Turning the bowl upside down

Before we are sick and aged, we have to do good deeds.

picture taken from http://t1.gstatic.com

In tonight's talk, Sayadaw U Vimala shared the Pattanikkujjana Sutta (Patta litterally means alms bowl and nikkujjana means upside down therefore pattanikkujjana meant the boycott). A group of six monks who only want have easy lives and didn't practice well but they are closed to a King. Once there was a great Dana. These monks were assigned by a senior monk to go to a rich man' s house for food. 

However when the rich man knew who his guests were going to be, he left his house and command his maid to only offer inferior food. When the monks arrived after taking laxatives (in order to eat a lot) they were disappointed. 

When these monks went back to the monastery, the king can to see the monks. After paying respect to the monks the King speak to the monks but the monks refuses to speak to the King. After much persistence, the monks blamed the King for ignoring them and did not admonish the senior monk. The six monks asked the King to lie to the Buddha by saying the senior monk had seduced the King's wife. 

The King said this to the Buddha The Buddha then called the senior monk and the six monks for questioning. The senior monk at first replied evasively but when the Buddha requested him to answered directly this senior monk replied that he did not even had sexual activities with any ladies even in his dream. This is true as this senior monk is an Arahant. the Buddha then said that if the monks were to encounter any person be it devotee or monks who has the eight fetters then they should turned their bowls upside down or must not accept any thing from them 

What are these 8 fetters? 

1. He asks people not to offer anything to the Sangha 
2. He harms the monk physically 
3. He expels the monk from the monk' s dwelling 
4. He abuses the monk 
5. He causes schism among the monk 
6. He slanders about the Buddha 
7. He says bad things about the Dhamma 
8. He blames the Sangha 

The Buddha ruled that if a person has these 8 fetters, the Sangha must then boycotted him.

Water pouring ceremony

Amy performing water-pouring ceremony today after offering food to Sayadaw and Bhante.

Vipassana Meditation

Picture from http://farm5.static.flickr.com

"Can a person who is doing Vipassana meditation actually doing Samatha meditation?", I asked during a Dhamma-cum-Question & Answer Session tonight at BMBMC.

Insight meditation means training the mind to gain wisdom. That is to see the ultimate truth of things namely the characteristics of dukkha, anicca, and anatta.

"Most of the time, yogis practice concentration and if you are a beginner you has yet to achieve insight.
That is normally what it would be. Not many people can gain insight easily. It is difficult, but with the right effort and depending on one's paramis, we may achieve this goal of gaining insight," explained Sayadaw U Vimala

I appreciate what had been explained. I had always been wondering why Samma Samadhi comes after Samma Sati. Tonight I understand that one has to mindful on the object  of meditation and develop Right Concentration. This Right Concentration enable one to know the ultimate truth of dukkha, anicca and anatta leading to Right Understanding and Right Thought.

A very good and relevant article on this matter can be read from this link.


Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Kumbhakāra-Jātaka

Continued from Paniya Jataka which Sayadaw U Vimala had shared with us last week, tonight talk is about Kumhakara Jataka.

In this story there was a king who had taken a bunch of mango from a mango tree. After eating some, the king who had left the rest of the mangos to his retinue. Here, Sayadaw said that this behavior should be followed by Buddhists. If we have leftovers, we should give it to other people or animals. When we see a hungry animal such as a cat, we should not hurt it by not giving it any food. Instead by giving food to the cat when it is hungry we are performing dana too.

Picture from http://www.kriyayoga.com

Back to the story, later in the evening as the king was going back to his palace, the mango tree that was beautiful in the morning is now looked ugly. This is because all its fruits had been taken and the tree had been abused. Compare to another tree nearby that is barren of fruit, the  barren tree was saved from calamities.

Reflecting on this the king thought of himself who has lots of things and therefore will face a lot of worries as everyone will want to take things from him.

Contemplating on the matter of the tree, he reflects on the three characteristics of anicca, dukkha and anatta. Then contemplating simila to himself internally as matter with anicca, dukkha and anatta, the king attain Pacceka Buddha

Faith

"Before we are old and sick, we must gain good merits," said Sayadaw U Vimala in tonight Dhamma talk at Bukit Mertajam Buddhist Meditation Centre.

Picture from http://1.bp.blogspot.com

Listening to real Dhamma is difficult and we must try to listen to real Dhamma. Only by listening to real Dhamma does one can improve oneself.

Faith or Sadha is one of the five Bala or power. Faith in the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Kamma and Kamma-vipaka is important. It is by having Saddha doe one able to have sotapattinanna.

Every Buddhist should try to become an Ariya person be it a Sotapana, Sakadagami, Anagami or Arahat. No one can claim that one is an Ariya person. Only the Buddha can do it. However, if one wants to attain Sotapana, one had to go and find a good teacher. Here a good teacher means an Arahat or Anagami or Sakadagami or Sotapanna. If one cannot find such teachers then one has to find a person well-versed in the Tipitaka.

