'THE BUDDHIST HOUR'

RADIO BROADCAST

Hillside Radio 87.6 FM & 88.0 FM

Sundays 11:00am to 12:00pm

Broadcast for 29 October 2000

Today’s Program is called: The Dhamma Ending Age

Buddha Dhamma has never been so internationalised as it is now. It has never been so large and inclusive as it is now. Who could have imagined His Holiness the Dalai Lama performing the Kalachakra Ceremony in Sydney, Australia and nearly all the participants coming from various places in Europe and Australia and not from Asia.

So, why do we say it is a Dhamma ending Age when it appears more and more persons are attending Buddhist Teachings in the Western World?

It is because most persons cannot or will not design their lives to come to suitable conditions to be able to practice.

Many writers have commented on the fast pace of current Western living in a globalised world.

This lifestyle has wealth and material comfort to sustain suitable conditions for many who wish to practice.

Provided a small amount of Buddhist practice is done every day, by helping persons who do practice well with the merit made being dedicated to an end-in-view of a coming to proper retreat conditions this very life, this worthwhile attainable goal is possible for most persons.

To practice well, the ancient texts agree we need to attend to the formation of five concurrent causes.

These are :

1. strict observance of discipline and morality (sila)

2. an adequate supply of food and clothing

3. leisure in a tranquil place

4. to be able to afford to lay down all causal activities, and

5. search for helpful friends.

We have talked about morality in great detail in other programs so you can refresh yourself by looking up the text of our earlier broadcasts at www.bdcublessings.one.net.au

As regards food, there are four proper ways of obtaining it.

Some think these means only refer to practice in ancient times, but if a person is very determined and has done many food offerings to others he or she can arrange one of these methods this very life.

Without merit, this is not possible.

1. Masters who live deep in mountains live only on herbs and fruit that they pick themselves.

Because they did not kill, they did not eat meat or fish or yabbies or shellfish.

They learnt from the local persons who knew which plants had poison, and only ate safe foodstuffs.

They did not often cook food, but when they did, it was simple preparation such as roasting in a fire.

Persons who live in cities probably would not be bothered to go to the trouble to live like this.

2. Ascetics who seek food offerings find such action to obtain food contributes to insight realizations, such as ‘this food is the labour of many beings’.

They do not beg for food because this act is not socially acceptable to many persons.

3. It is common for retired persons who can offer food at the correct time to serve as patrons of Monasteries.

Our Teacher undertook a three-month retreat as a layman earlier this year when he taught only one day a week for that period.

This was possible because he held his retreat in the field of merit at our Centre that he ran for 20 years and he had made enough merit for Members he had guided to arrange food rosters for him.

4. By ordaining and living in the community of Monks or Nuns and living by the monastery rules, a suitable person could obtain one or perhaps two meals a day.

To get food in other legal ways such as buying it with your own money or preparing it yourself from ingredients you have purchased yourself is the last option but it is far removed from the best conditions for practice mentioned earlier.

So, in ancient times, many persons who heard the Dalai Lama could have obtained the food they needed for their practice in one of those four ways. It is self evident that few persons hearing the Teachings today in the Western World, apart from Monks and Nuns, could have obtained food in one of the four proper ways.

At the same time eating ought to be done with care because the constant round of births and deaths comes from craving for the sense of taste as taught by the Dhyana - parimita Sutra.

A person who humbly enters on the path holds an offering bowl to help all beings. This is so because beings who give him or her food sow in a field of blessings for themselves.

In Australia, it is not yet common for most persons to offer food to Monks or Nuns.

Let us begin with a very brief overview of Buddhist studies in the Western world.

Perhaps the first mention of Buddha Dhamma in the West comes from the Greek writer Clement, who lived during the closing years of the Second Century A.D.

Later in the Middle Ages, in Europe, the cult of Saint Josaphat was extremely popular.

This Saint is none other than the Buddha. The name Josaphat is a mis-pronunciation of the Sanskrit word Bodhisat which means Bodhisattva.

From the 13th Century onwards, there was an increasing interest in investigating Buddha Dhamma in the Western World.

Most of the early works composed by missionaries in Europe were accounts of Buddha Dhamma in China.

The most detailed account of Buddha Dhamma during this period was presented by the famous Italian merchant, Marco Polo.

In the early 19th Century, there was a notable increase in scholarly activities relating to Buddha Dhamma. From that time on, both in Europe and America, arrangements for Buddhist studies were made at major universities and faculties were founded.

