Peace and clarity

These two mental states are conducive to correct knowledge. Which two? Peace and clarity. 

By developing peace, what purpose is served? Mind is purified. By purifying mind, what purpose is served? Craving is abandoned. 

By developing clarity, what purpose is served? Wisdom is developed. By developing wisdom, what purpose is served? Ignorance is abandoned. 

Defiled by craving, the mind is not released [from emotional agitation], and defiled by ignorance, wisdom is not developed. Thus, abandoning craving through peace, there is liberation of the mental fluctuations, and abandoning ignorance through clarity, there is liberation by wisdom. 

—Buddha Shakyamuni, Vijjābhāgiya Sutta

How to study the Dharma

When studying the Dharma, we must avoid the three defects: 

A pot turned upside down cannot be filled. When we are distracted, unwilling to learn, or preoccupied with other matters, it is not possible to receive the teachings. This mental state is compared to a pot turned upside down, because no matter what substance may be poured into it, there is no opportunity for it to enter the vessel. 

Whenever we approach a teaching, we should be fully attentive, willing to learn, and undistracted. 

A pot with a hole cannot retain. If we listen attentively to the teaching, but immediately turn our minds to other things, we will not retain anything of what we have learned. This is compared to a pot with a whole, because whatever substance may be poured into it, it will not long remain. 

Whenever we listen to a teaching, we should reflect on the meaning of what we have heard, and begin to apply it in our daily lives. 

A pot with poison cannot remain pure. If we listen to a teaching while our minds are afflicted by attachment or aversion, instead of retaining what we have learned as it has been taught, we will mix the teaching with our afflicted emotions. This is compared to a pot already filled with poison, because whatever substance may be poured into it will become contaminated with the existing toxic content. 

Whenever we study a teaching, we should be careful to empty our minds of gross afflictions, so that we will not mix the Dharma with unwholesome emotions.

Saga Dawa 2012

Saga Dawa is the entire fourth lunar month of the Tibetan calendar, which this year begins on May 20 and ends on June 19. The Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and release into nirvana are observed together on the 15th day of Saga Dawa, called Saga Dawa Duchen (June 4). This is the single most important holiday in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. 

Saga means “million” and Dawa means “moon”. All our activities, positive or negative, in each and every day of this auspicious month will be multiplied one million times, except on June 4^th, when the effects of our actions are multiplied ten million times.  

Far from being a pious superstition, the observance of Saga Dawa is an opportunity for us to practice mindfulness, to rededicate ourselves to spiritual cultivation, to plant powerful seeds for our own enlightenment, and to dedicate all merit for the benefit of all sentient beings. 

During this holy month, I humbly encourage you to consider undertaking the practice of refraining from killing, the first and foremost of all Buddhist precepts.

• If your diet generally includes animal flesh of any kind, please consider eliminating or reducing your meat consumption during this month, the first 15 days of the month, or at the very least on June 4.
• If your diet already tends toward vegetarianism, but you still consume fish, poultry, or eggs, please consider avoiding these during Saga Dawa.
• If you are vegetarian, please consider observing strict veganism (no dairy products or eggs) from May 20 to June 19.
• If you are vegan, please consider kindly encouraging others (without judgment or verbal violence) to eliminate or reduce meat-eating during this holy month. 

Please make a commitment today, according to your capacity. Reducing or eliminating meat-eating during Saga Dawa saves countless animal lives!

Impress yourself

Don’t spend money you don’t have

on things you don’t need

to impress people you don’t like.

 

Treasure, use, and reuse what you have;

simplify your life;

impress yourself!

Accumulating Merit

Train yourself in accumulating merit, yielding long-lasting happiness. Cultivate the practice of giving, virtuous conduct, and a mind of loving kindness. By cultivating these qualities, the wise attain untroubled and happy states. 

—Buddha Shakyamuni 

In the sutras, ten activities are especially recommended for accumulating merit: 

1. Giving material aid or protection to others
2. Observing moral conduct
3. Respecting all beings and having reverence for our superiors
4. Serving all sentient beings
5. Listening to Dharma teachings
6. Practicing meditation regularly
7. Correcting our wrong views
8. Expounding or teaching the Dharma
9. Rejoicing in the virtue and merit of others
10. Dedicating our own merit to the welfare of others

 

Buddha Nature

Those who desire liberation strive to comprehend the Great Middle Way of perfect truth, which is free from extremes of exaggeration and denigration. How is it comprehended? The Buddha Nature that exists as the ground is like a wish-fulfilling jewel covered by the mud of the stains.

Cleansing it with the stream of the view, meditation, and conduct causes the result of the reality body (dharmakaya) endowed with twofold purity, which is like the jewel without stains, to actualize, and everything meaningful for oneself and others is spontaneously present.  

While the ground Buddha Nature of the reality body (dharmakaya) and the resultant Buddha Nature of the reality body (dharmakaya) have not the slightest difference in essence, they are distinguished as ground and result by means of the presence or absence of incidental stains. This is like referring to the space of the sky in situations when it is free or not free of clouds.  

—Kunchen Dolpopa, An Instruction

Conforming to the various lands

In preaching the Dharma, there is no justification for using one exclusive language. All that I desire is that the sense and the reasoning are not deficient. It is necessary to preach according to the understanding of those to whom we speak. That is why it is said that one should conform oneself to the various lands. 

—Buddha Shakyamuni, Vinayamatrika

 

When I approached various large assemblies, even before I sat down or began to speak, whatever might have been their sort I made myself of like sort, whatever their language so was my language. And I rejoiced them with a talk on Dharma, made it acceptable to them, inspired them, and gladdened them. 

—Buddha Shakyamuni, Digha Nikaya