불설아미타경 Amida Sutra chanting by Bak Semin Seunim

 

On knowledge and humility

“Nowadays, there are quite a number of scholars who study Buddhism. However, almost all of them simply read the words of the sutras and commentaries seeking arguments and rationalizations to prove that they are versed in the Dharma.

Those with the sincerity and devotion to cultivate according to the Dharma are few indeed! I have always said that to reap the real benefit of the Dharma, you should approach it with a truly reverent mind. One-tenth of reverence and devotion annihilates one-tenth of afflictions and evil karma, and increases merit and wisdom by one-tenth — and this applies to two-tenths, three-tenths, or total reverence and devotion.” (Pure-Land Zen, Zen Pure-Land, p. 24).

More true today than in the early twentieth century China when Master Yin Kwang penned it in a letter to his disciple.

Whenever I login to Buddhist forum, I immediately regret it. It’s rare to find congenial words. One expert after another, having graduated from Google University, proffers their deep and hard-earned wisdom, vying to outdo each other.

How difficult it is to feel reverence and devotion. Sutras and commentaries are approached as historical artifacts rather than living texts, capable of transforming us, and thereby, in a very real sense, saving us. Books and teachings are cheap, like water, which is of infinite value, but seemingly free and therefore unappreciated.

Do you find it challenging to approach the Dharma — whether books, teachings, or teachers — with reverence and devotion?

I do. I’m naturally an iconoclast, although you might not think it, given the nature of this blog. I’d better say, I was an iconoclast, a Zen student, a hardened nondualist. However, after some fleeting insights, earth-shattering to me at the time, I found myself still floundering in bad habits, negative thinking, and just plain misery. This is, of course, natural, if one hasn’t had the basic training in virtue, generosity, and loving-kindness. In these foundational aspects of the path, I am still a newborn.

For those who speak a good game, Yin Kwang writes:

“There are also certain individuals of great talent and ability, whose writings can astound the gods. However, their actions are no different from those of the dullards in the marketplace. The root cause is their rejection of phenomenal cultivation and cause and effect [karma]. This grave error is repeated by other people; it is a case of betraying the Dharma with one’s body (actions). The depth of such offenses and transgressions is immeasurable! Witnessing this, those endowed with profound wisdom can only sigh in pity and compassion.” (Pure-Land Zen, p. 26).

Reminds me of myself. More importantly, however, this applies to many of us today. Most of us naturally overestimate our insight and progress.

Please be aware of this tendency. Great misery follows arrogance. The path to awakening resides in humility.

Chanting the Buddha’s name is a humble path. The more learning you have, the more difficult it will likely be. Drop your extensive learning. Just come back to your breath. Namu Amitoufo. Let the Buddha’s name bring you back to simplicity.

 

 

Insightful blog by Theravadan monk

http://bhikkhucintita.wordpress.com

I find bhante’s analysis and insight on Buddhism, especially western Buddhism insightful. His posts on folk vs. essential Buddhism provide a useful framework through which to understand the different levels of Buddhist practice or engagement. We normally talk about eastern vs. western Buddhism, which I’ve never found all that helpful. The folk vs. essential transcends those tired boundaries, offering a fresh perspective.

Only in our minds: answering the objection that the Pure Land is the mind only

One common ancient and contemporary doubt or critique of the Land of Bliss is that it exists only in our minds. Critics imply that the Pure Land is only in the mind, not in physical reality. They assume that there is a split between physical reality “out there and separate” and the experiencer, the self, one’s individual mind “in here.” However, there is no actual split. According to various schools of Buddhist thought, the so-called split between mind and matter is a faulty conception.

In other words, eating a bean burrito at Taco Bell is in our minds as much as the Land of Bliss, notwithstanding the fact that we can see here and now others can eat burritos at Taco Bell. The fact that an experience is public, i.e., others can experience it too, does not make it more real. (“Real” is a tricky word.)