But it is not untrue to say this phase was characterised more by an intellectual pursuit for reasons of national status than by religious interest.

The seeking of Pali Texts on palm leaves in Sri Lanka by the French scholars brought about a rush by the British to duplicate this approach.

The same could be said of translation of Sanskrit texts.

It was not until 1893, during the meeting of the World Parliament of Religion held in Chicago USA, that the first real introduction of Buddha Dhamma as a religion took place.

In the early 1960s, the first fully-fledged independent doctoral programme in Buddhist Studies was established at the University of Wisconsin, Madson USA.

The special feature of this program was that it required students to learn more than one canonical language and in addition to at least one European language other than English, it also required knowledge of a relevant modern language for field study in various countries, and some courses in humanities and social sciences along with the textual study of the doctrine.

Other universities followed suit and by the mid-1970s, the first International Association of Buddhist Studies with no sectarian or political strings was born in America.

A. K. Narain at the 5th International Conference on Buddhist Education in 1986, held the view that what is needed is a system of instruction and training in such a way that ‘education’ precedes ‘Buddhist’ and does not follow it.

We think that education itself should be planned in such a way that it leads on to an ideology and a way of life inspired by the Teachings of the Buddha.

But then listeners would expect us to say that.

But what they do not expect to hear from us is that we know this is possible only if Buddhist education ceases to be sectarian in the narrow sense and comes out of the isolation of the monastic bounds.

The Monks’ and Nuns’ enlightenment can work for some persons if they conquer their own Mara-vijaya in the midst of world knowledge and experience rather than just in the seclusion of their own monastery.

But they must continue to observe the Rules of the Vinaya and not wander around outside their monastery during the rainy seasons (Vassa).

This is where we make merit by offering robes at the end of Vassa.

Our Teacher and several of his Students offered robes to about 20 Monks at the Sri Lankan Katthina Ceremony on 14 October 2000.

The following Sangha were offered robes:

From the Dhammadeepa Bharana Centre- Venerable Sumanasara and Venerable Sanghananda.

From the St Albans Sri Lankan Temple- Venerable Devananda.

From the Noble Park Buddhist Vihara- Venerable Wimalananda and Venerable Vidura.

From the Springvale Sri Lankan Buddhist Vihara- Venerable vijitha and Venerable Mettaii.

From the Daham Nikethana Yuroke- Venerable Santindriya.

From the Malvern Buddhaloka Buddhist Society- Venerable Jinalankara.

From the Dhamaram Temple- Venerable Kuonsary and Venerable Cher.

From the Wat Khmer Damaram- Venerable Sophol Kam, Venerable Sophol Kriv, Venerable Sen-Then, Venerable Narith-Kem and Venerable Viengxay.

Also attending this auspicious event were; Margaret Mooney from Interfaith Network and Tim Holding, the local state member for Springvale.

Lay persons can continue their scholarship during their work days because they do not observe the Sila of the Sangha.

We encourage our Members to develop better work cultures, whatever their occupation.

This means they willingly give time to their job, and occasionally a little extra.

They are encouraged to join professional groups and cooperate with various individuals and groups whose joint efforts are often needed.

They are willing to get involved in the nitty-gritty, if need be.

They will move the chairs, clean the coffee pot, and dirty their hands if that is what is necessary to get the job done.

They are willing to tolerate what they cannot change, and strongly work for those things they can change to render better service and quality.

They are willing to work harder, care more, complain less and love their profession long after other folks have given up.

These things are learnt and practiced by the good Members at our Centre as they continue to write and present our radio scripts over the four seasons.

If you wish to help yourself to develop in these areas, please come and help us.

If we were holding the complete precepts of Monks or Nuns, it would probably be inappropriate to deal with so much advice for lay persons who do not wish to become Monks or Nuns but wish to practice in education, business, commerce, medicine, trade, service industries, artistic pursuits, home-building, parenting, interstate and overseas travel, eating three meals a day, wearing ordinary clothes and all the other good things that can be done by lay persons during the rainy season.

With the advanced technology at our Centre and our building of eight websites in recent months, with more to come, we are setting Members up for use of contemporary educational teaching systems where we can expound Teachings globally for those who seek to learn Buddha Dhamma.

You can access our websites at the following web addresses:

Our original website is www.bdcu.org.au and is being updated this week.

