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.

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only transformed. As a Buddhist, one should learn to transform a negative energy into a positive one, by turning our feelings of sorrow, grief, anger, frustration into "Loving-Kindness, and Compassion". At the end of this program, we ask you all to join together in radiating our Loving-Kindness & Compassion to every human being, including relatives, friends, enemies, all life forms, and to our departed friends.

May the merit of what we are performing today benefit all of our departed friends. Farewell our friends. May you be in peace and happiness.

5 Minute Meditation

For the next few minutes, I will guide you all to meditate. Meditation is basically a mind development, to be mindful, joyful, and peaceful as a result.

There are more than 40 meditative methods described in Buddhism, but today we will concentrate on only two:

1. Mindfulness of Breathing,

What we will be doing is to transform the energy and vibration of grief, hatred, anger, pain and suffering, resulting from re-living through the Holocaust memory, into "loving-kindness" and "compassion", within ourselves, and pass them on to other human beings, and the world, creating love and mutual understanding, and a better world to live, preventing the next Holocaust and genocide.

After you complete this meditation session, you should feel happy and peaceful, so listen carefully, and follow the instruction attentively.

FIRST:

BRING THE MIND WITHIN, EXPERIENCING THE BODY.

Sit with your eyes closed, as if you are sitting completely alone, surrounded by empty space in all directions. You are sitting on top of a mountain all by yourself, empty space all around you.

YOU SHOULD SIT VERY STILL IN A BALANCED POSTURE:

The back is quite straight, the lower back pushing forward.

The top of the head is pointing towards the ceiling.

The eyes are closed.

The mouth is closed. The teeth are slightly apart, with the tongue resting against the palate.

The chin is slightly tilted forward, and tucked in.

The shoulders are down, resting. The arms hanging loosely by the sides.

The hands are resting in your lap, or on your knees.

CLEAR YOUR MIND:

Just 'LET GO' of all your responsibility and duty, all the preoccupation which normally obsess the mind. Have no interest in all the possessions, relatives, friends - just leave all those things behind for now.

You are no longer interested in the noise around you, people around you, and things around you.

Be as if you have no past, no future, nothing to do, no where to go.

No need to result to anything.

BREATHING NATURALLY AND RELAXING THE BODY:

Move the attention to the area around the face, behind the eyes, gently relax all the muscles, releasing any tension.

Try to relax the muscles in the neck and around the shoulders.

Relax the muscles in the chest and the abdomen

SO YOU ARE SITTING BALANCED, RELAXED, AND BREATHING NATURALLY.

BEGIN TO TURN YOUR ATTENTION TO THE NATURAL FLOW OF YOUR BREATH:

As you can experience your breath, feel it around the tip of the nose.

Notice the beginning and the end of each breath.

Notice the length of the breath.

(To help the mind to stay with the breath, you can count each breath. At the end of inhalation, a quick mental note 'one', exhalation - 'one'; 'two' 'two;' up to 'ten' and start again at 'one.')

EVERY TIME THE MIND MOVES AWAY FROM THE BREATH, KNOW IT.

STOP, GENTLY BUT FIRMLY BRING THE ATTENTION BACK TO THE BREATH.

JUST THE BREATH, RELAX INTO THE BREATH.

BE AT PEACE WITH THE BREATH.

JUST ONE BREATH AT A TIME.

BECOMING THE BREATH.

FEEL THE JOY, PEACE AND HAPPINESS WITH EACH BREATH.

PERMEATE THE JOY, PEACE AND HAPPINESS ALL OVER YOUR BODY WITH EACH BREATH.

RADIATING THIS JOY, PEACE AND HAPPINESS OUT TO EVERYONE AROUND YOU, as if you are a broadcasting station, transmitting the signal of joy, peace and happiness in all directions, to every corner of the world.

WITH LOVING-KINDNESS, YOU WISH EVERYONE TO BENEFIT FROM THIS RADIATION OF JOY, PEACE AND HAPPINESS, INCLUDING YOUR FAMILY, YOUR RELATIVES, YOUR FRIENDS, EVEN YOUR ENEMIES, AS WELL AS ANY LIVING BEING - HUMAN AND ANIMAL ALIKE, ALL TO BE FREE FROM DANGER AND ENMITY, AND TO BE SAFE, PEACEFUL AND HAPPY.

All living beings, companions of suffering, birth, aging, sickness, and death,

May one be happy, without enmity among each other,

May one be happy, without seeking revenge or taking advantage of one another,

May one be happy, without suffering, physically and mentally,

May one be healthy, happy and peaceful. Do take good care of oneself and be safe from all danger and suffering.

(Presented at the Annual Interfaith Gathering for World Peace at CBC in 1989.)

In Buddhism, PEACE (Santi) and HAPPINESS (Sukha) are synonymous. An unhappy man cannot find peace, and there can be no peace without happiness. In absence of peace, no one can be happy and those who are unhappy cannot live in peace. A Buddha's saying is: THERE IS NO HAPPINESS BEYOND PEACE. Buddhism also prescribes FREEDOM as another synonym for peace and happiness. Only free men can possess peace and happiness. Endowed with freedom, people can live happy and peaceful lives.

Roughly, there are four levels of freedom, which everyone should be able to enjoy, namely:

1. PHYSICAL FREEDOM: in relation to the material world or physical environment, e.g. freedom from the shortage of the basic needs of life - food, clothing, shelter, and health-care.

2. SOCIAL FREEDOM: in relation to other people, community, or social environment, e.g. freedom from crimes, discrimination, apartheid, terrorism, war, etc.

3. EMOTIONAL FREEDOM: or freedom of the heart and mind, e.g. freedom from fear, anxiety, hatred, greed, jealousy, mental defilements and suffering (i.e. Nirvana).

4. INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM: or freedom of knowledge and wisdom, e.g. freedom from distortion by any bias, not influenced by prejudices, and able to attain the knowledge of seeing all things as they are or the insight into the true nature of all things.

Over 2,500 years ago, the Buddha has taught mankind to be full of LOVING-KINDNESS & COMPASSION, which will lead to PEACE & HAPPINESS.

On this Interfaith Gathering to Promote Peace, the Buddhist Group would like to plea for World Peace with the following Buddhist verse, the Radiation of Loving-Kindness:

SUBBHE SUTTA:

All living beings, companions of suffering, birth, aging, sickness, and death,

AVERA HONETU:

May one be happy, without enmity among each other,

UPPAYA-PUDJA HONETU:

May one be happy, without seeking revenge or taking advantage of one another,

ANEEKA HONETU:

May one be happy, without suffering, physically and mentally,

SOOKEE UTTANANG PARIHARUNTU:

May one be healthy, happy and peaceful. Do take good care of oneself and be safe from all the danger and suffering.

Freedom & Human Dignity

(delivered to the public audience at the Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri, on Sunday July 1, 1990, as a part of the V.P. Fair Interfaith Praying Program, cerebrating the Independence Day of the United States of America.)

As we are cerebrating the Independence Day commemorating the freedom of our nation, we should realize that it is because of these PHYSICAL FREEDOM, and SOCIAL FREEDOM (to speak, to express our opinion, and so on), which make this country a great nation. Without freedom, one would be suppressed and cannot live with dignity, as we were over 214 years ago when the British was ruling this land. Therefore, freedom is the most prestigious as well as the foundation of all human dignity.

Buddhism also values freedom as the ultimate goal in life. The Buddha said over 2578 years ago that 'Just as the ocean has only one taste, the taste of salt; his teaching (Dharma-Vinaya) also has only one taste, the taste of freedom.' He exposed the SECRET OF NATURE which he discovered through his enlightenment, that the ultimate freedom, which is synonymous to ultimate peace and true happiness, is based upon INTELLECTUAL & EMOTIONAL FREEDOM, the highest form of freedom or human dignity that anyone could achieve, i.e. NIRVANA.

With Mindfulness and WISDOM RESULTING FROM MENTAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH PRACTICING INSIGHT MEDITATION, one would see the true nature of all existence in its reality without any distortion, i.e. ENLIGHTENMENT, experiencing the NORM OF LIFE & UNIVERSE, realizing the difference of CONVENTIONAL TRUTH and ULTIMATE TRUTH, understand THE THREE UNIVERSAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EXISTENCE, namely 'Impermanence', 'Imperfection', and 'Not-self', and how everything arises and is interrelated through DEPENDENT ORIGINATION. One would catch one’s thought as it arises, and see how one is influenced by the biased thoughts. As a result of this understanding, one would free oneself from craving and clinging to SELF, and become totally FREE EMOTIONALLY and INTELLECTUALLY, i.e. NIRVANA. One would break open one's own imprisonment in the thought concept of 'self' which houses greed, hatred, and delusion, the source of dis-ease and unhappiness, opening oneself up to the unlimited universe, living according to the flow of nature, in perfect harmony with nature, with ultimate peace, freedom and happiness in our lives, our nation, our world and our universe.

(Delivered to the public audience at the First Unitarian Church, St. Louis, Missouri, on the United Nations Day, Oct. 24, 1990 , as a part of the Interfaith Gathering for World Peace.)

"Blessed is the unity of the group and the assistance to those who are united. He who is righteous and delighted in unity will achieve the state of joy and happiness," - these are the words of the Buddha.

In Buddhism, HAPPINESS and PEACE are synonymous. The Buddha said: "There is no happiness beyond peace." Buddhism also prescribes FREEDOM as another synonym for PEACE and HAPPINESS.

Everyone should be able to enjoy every level of freedom, namely PHYSICAL FREEDOM (e.g. from robbery, harassment), SOCIAL FREEDOM (e.g. free to speak and express opinion), but most importantly INTELLECTUAL & EMOTIONAL FREEDOM, the highest form of freedom i.e. the state of ultimate peace and happiness (Nirvana).

To achieve WORLD PEACE, we need to start with oneself and work together with LOVING-KINDNESS and COMPASSION. Everyone can achieve every level of freedom, including intellectual & emotional freedom, with WISDOM cultivated through Mind Development & Insight Meditation. This will free oneself from ego, realizing the voidness of SELF, which is the source of GREED, HATRED and DELUSION, thus ending the process which creates unhappiness and enmity.

(Presented to the public audience at the Interfaith Gathering on October 10, 1993 at the CBC, followed by Professor Huston Smith giving his overview and discussion of the world religions.)

The Buddha said, "Mind is luminous, but being tainted with Impurities." (i.e. Greed, Hatred, and Delusion, and along the same line of nowadays craze - sex, violence, and ego.)

The true nature of human mind is sincere, kind, and gentle. Children are born into this world, with an open mind, with no limits or boundaries, ready to make friends with one another, not concerned with their sexes, races, cultures, dialects, wealth, etc. As they grow up, they would be brought up according to their familial and social environments. They would be studying in schools and colleges, becoming so called 'educated', this true nature of their mind is lost and completely forgotten, being replaced with suppositions concepts and distorted ideas according to their cultural, environmental, and educational backgrounds. Things around them are all being labeled as theirs, e.g. their houses, their cars, their enemies, their territories, etc. Those children are no one else but ourselves. The more we acquire, the more we narrow ourselves and imprison ourselves with more clinging, based upon our distorted idea of 'self.'

The problems arise as things keep changing according to the law governing all natural phenomena, the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence, i.e. they are impermanent, imperfect, and not truly ours, including our own bodies and mind. When things do not proceed towards the way one wishes, one suffers, and frequently blames or projects towards other people or environmental factors as the cause of one's suffering. With ignorance, or not knowing the true nature of oneself as the real source of the problems, one would be preoccupied with one's own thoughts, creating more distorted and delusional ideas and concepts. These are Dependent Arising, stemming from indulging in one's biased thoughts and concepts of positive or negative feelings, resulting in either happiness or unhappiness, though both present burdens upon oneself, trying to hold on to happiness, and to get rid of unhappiness. Even happiness and unhappiness or suffering are but the opposite ends of the same process. Happiness is nothing but less suffering, and vice versa.

This world is very fragile and constantly under the threat of being attacked by natural disasters, e.g. earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, etc., sometimes killing thousands of people, but the worst enemy or threat to mankind is human beings themselves, threatening to destroy one another with nuclear weapons, killing each others for various reasons, from street fights up to the full scale World Wars, from homicide to genocide, under various influence of emotional, financial, racial, political, or religious reasons. All these are but reflection of the delusional "self" concept influencing ones to act with greed/desire/sex or hatred/anger/violence, trying to gain advantage, power and control over other fellow human beings.

Buddhism teaches Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, Equanimity, Giving and Generosity which directly weaken and let go of the "self" concept or ego, as well as transform the negative energy or feeling of hatred and anger into a positive feeling of loving-kindness and compassion, leading to unselfishness or altruism. Insight & Wisdom can be gained through cultivating self-awareness through self-observation, capable of catching one's own thinking process, not allowing unintentional thoughts and biased ideas to arise to condition one's mind, and maintaining one's mind in its true nature of the balanced, neutral, peaceful, calm, clear, and equanimous mind, freeing oneself from all bondage, clinging, and suffering. One would understand the true nature of oneself, as well as other fellow human beings who are but companions of birth, aging, sickness, and death. With universal love and compassion toward others, one would live together in peace and perfect harmony with nature. Yet, peace needs to be initiated at each and everyone of us, not through words, but in actions. Together, we can succeed in transforming this chaotic world into a better place to live as a single unified peaceful global village.

(Presented at The Florissant Civic Center on May 5, 1994 on the occasion of celebration of the Valley of the Flowers Festival)

A strong and prosperous nation is as a rule built upon united, wealthy and strong states, provinces, and communities. For each community to be strong and united requires a good foundation in each family unit. Families form the root to all the prosperity or the problems sprung in each community. Buddhism regards family value very highly, and more importantly, Buddhism looks even deeper to each individual level.

The Buddha taught certain practical points regarding family value as follows:

Virtues that would benefit the youngsters:

1. Be diligent. 2. Protect one’s earned wealth. 3. Associate with good friends, 4. Live comfortably, not to be a heavy spender nor to be too stringent.

Attagangkuttra 23/294

Happiness towards family members may be derived from:

1. Having money. 2. Spending money. 3. Free of debt. 4. Working a harmless job.

Jatuggangkuttra 21/90

A family may lose its wealth from:

1. Not searching for lost objects. 2. Not repairing or maintaining old belongings. 3. Not knowing how to budget. 4. Choosing a wrong person to lead the family.

Jatuggangkuttra 21/336

Virtues for the householders:

1. Honesty towards each other. 2. Restraining oneself. 3. Patience. 4. Generosity.

Buddhists should avoid the 6 causes of ruin:

1. Consuming liquor/intoxicant. 2. Living glamorous nightlife/seeking sex with prostitutes. 3. Spending too much time watching games/shows. 4. Gambling. 5. Associating with bad friends. 6. Being lazy, not doing one’s job.

Singalakasuttra 11/196

The beginning of a loss of one’s wealth:

1. Being involved with prostitutes. 2. Becoming an alcoholic. 3. Becoming a gambler. 4. Associating with bad friends.

Buddhism sees each individual as a combination of body and mind. One deals with each other, as well as other family members, through the body with action, and speech, and through the mind with thoughts. Bodily acts and speech are governed by laws, regulations, and down to family rules, and even personal concepts, some of which are stiffer or more liberal according to various times, places, and persons, sometimes tainted with flaws and problems, e.g. whipping and caning. Thoughts or mental action, conditioned by greed, hatred, and delusion, cannot be governed by such rules and regulations, but it needs awareness and mindfulness to master the mind, seeing the thought as it arises. It is the art of mind language or the language of the Buddha Nature, that anyone, regardless of age, sex, race or religious belief, can learn to cultivate. It is the most direct and most powerful language to communicate between each individual at any level, including a family circumstance, as one is speaking from one’s heart and mind, without sugar-coating, pretending or premeditating, under the influence of greed, hatred, and delusion, to reward oneself. One would be honest, sensitive, understanding, generous, and compassionate towards other family members, or persons.

The Buddha taught his followers to develop the Holy Abidings, making one willing to help one another: 1. Loving-kindness. 2. Compassion. 3. Sympathetic Joy. 4. Equanimity. D. 11/196

Each family member needs to sincerely communicate with this mind language to truly understand each other, seeing the need of the others, willing to help each other, truly loving one another, building a strong and united family, as everyone has empathy towards each other, or capable of seeing oneself in another person’s situation/shoes. When everyone speaks this mind language, one can be assured of a true family value, a strong community, and a prosperous nation.

(Presented in part at the Interfaith Gathering at CBC on October 9, 1994.)

