Buddhist Hour

Script No. 388

Broadcast live on Hillside 88.0 FM

on Sunday 3 July 2005CE   2549 Buddhist Era

This script is entitled:

Meditation on the Three Hindrances to Refuge Part II

On last week's program we introduced a Buddhist training which is neccessary to advance along the  Noble-Eightfold path; taking refuge in the Triple Gem. This means to rely on the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha, his teachings, and his followers as the sole support of your spiritual life.

The following definitions from the Buddhist dictionary of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha will help you, our listener, to gain a greater understanding of these holy objects of refuge, The Triple Gem.

Samma-Sambodhi refers to 'Perfect Enlightenment'. Universal Buddha-hood is the state attained by a Universal Buddha (Samma-Sambuddha). One by whom the liberating Law (Dhamma) which had become lost to the world, has again been discovered, realised and clearly proclaimed to the world.

"Now, someone, in things never heard before, understands by himself the truth, and he therein attains omniscience, and gains mastery in the powers. Such a one is called a Universal Buddha, or Enlightened One.

The doctrine characteristic of all the Buddha's, and each time re-discovered by them and fully explained to the world, consists of the four noble truths of Suffering, its Origin, its Extinction and the Way to its extinction.

The Dhamma, as the liberating law discovered and proclaimed by the Buddha, is summed up in these four noble truths. It forms one of the three Gems and one of the ten recollections. In essence it is the doctrine taught by all Buddha's of the past, present and future.

The Sangha is the name given to the Community of Buddhist Monks, Nuns and practising lay persons. As the third of the Three Gems or Jewels and the Three Refuges it applies to the ariya-sangha, the four noble ones, the Stream-winner, etc.

Without refuge in the Triple Gem, it is not possible to reach the goal of Buddhism, to become fully enlightened.

As sentient beings who have wandered in Samsara for countless eons we have collected vast amounts of kamma, some good and some bad. Therefore, it is very possible that in the past we have created hindrances and obstacles preventing our refuge in the Triple Gem. These obstacles, can for some persons, make having faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, a very difficult thing to do.

Seeing this, Master John D. Hughes of the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd., introduced his students to a clear path that detailed how to remove such obstacles to result in developing deep refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. He taught with such great skill and compassion that we would now like to offer you, our audience, his teaching.

If you tuned into last weeks program, you will remember that it ended in the following way:

We've got to put in refuge in Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha on every level. That means we've got to put it in on four rupa jhanas, and we've got to put it in on five arupa jhanas. Now, in each of those jhanic levels, those absorption levels, for example sphere of nothingness, has got eighteen levels. Sunyata has got eighteen different levels. We've got to put refuge in Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha on each level.

Robyn, you've get to put in Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha in first rupa jhana, second rupa jhana, third rupa jhana and fourth rupa jhana. Fourth body, right. We put it up there in this one, this one, this one and this one, right. We've got to have refuge in Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha. Put into every jhana level. If you take in the subdivisions, there's fifty-two different levels from first jhana, like if you count subdivisions. So you've get to put in strong refuge in Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha in fifty-two different levels. Four rupa jhanas, five arupa jhanas including cessation of consciousness one, because if we leave any bands open when we get onto that band our practice stops because we haven't got refuge in Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha and the mind doesn't quite know what to do next.

It's like saying, say you had a house with four rooms and you had some ritual notion that you could only practice meditation in one room. If your mind had that idea, in that room you would, you know...these things have got nothing to do with Buddhism of course, Buddha didn't have these, when you are in that room you would be alright, because you'd be Buddho, Buddho, all this business, your meditation would be guarded by eighty four million devas, I gave you that protection chord. Got on?. I fixed up Nick. Then if we say, we walk into, say the other three rooms of the house, no refuge there, can't practice.

So since we walk around we never know from one second to another what jhana we would be in next. Like I was with Phra Thawin just before Christmas and this car ran into my car. Did two and a half grands worth of damage. I wasn't hurt, I'm pretty well protected.  Phra Thawin cracked rib. So I just went up, sent loving kindness to the guy so he wouldn't get hurt, the other guy I hit. It was all right, automatic. But if we've got any levels without deep refuge of Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha and we lob in that level that is where Mara will attack us. Negative forces come.

Now in long past, in former lives we've been up into all sorts of levels. I mean, for example, when we took birth in heaven worlds in the past we've been in these rupa jhanas, they're the frequency of heaven worlds and in many times we are in heaven world we're just having a fun time, you know,  fooling around, very enjoyable, but didn't have refuge. So sometimes when we get into access of certain jhanas some sanna, some memory comes ...Oh, I remember when I did this or did that, recollection of past lives or something, and we lob in place and then we start to repeat the practice of that life. Because in those lives we weren't practicing the Middle Path. Like if we had we would have finished long time ago.

So we got to get refuge in Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha whatever level we're in and then with that refuge automatically Dhamma, we're taught Dhamma doesn't matter what we go into. So if you can see, say you've got refuge across five or six jhanas, different states of consciousness, there's a hundred and twenty one states altogether, at different frequencies, like if you work them out you can get a thousand and eight combinations quite easily, so we have got to put in a thousand and eight types of refuge.