The site www.bdcublessings.one.net.au is updated at least weekly and contains many colourful pictures and transcripts of our Knox FM ‘Buddhist Hour’ radio broadcasts.

More recent sites include:

www.companyontheweb.com/buddhamap

www.johnhughes.citysearch.com.au

www.skybusiness.com/j.d.hughes

www.nla.gov.au/libraries

A new website is being set up this weekend with the tentative website URL of www.geologymuseum-upwey.com.au

Our key Members are developing themselves to become good scholars as a secondary goal to becoming persons who can rechannel their desire for material gains into a system that is very suitable for both the support of Monks and Nuns and the provision of many blessings and suitable locations.

These are for selected lay persons who are teachable, who wish to learn, who do not become heedless of morality, who have a sincere wish to come to the full understanding of Buddha Dhamma each for himself or herself.

But to take out of a system you must first put into the system.

If you are prepared to help suitable Teachers propagate the truth about existence in a way that is learned and comprehensible rather than superstitious, please contact us.

It is a Dhamma ending age because superstition is increasing to destroy Buddha Dhamma.

It is a Dhamma ending age because morality is decreasing, causing the Buddha Dhamma to be destroyed.

As interfaith and ecumenical relations in religions had a mixed year in 1999, there was some progress on matters caused by century old divisions but there were several setbacks as traditional religions found themselves pitted against governments on several fronts.

A survey of all religions in mid-1999 showed that 6 per cent of the world (356 million persons) followed Buddha Dhamma in 128 countries.

Atheists were listed as 2.5 per cent (150 million) and non-religious as 12.8 per cent (763 million); a total of 15.3 per cent.

It is assumed that atheists and non-religious persons are opposed to all religions, including Buddha Dhamma. This means that 913 million persons could be thought of as opposing the 356 million Buddha Dhamma followers; nearly 3 to 1 (ignoring other religions which may or may not be tolerant of Buddha Dhamma).

‘Non-religious’ is defined as persons professing no religion, non-believers, agnostics, freethinkers, and de-religionised secularists indifferent to all religions.

In the United States of America in the year 1900, there were only 1,000 atheists in the whole country, whereas in mid-2000, there were 1.15 million atheists.

In the year 1900, 1.3 per cent (1 million) of the US population were non-religious whereas in mid-2000, 9 per cent (25 million) were non-religious.

In a US survey, more than 70 per cent of respondents said they were religious, but half of those surveyed said they attended religious services less often than once a month or never.

We assume similar figures apply in Australia, with a growth in non-religious persons who are liable to be antagonistic to Buddha Dhamma.

If this figure reaches 9 per cent, as in America, against an Australian Buddhist population of 1.3 per cent, it might be seen that political parties could win votes by introducing covert legislation designed to hinder the fastest-growing religion in Australia.

Political processes are expedient, not fair, to all comers. This is a fact of life. It would be interesting to know what the real growth of Buddha Dhamma would have been if it had been actively sponsored by the government over the last decade or so.

Several politicians in Australia have commented privately that they view Buddha Dhamma as in the national interest but party politics does not permit this to be made public because there would be a reaction from the older established Christian religious leaders in this country.

We are working to flow against the stream of popular myths.

We do not contribute to idle chatter or noisy talk and wish to present things with more logic.

The Marriage Act has Christian Ministers listed as being able to perform marriages and our organisation intends to go through a rigorous programme to get Buddhist marriage ceremonies legally recognised apart from having Buddhist Monks registered as marriage celebrants.

It might be that we would argue for Buddhist lay persons of Buddhist organisations to take on these functions because these functions would only load local Monks and Nuns with further secular activities.

In an indirect way, certain funding concessions are made to those religious organisations cited under the Marriage Act.

The need for legal requirements to be met under marriage laws compared to the common law processes of traditional Buddhist marriage by mutual pledging without any religious requirements is a sign of a Dhamma ending age.

The result of the intensity of our planned activities to overcome this situation would be unnecessary in a society that was driven by Buddha Dhamma.

One of the properties of a Dhamma ending age is that much energy is required to deal with things that are of no immediate concern when viewed from the Canonical basis of Buddha Dhamma, but are needed to help maintain the living standards of lay persons.

Yet another sign of a Dhamma ending age is when persons ‘stop’ and ‘start’ their Dhamma practice.