The Somatheree Bhikkhuni (a Buddhist nun)

Since the Buddha’s time, women have played an extremely important role in Buddhism. The Buddha foresaw the same potential in women as in men for their capability to attain enlightenment, and granted the permission for women to be ordained as nuns or Bhikkhunis. The Four Assemblies of the Buddhist devouts are thus consisting of the Bhikkhus (the monks), the Bhikkhunis (the nuns), the Upasakas (male lay Buddhists), and the Upasikas (female lay Buddhists). Each branch was praised by the Buddha for the important roles they play in Buddhism. The first Bhikkhuni or the Buddhist nun was the Buddha’s stepmother, Queen Mahaprajapati Gautami, who raised Prince Siddhartha Gautama (Siddhattha Gotama), before he became the Buddha, since he was only one week old. She was given authorities to govern and ordain other nuns (though the nuns have to be accepted and ordained by both assemblies of nuns and monks). She was frequently cited in the Buddhist scripture to be very active in teaching her followers, and sometimes she would represent the Buddha in teaching other followers. The Bhikkhunis were well received and respected by the lay people, both men and women, despite the documented fact that women of those days were not active as leaders in societies, and some of the nuns even felt uneasy to have men pay respect to them. By allowing women to become nuns, the Buddha, therefore, did elevate the status of the women of those days, as well as open up a great opportunity for women to study and improve themselves to the highest level in the temples, where all the major education located in those days. Unfortunately, we were not diligent enough to keep the Bhikkhuni lineage beyond the first 500 years of Buddhism, and the line was broken. Nowadays nuns, observe only 8 precepts (thus varies widely in their qualities, as coming from various walks of life), fill in some of the missing gap, yet unlike the traditional Bhikkhunis who observed 311 precepts (more than the Buddhist monks or Bhikkhus who observe 227 precepts), i.e., living and practicing under the very same and strict moral codes. Those 84 extra-precepts for the Bhikkhunis were mainly dealing with their femininity and safety, e.g., they should not be traveling alone in the places where there was no monk to protect them, as some of the nuns were raped in secluded places. Unlike the case of the broken Bhikkhu lineage in Sri Lanka, which was re-established by the Thai Theravada Bhikkhu lineage, Syama-Vamsa (itself originated from the Sri Lankan Lineage, Lanka-Vamsa), the re-establishment of the Theravada Bhikkhuni lineage is no longer possible as there is not any Bhikkhuni or the traditional Buddhist nuns to ordain and receive other female followers. This also points out the uncertainty and the impermanence of all worldly phenomena, including the disappearance of Buddhism from India, its motherland, around the year BE 1740/1200 CE (When India was invaded and Buddhism was destroyed by the Muslim Turks. In India, Buddhism was completely forgotten by the Indian people and it was not until the middle of the eighteen century that there was an awareness of her existence and prosperity in the past.).

The Buddha treated the Bhikkhunis in an equally similar fashion as he did with the Bhikkhus. He appointed the right, Khematheree, and the left, Ubolwannatheree, female principal disciples, as he appointed Sariputta and Moggallana as the male principal disciples. In the Buddhist scripture, there are descriptions of the 80 most prominent nuns, during the Buddha’s time, each of whom with a very unique and superior quality. One of the female disciples, Dhammatinnatheree, was praised by the Buddha himself for her finest teaching capability, to be equal to his.

One of the most prominent lay Buddhists and major supporters in the history of Buddhism happens to be a female named ‘Visaka.’ She was a millionaire, whom herself had attained the first level of enlightenment while she was listening the Buddha’s sermon at the age of 8. She was very influential in supporting Buddhism, varying from building a temple for the Buddha, up to requesting for the Buddha’s permission to let the monks have another piece of robe for bathing in the river or in the rain, without being naked. She was even respected by her father-in-law, Mikara, himself a millionaire, as his teacher, for guiding him towards spiritual advancement in Buddhism. As a result, she was given the nick name of "Nikara’s Mom," pointing out that women could be placed very highly in Buddhism during the Buddha’s time, the status of which declined as Buddhism faded away from India at a later date. Yet, in Thailand, women continue to play a vital role in supporting Buddhism through the years, e.g., providing food for the monks, and encouraging their spouses and children to be active supporters or even to be ordained as monks or novices for a period of time, at least once in their lives, the act of which is considered to be the greatest merit, especially to the parents. Queen Sirikit of Thailand, was ruling the Royal Thai Kingdom, while King Bhumibol took a leave of absence to be ordained as an ordinary monk. Two decades later, her son, the Royal Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, was also ordained as a monk at the same temple. Women are considered to be the backbone of Thai Buddhism. Without them, Thai Buddhism would probably not last up to the present time.

In Sri Lanka, it is a common and very well accepted practice for female lay Buddhists to preach Dharma to both laypersons and monks. In Thailand, many famous and prominent meditation teachers and Dharma lecturers are women, and some of the nowadays nuns run many well known and well respected monasteries for nuns and training centers for both female and male. The past president of the World Buddhist Congress was a Thai women, Princess Poonpissamai Dissakul. In Zen Buddhism and Mahayana School of Buddhism, women can still be ordained as Buddhist nuns (though differ from the Bhikkhunis or the traditional Buddhist nuns of the Buddha’s time), and can play a very active role in teaching Buddhism, running their own temples, and being appointed to high ranking officials or religious leaders.

In Buddhism, whether one is a male or female, one has the same opportunity to attain enlightenment, as everyone has within oneself the Buddha Nature, regardless of age, race, dialect, literacy, occupation, and sex. This makes Buddhism a religion with an ultimate equal opportunity for female and male, to realize the ultimate truth and knowledge of life through enlightenment, and to achieve a perfect life with ultimate peace and true happiness. In fact, through enlightenment, one would even realize the indifference between female and male, which is but a conventional truth or concept. One would see the ultimate truth that a person is nothing but the Five Groups of Existence or Aggregates of Clinging (body, feeling, perception, thought formation, and consciousness), or body and mind, and clinging to them would result in suffering, as it gives rise to craving, the cause of suffering, to fulfill one’s demand with greed/desire, hatred/anger, and delusion/ego.

Bodhisattva Kuan-yin (Kwannon, in Japan, the Goddess of Mercy) is an example of female imagery or figurine of the Mahayana tradition. She was originally a male Bodhisattva, Avalokiteshvara, but had to transform himself into a female figure to be able to enter a Chinese Emperor’s courtyard, restricted to women only, to cure the ailing princess. Somehow he never changed himself back into the male figure, yet being highly respected and worshipped by the Chinese and the Thais. Kuan-yin manifests himself in any conceivable form wherever a being needs his help, especially when someone is menaced by water, demons, fire, or sword. Childless women also turn to him for help. Therefore, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is being worshipped as a male as well as a female, and this points out that Buddhism sees gender to be a less important issue than the virtues and qualities of a person.

The status of women in Buddhism may vary from societies to societies, from countries to countries, but women are definitely a major integral part of Buddhism who have shown their importance throughout the history of Buddhism. Above all, women have the equal and ultimate right in Buddhism for their capability to realize the ultimate truth through their own enlightenment, indifferent from their male counterpart, which is merely a suppositional difference of the same life form.

(Presented in part at the Interfaith Gathering at the CBC on November 1, 1992.)

The year of 1992 marks as the year of quincentennial remembrance of 1492, the year Columbus first discovered America, and the beginning of conversion of the New World populations to Christianity, another part of his assigned mission.

Buddhism was first introduced to the New World from Japan at a much later date, only about 100 years ago. However in 1991, the American Buddhist Congress estimated that there were 3 to 5 million Buddhist followers in the United States (vs. 6 million Jews and 2.5 million Episcopaleans in U.S.), with more than 425 Buddhist centers. The impact and increasing influence of Buddhism can be seen in many ways among many American communities.

"Go forth, monks, on your journey, for the welfare of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good, the benefits, the bliss of the good and mankind. Preach them Dharma, beautiful in the beginning, beautiful in the middle, and beautiful at the end."

This was the Buddha's saying when he sent out the first group of 60 enlightened disciples to propagate the Doctrine in the second year of his preaching. Yet, the Buddha and his disciples did not preach to win converts, but to enlighten listeners.

In fact, Buddhism is the very first religion that sent out missionaries to propagate the teaching, though this was done without ever using any force but compassion to guide people towards ultimate peace. The Buddha said: "Just as the ocean has only one taste, the taste of salt; this teaching (Dharma-Vinaya) has only one taste, the taste of freedom.", and elsewhere he stated that, "All Dharmas have the essence of freedom."

It is through the Buddha's enlightenment that he realized the Ultimate Truth that life is imperfect and full of conflict/suffering, and he succeeded in ending suffering caused by ignorance with the wisdom he attained. His mind was purified, dwelling in perfect peace and happiness, free from all greed, hatred, and delusion, the source of unhappiness. Compassion towards mankind and all beings arose within him as he sympathized them for constantly struggling against suffering, yet not knowing their way out as he previously did, and he was willing to help mankind to free themselves from suffering. Initially he almost did not want to preach what he discovered, as the Truth or the secret of nature he found through his enlightenment was very subtle and nearly impossible for anyone to realize. Through seeing the potential of all human beings, bearing the Buddha Nature within themselves, he had hope and laid out guidelines of his teaching that would lead any human being towards enlightenment. Yet, he emphasized that one has to put his teaching into practice to be able to realize the truth and free oneself from all suffering, with the verse: "You yourself must make the effort, the Buddhas only point out the way." The Buddha and his disciples only acted as ‘good friends’ (Kalyanamitta) who pointed out the right way of the Noble Eightfold Path or Middle Way, the Path to Nirvana, for anyone to follow. The Buddha assured his followers that what he taught was complete as follows, "I have no such thing as the closed fist of a teacher.", and at his deathbed he reassured his disciples that, "I have not kept anything back." He emphasized that his teaching simply and directly dealt with "suffering" and "the end of suffering."

This is the true meaning of "conversion" in Buddhism, i.e. one can arouse the Buddha Nature within oneself to surface, through practicing the Noble Eightfold Path and Insight Meditation on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. One can convert oneself into an enlightened being, as the crown prince Siddhattha did convert himself into the Buddha under the Bodhi tree 2580 years ago. The Buddha Nature is within everyone regardless of age, sex, race, dialect, occupation, and religious belief. Therefore, it does not make any difference whether one is registered oneself as a Buddhist, a Christian, or a Muslim, etc., or being married to a spouse of different religious belief, and even being converted by another religious group into following another faith, as this neither make one lose or gain the pre-existing Buddha Nature within oneself, nor any of those situations would be a true and final conversion (though this may slow one's progression in realizing the truth). The true conversion means seeing oneself, discovering oneself, awakening the Buddha Nature within oneself, realizing the Ultimate Truth or reality as it truly is. This is the meaning of a true Buddhist who is capable of seeing things in reality as they truly are, with mindfulness and wisdom, void of greed, hatred, and delusion or distortion, the source of suffering. Anyone can become a Buddhist at any moment of one's life as the Buddha Nature has already been existing there within oneself, as the true norm of one’s life, whether one realizes it or not. Similarly, the Ultimate Truth has always been there, no matter the Buddha discovered it or not, just as the North America continent has always been there, whether Columbus discovered it or not.

In a traditional or conventional way, one can become a Buddhist by simply announcing oneself that one would take refuge in the Triple Gem, i.e. the Buddha, the Dharma (the Buddha's teaching on the truth), and the Sangha (the noble disciples). In an ultimate way, one would become a true Buddhist only through putting the Buddha's teaching into practice by constantly being mindful and aware of all phenomena that come in contact with oneself, seeing the arising and ceasing of name and form, and catching one's own unintentional/sneaky thoughts as they arise.

One suffers because of one's own thoughts (mind movement). Body feels pain and discomfort, but it is the mind that is unhappy and suffers. As one is not aware of and does not see or understand one's own thoughts or thinking process, one would get tangled or cling to the arising thoughts, tarnished or tainted with greed/desire, hatred/aversion, and delusion/distortion, and end up with unhappiness and suffering. The Buddha said, "Mind is luminous, but being tarnished with defilement (greed, hatred, delusion)." When the mind has been rendered free of defilement, that mind is empty (of greed, hatred, delusion) and free (from unhappiness), the true norm of one’s mind.

Through practicing Insight Meditation on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (self-observing one’s Body, Feeling, Mind, & Dharma), one would be gaining self-awareness, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom, capable of catching one's own thoughts or thinking process. As one is aware of the thoughts, catching the thoughts as they arise, mindfulness and awareness will cut off and prevent bad thoughts. The result is that one would be free of greed, hatred, and delusion, normally sneaking in or accompanying the thoughts. Therefore, a Dharma practitioner would practice on oneself, be aware of oneself (self-awareness), understanding oneself. One would see things in reality as they truly are with mindfulness and awareness, and no longer cling to all conditioned phenomena or supposition of the worldly phenomena that arise in one's consciousness, and this is the aim and true meaning of Buddhism. One would see that craving and clinging to sensual desire, one's idea, rituals, and self are the cause of suffering. One would see the flux and flow of all phenomena (Samsara), dependent upon other causes and conditions (Dependent Arising), not worth clinging to, as there is nothing long-lasting and it is just empty phenomenon (Sunnata) rolling on according to the Three Universal Characteristics of all Existence, namely: Impermanence (Anicca), Imperfection, stress, conflict, suffering (Dukkha), and Not-self, voidness (Anatta).

"No God, no Brahma, can be called

Dependent on conditions all". .... (Visuddhi - Magga XIX)

Buddhism has no destructive intention against other religions. This is the distinctive mark by which Buddhist missionary work is differentiated from the work of some other world religious missionaries whose view has usually been that destruction must proceed construction, or the two must go hand in hand. The Buddhist aim has been, usually, to do no destroying and to put all its emphasis on the constructive and positive side. There is no bloodstain on the history of Buddhist proselytizers; and in no instance have they tried to destroy the customs of other faiths or countries by ridicule or force, neither do they insist on the exclusive use of their own rituals or rites. They accept what is true and beautiful in every religion. Buddhism is spread by the quiet influence of those who live its teaching day by day, and through the informations given in universities, colleges, and libraries throughout the world. Nowadays, due to popular demand, one can even find more and more books about Buddhism on the shelves of general bookstores under the headings of New Age, Philosophy, Eastern Philosophy, besides being under Religion.

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." He only encouraged discussion and stressed on its importance as follows: "Wisdom can be known in discussion."

The Buddha even went further and made himself disposable by laying out guidelines to judge a true religion as appeared in Kalamas Sutra as follows:

One should not believe based upon:

A) Outside informations - 1. mere report, 2. tradition, 3. hearsay, 4. holy writings,

B) Inner thoughts & concepts - 5. logic, 6. philosophy, 7. common sense, 8. own ideas & accepted notions.

C) Persons - 9. competent person, 10. our teacher.

He 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 you should 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.

The Buddha said, "Let a man of intelligence come to me, honest, candid, straightforward; I will instruct him ... and if he practice accordingly as he is taught then he will come to know for himself and to realize that supreme religion and goal."

Buddhism & God

(Presented in part at the Interfaith Gathering on March 19, 1995 at the CBC)

Buddhism is the teaching of self-enlightenment. 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).

The Buddha attained Buddhahood through his own efforts and declared that it was possible for anyone to do the same. He 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' or the ‘Wheel of Life’ (Paticcasamuppada), i.e., it exists according to cause and effect.

No God, gods, or external power will help one to realize the truth.

The Buddha stressed that: "You yourselves must make the effort. The Buddhas only point out the Way." Even the Buddha himself cannot realize the truth for anyone, and one has to do it by oneself.

Everyone has the power of realization, the Buddha Nature, as ‘the True Norm of Life,’ within oneself, regardless of age, sex, race, dialect, literacy, occupation, or religious belief, whether one is aware of it or not.

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. As a result, Buddhists are not concerned with the existence or the non-existence of God (or gods).

The Secret of Nature or the Norm of Life & Universe is called Dharma. 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, the Buddha 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 and experience '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.

The Buddha stated, "One who sees Dharma, sees me," signifying that one has gained the ‘Eye of Wisdom.’ This basically means seeing oneself, in what one does, says, or thinks, with the norm of one’s mind, equanimous mind, void of greed, hatred, and delusion.

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 playing magical tricks.

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.

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 worldly 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, aging, sickness, and death, without any difference. Life is but suffering - arising, sustaining, and passing away.

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 stated in The Four Noble or Ultimate Truths.

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 endeavor, 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.

The Noble Eightfold or Middle Path consists of eight factors, namely:

WISDOM (4.1 - 4.2):

4.1 Right View or Right Understanding,

4.2 Right Thought,

MORALITY (4.3 - 4.5):

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.

Insight or Vipassana Meditation: unique to Buddhism, is the system of mind development to gain wisdom, through self-observation to see 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, realizing 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 or sneaky 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 Siddhartha Gotama, 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-perception/recollection/remembrance or mindfulness, cultivating self-awareness, gaining self-realization - seeing oneself and the Buddha Nature within oneself, attaining self-enlightenment - acquiring intuitive, 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 true nature of oneself that it is but Not-self (Anatta) or the void and empty nature (Sunnata) of one’s self-image/self-notion (similar to an empty hologram), nothing to cling to. One would transcend and let go of the ‘self’ concept, resulting in self-liberation (Nirvana).

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, beyond any concept or supposition. It requires complete overcoming of the three unwholesome roots (Akushala) - desire, hatred, and delusion - and the coming to rest of active volition or thought formation (Sankhara). It ends egoism (Atta), and self-conceit (Mana). It extinguishes suffering (Dukkha). It means freedom from the determining effect of karma (Karma-vipaka). Nirvana is unconditioned (Asamskrita/Asamkhata); 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. This is why the Buddha set forth his endeavor 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.

In Theravada or Hinayana Buddhism, two types of nirvana are distinguished:

1. Saupadisesa-nibbana: nibbana with the stratum of life remaining (Sopadhishesha-nirvana: nirvana with a remainder of conditionality, which can be attained before death); and

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, O 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.'

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.

(Presented at the Interfaith Gathering at Wat Phrasriratanaram, on October 23, 1994.)

"Perishable are all component things, work out your salvation with diligence."

These are the Buddha’s last words given at his deathbed.

Life is imperfect. One strives to gain happiness, pleasure, and peace, yet life is frequently full of chaos, conflicts, competition, contradiction, fighting, and stress. Happiness itself does not last forever, and does not always come by as one wishes. There is a general agreement among various religions that suffering exists as a part of life. Every human being constantly has to face suffering since birth, and strives to pursue a perfect life, free from all suffering. Suffering comes in various forms, as physical suffering or pain, such as headache, and toothache, frequently mistaken for the true suffering; and mental suffering, such as fear of old age, sickness, and death, or suffering arisen from one’s own biased thoughts and personal conflict. Religions offer a great help for mankind to deal with such imperfection, to live one’s life free of suffering, or to reach a goal or a realm without such suffering, under the names of ‘Liberation,’ ‘Salvation,’ ‘Emancipation,’ ‘Realization,’ ‘Enlightenment,’ and so on. Human beings, in a sense, can be called religious beings, in regard to their continuous effort to pursue the true happiness and to search for ways to end suffering (Though many people would just become attached to superficial pleasure, mistaking it and stop searching for the true happiness). Majority would subscribe to the teachings and follow the practicing methods taught by the wise ones of various religions. Buddhism is an ultimate art of living with mindfulness and wisdom, through training oneself and practicing the Noble Eightfold Path or Middle Path, taught by the Buddha, towards the end of suffering, freeing oneself from one’s own personal conflict or suffering, arisen from one’s own biased thoughts and ego, the root of the true suffering.

