The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast Archives
Buddhist
Hour
Radio Broadcast on Hillside 88.0 FM
Broadcast 295 for
Sunday 21 September 2003
This script is entitled:
“Health
and Wellbeing: A Buddhist Perspective”
A key benefit of Buddhist Teachings is the
preservation of emotional and physical health, prevention of
emotional and physical ill health and alleviation of emotional and
physical ill health.
On 28 August, The Buddhist Foundation of
Victoria presented an "Evening Symposium" in conjunction
with the Gawler Foundation at the Camberwell Centre in Camberwell.
The topic of the evening was "Health & Healing: The
Buddhist Perspective".
Teachings were given by Venerable
Mahinda, internationally recognised speaker on Buddhist teachings.
The Venerable is a pupil of the Most Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda of
Malaysia, and is Abbot of Aloka Meditation Center in New South Wales.
Lama Choedak Rinpoche, the spiritual director and founder of
Sakya Losal Choe Dzong in Canberra, ACT. The Lama is also founder of
the Jamchen Buddhist Centre in Melbourne, Victoria.
Dr. Ian
Gawler, OAM, is one of Australia's best known cancer survivors, a
well-known author, and the executive director of the Gawler
Foundation in Victoria.
The master of ceremonies was Dr.
Ranjith Hettiarachi, President of the Buddhist Foundation (Vic)
Australia Inc. and holder of the Fellowship of the Royal College of
Surgeons of Edinburgh in Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The
evening concluded with a panel discussion.
The evening was
blessed by attendance of many Venerable Members of the Sangha. Also
in the audience were our Teacher Master John D. Hughes and his wife
Mrs. Anita M. Hughes. Their attendants for the evening were our
President Mr. Julian Bamford and Member Ms. Julie O'Donnell. Some of
our Members attended the symposium as well as many friends and past
students of our Teacher.
You may like to view photographs of
the Symposium online at www.bddronline.net.au in the Buddha Dhyana
Dana Review Volume 13. No.4
We would like to share with you
our recollections of the evening's Teachings.
The writers
apologise for any error or misinterpretation in meaning that may have
been made in our understanding or reproduction of these Teachings.
Please note that this script is not intended to be a transcript of
the evening's proceedings.
The opening address for the evening
was given by Dr. Ranjith Hettiarachi, President, Buddhist Foundation
(Vic.) Australia. The Foundation is a Regional Centre of the World
Fellowship of Buddhists. Dr. Hettiarachi gave a scientific overview
of a Buddhist perspective on health.
Dr. Hettiarachi spoke
about the beneficial effects of faith, hope, loving kindness and
compassion having increasingly been recognized in Western
medicine.
The Lord Buddha said: “Mind is the forerunner,
and all conditioned things arise from the Mind.”
Buddha
Dhamma practice leads to a calmer mind, less affected by provocative
circumstances. Serious Buddha Dhamma practice has been shown to lead
to the relief of recurrent infections, respiratory problems, snoring
and bowel disorders, and to increased stamina.
The 5 precepts
protect us from unwholesome minds. For example, sexual crimes place
at risk both oneself and others. Harm can be immediately physical,
such as HIV, assault, death and extreme emotional stress, as well as
legal problems.
The taking of drugs and intoxicants leads to:
immediate derangement of one's mind, mental and physical ill health,
and violation of all other precepts.
We should eat in
moderation. Venerable Nanda reflected that food is to be taken only
for the upkeep of and avoidance of harm to the body.
The
Buddha Path is a path to emotional and physical transformation.
Dr.
Hettiarachi spoke of the Girimananda Sutta.
In the
Girimananda Sutta, Venerable Ananda goes to the Buddha to ask him to
visit the Venerable Girimananda out of compassion, who is gravely
ill.
In reply, the Buddha said:
Should you, Ananda,
visit the monk Girimananda and recite to him the ten contemplations,
then that monk Girimananda having heard them, will be immediately
cured of his disease.
"What are the ten?
Contemplation
of impermanence.
Contemplation of anatta (absence of a permanent
self or soul).
Contemplation of foulness (asubha).
Contemplation
of disadvantage (danger).
Contemplation of
abandonment.
Contemplation of detachment.
Contemplation of
cessation.
Contemplation of distaste for the whole
world.
