A Buddhist friend whom I did not know too well commented during a group chat that just as the universe has balanced energies of the Yin and the Yang, it is necessary for individuals to have balanced positive and negative aspects too, in terms of character. I think he is one of those who clings to the idea of balance of everything being harmony. Yes, this is clearly non-Buddhist thinking because are we supposed to be as equally good as evil? What good does being evil do? Being evil does not lead to Buddhahood; it only hampers it. True harmony is when we align to our pure Buddha-nature.
He also commented that it’s better to have a non-Buddhist spouse – so that there are some differences – which offers more opportunities for one to practise the Dharma. This is again seriously flawed thinking – because having a supportive like-minded Buddhist spouse in most cases is clearly better than having a quarrelsome opposite-minded spouse as the other extreme. The Buddha also urged spouses to practise the Dharma together. If it’s better to have a non-Buddhist spouse, does this mean one should not share a shred of the Dharma with one’s significant other? How uncompassionate that would be!
He echoed the idea that a Buddha cannot train us as well as an ‘enemy’, as Buddhas will always be nice to us. Then again, Buddhas can skilfully manifest various forms to give us opportunities to practise the Dharma well! Meanwhile, spouses who are opposed to learning and practising the Dharma are not manifestations of any Buddha! He also said there is little need to bother changing people as their horoscopes kind of tell us their characters already, which are hard to change. Er… not that horoscopes should be believed in 100%, how can one practise the Bodhisattva path then, of changing oneself, and of helping others to change for the better? We should just do our best and forget the rest.
To be associated and surrounded by like-minded Buddhist peoples in our life is indeed one of the highest blessings. It’s really very hard to practise the Dharma when day in and day out we are surrounded by the opposite-minded or difficult peoples in our lives. I’ve been going through this phase and I know what’s like when someone wish to practise but trapped in that type of situations daily with loads of obstacles. I think it’s called “obstruction karma” ? Please correct me if I’m wrong, thanks.
I am in this phase. It’s a bit of struggle here and there. Faith must come first, without it, the will power will not be strong enough to tackle, there is a risk to abandon the practice. Secondly, is the condition or our karmic inherent. Even so, it takes time and patience to go through the phase. Once the wisdom arise, there is peace even though being “trapped with loads of obstruction karma”. Last but not least, determination together with faith will go a long way. Keep going on the right path. It’s really worth it !!
I agree with a lot that have been said. Just to share some alternate opinions on some issues.
Having a spouse who is of different religion can be helpful IF he/she is open minded and willing to share, explore and discuss both religions openly.
Buddhist (especially the leaders) needs to be in contact with people of other faith or even those who are not particularly religious. Mixing predominantly with people who think like you can be intellectually dangerous!
You can fail to see blind spots (all of us have blind spots) or (especially Buddhist leaders) fail to relate and communicate the religion in a way that ordinary folks can relate to.
Good is the cause and evil the condition. When there is no good, there is no evil.
Can we practice with opposite-minded people?
The best illustration is in the Avatamsaka Sutra (è¯åš´ç¶“)善財童å五å三僅 Sudhana (善財童å) visited 53 teachers from all walks of life… not just like-minded people…
As for “trapped in that type of situations daily with loads of obstacles” there is a saying:
“é“高一尺é”高一丈” so “obstruction karma†is really a test to see at what stage you are now… in olden chinese 磨 is used rather than é”… so é”者磨也…
If the above is not inspirational enough, try reading the story of Milarepa (one of the most widely known Tibetan Saints)….
This is the most heart-breaking part of his story, older Tibetans would shear tears at this point of the story (including me):
“After that initial meeting began a period during which Marpa held out the goal of spiritual instruction and kept Milarepa busy at strenuous physical labours building various stone edifices. By nature Marpa was outwardly a rough and tyrannical teacher but inwardly he was all love and compassion. By the previous omens and Milarepa’s recounting of his evil deeds, Marpa knew there was a great deal of evil karma to be worked out so he pretended to be always short tempered and demanding with the sincere and faithful lad. He had Milarepa build a stone structure on a high rocky ridge only to have him tear it down again, and take all the rocks and boulders back to where they were found, telling him he had changed his plans and now wanted a new structure built in another place. This was repeated on three different ridges until finally he had Milarepa build a grand many storied edifice on yet a forth ridge. Throughout the tasks, Milarepa never lost faith that he would receive the instructions he was looking for and put forth a Herculean effort, moving stones that ordinarily could only be moved by the combined strength of three men. He put forth such strenuous effort that he wore his body out until his back was one great sore from carrying rocks and mortar. His arms and legs were all cracked and bruised…”
Here’re some excerpts from Milarepa’s teachings:
[On good & evil:]
“In my youth I committed black deeds. In maturity I practiced innocence. Now, released from both good and evil, I have destroyed the root of karmic action and shall have no reason for action in the future. To say more than this would only cause weeping and laughter.”