Human beings are social animals. They learn to live together peacefully by drawing up certain rules, regulations, or laws for the communities, societies, countries, and the world. Religions teach morality, and certain moral codes of ethic, to their followers, and frequently play a major influence in shaping many societies. Religions work their ways into certain rules, laws, ethical codes, cultures, customs, and even deeply embed certain beliefs into various societies. The Buddha taught the 4 Holy Abidings of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity, which infiltrate into various cultures of many Buddhist communities and countries. He stated that any teaching that may harm oneself and others is not his teaching, but any teaching that would be beneficial to and not harming oneself and others is his teaching.

Buddhist monks of the Thai Theravada Tradition are persons who vigorously pursue the goal of freeing themselves from suffering. Buddhist monks are called Samana, meaning the peaceful ones. To be ordained as monks, they have to be older than 20 years old. They have their heads and eyebrows shaved as a sign of renunciation from worldly phenomena. They observe 227 precepts or moral codes, including practicing celibacy, and even avoiding direct contact with women. Breaking certain precepts may result in expulsion and being disrobed from monkshood. To avoid over-indulgence, or being an over-burden to the supporters, monks only eat two meals, and in some places one meal, a day. They are not allowed to eat solid food after 12 noon. They are not allowed to accumulate wealth, and, strictly speaking, allowed to keep only eight basic necessities, which are 3 pieces of robes, a cloth belt, a cloth water-strainer, an alms bowl, a needle, and a razor. Yet it is a common and highly regarded Thai custom for a young man to be ordained as a monk, at least once in one’s life for a period of time, especially before one gets married and lives a family life, so that one would have an opportunity to study Dharma to understand the true meaning of life, how to deal with suffering, how to pursue and live one’s life towards the end of suffering. One can enter and leave the conceptual monkshood as many times as one wishes, without any penalty. Novices only observe 10 precepts. Laypersons usually observe only 5 precepts, namely 1. Do Not kill. 2. Do not steal. 3. Do not practice sexual misconduct. 4. Do not lie. 5. Do not take any intoxicant. There are more than 28,000 Buddhist monasteries, and over 300,000 monks and novices in Thailand.

On a traditional day, Thai Buddhist monks pray in the morning and in the evening, reciting the Buddha’s teaching and the truth of life, followed by insight meditation. In Thailand, Buddhist followers would offer food to the monks when they go out for the morning alms round, which represents a form of merit making in the Thai Buddhist tradition. In return, the monks as spiritual leaders teach the followers, the Buddha’s teaching, namely, to avoid doing bad deed, to do good deed, and to purify one’s mind. They also act as counselors to their followers on various problems of life, from family problems to others on how to deal with one’s own personal conflict. They teach morality to children at the Sunday schools. In rural areas of Thailand, they also act as elementary school teachers to the children. Many schools in Thailand can still be found located on the temple grounds. In older days, they also taught certain basic skills of life, from carpentry to Thai boxing for self defense. They teach Insight Meditation to the followers as a tool to gain mindfulness and wisdom to purify the mind and achieve true happiness. Above all, they are the living proofs as persons who practice and tread the Middle Path to gain the virtues of the Buddha, consisting of compassion, purity, and wisdom, and to reach Nirvana, a state of unborn, undying, unchanging, unconditioning, and being free from suffering.

Laypersons, whether male or female, young or old, white, black or yellow, big or small, rich or poor, are capable of achieving the same highest goal as the Buddhist monks, to attain enlightenment, and to reach Nirvana. That is, one can become a true monk, whether one is a layperson, or a traditional or conceptual monk, through enlightenment. Once becoming a true monk, that mind will never resume the worldly state.

In fact, this is the common goal among Buddhists, to free themselves from suffering, though it would generally take longer for laypersons to reach such goal, than the monks with a straightforward path, as being sidetracked by more problems, as well as pleasure, in daily business and family lives. Yet, this is still possible as every human being carries within oneself, the Buddha Nature, regardless of age, sex, race, literacy, dialect, occupation, wealth, and even religious belief. It is basically the true norm of one’s mind, capable of having insight to see things in reality as they truly are, but normally blinded from the truth by greed, hatred, and delusion. Scientists nowadays have found that we see or hear what we want to see or hear, confirming what the Buddha taught nearly 2,600 years ago. Things that we perceive through our six sense organs as sight, sound, taste, smell, bodily contact, and mental experience, which require interpretation, are being distorted, all the time, from the truth they are expressing - the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence: namely, Impermanence, Imperfection, and Not-self, so they would match our own bias. This would result in wanting, desiring, and craving for those phenomena that give rise to positive feeling or pleasure, but not wanting, hating, and running away from those phenomena that give rise to negative feeling or pain, further blinding oneself from the truth or hidden dangers. Life would be full of greed or desire, and hatred or anger, driven by one’s own ego or ‘self’ concept, ending up with more conflicts and endless suffering. Only when one awakes one’s own awareness and mindfulness, one would then gain insight, seeing the truth in every phenomenon encountered, which would free oneself from all the attachment, clinging and craving, the root of suffering. One would be just an observer to all existing phenomena that are arising and passing away, realizing that they are nothing but changes, motion, vibration, or flux and flow of physical phenomena and mental phenomena (Samsara), nothing is truly long-lasting, including oneself. Once realizing this truth, one would let go and no longer cling to or crave for those phenomena, but would simply live one’s life, and diligently perform one’s duty with one’s best effort (Kiriya), according to one’s status in the society, without expecting to gain any reward or being afraid of condemnation. One would live one’s life in absolute truth, seeing oneself, knowing oneself, not attached or clung to concepts or ideas that are but conventional truth. One would no longer live under conflict and suffering, but transcend and live in perfect peace and true happiness. As a result of everyone coming to term with oneself, no longer creating internal conflict or wars within oneself, there will no longer be quarreling, and fighting within the families, communities, and societies, or wars between nations. The world will no longer be threatened by world wars, and will be a better place to live, with loving-kindness, and compassion towards each other. This is the true meaning of living a monk’s life or a peaceful life, and the true meaning of peace, living a balanced life in unity and harmony with one another and with nature. This is the quality that every single one of us is capable of achieving, and should share the responsibility to reach such goal, for the benefit of mankind and a long-lasting world peace.

Nature

(Presented in part at the Interfaith Gathering at the CBC High School on March 17, 1991)

Nature, at its normalcy, is tranquil, peaceful, and soothing. It gives great benefits to mankind, so it is our duty to be grateful to nature, respect nature and protect it from being destroyed or swayed from its normalcy. Buddhism directly deals with Nature. In fact, the wisdom gained by the Buddha through his enlightenment is on the SECRET OF NATURE or the NORM OF LIFE & UNIVERSE. This is called DHARMA, which is the basic principle of his teaching, and is one of the three highest ideals (treasures or gems) of Buddhism. The Buddha himself even stated that he saw no one in the universe to pay respect to, but Dharma. The Buddha's lifestyle was also quite simple, yet graceful, as he himself was born, became enlightened, and passed away on the ground, amidst of Nature, not in any man-made high-rising building or glamorous palace. In fact, the Thai word for "Nature" is "Dhammachard," a combination of words which can also mean the origin or birth of Dharma.

Dharma has been interpreted as:

1. Nature: means the ultimate of nature, i.e., the Ultimate Truths.

2. Law of Nature: e.g., everything exists according to the law of "Dependent Origination" or "Dependent Arising", and each bears the "Three Universal Characteristics of Existence", namely Impermanence, Imperfection, and Not-self. There is the Buddha Nature existing as the norm of one’s mind within everyone, capable of realizing the Ultimate Truths.

3. Duty according to the Law of Nature: It is a human duty to understand the ultimate Nature, the Ultimate Truths, the Law of Nature, the true nature of all existence and, above all, oneself, through awakening the true nature of oneself - the Buddha Nature. Without knowing this duty, one would continue to perceive things in a distorted way through perversion, that things are permanent, pleasurable, and belong to oneself. Frequently, Nature is being damaged without any consideration of its consequence, e.g., deforestation resulting in severe drought and extinction of many rare species of plants and animals.

4. Fruition or consequence of performing the Duty according to the Law of Nature: One would become wise when one succeeds one’s duty, as one would thoroughly understand the true nature of all existence, or the way things truly are, and realize the Ultimate Truth. When one understands Nature, one would maintain one’s norm and always be mindful, no longer crave or cling to the worldly phenomena nor distort the truth to please one’s greed, hatred, and delusion. One would even realize one's duty to protect the environment, trying to maintain Nature at its normalcy for mankind and future generations to enjoy.

Buddhism not only deals with the physical aspect of Nature, it also deals directly with the mental, spiritual, psychological or intellectual aspect of Nature.

Physically, with thorough understanding of the interrelationship between everything in Nature, one would always be mindful not to harm Nature by any means, and to treat Nature with gratefulness and respect. Human beings are superior to animals as we are capable of restraining ourselves from harming others and Nature. This is achieved through mindfulness, guarding against any wrong doing, as one's deed, word, or thought is based on one's own will or intention arisen in one's mind.

It is refreshing to see the recycling system in practice today. To make it work, one has to be mindful to recycle things around us, to help avoid or decrease further damage to Nature, e.g., paper recycling to decrease deforestation. The Buddha advised monks not to destroy any plant, and all Buddhists not to kill any animal (showing respect to all life forms which are parts of the ecosystem and Nature). He forbade monks to defecate, urinate, or spit into waterways (to avoid spreading or outbreak of any disease). Rules were made for the monks not to use oversized clothes to make their robes, and those worn out robes were to be used as rag clothes, and finally, when no longer usable, to mix them with clay for patching the walls of their huts or living quarters (an example of recycling as well as energy conservation). In Buddhism, monks are advised to finish eating 3 bites before they are full (to avoid over-indulgence). The first documented detailed description of toothbrush is in Buddhism (demonstrating that Buddhists have been very conscientious in personal hygiene). His teaching apparently antedates modern ecology, health care, and science by over 2,500 years.

Intellectually, Nature not only gives humanity the warm welcoming feeling, it also acts as a teacher to mankind, as Nature itself expresses the true nature of existence, i.e. the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence, namely impermanence (Anicca), imperfection, stress, dis-ease, suffering (Dukkha), and voidness, emptiness (Anatta). Every human being, regardless of age, sex, race, dialect, literacy, wealth, or religious belief, has the capability to see this reality or the Ultimate Truth, i.e. Buddha Nature, within oneself. Having realized this fact, the Buddha was capable of leading mankind through the Middle Path to attain enlightenment, to see Nature as it truly is, as he himself did. Therefore, Buddha stressed that the most important point of his teaching is to purify one's mind, through Insight Meditation to gain mindfulness and wisdom, to realize the Ultimate Truth and truly understand Nature. He emphasized the importance of practicing, and penetrating through the SECRET OF NATURE or DHARMA, and not just studying it. Once thoroughly understands, one would no longer cling to the voidness of Nature, which is the very most basic and truest nature of all existence. One would be free from conflict/dis-ease/ suffering, and be at peace with Nature.

Lack of understanding in Nature causes human beings to suffer, as we see things in a distorted way and cling to Nature as something permanent, pleasurable, and belonging to us forever. We think that Nature can continue to absorb our abuse forever. It may be too late before we realize the truth that Nature is so fragile, vulnerable, ever-changing, imperfect, uncontrollable, and depending on each other unit of the ecosystem to maintain its balance. We would then wake up to the painful consequence of the destroyed nature, e.g., deforestation leading to dry land, starvation, and flooding, or the greenhouse effect from over-utilization of flurocarbon.

What makes a man a true human being is the capability to choose or seek for the right duty or action to do or perform, through one's own right view. The Buddha declared that all conditioned phenomena in Nature, both living and non-living things, are impermanent (Anicca), imperfect, stressful, imbalance (Dukkha), empty, void, and not-self, i.e., not truly ours (Anatta). Through mindfulness and wisdom, one would be able to thoroughly understand Nature, including oneself. One would realize that human and animals are just companions of birth, aging, sickness, and death, without any difference or substantiality. One's body is just an accumulation of earth (solidity), water (liquid, viscosity), wind (vibration, gas) and fire (metabolic heat), and one cannot find a true ‘self’ entity in it. If it actually belongs to oneself, one should be able to command it not to get sick, old, and die; but one has no such power to control it, therefore it does not truly belong to oneself. One would no longer see things in a distorted way with the narrow view of existing ‘self’, which is the root of one's own unhappiness, dis-ease and suffering. On the contrary, one would extend beyond every limit that one created by oneself, and one would see that one's life exists in everything, and everything co-exists or is interrelated with oneself (Dependent Origination or Dependent Arising). Therefore, one would see no reason to harm Nature, which would in turn hurt oneself, but only to protect it from any destruction. One would have performed one's duty wisely and accordingly, living in perfect harmony with Nature, dwelling in long lasting peace, freedom and happiness.

Yet, it has to be started here and now at you yourself!

The last words of the Buddha reflects his view towards Nature and humanity, as follows, "Perishable are all component things, work out your salvation with diligence."

(Presented in part at the Interfaith Gathering at the CBC on March 28, 1993.)

There is no doubt that over-population is the leading cause of poverty, misery, social abuses and injustice, as well as a chief factor in promoting riot, rebellion, and war. In 1991, the world population reached 5.3 billion, with 90-100 million people expected to be added each year during the 1990s, or another billion people over the next decade. In the year AD 1, the world population was only 200 million. It reached 1 billion people in 1830, and took another 100 years to reach 2 billion people in 1930. Since then it took a much shorter time to gain each billion people. It only took 30 years to reach the 3 billion mark in 1960, and just 15 years later to reach 4 billion people. Subsequently it merely took 11 years to reach 5 billion in 1986, and the expected 6 billion mark could be reached by 1995. With the fragile world ecosystem and the explosion of the world population, the energy consumption and the demand for raw materials have been rapidly escalating. This has resulted in a rapid depletion of natural resources, e.g. 20,000 acres of rain forests are being destroyed each day, endangering many plant and animal species to the point of extinction forever. Human being also faces with the dilemma of insufficient food, resulting in starvation, and creating clashes. The problem has been compounded by pollution caused by our own human race to the world ecosystem with the waste products resulted from human usage, e.g. the greenhouse effect caused by accumulated carbon dioxide and other industrial gases in the atmosphere, and the depletion of ozone layer by the flurocarbon, creating expanding dry land and deserts not suitable for agriculture, causing more food shortage and starvation witnessed in Ethiopia, Africa these days. Moreover, fighting among various warlords as in Somalia, or ethnic groups as in Yugoslavia have been a major threat to the daily life of those people even to obtain food to maintain their lives, not to mention the inability to farm, grow and harvest crops during the war. Over 500 million are actually starving, most of them children under the age of five.

How we as the whole human race do arrive to this point is a subject of great interest that one should have a serious look and examine the whole context or anatomy of what has happened.

Human beings are coward animals and cannot live alone by themselves due to the threats from nature, and other species as well as their own. Human beings, capable of creative thinking, have learned to deal with these threats and successfully become advanced social animals through sharing and compromising with each other to perform certain functions in the community or society in return for the basic necessities of life, including food, shelter, clothing, and medicine. Social activity to gain benefits can also be seen in other mammals even in dolphins with a very mild and friendly nature. The male dolphins may fight with each other just for a short while but then would make up very quickly to form power packs, even superpower packs, to gain strength and superiority over other groups, stealing female dolphins from other weaker groups, resulting in a small war at times. As the animal with the largest brain, human beings are capable of forming a more complex society. With their inventing mind, advanced technology and various concepts have been created. They also enjoy a longer life through advances in medicine. They learn to accumulate wealth through monetary systems, inventing labor-saving tools, transporting vehicles, communication systems, sophisticated equipments to gain a more comfortable and luxurious life, above and beyond the basic necessities originally required to all species, even to the point of inventing weapons to protect their wealth or what is considered to be theirs or belonging to ‘self’. This results in gaps between groups within the society, creating the conventional rich and poor people based on the wealth accumulated. With the difference or the common interest in racial, economical, political, military powers or governing concepts, human beings are divided into countries with imaginary boundaries, or group together into different camps, e.g. the European Common Market, the NATO allies, the free world or the communist world. Human beings need to depend on each other to successfully survive, yet with their own clinging to the ‘self’ concept or ‘self-image’, they become selfish and pick on each other, taking advantage of or harming one another to the point that they cannot live with each other. It is said that if food is distributed equitably and used without waste, there should be enough food for everyone even in the current dilemma of food shortage and starvation seen nowadays. The problem is that those who have the surplus refuse to share what is considered to be theirs to the others.

Sex is the mean to reproduce. It is driven by the natural animal instinct to ensure the continuation and success of each individual's species, with the reward of sensual pleasure. The Buddha said that, "Sex gives very little pleasure, but great suffering." In certain strains of insects and spiders, the males would be killed instantaneously by the females becoming their preys immediately after a sexual relationship. At the very least, the rewarded sensual pleasure would make a long-lasting impression and impact on the human mind to continue to cling and crave for more sex, sometimes without any consideration of possible negative consequences, e.g., child molestation, adultery, AIDS, etc.

Human being has a unique capability to have sex at any time, unlike most animals which only have sex during the estrous period. In the older days when labor was intensive, families with a larger number of family members usually had the advantage over smaller groups, capable of maintaining power with a tighter control of their interest by their own members. Sex has become an important tool to populate and expand one's own circle of power, for a better protection of what considered to belong to oneself, at the expense of requiring more basic necessities including food to feed the new offspring.

