General discussion of issues related to Theravada Meditation, e.g. meditation postures, developing a regular sitting practice, skillfully relating to difficulties and hindrances, etc.
Karma is made through intentional acts of body, speech and mind. Wholesome intentions arising in the mind will lead to wholesome speech and actions, while unwholesome intentions will lead to unwholesome speech and actions. We could say that this is what
governs the world—the collective karma of all beings. Every individual is making karma each moment, and this is what leads to the cycle of birth and death, that is, continued existence. When we contemplate, we can see the value of making good karma, for the happiness we experience comes from training and bringing up wholesome intentions of body, speech and mind. And this is what Buddhist practice is encouraging us to do. Whatever effort we put into developing ourself in wholesome ways will bring benefit and happiness.
The more we contemplate karma the more we see that we are receiving the fruits of our actions all the time. We’ve made both good and bad karma in the past, and this is giving results which we experience in the present. When we think about the bad karma we have made in the past, the important thing is to reflect on it wisely. If we can learn from it and change our ways, that is good. But to keep thinking back and attaching to these negative states of mind is not correct. If we practise mindfulness and develop an understanding of the mind, then we will be able to catch those moments of guilt or depression over the things we have done. We can see those feelings are not helpful to us because the past can’t be changed. It is good if we can learn from it and make changes, but other than that there is no point in needlessly suffering by feeling self-aversion or remorse.
The correct way is to apply ourself to developing good karma from now on. We are then creating the causes for happiness and benefit both in the present and the future. This is why we practise. When we understand the importance of karma we will commit ourself to generosity, keeping precepts and meditation—all for the
purpose of gradually raising the level of our mind. As we put effort into the practice, creating more good karma, the result will be more peace within. This is the truly wise and correct thing for a human being to do, to develop him or herself in wholesome ways.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
Some people think that harmful actions don’t always lead to negative results. They think they can get away without any consequences? Is this true?
If people don’t see the fruits of their actions yet, it is because of the presence of delusion. They are not very aware. Unfortunately, this doesn’t nullify the results of what they are doing or mean that there is no karma at work. Karma is a natural law. It is a natural force that we can see at work all the time. So if people are creating
the causes for suffering, then that suffering will come whether they recognise it or not. It is even worse if they don’t see the harm in their behaviour, because then they don’t recognise how they are causing themselves suffering. But when we do understand karma we can look at our life and say, “Ah, when I speak in this way, when I act in this way, that brings suffering.” And because we want to be happy, free from regret and worry, we are motivated to live in a moral way.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
How do we deal with insects and pests that come into our home? I don’t want to break the first precept or make bad karma.
Practising with the first precept, we establish the clear intention in our mind that we are not going to kill other beings. With the very small creatures, like insects, we just have to do the best we can in each situation. One can use different chemicals and methods to prevent them from entering. We still have that basic intention of not deliberately killing beings, but if in the course of cleaning some insects are harmed, then we have to accept that that’s their karma. With bigger animals like rats or mice, we should be able to find humane ways to deal with them. There are certain traps where you put some bait inside and a door closes behind them. They can then be taken a long way away and released.
We have to understand that everything is subject to its
karma. It is often very difficult to move around and do things in the world without harming small creatures like insects. Sometimes it is unavoidable, like when they get squashed on the windscreen while we are driving, or when they fly into a lit candle at night. We are not deliberately harming them. Our intention is not to kill, but it is the way of the world that some of this will occur. So we should not take it as a personal failing, or as if we are making bad karma.
When we are cleaning or sweeping, sometimes a few insects do die. We should see that our intention is not to kill but to keep our place clean. It is unfortunate some of the insects are harmed, but this is very different from using poison and baits to deliberately kill them. With an understanding of karma and intention, we do the best we can to find skillful, humane ways of dealing with pests.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
Let me tell you about a disciple of mine. He was formerly a fisherman by trade, going out and pulling in boatloads of fish to be sold and killed. In Buddhism, this would be understood as bad karma. One day, far from shore, he was involved in a boating accident which left him drifting in the ocean for three days and three nights, clinging to a piece of wood. We could say that it looked like he was going to receive the results of his unwholesome livelihood, drowning in the ocean and being eaten by fish. Though he assumed he was going to die, he made a very firm vow in his mind: if he did get rescued he would enter the monastic order. It’s now been over 15 years since he ordained.
Sometimes crisis situations bring out very wholesome
aspirations in people, positive thinking which can quickly get a good result. This can change their lives drastically. Really, though, we should commit ourself to making good karma regularly, not just waiting until times of crisis. Our lives are so uncertain. And since we don’t know how long we will live for, we should really treasure our time. We should try to live as skillfully as we can while we have the chance.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
We have to be involved with society. We have duties and work. And although society isn’t always peaceful or harmonious, the Buddha taught that the source of this always comes back to the individuals, because their hearts are not in line with truth. As long as people are still caught into different unwholesome tendencies of greed, anger, and delusion, then they are going to speak and act accordingly. And from this problems and misunderstandings arise.