We should strive to gain good merits and attain a least the stage of Stream-winner in this life as human.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

The Signs of Dying Devas

"Devas must be respected by Buddhists," said Sayadaw U Vimalabhivamsa, in tonight's Dhamma talk titled Pancapubbhanimmitta Sutta at Bukit Mertajam Buddhist Meditation Centre.
Devas possesses many beautiful things or properties. Human properties are like dewdrops on the grasses. Such is the comparison of the amount of properties that the devas had.

Taken from http://www.dailymail.co.uk

To be born in the deva realms, one has to have good past Kamma. So, as devas, these beings do enjoy their life as devas not only have many beautiful things to see, hear, smell and touch, they also have healthy and long life.
Devas do not need to see doctors all their lives as they are always healthy. They live a very long life depending on the deva realms they are in but they do not aged like human. However, when time is ripe, devas do died.
When the devas are dying, there are signs or nimittas of dying. These signs are

1. the flowers that the devas wear on their garment or body will fade
2. sweat exude from their armpits
3. their clothes are soiled and no longer shines
4. their bodies too no longer shines and becomes dull
5. the devas no longer delights in his own deva-seat

When these signs appeared, the dying deva will not be happy. Usually their deva friends will noticed these signs and will encouraged their dying deva friend to do three things that are

1.  To be reborn at Sukkhati
2. To get labbha
   

Here, Sayadaw said that to be reborn at Sukkhati means to be reborn in the human realm where as a human, one can choose to be able to perform and perfect his Parami.

A beautiful picture of the Buddha taken from http://dharmaprabattan.blogspot.com/

To gain the greatest labbha is to have strong saddha. Saddha here means that to have strong believe in the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Kamma and Kamma-Vipaka. Only when one had attained the Ariya states (Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anagami and Arahat) that one can be guarantee to have strong believe in the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Kamma and Kamma-Vipaka.


Learning from this Sutta suggest that we as a human should not forget to practice doing good Kamma. As human, we had the chance and opportunity to perform good kamma. When we are born as a deva, we had so much pleasurable things that we forgot to perform good kamma. Rich people sometimes forgot this too as they are like the devas.


To have Labbha with strong saddha, one had to strive as much as one can to attain the very least the stage of Sotapanna. Only then can we be sure of not falling back into becoming people with michaditthi.


Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Good Relations to the Society

Sayadaw preparing to give a talk

Sayadaw give a talk

"We have to know what is kusala? and what is akusala?" said Sayadaw U Vimala in tonight's Dhamma Talk after the group meditation session and also incidentally the Vassa Entry ceremony.
Sometimes we do kusala kamma either individually or in a group of same wishes. But when we are in a group there may arises problems and to avoid these problems from affecting the group members, we should remember what had been taught by the Buddha in Saraniya Sutta.




There are things that we should remember when we are in a society. And to remember them there are six ways.

1. Kayakama Metta or loving kindness in action  
• Actions like respecting the monks, bowing down to the monks, respecting your parents are considered as doing things in loving kindness. Even sweeping the floors of the temple shows that one has metta towards members of the society. Occasionally things may not be in right order due to the ignorance of some members of the society. One must then helps to clean up the mess and do it with no anger. This will create a harmony environment in the society
2. Vacikama metta or kind words or speech
• Greet one another whenever we meet some one is a form of vacikama metta
• Use sweet words and avoid harsh words as all people do not like to listen to harsh and rough words
• Otherwise we will quarrel or fight among each other
• Another form of vacikama metta is chanting of the Suttas such as Karaniya Metta Sutta or Ratana Sutta
3. Manokama metta or kind thoughts
• Radiating metta to all beings without saying any words is an example of manokama metta
4. Sharing things with other people or Pativipata bodhi 
• Doing dana or share things with others 
5. Have precepts or morality
6. Have right views and understanding 
• Having the views that
1. There are good and bad kamma
2. There are results of these Kamma
3. The present is due to the past Kamma and the future is the result of the previous kamma
4. There are devas and Brahmas
5. There are Arahats and Buddha and these Noble persons exist due to their practice

These six ways should be remembered so that we can avoid problems in the society and create harmonious condition for the practice of good kamma.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Vassa Entry for 2011

Sayadaw reciting the Vassa entry formula

Completion of the ceremony. Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu

Tonight we are fortunate to be able to attend the Vassa Entry ceremony for this year at BMBMC. Sayadaw U Vimalabhivamsa is entering his 34th Vassa this year. Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Gratitude

Bhante Jinadata given the Dhamma talk

"To cultivate gratitude is a must in every Buddhists," Bhante Jinadata advises our BMBMC members in his short Dhamma talk during lunch dana.

Gratitude allows us to prevent the spiritual numbness from developing in ourselves. Our Lord Buddha had shown us by example when the Buddha Himself express His gratitude to the Bodhi tree just after His Enlightenment.

Laymen and monks should remember to show gratitude to each other. This will in turn create a healthy and happy relationship between the community especially in a Buddhist centre.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Meaning of Life

Picture taken from http://inwardpathpublisher.blogspot.com

"Do you know yourself?" asked Bhante Jinadata in tonight's Dhamma Talk at BMBMC.

We should always ask who we are.Most people knows a lot of external things; they had gained lots of knowledge but most of us never search for the answer to who are we.