Sex has also been used as a mean to reduce tension and stress among certain animal species, e.g. among bonobo, a strain of chimpanzees, sex is used before sharing their food to reduce tension and avoid fighting. Newer values and concepts also influence human's thoughts into using sex as recreational and even commercial means. The moral codes originally developed among each society to prevent sexual misconduct have been softened and eroded by the newer but sometimes immoral thoughts and concepts introduced into the societies, creating more newer social problems, e.g., sexual promiscuity, fetal alcohol syndrome, unsafe sex, spreading of venereal diseases as well as unplanned childbirths which also add to the increasing numbers of abandoned children seen in different parts of the world.

Sex is greatly influenced by the mind of a person based on one's desire or lust, with the urge to satisfy a sensual craving (Kama-raga). Desire, as an intention or volition (Cetana), is very important as it is the drive for the person to crave and engage in various actions (Karma), as the Buddha said, "Volition, Oh monks, I declare is karma. Having willed, man acts by deed, word, or thoughts." The Buddha, upon attaining enlightenment, uttered, "Oh house-builder, now I found you! You shall build no more house. All your rafters are broken. The ridge-pole is shattered. My mind has attained the unconditioned (Nirvana). Achieved is the end of suffering." This brings up a very important point that craving or desire starts in one's own thoughts and mind, before further action is taken place, resulting in the consequence of such action (Karma-vipaka). It also points out that the enlightened beings no longer crave and cling to their thoughts or desire. Their act has no consequence as they do not perform under the influence of sensual desire, and they just perform according to their duties (Kiriya) without expecting any reward or anything in return.

The Buddha not only taught one to abstain from any sexual misconduct, but also taught one to free oneself from the influence of sex. Buddhist monks practice celibacy to avoid craving and clinging to sex. In Buddhist countries, it is not uncommon for the Buddhists to abstain from sex about once a week on the Buddhist Sabbath days (Wan Phra). This restraint is an intentional act which requires a training of mindfulness, to clear one's mind from clinging, and craving for sexual desire and act, to be successful.

Buddhism arose 2581 years ago, when the world population was only less than 200 million people. It originated in India where it was already well populated, among the various caste system (consisting of 1. priests, 2. rulers, 3. merchants, 4. workers), the tradition of which, though illegal, is still being practiced in India up to the present time, with even more sub-castes existing under the four major caste system. Buddhism is a religion of humility, and accepts people from all walks of life, of different classes and castes. During the Buddha's time, when his royal cousins were requesting to be ordained by the Buddha. Their barber, Upali, who also made the same request, was asked by those princes whom he used to serve, to be ordained ahead of them, so they could have the chance to pay respect to him, as a higher seniority monk, in return to those previous years of his service. In 1956, Dr. Ambedkar, born in the lowest strata of India's caste-ridden society, yet considered as the father of the Indian Constitution and the first Law Minister of Independent India, declared himself as a Buddhist, along with 500,000 of his followers who were the untouchables. Currently there are more than 30 million Buddhists in India where Buddhism disappeared for nearly 700 years, since AD 1200 (when India was invaded by the Turkish Muslims), until it was rediscovered by the British rulers in the 18th century, pointing out that all worldly phenomena are impermanent (Anicca), imperfect (Dukkha), and not truly belongs to ‘self’ (Anatta), according to the law of the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence (Tilakkhana).

The Buddha not only taught on ethical, spiritual, and philosophical aspects, he also looked at life as a whole, in all its social, economic, and political aspects, as existing in various discourses.

The ancient Buddhist text clearly stated that poverty is the cause of immorality and crimes such as theft, falsehood, violence, hatred, cruelty, etc. Kings in ancient times, like governments today, tried to suppress crime through punishment (The Cakkavattisihanada Sutta of the Digha-Nikaya), but was futile and unsuccessful (The Kutadanta Sutta of the Digha-Nikaya). On the contrary, the Buddha suggested that, in order to eradicate crime, the economic condition of the people should be improved; grain and other facilities for agriculture should be provided for farmers and cultivators; capital should be provided for traders and those who engaged in business; adequate wages should be paid to those who are employed. When people are thus provided for the opportunities for earning a sufficient income, they will be contented, will have no fear or anxiety, and consequently the country will be peaceful and free from crime.

The Buddha also taught the kings or rulers, the "Ten Duties of the King" (Rajadhamma), which are applicable to the present day governmental figures, e.g., the head of state, ministers, political leaders, legislative and administrative officers, etc. These are: 1. Charity, generosity, liberality (Dana), 2. High moral character (Sila), 3. Self-sacrifice (Paricaga), 4. Honesty, integrity (Ajjava), 5. Kindness, gentleness (Maddava), 6. Austerity, self-control, non-indulgence (Tapa), 7. non-anger, non-fury (Akkodha), 8. Non-violence, non-oppression (Avihimsa), 9. Patience, forbearance, tolerance, understanding (Khanti), 10. Non-opposition, non-obstruction, non-deviation from righteousness (Avirodhana). King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, is a living proof to this teaching, as he has ruled his Kingdom with these ‘Ten Duties of the King,’ since the day he was crowned. As a result, all of his peasants love him dearly and are willing to sacrifice their lives for him.

The Buddha taught what a layperson with a family life should do to achieve happiness or benefits in the present (Ditthadhammikattha-samvattanika-dhamma), as follows: 1. one should be skilled, efficient, earnest, and energetic in whatever profession one is engaged, and one should know it well (utthana-sampada); 2. one should protect one's income earned righteously (arakkha-sampada); 3. one should have good friends (kalyana-mitta) who are faithful, learned, virtuous, liberal, and intelligent, who will help one along the right path away from evil; 4. one should spend reasonably, in proportion to one's income, neither too much nor too little, i.e., one should not hoard wealth avariciously, nor should one be extravagant - in other words one should live within one's means (samajivikata).

He also taught the four virtues leading to one's happiness or benefits in the future (Samparayikattha-samvattanika-dhamma) namely, 1. Saddha - one should have faith and confidence in moral, spiritual, and intellectual values. 2. Sila - one should abstain from destroying and harming life, from stealing and cheating, from adultery, from falsehood, and from intoxicating drinks, 3. Caga - one should practice charity, generosity, without attachment and craving for one's wealth. 4. Panna - one should develop wisdom which leads to the complete eradication of suffering, to the realization of Nirvana. These very same four characters are also important qualities which make a couple well matched and live a family life happily together (Samajivi-dhamma).

The Buddha's teaching for mankind can be summarized as the Threefold Paths of Practice as follows.

1. Dana: giving, generosity, which basically is the introductory level of giving away parts of what considered to belong to oneself to others. It softens and weakens the clinging to the concept of "self" (Atta). It is loving-kindness and compassion-in-action.

2. Sila: moral codes that one needs to observe, e.g. the Five Precepts, which makes a man a true human being, distinct from animals. These are: (1) Do not kill, (2) Do not steal, (3) Do not practice sexual misconduct. (4) Do not lie, (5) Do not take any intoxicant or drugs; and the Five Virtues enjoined by the five precepts, namely: (1) Loving-kindness and compassion, (2) right means of livelihood, (3) Sexual restraint, (4) Honesty, sincerity, (5) Mindfulness and awareness.

3. Bhavana: one should develop one's mind, through Insight Meditation, to see things and all phenomena in reality as they truly are or happen.

In Thailand, a Buddhist country with a 94% of the population as Buddhists, attempts to control the birthrate of her population has been actively done by various governmental agencies. The previous director of the Population Control Department even went out physically by himself to distribute condoms, nicknamed the ‘Meechai's rubber bags,’ to the Thai people through various routes including the canal systems to reach their residences built by the waterway. His innovative method was so successful that the Time magazine made him a world famous figure. Other means were also done intellectually through slogans, e.g. "Too many children will result in long-lasting poverty." which became a popular slogan among the Thais to encourage birth control and slow the birthrate.

Contraception as a mean to slow the population growth and birthrate is not contradictory to Buddhism, especially when it is well and properly informed. Ill-informed means of contraception seen in some other countries, e.g., vasectomy in an exchange for a radio set without properly informing the reason and the consequences of the procedure, should be banned as an illegal method. Killing or genocide to suppress or control the population of other races or ethnic groups to ensure one's own dominance is highly immoral and must be condemned.

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 and ignorance. 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 can be saved by diverting the resources, being used for manufacturing weapons, to provide food and knowledge to those starving children. It is refreshing to see that the cold war between the free world and the communist world is now over, due to the fall of the communist regime, and the natural resources are now being redirected and used for other peaceful purposes. It is wisdom that can stop and prevent war, as well as nourish and keep peace on this planet.

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 war can be prevented as well by making peace in the mind of each individual, 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. 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. Above all, peace has to start in the mind of each individual to have a true and long-lasting impact on world peace.

One may conclude from a Buddhist standpoint that the problem of the world population growth begins with the concept of ‘self’ (Atta) which is the drive to protect one's life and one's own interest. Sex, a natural animal instinct, is the mean to ensure the continuation of one's own species. Sex bonds and enslaves human beings to crave and cling to it with the impact of the rewarded transient sensual pleasure, happiness and self satisfaction, physically and mentally, with resultant new offspring, new generations, and growing population. As the world population grows, it becomes a major global problem due to limited natural resources, and it is necessary to control its population to avoid poverty, social injustice, misery, fighting, and war. Proper education to limit the number of offspring per family to improve the living standard should be encouraged. Conception can be intervened and prevented by various means of contraception with different levels of success. When ‘self’ is extended further beyond oneself, it requires more work and responsibility to guard and protect what is considered to belong to ‘self’ from being stolen or cheated, frequently resulting in conflicts, fighting, and sometimes war. It becomes necessary to form allies with others with common interests to gain forces and superiority, and ensure the capability to conquest the extended ‘self’. The more extension of oneself, the more work and responsibility it will require, which will also lessen the freedom of the person, along with increasing personal conflict. When deeply embedded in ‘self’ concept, it will eventually blind the person from gaining wisdom to realize the true situation. With loving-kindness and compassion, the basis of universal love, one would learn to share and be generous to others. ‘Self’ concept would soften, and one would understand that ‘self’ is the very root of all unhappiness, unsatisfactoriness, dis-ease and suffering (Dukkha). With Insight through seeing things in reality as they truly are, one would learn to let go of ‘self.’ Wisdom will arise in one's mind to realize that there is no true self (Anatta) in everything and every phenomenon, but only voidness, emptiness (Sunnata) that keeps rolling on according to causes and effects (Dependent Arising), and nothing is worth clinging to. One would be able to detach and free oneself from personal conflict, dis-ease and suffering. The world would be a better place to live despite the problem of world population explosion, as one would have the courage and wisdom to help and share with one another with universal love, instead of being envious at each other. It is only through mindfulness (Sati) and wisdom (Panna) that will have a true, long-lasting impact in solving the problem of world population explosion, as well as freeing each individual and mankind from all the conflict, unhappiness, unsatisfactoriness, and suffering, allowing one to live in harmony with one another in true peace, freedom, and happiness.

(Presented to the Medical Staff on Religious Beliefs Program at Christian Hospital on May 6, 1992)

The TRIPITAKA or the Pali Canon, the written scripture of the Buddha's teaching, is a very rich resource of documentary evidence of how the Buddha viewed life and how Medicine was being practiced in India 2,500 years ago.

I. PERSON: is a combination of Body & Mind or the 5 Groups/Aggregates (Body, Feeling, Perception, Mental formation, Consciousness) of Clinging (to ‘Self’ or Self-image/Self-notion). Body feels or senses pain, but it is the Mind that suffers, with or without pain (e.g. when your loved one is sick). Therefore, it is important to purify one's mind to free oneself from suffering.

II. DISEASES: The Buddha viewed as 2 kinds of illnesses:

A. Physical Illness: The true nature of one's body is that it is subjected to the 3 Universal Characteristics of Existence, which governs everything in the universe from galaxies to sub-atomic particles, namely, 1. Impermanence (Thanks to impermanence, we can grow), 2. Imperfection/Stress/Conflict/Suffering (Cells die and being replaced by new ones constantly), and 3. Not-self/voidness (No one can escape death, i.e. no true control of oneself). The Buddha stated that all humans and animals are but companions of birth, aging, sickness, and death.

B. Mental/Spiritual Illness: Lack of Mindfulness, not seeing one's own thoughts, e.g. being engulfed in sorrow can lead to mental disturbances or nervous break down. The tragic story of ‘Patacara’, who lost her whole family within one single day (Her husband was bit by a cobra, her infant was snatched by an eagle, another young son drown in a swift river, her parents and her brother died in a fire.), became insane and wandered around town naked. One day she got into a hall where the Buddha was preaching. When the Buddha greeted her, "May mindfulness be with you, sister.", she came back to herself and was quite ashamed of herself being naked, and immediately asked for some clothes to wear. Later on, she attained enlightenment through Insight Meditation, and became totally free from suffering.

III. HEALTHCARE:

A. Physician: "Jeevaka-komarapat" was the physician appointed to the Court of King Pimpisara of Banares, as well as the personal physician taking care of the Buddha and the monks.

After 7 years of study under his teacher during his youth, he was sent out to seek for any plant within a mile radius that could not be used as medicine. He disappointedly came back empty handed, only to be congratulated by his teacher who allowed him to graduate.

He successfully treated a millionaire's wife who suffered sinus headaches, possibly sinusitis, for 7 years with intranasal herbal medicine mixed with butter.

He quickly cured the King's bleeding hemorrhoids with an ointment, and was awarded by an appointment to become his personal physician.

He successfully performed a craniotomy on a millionaire who suffered severe headaches for 7 years, and removed 2 parasites from his brain. Post-operatively, he was put to bedrest for 3 weeks, and was completely free from headache since.

He cured a young man, the son of a millionaire, who suffered from a twisted bowel (possibly incarcerated hernia, intussussception or volvulus) after a gymnastic exercise, by performing laparotomy and reduced the locked and twisted bowel loop back in place.

He cured another king, who was anemic with buttermilk mixed with herbal medicine.

He provided a laxative for the Buddha who was at one time constipated, and also took care of his swollen, ecchymotic toe, hit by a fallen rock.

B. The Buddha: In spite of the fact that the study and practice of medicine and surgical science had advanced to a great extent by the Buddha's time, hardly any attention was paid to nursing or caring for the sick. He personally took care of a sick monk who was having diarrhea and lying in his own urine and feces. He set an example for the monk community and advised them to take care of each other when one got sick. This resulted in building wards for sick monks by laities, and later on, King Dhammasoka was to build hospitals not only for the public, but also for the sick animals. These serve as the establishment of the first hospitals in the history of mankind.

IV. PREVENTIVE MEDICINE: The Buddha showed a deep concern on healthcare & personal hygiene.

The Buddha forbade monks to defecate, urinate, or spit into waterways (to avoid spreading or outbreak of any disease).

Details on how to build restrooms and toilet seats, and how to upkeep the restrooms were documented. Monks had to wash and clean themselves after defecation.

Monks should finish eating 3 bites before feeling full (to avoid over-indulgence).

The first documented detailed description of toothbrush is in Buddhism.

V. GOOD & BAD PATIENTS: The Buddha described good and bad patients as follows:

Bad Patients: who are difficult to care for: 1. Frequently does things that would make oneself sick. 2. Does not know the limit of indulging pleasure. 3. Does not take his/her medications. 4. Does not tell the symptoms truthfully to let the doctor know whether he/she is better, worse or stable. 5. Does not want to tolerate any severe physical pain, but rather commits suicide.

Good Patients: who are easy to care for: 1. Frequently does things that would make oneself healthy. 2. Knows the limit of indulging pleasure. 3. Takes his/her medications. 4. Tells the symptoms truthfully to let the doctor know whether he/she is better, worse, or stable. 5. Can tolerate severe physical pain.

VI. GOOD & BAD DOCTORS/NURSES: The Buddha described good and bad healthcare workers as follows:

Bad Doctors/Nurses: who should not be taking care of a patient. 1. Cannot provide the right medications for the illness. 2. Cannot differentiate agreeable from disagreeable food, taking away agreeable food, but leaving disagreeable food for the patients. 3. Expecting for rewards from the patient, and lacking loving-kindness. 4. Hate to clean up stool, urine, vomitus, and sputum. 5. Does not know how to comfort or encourage patients at times with peptalk.

Good Doctors/Nurses: who could take care of a patient. 1. Can provide the right medications for the illness. 2 Can differentiate agreeable from disagreeable food, and only gives agreeable food to the patients. 3. Treats patients with loving-kindness, without expecting for rewards. 4. Does not mind cleaning up stool, urine, vomitus, or sputum. 5. Can explain, guide, comfort, and encourage patients at times with peptalk.

VII. THE BUDDHA: The Buddha himself was given a simile as a physician, treating human beings or his patients. He taught the Four Noble/Ultimate Truths of Suffering (comparable to finding the Symptom), Cause of Suffering (comparable to making the Diagnosis), End of Suffering - Nirvana (comparable to giving Prognosis), and The Middle Path (comparable to prescribing Treatment).

In fact, what the Buddha taught on how to purify one's mind, is a deep and advanced level of psychology, to make oneself see and aware, through Insight Meditation, of the Norm of one's own mind, which is calm, clean, clear, and cool. He stated that "Mind is luminous, but being tarnished by defilement (Greed/Desire, Hatred/Aversion, and Delusion/Self-image)."

"I want to live my life (the way I want)." This is the common attitude of what most people view life these days. But, does one really understand the meaning of life as it is?