Think about this. Your eating at Taco Bell is still experienced only by you, even though you can see others eating there too. (Hopefully not too many people!) In other words, the experience is all in your mind, as the colloquial expression goes.

Does this mean that anything one experiences in his mind is “real”? Well, in a very real sense, it is. From a Buddhist perspective, and I hate to generalize something like a “Buddhist perspective” but, anyways, sometimes it’s necessary, all that an individual mind stream experiences is real; it’s all karmic. Schizophrenics, for example, are perceiving imaginary entities, but these entities are still real to them. A karmic link of some kind exists in order for those experiences to manifest to that individual.

Individuals can have an infinite number of possible experiences, ranging from the hellish to the heavenly, even here on our planet, in this lifetime.

These experiences are all “in their minds.”

The Land of Bliss could be our actual experience if we cultivate the karmic connections to it. The doctrine states that only being mindful (reciting) Amita’s name a few times will inspire Amita to deliver us to his Land of Bliss. This will happen only in our minds.

We could also be reborn handicapped in a third world to hateful parents. This would also be only in our minds.

When you start probing and questioning “what is real”, you may start to find that this reality is not as solid as it appears to be.

Everything happens in our minds. Let’s not fall under the sway of this faulty objection.

Great Compassion Mantra in Sino-Korean

Shin-myo-jang-gu-dae-darani
This is a nice video if you’re interested in learning to chant this dharani. This is chanted often in Chinese and Korean Buddhism. It’s a dharani (long mantra) to Kwan Seum Bosal.

Amitabha Chanting in Korean

This is the first video I ever made. I have a CD of Hye Gwang Seunim, a well-known chanting monk in Korea. I took the pictures at Buseoksa in Korea. I wanted to provide some audio resources for my readers. I love Korean Buddhist chanting. At first, it may sound kind of raw and boring. Not as elaborate and sophisticated as Chinese Buddhist chanting. At any rate, I hope you enjoy it. If you need more info on the CD or others like, leave a message, and I’ll be happy to give it to you.

Pure Land is good news

I’ve been involved with Buddhism since 1995 when I took my first university course. Buddhism, and religion in general, has been my passion since that time. Intellectual engagement has been constant, practice has come and gone. I can tell you that for most of this time, I thought Pure Land Buddhism was silly and for people who had given up on trying.

I thought we moderns were much more learned, enlightened, in the intellectual sense, and wise than those living in ancient or premodern times. In some ways, certainly much of this is true. But the ways in which this is true have little or nothing to do with our spiritual, existential state of being.

After reading Jeffrey Long’s Evidence of the Afterlife, I’ve become convinced that consciousness survives bodily death. I’m also amazed at the correspondences between Pure Land accounts of the afterlife and contemporary accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs).

Before reading this book, I thought, like many do, that the Buddha had taught rebirth as either skillful means* or a metaphor for the constant becoming here in this life. In some very real sense, we are reborn each second of every day. However, he meant much more than this, and to deny this is to fundamentally deny what the Buddha taught.

As I get older and more aware of humanity’s wretched state, I’ve come to realize that we do live in dark times. If the ancient Chinese who lived in Shan-Tao’s time lived in spiritual darkness, how much more so do we do now.

Much of this darkness has been amplified by technology and more specifically modern media. You can watch bestiality and child porn on your mobile. And many do. Imagine that — before TV, how often do you think the average man or woman viewed others having sex? And I’m not talking about wholesome love-making but disgusting sights that humans had never seen before.

Sex is not essentially evil but to deny the profound negative consequences it can have on our minds is living in total denial. Pornographic images take on a life of their own. Everything our mind takes in remains forever.

Consider that deeply.

The images we’re absorbing now will remain active or inactive in our store-house consciousness forever.

We’re not only living in sexually aberrant times, we’re also living in the most distracted and desire-driven society ever to plague the face of this planet. And what is the essence of Buddhism if it isn’t to purify our minds of gross agitations? What agitates the mind more than desires, of which sex is the most powerful?