Contemplation of impermanence of all component
things.
Mindfulness of in-breathing and out-breathing.
The
Buddha then expounded to Venerable Ananda on the ten
contemplations.
"The Venerable Ananda, having learned
these ten contemplations from the Blessed One, visited the Venerable
Girimananda, and recited to him the ten contemplations. When the
Venerable Girimananda had heard them, his affliction was immediately
cured. He recovered from that affliction, and thus disappeared the
affliction of the Venerable Girimananda." (1)
The
application of Buddhist meditation in cognitive therapy has been
shown to deter relapse into depression. Of patients treated for
depression, 66% were found to relapse into depression at a later
time, as contrasted with the figure of 37% among those who had
practiced Buddhist meditation as a part of their treatment. Those who
had practiced Buddhist meditation were also shown to have developed
more positive attitudes towards others.
Buddhist meditation
produces scientifically evident brain changes, particularly to the
pre-frontal cortex of the forebrain, which controls mood and
temperament. Serious Buddhist practitioners are “less aroused by
challenging circumstances”, calmer, and less
fearful.
“Whosoever by the power of one’s virtues,
reduces one’s evil done, he or she beams like the moon”
(from The Buddha - Loka Vagga, Dhammapada) (2).
The second
speaker for the evening was Venerable Mahinda.
Venerable
Mahinda preceded his talk with guided metta meditation.
He
said, “The basis of all healing must come from the heart, or
from love.” Metta is the highest form of love, it is the wish
that all living beings be well and happy.
In order to
transcend barriers, we firstly create some barriers, and then we
break them down to get to boundless love.
Metta can transmute
negative thoughts and entities. Metta is aimed at reducing anger,
hatred and grudges, freeing the mind from excessive stress and
boosting the immune system.
When you are unwell, you can
broadcast the metta message to all the cells, tissues and organs in
your own body. When unwell, I do not take medication. I practice
observing unpleasant feeling rising and falling, and sometimes send
some metta, until I am healed.
Metta practice will develop
your protective shield, open your heart and allow you to become more
forgiving of others and yourself.
Metta plays an important
role in helping us to connect with beings who are full of
compassion.
Buddha says that there are 11 benefits of
metta.
One of these is that the person that practices metta
becomes close to devas, to bodhisattvas. Devas and bodhisattvas help
us to heal, if only we open our hearts and tune in the too the right
channels.
Metta also promotes other virtues such as
compassion, equanimity, tolerance, humility, reverence and gratitude.
All these virtues are nutrients that nourish our minds to become
strong. Wholesome thoughts and merits nourish our mind and make it
strong. When our mind is strong, we are protected.
Illness is
disease, that is dis-ease. We need a strong mind to confront and
overcome disease.
Globally, diseases and epidemics are caused
by lack of virtues such as honesty, patience, understanding and
tolerance.
Having to suffer war is due to lack of
virtues.
All water, soil and air contamination is due to
greed, anger and delusion. Then, some farmers sell contaminated
product, not understanding the consequences of what they do.
Right
Livelihood is very important. Virtues are not “Buddhist” –
virtues are just virtues, just as goodness is goodness but the
emphasis of religions may be different.
In Buddha Dhamma, the
three virtues to be cultivated are: dana (generosity), sila
(morality) and bhavana (meditation or mental cultivation).
What
does generosity have to do with health? Dana means the joy of giving.
The more you give, the happier you become. The higher the value of
what you give, the happier you become.
Giving yields wealth.
If you want wealth, learn how to give with a pure heart and a clear
mind. Give freely.
We do not charge for meditation. I have no
house, but I can stay in a Temple.
Sila, or morality, consists
of five precepts. These are vital in preventing disease of the mind.
The function of the precepts is to free the mind from a guilty
conscience.
There are two kinds of morality. One is academic,
and espouses that morality is in the eye of the beholder. The other
is the naturally occurring moral laws. When we break them, we
experience unwholesome consequences. The prescribed moral laws change
from place to place, but the naturally occurring moral laws do
not.
The five precepts are:
Do not kill - have respect
for life.
Do not steal - have respect for property
Avoid sexual
misconduct – respect established relationships
Do not lie –
respect the truth, and
Avoid indulgence in intoxicants, that is,
respect mental health.