Life is the property whereby things live. Despite the vast knowledge of the present day science that has been gained about life and the forms of life, the term still lacks any generally accepted definition. Life has many meanings to different persons. Indeed in the scientific field, biologists tend to define it in terms that apply only to their own specialisms. Physiologists regard as any living system capable of eating, metabolizing, excreting, breathing, moving, growing, reproducing and able to respond to external stimuli. Metabolically, life is a property of any object which is surrounded by a definite boundary and capable of exchanging materials with its surroundings. Biochemically, life subsists in cellular systems containing both Nucleic Acids and Proteins. For the geneticist, life belongs to systems able to perform complex transformations of organic molecules and to construct from raw materials copies of themselves which are more or less identical, although in the long term capable of Evolution by natural selection. In term of thermodynamics, it has been said that life is exhibited by localized regions where net order is increasing, or net decreasing. But the scientist has no monopoly over the use of the term, and for poets, philosophers and artists, it carries another myriad signification.

Life on earth is manifest in an incredible variety of forms - over 1 million species of animals (and 350,000 species of plants). Yet despite superficial differences, all organisms are closely related, and the form and matter of all life on earth is essentially identical. Above all, they are not long-lasting and are all perishable. They all are companions of birth, aging, sickness, and death. The meaning of life by itself does not include or require the conditioning of "I" (you, they, etc.), i.e., ‘self’ which is a concept or supposition acquired in each life form after its existence.

The aim of Buddhism is to understand life as it truly is. To understand Buddhism, one may start by simply looking at the commonly accepted definition of life. Life 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) [Oxford Dictionary]. The definition of life by itself encompasses the true nature of all existence or the Three Universal Characteristics of All Existence: Anicca, Dukkha, and Anatta.

Life also means state of existence as a living being/individual, or a living person, which in Buddhism this is seen as BODY and MIND.

What is Life? What am I? These two questions appear to be two totally different questions at a glance, but in Buddhism they are related questions with related answers based upon only one single phenomenon of Not-self (Anatta) [and the related phenomenon of Emptiness/Voidness (Sunnata), Dependent Arising (Idappaccayata), Thusness (Tathata), Non-attachment/Letting go (Atammayata)].

Buddhism sees all worldly phenomena, including life, existing as arising, temporary sustaining for a duration, decaying or transforming, and finally passing away, disappearing, ceasing or death, and nothing is permanent, perfect or long-lasting, and without a true ‘self’. If it is a true ‘self’ or truly belongs to oneself, mine or yours, one should be able to control one's life according to the way one wants, not letting this body get old, sick and die. Yet it keeps on changing according to the flux and flow of nature (Samsara). Mind is even worse, as it moves and changes much quicker than the body. One minute one may like certain situation and would be very happy, but the next minute one may dislike the very same or another situation, and would be very unhappy, sad and depressed, simply through exposing to different circumstances. Innumerable lives have been lost, through not seeing one's own mind and being fooled by one's own thought to the point of committing suicide.

This is what the Buddha realized, through his enlightenment, the true meaning of life. It is the secret of nature, or norm of life and universe, which is always existing there whether he would discover it or not. It is the Four Ultimate or Noble Truth, that life is imperfect and suffering (Dukkha), and his teaching is basically to guide anyone towards the end of suffering (Nirodha), by directly dealing with the cause of suffering (Samudaya), through practicing the Middle path or the Noble Eightfold Path (Magga). Practicing this path will lead to a state of total liberation or freedom of one's mind, being perfectly free, calm, peaceful and happy, i.e. Nirvana, as one would no longer cling to one's own distorted or delusional thoughts, or the ups and downs of the worldly life, which are but supposition or conventional truths. Each individual person does have this capability to see, know, understand, and realize the truth in everything as it truly is. This capability is called the Buddha Nature, existing in everyone, regardless of age, sex, race, dialect, literacy, occupation, or religious belief. It can be experienced and discovered by oneself with one's own effort, through mindfulness and awareness of one's own body and mind, cultivated from Insight Meditation on the Four Foundation of Mindfulness (A systematic method of self-observation at one’s own Body, Feeling, Mind, and Dharma). When one is aware and being mindful of oneself, not-knowing or ignorance would disappear and only knowing or awakening would be functioning. One's mind and consciousness would be doing its true duty. One would be totally aware of one's own bodily act, speech, and thought. As mindfulness and awareness become perfect and catch up with the mind movement, i.e., one's own thoughts or thinking process, wisdom will arise. One would be aware of any greed, hatred, delusion that arise with the thoughts. One would no longer be fooled by one's own thoughts, and would be capable of solving any personal conflict, of like and dislike, that arises within oneself, forming the root of unhappiness and suffering. One would transcend unhappiness or suffering and happiness which is but a lesser degree of suffering, and become an enlightened being. This is why the Buddha said that: "Just as the ocean has only one taste, the taste of salt; this teaching (Dharma-Vinaya) has only one taste, the taste of freedom."

As one does not understand or is ignorant to the facts of life on the Ultimate Truth and the Three Universal Characteristics of All Existence, one would cling to one's own concept and idea that life is permanent or indestructible, happy or perfect, and belongs to oneself. With such ignorance, one would proceed to be biased in one's own thought/mental formation or volition. One’s consciousness would be overwhelmed by one's own biased and delusional thoughts, not allowing the true knower, the true nature or true norm, of one's own consciousness to do its duty. Instead, the thought is doing the function of consciousness. Mind-matter or concept that arises would be full of self-image/self-notion, similar to creating a hologram of oneself, filling with "I" and "my", as if it really exists when in fact there is no true self but an empty phenomenon. The six senses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind would be functioning with the biased or delusional eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, and mind consciousness of mine. One would perceive and interprets the contact that arose in such a way that one would see, hear, smell, taste, touch, and think, only on what would be suitable to one's own self-image or ‘self’ concept or hologram (confirmed by nowadays neuroscientic research). The feeling that follows would definitely be full of self-concept, translating into positive feeling or ‘like’ and negative feeling or ‘dislike’. One would then crave for the positive feeling that one loves, and the situation that one likes with desire or greed (or the opposite situation with aversion or hatred). One would be clinging to the pleasurable sensual desire, and the pleasing existence or suitable environment, but be preferentially non-existing in the displeasure situation. One would become the thought, deeply embedded in one's own biased idea and concept. There will be more arising of the distorted idea and biased thought to work one's way and sustain one's concept to achieve one's goal. After a period of time, this thought and concept will burn itself out, start to fade away, and finally cease, accompanied by sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair as life would not proceed in the biased way that one wishes, not getting what one wants, or what one got does not fit with one's biased or distorted thought, idea, ego, and concept. One would repeat this cycle of thought, again and again, numerous times a day, with self-perpetuating thought and concept (Dependent Arising/Origination or Wheel of Life - Paticca-Samuppada), involved more deeply with more biased, distorted, and delusional thoughts and ideas, adding more fuel to the problem, creating more of one's own conflict and suffering, until one cannot eat, sleep, and function in one's daily life. On the contrary, if one catches one's thought as it arises, seeing one's own thinking process, one could break off the cycle or this Wheel of Life, and clear oneself from the distorted or delusional thought and concept, solving the personal conflict and free oneself from unhappiness and suffering. One would be at peace, free, calm, cool, clean and clear with the true nature of one’s mind or mind essence, allowing it to do its function, constantly guarding itself with mindfulness and wisdom. One would be totally free and truly understand life as it is, without doubt, or seeking for any further answer to life. The Buddha said: "Mind is luminous, but being tarnished with defilement (greed, hatred, delusion)."

No God, no Brahma, can be called

What am ‘I’? ‘I’ is a concept of ‘self’ embedded into life as an individual. A living individual or a person consists of BODY (1) and MIND (2-5). Buddhism, with its scientific outlook, sees life or a living individual as a combination of the FIVE AGGREGATES (or the Five Groups of Existence) of CLINGING (to self), namely:

BODY: (1)

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.

MIND: (2-5)

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 playing magical tricks.

With Insight and Wisdom, one will see the Not-self, voidness, emptiness, without a true ‘self’ entity or ‘I’, but an illusory self-image similar to a hologram, that one has been clinging to, resulting in suffering.

BODY or Matter, Material Form merely represents a combination of the 'Four Elements,' namely: Earth (solidity), Water (softness, cohesiveness), Wind (gas, vibration), and Fire (metabolic heat). Body continues to change, grow, age, get sick, and finally die against one's own will, so when one looks deeply into it, there is no true ‘self’ to be clung to, i.e. not-self (Anatta).

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

Man is comprised of a psychophysical unit of mind and matter, but 'Mind' or 'psyche' is not a soul or a ‘self,’ in the sense of an enduring entity, something ready-made and permanent. Mind 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 scientist, 'matter' is energy in a state of stress, and change without real substance.

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

The Buddha stressed that, 'Individual' or 'Being' is a combination of 'physical' (Body) and 'mental forces or energies' (Mind), a change with continuity (Santati) obscuring impermanence (Anicca), movement and motion (Iriyapatha) obscuring imperfection and suffering (Dukkha), and cohesiveness and compactness (Ghana) obscuring not-self (Anatta). 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 the positive aspect or what one likes and wants. When one cannot hold to it, one suffers, and this is known as DUKKHA or dis-ease, suffering, as one's body, one's mind, and even the world one lives in are impermanent (Anicca), not truly belong to oneself or not-self (Anatta) 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 on to them? These are the ultimate truth and true nature of all existence. Once this is seen and penetrated through, there is realization or enlightenment.

The Buddha said: "All states or Dharmas are not-self or soulless: Sabbe Dhamma Anatta."

Whenever there is no sense of self (I, mine or self-image), then one is free from all unhappiness, unsatisfactoriness, suffering, dis-ease, stress, and conflict (Dukkha).

A Buddhist meditation master answered to the question, "What is life?", as follows:

"I am not. I have not. I simply watch."

With our thoughts, we make our world." - The Buddha

Yet, we do not see our thoughts, and we get involved and entangled with our thoughts, trying to control, manipulate and shape the world around us in such a way that would fit with our thoughts, ideas, and concepts, to please ourselves in the way we want and like, so that we would be happy, accomplishing and fulfilling our dreams and our thoughts. We soon find out that things do not always proceed in the way we like, want or desire, resulting in conflict, dislike, despair and unhappiness. This is a direct result of being the slaves of our thoughts, not seeing our own thoughts and thinking process. The mind in such condition is not properly performing its function, but it lets the thoughts take over and do its function instead.

If we can see our thoughts as they arise, we can see how our biased thoughts manipulate and program us towards unhappiness, and how they condition our mind and how they are inter-related as causes and effects. Thoughts are basically the byproduct of the thinking process or mind movement, or thought/mental formation, a form of mental activities. As mind has no form, we cannot see our mind with our fleshy eyes through the eyeballs, the ‘Outer Vision’, as we see everything around us, but it is possible for us to see our mind movement or our thinking process and our thoughts with the ‘Inner Vision’. The inner vision is perceived and recognized through awareness, feeling, sensing, and being conscious of what we act, say, and think. This awareness is the very same awareness that we feel while clenching our fists, bending our elbows, blinking our eyes, swallowing, or taking a breath. The ‘Inner Vision’, or the ‘Eye of Wisdom’ is the Buddha Nature which exists already in everyone, regardless of age, sex, race, dialect, literacy, occupation, or religious beliefs, as the true norm of one’s mind, and can be awakened or activated by oneself through practicing Insight Meditation. Everyone has this capability within oneself, but one is blinded with the positive aspect as ‘liking’ and the negative aspect as ‘disliking’ in one's daily life until one is no longer aware of possessing this norm of neutral and equanimous mind, the true nature of one’s mind or the origin of one’s life. The awakening of this Inner Vision has been the hallmark of Buddhism, the awaken way, making one capable of seeing one's own thoughts and mind, seeing things in reality as they truly are, and taking control of one's own life and destiny.

We see things around us with our eyes through our eyeballs, where two types of photoreceptor cells line the inner back surface, the retina. The color-blind rod cells can only see black and white but enable us to see in dim light, and each cell can be activated by a single photon. Another type of cells called cone cells specialize in bright light and enable us to see color. Photons of light surrounding the objects pass through the lens and eyeballs to be focused on the retina, activating those photoreceptor cells. This creates electrical impulses which are transmitted through the optic nerves, optic chiasma, lateral geniculate nuclei in thalamus, optic radiation, and finally reach the back part of the higher brain, the primary visual cortex, where the electrical impulses are analyzed and interpreted into images of different color, form, motion, and depth. Over all the brain utilizes one-third of itself for visual perception. Perception through our eyes, or other sense organs of the six-sense spheres, requires interpretation. Our fleshy eyes see objects in their colors and shapes, as well as movement and depth, in their ultimate forms, but then concepts, supposition, the relative or conventional aspect of each color, the color coding system, and the meaning of different shapes are being put together for interpreting the value and meaning of those objects by our thought concept at the higher brain, the cerebrum. In fact we have to learn these concepts, relative and conventional truths in life to properly function in a society, including the color coding system. We teach our children to recognize different colors and their meanings, such as color of the sky is blue, and the stop light or sign is red. Color-blind persons, born without the cone cells, cannot perceive any color and see things in black and white, but capable of recognizing things through their shapes, forms, and positional arrangement. With advanced medical technology, cone cells can be transplanted to those color-blind persons' retina to restore the color vision, but it also creates another problem for the persons as they have to be taught to recognize different colors, along with the meanings and concepts of each color all over again, to be able to properly function in the society.

Surprisingly, it is the movement that is the first pattern the brain perceives in recognizing an image, but only in black and white, not in color which is more complex. This suggests that the brain catches the dynamic nature of movement much quicker than other three patterns of color, form and depth, which are more or less static.

Conventionally, we call moving things as living things and non-moving things as non-living things, but in ultimate reality non-living things are not static but undergoing dynamic movement at the subatomic level all the time. This is beyond the capability of our fleshy eyes to be able to detect and perceive, yet given a time frame or appropriate tools or probes, one can witness the decay and disintegration of these non-living things as they do in living things, and some of them may even express this change much quicker as in the case of radioactive substances decaying at a very fast pace. This points out that both living and non-living things all follow the same rule of the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence, namely 1- Impermanence, 2- Imperfection, conflict, stress, and 3- Voidness, emptiness and not-self.

The brain consists of five main structures including: (1) Telencephalon or the Cerebrum is very large, making up two-thirds of the entire brain, and markedly wrinkle and folded to expand the cortical sheet in a relatively small human skull, (2) Diencephalon which consists of the Thalamus and the Hypothalamus, (3) Mesencephalon or Midbrain functions as the integration and relay centers for incoming and outgoing signals of the sensory and motor pathways, and is the connecting point for several cranial nerves, (4) Metencephalon, which consists of the Cerebellum handling balance, posture, and physical coordination, and the Pons providing extensive connections between the cerebral cortex and the cerebellum for maximal efficiency of motor activities, and (5) Myelencepahalon or Medulla oblongata containing vital centers to control heartbeat and breathing. The Thalamus, the central core of the higher brain or the cerebrum, is sometimes regards as a kind of "brain within the brain." It is a major integrating center, similar to a busy intersection, and all the sensory tracts except the olfactory tract converge here before pure sensory signals, e.g., hot, cold, hard, soft, etc. or bare sensory messages are sorted and routed to the relevant or proper receiving centers in the cortical areas. The Thalamus is interactive with the Telencephalon or the cerebrum where the cortical frontal lobes perform the thinking. The impulses created from the corresponding thoughts will transmit back and interact with the thalamus, which in turn will send signals to the Hypothalamus, causing emotional responses, and the Medulla oblongata, resulting in changes of heart rate and respiratory rate. It is believed that anger, fear, and other feelings, leading to ‘liking,’ pleasure, or happiness, and ‘disliking,’ pain, suffering, or unhappiness, begin in the Hypothalamus, also known as "the seat of emotions." The Hypothalamus works through the neurosecretory cells in the posterior pituitary gland, the neurohypophysis, which are direct extension of hypothalamus synthesizing and secreting hormones, vasopressin and oxytocin (one of the hormones involved with the feeling of love), that reach the blood stream. The hypothalamus also secretes releasing hormones to control the anterior pituitary gland, the adenohypophysis, influencing different hormonal output which in turn controls various major endocrine glands to secrete hormones to support and sustain our body.

Recent medical evidence demonstrates a functional relationship between the brain and the immune system, possibly mediated through psychosocial factors as "conditioned responses" or Psychoneuroimmunological process. Autonomic nervous system responses to external stimuli are very rapid. Hormonal responses are much slower, and psychoneuroimmunological responses are much, much slower.

Every time we learn a new activity, electrical impulses blaze a new path from one motor nerve cell to another and our brain has to memorize this new pattern of connections. Sometimes, especially if the new activity is very complex, we may have to repeat the process many times until they are clearly recorded on our mental videotape, such as learning to ride a bicycle usually requires several tries before it becomes "second nature." Similarly, practicing Insight Meditation requires repeated training and perseverance before one would gain enough strength and power in mindfulness and awareness to catch up with one's thinking process and thoughts as they arise. When one exposes to certain phenomena, one would perceive according to one's own bias that things are permanent, pleasurable, and belong to oneself, therefore the biased mind would be distorted from the truth and frequently pre-programmed or conditioned into the thoughts of ‘liking’ and ‘disliking’ based upon one's previous encounter or past experience. It is quite possible that Insight Meditation may have a direct impact on the Thalamus through the cultivated awareness and mindfulness, acting like a traffic controller, which will properly separate and re-direct the electrical impulses of the incoming sensory messages from our sense doors and the corresponding thought impulses from our frontal cerebral cortex, clearing the traffic jam of electrical impulses, or personal conflicts, commonly occur in the thalamus. The awakening of one's own awareness of the hidden and buried capability in recognizing the true everchaging nature of everything, the Buddha Nature, will keep the interactive conditioned thought impulses away from contaminating the pure perception or recognition of the incoming sensory messages, avoiding the conditioning of one's mind with one's thoughts, allowing one to see things or perceive all phenomena as they truly are, with great wisdom, i.e., with pure perception, there is wisdom.

