet, one needs this ‘self’ (Body and Mind) as a media or working ground for self-discovery, to see the Not-self (Anatta) or the void and empty nature (Sunnata) of one’s self-image/self-notion (similar to an empty hologram) to achieve this self-liberation (Nirvana).

Contentment means that one is tranquilly happy with what one gets or owns with the following understanding:

1. One should be delight with what one has gained or inherited,

2. One should be joyful with what one has earned through the best of one's capability,

3. One should be happy with one's own proper status.

This definitely does NOT mean that one should not strive for anything, as Buddhists frequently are being accused as being pessimists and frequently quoted, 'Buddhists hate life.'

On the contrary, Buddhism teaches its followers to be an OPTIMIST by practicing RIGHTEOUS ACTION, and RIGHTEOUS OCCUPATION with RIGHTEOUS EFFORT or STRIVING, i.e. to do one's best when it is a right act to get to one's goal, yet not to cling to it.

Being contented is basically practicing the way of the Middle Path, not to be caught in the two extremes of being too loose and greedy with sensual indulgence, nor being too strict and torturing oneself with self-mortification.

The Buddha taught his followers to be diligent. Even to his last words, he kept arousing everyone to be heedful and mindful as follows:

"PERISHABLE ARE ALL CONDITIONED/COMPONENT THINGS, WORK OUT YOUR SALVATION WITH DILIGENCE."

The Buddha only taught 'DUKKHA,' and the 'END OF DUKKHA.' In general, human being has tendency to perceive things in a distorted way through perversion. Things appear to be permanent, pleasurable, and belong to oneself, causing one to 'crave' for sensual pleasure, existence, and non-existence, the Cause of Dukkha, motivated by the unwholesome roots, namely greed, hatred, and delusion. This results in 'Dukkha' when one cannot get what one wants, or gets what one does not want. Even at the happiest moment of one's life, one would still face with stress, conflict, dis-ease and unsatisfactoriness (Dukkha), as one’s happiness cannot last forever (Impermanence - Anicca), and therefore it does not truly belong to oneself (Not-self - Anatta).

The Buddha pointed out that it is possible to end Dukkha, as he did find through his Enlightenment, through the Middle Path (Magga). Everyone is capable of ending suffering (Dukkha), by practicing the Middle Path, but one has to make one's own effort to succeed.

Nirvana (Sanskrit) or Nibbana (Pali) frees one from suffering, death and rebirth, and all other worldly bonds. It is the goal of spiritual practice in all branches of Buddhism. In the understanding of early Buddhism, it is departure from the cycle of rebirths (Samsara) and entry into an entirely different mode of existence. It requires complete overcoming of the three unwholesome roots - desire, hatred, and delusion (akushala) - and the coming to rest of active volition or thought formation (samskara). It ends egoism, and self-conceit. It extinguishes suffering. It means freedom from the determining effect of karma. Nirvana is unconditioned (asamskrita); its characteristic marks are absence of arising, subsisting, changing, and passing away.

Nirvana is here and now, not in next life, nor any heavenly realm, as frequently misinterpreted. It already exists in everyone, and can be realized by anyone, regardless of age, sex, race, dialect, literacy, or religious belief, etc. It is up to the person to awaken it up. This is why the Buddha set forth his endeavour in teaching everyone to witness this ultimate truth as he himself did, and live one’s life to one’s true full potential, while still possible, in perfect harmony with nature and free from suffering.

2. Anupadisesa-nibbana: nibbana without any substratum of life remaining (Nirupadhishesha-nirvana: nirvana without conditionality, which is attained at death).

Nevertheless we cannot do without language. If Nirvana is to be expressed and explained in positive terms, one would likely and immediately grasp an idea associated with those terms, which may be quite the contrary. Therefore it is generally expressed in negative terms - a less dangerous mode perhaps, and is often referred to by such negative terms as Tanhakkhaya 'Extinction of Thirst', Asamkhata 'Uncompound', 'Unconditioned', Viraga 'Absence of desire', Nirodha 'Cessation', Nibbana 'Blowing out' or 'Extinction'.

A few definitions and descriptions of Nirvana as found in the original Pali texts:

'It is the complete cessation of that very 'thirst' (Tanha), giving it up, renouncing it, emancipation from it, detachment from it.'

'Calming of all conditioned things, giving up of all defilements (Kilesa), extinction of "thirst" (Tanha), detachment (Upadana), cessation (Nirodha), Nibbana.'

'O bhikkhus, what is the Absolute (Asamkhata, Unconditioned)? It is, O bhikkhus, the extinction of desire (ragakkhayo), the extinction of hatred (dosakkhayo), the extinction of delusion (mohakkhayo). This, 0 bhikkhus, is called the Absolute.'

'O Radha, the extinction of "thirst" (Tanhakkhayo) is Nibbana.'

'O bhikkhus, whatever there may be things conditioned or unconditioned among them detachment (Viraga) is the highest. That is to say, freedom from conceit, destruction of thirst, the uprooting of attachment, the cutting off of continuity, the extinction of "thirst" (Tanha), detachment, cessation, Nibbana.'

The reply of Sariputta, the chief disciple of the Buddha, to a direct question 'What is Nibbana?' posed by a Parivrajaka, is identical with the definition of Asamkhata given by the Buddha: 'The extinction of desire, the extinction of hatred, the extinction of delusion.'

'The abandoning and destruction of desire and craving for these Five Aggregates of Attachment: that is the cessation of dukkha.'

'The cessation of Continuity and becoming (Bhavanirodha) is Nibbana.'

The Buddha referred to Nirvana as follows:

'O bhikkhus, there is the unborn, ungrown, and unconditioned. Were there not the unborn, ungrown, and unconditioned, there would be no escape for the born, grown, and conditioned. Since there is the unborn, ungrown, and unconditioned, so there is escape for the born, grown, and conditioned.'

'Here the four elements of solidity, fluidity, heat and motion have no place; the notions of length and breadth, the subtle and the gross, good and evil, name and form are altogether destroyed; neither this world nor the other, nor coming, going or standing, neither death nor birth, nor sense-objects are to be found.'

Because Nirvana is thus expressed in negative terms, there are many who have got a wrong notion that it is negative, and expresses self-annihilation. Nirvana is definitely no annihilation of self, because there is no self to annihilate. If at all, it is the annihilation of the delusion (Moha) or illusion, of the false idea of self (Atta).

Buddhism: Theory & Practice

Buddhism, known in the East where it originated as Buddha-Sasana (the Teaching of the Buddha) or Buddha-Dharma (the Truth taught by the Buddha), is a complete system of living or a total way of being taught by the Buddha, the Self-Enlightened One. The Buddha himself called his teaching 'Dhamma-vinaya,' the Doctrine and Discipline. His Teaching or Buddha-Dharma is the teaching for a practical man. It is based on or stemmed from the Supramundane Wisdom he attained through his Enlightenment, in an attempt to lead and guide any human being towards Enlightenment as he had experienced, to realize and penetrate through the true nature of all existence. Buddhism is basically the awaken way of life (from ignorance, blinded by craving with greed, hatred, delusion), freeing one's mind and liberating oneself (Nirvana) from all the bondage and clinging to "self" (self-image/self-notion - Atta) which is the root to problems/conflict/dis-ease/unhappiness/suffering (Dukkha).

Through his enlightenment, Prince Siddhartha’s mind was 'purified' and revolutionized into the state of Buddhahood with the perfect and supramundane 'wisdom'. With his 'compassion', he started to teach ‘The Secret of Nature’ or ‘The Norm of Life & Universe’ which he discovered through his enlightenment. He taught that basically life is 'Suffering', and there is a way to end this suffering, through practicing 'The Path leading to the Extinction of Suffering' illustrated in 'Ariyasacca - The Four Ultimate or Noble Truths’ (as they literally mean), namely: 1. Suffering (Dukkha - suffering is to be comprehended), 2. Origin of Suffering (Samudaya - the cause of suffering is to be eradicated), 3. Extinction or cessation of Suffering (Nirodha - the cessation of suffering is to be realized), and 4. Path/Middle Path leading to the Extinction of Suffering (Magga - the path is to be developed).

