The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast for Sunday 31 March 2002

Broadcast Script 218

Glossary

Alchemy: Connotes the pursuit of the transmutation of baser metals into gold, and the search for the elixir of life.

Conventional: Relating to or depending on agreed social usage, custom etc.

Elixir: A preparation by means of which it was hoped to change metals into gold: a supposed drug or essence capable of prolonging life indefinitely; a sovereign remedy, an aromatic solution used as a medicine or a flavouring.

Responsible: Correspondent, answering; answerable, accountable; liable to be called to account, having authority or control; being the cause; accountable for one’s actions, capable of rational conduct; capable of fulfilling an obligation or trust; reliable, trustworthy; of good credit, social position, or reputation.

Subset: A subordinate set, a set all the elements of which are contained in another set.

Trifling: Frivolous, not serious, foolish; of little importance, insignificant, petty.

Vicissitude: Change or mutability regarded as a natural process or tendency in human affairs; changes in circumstances, uncertainties or variations of fortune or outcome.

Today's broadcast is entitled:
Tolerance and Emotional Maturity

Many persons want to improve their relationships. In the development of a true relationship, the Buddha advised the practice of caga, a Pali language term that might be translated as “liberality”, or better still, “emotional maturity”.

The foundation of caga is to understand nama rupa (body/form) thus achieving mindfulness of body in the present.

The development of caga, or "emotional maturity", differs from metta (or loving-kindness) in that caga is passive while metta is active. Caga, when developed, involves one sender and one receiver, whereas metta requires one sender and many receivers.

The practice of caga means two persons are certain to meet again in future lives, whereas the practice of metta does not create a cause for future meeting. For example, a being may dwell in heaven worlds and be surrounded by heavenly beings practising metta for aeons, and yet never meet those beings after coming to human birth, and may even deny the existence of such heavenly beings.

In accordance with Buddha Dhamma is the recognition that our generosity (dana) must be practiced with caga, clear intention and awareness of our friend's real needs.

When metta practice is well developed, it should be given to all beings, just as an upturned water jar gives water in all directions without bias. True esteem and affection arises from the provision of things that genuinely bless the receiver.
For caga and love to flourish and endure within a relationship, three important conditions are required. These are appreciation, empathy and tolerance. The Buddha taught his lay people in "The 'Good Born' Young Man Sutra" how to maintain right love in three right ways. This is applicable to marriage.

The first right way is that each should have respect for the other;
The second right way is that each should be sustained by the other physically, emotionally and mentally; and
The third right way is that each should be comforted with wisdom and understanding.

Empathy is knowing and understanding another person's needs, wants and desires. Through the conditions of appreciation, empathy and tolerance, your partnerships will endure a long time, whether they be partnerships of marriage, a business relationship, or a relationship of joint scholarship, such as two scientists working together to develop new pharmaceuticals.

Je Tsong-k-hapa taught:
Whenever there is no interest or attachment
for even a second to samsaric pleasures,
And the thought seeking liberation
Arises day and night-
Whoever has developed such a mental state
has achieved the realisation of the fully renounced mind

The “fully renounced mind” refers to a mind that cannot or will not let hate enter into the equation.

The Pali word viriya has vast meaning and is given to mean vigour, energy, effort, strength. Libido may be regarded as a subset of viriya.

It would be better to use viriya for the development of good minds than to apply it to trifling pursuits.

The application of viriya to wholesome purposes requires right motivation. If motivation is not correct, then application of viriya will not lead to the development of the good life, regardless of the amount of vigour.

It is noteworthy that one of the seven factors of enlightenment is viriya. The others are:
sati (mindfulness)
dhamma-vicaya (discerning the truth)
piti (rapture)
passaddhi (serenity)
samadhi (concentration)
upekkha (equanimity)

To restate, the essence of using our libido is to cultivate the five controlling faculties needed to practice. These are: viriya (effort or energy), sati (mindfulness), samadhi (concentration), saddha (confidence) and panna (wisdom). In the poetic sense, the union of these faculties in the right balance may be compared to an 'elixir' - a term used in alchemy for a preparation by the use of which it was hoped to change the baser metals into gold.

As the kaliyuga (the current cycle of destruction) deepens, the minds of the people and the world darkens, and people become more and more difficult to teach because they become more and more proud and more and more indignant, about trifles.

One example of this is that recently the son of a Member fell from playground equipment at school, hitting his face and badly hurting his nose. Another parent complained at great length and hot indignation that a lack of schoolground supervision was responsible for the accident.