There are various way of dealing with this. In the world we have the laws and regulations of the land. The aim of this is to give people a standard of behaviour that will lead to a peaceful, harmonious society. And when people don’t follow the laws, then there are always problems, aren’t there? When people follow their own views and opinions, their anger and greed, acting in selfish or aggressive ways, this is where problems that we face in the world arise from.
On the level of Dhamma, however, it’s important to realise that everyone has his or her own levels of greed, anger and delusion. That is something we have to accept and work with. And the way to do this skillfully is: one, to understand that everyone is in that position; and two, to have an attitude of kindness and compassion. This doesn’t mean to say we encourage people when they are acting in harmful ways. But we know that’s how people are and we don’t take it personally. By giving importance to kindness and compassion, we can deal with the day-to-day problems of society in such a way that we don’t create more suffering out of them.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
The Buddha taught how to live in the world in a peaceful and harmonious way. He said that we must develop kindness and a sense of being willing to sacrifice. A husband needs to sacrifice for his wife, a wife for her husband. Parents must sacrifice for their children, and children for their parents. All members of a family should sacrifice for one another. This is the way society functions when it is functioning well. When people are harmonious and living together in peace, there will always be this willingness to sacrifice.
We should also be open to listening to others, especially
people who have developed themselves in virtue, concentration and wisdom. They understand what ways of thinking create suffering, and can help point out where we have gone astray. This is why we respect teachers who have practised for themselves, bringing their minds to clarity and insight. They have more experience on how to look after the mind, how to behave correctly, and how to progress in the path of practice. So whatever words of guidance or helpful reflections they give us, we should listen carefully. But this can apply to our friends and relatives as well. The Buddha encouraged us to be able to communicate with others, to receive reflections and advice. Rather than pushing it away, we consider it carefully and compare it with our own experience.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
Unless we have perfected mindfulness and wisdom, we will still get caught into liking and disliking. This will often affect our views of other people. When we have attachments and preferences—we like this, we don’t like that—then of course that can make us judgmental. Seeing traits that we like we say someone is good, and seeing traits that we dislike we say someone is bad. Based on these parts we may paint the whole picture, deciding that this person is completely good, or that person completely bad. But this is coming from attachment and delusion.
The Buddha said the way to remedy these judgmental
tendencies is to come back and look at our own mind. The more we study our own mind, our own life, our own behaviour, the more our view will become clear and unbiased. So first of all, we look at our actions and ask: “Are my actions skillful or unskillful? What are the results of my actions?” We look at our speech: “Is my speech skillful or unskillful? What are the results of my speech?”
And then we look deeply into our mind to see what we are thinking. “Are my thoughts skillful or unskillful? What are the results of my thinking?” As we learn to do this, instead of looking outside and judging the world and the people around us, we will turn inside and look at our own mind. This will bring us in line with the teachings of the Buddha. We will then know for ourself whether we are using our mind in a way that is skillful or unskillful. This will take us beyond judging others.
And yet some people will still judge us. Whatever we do, some people will say it is right, while others say it is wrong. This is how it is living in the world. But what they say isn’t the full story, is it? We have to look at our own mind and know for ourself. Were our actions skillful or unskillful? Sometimes we do something good, but others still criticise us. If we know from our own investigation that what we did was truly good, then we won’t suffer over it. At other times we do something wrong, but other people praise it. Again we have to go back and investigate, asking, “Was it really good or not?” We can’t always take the words of others for truth, but by investigating we will know for ourself.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
The Buddha said that good things come from being with good friends. They bring out good traits in us. But try to avoid bad friends. These are the ones that take us off drinking, gambling, and so on, leading to harmful situations. This teaching also applies inwardly. That means to avoid mingling with the negative forces in our own mind, staying with the wholesome thoughts and aspirations instead. If we are doing this well, then our practice will be strong. We will know for ourself what is going to bring us happiness and what is a good way to live. So even when mixing with other people, if they are caught into wrong views or don’t yet understand the path, we still won’t be swayed. This is because we are firm, and we understand for ourself.
The Buddha taught to associate with good, wise people
and to avoid those who are foolish or reckless. But sometimes it happens that we have friends with some negative, harmful traits and we want to help them out. The important thing to recognise is that we ourself have to be in a strong enough position mentally before we can help. Because if we are still not firmly established in
our practice, then of course we will be affected by the people we are with. They influence us, either subtlety or directly, and the danger is that we might be swayed by them and lose our way. But if we are strongly established in our practice—we know what is good and bad, what is right and wrong—then even if people have some bad habits, we will not be influenced or swayed. Maybe we will be able to help them a bit, offering advice and support.