Due to ignorance (Avijja) or lack of understanding in 'The Four Noble Truths' and 'The Three Universal Characteristics of Existence', human being in general would have tendency to perceive things in a distorted way through perversion (confirmed by nowadays neuroscientists that one sees or hears what one only wants to see or hear), and things appear to be permanent, pleasurable and belonging to oneself. Because of this distortion, it gives rise to craving (Tanha) for sensual pleasure, existence, or non-existence, motivated by the defilements/impurities (Kilesa), namely greed, hatred, and delusion. Therefore, the person who can envision 'Dukkha' or unsatisfactoriness in his life is the one who begins to see 'Dharma' or the Ultimate Truth of Nature, as 'Dukkha' is hidden in every moment of one's life and sometimes it exists in a very subtle form. Even at the happiest moment of one's life, one would still face with stress, conflict or unsatisfactoriness (Dukkha), e.g. one would worry that this happiness may not last forever (Anicca - Impermanence), as one has no control nor be able to make it last as long as one wishes because it does not really belong to oneself (Anatta). 'Dukkha' and happiness basically are the opposite extremes of the same process, similar to the opposite sides of one's own hand. If one only sees happiness, he is only looking at the palm without looking at the back of his hand. In fact 'happiness' is merely a subtle form of 'Dukkha', which is parallel to the principle of sensory perception of pleasurable bodily feeling and pain which is basically perceived from the electrical impulses of light and heavy intensities respectively transmitted through the same type of nerve fibers. Any person with enough wisdom to realize in 'Dukkha' is the person who starts to have the 'right understanding' or 'right view,' for seeing things in reality as they truly are, the most important step in practicing Buddhism.

Generally speaking, all conditioned phenomena express The Three Universal Characteristics of Existence in themselves, but these are not always perceived as such because they are being obscured by other factors. Impermanence (Anicca) is being obscured by continuity (Santati), e.g., we do not see the impermanence of our own bodies even our body cells die down all the time because they are being replaced by new cells, making us unaware of their death and impermanence. We only distortedly perceive this phenomenon as growing (yet, thanks to impermanence, we can grow). Only when our bodies malfunction or age, then we may begin to realize in their impermanence. Similarly, suffering (Dukkha) is being obscured by constant movement (Iriyapatha), e.g. when we sit or stand in one place for a period of time, we would start to feel uneasy and have to move around to avoid physical pain and suffering. Cohesiveness and compactness (Ghana) obscures the nature of not-self (Anatta) making one think that this body belongs to oneself. In fact it merely represents a combination of 'The Four Elements', namely, earth (solidity), water (softness, cohesiveness), air (gases, vibration), fire (metabolic heat), and The Five Aggregates of Clinging, namely material form, feeling, perception, mental/thought formation, and consciousness, none of which can be identified as belonging to oneself, nor can be truly controlled by oneself.

The Buddha taught that everything exists relatively to each other according to the flow of Nature, and it exists according to The Law of Dependent Origination, that is, it exists according to cause and effect. As a result of the existence of this thing, therefore that thing exists, e.g. suffering is the result of craving and clinging. On the contrary, if this thing does not exist, that thing would not exist, e.g. getting rid of craving and clinging will lead to extinction of suffering. Therefore the Buddha-Dharma or his teaching is basically the teaching about 1. Ultimate of Nature or the Ultimate Truths, i.e. life is suffering and there is an end to suffering, 2. Law of Nature, i.e. Nirvana has always been there whether the Buddha existed or not, 3. Duty to perform according to the Law of Nature, i.e. one should not waste one’s life away and should put in one’s best effort to realize the ultimate truths, and 4. Consequence or Effect of Duty performed according to the Law of Nature, i.e., one would free oneself from suffering and conflicts once achieved the wisdom through realizing the ultimate truths. These are well illustrated in the Four Ultimate Truths, the Law of Dependent Origination, the Five Aggregates of Clinging, the Six Sense Spheres, the Middle Path, and many other principles which make Buddhism unique among all other religions. These are but various means to lead one to witness and realize the Ultimate Truths of Nature or the Norm of Life and Universe. When one sees everything in reality as it truly is, one would also see Dharma.

The Path leading the mind to the cessation of suffering is the MIDDLE PATH or MIDDLE WAY, the only way to attain enlightenment, avoiding the two extremes of 'Sensual Indulgence' and 'Self-mortification'.

Sensual Indulgence <-----X---- or ----X------> Self-Mortification

(Sila) (Samadhi) (Panna)

The Noble Eightfold Path, once well practiced and well balanced among its 3 components, i.e. Sila (Morality), Samadhi (Mental Discipline, Concentration), and Panna (Wisdom) will strengthen themselves to become Supreme Morality (Adhisilasikkha) which is basically one’s norm acting like a shield or a defender towards any harm, Supreme Concentration (Adhicittasikkha) with a calm, cool, clear, yet interactive mind, and Supreme Wisdom (Adhipannasikkha) with pure perception, thoroughly realizing all phenomena as they truly are. They will unite to form 'Maggasamangi' or the united path, giving rise to 'Sammanana' or Right Insight or Knowledge. It will overcome those taints of desiring (Kamasava), becoming (Bhavasava), and ignorance (Avijjasava) or delusion, resulting in 'Sammavimutti' or Right Deliverance with perfect freedom and cessation of suffering, i.e. Nirvana.

The Foundation of Buddhism can be summarized as follows:

The Buddha emphasizes that besides studying (Pariyatti) his teaching, one has to put it into action by practicing it (Patipatti), and finally experiencing (Pativedha) the cessation of suffering by oneself, as the Buddha is only pointing out the way, and one has to practice it by oneself. This is the path that the monks and devout Buddhists are treading to similarly acquire the three main Virtues of the Buddha, namely Wisdom, Purity and Compassion, through The Threefold Training of Morality (Sila), Concentration (Samadhi) and Wisdom (Panna), or the three components of the Noble Eightfold Path. For lay Buddhists, this is being practiced in a similar but less stringent Threefold Paths of Giving (Dana), Morality or Precepts (Sila), and Meditation (Bhavana).

Giving (Dana) is one way of doing good, and is generally based upon compassion to initiate one to give to others (excluding those who give to gain fame). It is compassion-in-action. The Buddha taught us to be rich in our heart and mind, as the persons who can give are the persons who have rather than have not. In the strictest sense, 'Dana' or giving is an act of giving parts of oneself away, so one will not be clinging so tightly to the idea of ‘self’. It is an introductory level of 'anatta' or non-self.

Precepts or moral disciplines (Sila) are the codes to control one's own body and speech, the end-organs where one's mind and thoughts react. This is truly achieved and fulfilled by 'Virati' or abstinence in one's mind and volition, preventing one from doing bad things. Constant guarding of one's mind with the precepts will make it easier for the person to purify his mind. The basic moral codes in Buddhism are the five precepts, namely 1. Do not kill, 2. Do not steal, 3. Do not lie, 4. Do not practice adultery, and 5. Do not consume liquor or intoxicants. It is these five precepts that make human being superior to other animals, and when well practiced and observed will reassure the person to be reborn in a realm no less than a human being. Even animals themselves prefer to live under these five moral codes, e.g., they would not like to be killed, have their food stolen, have their mates taken away from them, be cheated or lied to, or be poisoned or intoxicated. It is also these very same five precepts that when well observed and practiced along with 'concentration' and 'wisdom' of 'The Middle Path' can lead one to attain enlightenment and become one of the noble or holy disciples of the Buddha.

The heart of Buddhism is in fact centered at one's own "BODY" and "MIND", or more precisely at the "MIND", as 'good' and 'evil' start and end in one's own mind, directing one to act through one's body, speech, and mental action accordingly. The 'Buddha Nature' resides in everyone, regardless of age, sex, race, literacy, dialect, etc., and can be realized with awareness through practicing 'The Middle Path,' transcending oneself above the concept of good and evil, attaining Nirvana with cessation of suffering.

Meditation (Bhavana) plays the most important aspect of Buddhism. By practicing Insight Meditation (Vipassana Bhavana), one would see things truly as they really are with the 'inner vision' through 'The Eye of Dharma' or 'The Eye of Wisdom', and would gain 'Right Understanding' and 'Supramundane Wisdom' and thoroughly understand 'The Three Universal Characteristics of Existence', namely: 1. Impermanence (Anicca), 2. Suffering, stress, imperfection, imbalance, unsatisfactoriness (Dukkha), 3. Non-self, emptiness, voidness, insubstantiality, soullessness (Anatta). As a result of thoroughly experiencing things in reality with one's whole mind, one would be enlightened with direct and immediate insight and understanding in the true nature of our existence, bringing liberation and release the mind from all the bondage and fetters, attaining 'Nirvana', the state of ultimate peace, calm and happiness. This is why 'Practicing Dharma' is so crucial in Buddhism, as it is the path that will lead one to the level of 'Penetration' or experiencing the Buddha Nature within oneself. Buddhism is 'the way of life' that stresses on 'Purifying one's own mind' through self-observation, and if one were to practice in a different method, away from one's own mind, one would have totally missed Buddhism.

Published in:

DHARMA VOICE, a publication of the college of Buddhist Studies, Los Angeles.

Vol. 2, No. I & 2. October 1981.