[Others:]
“If you lose all differentiation between yourselves and others, fit to serve others you will be.
And when in serving others you will win success,
then shall you meet with me;
And finding me, you shall attain to Buddhahood.”
[“me” here is the “big me” not referring to that human body known as “small little me”…)
“In meditating on the Final Goal, one has to discover the non-existence of the personal ego, and therefore the fallacy that it exists (i.e. because everything in the universe with name and form is basically illusory in nature)”
“To realize the state of non-existence of the personal ego, the mind must be kept in quiescence. In that state, thoughts, ideas, and cognition cease and the mind (awareness) passes into a state of perfect tranquility so that days, months, and years may pass without the person perceiving it; thus the passage of time has to be marked for him by others.”
“Maintain the state of undistractedness and distractions will fly off.
Dwell alone and you shall find a friend.
Take the lowest place and you shall reach the highest.
Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.
Renounce all worldly goals and you shall reach the highest goal.”
Amituofo
PS: Apologies if the above sounds lengthy… I was told by Milarepa in my dream last nite to share the abovementioned…
On karmic obstacles, it’s good to just persevere doing what is right – to wear them out by creating positive karma by doing more good.
On ‘Good is the cause and evil the condition. When there is no good, there is no evil’ – what does this mean? (The universe is not a balance of good and evil. If it is, the number of criminals will equal the number of non-criminals exactly.)
Sudhana visited only Dharma teachers who are aligned with the Dharma. In this sense, they are liked-minded people. And not all taught him entirely different aspects of the Dharma too. In fact, the first and the last teacher taught him a similar teaching. From http://www.buddhistdoor.com/oldweb/bdoor/archive/nutshell/teach95.htm :
“In the Sutra, a youth Sudanna traveled and visited 53 virtuous teachers or Good Spiritual Advisors. The first one he met, the monk Cloud of Virtue, introduced him the salvation of Dharma of Buddha recitation [mindfulness of Amituofo], the very important Dharma of Pure Land. From there, Sundana continued his visits until he paid visits to all 53 teachers, the last of whom was the great Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. Samantabhadra, respected to be the first patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism, taught him to attain Wonderful Enlightenment by turning towards the Western Pure Land and beholding Amitabha Buddha to receive a prediction of Buddhahood. The finale of the Avatamsaka Sutra expounds the Dharma of Pure Land. Even the supreme vehicle of Hua Yen (Avatamsaka), which encompasses the entire Dharma realm, promotes Buddha remembrance. The Bodhisattvas of the Ten Stages, even those who have already attained Enlightenment, still practice Buddha remembrance. Although the Sutra expounds the Avatamsaka Realm, which contains inconceivable Buddha-worlds, many Pure Land devotees would like to be reborn in Sukhavati as it is a short route to enlightenment and attainment of Buddhahood.”
Amituofo
The relationship between samadhi and wisdom (or samatha and vipasyana) is a crucial point in Buddhism. In the Theravada tradition, the differences between them are emphasized; samdhi and wisdom are considered separate facets of cultivation, to be achieved one after another. In the Mahayana tradition (Zen, Avatamsaka, Pure Land), however, samadhi and wisdom are indivisible; true samadhi necessarily includes wisdom and true wisdom is inseparable from samdhi. Moreover, wisdom is not something external to be obtained through practice; it is inherent in all sentient beings. It is as though we have lost a pearl at the bottom of a lake. When there is no wind and the water is calm, the pearl naturally become visible. To recover the wisdom-pearl, the practitioner need only calm the turbid waters of his mind. Thus, in Mahayana teaching, to cultivate samadhi is to attain wisdom or enlgihtenment. This relationship is clearly seen in the expression ‘three non-outflow (unconditioned) studies’, linking precepts, samadhi and wisdom. Pure Land is a projection of the mind, a mental construct but it is also real – to the same extent that our world and everything around it are real. Although both Zen and Pure Land cultivation recite Buddha’s name in the their daily practice, Zen followers do not seek rebirth in the Western Pure Land. This apparent difference is, however, easily reconciled when we understand the truth of Self-nature Amitabha, Mind-Only Pure Land. As the Vimalakirtu Sutra states; “When the mind is pure, the Buddha land is pure.” Rebirth in the Pure Land is, ultimately, rebirth in our Pure Mind.
According to Mahasamgata Sutra, it reveals that in the Dharma-ending age, there will be countless practitioners of lower capacity or potential, so very few will succeed in attaining liberation. However, Pure Land sect provides the most simple, reliable and effective way in the attainment of liberation.
