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'THE BUDDHIST HOUR' RADIO BROADCAST
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Hillside Radio 87.6 FM & 88.0 FM Sundays 11:00am to 12:00pm |
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‘The Buddhist Hour’ Hillside Radio Broadcast 111 12 November 2000 This program is entitled: The benefits of living in the Middle Way To do anything good requires funds. This week Members at our Centre organised several fundraisers. We are a self-help group. Our management system uses five styles. These are friendliness, practicality, cultural adaptability, scholarship and professionalism. These are cultivated by our Members with a minimum of fuss and without the flurry and worry usually accompanying fundraising. State Government approval is needed for fundraising involving the public. Our funds are used for ourselves and others. Over the years, the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd. is honoured to be visited by hundreds of Teachers from many Buddhist groups. Many of these have their main Temples overseas. Their students pay their airfares. When these Teachers visit us, they can receive some of the requisites they need for their practice from our Members. Our Members look forward to these occasions as an opportunity to meet Dhamma friends, share in their culture and more particularly to help members of the overseas Sangha to adjust to Australian mores with practical advice of a technical nature on the strengths and weaknesses of their minds. Our teacher, at the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd., John D. Hughes, through his untiring analysis work has provided the means of practical entry into the Study and Practice of Buddha Dhamma for many beings. Throughout Australia and overseas, his publishing activities help persons from all walks of life begin to get a measure of the benefits of living the Middle Way. John was born in Australia in 1930 this very life. When John awoke at Versak in 1955 it was not too early or too late for him to develop the resources and skills needed to help persons find the Buddhist Path. In those days, there were no suitable Halls of Assembly with Buddha images to practice the Middle Way open to the Australian public. He was determined to help bring the material needed for activities resting upon the simple thought "that Dhamma be taught”. By hard work, he build a Temple at Upwey designed to maintain and prolong the availability of the Buddha’s Teachings in this Dhamma-Ending Age. He has written and edited much Dhamma Teachings in the English language. His great efforts include the provision for eight specialised websites to publish material needed. His magnificence in doing these actions is a kammic result of innate endowment, plus the special hard work of embodying and expressing altruistic attitudes of the Middle Path. He is living proof that because something is correct, each of us is capable of achieving it and bless many persons in many countries. Last Wednesday, on November 8, 2000, persons from India and Taiwan gathered at our Centre: the Venerable Dungyud Rinpoche from the Dirru Monastery in Kangra, India, Lama Ngawang Kungu from India and Master Lin Kuei Sen visited our Teacher. He and his student were able to give the honoured visitors many rare gifts. All could practice using the rare images of Lord Buddha and Padmasambhava and the relics. The Dhamma Teachers realize the importance of Dhamma Practices and praised each of us for undertaking actions that prolong the Teachings of the Buddha Dhamma. Our students are known worldwide for the quality of their efforts in serving our Teacher so he may have Long Life. A series of simple tasks become important to maintain a Temple. Cleaning is important for health reasons. Earlier this week, one of our Members spent some time cleaning black mould from bathroom tiles hidden under the dark shadow of one of the tables in that room. Time after time, this dark spot had been neglected when cleaning but, our Teacher pointed out to our Members, that dirt brought a cockroach to live in the bathroom because the conditions were suitable for breeding. We put the cockroach outside into the garden. This was done on Tuesday. Our visitors came the next day to a clean habitat. We are happy to make them comfortable. Wise actions from many cases bring us increasing happiness like a tree that starts as a young plant with a single stem and grows branches, leaves, flowers and fruits. The various types of kind and tranquil minds progressively brings happiness (sukkha in Pali) and gains love (metta) from persons or deities wherever one goes. It is a fact that power gained from practicing Buddha Dhamma is real, strong and more useful than anything else. It is reality to recognise enemies of the Dhamma even if they are as small as cockroaches. Our target is humans and we must look after them as best we can. For you to become ‘awake’, you must get your mind cleaned and trained along the Middle Path. Cleaning Temples is a good start. The Lord Buddha learnt by himself in the forest without a Temple and learned how to awaken himself without a living Teacher. But we cannot seem able to do this because we are nowhere as good in past actions as a Buddha. He did it because of many good things he did in many past lives. He attended to Temples many times. Lord Buddha learnt by himself and did not rely on outside devas to guide his mind. This is because the Devas at Buddha’s time did not know the complete Middle Way. How did the Buddha begin to start to learn how to achieve awakening? He began to learn over 20 world cycles ago. A world cycle is a vast amount of time about 10 to the power of 37 years. He helped