Never in the course of history of school playgrounds has it been recorded that a child did not fall from play equipment resulting in self-inflicted pain. A fact of school playground life, teacher supervision is not the cause of the accident; it is nothing more than the physical and mental kamma of the child. To become indignant about such an event has no relation to Buddha Dhamma practice.

If a Bodhisattva wishes to take human rebirth to learn more and teach, then he or she will need bala (great strength) and viriya (energy) to overcome pride. The causes of these qualities must be generated in this very life.

In order to be responsible and successful you are taught that you must believe in something. The person who takes responsibility usually gets the credit and the reward. And it is through responsibility that you can become awakened correctly in the Buddha Dhamma sense.

The Buddha recommended confidence (saddha), morality (sila), and emotional maturity (caga) as virtues when persons are close together. These properties are virtues that ensure happiness and success of individuals.

The joy of qualified selfless service to worthy others denotes emotional maturity. These others ought be worthy of offerings as set forth in “Qualities (attributes) of the Buddha Dhamma Sangha”. It is said that when this quality is displayed between persons, their relationship can reappear in a future existence.

The Buddhist Canon, known as the Tipitaka in Pali, is comprised of three collections of Teachings. The first collection, the Vinaya Pitaka, is the book of discipline, and contains the rules of conduct for Monks and Nuns and the regulations governing the Sangha.

The second collection, the Sutta Pitaka, brings together the Lord Buddha's discourses spoken by him on various occasions during his 45 years of teaching.

The third collection is the Abhidhamma Pitaka, which contains the Buddha's 'higher' or 'special' doctrine.

The Abhidhamma is said to hold the essentials of the Buddha Dhamma without the need of conventional terminology.

Through the study of Abhidhamma the moments of life are analysed into their respective factors of consciousness, mental factors and the objects of consciousness. Wholesome moments are distinguished from unwholesome moments in such a way that we can understand the difference between the two and thus enable us to see the difference between all the different moments of life-to know that the moment of seeing is different from the moment of hearing, that hearing is different from thinking about what we hear, that tasting is not the same moment as smelling, that even the taste is not the same as the tasting and so on. The Abidhamma assists us to understand this momentariness of life.

Life is but a moment, conditioned by past moments, arising for an instant then passing away again to be followed by the next moment's arising. Two consecutive moments are never the same.

The Buddha said that things never arise from one cause, they are multi-stranded.

Things improve when a person has a good Teacher.

There are several factors in terms of wholesome cetasikas (sobhanasadharana in Pali) that are basic to tolerance. These are:

Mindfulness (in Pali: sati), a sense of moral shame (hiri), wisdom (panna), adaptability of mental states (kaya-kammannata), adaptability of mind (citta-kammannata), amity (adosa) and compassion (karuna).

These factors lead away from Mara (the negative forces acting in the world) and the conflicts of Samsara. The practising of these factors will lead to the peace of Nirvana.

For those who want to be truly tolerant, the practice of patience is indispensable.

Patience is a mostly passive quality and is impossible without a well-established power of friendliness (adosa). Patience may be practised toward all the vicissitudes that afflict us, internal or external, of mind or of body.

The qualities of patience could be described as; steady, relaxed and alert regardless of what may be happening to the body, speech or the mind.

Real inner strength comes from practicing patience.

Insights appear by observing what is arising and falling without becoming involved in those thoughts and the process.

The Lord Buddha said that the practice of patience leads to great compassion and loving kindness and the accumulation of much merit.

Hatred (dosa) is one of the major causes of akusala kamma and the depletion of merit.

As the Dhammapada says: "One should not pry into the faults of others, into things done and left undone by others. One should rather consider what by oneself is done and left undone." If somebody says "he beat me" or "he slandered me" and wants to react to that beating or slander in some violent way, that person does not understand Dhamma, because it is just the kamma of what you did in the past coming back to you. You can not cure hate with hate.

Patience is one of the virtues that builds a foundation of tolerance. Patience is advised when any afflictions arise, internally or externally, of body, speech or mind.

A quotation from the Dhammapada states:
"By self alone is evil done.
By self one is defiled;
By self evil is left undone,
By self alone is one purified."

If a being is in pain we should develop an understanding of compassion or friendliness. If a being is unhappy we should give them a suitable gift they may enjoy.

Bodhisattvas teach with great compassion, and through their Teachings some practitioners understand and develop tolerance. All people can develop tolerance if they try, and this can be increased step-by-step until it extends to all beings in all realms.

When Practitioners have a base of tolerance, the six Paramitas or Perfections, which are: morality, generosity, patience, perseverance, concentration and wisdom, can be practiced with greater ease.