Also according to Maharatnakuta Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha urged his father, the King Suddhodana and sixty thousand members of his Sakya clan to seek rebirth in Pure Land – Translated by Dharma Master Kumarajiva (343-413).
Amitabha Buddha
“The word nien-fo [Buddha Recitation] is originally a Chinese translation of the Sanskrit compound Buddhanusmrti, meaning ‘the recollection or the bearing in mind (anusmrti) of the attributes of a Buddha.’ The practice of Buddhanusmrti itself has a long his tory in India, extending back to well before the rise of Mahayana Buddhism…
“An early form of Buddhanusmrti (Buddha Remembrance or Buddha Recitation) can be found in the Nikayas of the Pali Canon: ‘In the Nikayas, the Buddha … advised his disciples to think of him and his virtues as if they saw his body before his eyes, whereby they would be enabled to accumulate merit and attain Nirvana or be saved from transmigrating in the evil paths.’ †D. T. Suzuki, The Eastern Buddhist / Vol. 3, No. 4: 317 #2146
When the term and its practical lore were introduced to China, they came as a highly developed meditative system, with ties to a diversity of Buddhist scriptures and deities. Amitabha and the Pure Land sutras represented but one among many such systems. The major Indian sources and early Chinese treatises on Buddhanusmrti treat it as a complex practice involving several different approaches to contemplation.
At its most basic level, Buddha-mindfulness begins with visual recollection of the thirty-two major marks and eighty minor excellencies of the Buddha’s glorified ‘body of form’ (Skt/rupa-kaya). Progressing to successively deeper levels of practice, one may dispense with recollection of the Buddha’s physical form and instead contemplate his boundless spiritual powers and omniscience until one ultimately arrives at the Buddha’s formless essence of enlightenment itself – a practice known as mindful recollection of the Buddha’s ‘body of truth or reality’ (Skt/Dharma-kaya). Thus, although Buddhanusmrti may take a particular Buddha or Bodhisattva (such as Amitabha) as its starting point, it ultimately grounds itself in universal Mahayana truths.
This feature plants Buddhanusmrti firmly within the mainstream of Mahayana Buddhist practice, connecting it with the meditations on emptiness that we more often associate with the Perfection of Wisdom and other less devotional traditions of Buddhist scriptures.â€
Paradise (L)
Question: Are the Mind-only Pure Land and the Self-nature Amitabha the same as or different from the Western Pure Land and Amitabha in the Pure Land?
Answer: It is because the Mind-only Pure Land exists that we are reborn in the Pure Land of the West. If the mind is not pure, it is impossible to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land. Even when those who have committed cardinal transgressions achieve rebirth through ten recitations, such rebirth is due to their reciting the Buddha’s name with a pure mind, thus eliciting a response from Amitabha Buddha. Ordinary people generally think that if the Pure Land is Mind-Only, then it does not exist. This is the understanding of demons and externalists. Such a deluded view, which appears correct but is in reality wrong, affects more than half of all people and causes practitioners to forfeit true benefits.
It is precisely because of the Self-Nature Amitabha that the practitioner must recite the name of Buddha Amitabha of the West seeking rebirth in the Pure Land – so as to achieve the Self-Nature Amitabha through gradual cultivation. If he merely grasps at the Self-Nature Amitabha but does not recite the name of Buddha Amitabha of the West, he cannot achieve immediate escape from birth and death – not even if he is truly awakened, much less if (like most people who ask this question) he is pretentious and just indulges in empty talk without engaging in practice.
Thus the answer to your question [are the mind-Only Pure Land and the Self-Nature Amitabha the same as or different from the Western Pure Land and Amitabha in the Pure Land?] is that they are one yet two before Buddhahood is attained, two yet one after Buddhahood is attained.
– Pure-Land Zen, Zen Pure-Land: Letters from Patriarch Yin Kuang
There is a balance between good and evil. This is a fundamental truth. So great evil creates great good. They go hand in hand. It is a global balance and that makes it impossible to analyse. The second World War was the scenario that demonstrated the principle. The evil the Germans created balanced the good that led to victory for the Allies. This had the practical effect that resources were diverted by the Germans from the War effort. To a lesser extent the Allies also killed civilians so it was not the end. It is all down to determinism. Consequently there is no freedom of choice and therefore no sin. The crucifixion was an apology for there having to be evil in the World. T
Balance between good and evil is nonsense. If there is balance, it means half of the people in the room you are in now are good and the other half evil. This is not true because it would mean all of us will be fighting all the time. The fact that we are not means good has won. In war zones, it’s different karma going on, due to individual and collective karma. If everything is deterministic, why eat lunch? Why not let ‘fate’ decide if one will live or not? We choose to eat lunch.