other Buddhas and many other persons and animals as we know from the Jakata Tales. To mature to his learning of the Middle Way, the Buddha listened carefully to his breathing. He noted where the air came inside his body and where the air went to outside his body. He noted his in-breaths and he noted his out-breaths. If the breath was short, he noted that the breath was short, if long he noted long, if hot he noted hot, if cold he noted cold. He examined like this till he realised the breath is part of the body, a group of four great elements. He could cognate the nature of body from this analysis. This was Vipassana then Anupannasati practice. He noted the feelings that followed the contact when the air was going inside his body and noted the feelings which arose when the air was going outside his body. Lord Buddha repeated this analysis of these events thousands of times, until he knew how to look inside at his body parts. We can do the same if we practice. Over time, he looked inside his body and he considered the nature of the 32 parts of his body, one at a time. We can do the same if we practice. Pali words describe the 32 parts of the human body suitable for the Middle Way investigation over time. These are: 1. Kesa - hair of the head 2. Loma - hair on the body 3. Nakha - nails 4. Danta - teeth 5. Taco - skin 6. Mansan - flesh 7. Naharu - tendon 8. Atthi - bone 9. Atthiminjan - marrow 10. Vakkan - spleen 11. Hadayan - heart 12. Yakanan - liver 13. Kilomakan - connective tissue 14. Pihakan - kidneys 15. Papphasan - lungs 16. Antan - large intestines 17. Antagunan - small intestines 18. Udariyan - gorge 19. Karisan - faeces 20. Matthalungan - brains 21. Pittan - bile 22. Somhan - phlegm 23. Pubbo - pus 24. Lohitan - blood 25. Sedo - sweat 26. Medo - fat 27. Assu - tears 28. Vasa - oils 29. Khelo - saliva 30. Singhanika - cattarrh 31. Lusina - fluid in the joints 32. Muttan - urine The Buddha completed this 32 part investigation for himself and knew that it is possible for some persons to do as he did and discover as he discovered. This method of meditation on the parts of the body using these 32 practices (kayanupassana) was taught by Lord Buddha. The majjhima patipada, is (the Middle Path), avoids both the extremes of self-indulgence - kama sukhallikanu yoga, and self- mortification - atta kilamatanu yoga. Lord Buddha pointed out that in the Middle Way we should not be deluded by body happiness or body sadness. Find the correct minds such as equanimity mind and by being aware of them as subject to change. Consider how the Middle Path views this proverb - “The strong man does not show his strength”. This denotes that a person who realises that he or she has inner strength is contented to know this and keep this inner strength. “Persons who try to appear taller by walking on tiptoe cannot do so for very long”. In the World this inner strength is needed for the maintenance and development of new Dhamma Centres. One type of activity where many practitioners can act on a base of wholesome kamma on which they continue to practice and realize the Middle Way is on the Practitioner's home altar. Cleaning home altars is good practice as an offering. Cleaning Temple altars in a Hall of Assembly is more so. It is different when maintaining a Monastery Hall of Assembly as Monks use the hall as part of their practice. It is better for lay persons, rather than Monks or Nuns to clean Temples. As the hard shell of a tortoise protects the soft body within, the Dhamma too, has to be protected by the structure of A Hall of Assembly, its upkeep, administration, financing and development. At the same time, the shell or structure is not an end itself, but exists for the benefit of Dhamma Practitioners through supporting the preservation and proliferation of The Noble Eight-fold Path as taught by the Buddha. We do not want to become a dead Institution and like empty shells devoid of the Body of Living Dhamma. By looking after a Buddhist Centre our merit making opportunities will increase both in quality and quantity. This is because Monks and Nuns visit Temples. When properly cultivated, a Practitioner’s surroundings become a vehicle to move him or her along the Middle Path. The merit thus accumulated from looking after the temple can be directed towards successfully achieving the following progressive stages of practice. 1 Desire to Practice. 2 Resolve to Practice. 3 Remembrance of Practice. 4 Concentration of Practice. 5 Wisdom arising during Practice. It is wise to direct merit towards the Middle Path. Undirected merit, when vast, is likely to produce successive births of great wealth, power, comfort and pleasure but, in the end, nothing has been achieved because these are impermanent and subject to decay when the merit is exhausted. The merit made from the hundreds of good things done should be dedicated to follow the Middle Path. Do not imagine the suffering of asceticism is the Middle Way. Remember the Buddha's words ‘Just as the Kusa grass wrongly handled cuts the hand’; even so, asceticism wrongly practiced drags one to hell. Do not sado-masochism. We ought not mortify our bodies by flagellation. We must not mortify our minds feeling guilty. Many decent persons resident in the Western World now say they feel "inspired" and incline towards a series of Middle Path activities in this Dhamma-ending-Age. It is no longer unusual for Western born persons to take robes for a few weeks or a few years. Many of our Members have taken robes. We encourage this action. Because refugees appear in Australia, more and more persons "born into a Buddhist family" are gathering and being educated in the education systems of Australian Universities. Some Noble persons are