When all six Paramitas accord with tolerance it is possible to help many beings who are suffering.

We encourage Members to make merit to be tolerant because they cannot stay together unless they behave towards each other in a friendly manner. While it is true that persons may become friends, it is the kammic condition of hundreds of thousands of previous lives that really brings a powerful "togetherness" feeling.

The Fourth Noble Truth, the Noble Eightfold Path as told by the Lord Buddha, is the antithesis to suffering and shows the way out of samsara. The antidote to any of those games that really are no fun at all is given in the Noble Eightfold Path:

1. Right View - Samma Ditthi
2. Right Thought or Right Concentration - Samma Sankappa
3. Right Speech - Samma Vaca
4. Right Conduct - Samma Kammanta
5. Right Livelihood - Samma Ajiva
6. Right Effort - Samma Vayama
7. Right Mindfulness - Samma Sati
8. Right Contemplation - Samma Samadhi

We cease to be mad, bad or sad when we practice the Noble Eightfold Path.
This is the path to sanity.

Worldly conditions such as praise and blame, honour and dishonour, gain and loss, happiness and unhappiness are pairs that when one comes the other may follow.

The Buddha proclaimed that every low desire, every longing for ignoble things, every unworthy feeling that we conquer and trample down, and every difficulty we meet heroically and victoriously with righteousness according to the rules of morality, becomes another rung on the ladder by which we can climb towards a nobler, higher life.

How do I develop tolerance?

By means of mindfulness (in Pali: sati), a sense of moral shame (hiri), wisdom (panna), adaptability of mental states (kaya-kammannata), adaptability of mind (citta-kammannata), amity (adosa) and compassion (karuna).

After tolerance is developed, what is next?

The next step is caga, or “emotional maturity”.

May you develop caga in your relationships this very life for caga has its basis in wisdom.

May you read to develop the causes of viriya in this very life. And by persistence of reading of our good information, may you make a difference in your country and throughout the world.

May you actively direct change for the better in your life.

May you be confident and prosperous.

May you develop the courage to support wisdom and tolerance and preserve the Buddha sasana.

May you become skilled in the preservation of religious principles in this very life.

May you practice and preserve Buddha Dhamma.

May you live in a society that practices religious tolerance.

May you get the highest blessings.

May you be well and happy.

Today's radio script includes a compendium of weekly broadcasts from 11 February 2001 to 25 March 2001. You can find this radio script and previous scripts online at: www.bdcublessings.net.au.

This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes, Leanne Eames and Evelin Halls.


References

Brown, L. (ed.). (1993). The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, New York.

Nyanatiloka. (1987). Buddhist Dictionary - Manual of Buddhist Doctrines and Terms. The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation, Taiwan.

Rhys Davids, T.W. et. al. (eds.). (1979). The Pali Text Society’s Pali-English Dictionary. The Pali Text Society, London.

Thittila, Ashin. (1997). A Buddhist's Companion. An Exposition & Selected Quotations. Malaysia: Sukhi Hotu SDN BHD, Penang.



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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.

Document Statistics

Totals:
Words: 2,187
Sentences: 124
Paragraphs: 93
Syllables: 3,464

Averages:
Words per sentence: 17.6
Sentences per paragraph: 1.3

Percentages:
Passive Sentences: 26

Readability Statistics
Flesch Grade Level: 12.9
Coleman-Liau Grade Level: 13.0
Bormuth Grade Level: 10.6
Flesch Reading Ease Score: 50.4
Flesch Kincaid Score: 10.2


Readability Statistics

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Coleman-Liau Grade Level: Indicates the grade level of the document based on the average number of letters per word and number of sentences per 100 words.

Bormuth Grade Level: Indicates the grade level of the document based on the average number of letters per word and per sentence. These scores indicate grade levels ranging from 6.3 to 11.6.

Flesch Reading Ease Score: Indicates how easy the document is to read based on the number of syllables per word and number of words per sentence. These scores indicate a number between 0 and 100. The higher the score, the easier the document is to read. See the Flesch Scoring Table.

Flesch-Kincaid Score: Indicates the grade level of the document based on the number of syllables per word and number of words per sentence. This score predicts the difficulty of reading technical documents, and is based on Navy training manuals that score in difficulty from 5.5 to 16.3. It meets military readability specifications MIL-M-38784 and DOD-STD-1685.

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May You Be Well And Happy

Disclaimer:

As we, the Chan Academy Australia, Chan Academy being a registered business name of 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 another 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 Chan Academy Australia (Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.)

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