The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast Archives
The
Buddhist Hour
Radio Broadcast Script 272
Sunday 13 April
2003
This script is entitled:
“Using your merit
wisely”
Glossary:
acupuncture: the
insertion of needles into the skin at specific points for the purpose
of treating various disorders by stimulating nerve
impulses
contentedness: (contented) accepting one’s
situation or life with equanimity and satisfaction, peace of mind,
having restrained desires
forgiveness: (forgive) to cease to
blame (someone or something); to grant pardon for (a mistake, etc.);
the act of forgiving or the state of being forgiven. willingness to
forgive.
instrumental: serving as a means or influence;
helpful
master: a term of address, esp. as used by disciples
addressing or referring to a religious teacher; a person with
exceptional skill at a certain thing; a highly regarded teacher or
leader
recount: to tell the story or details of; narrate, give
an account of
truth: reliance on and confidence in the truth,
worth, reliability, etc., of a person or thing; faith
“Using your merit wisely”
“Health is the greatest of
blessings, contentedness the best riches; trust is the best of
relationships, Nivana the highest happiness.” The
Dhammapada
Our Teacher’s health is improving steadily.
Our Teacher John D. Hughes is receiving excellent care.
We
anticipate that our Teacher will be home from hospital in a few weeks
time.
A few weeks ago Venerable Dhammavihari visited John D.
Hughes and he gave blessings for his good health and long life.
Our
Teacher’s wife Anita Hughes explained to Venerable Dhammavihari
that she and others were caring for their teacher on a twenty four
hour basis, chanting the Medicine Buddha Mantra daily and offering
the blessed water to John D. Hughes for his increasing health.
Anita
Hughes asked Venerable Dhammavihari if this was wise practice.
Venerable Dhammavihari told her that to care for one’s Teacher
during his illness, to do everything in ones power to keep him alive
is the highest thing a student can do.
Over the past two
weeks our Teacher has been visited by an expert in Chinese Medicine,
to assist him in his recovery. During one visit a number of our
Teacher’s students were also visiting.
Our Teacher
explained that it is respectful for the student’s head to be
lower than their Master’s. The positive outcome of this action
is that when the student becomes a teacher they will have respectful
students.
We have gratitude for the kindness of Dr. Zhang in
helping our Teacher in his recovery.
Our Members have
arranged for a gift of 3000 acupuncture needles for Dr. Zhang. May
Dr. Zhang continue to help and heal our Teacher.
Much merit is
needed to receive the medical care you need when you need it.
Our
number one priority is to keep our Teacher alive. To put in the
causes for him to have good health and long life.
Each day
since the 13 March students of John D. Hughes have been doing the
Medicine Buddha Practice as advised by Master Ru Sun. The blessed
water from this practice is offered to our Teacher. Some of this
water is offered to deities and protectors participating in the pujas
and at the hospital.
If the water is offered to the lower
protectors they get the blessing not John D. Hughes. It is not
clearly understood that such use of water does not help John D.
Hughes.
The most important thing in doing meritorious actions
is one’s will and intention.
You need to accumulate many
good actions to be able to live in a suitable location.
John
D. Hughes has taught many of his students over many years how to use
merit wisely.
What have they learned?
Many students
have come to an advanced theoretical understanding of the principals
involved.
Some years ago one of our Members told our Teacher
that he would be helping another Member to move house the following
day.
Our Teacher advised this person to think about whether
this action would help this person… that is… in terms of
merit consumed.
The Member decided not to assist that
following day.
When the Member initially agreed to help his
kindness exceeded his wisdom.
Our Teacher continues to prompt
some students on how to use merit wisely and some have begun
practicing more skilfully.
Last weekend some of our Members
assisted another Member to move house.
Another Member
provided lunch and refreshments for the persons assisting with the
move.
The student who moved house some years ago was able to
see how helping some persons is not always the wise thing to do in
some cases.
In preparation for our Teacher’s return home
from hospital we have been organising the installation of a new
bathroom for him.
Many Members and friends have helped in the
various tasks to get the new bathroom completed. These tasks include:
raising over $4600 in funds from Members and friends; drafting the
bathroom design; the relocation of furniture; selection and pricing
of fittings; construction of a new wall; obtaining quotes for
electrical and plumbing works and scheduling the tasks with
suppliers.
One of our Members, a qualified architect, has
prepared designs for a new ramp into the building. It will be
designed according to appropriate standards.
The bathroom and
ramp building are our highest priority projects during our Five-Day
Bhavana Course.
The Five-Day Bhavana Course will be held from
18 April 2003 (Good Friday) to 22 April 2003. The cost of the course
is free.
The Hevajra Puja guided by Master Francisco So will
be held on the 18 April (Good Friday) and the 21 April (Easter
Monday).
Venerable Dhammavihari will visit our Temple and give
a Dhamma talk on the first afternoon of the Five Day Bhavana Course
at 3:30pm.