Human beings react through bodily act, speech, and thoughts. We can see our bodily movement, and hear the voice and sound, but we do not see our thoughts or other people's thoughts (though we always love to and pretend to know other people's thoughts). We think as image and sound, and sometimes through recollection of taste, touch and smell. All of our feelings are based to the images we focus in our mind, and the sensations we link to these images and sounds, or the recollection of taste, contact, or smell. Songs bring back memory of images of one's past experience of happy or unhappy moments, or create and generate images of the future, according to the lyrics and rhythms. This alone creates the whole musical industry, generating multi-billion dollars. We always embed ourselves all the time in our thoughts, becoming the thoughts, which are somethings of the past that was gone or the future that has not come, making us happy or unhappy through our own thoughts. We fail to see our own thoughts or thinking process and thinking manner as they arise, moment to moment, within our mind. There are two types of thoughts arising in our mind. One is sneaky thoughts, lacking mindfulness but fueled with greed, hatred, and delusion, which drags us into problems, personal conflicts, and unhappiness in our lives. The other is thinking with mindfulness, which enables us to properly function, correctly govern our lives, and even make great contributions to the societies and mankind. With Insight Meditation, we can learn to see our thoughts and catch up with our thinking process through being constantly mindful. With mindfulness, we would be aware of our thoughts as they arise, as though we are watching movies with a perspective view or a bird's eye view. One can see one's mind working as a projector projecting the thoughts as movie frames onto the screen which is one's life leading to happiness or unhappiness. With this perspective vision and being aware of what is going on in one's mind would pull oneself from being embedded deeply in one's own thoughts and thinking manner, and one would no longer cling to the ups and downs of one's life. This awareness of one's own thinking process is the Inner Vision or the Eye of Wisdom, as one is capable of watching all the phenomena arisen in one's thoughts, as they truly are, without being conditioned by any bias towards one's own idea or self concept, and one would be able to detach oneself rather than clinging or attaching to the stream of thoughts which drags one to be miserable or overjoyed. The result would be that one would live one's life performing one's duty to the best of one's capability with free and liberated mind, achieving one's goal and destiny yet non-attached with the sense of "I am not. I have not. I simply watch!"

Mindfulness and awareness can be cultivated through practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, as taught by the Buddha, by contemplating on one's Body, Feeling, Mind, and Dharma. As mind is formless, therefore one would not be able to see it, yet one can track it down through its trace or mental activities as feeling, perception or recognition, and thoughts or mind movement. But even so, one would need training to be aware of one's own feeling, perception, or thoughts. This is why the Buddha taught one to be aware of bodies within this body e.g., breath body within this person or body frame, feelings within feelings e.g., bliss, happiness, or neutral feeling as a form of feelings, and mind within mind e.g., thoughts arising within one's mind. With perseverance and continuous meditation practice, one's awareness and mindfulness would continue to be sharpened and will advance from the initially low level of recognizing the gross form, e.g., bodily movement or breathing, to recognizing a more subtle form, e.g., various feelings, and finally to the most refined form, e.g., mind movement or thoughts, and ultimately seeing the truth in everything or all phenomena with the very same kind but more profound awareness. Mindfulness arisen through continuous meditation practice initially appears as a form of mental force or power of mindfulness (Satibala), like a kitten, will grow bigger, stronger, swifter, and more sharpened to become a mental faculty of mindfulness (Satindriya), like a cat, with enough strength, power, and speed to catch up with the thinking process, and abolish all the sneaky thoughts, like a rat being killed by the cat, stemming from greed or desire, anger or hatred, and delusion or ignorance. It is irony surprising that by simply being aware, or being conscious, feel or sense each subtle bodily movement, e.g., clenching of one's fist, stretching of one's arm, blinking one's eyes, can lead to the same but heightened capability to catch or be aware of the movement of one's mind or thoughts, the source of one's suffering or unhappiness, and happiness. One would then realize that happiness is nothing but feeling of less suffering. This is why the Buddha said, "There is only suffering arising, sustaining, and ceasing. Nothing else besides suffering is arising, sustaining, and ceasing."

The origin of one's life and mind is the neutral mind or equanimous mind which is the norm of one's mind, but in general this is obscured by one's own biased thoughts and ideas with the feeling of ‘like’ & ‘dislike’. When awareness i.e. the Inner Vision arises, unawareness or not-knowing i.e. ignorance or delusion would fade away and disappear. The Buddha stated that, "Mind is luminous, but tarnished by the unwholesome root (greed or desire, hatred or anger, and delusion or ignorance)." It is the duty of each human being to seek and differentiate what is one's proper duty to deal with one's life and how one can solve one's own personal conflict. One always faces with many choices, decisions, and dilemma, at any moment of one's life, and this frequently creates personal conflicts within oneself due to one's own bias, fueled with desire or greed, anger or hatred, and delusion or ignorance. Failure to recognize this phenomenon often results in projection of one's own conflict towards the others, and attempts to change other people instead of correcting oneself, creating more problems and conflict to the society as well as to oneself, and may even result in an anti-social personality. Proper decisions whether they are correct or incorrect, right or wrong, good or bad, etc. need to be made all the time in one's life to proceed towards one's goal or destiny. In Buddhism, this has been perceived at a more profound level as intention or volition as the basis of each decision, resulting in action or Karma, leading to one's goal or destiny, and the consequence of one's action or Karma-vipaka. One can control one's life, destiny, and fate by constantly being aware of oneself every moment, moment to moment, which will sharpen one's recognition or perception, mindfulness and wisdom, allowing one to see the origin of one's heart and mind, the neutral mind, without any distortion or bias. With the Inner Vision of awareness, one would see and realize the changes of all mental phenomena or thoughts arisen in one's own mind, and one would no longer cling to the ups and downs of one's life. As a result, one would live one's life with a liberated mind and spirit, speaking, acting, and thinking with full awareness and mindfulness, in perfect harmony with nature, with a true happiness.

The Buddha clearly stressed the importance of mindfulness and awareness, or the awakening of the Inner Vision, i.e. stopping at bare perception, as the heart of his teachings as follows: "To see is just see. To taste is just taste. To smell is just smell. To hear is just hear. To touch is just touch. To encounter with what arisen as thoughts or mental phenomena is just thoughts." With these six short verses, Bahiya, the new disciple, attained a full enlightenment!

Buddhism in Daily Life

"I believe the ultimate aim of human beings is to obtain happiness and a sense of fulfillment." - His Holiness The Dalai Lama.

Happiness, pleasure, achievement, power, and success are things that everyone strives for in one's life. If things proceed the way one thinks or wants, then there should not be any problem. On the contrary, one always face with dilemma and obstacles according to the law of nature. Things keep changing according to the Three Universal Characteristics of Existence, namely Impermanence, unstability (Anicca), Imperfection, dis-ease, suffering, unbearability (Dukkha), and Not-self, uncontrollability, emptiness, voidness (Anatta). Happiness and success may not be achieved as one wishes, nor do they last forever. They can turn into unhappiness, failure, disappointment, and suffering, so one learns to deny and push those unpleasant feelings away from one's thoughts as far as possible, as sometimes they would be too painful to face, even the thoughts of them could raise fear or chills within one's heart and make one suffer. In Buddhism, these are but the Worldly Phenomena of positive and negative feelings, values, or mental attitudes. They are categorized into four pairs of, Happiness and Unhappiness, Gaining, Owning, Fortune or Opportunity and Losing, Lacking, Misfortune or Lacking of opportunity, Honor, Power, or Promotion and Dishonor, Loss of Power, or Demotion, and Praise or Fame and Condemn or Notoriety. Even after one has gained the positive mental phenomena, e.g., happiness and fame, one would still face with the opposite or the negative mental phenomena which everyone dislikes or hates, as they themselves, including oneself, are not permanent or long-lasting. Owning may end up with losing, honor may change to dishonor, praise may become condemn, and happiness or pleasure may change to unhappiness or suffering. This is just simply the normal flux and flow of Nature (Samsara) that one must face in life. If one attaches to either positive or negative phenomena, like other human beings, one can simply be reassured that one would suffer from them. In fact, they are but the opposite ends of the same phenomena or concepts (Duality), similar to the head and the tail of a snake. One thinks that one is safe and secure with happiness as though one is holding the tail of a snake, safe from being bitten, only to realize the truth that the very same snake turns back and bites the holder, as suffering follows happiness around like a shadow because they are just the opposite ends of the same unstable, unbearable, and uncontrollable process. Less suffering is so named happiness, and less happiness is then called suffering. This is why the Buddha pointed out that, "It is suffering/dis-ease that arises, sustains, and ceases. Nothing else but suffering/dis-ease arises, sustains, and ceases."

Why one cannot see this truth of life and nature as it is, lies in the fact that truth is sometimes too subtle, and too painful to be perceived or accepted. One would condition and blind oneself with one’s own distorted ideas, thoughts, and concepts. One wishes and desires to achieve or gain only those phenomena which would reward oneself with the positive feeling and mental attitude, i.e., what is called happiness, achievement, power, and success. One values them dearly, working very hard to gain them, trying to block out, pushing aside, hiding, and fighting against any opposite phenomenon which would lead to the negative feeling and mental attitude. The problems arise as all those positive or negative mental phenomena are all but unstable and uncontrollable burdens to one’s life, whenever one clings or attaches to them, they will cause suffering when one loses or departs from what one loves and values, when one does not get what one wants, or when one faces or gets what one does not want. One is blinded by one's own ignorance or delusion. One does not realize that one's real and true norm of one's mind or original mind is but a neutral, balanced, and equanimous mind, luminous and free of greed, hatred, and delusion. The Buddha taught that, "To see is just see. To hear is just hear. To smell is just smell. To taste is just taste. To touch is just touch. To encounter thoughts/emotion is just see thoughts/emotion (with Awareness and Mindfulness)." The Buddha, in fact, antedated modern medical science by over 2,500 years, as nowadays research neuroscientists, e.g., Dr. Alan Gevins of the Advanced EEG Systems Laboratory in San Francisco stated that, "We interpret the world through our mental models. In a sense we create reality in our brains and our minds. To a large extent, we see what we expect to see. We hear what we expect to hear." One is blinded by one's own biased thoughts under the influence of desire/greed/sex, aversion/hatred/violence, and delusion/ignorance/ego. One is deceived by one's own six senses: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, as one's true self or pure mind is without these six senses. Being manipulated by the misinterpreted phenomena, under the influence of one’s biased thoughts, perceived through the six senses, one would never satisfy, as one's thoughts are operating, performing the function for the mind, in place of one's awareness and mindfulness which would have guarded or shielded one's mind, keeping it in its true nature of balanced, neutral, calm, and empty state. Thoughts would govern the mind towards the positive feeling or mental attitude, making one crave for more rewards in life with desire, and reject any negative feeling or anything that would be an obstacle to one's goal. In fact, it is delusion/ignorance that drags us into this mental blindness, blocking out the truth as one should have seen or been capable of seeing. This capability of seeing the truth as it really is, through mindfulness and awareness, termed Buddha Nature, resides within everyone regardless of age, sex, race, dialect, literacy, occupation, or religious belief.

Buddhism is the way of life to achieve perfect peace, freedom, and happiness, through self-awareness and wisdom, advancing oneself to one’s full potential or capacity. Buddhism directly deals with self-awareness and mindfulness or inner self-perception, discovering oneself, knowing oneself, seeing oneself clearly without any bias or distortion of any phenomenon encountered through one's eyes, ears, nose, tongue, bodily contact, or mind. One would catch one's own thinking process instantaneously, as the biased thought ready to manipulate the encountered phenomenon arises. Buddhism originated from the Wisdom of the Buddha, derived from the experience of Insight through his Enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in India nearly 2,600 years ago. Buddhism deals directly with the truth of life and the reality of all phenomena. This truth has always been and will still be there whether the Buddha would have existed or not. The knowledge of this wisdom has been passed on from generations to generations, and has been witnessed by his true followers through their experience of insight and enlightenment with their own effort, seeing and realizing their own Buddha Nature within themselves. This is why Buddhism stresses the Three Stages of Training, namely Studying, Practicing, and Experiencing. Just simply gaining knowledge through studying, or gaining calmness through practicing Tranquillity or concentration meditation are not interactive and powerful enough to see or penetrate through the truth. It requires Intuitive Wisdom gained through practicing Insight meditation to realize, penetrate, or experience the truth or the true nature of life as it is.

Studying: The Buddha systematically laid down the specific guidelines for anyone to follow and to live a perfect and serene life with the Three Fundamental Principles as follows:

1. Restraining from doing bad deed through bodily act, speech, and mind.

2. Cultivating good deed, through bodily act, speech, and mind.

3. Purifying one's mind, through Insight Meditation, transcending all phenomenal concepts or suppositions of good and bad, or the positive and negative mental attitudes or feelings.

When put into practice, any of these three principles requires Mindfulness to govern and operate to succeed.

The Buddha also introduced several other guidelines, unique to Buddhism, for anyone to follow, including the Four Ultimate Truths, the Dependent Arising/Origination, the Four Foundation of Mindfulness, the Six Senses, the Five Aggregates of Clinging, etc. All these are but the reflection in words expressing and explaining the true nature of one’s body and mind, as various guidelines to lead one, according to each individual’s temperament, to realize the Ultimate Truth of life and nature.

Studying the Buddha's teaching works like reading a road map or guidelines, so one can follow and pursue towards one's goal of liberating one's mind from the torture of the positive and negative feelings or mental phenomena.

Practicing: This is the Middle Path that one needs to tread to see things as they truly are, avoiding the two extreme ways of life of sensual desire or pleasure and physical austerity or pain, self- punishment/mortification. The most important aspect of practicing the Middle Path is that one needs to have an open mind as a starting point with Wisdom (Panna) through Right View, and Right Thoughts. This practice is complimented by Morality (Sila) through Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood, along with Concentration or Mental Development (Samadhi) through Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration/Mental Steadiness. Though there are eight factors in the Middle Path or the Noble Eightfold Path, yet when put into practice these are but one common Middle Path or the righteous path for one to tread or drive through, with Mindfulness and Awareness as the vehicle, towards the Righteous Wisdom (Samma-nyana), and leading one towards the Righteous Emancipation/Liberation (Samma-vimutti).

The simple basic practice among Buddhists, at the moral level, is to observe the Five Precepts or moral codes: 1. Do not kill. 2. Do not steal. 3. Do not practice sexual misconduct. 4. Do not lie. 5. Do not take any intoxicant or drugs. This will help one pave the way of the Middle Path to live a balanced life. When well practiced, these basic moral codes would be complimentary to the practice of mental development, leading one to advance properly towards enlightenment.

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 Awareness and Mindfulness which will further blossom into Intuitive Wisdom, leading to Enlightenment, 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.

Experiencing: This Middle Path or the Noble Eightfold Path when well practiced will inwardly lead one back to one's own original mind, the balanced, neutral, equanimous, and empty mind, liberating oneself and overcoming suffering and dis-ease with Right Emancipation. Mindfulness and awareness will catch up with the thinking process as the thoughts arise. Greed, hatred, and delusion, normally accompanied the thoughts will no longer be able to occur as thoughts themselves are being caught by awareness and mindfulness, moment to moment as they arise. Wherever there is awareness, delusion disappears, as the two cannot coexist. Delusion is basically the root of Liking or Positive mental attitude including greed, desire, lust, sex, pleasure, happiness, and Disliking or Negative mental attitude including hatred, aversion, anger, violence, pain, dis-ease, suffering. Through seeing one’s arising thoughts, greed, hatred, and delusion cannot sneak in with the thoughts. As a result, suffering will cease as one would stop craving for sensual indulgence, for existence, or for non-existence, which causes conflict/dis-ease/suffering. One would then be free from suffering, and the mind would be totally free and liberated to the norm, equanimous, and balanced mind, and this is in accordance to what the Buddha said that, "Mind is luminous, but tainted by defilements (the unwholesome roots of greed, hatred, and delusion)."

Suffering arises within oneself, specifically originated in one’s mind, so one needs to see oneself or the source of suffering to be able to get rid of suffering. Since mind is formless, it is difficult, if not possible, to see the mind, yet one can see its trace through its movement, i.e., thoughts or thought formation (Sankhara), or other mental activities, as feelings (Vedana), and perception (Sanna), which can be achieved through Vipassana or Insight Meditation.

Each individual or a person is made of Body and Mind. The body senses or feels pain (physical or general, common bodily pain and suffering), but it is the mind that truly suffers (mental or the real suffering/unhappiness/personal conflict).

There are several forms of suffering that every human being faces. They are as follows:

1. Dukkha dukkhata: This is the common bodily suffering, e.g., having headache, leg cramps, toothache, etc.

2. Viparinama dukkhata: This is suffering arisen when changes and variations from what one accepts as the usual routine nature occur, creating conflicts or causing negative impacts to life, e.g., getting old, getting sick, etc.