"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual. It should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description." -- Albert Einstein

The age of science has changed radically the way people view life. People are more rationalistic than in the past and inclined to accept the truth of things by observation and experiment rather than more belief. As a result, blind belief is fast disappearing and science has taken a superior position, often viewed as separate from religion and even somewhat of a threat to many religions.

Buddhism, on the contrary, emphasizes the importance of the scientific outlook in dealing with the problems of morality and religions. The Buddha’s teaching or the Dharma is capable of verification, as it is timeless and can be witnessed by oneself or be self-realized. One is encouraged to come and see, as the Dharma is directly experienceable and provable by each intelligent person. The practical aspect of Buddhism is basically a self-observation technique to gain insight and see things in reality as they truly are, a similar approach to the way scientists observe the experimental results as they encounter in their scientific researches.

Buddhism, known in the East as Buddha Sasana or Buddha Dharma, is a way of life taught by the Buddha, the Self-Enlightened One, and has become a subject of interest to more and more Westerners who seek a religious philosophy not contradictory to their scientific beliefs.

The Buddha's teachings are based upon or stem from the experience of or the proceeding towards Enlightenment. The main ideas of Buddhism are contained in the statements known as The Four Noble Truths, namely suffering (Dukkha), the origin of suffering (Samudaya), the extinction of suffering (Nirodha) and the path leading to the extinction of suffering (Magga). He taught the Middle Way or Path (Magga), that persons should avoid the two extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification. In fact, the whole of Buddhist teaching is one mass of flexible methods appropriate for different times, different places, and most importantly, for different temperaments of persons.

The Buddha taught us the Three Fundamental Principles: that everyone should avoid doing evil, should cultivate doing good, and should purify the mind in order to free oneself from both good and evil. This emphasis upon the purification of mind is one of the unique aspects of Buddhism which make it different from other religions. Purification of the mind can be achieved through Insight or Vipassana Meditation in order to gain intuitive and supermundane wisdom, to seeing things in reality as they truly are. One would perceive things with the correct perspective, different than previously did, transcending the biased way of experiencing all phenomena, and freeing oneself from all the defilements, craving and clinging, which originated from and are rooted in the mind. Therefore, the Buddha stressed the importance of studying as well as 'practicing the Dharma, finally penetrating or thoroughly experiencing things in reality with one's whole mind.

With right understanding and wisdom, one would thoroughly understand the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence, which govern every worldly phenomenon, from the universe to the subatomic particles, from mass to energy, from body to mind, namely: 1. impermanence (Anicca); 2. stress, conflict, imbalance, imperfection, suffering or unsatisfactoriness (Dukkha); 3. non-self, emptiness, voidness, soullessness, or insubstantiality (Anatta). One gains supermundane wisdom cultivated through insight meditation to fully realize, experience and penetrate through these subjects, especially the subject of non-self, emptiness or insubstantiality, with one's whole mind to achieve the state of ultimate peace, calm and happiness, to attain enlightenment and to reach Nirvana. This is to say that anyone may achieve Buddhahood through insight meditation, as everyone has the Buddha nature in oneself or one's own mind.

Science is not only complimentary to Buddhist teachings, but has also proved the theory of The Three Universal Characteristics of Existence. For example, the very large supernova recently spotted on 2/23/87, the Supernova Shelton or 1987A, represents the process of a dying sun, (Anicca) resulting in a massive explosion (Dukkha), which occurred 170,000 light years away from our earth. This means that the event occurred 170,000 years ago while human beings were still living in the stone age. In other words, at this moment there is probably nothing left out there where it actually took place but vast emptiness (Anatta). What we are seeing on this earth is just an illusory vision perceived by our mind as an ongoing event, through the contact of our eyes with the light originated from the supernova that has been traveling through space and time all those years, long after the actual event.

The universe is mostly vacuum (Sunnata). In the remote regions between galaxies, one would be lucky to find a single atom in a space the size of a stadium. The atoms are packed more densely in our own world of solids, liquids, and gases. A close-up of an atom would reveal that the nucleus, which carries 99.9 percent of the weight, hovers in the center of the atom. Except for a few electrons that waft about, the rest is empty space. Since we and our world are made of such insubstantial stuff, it is surprising how much thought and energy (not to mention money) scientists spend trying to unravel the riddle of matter. Instead one should be worrying about the nature of the vacuum (Sunnata), which is by a wide margin the major constituent of the universe.

The world, modern physics tells us, can no longer be divided into matter and empty space. The world is just a ‘pale blue dot’ in the vast universe, and human beings are proportionally smaller than specks of dust, comparable to the invisible subatomic particles. Yet all the problems and conflict start at these subatomic particles, i.e., these human beings, busy being self-centered (Atta) as though each one is the center of the universe, not realizing the insubstantiality (Anatta) of oneself and this world.

Through surveying and judging its value against the ground of various branches of modern arts and sciences, the Buddha's teaching has withstood such testings, and in fact such actions have resulted in being complimentary to the teaching. It is the teaching for a practical person. Its depth can never be judged or measured by argument, but by one's own experience. Therefore, what is of utmost importance is the practice of it.

The Buddha never encouraged wrangling, animosity and strife. Addressing the disciples he once said, 'I quarrel not with the world, monks, it is the world that quarrels with me. An exponent of the Dharma quarrels not with anyone in the world.'

Buddhism is the teaching of self-enlightenment. No God, gods, or external power will help one to realize the truth. Everyone has the power of realization, or Buddha Nature, within oneself (this is the Secret of Nature or the hidden Norm of Life and Universe, which is always existing within everyone, either one is aware of it or not, or the Buddha existed or not). The Buddha clearly stated that he was only a teacher pointing out the way and guiding the followers to their individual deliverance. He said, 'You yourselves must make the effort. The Buddhas only point out the Way.'

The Buddha was always full of compassion. At the very last moment of his life, he preached his last sermon, exhorting his followers to strive ceaselessly for their own salvation. His last words were: 'Perishable are all component things. Work out your salvation with diligence.'

(This article was written with Dr. Sirirat Tanphaichitr. Delivered to the audience at the Shaare Zedek Synagogue, St. Louis, Missouri, on May 6, 1990.)

"MAI PEN RAI" - is the common Thai expression when something is not satisfactory, which means 'It's all right,' or 'Never mind, it doesn't matter'. The wisdom of this expression is basically rooted in Buddhism, which teaches the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence, namely:

1. Impermanence (Anicca),

2. Imperfection, dis-ease, suffering (Dukkha),

3. Not-self, insubstantiality, voidness, emptiness (Anatta).

There is a close relationship between Buddhism and the Thai nation. The history of the Thai nation is also the history of Buddhism. For over 2,000 years, Buddhism has played an important part of the Thai history. Originally Mahayana Buddhism was introduced to the Thai of Nanchao Kingdom in western Yunnan, southern China. The Thai nation settled firmly in present-day Thailand 700 years ago, the same time it adopted the present form of Theravada Buddhism. Nowadays, about 94% of the entire Thai population of 57 millions are Buddhists. Under the constitution, the King, although protector of all religions, must be a Buddhist. The present sovereign, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was in his youth, temporarily ordained as a Buddhist monk like most men in his kingdom when they are over twenty years old. Buddhism is an integral part of the everyday life of the Thai people. The popular assumption is that to be a Thai is to be a Buddhist.

The Thais over the centuries have evolved a Buddhism of their own, suited to the Thai temperament. Buddhism has played a profound role in shaping the Thai character, particularly their reactions to events. The Buddhist concept of earthly impermanence, its idea of the absurdity of trying to establish certainties in an ever fluid existence, has done much to create that relaxed, carefree charm that is one of the most appealing characteristics of the country. The charm that has caused Thailand to be called "The Land of Smiles" undoubtedly comes from the influence of Buddhism over her people. It is also postulated that tension, ulcers, nervous breakdowns, and the like are much less common in Thailand due to the influence of Buddhism, despite a very heavy traffic jam.

Buddhism also has had a deep influence in the Thai arts, traditions, and learning. It has become an integral part of Thai life. The most exotic Thai classical architecture can be witnessed at many temples throughout Thailand, even at the center of the Grand Palace. Thai sculptural work is mainly confined to Buddha images. Through the Thai artistic abilities and principally owing to the fuller and truly felt spirit of their religion, the Thais have succeeded in creating a Buddha image which portrays in its real essence the Buddhist doctrine of compassion, purity and wisdom, especially those of Sukhothai period (Unfortunately, these Thai Buddha images have become popular display items for the most exotic interior decoration in the living rooms of United States and European countries. This regrettably has resulted in a lot of smuggling of the Buddha images out of Thailand). Traditional Thai painting with its own characteristic showing the life of the Buddha can be found as mural paintings of many temples and palaces throughout Thailand. Today, although the spread of the governmental system of education has brought modern schools to replace the traditional temple schools, and though fewer monks teach in schools of the new system, most of the public and governmental schools are still housed in monastery buildings or located in the compounds of monasteries.