On Saturday 5 April 2003, several Members of our
Centre visited the Bodhinvana Monastery in Warburton to pay respect
to Venerable Acharn Dtun, visiting from Thailand and to hear the
Dhamma Talk given by the Venerable.
The Venerable Acharn Dtun
stayed at Bodhinvana Monastery for about three weeks. Last Saturday
was Venerable Dtun’s last Buddha Dhamma teaching scheduled in
Melbourne before returning to Thailand the following day.
Today
we would like to recount the talk as recorded by our Members.
We
apologise for any errors in understanding that may have arisen.
After paying respect to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, the
gathering sat in silent meditation for 30 minutes.
Venerable
Dtun and Members of the Sangha then led Evening Chanting in
Pali.
When a great Teacher has visited a Temple and is about
to leave, it is traditional practice in Thailand to hold a parting
ceremony.
The Monks chant a request asking forgiveness for
any transgressions or incorrect actions that they may have
intentionally or unintentionally displayed towards him during his
stay.
The Monks made this request, which the Venerable Acharn
Dtun accepted giving his forgiveness and replied with a similar
request.
The lay people recited the same verses requesting
forgiveness of the Venerable who again accepted and gave his
forgiveness replying with a similar request of the lay
practitioners.
Venerable Dtun explained in his introduction
that he would continue with the story of how he came to be a Monk,
that he began during a previous Teaching.
He stated that it
was rare for him to talk about his own personal practice. In fact it
had been twenty years since he had spoken about it, but that in
gratitude to the laypersons present for their support for the
Bodhinvana Monastery, he would speak about his personal
practice.
Venerable Dtun began with a story about his mother.
One evening his Mother was looking out the window. She saw a streak
of light in the sky like a meteorite that landed in her back garden.
She went outside to look and found a large diamond. She picked up the
diamond, took it inside and offered it onto her altar.
Then
she woke up from her sleep.
She had been dreaming.
Nevertheless, the dream made her very happy. Not long after that,
Venerable Dtun was born.
When he was a young child he often
joked with his older brother on their way home from school. They
would play games and trick each other. One day he decided that he did
not want to do this any more as it was telling lies.
He asked
his brother to agree that they would never conceal the truth from
each other again. He got his brother to make the vow first, as he was
older, and then he took the same vow.
He found in his teenage
years that friends would come and ask him when they would want to
know the truth about something.
His father taught him that he
should never take anything from his own home without asking, nor
should he take anything from the homes of others, not even the
smallest needle.
When he was aged around 16, he went to the
beach with a group of boys, his brothers and his friends, to clown
around, and they caught and killed crabs.
As they were about
to leave, his younger brother, aged 14, was nowhere to be found. He
eventually found his brother lying on the beach, struggling and
angry. He appeared to have gone insane.
The group of boys
took the younger brother and lay him in the truck with his feet
pointing towards to sea. Then the brother spoke but the voice was not
his and it said why do you point my feet towards the sea?
The
group turned him around. The voice then spoke again and said he would
like to speak to him alone. Although they were all scared the friends
agreed and left him with his brother.
The voice, which said it
was the ‘spirit of the sea’, spoke to him for a long time.
It proceeded to ask why the boys had been killing sea creatures when
they came from well-off homes and had no need for such behaviour.
The voice asked if he loved himself. The voice asked did he
love his brothers, sisters, and his family. He said of course. Well,
although the sea creatures cannot speak to you they feel thing as you
do.
The 'spirit of the sea' taught him by way of opposites. He
saw that in the world there is male and female, good and bad. where
you have a car, you have a road.
He saw a beautiful vision of
another realm of existence.
After about 3 hours the brother
woke up. When asked what had happened he answered that he was lying
on the beach and something came out of the water. He was then lead
into the water where he saw a beautiful kingdom. He said he was aware
of the spirit talking but felt powerless to intervene.
The
experience with the 'spirit of the sea' was instrumental in his
decision to become a Monk.
As a young man, he would go into
the altar room at his family home each day and meditate for fifteen
or twenty minutes, on “Buddho”, saying “Bud-” on
the in-breath, and “-dho” on the out-breath, thus calming
his mind.
He went on to complete high school and then a degree
in commerce.
He decided that if ever the opportunity arose,
and when the time was correct, that he would become a Monk.
A
voice resounded to him that if he were to take robes this would be
his last life. This voice was speaking in the old Thai.
On the
guidance of his Aunt, he decided to take the five lay precepts: to
abstain from killing; to abstain from stealing; to abstain from
sexual misconduct; to abstain from lying and to abide by the precept
to abstain from fermented liquor that clouds the mind.
He
found this to be easy and natural for him.
He went to his
aunt again and explained to her that taking five precepts was easy
for him and asked what he could do.