3. Sankara dukkhata: This kind of suffering arises from the unintentional/sneaky thought, through being conditioned by the biased thought, not seeing the thought as it arises. One would cling to the biased thought and concept, becoming the thought, indulging and embedding in the thought, resulting in conflict and mental suffering, e.g.,

a. Personal Doubt & Conflict: Thoughts and decisions arise all the time, causing minor or major conflicts in one's daily life, e.g., whether one should decide to get involved in what one considers as right or wrong, whether one should trust this or that person or invest in those stocks, etc. Decisions have to be made innumerable times a day, some without any meaningful conflict or consequence, e.g., going to the bathroom, etc., but many of them create conflicts within oneself. One needs to be mindful at all time to be able to make correct decisions, so conflicts would not follow. Good and meaningful decisions, through good intention or volition (Cetana), leads to good actions (Karma), and good destiny (Karma-Vipaka). This is why the Buddha said, "Volition (Cetana), o' monks, I declare is Karma (action). Having willed, man acts by deed, words, or thoughts." This is how the Middle Path comes into play when one is equipped with awareness and mindfulness to balance oneself with the clear, neutral, equanimous, original, and empty mind, for a good volition, a good will, and a good action to follow.

b. Greed, Hatred, Delusion: They sneak into our mind whenever unintentional thoughts arise. When one does not see one's own thoughts, one would become the thoughts, indulging in the thoughts, living the concepts pre-conditioned in one's mind through a life-long process of learning and studying, embedding the conceptual values according to each society, family, or peer pressure, e.g., doing a bunye jumping to prove one’s courage to friends, etc. One needs to see one's own thinking process as thoughts arise. When the conceptual thoughts and ideas are being caught as they arise, greed, hatred, and delusion normally accompanied the thoughts would cease to exist or function.

c. Clinging to Self: With one's own narrow view of an existing ‘self’, one imprisons oneself, or traps oneself within the ‘self’ concept, clinging to it like attaching to a hologram of imaginary self or self-image, not knowing that there is nothing there nor a true self to cling to but emptiness and voidness. With the attachment or clinging to ‘self’, things that one comes in contact with in one's life become one's belongings, e.g., my body, my house, my car, my spouse, my children, my wealth, my country, my idea, my team, my triumph, etc. The more one acquires, the more one has to protect and cling to this ‘self’, frequently stretching oneself beyond one’s limit. As a result, one would narrow oneself and one’s view, and imprison or bury oneself more deeply into the ‘self’ concept. More suffering/dis-ease would arise as one has no total control of any of one's proclaimed belongings, as they themselves, including oneself, are unstable. One needs Insight and Intuitive Wisdom to see and realize Anatta or Not-self in everything to let go or not to attach to. When one sees and realizes voidness, one would extend beyond every limit one has created on oneself. One will see that one's life exists in everything, and that the deterioration of phenomena cannot touch that life. It means freedom, Nirvana, absence of all boundaries.

d. Not understanding Morality, right from wrong, and Dharma, the Ultimate Four Noble Truths, the Middle Path: Practicing the Middle Path of Morality, Mental Development, and Wisdom will guide one at the basic level to correctly live and understand the true meaning of life, freeing oneself from being commanded by the positive or negative feelings. Once the Intuitive Wisdom arises through practicing awareness and mindfulness, it will protect oneself as an automatic shield with the true spontaneous morality, the balanced and equanimous mind, transcending all the positive and negative feelings which lead one to suffering.

e. Incorrect path of practice, mistaking Tranquillity for Insight and Wisdom: One would plunge deeper in the wrong direction, trapping oneself in, attaching to, and even mistaking tranquillity arisen from the concentrated mind as the end of suffering and Nirvana. The Buddha stated that "One can overcome suffering with Wisdom." Never did he say that one can overcome suffering with tranquillity, which only transiently suppresses, not getting rid of, suffering. Only wisdom will get to the root or cause of suffering, allowing one to overcome suffering, as one would no longer cling to the arising and ceasing of such phenomena. Steady mind arisen from practicing Insight Meditation is quite different from the concentrated mind arisen from Tranquillity Meditation. Concentrated and tranquilized mind may allow one to gain psychic power, yet a less interactive mind than the steady mind achieved through Vipassana with probing wisdom and pure perception towards all phenomena arisen through the six senses, not allowing misinterpretation with one’s biased thought to result in attachment to those phenomena to cause suffering.

The Middle Path or Magga when well practiced is morality, concentration, and wisdom in action, as one would know how one should interact with perfect Mindfulness and Awareness when one speaks, acts, and thinks. To gain awareness and mindfulness, one simply follows the practice of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, which is the simplified, yet perfect and direct method of practicing Vipassana or Insight Meditation, so, through self-observation, one would see, be aware, and in control of one’s own body and mind. One should be aware of one's Body movement which is the means that one acts and speaks, and be aware of one's Mind movement/motion/vibration which is basically one's thoughts and thinking process. One would be aware of one's Feeling which is the means for human beings and animals to strive for happiness and pleasure or positive feeling. One would observe such positive feeling without clinging, yet overseeing and not denying or ignoring the accompanied suffering or negative feeling. When one is aware of the constant changes and insubstantiality of all mental phenomena or Dharma, one would gain Intuitive Wisdom, not to attach or cling to any conditioned phenomenon which would lead to suffering. One would realize the very basic, yet ultimate, truth of life and nature that, "Anything that arises as a norm would cease as a norm."

To practice Buddhism and the Middle Path does not mean that one cannot properly function in society, advance in one's career, achieve one's goal, or acquire any wealth, as the Buddha taught all of his followers to practice Right Effort and Right Livelihood, to work hard and earn an honest living, but not to cling to those gains or positive mental attitude, nor be discouraged by the losses or negative mental attitude. During the Buddha's life time, several of his prominent followers were kings and millionaires, e.g., King Pimpisara, Mrs. Visaka, etc., and in fact, they were the major supporters of Buddhism, as well as devout Buddhists themselves. Monks are exception in certain aspects, as being restricted by the moral codes, not to accumulate any wealth but basic necessities and belongings needed to pursue the monkshood, so they would advance rapidly in their practice of mental development. True Buddhists would find right effort and right livelihood of the Middle Path, not at all antagonistic to working towards their goals, career advancement, social status, or wealth. It is not wealth that stands in the way of liberation, but the attachment to wealth and the craving for things, that are the obstacles and the root of the problems. In fact, to perform one's duty accordingly and righteously, with full awareness and mindfulness, and in total control of one’s own acts, speech, and thoughts, is the aim of Buddhism.

Buddhism teaches one to be with the present, seeing one's own mind and thinking process as thoughts arise, moment to moment, preventing one to cling to the past and the future. One suffers when one dwells and embeds oneself in the thoughts of the past or the future. As past is gone, and future has not arrived, so it is not worthwhile clinging to or embedding oneself in them, ending up losing control of the precious present moment or opportunities. On the other hand, one can direct oneself into a good future, i.e., controlling one's fate, through performing the righteous acts and doing good deeds with mindfulness at the present moment. When one is with the present, catching the thoughts as they arise, one would no longer be trapped in the unmindful, unintentional, sneaky thoughts, not allowing greed, hatred, and delusion, normally accompanied such thoughts, to arise and create any problem. Suffering or unhappiness will be less and finally cease to exist in one's mind. This is the ultimate goal of Buddhism, the Liberation, emancipation, or freedom of one's mind, Nirvana. One would regain the true balanced, intelligent, equanimous, and peaceful mind, the Buddha Nature, no longer tainted or conditioned by greed, hatred, and delusion, and be absolutely free from all 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 see 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 it arises, realizing 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.

Insight Meditation allows one to see things in reality as they truly are. It makes one differentiate all the encountered phenomena into Conventional Truth and 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 or the changing/rolling (Agahn) of Voidness (Anatta) and Emptiness (Sunnata).

With Mindfulness, one is aware, feels, or senses any body movement, from walking, sitting, standing, or reclining, to blinking, swallowing, breathing, and even thinking or mind movement. Mindfulness will capture such Awareness, feeling, or sensing, but once being aware of it, one just lets go of it. This self-awareness is self-recognition/pure perception (Sanna). With Awareness or pure perception, one will gain Insight which will probe into all encountered phenomena as they are. With Insight, Wisdom will arise and oversee the whole scenario, of what says, does, or thinks. The Wisdom of Insight (VipassanaNanna), arisen from awareness, insight, and intuitive wisdom, will keep one see any encountered phenomenon with reality as they truly are, and interact and respond properly, resulting in living in harmony with nature, in peace, freedom, and happiness.

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 voidness and emptiness (Sunnata) of one’s self-image/self-notion (similar to an empty hologram), so nothing to cling to. One would transcend and let go of the ‘self’ concept, resulting in self-liberation (Nirvana).

With self-delusion, one only sees or hears what one wants to see or hear (confirmed by nowadays neuroscientists), instead of just seeing or hearing as it truly is (as taught by the Buddha over 2,500 years ago).

The Buddha identified ‘self’ (Atta/Atman) as the root of the whole problem, giving rise to personal/self-conflict/dis-ease/suffering (Dukkha), through self-clinging. It makes one interpret all the encountered phenomena with biased thoughts or distorted ideas and concepts, just to please oneself. He found the Truth of the self-realized wisdom through self-enlightenment to be capable of uprooting this whole problem stemming from self-clinging.

Insight or Vipassana Meditation, unique to Buddhism, was introduced by the Buddha as the method of mind development to gain Insight and Wisdom, to see the Ultimate Truth and the true nature of all existence, and to experience the true norm of oneself, which is but void, empty, and Not-self.

When asked by his disciple on who then would be the one that attained enlightenment, the Buddha stated that the person, or Mind-Consciousness, would be the one, and concluded that, "‘Self’ is but a worldly name, a worldly word, a worldly phrase, and a worldly concept, that the Tathagata (the Accomplished One, who understands thusness, meaning the Buddha himself) also uses, but not attached or clung to."

Insight or Vipassana Meditation is basically:

the ultimate self-improvement system (Nothing else will be left to be done or searched for, once this task of self-purification is accomplished.),

based upon self-development (One has to make one’s own effort, the Buddhas only pointed out the way.),

and self-reliance (One is one’s own refuge.),

through self-observation, looking inwardly and directly at oneself,

perfecting self-perception/self-recollection/remembrance or mindfulness, through one’s own body, feeling, mind, and mental objects/events (The 4 Foundations of Mindfulness),

with pure and neutral perception through self-feeling/sensing - without any biased thought and concept,

cultivating self-awareness or wisdom-in-action/clear or ready comprehension, seeing things in reality as they truly are, in what one acts, says, or thinks,

gaining self-realization - seeing oneself, the equanimous mind, and the Buddha Nature within oneself,

attaining self-enlightenment - with arising intuitive, supramundane or ultimate wisdom,

resulting in self-awakening - from ignorance, being blinded from the truth by greed, hatred, and delusion (Mind would regain its norm of being luminous and awaken, as biased or delusional thoughts are being caught as they arise.),

and self-emancipation - freeing oneself from craving, clinging, and suffering.

To self-discover this Ultimate Truth,

one needs this ‘self’ (Body and Mind; or Body, Feeling, Perception, Thought/mental Formation, Consciousness - without a true ‘self’ identifiable in any of these parts/groups/aggregates), as the media or working ground, to see Not-self (Anatta), or the void and empty nature (Sunnata) of one’s own self-image/self-notion (similar to an empty hologram - nothing is really there to cling to),

to detach oneself from self-clinging as one gains wisdom from seeing things with pure perception, achieving self-liberation, ending self-delusion - the root of greed/desire (like), and hatred/anger (dislike), freeing oneself from personal/self-conflict/dis-ease/suffering, and transcending oneself, from worldly phenomena (Samsara), to Nirvana with the ultimate peace, freedom, and happiness, yet Not-Self.

(Presented at the International Thomas Merton Society Meeting on 11/2/94.)

A Buddha’s disciple exclaimed, "I have examined the world. I found nothing but suffering. Only suffering arises, sustains, and passes away."

The Buddha taught only one subject - Suffering and the End of suffering.

The Four Noble or Ultimate Truths are Suffering (through clinging to "self"), Cause of suffering (craving based upon greed, hatred, and delusion), End of suffering (Nirvana), Noble Path (Middle Path) leading to Nirvana (a state of ultimate peace and happiness - unborn, undying, unchanging, unconditioning).

He stated that, "Just as the ocean has only one taste, the taste of salt. This teaching (Dharma-Vinaya) has only one taste, the taste of freedom."

The Buddha’s last words given at his deathbed were, "Perishable are all component things. Work out your salvation with diligence."

When asked by his attendant on who would represent him after his departure. The Buddha answered, "This teaching (Dharma-Vinaya) has been well said. It will guide you all after my departure. If the followers live a wholesome life according to this teaching (i.e., as long as there are people who practice the Four Foundations of Mindfulness), then this planet will never be free from Arahats (the fully Enlightened ones)."

The Four Foundations of Mindfulness is the simplified method of training the mind or mind development to regain mindfulness, and awaken the self-awareness, through self-observation on the 4 foundations of Body, Feeling/Sensation, Mind, and Mental experience/events/objects. It forms the basis of Vipassana.

Mindfulness when kept continuously, for 1-7 days as the quickest, 7 days-7 months as the medium, and 7 months-7 years as the slowest, will result in 2 great benefits, becoming a Non-returner or an Arahat.

Vipassana or Insight Meditation is the technique of mind development to gain Insight - to see things in reality as they truly are, and Wisdom - to free oneself from suffering.

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.

The Buddha said, "Mind is luminous, but tainted by the unwholesome root (greed, hatred, and delusion)."

Buddha Nature resides in everyone, regardless of age, sex, race, dialect, literacy, or religious beliefs. It is the norm of one’s mind, an equanimous mind, capable of seeing things in reality as they truly are.

Buddhism makes the distinction between the Conventional Truth (supposition), and the Ultimate Truth (reality). The Truths are always there, whether the Buddha exists or not.

The Buddha stated, "We are what we think. What we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make our world."

A person is made up of Body and Mind, or The Five Aggregates or Groups of Clinging: Body, Feeling, Perception, Thought Formation, and Consciousness (Mind is made up of the latter four).

Mind is formless, travels afar (as thoughts), residing in this body, but leaves traces behind to be seen or tracked down as Feeling, Perception, and Thought Formation (Mental Activities).

Name and Form or Mind and Body are the basis of supposition and clinging. They are all but relative values, vibration, and not truly ours. Once seeing them, one learns not to cling but let go of them.

The Three Universal Characteristics of Existence: Impermanence, Imperfection, and Not-self, apply to any worldly phenomenon, from subatomic particles to the whole universe, from mass to energy, from body to mind. All are but vibration, changes.

Impermanence obscured by Continuity, can be realized with awareness through Rhythmic Meditation.

Imperfection/stress/conflict/suffering obscured by Movement/motion/vibration, can be realized with awareness through Dynamic Meditation.

Not-self/selflessness/voidness/emptiness obscured by Cohesiveness/compactness/group or aggregate of adherence/clinging, can be realized with awareness through Vipassana/Insight Meditation.

Mindfulness/Awareness catches Movement/motion/vibration, resulting in seeing imperfection/suffering.

Catching Mental movement or Thoughts, let one see Mental suffering, Personal Conflict (the true suffering).

Catching the Origin of the thoughts and thinking process, one would see oneself (that it exists without a true "self" but an illusory hologram as the builder of this house or thought). It will stop the sneaky/biased thoughts (unintentional thoughts) distorted by greed, hatred, delusion, resulting in ending personal conflict or suffering.

Delusion/Ignorance/Self is the root of Greed, and Hatred, resulting in personal conflict and suffering. With awareness/mindfulness/attentiveness, unawareness/inattentiveness disappears, as Mind can dwell in only one phenomenon at any one moment of time. With increasing awareness, it becomes Wisdom, replacing Ignorance/not-knowing/unawarenesss.

With Wisdom, conflict/suffering ceases to exist.

(Presented to the Medical Staff on Religious Beliefs Program at Christian Hospital on May 6, 1992)

BUDDHISM: - BUDDHA-SASANA, BUDDHA-DHARMA, DHARMA-VINAYA is the awakened way of life (from ignorance, blinded by craving with greed, hatred, delusion), as taught by the Buddha, the self-enlightened one, to free one's mind & liberate oneself (Nirvana) from all the bondage & clinging to ‘self’ (self-image) which is the source of unhappiness (suffering/dis-ease/problem/conflict).

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES/HEART OF BUDDHA'S TEACHING:

1. AVOID DOING BAD DEED (Morality, e.g. the 5 basic moral codes for laypersons: i. Do not kill, ii. Do not steal, iii. Do not practice sexual misconduct, iv. Do not lie, v. Do not drink or take any drug or intoxicant.)

2. DO GOOD DEED (Mental development - Concentration)

* * * 3. PURIFY ONE'S MIND (Insight Meditation - to transcend good & evil).

Buddhism appeared overnight, fully formed, through his enlightenment, under the Bodhi tree at Bodhi-Gaya, India. The Buddha basically taught the very same thing throughout his life.

BUDDHA'S TEACHING: is called DHARMA, which is the Secret of Nature or the Norm of the Universe, based upon or stem from the EXPERIENCE of the Buddha's enlightenment, and this teaching can guide anyone to PROCEED towards ENLIGHTENMENT by practicing the Middle Path, as the Buddha Nature is in everyone, regardless of age, sex, race, and religious belief, etc.

His teaching is a mass of timeless flexible methods, appropriate severally for different times, different places, and most importantly for different temperaments of persons. It is a down-to-earth method, dealing directly with one's own body and mind. It is capable of verification and being self-realized or witnessed by oneself, and can help one to solve personal conflict and live in harmony with nature, in perfect peace and happiness.

Dharma is the truth the way things are, while Dharma as the Buddha's Teaching is a reflection in words of this truth, which is recorded as the TRIPITAKA, the 3 baskets of Discipline (Vinaya), the Buddha's Life & Teaching (Sutra), and the Philosophy & Psychology of Buddhism (Abhidharma). The Buddha's Teaching is recorded in a 45 volume set of text, containing 84,000 Dharma headings.

TRIPLE GEMS: - BUDDHISTS take refuges in the TRIPLE GEMS (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha).

1. BUDDHA: The Buddha was born as the crown prince of the Sakyas (Southern Nepal) 2618 years ago. He attained enlightenment 2583 years ago, and passed away (Pari-nirvana) 2538 years ago (543 BC The year AD 1995 is 2538 BE - Buddhist Era)

The Buddha had 3 great virtues, namely: a. PURITY, b. WISDOM, c. COMPASSION. All Buddhists are treading this Middle Path to gain these virtues of the Buddha.

Buddha Nature is in everyone, regardless of age, sex, race, literacy, dialect, occupation, religious belief, etc.