My point is that Pure Land Buddhism is the only vehicle that allows desire-ridden beings such as ourselves the chance of making real progress. However, if we think we’re above it, that we can walk the path of arahants, we’re in big trouble. Frankly, I don’t think it’s possible for us. Not in our society. Not in our time. There are too many distractions and turbidities. And if we fail to concentrate well-enough, develop enough vispassana, and uphold our sila, we may find ourselves falling into unfavorable realms after this life.

Reciting the Buddha’s name can be done by anyone, at any time, under any circumstances, whether you’re homeless, in prison, or at a shareholders board meeting. This is fantastic news! We shouldn’t look down on this path. It’s made for us: boneheads who can’t get their acts together, concentrate well, or simply don’t have the time or aptitude to sit and stare at the wall for hours everyday.

This is truly good news, the gospel, for our time, not just for the Ming dynsty in China or the Kamakura period of Japan.

And if you have doubts, find my earlier post on answering doubts about the Pure Land.

Only repeat the name of Amida with all your heart. Whether walking or standing, sitting or lying, never cease the practice of it even for a moment. This is the very work which unfailingly issues in salvation, for it is in accordance with the Original Vow of that Buddha. (Hōnen, quoting Zendō [Chinese: Shan-tao])

 

* I mean that I thought Buddha taught rebirth as a support for undertaking the arduous path. Because if death were the end, who’d bother training so hard?

Master T’ien Ju on the Ten Recitation Method

Here’s Zen master T’ien Ju on reciting the Buddha’s name:

The method requires that the Mind be calm, still and undisturbed — each recitation follows the one before, the Mind focussed on the Buddha’s name. While the mouth recites the Buddha’s name, the  Mind should clearly contemplate each and every utterance, so that each and every word is clear and distinct. During recitation, regardless of the number of utterances, Mind and thought should be utterly sincere and focused. Only with such single-minded practice can each utterance erase “eight milion eons of heavy transgressions.” Otherwise, karmic obstructions are difficult to eradicate.

With regard to the Ten Recitations Method, each morning the practitioner should kneel before the alter of the Buddha or stand erect with palms joined, facing the west. He should recite continuously in one stretch, each stretch counting as one recitation, ten stretches constituting ten recitations. The number of utterances per stretch depends on the length of the practitioners breath span. He should keep the recitation clear and distinct, in a voice neither too low nor too loud, neither hurried nor leisurely, reciting thus, with onepointedeness of Mind, for ten consecutive stretches. This method uses the breath to gather and focus the Mind; its effectiveness lies in singlemindedness and steadfastness throughout life, without a day’s interruption. (Pure Land Buddhism: Dialogues with Ancient Masters, trans. by Master Thich Thien Tam.)

Pure Land is for people like us.

Pure Land Buddhism is for people like us with heavy karma. Many of us like to think we’re much more advanced, knowledgeable, and intelligent than our predecessors. And in some ways this is true. However, spiritually speaking, we’ve devolved, even though the average contemporary Buddhist knows more about “Buddhism” than most monks of the olden days. Knowing about Buddhism is a hindrance, not a help. I’m a prime example of this. I know tons about Buddhism. But my practice has stagnated over the years. In fact, my practice life now is no better than it was my first year practicing. The same is true with other” knowledgeable” Buddhists I’ve met. They know a lot but are spiritual idiots. Compassion: very little. Insight: real insight, hardly. Especially now with the internet — it’s made our spiritual lives much worse. Instead of working with our minds, we’re updating our images on Facebook or tweeting about a trending topic. What a waste of time. Practice is something we’d rather talk about than do.

Pure Land is for people like us who are distracted. We can’t concentrate. Our media is creating an ADHD civilization. We talk about compassion but we have none. We don’t feed the hungry, visit the dying, or take care of the sick. Our compassion consists of sitting on an expensive zabuton, preferably organic, and thinking nice thoughts about people and insects. That’s not compassion — that’s mental masturbation. Don’t get me wrong. Nothing wrong with doing metta but it needs to be followed up some real world action.