She said you could take
the eight precepts. She explained to him that these extra three
precepts are to abstain from eating after midday; not to indulge in
dancing, singing, amusements, scents, cosmetics and adornments; and
to abstain from sleeping on a high, luxurious bed. She said the eight
precepts could be taken on the first quarter, half, last quarter and
full moon days.
He elected to hold the eight precepts on days
of each lunar quarter and one day either side.
After a few
weeks he found this easy and so practised them up every day.
Before
taking robes as a Monk, he considered thoroughly whether or not he
would pursue the family life.
As a young man the issue of
attraction to women arose. He decided that if his attraction lasted
for three months then he would approach her.
A vision came to
him of the face of the woman he was attracted to. As he gazed upon
her face, the skin began to peel off it, revealing the blood, muscles
and sinews beneath. He then realised that no permanent happiness
could be found in this attraction.
Later, he became attracted
to a second woman. Again the same vision appeared.
Then, a
third time, the cycle repeated itself.
This confirmed for him
that to marry and have a family was not the Path he would take.
At
one time, he accompanied his aunt to a Temple, and while she
consulted with the Monks, he went on his own to pay respect at the
Buddha Altar. He contemplated what was the highest Buddha Dhamma Path
he could take this life. His answer was to become a Monk.
Again
he checked, by asking himself:
If I could have all the wealth
of the world, which would I choose, that or the life of a Monk?
If
I could have all the power of the world, which would I choose, that
or the life of a Monk?
If I could have the most beautiful
woman in the world, which would I choose, that or the life of a
Monk?
If I could have all the riches... power... or the most
beautiful woman in the world or to ordain as a Monk which would I
choose.
His answer to all three was to become a Monk.
He
knew this was the correct path for him.
The vision of two
bowls of curry came to him. One bowl of curry was served in a
beautifully ornate and decorative bowl. The other was served in a
plain bowl. Attracted to the beauty of the decorative dish, he began
to eat the curry in that dish. It tasted pleasant, and he finished
the bowl. Then he decided even though he had finished the first bowl,
that he would take a spoonful from the second, plain bowl.
The
flavour of the curry in the plain bowl was far deeper and richer than
that of the curry in the ornate bowl.
He saw this as an
analogy for the worldly life (the ornate dish) and the life of a Monk
(the plain dish). He saw that all the wealth; beauty and pleasure of
the material world cannot soothe the suffering of the human
heart.
One day, as he was meditating before becoming a Monk,
he dropped into a deep samadhi. He then dropped again, and then a
third time. He decided that this was real happiness.
While
sitting in a Temple on the outskirts of Bangkok, Venerable Dtun heard
a story about Venerable Tan Acharn Mun. Venerable Mun was living and
meditating in a forest in Northern Thailand, near Chiang Mai.
The
poor local villagers became suspicious of him. In their folklore
exists a tiger that it is said can transform into a human being, and
word got around that Venerable Mun was one such being. The villages
thus began to observe him carefully as he walked through the forest
saying ‘Buddho’ and looking down at the ground.
One
villager eventually asked him what he was doing there, was he looking
for something. He said ‘yes’ that he was looking for a
crystal ball. The villagers offered to help him, and soon the whole
village was wandering around looking down for the crystal ball as
they repeated ‘Buddho’.
The villagers finally
grasped the significance of their actions.
Venerable Dtun told
us that his thoughts at the time were, if those poor villagers, who
have nothing, can practise like this, then surely I, sitting here in
Bangkok, can do something.
At the conclusion of the
Venerable’s talk one of our Members asked what we could do to
help our Teacher during his recovery from illness. He said, “Follow
your Teacher’s instructions.”
Our Members then paid
respect to the Venerable and offered flowers on behalf of our
Teacher.
We thank all the friends of John D. Hughes in
Australia and around the world who have chanted and prayed for his
recovery over these past weeks.
We dedicate the merits of this
script to increasing the health, strength and long life of our
Teacher John D. Hughes.
May you use your merit wisely.
May
the merit of these good actions increase the health, strength and
long life of Anita M. Hughes.
May the merit of these good
actions increase the health, strength and long life of John D.
Hughes.
May all beings be well and happy.
May you be
well and happy.
This script was written and edited by Julian
Bamford BA AppRec, Leanne Eames BA MA, David Ley BBlgs, BArch
and
Pennie White BA DipEd.
References
Babbitt, Irving
(1936) The Dhammapada, Oxford University Press, New York, p
32.
Nyanatiloka (1988) Buddhist Dictionary, Manual of Buddhist
Terms and Doctrines, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri
Lanka.
Panyapatipo, Phra Ajaan Plien (2000) How to get good
results from doing merit, Wat Aranawiwake, Thailand.
Collins
English Dictionary and Thesaurus (1994) HarperCollins Great
Britain.
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Words:
2813
Characters: 12778
Paragraphs: 113
Sentences:
167
Averages
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Words per
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Characters per word: 4.4
Readability
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Passive Sentences: 9%
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68.3
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score: 7.7
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