Volume VI “THE SOLUTION: GENTLE HEARTS AND SERENE MINDS” By Venerable Wu Lin Respected Dharma Masters, respected practitioners and guests. I would like to again welcome you to the Singapore Buddhist Lodge and to express my continued gratitude at my great fortune, our great fortune, to all be here in this rarest of way places. One floor below us is a wondrous cultivation hall where chanting has continued daily for at least twelve hours a day. After its opening several months ago, we have spent a good part of our weekends Buddha Name Chanting. This cultivation hall is very special. The air feels different, the chanting sounds clearer, the cultivation is stronger.
This lecture hall is also very special for talks have been given here every day since May 18th when Master Chin Kung began his talks on the Flower Adornment Sutra . We come to the lecture hall to listen to the teachings. We come to the cultivation hall to practice those teachings. We need both.
In recent years, our world has become beset with adversities and our lives filled with increasing suffering and unhappiness. As time goes on, these adversities will become more and more severe, more and more frequent. Someone asked how the Great Compassionate Buddhas and Bodhisattvas help all sentient beings to be liberated from pain. They do this by teaching us to overcome greed, anger and ignorance so that our minds will no longer be deluded, but awakened. By teaching us the Law of Cause and Effect.
To end our suffering, we first have to know what causes it. As human beings, we undergo the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death. We suffer hardships, do not attain what we seek, are parted from our lived ones and find ourselves in the presence of those whom we resent or even hate. We are surrounded by all these with no apparent way of being truly free.
We need to understand that catalystic conditions or circumstances have to exist for a cause to generate an effect. By controlling these catalystic conditions, we can have some influence on our consequences. We need to practice good deeds during our lifetime to generate good karma. Then we will truly appreciate that living a happy and fulfilling life is the karmic result generated from a good cause and a good condition. And this is the way to attain liberation from suffering and to attain happiness.
Today, many of us feel the weight of our negative karma and we witness the unhappiness and suffering around us. They are caused by our selfish and erroneous behaviour. By our choosing to benefit ourselves at the expense of others. How do we remove this negative karma? How do we prevent further occurrences? By practicing what the Buddha taught. By dedicating ourselves to helping and benefiting society, by not protecting ourselves while harming others.
Most of us have the sub-conscious desire to control other people, animals, even inanimate objects. But by letting go of this attachment, we can be liberated. Awakened beings live their lives with great ease. They fulfil their responsibility of advising and educating sentient beings by explaining to them the true reality of life and the universe, the Law of Cause and Effect. By explaining that every cause, every thought, word and action has a result.
Whatever people decide to do, it is their choice, their consequence. We simply accord with the condition as we educate them and then leave the rest up to them. By doing this, our mind will remain serene, as it generates the concentration and thus the wisdom to effectively interact with people, matters and objects. The benefits that can be derived from such practice are infinite and boundless. Not only can our present suffering be resolved, but our negative karma accumulated over infinite life times can be eliminated as well.
Why then are we unable to realize the true benefit? Because we are obstructed by our own negative karma, unable to see what is right before our very eyes? We are constantly reminded by the images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Constantly prompted by our reciting the sutra. Impelled by our daily chanting of the Buddha's name and listening to dharma talks. Yet, we still are unable to truly comprehend the teachings, still unable to apply the principles in our daily living.
We cannot blame the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for not helping. The fact is they are trying to. We are not paying attention. We have a wondrous and rare chance to encounter Buddhism, which is about to slip by us. To be born as human beings who are able to hear the teachings is an unbelievably rare opportunity, not encountered for millions of years. To encounter the teachings is as rare as a bubble rising to the surface of a vast sea and breaking the surface of that sea within the one wreath of flowers that is floating upon it.
Allowing this to happen will be a tragic mistake that is entirely of our own making. To prevent this from happening, we need to reflect and feel remorse for our mistakes. This is a learning process that will enable us to overcome our afflictions and worldly habits and thus to remove our negative karma.
What is this negative karma? A part of it is these afflictions and worldly habits. How do we overcome these? By feeling deep regret for our mistakes and vowing to not commit them again. Daily practice will help to decrease our negative karma. It is to practice in the midst of society, not to be separated from it. We can choose any one of the eighty-four thousand methods that the Buddha taught. From all these infinite ways, he tells us that in this Dharma Ending Age, the Buddha Name Chanting Method is the most convenient, simple and effective. It can generate the positive effect and thus the strength needed to eradicate our afflictions and negative karma.
