Do Not Be Lazy

Do not be lazy! Do not be lazy! Do not be lazy!
We must knock our forehead with our fist once a while to admonish ourselves not to be lazy.
Not to be lazy to do what?

To do good deeds, said Sayadaw U Vimala in tonight's Dhamma Talk after the meditation class in BMBMC.
We are very lazy in doing good deeds. We may think that we are happy to do good deeds. We may also think that we are doing good deeds all the time because we came to the centre and offer food to the monks every day.

But we are actually not doing good deeds all the time. In fact, we are lazy to do good deeds all the time. Think of the time you spent in front of the television watching your favourite shows; think of the time you spent going to do shopping in the shopping centre.

We have to always reminded ourselves to do good deeds. Because if we do not do good deeds, the hell's doors is always open to us.

What are the good deeds? The Buddha had taught us about the good deeds in the Suttas over the period of 45 years of Buddha's life. In all the 144 Books, we can summarized the good deeds into three that are

1. Dana Kusala Kamma
2. Sila Kusala Kamma
3. Bhavana Kusala Kamma

We have to constantly practiced these three kinds of good deeds everyday in our lives. We do not have to come to the center or the monastery to practice these good deeds. We can do it in our home, our work place every time, every day. For example, we can practice Dana in the very simplest form. That is when we are washing our plate after we had our food, any leftover on the plate such as oil or bits of rice or dishes can be offered. We had just to wish that these leftovers be offered to the insects or beings as their food. This form of reflection is an act of good deeds. It does not involved any form of money and it is not even wasteful. But it is an act of charity or dana.

Having a thought like these is a act to perfect our parami and Sayadaw had shared with us a very good lesson in the Dhamma.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Dana at BMBMC with Amy's Mum

Today Amy managed to bring her mum (which is my mother-in-law) to BMBMC for lunch dana. It had been years that I had asked Amy to bring her mum for dana. A big sadhu to both of them

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Dana at MBMC

Lunch dana at MBMC - mum doing pindapata

Today, Amy and I took mum to MBMC for lunch Dana. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to give food dana to the Bhikkhus and also the samaneras as this week is the start of MBMC Samanera programme for 2010.
All of us did some offering as the Bhikkhus and Samaneras lined up for pindapata.
I met Keat Hoe, an 'old' friend from Peace House.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

What is Dhamma?

Interesting question that is What is the Dhamma?
Tonight Dhamma Talk by Sayadaw U Vimala focuses on this issue. There is no translator for translating the talk into Hokkien/Chinese but Sayadaw took an hour to explain this issue.

Buddhist Stupa in Kesariya, Bihar, India.
Commemorating the Kalama Sutta and
the giving of Buddha's bowl to the Licchavis.
Courtesy from Wikipedia

The Buddha's Teachings (the Dhamma) must be spoken of accordingly. Here in BMBMC, Sayadaw will talk about the Dhamma based on the Theravadan's books. There are 140 Theravadan books which Sayadaw termed that as the real Dhamma books and should be what the Dhamma is all about. Read them, urged Sayadaw for the writings in these books are the REAL Dhamma.
The Kalama Sutta is very important for all Buddhists to understand, for the Sutta encourages Buddhists to freely inquires about the Teachings. This is indeed true as today people may not understand what is the true teaching even though we may have many teachers.
Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Saddha have you

It must be having saddha for both of us to attend Sayadaw U Vimala's Dhamma talk at BMBMC tonight. The talk is about Alavaka Sutta.
The first question which Alavaka the yakkha asked the Buddha is "What is the best wealth or treasure one can have?
Lord Buddha answered, " It is Saddha (Confidence) in the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Kamma and Kamma-vipaka."
"Saddha," said Sayadaw,"will make you a rich man even though you have no money. Without Saddha, you are a poor person even though you have lots of money"

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

Dana at Lunas Buddhist Hermitage

Lunch dana at Lunas Buddhist Hermitage

Today Amy and I go to Lunas Buddhist Hermitage for lunch dana. This is because BMBMC had no lunch dana as Sayadaw U Vimala was invited by MBMC for their Kathina Day celebration.

We arrived early at the hermitage and managed to listen to Dhamma talk by Sayadaw Dr U Sunanda. Sayadaw give a Dhamma talk on Mangala Sutta. In the Dhamma talk, Sayadaw explain the first 4 blessings found in the Sutta.

Pouring of water

Pouring of water when transfering of merits after a dana had been performed is a Buddhist custom which BMBMC had not put into practice, said Sayadaw U Vimala. According to the Buddhist scriptures, the act of pouring water had been mentioned, one notably when King Bimbisara had to transfer merits to his past relatives after the king had forgotten to do so when he had offered the a monastery to the Buddha.