Pure Land is for people like us who can’t even follow the five precepts. Morally speaking, we’re more bankrupt than ever. I’ve met Buddhists who have orgies at their retreats. They talk about “working with their minds.” I wonder where their minds are! I can’t even stop drinking alcohol. I agree with SN Goenka when he calls drinking Buddhists “losers.” How many times a day do we talk shit about people? Me? Many times. I can’t stop. How’s our sex lives? Probably good! And that’s the problem. In the good ol’ days, sex wasn’t for fun and recreation. It was serious business, and it still is; but it isn’t treated that way.

Pure Land practice is for people like us whether we’re brilliant and learned or just uneducated knuckleheads. Reciting the Buddha’s name can be done by everyone. Six syllables: NA MO A MI TA BU(L).* If you think this is a childish practice, it is. It’s for children. And in case you haven’t noticed, we’re overgrown, ignorant children who haven’t learned anything. We need a simple practice. We don’t need to master Madhyamika emptiness or understand interdependent origination. We need to purify our minds, have faith in the Buddha, and get serious.

Because life is serious. Death is coming whether you’re keen or not. Even worse, sickness is coming. Right around the corner.

Are you going to practice when you’re sick? I can’t even practice when I have a cold. I can’t imagine practicing with a serious disease. I remember a woman with Parkinson’s in the zendo. Wow, what courage. Her zazen was an incessant head-nodding. That’s real practice, but that’s rare, and it ain’t  me, and it’s probably not you. We’re going to be on our deathbeds before we know it.

Isn’t it strange our society never talks about this? It’s a real joykill. Who wants to go out shopping after thinking about that? The whole economy would collapse. Nevertheless, it’s something Buddhists need to remind themselves. Aren’t you going to bummed when you’re laying there dying and your mind is a mess?

If you had practiced Pure Land you wouldn’t be. You’d know that Amita  is coming soon to take you somewhere nice. You’d have purified your mind from all the rubbish that’s been building in it from day one. A pure, clean mind. A Pure Land welcoming you. Isn’t it time to get serious?

*It’s Amitabul in Korean.

 

 

Waves thousands of miles high

I love this verse from Thich Nhat Hanh’s excellent novel, The Novice

The river of attachment is thousands of miles long.

The waves on the ocean of suffering rise thousands of miles high.

To free ourselves from the realm of samsara,

Let us invoke the Buddha’s name with one-pointed concentration.

In The Novice, The abbot of a monastery bellows it during the flogging of one of his innocent monks by the village council. No longer could he sit by and watch his novice being cruelly beaten. This chant issues from the depth of his bowels.

I liked the gatha so much that I wrote it down in a few different places. Lately, I’ve been keenly aware of the myriad forms of suffering in myself and others. As I get older, the Buddha’s first Noble Truth that “there is suffering/stress/dissatisfaction” strikes me as so obvious and true that you’d have to be in a coma not to recognize it. Sometimes the suffering seems to be massive tidal waves coming toward us from every direction.

As for attachments, they truly are endless. Desire and attachment are siblings. Desire transforms into attachment. One of my on-going practices lately is to be aware of desires and not give in to them. Desire is a shape-shifting energy that will take on endless forms. I may think that I really want a new camera. And I may buy it. But I should not be fooled, because no sooner am I taking pictures that I will want something else. Desire needs to be seen as an impersonal energy that will manifest an infinite variety of forms. Sitting still with the discomfort of desire is hard, but it’s the only way to see desire for what it is: an uncomfortable series of sensations, an itch.

I love the antidote to the thousands of miles of suffering and attachment: single-mindedly invoking the Buddha’s name.

Yes, this is it. This is how it’s done. It doesn’t matter if you single-mindedly focus on your breath, recite Amitabha’s name, or just sit “doing nothing” — the point is to do it with total concentration, involving your whole being.