These are useful for maintaining a
composed mind. In the Theravada tradition, we usually start with the
observance of the precepts, renewing our commitment to the
precepts.
There are two suttas, the Ratana Sutta and the
Bojjhangha Sutta, which heal. The Bojjhangha Sutta gives the Seven
Factors of Enlightenment. When Buddha was sick, he requested his
disciples to recite the Bojjhangha Sutta.
Reciting of the
nine virtues of the Buddha is used by many Monks to heal.
In
Pali, this is:
iti pi so bhagava araham
samma sambuddho
vijja carana-sampanno
sugato lokavidu annuttaro
purisa
dhamma-sarathi
sattha deva-manussanam
buddho bhagava
The
following is the meaning of the Pali words:
Being worthy of
special veneration by men, devas, and Brahmas
Having truly
comprehended the Dhamma by his own intellect and insight.
Being
endowed with supreme knowledge and perfect practice of
morality.
Speaking only words that are true and
beneficial.
Knowing all the three lokas.
Being
incomparable in taming those who deserve to be tamed.
Being
the Teacher of devas and men.
Being the Enlightened One,
knowing and teaching the Four Noble Truths.
Being the Most
Exalted One. (3)
Venerable Mahinda told the story of how he
had also chanted the Nine Noble Virtues of the Buddha to help heal a
man who had a bleeding head, who consequently underwent a medical
procedure without requiring an anesthetic.
We say “by the
truth of these virtues, may you be free from this illness.”
People
can be healed through virtues, through the act of truth.
For
incurable diseases, we tell people “make an act of truth”.
When people make the aspiration, and take medicine, they get
well.
Virtues give protection from illness.
“One
who lives by righteousness, righteousness protects.”
The
Samyutta Nikaya mentions various causes of illness (4). These include
bile, phlegm, wind, or an imbalance of these, as well as seasonal
changes (heat and climate), and also reckless and careless behaviour,
and the ripening of kamma that we have to experience.
Not all
illnesses are conditioned by kamma, but some are.
When
unwholesome kamma ripens, attaching spirits come and attach to that
part of the body. In this case, drugs and medicines do not work.
You
should share your merits, and dedicate them to the beings present.
Get the devas, the higher beings, to help and request the spirits to
move on. Sometimes the wrathful form is used.
When your body
is sick, do not let your mind get sick.
No matter how virtuous
we are, we are not free from diseases.
“Avoid evil, do
good, and purify one’s mind.”
Then when our body is
sick, our mind need not be sick.
Venerable Mahinda completed
his address by chanting a blessing and guided several minutes of
mindfulness meditation.
He said, remember: “Whatever is
of the nature to arise, is of the nature to cease.” (And so it
is with illness.)
The next speaker was Lama Choedak Rinpoche,
who spoke on the role of greed, aversion and delusion in ill
health.
He said “Health is not the absence of illness. It
is the absence of negative thoughts.”
The body starts
ageing, and sagging, from a long time of being in the world, from
over use. Even if you look after it, it ages over time.
Attachment
to youth and good physical health deprives us of happiness.
Greed,
aversion and delusion are not our nature, but if we don’t guard
our minds, it is easy to become afflicted with them. Greed, hate and
ignorance are the root cause of all unhappiness, including physical
illness.
We hold negativities for so long over something in
our past.
You can have health insurance policies, but if you
allow greed, aversion and delusion to grow from year to year, there
is no greater danger to your health. Nobody really wants them.
Lama
Choedak asked the audience: “Put your hand up if you want greed,
hate and ignorance!”
It is only our unconsciousness of
greed, hate and ignorance that allows them to impregnate our
mind.
Be fearful of being complacent enough to let greed, hate
and ignorance grow.
The role of meditation is that only when
we conscientiously guard our mind can we keep greed, hate and
ignorance at bay. For example, anger is one wrong thought gone too
far.
Very unconsciously, people allow themselves to be angry
over trivial matters, not seeing them as trivial.
Emotional
outbursts damage our relationships, which may never be the same again
afterwards.
The other person did not know you were armed with
anger. Anger creates knife points. Anger feels righteous. People feel
very self-righteous when they get anger.
Anger is like bombs
that harm all around. Weapons are ideas of anger put into form as
weapons.