2. DHARMA: - Buddha's teaching i.e. reflection in words of the Truth about the 'Secret of Nature,' summarized as:

FOUR ULTIMATE/NOBLE TRUTHS

1. DUKKHA - Life is Imperfect/Dis-ease/Suffering. It needs to be comprehended.

2. SAMUDAYA - Cause of suffering is craving, with greed, hatred, delusion. It needs to be eradicated.

3. NIRODHA - Cessation of suffering (Nirvana). It needs to be realized.

4. MAGGA - the Middle Path. It needs to be developed.

DEPENDENT ORIGINATION/ARISING (PATICCA-SAMUPPADA) - all phenomena are dependently originated on causes and conditions, e.g. suffering arises from distorted/delusional thinking through perversion.

ii- The Middle Path -by avoiding the 2 extremes of sensual indulgence, and self-mortification. It means the Noble Eightfold path which when practiced will lead to enlightenment, namely: 1. Right Understanding, 2. Right Thought, 3. Right Speech, 4. Right Action, 5. Right Livelihood, 6. Right Effort, 7. Right Mindfulness, 8. Right Concentration.

iii- Principle of Nature or 'Norm of Universe'

THREE UNIVERSAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EXISTENCE

1. ANICCA (Impermanence), obscured by Continuity.

2. DUKKHA (Conflict, Imbalance, Imperfection, Stress, Dis-ease), obscured by Movement, Motion.

3. ANATTA (Non-self), obscured by Mass, Compactness.

- Ultimate of Nature

- Law of Nature (Pariyatti - to study)

- Duty according to the Law of Nature (Patipatti - to practice) - Benefit, Fruit or Consequence of performing the Duty according to the Law of Nature (Pativedha - to penetrate)

3. SANGHA: Noble Ones/Disciples (Ariyan) are the community or order of righteous followers trading the path of self-enlightenment themselves.

Buddhists learn to form a true Sangha, i.e. to be in harmony with one another, harmony of body and mind, and harmony with nature.

AIM OF BUDDHISM: is TO CLEARLY SEE THINGS AS THEY TRULY ARE (Insight), with MINDFULNESS & WISDOM gaining from practicing Insight Meditation, with one's own effort. This will lead to a total liberation/freedom of one's mind, and be perfectly free, calm, peaceful & happy, i.e. NIRVANA (as one would no longer cling to one's own distorted/delusional thought).

Perishable are all conditioned things, work out your way with diligence. - These were the last words of the Buddha.

INSIGHT MEDITATION: to realize the true nature of all existence (Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta), i.e. to see things as they really are, seeing the arising and ceasing of "name" & "form", with MINDFULNESS & WISDOM through practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, self-observing one’s Body, Feeling, Mind, Mental Objects/Events.

THE FIVE AGGREGATES OF CLINGING (to "self-image"): to be analytical so that one would see the selfless, voidness, obscured by the mass, cohesiveness (Ghana)

BODY (1) 1. MATERIAL FORM/CORPOREALITY

MIND (2-5) 2. FEELING

3. PERCEPTION

4. MENTAL FORMATION

5. CONSCIOUSNESS

THE FOUR ULTIMATE/NOBLE TRUTHS

THE MIDDLE PATH - the Noble Eightfold path which when practiced will lead to enlightenment, namely: 1. Right Understanding, 2. Right Thought, 3. Right Speech, 4. Right Action, 5. Right Livelihood, 6. Right Effort, 7. Right Mindfulness, 8. Right Concentration.

DEPENDENT ORIGINATION/ARISING (PATICCA-SAMUPPADA) - all phenomena are dependently originated on causes and conditions, e.g. suffering arises from distorted/delusional thinking through perversion.

THREE UNIVERSAL CHARACTERISTICS OF EXISTENCE

1. ANICCA (Impermanence), obscured by Continuity.

2. DUKKHA (Conflict, Imbalance, Imperfection, Stress, Dis-ease), obscured by Movement, Motion.

3. ANATTA (Non-self), obscured by Mass, Compactness.

INSIGHT MEDITATION: to realize the true nature of all existence (Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta), i.e. to see things as they really are, seeing the arising and ceasing of "name" & "form", with MINDFULNESS & WISDOM through practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, contemplating on Body, Feeling, Mind, Mental Objects/Truth.

THE FIVE AGGREGATES OF CLINGING (to "self-image"): to be analytical so that one would see the selfless, voidness, obscured by the mass, compactness (Ghana)

BODY (1) 1. MATERIAL FORM/CORPOREALITY

MIND (2-5) 2. FEELING

3. PERCEPTION

4. MENTAL FORMATIONS (THOUGHT)

5. CONSCIOUSNESS

THE SIX SENSE BASES: - 'Short cut to Middle Path' with 'Touch and Let go'

Organs (EYES, EARS, NOSE, TONGUE, BODY, MIND)

Objects (Vision, Sound, Smell, Taste, Bodily Object, Mental Object)

Consciousness (Eye Consciousness, Ear Consciousness, Nasal Consciousness, Tongue Consciousness, Body Consciousness, Mind Consciousness)

Contact

Feeling

With FEELING (pleasurable, non-pleasurable, or neutral), one can easily mistake and Grasp as a 'SELF,' this will lead to Grasping/Craving, and Clinging, leading to Suffering.

With MINDFULNESS (constant watch), one would see that none of them is 'SELF,' and the Noble Eightfold Path will exist in us at the very same moment.

TRUTHS: The Buddha made the distinction between:

CONVENTIONAL TRUTH, e.g., a carpenter, a physician.

ULTIMATE TRUTH, i.e. all human beings are the same as companions of birth, aging, sickness, and death, without a true self in it.

NON-DUALITY

Worldly or supposition is always with duality: PHENOMENA

Dharma or the ultimate/the absolute, i.e., Nirvana, is non-duality: NOUMENON

NIRVANA - ultimate peace, freedom & happiness. A state of unborn, unchanging, undying, unconditioned, yet Not-self or Noumenon (opposite of worldly conditional phenomena)

CORE/PEARL OF BUDDHISM: - KALAMAS SUTRA

Do NOT believe based on:

1-4: WHAT YOU HEARD (OUTSIDE INFORMATIONS)

1. Mere report

2. Tradition

3. Hearsay

4. Holy writings

5-8: REASONING (INNER THINKING)

5. Logic

6. Philosophy

7. Common sense

8. Accepted notions or own ideas

9-10: PERSONS (RESPECTABLE PERSONS)

9. Competent person

10. Our teacher

BUDDHISM

vs. SCIENCE & FUTURE - Buddhism withstanding scientific proofs through the years. The Three Universal Characteristics of Existence (Impermanence, Imperfection, and Not-self/Voidness) governs all worldly phenomena, from the universe to subatomic particle, from matter to energy, from body to mind, etc.

vs. OTHER WORLD RELIGIONS - teaching to do good, not evil (as in all other religions). Buddhism is unique in stressing 'PURIFY ONE'S MIND,' with Insight Meditation, i.e., TRANSCENDING GOOD & EVIL.

vs. HEALTH - BODY: physical fitness, health food, vitamins, advanced medical technology, etc.

- MIND: wisdom, inner peace, ultimate happiness.

vs. MEDITATION - Insight/Vipassana Meditation: Self-observation, looking inward (not outward), searching oneself (not-self), understanding oneself, freeing oneself from all thoughts and attachment, and live in harmony with nature.

When one understands oneself, one would understand others as well.

Anapanasati Sutta or

Mindfulness with Breathing Discourse

The Anapanasati or the Mindfulness with Breathing Discourse is the key instruction for practicing Buddhism. This is the very technique or method that the Buddha utilized to attain his self-enlightenment. The Buddha has perfected this technique as a tool for practicing Insight Meditation, and simplified it into a concise, stepwise, and readily applied format, so anyone can use it for one’s practice to gain Insight and Wisdom. The full Discourse contains sixteen steps of self-observation, and follows the same guideline as described in the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, i.e., self-observing one’s Body, Feeling, Mind, and Dharma or Mental objects/events, using one’s breath as the conduit or theme of meditation to chain one’s mind from wandering around, and to strengthen one’s mindfulness and awareness. Therefore, when one practices the full sixteen-step version of the Mindfulness with Breathing, one would also be practicing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, which will lead one to understand life as it is, gaining Insight and Intuitive Wisdom, and attaining enlightenment. Yet, it is important to point out that as one is being aware of one’s breath, while breathing in and breathing out, one should be observing all the phenomena arisen through one’s Body, Feeling, Mind, and Dharma, not just focusing only on the breath, as frequently misconceived. In fact, one only observes the breath itself, while being aware of one’s breath, only on the first two steps of the practice. While observing the breath itself, one should also observe the characteristics of the breath whether it is short or long, gross or subtle, not just noticing the breath. Everyone has to breathe, so one needs not find any instrument or tool to practice as the breath is already there, readily available to be observed. One can start the practice anytime, with every breath that one takes, simply by embedding one’s awareness and mindfulness into one’s breath. Mindfulness with Breathing has a great benefit as the technique is applicable to any type of temperaments which are different among various persons (Six main types identified in Buddhism: Lustful, Hating, Deluded, Faithful, Intelligent, Speculative temperaments), similar to a broad spectrum antibiotic that can be used to cure various types of bacterial infections (though may take a longer time in some instances as it is not the specific antidote to that particular organism or temperament).

"Bhikkhus, Anapanasati or the Mindfulness with Breathing when well developed and practiced continuously, will result in great rewards and bring great benefits. The well developed and continuously practiced Anapanasati will perfect the practice of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. The well developed and continuously practiced Four Foundations of Mindfulness will perfect the Seven Factors of Awakening. The well developed and continuously practiced Seven Factors of Awakening will give rise to Understanding/Intuitive Wisdom and Liberation of the Mind (i.e., Nirvana).

Bhikkhus, how would the well developed and continuously practiced Anapanasati result in great rewards and bring great benefits?

Bhikkhus, the practitioner goes into the forest or to the base of a tree, or to any deserted place, and sits stable in the lotus or crossed-legged position, holding his body quite straight, securely maintains mindfulness. Breathing in, he is aware that he is breathing in; and breathing out, he is aware that he is breathing out.

(FIRST TETRAD: Awareness of one’s BODY - steps 1-4)

1. Breathing in a long breath, he is fully aware of, ‘I am breathing in a long breath.’ Breathing out a long breath, he is fully aware of, ‘I am breathing out a long breath.’

2. Breathing in a short breath, he is fully aware of, ‘I am breathing in a short breath.’ Breathing out a short breath, he is fully aware of, ‘I am breathing out a short breath.’

3. ‘I am breathing in and am aware of the whole body. I am breathing out and am aware of the whole body.’ This is how he trains himself.

4. ‘I am breathing in and making the whole body calm and at peace. I am breathing out and making the whole body calm and at peace.’ This is how he trains himself.

5. ‘I am breathing in and feeling joyful. I am breathing out and feeling joyful.’ This is how he trains himself.

6. ‘I am breathing in and feeling happy. I am breathing out and feeling happy.’ This is how he trains himself.

7. ‘I am breathing in and am aware of the mind-conditioner. I am breathing out and am aware of the mind-conditioner.’ This is how he trains himself.

8. ‘I am breathing in and calming the mind-conditioner. I am breathing out and calming the mind-conditioner.’ He trains himself like this.

9. ‘I am breathing in and am aware of the mind. I am breathing out and am aware of the mind.’ He trained himself like this.

10. ‘I am breathing in and gladdening the mind. I am breathing out and gladdening the mind.’ He trained himself like this.

11. ‘I am breathing in and concentrating the mind. I am breathing out and concentrating the mind.’ He trained himself like this.

12. ‘I am breathing in and liberating the mind. I am breathing out and liberating the mind.’ He trained himself like this.

13. ‘I am breathing in and observing the impermanent nature of all dharmas. I am breathing out and observing the impermanent nature of all dharmas.’ He trained himself like this.

14. ‘I am breathing in and observing the fading away of all dharmas. I am breathing out and observing the fading away of all dharmas.’ He trained himself like this.

15. ‘I am breathing in and contemplating liberation. I am breathing out and contemplating liberation.’ He trained himself like this..

16. ‘I am breathing in and contemplating tossing back/letting go. I am breathing out and contemplating tossing back/letting go.’ He trained himself like this.

Anapanasati or the Mindfulness with Breathing, if developed and practiced continuously according to these instructions will result in great rewards and bring great benefits."

One may compare a person to a tall-ship, floating without setting sail or rudder (Mindfulness) in the vast ocean (Samsara), seeking to reach ashore at a certain destination or the ultimate happiness. Practicing Mindfulness with Breathing is like sending the pilot (awareness) onto the mast (the breath) to look around. The pilot would have to hold onto the mast (aware of each breath that one takes) to be able to climb up higher. He initially observe to see how big or small, how tall or short, that mast is (observing the characteristics of the breath whether it is short or long). Once he climbs up higher and higher, he no longer looks at the mast itself, yet holding on to the mast (the breath). He would be able to see farther and farther away from the ship. He would be able to see all the approaching dangers, e.g., the pirates, or rocks and reeves (hindrances - Nivarana), that one is facing. He would also see the shore and where the destination is located (ultimate happiness - Nirvana), and how one can reach there, without running into the rocks. The pilot (awareness) can correctly relate what he observes to the captain (Mind), who in turn would give a proper command, with wisdom (Panna), to set sail (mindfulness) properly to the correct direction, reaching ashore and destiny (Nirvana) safely.

"Mindfulness when kept continuously, for 1-7 days as the quickest, 7 days-7 months as the medium, and 7 months-7 years as the slowest, will result in great benefits, either becoming a Non-returner or an Arahat." - the Buddha.

 ADDENDUM:

Saksiri Marc Tanphaichitr

God plays different roles in different peoples’ lives — a result mainly due to different beliefs in a "higher being" or different degrees of belief. There are three types of belief: complete belief that a higher being controls the entire existence of life, the belief that a higher being controls certain aspects of existence, and the belief that life is independent from any sort of being. Because of modern society — more accurately, the differences between the society that we live in and the societies that created religion and God — many find that religion is in deep conflict with science and technology, and are forced to choose. This, through the different amount of trust placed by people in one or the other, accounts for the different types of belief.

Those who truly believe in God’s preeminence are also those who reject science and instead instill trust in faith. They "hide" themselves from the truth and chauvinistically trust what religion tells them. These people have various reasons to do so; some may have experienced the so-called "grace of God", others may just find that praying and hope based on faith are psychologically helpful (though they believe it is God helping them and not, from another point of view, subconscious effort). They also represent an obsolete thinking that draws fallacious conclusions between events. What they do not know, they attribute to a higher being, and that is very simple and easy. This is how they "hide" from the truth: they do not want to be ignorant, so they believe that something else did it. An example of such reasoning is that of Christian Scientists’. One girl tells a story about her sister, who had broken her collarbone. Although the doctor said that it would not heal correctly, it did, because they "prayed for it to happen". Since they hoped for something to happen, and this something that is thought to be beyond human control occurred, it must have been, they think, something else’s doing. The great error they have made is that they are ignorant of the mind’s power and have drawn unnecessary connections between religious determination and healing. We all do not yet know what the brain can do. Seeing the entire body as a giant chemical reaction, it is possible that the brain can influence a process not thought to be controllable.

Less extreme believers of God are probably the most mainstream types of people. These types of people tend not to associate science and religion, as the more extreme types do, but rather, segregate the two. It is difficult to have a reconciliation between science and religion, but these people seem to compromise their beliefs in each in order to believe in both, because they are reluctant to abandon their religious preconceptions. However, it is doubtful that they are scientists; they are more likely to be lawyers or accountants — people who do not have much connection with science but do believe in its importance. For example, when asked about the creation of the universe and life, such people may think that God was, indeed, involved in these phenomena, but do believe in modern medicine and cells and other established scientific theories. These people are not doubtful of God’s existence, but do not rely as heavily on religion in their lives. However, like the Christian Scientists and heavy believers in God, they still plug up the "holes" left by science’s current inadequacies to say that in their sphere of existence, everything is either covered by science or more divine and unknown to humans.

Those who are doubtful or do not care about God are fundamentalists. They see only what they see and readily accept their ignorance, rather than surmising that something else is responsible for the unknown. These are the real scientists of the world, those who utilize scientific logic. They collect evidence and make theories based on this evidence only. To scientists, it is silly to say that God did this or that because there is no basis for his existence or what he has done. Thus, they do not need, much less believe, in God, because nothing they do pertains to God. Genetic experiments do not require any beliefs, only knowledge. This is the important difference between these people and the other two types. Science looks to prove, while religion guesses, and because nothing is there to disprove it, however unlikely, states its guesses as truth. These people look at what is there, not what is not. They know a limited amount of information fairly certainly, while believers think they know everything. When people think they know everything, they are usually wrong; for example, how else was the universe created with the Earth at its center?

There are those who argue that science takes away from human hope and faith, thereby dehumanizing society, but religion is only useful as a tool. It is a tool that helps people have hope, but it is yet only one type of faith, faith in something else’s ability to help. Why is it not possible to have personal strength instead? In reality, those who believe in themselves, looking within, are the true humanitarians. Religion was created only for one reason: people were ignorant and afraid of natural phenomena, such as thunder and earthquakes, and sought to solve these mysteries by formulating stories and explanations. These explanations are, to anybody raised in the absence of any sort of God, absurd and silly, especially to those who think in the logical terms of scientific method. It is not that religion is absurd — there are many lessons to be learned from the stories in the Bible — but only God. What was erected as truth two thousand years ago, in the absence of science and in the midst of fear and intimidation, is inappropriate now in the context of science, especially because we have only begun to explore science; what happens when further progress is made? The first group described — the Christian Scientists and other such types of people — has already been deemed obsolete, and in the not-so-distant future, so will the second group, and all that will be left will be the non-believers.