In Buddhism, there are three ideals or treasures, the Triple Gem, namely, the Buddha - the Enlightened One, the Dharma - his teachings, and the Sangha - the community of monks. The Buddhist brotherhood is composed of four assemblies of Buddhists, namely, monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen. Monks and nuns form the monastic section, while laymen and laywomen form the lay section. The two sections generally follow the path of the Buddha at different levels. The monks are more devoted to spiritual development than the laymen. To minimize personal cares, worries and clinging to 'self', they shave their heads, wear only three robes and possess only a few necessary requisites. They practice celibacy and observe 227 precepts. They depend on the laymen for material necessities such as food, clothing, lodging and medicine, and give the lay community spiritual advice and guidance in return.

Thailand has been given the name, "The Land of the Yellow Robe", as there are more than 28,000 Buddhist monasteries in Thailand of her 200,000 square miles, and about 340,000 monks and novices. Far from being a burden to society, this large religious community plays an integral role in the lives of the Thais as they engage in the accumulation of merit. The more merit a person gains the closer he or she comes to ultimate release or liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Buddhist monks can be seen walking with dignity along the city streets in the pale light of early morning on their alms round to receive food from the devout almsgivers who thereby earn merit.

Thai calendars usually show a special day of every week which is known as Wan Phra, the Buddhist holy day or Buddhist Sabbath day, when the pious are often especially active in their merit-making. There are also Buddhist discussions or sermons on the radio which they can listen to, and Buddhist programs on television to watch on such days and on weekends. Some larger monasteries hold special programs on Saturday and Sunday, so that workers may be able to benefit from their service. Many boys and girls go to attend classes at Buddhist Sunday schools which are conducted in monasteries both in Bangkok and in the provinces.

The Buddha taught the Three Fundamental Principles, namely:

1. To avoid or refrain from evil, in word, deed and thought.

2. To do good in word, deed and thought.

3. To purify one's mind, i.e. to rid it of mental impurities, e.g. unwholesome roots, namely greed/desire, aversion/hatred, and delusion.

The whole Buddhist teaching is basically one mass of flexible methods appropriate severally for different times, different places, and most importantly, for different temperament of persons.

The Buddha taught people to understand, to reason by studying (Pariyatti), and put it into action by practicing Dharma (Patipatti), and finally experiencing (Pativedha) the liberation or freedom (Nirvana) the absence of all boundaries (Lokuttara-Dharma or Non-duality), freeing oneself from the concepts of birth and death, owning and lacking, increasing and decreasing, etc., i.e. all concepts (Lokiya-Dharma or Duality) which form the basis of the unwholesome roots namely, greed, hatred/aversion, and delusion. He greatly emphasized practice or 'action,' i.e. one must understand the knowledge or Dharma, then reason whether it is true, and most importantly, one must practice what one has learned, through one's speech, deed, and thought. The Buddha stressed that one must make one's own effort, as he only pointed out the Way.

When put into practice or action, they are the Threefold Paths of:

1. Giving (Dana): is based on compassion. It teaches one not to cling tightly to 'self' by giving what belongs to oneself away. It is an introductory level of not-self (Anatta).

2. Moral codes or precepts (Sila): One should restrain one's action through speech, deed and mind. The basic moral codes in Buddhism are the five precepts, namely, 1. Do not kill, 2. Do not steal, 3. Do not practice adultery, 4. Do not lie, 5. Do not drink or use any drug or intoxicant.

3. Meditation (Bhavana): With insight meditation, one can see and realize the true nature of all existence, and attain enlightenment.

At the basic level, the Buddha taught people to do good, and avoid doing evil, as in other major world religions. The way to do good is by merit making, to become free from attachment, to have a purified mind with insight, and to gain a perfect happiness.

There are various means to acquire merit which can be ranked in the order of their importance, as follows:

1. Becoming a monk.

2. Contributing enough money for construction of a temple (wat).

3. Having a son ordained as a monk.

4. Making excursions to the Buddhist temples throughout Thailand.

5. Contributing toward the repair of a temple (wat).

6. Giving food daily to the monks and giving food on holy days.

7. Becoming a novice.

8. Attending the temple on all holy days.

9. Obeying the five precepts at all time.

10. Giving money and new robes to the monks at the Thaud Kathin (Festival at the end of the rainy retreat season).

The Buddha instructed his followers to use one's own wisdom to judge what is right, what is wrong, and what should one follows with the following advice:

"In case where occasion for doubt exists, it is right and proper to doubt. Do not go upon mere report, tradition or hearsay; neither go upon correspondence with holy writings, upon (unsupported) cogitation or specious reasoning; nor should you go upon the approval of accepted notions, nor upon the authority of one who may appear competent, nor be guided by the instinct of reverence, thinking, 'This ascetic is our teacher.' But, Kalamas (The name of those villagers who posed the question.), when you yourselves know (by observation, experience and right judgment): 'Such things are bad, such things are blamable; such things are censured by the wise; such things when undertaken and followed lead to harm and ill' - then you should abandon such things. But when you yourselves know: 'Such things are good, such things are praise-worthy; such things are commended by the wise; such things when undertaken and followed lead to the good and welfare of all beings' - then you should accept, hold to and follow such things."

For the monks and devout Buddhists, they practice a similar but more stringent Threefold Training of 1. Morality (Sila), 2. Concentration (Samadhi), and 3. Wisdom (Panna), to follow the three main virtues of the Buddha himself, namely 1. Wisdom, 2. Purity, and 3. Compassion.

At this higher level of teaching, the Buddha taught people to purify one's own mind through 'Insight or Vipassana Meditation', which is unique to Buddhism, so one would see and realize the true nature of all existence, i.e. to realize the truth of the way things are and that everything is basically 'not-self' (Anatta). This is the aim of the Buddha, who decided with his unlimited compassion over 2,500 years ago, to help lifting mankind from dis-ease and suffering (Dukkha) by teaching and exposing 'the secret of nature' he found through his enlightenment. He pointed out that life is basically dis-ease and suffering (Dukkha), and one is capable of ending this dis-ease and suffering. His teaching is basically the Path, the Middle Path or the Noble Eightfold Paths (Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration), which when practiced will end this suffering, resulted from craving and clinging. He taught his followers to transcend good and evil, as when one clings to either good or evil, they all lead to volition, and clinging to 'self', which leads to repeated cycles of arising and ending of thought process, and endless suffering. By training oneself through one's own effort and intelligence, anyone can achieve supreme attainment to become a Buddha. The Buddha stated that his teaching has only one taste, the taste of freedom. His teaching is capable of verification, for his Dharma is timeless and can be witnessed by oneself or be self-realized. One is encouraged to come and see, as the Dharma is directly experienceable and provable by each intelligent person. Buddha nature is in everyone, regardless of age, sex, race, literacy, occupation, or religious belief, and is capable of verification with one's own effort. Many famous meditation centers can be found throughout Thailand, teaching insight meditation, free of charge, to anyone, natives and foreigners alike, both men and women, who wishes to liberate oneself from dis-ease and suffering. Through insight meditation, one would see clearly that everything exists due to a cause, and it can be ended with the cessation of its cause (Dependent Origination). One would understand, experience and penetrate through the Four Noble Truths, namely: 1. Suffering (Dukkha), 2 Origin of suffering (Samudaya), 3. Extinction or cessation of suffering (Nirodha), and 4. Path leading to the extinction of suffering (Magga), attaining enlightenment and Nirvana as a result. One would then live in perfect harmony with nature, in ultimate peace, freedom, and happiness.

THIS IS THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA.

* Kongsak Tanphaichitr, M.D. is the Secretary and a Dharma teacher at Wat Phrasriratanaram, the Thai Buddhist Temple, St. Louis, Missouri, and the President of the Thai Association of Greater St. Louis. He is a Board Certified Allergist and Rheumatologist, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. He is married to Sirirat Tanphaichitr, Ph.D., the Head of the Buddhist Sunday School of Wat Phrasriratanaram, St. Louis, Missouri.

(Present to the audience attending the King’s Birthday Celebration at Wat Phrasriratanaram, St. Louis, Missouri, on December 5, 1987.)

Dec. 5, 1987 is the 60th birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. This is the year that H.M. the King completes his fifth zodiac cycle (of 12 years each), which is considered by the Thais to be a very special occasion.