Our disease is manufactured by our own
anger.
Meditation puts a bar on the mind from being invaded by
desire, anger and delusion during that time.
Some medication
can have more side effects than benefits. We must learn meditation as
a mind tool, self-discipline.
Before executing deeds, thoughts
or speech, check – is it afflicted with greed, hate or
ignorance?
Look for opportunities to watch your mind. Is it
holding the hand of anger, desire or ignorance? You must know your
own mind.
“Behave” means: how we shall “be”
so we shall “have”.
Consciously choose to tune the
mind, but not to the stations of greed, hate, the ABC, ignorance or
JJJ, but to a frequency that is free of these
defilement's.
Sometimes you lose the station easily –
there is a lot of transmission out there. Greed, hate and ignorance
do not require any intelligence.
All beings have their share
of kamma and delusion, but the worst of all are greed, hate and
ignorance. The relationship between greed, hate and ignorance is
interesting. Anger is the result of unaccomplished desire. Most wrong
actions are consummated when we are asleep. Greed, hate and ignorance
kill our sense of conscience. We have not thought of consequences ten
years later, or even one week later.
Like a person who walks
off a cliff. There are pills for everything. But have you seen a pill
for happiness?
When you meditate, you get to meet your
defilement's. You sit and your legs hurt, and you get aversion.
Aversion does not say “Hello! I am aversion!”
You
get pain in your legs, and then you get aversion. Then you say, “Yes,
meditation is good. But I will leave it to the others to do that. I
think I will go and do tai chi” or “I have had enough of
the meditation bit, where is the fast-forward Buddhism?” You get
ill will towards the early morning, ill will towards quiet people,
and ill will towards meditation.
Buddha, under the Bodhi Tree,
met his defilements. He resolved to meet all defilements, to sit
until he became fully enlightened. Maras came, but he overcame them
with the altruistic motivation to become enlightened for the sake of
all beings.
Defilements are clever. They say, “He is not
looking – now!” But defilements are not beings waiting to
get you. They come because of your unawareness. It is like being
blind – you do not know where you are walking.
People do
not realize their mental patterns or defilments. We change jobs or
relationships, but we carry our mental culture with us and project it
onto others, indifferent to the real situation. We think we left it
behind with our old situation, but we do not, we take it with
us.
When mind can subordinate the body, we can subordinate the
transient nature of pain. Meditation helps to harmonize the elements
in the body. Greed can be replaced by generosity or compassion or
gratitude for what we have.
Cultivate gratitude for what you
already have. “If you cannot enjoy what you already have, why
crave more?”
When you meditate, just want for a quiet
weekend. Stop wanting to see miracles, or past lives, when you can
hardly handle the one you already have? That is craving. So in
meditation you meet your defilements.
The final speaker for
the evening was Dr. Ian Gawler who said in the beginning minutes of
his presentation:
“To commit not a single unwholesome
action,
Cultivate a wealth of virtue,
And attain this mind of
ours.”
By “ours”, the Buddha indicated the airhost
sitting around him.
Dr. Gawler presented a series of slides of
his Center while explaining how the spiritual element of his work was
vital.
He said that even if a person with cancer is not able
to overcome their illness, in his experience, by looking at the
spiritual side of their nature a patient died more contented.
Following the presentations, the three speakers formed a
panel to answer questions provided in writing from members of the
audience. Dr. Ranjith Hettiarachi who also participated in providing
responses to some of the questions chaired the panel session.
The
first question was: How can you explain congenital
deformities?
Venerable Mahinda noted:
We are born with
kamma that conditions our present. Major and minor defects result
from kamma. Some things were done in the past and we can not avoid
them. Our past conditions the present, and our present conditions the
future.
Lama Choedak Rinpoche commented that:
The label
of disability is only a relative term – if the disabled person
can learn to do things that able people cannot, they appreciate those
things more than able people, and appreciate it more. We should
remember that we will also lose our ability. We need to transcend our
aversion to our disability.
A 12th century Tibetan Master
said: “How wonderful when I am ill if I have the right attitude,
for it exhausts my negative kamma. When I am well, if I have the
wrong attitude, then what am I doing?”
Even the able body
will soon be buried. Both are heading for the same place. What
matters is what is done with the mind before death.