Some people have questioned why they do not yet feel the results of their daily chanting. It is not because the chanting method is ineffective. Some practitioners have achieved remarkable results and successfully eliminated their negative karma. If we are not feeling the results it is because our daily practice does not accord with the Buddha's guidance, in other words, we are not doing what we are advised to do. Instead we are doing what we are advised not to do. For example, are we refraining from killing any living creature, refraining from stealing? Are we refraining from committing the misdeeds of stealing, lying, sexual misconduct, abusive language, bearing tales, seductive words, greed, anger and ignorance?
We would do well to follow the Buddha's guidance. This will help to decrease our negative karma. Our chanting, our daily practice and our goals need to accord with the principles in the teachings. Our recitation of the sutra reminds us of the teachings and of our need to accord with them to correct our erroneous ways. Failure to do so will increase our negative karma.
Our goal is the mind of sincerity, purity, equality, compassion and awakening. Only with this mind will we be able to solve all problems. They cannot be solved by physical force, by war. They are solved with gentleness and loving-kindness toward all other beings, animate and inanimate. It is in our best interest to be rid of the desire to control, for it will only result in our committing further transgressions, thus increasing our negative karma. No one can truly control another. History provides us with many examples of countries that tried to use force to control another country; Hitler's invasion of Europe, the Japanese invasion of China, the Russians in Afghanistan and the United States in Vietnam. All failed.
On the other hand, the work of Master Chin Kung in propagating Buddhism throughout the world, especially in China where he freely distributes tapes and books to teach people to practice good deeds has resulted in over twenty million people listening to the Buddha's teachings. He did not have to spend much to gain this kind of result. Instead of those countries spending huge sums of money on warfare, they could have spent the money on caring for and supporting people who are suffering hardships. In this way, they would have peacefully and easily won them over. Or they could have used the money to educate their own citizens, to help them become self-sufficient; to pay more attention to internal needs instead of constantly interfering with external affairs.
Our every thought needs to be of benefiting all sentient beings. Not only in our behaviour should we never hurt any sentient beings, but also we should never give rise to a single hostile thought or say anything that can cause distress to others. If we can truly follow this teaching then in our daily lives no matter what we do, there will be great goodness, great gentleness. This is the way to truly influence people, with loving-kindness and compassion. Using physical force to try to solve problems will not only create enemies but will also generate the cause to be born into the hell realms. By practicing in accordance with the teachings, we will achieve results for in this way we will transform our minds, everything can be transformed by our minds. When we accord with the teachings, our thoughts will change; our actions will be proper and correct.
We would do well to let go of selfishness, to only have thoughts that benefit others. Instead, we are wrapped up in our own concerns, thinking only of protecting the interests of ourselves, our group or our country. This way of thinking has let to quarrels between people, feuds between families, wars between countries. It has let to massive damage on both sides; the tragic loss of lives, the excessive monetary cost, the disastrous destruction of land, the final destruction of friendships and peace and the grave consequences incurred due to the Law of Cause and Effect.
Our complete lack of concern for the plants, living and non-living creatures of our natural environment has resulted in the destruction of our environment. Ultimately, it is we ourselves who suffer from this negligence and lack of compassion. We are all one entity, one being, all interrelated closely with one another. Everything, including us arises from the coming together of causes, so to harm others is to harm ourselves.
Once we thoroughly comprehend this, we will have no more problems. Being overly concerned with our own interest and those of our group and country, is the root cause of all misfortunes and adversities. Taking care of this problem solves everything else. When we practice accordingly, with proper and caring behaviour, we will see an increase in our good karma and a decrease in our bad. In turn, our suffering will be reduced or eliminated. In other words, we will experience a favourable change in our circumstances.
When we give rise to one single bad thought of inequality, we turn a favourable situation into an unfavourable one. However, with one single good thought of equality, the Buddha realm will appear in that moment. When we give rise to one single thought of the Bodhisattva way, the Bodhisattvas realm will appear in that moment. Likewise, with one thought of greed, anger or ignorance, our daily lives will become unsettled and unmanageable. However, with one thought of purity, our lives will become harmonious and peaceful. Thus, the world in which we live will become the Western Pure Land.