There are 3 things that make Thai people very proud of our national heritage, namely:

1. Thai Nation - 'Thai' means free. Thailand has always been independent, and has never been colonized (though many attempts were made). Thailand remains 'Land of the Free.' This is represented by the 'red' color on our Thai National Flag.

2. Buddhism - our National Religion, which is worshipped by 94% of the Thais. Buddhism, a total way of being, has withstood many scientific challenges for over 2575 years, as the Buddha's Teaching is basically dealt with the very truth of Nature, 'The Ultimate Truths', and would always be timeless and provable. This is represented by the 'white' color on our Flag.

3. The King - King Bhumibol Adulyadej is like our father who is loved and highly respected by Thai people. The King alone provides the vital force and stability for Thailand. The one thing the tolerant Thais will not forgive is any remark disrespectful of H.M. the King. He is represented by the 'blue' color on our Flag.

H.M. the King is more than a monarch. The Supreme Patriarch of Thailand once answered the National Geographic Editor, who asked 'How did the non-political Buddhism of Thailand differ from the activist sort in Vietnam?', as follows, 'H.M. the King is the patron of Buddhism, defender of all religions. Monks in some other countries have no one to take care of them. No patrons or guides. So sometimes political actions take monks away from the Vinaya (Discipline).'

He is also a devout Buddhist who was once ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1956. He practices the Middle Way that the Buddha taught as follows:

1. Dana (Giving) - He is always compassionate and very generous to Thai people. A prominent monk mentioned that H.M the King, realized in the merit of giving he has made, once said, 'Through my giving alone, it is enough to take me to Nirvana.'

2. Sila (Moral Discipline) - He possesses the 10 virtues of the king which makes him a great king (see next page). 'We will reign with Dharma (righteousness) for the benefits and happiness of the Siamese people' was his coronation pledge, and he has certainly kept his promise.

3. Bhavana (Meditation) - According to his meditation teacher, H.M. the King has practiced meditation for many years and has advanced to the level of realizing certain Dharma which has never been named previously, a very high level of achievement.

He is a fine example of what a good Buddhist should be like and for all of us to follow. On this very special occasion, all of us who are fortunate to be born under his reign sincerely and respectfully wish him,

'LONG LIVE HIS MAJESTY THE KING.'

(Presented to the audience attending the First International Vesak Day celebration in St. Louis, at Wat Phrasriratanaram, The Buddhist Temple of Greater St. Louis, on May 8, 1993)

2,616 years ago, the Buddha was born as the Crown Prince Siddhattha Gotama on the full moon day of the sixth lunar month in the Lumbini Garden near the present Indo-Nepalese border. Thirty-five years later on the full moon day of the sixth lunar month, he was reborn spiritually as the Buddha through his Enlightenment under the Bodhi tree on the bank of Neranjara River at Bodhagaya in northeastern India. This is recognized as Nirvana with the substration of life remaining (Saupadisesa-nibbana). At the age of eighty, on the full moon day of the sixth lunar month, under the Sala trees in the forest near Kusinara city, the Buddha passed away, pari-nirvana, entering the state of Nirvana without any substratum of life remaining (Anupadisesa-nibbana). These three events happened on the same day on the full moon day of the sixth lunar month, the Vesak Day or the Visakha Puja Day. On this particular day, Buddhists all over the world celebrate to commemorate these events, paying respect to the Buddha and his virtues of compassion, purity, and wisdom.

It is quite electrifying to witness the first International Vesak Day Celebration in St. Louis. This is a combined efforts of various Buddhist groups in St. Louis, including Chinese, Korean, Laotian, Sri Lankan, Thai, Tibetan, Vietnamese, Zen, and many other more. Each group represents a long lineage of the Buddhist tradition through many centuries from various parts of the world, as living proofs to the truth in the Buddha's teaching or Dharma, timeless and capable of verification, applicable and appropriate severally to any person, age, sex, race, withstanding and surviving through time any challenge of different environment that Buddhism has spread to, including St. Louis, Missouri and U.S.A. Each individual has been touched by the Buddha's teaching, and all are willing to participate in this celebration with great enthusiasm as a small way to show gratitude to the Buddha.

At the outset, these various Buddhist groups may seem to be different in their appearance according to the countries which Buddhism has propagated to, in the way of reciting the teaching, in the way of paying respect to the Buddha, etc. Yet, there are common and unique characteristics at the core of each tradition which identify them all as Buddhists, such as, the Four Noble or Ultimate Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path or the Middle Path, the Dependent Arising or Origination, the Five Aggregates or Groups of Clinging, the Six Sense Bases or spheres, the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence (namely Impermanence, Imperfection, and Not-self, Voidness or Emptiness), the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, and Insight Meditation. These common characteristics are basically various ways or means of guiding each individual of various temperaments to penetrate into one’s own heart and mind, to witness the Secret of Nature or the true Norm of Life and Universe. One would thoroughly understand oneself, through realizing the Buddha Nature within oneself, seeing things in reality as they truly are, living in the very present, moment to moment, not in the past or the future, without being lured with one's own biased thoughts influenced by greed, hatred, and delusion. One is considered to have gained ‘the Eye of Wisdom,’ or ‘the Eye of Dharma - capable of seeing the Buddha,’ as always being mindful and aware in everything that one does, says, and thinks, without clinging to the ups and downs in one's life. The resonance between the pure mind and the true nature of life and universe is the Enlightenment, allowing one to control one's own fate, getting rid of one's own personal conflict, and suffering, living in perfect harmony with nature in peace, freedom, and true happiness. This is the awaken way of the Buddha, that Buddhists are practicing as a way of life to gain the virtues of the Buddha, and as the best possible way of paying respect to him.

Giving & Generosity

(Presented in part at the Interfaith Gathering on March 18, 1990 at the CBC.)

Giving & generosity is the first virtue of the perfection of the Buddha. True giving is 'Compassion-in-Action,' and has many great effects on our lives. It gives joy to the givers and the receivers. Without giving, generosity, and donations, Buddhism would not have survive this far in the history of mankind as a great world religion. In fact, Buddhism would not have existed without 'the Gift of Dharma' given to us by the Buddha.

Giving is the very first path of the 'Threefold Paths of Practice' (1.-Dana: Giving; 2.-Sila: Restraint; and 3.-Bhavana: Insight Meditation), taught by the Buddha, as a way of cultivating good deed (The Buddha's teachings can be summarized into the Three Fundamental Principles, namely 1.-To avoid doing bad deeds; 2.-To cultivate good deeds; and 3.-To purify one's mind).

In Buddhism, there are two types of giving as follows:

1. Amisadana: Material gift, or carnal gift - e.g. giving those basic necessities of life, including food, shelter, clothing, and medicine to the poor to help them survive in this world. This kind of gift usually has a relatively short impact for the receivers.

2. Dhammadana: Gift of Truth, or gift of Dharma, knowledge and wisdom - This is the more important form of giving, e.g. giving the gift of knowledge and technical supports to the receivers to learn to help themselves, so they would be able to continue to survive on their own in the future.

The Buddha emphasized that "the gift of Dharma (truth, knowledge, wisdom) excels all other gifts - Sabbe Danam Dhamma Danam Cinati."

It is very important that when one gives to the others, one should give the gift of knowledge and truth, along with the material gifts, so it will have a long-lasting impact and benefit to the receivers, rather than to give the material gifts alone. A good example to this fact is that W.H.O.(World Health Organization) used to give a lot of food (material gift) to combat hunger and starvation occurring over various parts of the world, only to find out that the problem compounded and continued to get worse as more food supplies were needed during the following years. Later on, W.H.O. tried a different approach by giving technical and educational supports (gift of Dharma: knowledge and wisdom) to the local people on irrigation and farming, in conjunction to the food support, only then the problem of starvation became controllable. In another situation, one can easily see what could have happened if the US government only gives out food stamps to the poor and unemployed, without providing any vocational rehabilitation program to put them back to work. One can only be reassured that the US economy would have been in a serious trouble situation.

The merit of giving is abundance. The Buddha taught that 'He who gives out what is delightful will receive it back, so will he who gives out what is best, choicest or perfect.' He also encouraged us to use wisdom to give discriminatorily to the right persons, so the gifts would go to the receivers who would benefit the most, and the givers would know that they have done the right thing for the right persons, e.g. one should not give to the thieves to support them to continue to rob the others. At the highest level of the Buddha's teaching, he taught us to transcend, not to cling to, good and evil. That is when one gives to the others, it is only an act of good deed, and that is good, nothing more and nothing less, and one should not expect to get anything in return from the receivers.

There are at least 3 levels or ways of giving.