The next
question asked: “What do I do if I am interested in Buddhism,
but I find meditation too confronting?”
Venerable Mahinda
responded:
Visit a meditation Centre and do some useful
service like sweeping a path or gardening. Slowly, as you build
merit, and then you will develop from there.
Our Teacher, John
D. Hughes, asked the question: “Is there any healing without the
citta (mind) being involved?”
Dr. Ian Gawler replied
first:
It is a case of the difference between the relative and
the absolute. There is little doubt that physical illness can be
fixed. If you get a broken leg, you go to the hospital and get it
fixed. But there can also be deeper causes. Cancer demands that
people commit the whole range of their being, including emotional and
spiritual.
Venerable Mahinda then replied to the question
stating:
I have come across certain cases where certain
disease may arise, and without trying to get rid of it, it goes away
by itself. When I was young, I had a skin problem. I tried many ways
of fixing it. I stopped trying to fix it and it went away.
We
can see how when such kamma ripens, it takes its course, so we don’t
have to use the mind. This is the only case I can think of.
Dr.
Hettiarachi added:
We often get cancer patients with “death
sentences”. A doctor has told them that they have 3 months or 6
months to live. Such doctors should not practice medicine. We should
condition the patient’s mind to fight that illness.
The
whole practice of mindfulness is to subordinate the five senses so
that the mind can develop.
The final question to the panel
was: “Why did Buddhism disappear in India?”
Lama
Choedak answered that:
It did not disappear totally. Some
areas are strong, such as Ladakh, the Kashmir Valley, Sikkhim and
Assam. However, most disappeared due to historical Muslim invasion,
but there are many forms of religious practice in India.
All
is impermanent, including Buddhism in India, but it is being revived
now. Thousands of students from the West are going there. Indians are
also coming to the Maha Buddhist Society. Many great Indians are
championing the propagation of Buddha Dhamma in India, but many see
themselves as Hindus. It is not correct to say that Buddhism
disappeared totally in India. Many in India are now restoring lost
Sanskrit texts from Tibetan back into Sanskrit.
India hosted
great celebrations for the 2500th Buddhist era year, at which time
Versak was declared a holiday. There is a lot of scholarship in India
now, but it is a strong Hindu and Muslim country, so Buddhism is not
so eager to get a chunk of India.
His Holiness the Dalai
Lama’s presence in India is seen as propagation, but this is not
his intention, which is just to make our human life more meaningful
by developing human qualities.
Dr. Hettiarachi
added:
Traditional India criticized Buddhism for giving equal
status to women and its criticism of the caste system which was
firmly established there at the time. This may have been one reason
for Buddhism's demise In India.
This concluded the evening
symposium.
We thank the Buddhist Foundation (Victoria)
Australia, Dr. Ranjith Hettiararchi and all those who assisted for
organizing the evening and the speakers for their valuable
teachings.
May you preserve your emotional and physical
health.
May you prevent all emotional and physical ill health.
May you alleviate all emotional and physical ill health.
May
you experience loving kindness and compassion in your life.
May
you avoid evil, do good, and purify your own mind.
May you be
well and happy.
This script was written and edited by
Julian Bamford, Leanne Eames, Evelin Halls, David Ley and Lainie
Smallwood.
References:
1. Girimananda Sutta, Discourse
to Girimananda Thera, translated from the Pali by Piyadassi Thera,
for free distribution only, at:
http://www.buddhistinformation.com/ida_b_wells_memorial_sutra_library/girimananda_sutta.htm,
accessed 5/9/03
2. www.bfvaust.org/BuddhaBrochure_view.pdf,
accessed 5/9/03
3. Itipithaw Ghahtar - Nine Noble Virtues of
the Buddha, translated by Kyaw Myaing, at:
http://www.ayezay.com/itipithaw.htm
4.
http://www.vri.dhamma.org/newsletters/pnl0307.html, accessed 5/9/03
Counts
Words: 3721
Characters:
18643
Paragraphs: 182
Sentences: 274
Averages Sentences per
paragraph: 1.7
Words per Sentence: 13.0
Characters per word:
4.8
Readability Statistics
Passive Sentences: 11% or 30.1
sentences
Flesch Reading Ease score: 58.5
Flesch-Kincaid Grade
Level score: 8.3
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