According to Venerable Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, “Regular practice, even if it is not much, is far better than doing a lot of practice for a short period of time and then no practice at all for another period and then practising again. We cannot profit from doing that”.

It is far better to attend a Centre regularly, even if only for four hours a week, than to do a three month retreat once a year and nothing else.

To say “it is too hot” or “it is too cold” or “it is too late” or “it is too early” or whatever, is just an excuse not to practise.

It is hard to find a Buddhist Centre that doesn’t close at some point throughout the year; for example, many Buddhist organisations close over Christmas. So Christian ‘holy’ days become Buddhist holidays. This is not Buddhist practice.

A Monk in Buddha’s day once requested the Buddha to set down days to be Buddhist holy days, the implication being that they would be days of rest.

The Buddha refused. When requested a second time, He agreed that every quarter, half, three-quarter and full moon days would be set down as Buddhist holy days on the condition that extra precepts were to be upheld on these days. In other words, Buddha Dhamma is to be practised every day; there are no holidays in Buddha Dhamma.

From the Kindred Sayings on Kassapa, further causes of the disappearance of the Dhamma are outlined.

Thus have I heard: The Exalted One was once staying at Savatthi, at the Jeta Grove, in the Anathapindika Park.

Now the venerable Maha-Kassapa went into his presence, saluted him and sat down beside him. So seated, the venerable Maha-Kassapa said this to the Exalted One: ‘What now, Lord, are the conditions, what is the cause that formerly there were both fewer precepts and more brethren were established as Arahants? What, Lord, are the conditions, what is the cause that nowadays there are more precepts and fewer brethren are established as Arahants?’

‘It happens thus, Kassapa. When members decrease, and the true doctrine disappears, there are then more precepts, and few brethren are established as Arahants. There is no disappearing of the true doctrine, Kassapa, till a counterfeit doctrine arises in the world; but when a counterfeit doctrine does arise, then there is a disappearance of the true doctrine, just as there is no disappearing of gold so long as there is no counterfeit gold arisen in the world. So it is with the true doctrine.

‘The earth-element, Kassapa, does not make the true doctrine disappear, nor does the water-element, nor the heat-element, nor the air-element. But here in the Order itself futile men arise, and it is they who make the true doctrine disappear’.

‘Take the sinking of a ship, Kassapa, by overlading: it is not thus that the true doctrine disappears. There are five lowering things that conduce to the obscuration and disappearance of the true doctrine. Which five?’

‘It is when brethren and sisters, laymen and laywomen live in irreverence and are unruly toward the Teacher, live in irreverence and are unruly toward the Norm live in irreverence and are unruly toward the Order, live in irreverence and are unruly toward the training, live in irreverence and are unruly toward concentrative study.’

‘But when they live in reverence and docility toward these Five, then do these five things conduce to the maintenance, the clarity, the presence of the true doctrine.’ (4)

So we have established that this is a Dhamma ending age. What does this mean?

Learning in general is achieved by a consistent approach and this also applies to Buddha Dhamma which is to be practised every day.

If you are born into conditions where it is easy for you to learn, such as Australia where food, shelter and other basics are available and you are teachable, may you learn and practice the Dhamma.

May you have the volition to continue consistent practice in this Dhamma ending age and keep yourself teachable.

This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes, Vanessa Macleod, Leanne Eames and Lisa Nelson.

Print based References

1. Narain, A.K., (1986) “Address On The Opening Ceremony”, Journal of Sino-Indian Buddhist Studies, Special Edition of the 5th International Conference on Buddhist Education, No. 5, Institute for Sino-Indian Buddhist Studies, Taiwan, ROC, pp 5-14.

2. 2000 Britannica Book of the Year, Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., pp 290-295.

3. Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, (2000) Venerable, “Buddhism Matters”, Ordinary Mind, Spring, E-Vam Institute, Melbourne, Australia, p. 6.

4. Davids, R., transl., The Book of the Kindred Sayings (Sanyutta-Nikaya) or Grouped Suttas, Part II. (1990) The Nidana Book (Nidana-Vagga), Pali Text Society, Oxford, England, pp 151-152.

5. Lu K’uan Yu (Charles Luk), The Secrets of Chinese Meditation, Samuel Weiser Inc., Maine 1969, p 117.

6. Tuggle, A.M., Heller D.H., Grand Schemes and Nitty-Gritty Details-Library PR That Works, Libraries Unlimited, Colorado, 1987.

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