1. General Gift - as the ordinary level of giving: The Buddha taught his followers to be generous to the others, and the 'have' to give to the 'have-not.' Everyone has the power to give, and one does not need to be rich to be able to give. Some of the richest people are unable to give due to their own stinginess. In fact, the Buddha taught us to be 'rich' in our heart and mind, as the persons who can give are the persons who 'have' rather than 'have not.' Even the poorest man can still give great gifts, e.g. the gift of loving-kindness, the gift of rejoicing with those who give to the others as well as to those who receive or are blessed with fortune. Giving (excluding the kinds of giving for other purposes, e.g. donations for tax-advantage purpose, giving under pressure without a true intention to give, or giving to expect something in return from the receivers) is generally based on COMPASSION to initiate one to give to the others, and it is a good exercise to learn to be compassionate to other human beings. Giving is 'COMPASSION-IN-ACTION.' In the strictest sense, Giving is an act of giving parts of oneself away, so one would not be clinging too tightly to the concept of 'Self,' i.e. it is an introductory level of 'Anatta' or not-self.

2. Gift of Restraint - as a higher level of giving: Giving away or relinquish bad thoughts or ill-will towards others, e.g., refraining oneself from saying bad words to hurt or damage other persons, is an act of restricting oneself from doing bad deeds by observing moral codes or precepts (Sila) to control one's own body, and speech, the end-organs where one's mind and thoughts react. Refraining oneself from doing bad deeds is basically an act of abstinence in one's mind and volition (Virati), by constantly guarding one's mind with mindfulness and restraint, giving away all the bad thoughts and ill-will, avoiding the opportunity to hurt or harm others. Even in a normal daily life, one can constantly give the Gift of Restraint by simply be contented, and not to over-indulge, over-consume, and over-utilize raw materials, available as various finished products, as it will deprive the poor from being able to afford the same materials which may prove to be necessary for their living. This is another form of 'Compassion-in-Action.' As a result, it will be much easier for the person to purify his mind. The world would become a much happier place to live in, if everyone learns to restrain oneself from bad thoughts and ill-will against each other, but be compassionate to each other.

3. Gift of 'Self' - as the highest level of gift or invaluable gift: Human being has a tendency to live in the world of distortion, clinging to the idea of 'self' or ego, and craving with greed, hatred, and delusion. We live in the world of 'conventional truth', and fail to recognize the 'ultimate truth.' This results in suffering because one fails to realize that one has frequently created a world of poverty and hunger within oneself, by craving with desire/greed, hatred and delusion, drowning oneself in the ocean of illusory thoughts which are beyond one's capability or earning power, despite the fact that one has already been living happily and comfortably. Giving away this clinging to 'selfhood' or ego is recognized by the Buddha to be the highest level of giving, and this is the aim of his teaching. This kind of giving excels all other kinds of giving. It is a world-transcending (Lokuttara), above good and above evil. Therefore one should look inwardly towards oneself to examine and get rid of self-created hunger and poverty, from clinging to the concept of self (self-image/self-notion). By doing this, one is basically being kind and compassionate to oneself by letting go (giving away) of all the causes of dis-ease and suffering, arisen from those self-created thoughts and volition of craving. This is the spiritual disease of suffering that the human race is facing, more than ever, in this advanced age of technology and communication, with abundance of luxurious items, and glamorous life style, awaiting to be indulged at great costs, and to be followed by perpetuated craving and clinging. To avoid this spiritual disease, one should be contented by being satisfied with what one owns, and delighted with what one earns with the best of one's capability. By investigating carefully, inwardly and thoroughly through insight meditation with self-observation, one would not be able to find a true self within oneself, but the Five Groups or Aggregates of Clinging (to 'selfhood'), namely: Material form (Body), Feeling, Perception, Thought/Mental formation, and Consciousness (Mind: the latter fours).

One would understand and see clearly the true nature of all existence which follows the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence, namely:

i. Impermanence (Anicca),

ii. Imperfection, dis-ease, unsatisfactoriness (Dukkha),

iii. Not-self, emptiness, voidness, insubstantiality (Anatta).

The last fact is difficult to be thoroughly understood or comprehended with simple worldly knowledge, even by any brightest or most knowledgeable man on earth, as it requires 'Wisdom' cultivated through 'Insight Meditation' to experience for oneself and penetrate through this fact of Anatta, or to be enlightened, and realize for oneself that lack of understanding or true knowledge (Ignorance) of this Anatta is the very root of all delusion, craving, clinging, and unhappiness. Once one is able to clearly see, one would let go the 'self' concept (self-image/self-notion). One would realize the Ultimate Truth and true nature of all existence, and would be living in peace, happiness, and in perfect harmony with nature, i.e. Nirvana.

Generosity is considered as one of the seven Noble Treasures: namely, 1.- Confidence (Saddha), 2.- Morality (Sila), 3.- Conscience (Hiri), 4.- Moral Dread (Ottappa), 5.- Great Learning (Bahusacca), 6.- Liberality, Giving, Generosity (Caga), 7.- Wisdom (Panna). These Treasures are also called 'Virtues of Great Assistance,' making those who practice wealthy spiritually, beyond any worldly wealth as one cannot purchase them with any monetary system, resulting in great benefit to themselves and others.

  1993 will enter the U.S. history as one of the worst years for the Midwest, which was hard hit by the Great Flood of 1993. It is estimated to cause at least a $12 billion, possibly as high as $15-20 billion, worth of damage in at least 9 states. 45 lives were lost in those states, including 24 lives lost in Missouri, along the paths of the 2 longest rivers of the U.S.A., the Mississippi River (the very longest) and the Missouri River. It flooded more than 16,000 square miles of farmland and damaged at least 19,000 homes. Missouri State was hit the hardest as the 2 rivers pass through it, coming to merge in West Alton, just north of St. Louis. The Missouri River broke through a levee near St. Charles County, just west of St. Louis, on July 16, 1993. Floodwaters surged northward, merging with Mississippi backwaters 35 miles upstream from their normal confluence, making it impossible to distinguish where the 2 rivers start and end, but a great lake they create. The Mississippi River crested in St. Louis on Monday, August 2, 1993 (coinciding with the fullmoon day of the 8th lunar month, the Asalahapuja Day, commemorating the first sermon given by the Buddha 2581 years ago.) at 49.4 ft. above normal level, or 19.4 ft. above its official flood stage level of 30 ft., only 2.6 ft. below the top of the 52 ft. Downtown St. Louis City levee (It was speculated that it would have crested as high as 54 ft., should it not be from levee breakage higher upstream diverting the water away from the rivers and relieving the pressure downstream). There were at least 150 flood walls and levees broke in Missouri alone, with property damage estimated over $2.7 billion for Missouri. 70,000 people, including 19,000 Missourians, were evacuated. 59 of 114 Missouri counties, including the City of St. Louis, were declared as federal disaster areas. The federal flood-relief aid is expected to be $6.3 billion, including the $5.7 billion flood-aid bill signed in St. Louis by President Clinton on August 12, 1993, far less than the amount of money required to restore the damage caused by the flood. The devastation caused by the flood is beyond comprehension, with an undefinedable and almost uncontainable sense of loss. So much misery and suffering were felt and witnessed all around the flooded areas of the Midwest, not only by the flood victims losing their properties, but also indirectly by the nearby populations, e.g., lack of consumable water, re-routing traffic and traffic jams, etc. This was happening while the other parts of the country were facing threatening droughts, e.g., lack of rain in the South-eastern states for over 38 weeks, pointing out the uncertainty of nature, and our inability to control it. It is said that this Great Flood of 1993 is the worst flood of the Midwest in 500 years, i.e since Christopher Columbus set foot on this continent.

Eighteen percent, nearly one out of five, of more than 1,000 Americans surveyed across the U.S.A. considered the flood of the Midwest as an indication of God's judgment on the people of the U.S. and his punishment for sinners. Some even went further to state that God picked the Mississippi at St. Louis because of the riverboat gambling. Some stated that once he begins to move in judgment, he will not relent and he has 100 hurricanes, 100 droughts and 100 floods, and 100 terrorists at his disposal. Despite all these threats, the riverboat gambling was minimally affected and continued to conduct its business as usual, with newly built linking bridges on top of the old sinking ones connected to the river-bank welcoming the customers; while the flood victims, along with the sympathized volunteers, continued to fight the flood to save their properties.