Because of this, there are times when we find life has no meaning at all. Living becomes meaningless.
What then is the meaning of life? It is happiness that brings us the meaning of living. However, we have to be certain which part of life can we find this happiness. If we equate life to success and think that we can only find happiness in success, then at times we may not be happy. This is because, we are looking at the ultimate of our goal and hoping to find happiness there.

We should realised that the ultimate (the end) of our search are relative and not absolute. There is no guarantee that we will always encounter success. Occasionally we may also encounter failure as everything is conditioned.

So we should look at the means and not the end. We should find happiness in the means, in the process, in the doing process.

To further illustrate this point, Bhante said that many people take up meditation because they want to achieve something. But if we think that after meditating we must achieve something like able to see nimmita or some kind of vision then we are wrong and will not be able to be happy. We had view achieving something in meditating as successful and if we don't achieve something then we considered our meditating as failure. This then brought to unhappiness and hence, there is no meaning in meditating. Then we should be happy with this act of doing meditating. Hence we will not be conditioned to think that success will brings us happiness.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Cetana

Tonight Dhamma Talk by Sayadaw U Sumana concerns Cetana - one of the 52 cetasikas.

Cetana is the volition of doing. Cetana is the doer. Cetana is kamma and Cetana determines our future
Any action intentional or unintentional has cetana or volition. Therefore, only actions without cetana has no effect. Sayadaw gave illustrate the point with the story of Venerable Cakkhupala the blind Arahat.

Cetana orders one to do things such as doing dana. Hence, Sayadaw said that cetana can be understand to be like a Monitor of the class - directing, leading and moving any activities of the class. Therefore, our mind always has cetana or volition and this cetana plays an important role in everyone's life.

Picture from http://lfhw-pages.wrap.org.uk

The forerunner of the mind is cetana.It is very important for our cetana to be pure and wholesome. Just like a story of a person who offered a spoonful of rice to Arahat Anuruddha. For one spoonful of rice offered with strong wholesome intention, that man was reborn as a deva with more power.

Another story illustrate the importance of cetana in our action. If cetana is not unwholesome, even though one's action may seen to be unwholesome, the action has no bad effect as cetana in not unwholesome. Just like a story told that even though she prepared weapons for her husband to hunt, a streamwinner wife do it with no intention to kill. This because she had kept her precepts well and just to fulfill her responsibility as a wife

A yogi in the process of meditation, should always try to observe his mind's characteristics namely the 52 cetasikas. To know the consciousness as they arises. For to be mindful of the arising of the conciousness, the yogis' mind will then be freed from the defilement.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Wesak Day 2011

Pindapata with 4 Bhikkhus

Amy and I arrived at BMBMC at around 8:30 am. Just like last year, not many people had yet arrived. Sayadaw U Sumana is out at the lobby and I showed Sayadaw the new book from Inward Path - a translated into Mandarin of a  book by the late Sayadaw U Silananda.

Pindapata

Another visitor that came to the centre after a long absence is Bro Chai Peng Hooi. Most of us are happy to see him again though he is yet fully recovered from his unfortunate accident one year ago.

Amy in charge of counter

At 9 am., members lined up the road in front of the centre for pindapata ceremony. We are fortunate to be able to perform pindapata for 4 bhikkhus, Sayadaw U Sumana, one sayadaw from Berapit, Bhante Vimala and Bhante Javana.

Listening to Dhamma talk

At 10 am, Sayadaw U Sumana gave a Dhamma Talk titled the Buddha's story. In the Dhamma talk, Sayadaw advises members to emulate the Buddha's life and practice His Teachings.This year there are 10 yogis observing the 8 precepts and practicing vipassana meditation.









The crowd begins to build up at about 10.30 am. The hall and the lobby are seated with people. Amy was busy serving the devotees on the robes and bowls offering.

Offering food to monk

Dana is at 11.00 am. Two round tables are set up and devotees offered the foods and requisites.

Having lunch after offering food to monks

We left the centre with increased Sadha and happy able to perform meritorious deeds this wee.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Bhante Suvanno's 4th Year Memorial Ceremony

Both Amy and I were at the BMBMC at 8.00 am
Amy set-up the table for free Dhamma books and Dhamma Talk CDs

Members start to arrive and by 9 am the crowd had swells to 50.










Pindapata is at 9.00 am and this time there are 8 Bhikkhus.

A brief memorial service is conducted in the Bhante Suvanno's Library.













Sayadaw U Sumana gave a Dhamma talk.

Lunch dana is at 11.00 am

Have faith and do good

We must keep doing good meritorious deeds such as Dana, Sila and Bhavana, said Sayadaw U Vimalacarabhivamsa in tonight Dhamma talk at BMBMC. Incidentally tonight's talk will be Sayadaw's last talk as Sayadaw will be going back to Myanmar next Monday.
Do dana but we must also listen to Dhamma talk. Listening to Dhamma talk is very important, much more important than doing dana, advises Sayadaw.
To constantly encourage us to do good and to make us avoid evil deeds is to have strong Saddha (faith) in the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Kamma and Kamma Vipaka.