taking rebirth in Western countries including Australia at present and are being educated in Western Institutions. They are likely to need long term support over time if the are to teach those born in Western countries who wish to follow Buddha Dhamma. Complex new process models of "Dhamma work" for the 2lst Century have been worked out by our Centre’s management. The Information Age brings with it globalisation of information and business operation throughout day and night. This can lead to a disorientation much like a blurring or extinction of seasons. As science and genetic engineering develops, new products such as grapes and other fruits are produced "out of season" and can be purchased throughout the year rather than only during the summer season. As a result, the mind no longer has the same temporal or geographic markers and can become confused about time and place. A person who practises The Middle Way can adjust more readily and avoid such confusion. One new health resource is a flow of new Dhamma information in the English language (something more valuable than gold), which on our websites is doubling every month. It appears to us to be sustainable for some time. The new wealth of good Dhamma generated is much different from old paper based Dhamma, because it can provide the means to satisfy an increased demand for consumer goods and leisure at an affordable price. We have retention rates of over an hour’s reading time at our websites. An average of three pages of written Dhamma is downloaded per visit. "New Dhamma work" is not grounded in greed for buildings but in the notion of "competitive information advantage". This website model is a sound producer of new resources, such as information derivatives. It is not dependant on a finite natural resource model to generate wealth of printed materials. As educated students develop their cognition through Tertiary Study we are making the information derivative more suitable for highly cognitive persons. Cognitive persons develop more Sati (mindfulness). As more persons in the world become educated, they can take advantage of the increasing number of information derivatives available to them through a higher material living standard, access to Internet and this Radio Broadcast and the opportunity to read about Dhamma. More and more photographs of our rare Buddha images are being placed on our websites. Persons whose past kamma conditions them to feel comfortable with seeing such forms can be woken up. This is only to be expected because very few Buddhists are contributing to this new complex field of teaching on-line. In the future, we may meet these students. It is now timely (better sooner rather than later) to awaken the Western Buddhists and challenge them to build "new Middle Way work models" that are removed from nihilistic or eternalistic views. "New Middle Way work models" as "best practice" are planned as a process rather than as a series of events. But the websites tend to present photographs of what looks like events. We are planning to link sites to give process events. It is important to avoid slander of the "New" Dhamma work in post- industrial countries which alters the consumer "humanscape". For example, if you were to visit a place that could produce 1400 Thankas a day, would you have aversion? An Australian survey done in (1995) showed that the average person sees 1400 advertisements a day. If these new practices are slandered and aversion is produced, the sati weakens. When John Hughes founded the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd., he had in mind that the organisation policy should be constantly stressing that lifetimes of learning are needed by most persons for the completion of the Middle Path. He needed to give out specially written material to cultivate friendliness, practicality, professionalism, cultural adaptability and scholarship for living the Middle Way. Much of this material is being loaded onto our websites. Because some of these writings involve Abhidhamma, considerable mental effort will be needed to grasp the ins and outs of these teachings. We hope you persist with your practice. You will find them at: www.companyontheweb.com/buddhatext www.companyontheweb.com/buddhamap www.bdcublessings.one.net.au www.skybusiness.com/j.d.hughes www.johnhughes.citysearch.com.au www.bdcu.org.au May you be well and happy. This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes, Pennie White, Isabella Hobbs, Vanessa Macleod, Evelin Halls and Lisa Nelson. Disclaimer:
As we, the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd., do not control the actions of our service providers from time to time, make no warranty as to the continuous operation of our website(s). Also, we make no assertion as to the veracity of any of the information included in any of the links with our websites, or an other source accessed through our website(s).
Accordingly, we accept no liability to any user or subsequent third party, either expressed or implied, whether or not caused by error or omission on either our part, or a member, employee or other person associated with the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.
word count 2737 Print based References Phra Ajarn Chanhphy Manivong, The Way You are Looking For A Manual of Insight Meditation, 1994, Australia, p 6. Venerable Phra Ajahn Yantra Amaro Bhikku, Noble Treasure, 1992, Bangkok, Thailand, p 24. Readability Statistics for this text Flesch Grade Level: 10.7 Coleman-Liau Gradelevel: 13 Bormuth Gradelevel: 10.6 Flesch Reading Ease Score: 57.6 Flesch-Kincaid score: 9.4 For more information, contact the Centre or better still, come and visit us. |
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