Buddhism sees the Great Flood of 1993 incident with a different perspective. Buddhists consider it as a natural phenomenon that follows the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence, namely: Impermanence (Anicca), Imperfection/Stress/Conflict/Suffering (Dukkha), and Lack of personal control/Not-self (Anatta), i.e. not truly ours. We relied on our limited background historical knowledge and past records as a solid data or firm information, forgetting the dynamic nature of the river (Anicca), so levees were built only up to 52 ft. high at the St. Louis Downtown river bank, expecting that the river would never rise above that level, and fortunately they worked as expected when the Mississippi River crested. Many other regions along the river banks were not as fortunate (Dukkha), and sandbag levees were built in a relatively short time to match the expected crests. Some were successful in preventing the flood to overflow onto the regions, but some were not, and even some of the previously well built levees broke as they could not withstand the water pressure (Anatta). Buddhism views all phenomena according to the Law of Dependent Arising or the Law of Cause and Effect. The flood is not simply caused by the heavy rain in the northern states gushing down the Mississippi River. In fact, there have been much more rain than usual in the Midwest states since November of 1992, causing the land surrounding the river basin to be saturated with underground water and rising watertables. When heavy rain in the northern states brought more water down the Mississippi River, there was no room for the water to disperse or be absorbed by the already saturated soil, so the river started to swell up and rise to and above the flood stage.

We are all living and surviving companions on this planet, earth. Not only one lives the result or consequence of one's own Personal Karma (action) that one had done in the past, but one also faces the risk of Cosmic Karma (common risks) according to the realm and the timing that one lives as well. We live in the world and the time of advanced technology, so we stand the chance of being involved in motor vehicle accidents, airplane crashes, etc. as well as the danger of natural disasters, some of which are predictable with current technology but some are not. The flood of 1993 is one of the examples of a partially predictable event with a previous warning of a possible bad flood a few months earlier, yet it became one of the worst record-breaking events beyond what anyone could have comprehended, but still within the possible boundary of the power of nature. We live on this continent only for a very brief period of time comparing to the time that this planet has existed for the past 4.5 billion years. It is impossible to know whether there was any worse flood in the Midwest beyond these past 500 years. Through geological studies of the sedimentary rocks, unexpected findings may be found, e.g. the Grand Canyon used to be under an advanced and retracted sea at least 18 times during the past 2 billion years. Less than 50 years ago the area where the Spirit of St. Louis Airport located in Chesterfield, a west St. Louis county, was frequently flooded during the heavy rain before the levees were built. Once the levees were built, the region remained dry allowing more land in the Chesterfield Bottoms to be developed into the flourished industrial business area around the airport. Much of the business were heavily damaged in the flood when the Monarch Levee broke on Saturday July 31,1993, and several of the nearly 500 businesses will never return to this same area in the future.

Water has been a great friend and notorious enemy of mankind. Without water, mankind could never have existed, as living beings need water to survive. Water is one of the major components, or, as taught in Buddhism, one of the four major elements (Earth or solidity, Wind or air and vibration, Water or liquid and viscosity, and Fire or metabolic heat) of our bodies. About two-thirds of our body is made of water. During the flood, many residential areas suffered a shortage of drinking and consumable water when the water in reservoirs at various water treatment plants got contaminated with the dirty flood water. The Buddha pointed out the importance of keeping the water clean by forbidding monks to urinate and defecate into waterways, to avoid contamination and spreading of communicable diseases. Just about every human culture has some ties to water, some more than the others. The Thai culture is one of the examples of a nation closely linked to water. Waterways have provided a mean for commuting by boats between communities, as well as a great source for food, including fish, shellfish, and various edible vegetables and plants. In certain regions of Thailand, floating raft-houses along with floating vegetable gardens still exist up to these days. Water is necessary for drinking, cleaning, washing, and irrigating farmland, etc. Rivers and canals provide a more fertile soil with the deposits the current brought along, as well as a cooler, pleasant, and serene environment by the riversides. In older days, water was used as a part of the defensive fortress against the enemy invasion by building cities next to the river banks or digging canals surrounding the cities. Water can also be a cause of dispute. The Buddha personally stopped the war between the Sakyas of Kapilavatthu and the Koliyas of Devadaha who were preparing to fight over the issue of the water of the Rohini River needed for irrigation by advising them to use their wisdom of kingship to share the water. Thai people, living near rivers and waterways for centuries, have been building their houses on high supporting columns, with the living quarters well above the ground, and the stairs in front of the houses, leaving the ground floor empty as an open space, using it only for leisure or raising animals. This has become one of the unique aspects of the Thai culture. When the rainy season arrives, frequently the land would be flooded but usually not reaching the elevated living quarters, and the houses can be accessible by boats up to the front steps of the houses. This is just an example of how a culture of certain communities locating by the river banks has been affected by the water, and how human beings have adapted to respond to the dynamic nature of the environment. Sometimes they also face with uncertain dilemma of flash floods which may uproot their houses causing a major damage to their properties and even their lives. In 1931 the Yangtze River in China broke the dikes causing a flash flood with a sudden great wall of water killing over tens of thousand people of Wuhan city, flooding the city for 3 months. More recently, on Friday August 28, 1993, a dam at the mouth of the Yangtze River in a remote western Qinghai province of China broke, causing a flash flood wiping out several villages and killing at least 223 people, along with $17 millions dollars worth of damage. Yet, human beings always showed their great resilience in facing the hardship caused by nature, and they learned to cope with disasters as they happened through the history of mankind. The flood of 1993 will be of no exception, together we will survive this event.

Mind can behave in a similar fashion as the water. It is stated that there is no river as wide as one's craving. Even with the great flood, it is incomparable to one's greed, hatred, and delusion. It is also stated that the untrained mind would flow to a lower status, gravitated by one’s own ego/self-image/self-notion, like water would flow to a lower ground, as human beings are clinging to sex/desire, and violence/aversion to please the physical needs of the animal instinct arisen from delusion/ignorance rooted in the virtual concept of Self. A person has been compared to a river as each one of us has been given a name similar to a river, yet one cannot say that a river at a location upstream is the very same river with the same water content at any other location downstream, e.g., what we call the Mississippi River in Wisconsin is not the very same as the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri, despite the common name of the Mississippi River, as the contents, the river banks and the shapes are all totally different. A person is the same way as it is a combination of Body and Mind, or the Five Groups of Existence or the Five Aggregates of Clinging of Material Form or the Body, Feeling, Perception, Thought Formation, and Consciousness, with these latter four as the Mind, without a true self existing, but a combination of ever-changing variables of the five aggregates, yet the virtual Self concept, like a hologram, is firmly attached and deeply embedded in a person. When the levee broke and the floodwaters from the Missouri River merged with Mississippi backwaters 35 miles upstream from their normal confluence, it became impossible to distinguish where the 2 rivers start and end, but a great lake they create. This event points out that there is no true separate distinctive entities, rivers or names as they were supposedly given to, but only a massive body of water in a newly created lake. Similarly, the true nature of persons is but the indifference of emptiness, voidness, or not-self.

There have been so much suffering to be witnessed among the flood victims. Some will suffer a total loss, while some may get federal support and/or supports from other resources. Some may be able to renovate or rebuild their houses, but some may not be as fortunate and may have to move away permanently. There would still be a lot of shortage of fund as the federal aid for the flood victims is far less than the actual damage, and everyone should pitch in and help in any possible way. With universal loving-kindness and compassion, many who felt the pain and suffering of the flood victims, tried to help them in various ways. Some helped through putting in their physical efforts sandbagging, while others have done through donations. This is one of the true nature of human beings with universal love and compassion, which makes human differ from animals. Compassion, purity and wisdom are the virtues of the Buddha, which every Buddhist tries to achieve by treading the same Middle Path that he walked through and succeeded in his enlightenment. In fact, these virtues are within our reach as these capabilities and the Buddha Nature lay hidden inside everyone of us but being clouded or tainted by greed/desire, hatred/aversion, and delusion/ignorance. Sometimes one needs to be touched by pain and suffering to awake oneself to be aware of the ultimatum of life, which is to see and realize Dharma or the truth of life and nature. Through witnessing suffering in life, one may begin to see Dharma. Dharma is the ultimate of nature, the Ultimate Truths or the Noble Truths, namely Suffering, Cause of Suffering, End of Suffering, and the Middle or Noble Eightfold Path to end the suffering. Disasters allow one to witness suffering, and experience the true nature of life which is nothing but suffering. We learn so well to block this true perception out with our distorted conception instead of a simple, pure, bare and direct perception without biased interpretation or conditioning by our distorted thoughts and ideas. We are too busy trying to gain happiness or achievement in our lives, ignoring the potential threat and danger of natural phenomena, including aging, sickness, and death, which follow us relentlessly. Happiness is nothing but less suffering, or vice versa. In fact, the Buddha stated that he taught nothing but Suffering and the End of Suffering. He simply tried to awaken up people to see the real truth of life, informing that life is imperfect and full of suffering, yet there is a way to end this suffering, but one has to make one's own effort to realize it, and one should not waste any more time as life is short and full of uncertainty. When one thoroughly understands the cause of suffering, how craving and the unwholesome roots of greed, hatred, and delusion create suffering, one would let go and no longer want to cling to them, and would finally overcome all the suffering. The Buddha stated that, "Just as the ocean has only one taste, the taste of salt. His teaching (Dharma-Vinaya) has only one taste, the taste of Freedom."