Even the Buddha in some of his past lives wasn’t yet inspired to practise the Dhamma. He was more interested in worldly things. But in one past life he had a friend who wanted to go listen to the teachings of the Buddha of that era. And our Buddha didn’t yet have faith and wasn’t interested in going. So the friend grabbed hold of his topknot and said, “You’ve got to go!” And in India, the topknot of your hair is the highest and most respected thing. People don’t just pull it for no reason. His friend literally dragged him there. But when he saw the Buddha, he realised the importance of the teachings and began practising. This is an example of the value of good friends. Sometimes we don’t yet see what is important in life, but a good friend can take us towards it.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
It’s helpful to rely on the four sublime abidings—loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity—when dealing with our children. When we bring children into the world, our first instinct is always going to be loving-kindness. We have love for them because they are our children. And one of the foremost qualities of a good parent is that they help without wishing for anything in return. They aren’t looking for anything back, they just
give. This is correct—we should always have that sense of well-wishing and kindness for our children. Then when they fall into suffering of any kind, compassion naturally arises. We don’t want them to suffer and so wish for an end to their suffering. Conversely, when our children meet with any kind of success or happiness in life, we can share in that by feeling happy for them and hoping it continues. And finally, if in certain situations they are having problems but it is beyond our ability to help them, then the correct approach is that of equanimity. We have to understand that everyone is subject to their karma, and our children bring their own karmic accumulations habits, characteristics, personality traits—with them into the world.
If our children are having problems but there is nothing
we can say or do, then we have to step back. This is equanimity, where we have a sense of balance and patience. We understand karma and accept that at the moment there is not much we can do to change things. “Oh, at the moment the situation is like this. It’s beyond my control.” There is still love for them, but we are not
trying to force them to change. Conditions will change on their own.
If our children don’t solve things themselves then maybe
later we will be able to teach and help them. But we have to remember, especially in the long term, that things are not certain, that people change. Sometimes children are really good. They have many good qualities, and because of this they are popular. Then they grow up and get married and move away. They have their own families now, their own responsibilities. And that’s it. They have no time left for us because they already have their own duties and obligations.
Other children may start off as being not very ‘good.’ Not
very successful, not very responsible. But later on they might be the ones who end up looking after us and helping us most when we are older. I have seen this on many, many occasions. And thinking that the ‘good’ child will stay and look after you and the ‘bad’ child will go away and never help—these are not sure things. They
can change one-hundred percent over the course of a life time. So we should remember that. Karma is changeable. People are changeable. It is not the case that everything is going to be fixed as it is forever. When we remember these truths, it helps us to let go a bit more. Our child may have all kinds of good qualities that simply haven’t flowered yet. If we can have patience and think in this way, then we don’t have to suffer or worry so much. We can let go and just see what happens.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
In my current mind , as one awaken to Buddhism , he realize he is the mind , he is emotion and he realize he is constantly travelling in a natural process forgetting the mind .......so as he awaken to this , he realize he is constantly alone , nothing is out there except emotion that he holds ......so he realize nothing is owned by him , nor human / material or physical body is never owned by him .... as he awaken to this , he will naturally treat all same as him , he sees all living or non-living same him ... and as he travel into this path , emotion will naturally decreases , so all desire / love / greed / anger / fear etc will naturally forgotten and he burden of carrying emotion will be lessen ..... he will be at ease and this condition could be closely described as joy / happy / bliss ... so happiness in regards to Buddhism is not out of creation of emotion but is a condition being less attached to emotion.
Even if we accumulate great wealth, many possessions, and an esteemed position in society, if we show no gratitude or kindness towards our mother and father, then we are without true wealth. To put it simply, we are without the distinguishing features of a good person.
When we realise the goodness our parents have shown
towards us, we should try to repay that goodness with wholehearted effort. They cared for and looked after us for many years, so we can in turn look after them in their old age. And even if they have passed away, we can still benefit our parents by performing good deeds and sharing the merit with them. When we are in school, we
should be diligent and put all our efforts into studying and
succeeding with the best possible grades, so as to not cause them any anxiety. This will also assists us in finding a good job. Moving from there into theworkforce, we then have opportunity to assist our parents financially or with whatever physical help they might need. At this point in our life, we can start to look after our parents in the way they have looked after us up until now.
Our parents have our best interests at heart and do whatever they can to guide us in life. Sometimes they aren’t practising generosity, virtue or meditation, and we worry about their inner welfare. But if we truly want to help them, the best we can do is to develop goodness within ourself first. When they see the positive results in us, they will naturally be inclined to follow our example.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
It’s normal that in the course of our relationship with our parents there will be some conflicts and disagreements. But deep in our heart we still have a sense of appreciation and gratitude towards them, even if sometimes negative emotions spill out. So we ask them to forgive us and we also forgive them. Our parents have shown us great kindness throughout their lives. So if at any times we have mistreated them, we should ask wholeheartedly for their forgiveness.
We can also repay our debt to them by being cautious
with our speech and behaviour. Since the day we were born they looked after our welfare. They imparted knowledge, raised us, and cared for all our needs. So if we speak or act in a harsh way towards our parents, even the smallest thing can have a great impact. Words take on an extra intensity and meaning when they come from one’s own children. This is the love a parent feels for their child.
If our parents have reached a stage where they can no longer look after themselves, it’s now the time for us to selflessly give allthe assistance we can. We repay our debt by caring for and looking after them with all the kindness in our heart. And as we perform these types of good, wholesome actions and express our gratitude,
then our lives will take on a newfound, inner wealth and meaning. Being supportive of one’s parents, the Buddha said, is among the highest blessings.
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.