* * * * *

The Unbounded State of Mind (Appamanna)

or

The Sublime States of Mind or Holy Abidings (Brahmavihara)

1.- Metta: Loving-kindness; friendliness.

2.- Karuna: Compassion.

3.- Mudita: Sympathetic joy; altruistic joy.

4.- Upekkha: Equanimity; neutrality; poise.

(Presented in part at the Interfaith Gathering on October 6, 1991 at the CBC.)

War is always devastating to mankind and natural environment. Take a look at the recent Persian Gulf war in 1991, there were lots of damage done to Kuwait as well as to the surrounding environment with the burning oil fields, which together with the ash from the volcanic eruption in Philippine, threatened to block the sunlight and cause changes in the tropical climate, affecting many countries of the world.

Buddhism is quite clear on the issue of war and peace. The Buddha did not approve any kind of killing, massacre or destruction of life, and he taught non-violence and peace. In fact, Nirvana itself is the ultimate peace that all the Buddhists are trying to achieve as their goal. According to Buddhism, there is nothing that can be called a "just war", as it is falsely justified by the mighty and victorious as "just," and the weak and the defeated as "unjust," to excuse hatred, cruelty, violence, and massacre.

The Buddha himself even went to the battlefields on several occasions and intervened personally to prevent war, as in the case of the dispute between the Sakyas of Kapilavatthu and the Koliyas of Devadaha, who were prepared to fight over the question of the water of the Rohini. Advising them to use wisdom, the Buddha preached them the value of the water, of human beings, and of the kingship. Finally, they both accepted that the value of kingship was the highest, and the matter was settled by sharing the water for irrigation. His words once prevented King Ajatasattru from attacking the Kingdom of Vajjis. Even during the last year of his life, twice the Buddha went alone by himself sitting and blocking the path of the army of King Vithutapa, who was seeking a revenge from the Sakyas, and successfully prevented the King from attacking Kapilavatthu.

Throughout the history of mankind, there has not been any war declared in the name of Buddhism. Yet Buddhists had firsthand experience of the overwhelming damage caused by a war, as Buddhism suffered the greatest loss and became extinct from India, her homeland, around the year 1200 AD from the Turkish invasion. All the Buddhist shrines, monasteries, universities and schools were burnt and destroyed. At the great University of Nalanda where ten thousand monks lived, taught and studied, the burning of the library alone took several months. For almost 700 years, Buddhism was completely forgotten by the Indian people, and it was not until the middle of the eighteenth century that there was an awareness of her existence and prosperity in the past.

It is quite alarming and shocking to learn that there are more than 50,000 existing nuclear warheads on this planet, enough to kill the world population three times over. Weapons are invented through creative thinking, but not through wisdom, as it is based on fear, winning desire, and ignorance. With the advance in weaponry, human beings can kill each other without having to come face to face with their enemies, and even are more than capable of performing massive killings, e.g. with machine guns, bombing, up to the scale of a nuclear war with just a push of a button. A war has changed its image and reached the scale of a Hyperwar, with advanced technology and ballistic missiles being used. One can even train the troops in a Cyberspace environment, simulating a real life situation, to gain more skill in killing or executing various missions to win the war, as well as saving on the drilling costs. War itself can even become too expensive, as it may result in great financial drain, exhaustion of raw materials, and significant man-power loss to the country, even the United States, to be involved in more than one war at any one particular time.

If one has the wisdom, one would not need to invent weapons to kill each other, as everyone would eventually die without being killed. On the other hand, there are 40,000 infants and children died each day on this earth from starvation and malnutrition. Think of how many lives one can save by diverting the resources from manufacturing weapons to provide food and knowledge to those children. It is wisdom that can stop and prevent war, as well as nourish and keep peace on this earth.

In Buddhist view, one can see with one's own wisdom that a war is started first in the mind of a person, based on one's desire (to conquer), anger (at the enemy), and fear (of being attacked by a powerful opponent), and a war can be prevented as well by making peace in the mind, which can be achieved through mind development. This similar idea and concept is being adopted by the United Nations, as the UN Resolution for World Peace, calling for the world leaders to start making peace in their mind to prevent wars. Indeed, President Bush should be commended for his recent initiating effort to reduce the U.S. nuclear armaments (Sept. 27, 1991), which will help strengthen world peace, as he has the wisdom to see that the threat from the Soviet Unions has diminished after their failed coup attempt and new political democratic reform. This same concept can be adopted by other governmental leaders and administrators to conserve natural resources, not using them to make weapons, but instead they should be used to enrich natural environment or communities, making this world a better place to live.

Buddhism even goes further to teach Loving-kindness & Compassion towards other living beings. The mind can only contemplate on one thing at a time, so it is best to be preoccupied with a positive attitude, rather than a negative one, with Loving-kindness & Compassion. In fact, for a person to be able to radiate Loving-kindness & Compassion towards others, including one's family, relatives, friends, community, enemies, or other living beings, one has to be able to let go of "self" or ego to some extent. Through thorough inward investigation or self-observation, one would be equipped with mindfulness, concentration, wisdom-in-action or awareness, and wisdom to conquer and overcome oneself of one's own ego. This is the only kind of conquest encouraged in Buddhism.

Human beings can be very smart and over-qualified with many Ph.D.’s or other advanced professional degrees, capable of exploring new ideas and concepts, creating many great inventions, or even sophisticated weapons to kill each other. Yet this is but the worldly knowledge that cannot solve the real problem of life, i.e. dis-ease and suffering (Dukkha), and in fact it usually adds more problems to life by fueling it with greed/desire, hatred/aversion, and delusion, making one sees things in one's own distorted way that things belong to oneself, and are always perfect, beautiful and happy, permanent and long-lasting. It needs wisdom achieved through mind development, gaining mindfulness and insight to see things in reality as they truly are. One would then see the true nature or the Universal Characteristics of all Existence, that things are uncertain, unstable and impermanent (Anicca), imperfect, unsatisfactory, imbalance, insecure, full of conflict, unbearable, dis-ease and suffering (Dukkha), and death, ceasing and voidness is certain, uncontrollable and not-self (Anatta). When one realizes and sees things in reality as they truly are, one will gain the wisdom which will solve the problem of life and end dis-ease and suffering. One would no longer cling to "self" and being lured into the trap of greed/desire, hatred/aversion, or delusion, which is the root of unhappiness, dis-ease and suffering, nor being disturbed by the "ups" and "downs" of life. One would not waste time picking on each other with jealousy until one cannot live together, or making enemy, or even war, with anyone as life is so short and mankind are but companions of birth, aging, sickness, and death. One will come to term with life and would live in harmony with each other and nature, in perfect peace and happiness.

We are gathering here today at this Memorial Service for the 9 Buddhists, including 6 monks, a novice, a nun and a layperson, who were killed at the Thai Temple in Phoenix, Arizona, Wat Phromkunaram, this past Saturday, August 10, 1991. I am certain that this news is quite shocking and moving to all of us to hear about the sudden death of our non-violent Buddhist friends.

All beings are inter-related. When we heard the news of this unwanted, unpleasant situation, it has made us feel unhappy and very sad, to learn about our Buddhist friends' departure. These are 'Dis-ease & suffering or Dukkha' and 'Cause of suffering or Samudaya' of the 4 Noble or Ultimate Truths, and 'Dependent arising' as taught by the Buddha.

No one can escape death, but when death comes unexpectedly from an act of another human being, not respecting and violating the right of the others, it disrupts the community in the form of criminal act, and would always be devastating to the family, community, society, nation, and sometimes the whole world as in this incident. This is why the Buddha taught us the moral concept of 'Not Killing' and to respect other life forms and human beings, so mankind can live together in peace, harmony, and happiness. The capability of being able to abstain from killing is the quality that makes a person a true human being. In fact, there is no need to kill one another, as all life forms always end with death, and life is so short already. The Buddha even warned all of us with his last words: "Perishable are all component/conditioned things, work out your salvation with diligence!"

This tragic incident reminds us that each life form bears the 3 common signs of Universal Characteristics of Existence, that life is uncertain and Impermanent (Anicca), Imperfect, insecure, full of stress, problems and conflict (Dukkha), and death is certain and Uncontrollable (Anatta). This will be recited in the prayers by our monks in this memorial service, warning us not to delay in performing good deed, before it is too late. We will also try to raise fund to help defraying the cost of the funeral services of our departed friends.

Ene