Now if we come to one point of some certain combinations, when we get this Abhidhamma book from Thailand we'll go into some of these combinations in detail, if we are sitting with our teacher and then we happen, our mind happens to go into one frequency or another suddenly we start to think "Oh this Teacher is giving us the irks" or "this Teacher shouldn't be teaching this, should be teaching that" And then we are creating negative kamma. You know, maybe your Teacher is Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, you don't know, maybe. That's for you to find out.

So, if you get like that and you put up blocks, because you haven't got refuge in Buddha Dhamma Sangha, like, your real teacher is sitting inside that body of yours, in ultimate analysis. It just seems like this one's out here that's all.

So if you get negative towards teacher then you are cut, making it more difficult for yourself to practice in future time because when you get on that same frequency again the negativity will arise and you'll have to conquer that before you can practice.

As some of you realise now, um, like some of you know who, Robyn's nature but, some of you wouldn't know a Bodhisattva if you fell over one, so you never know who you're talking to. So it's important to get that refuge.

Now, to get a deeper refuge you've got to come to the understanding of what the Buddha, the epithets of the Buddha or the attributes of the Buddha. There's different kinds of Buddhas, there's silent Buddhas, we talk about a Sammasamabuddha, a Buddha enlightened by himself like Shakyamuni Buddha.

So, we come to understand what the, the Buddha's special powers and attributes of Buddha. If your mind can understand this, the greatest human being you've ever met relative to the Buddha, is very small for their qualities. The qualities of the Buddha, we don't worship Buddha, that is totally wrong. That is, that would be ritual which Buddha says don't do.

Now, if you can get your minds bright, brighten your minds, you'll come to understand. Now, with Nick the other night we used a Manjushri corrected by Buddha and sure enough Nick, your mate came up, other young prince came up the next night I was teaching him exactly the same. These two have got kammic connections, two young princes. Also been many other horrible things too. (Laughs)

Alright. Now, the simple statement you read in texts, your mind has got to brighten and understand what we are talking about. We're not talking about small things, we're talking about Buddha characteristics. Buddha is one who has attained wisdom. What sort of wisdom? Unsurpassed. No one is wiser than Buddha. Buddha has taught only a fraction of what he knew, all he taught was enough to get people out of trouble. But Buddha's wisdom is absolutely beyond measure. No-one has Buddha's wisdom. Buddha's compassion, very great. Greater than Bodhisattva's compassion. Bodhisattvas can get correction from Buddha. With Dhamma eye, this one. Dhamma eye. Buddha will help correct if any error, very slight error in Dhamma eye sometimes. Buddha will fix.

The threefold knowledge of the Buddha, consists of knowledge of one's own former births. Many of you have already been able to do this. Not too hard to get knowledge of former births. Knowledge of the disappearance and reappearance of other beings, not so difficult to know. What was that person this life, where was born, where will go next, instant by instant you can see.

Knowledge that achieves the total eradication of passions, Buddha knows. Now those knowledges are not, they're not arbitrary, they're not incomplete, they are absolutely complete. They are full knowledges. There's some other knowledges that Buddha's got that no one else but Buddha has perfectly.

The Wisdom of a Buddha is explained in many ways. For example, his Wisdom is, this is in Mahayana texts, considered to be the eleventh kind of knowledge. Which should be added to the generally accepted ten-fold knowledge. Now, then ten fold knowledge, is knowledge regarding conventional things, that might be how does a transistor work, Buddha would know. What's the chemical composition of the tobacco, Buddha would know. In other words all sciences Buddha knows. All science yet to be invented, Buddha knows. All conceivable science, Buddha knows. Conventional things, Buddha knows. You can actually do meditation on, from sphere of infinite knowledge you'll attain a lot of knowledges, that's one of the arupa jhanas, but Buddha's got greater knowledge than that.

Knowledge regarding the kamma dhatu the, sphere of craving, lust if you like, attachment, Buddha knows. Concerning rupa, meaning body and arupa not body, dhatu, these are spheres of existence, types of consciousness. Many of you can enter, I know.

Knowledge of evil, normally translated as unwholesomeness. Knowledge of dukkha, negative kamma. Knowledge of the cause of evil, in precise detail. Knowledge of how to annihilate evil, how to destroy unwholesomeness. This is, knowledge of the way of other's thoughts, you can read other's thoughts you know, exactly. Knowledge of the eradication of defilements and knowledge of ceasing of the arising of defilements. And knowledge of seeking into things as they are, in other words to see things as they actually are. Like, yatha bhutum in Pali meaning free of personal bias, to see things as they are.

You sit in nirvana, of course you see just five groups coming and going. But the Buddhas considered to have an eleventh kind of knowledge, those knowledges arahants have got, those ten knowledges, Buddha's considered to have an extra knowledge. So the, in another Chinese text, that wisdom of the Buddha is considered to be a four-fold knowledge. Knowledge which has made clear the cause of Dhamma. Many of you do, although you practice Dhamma, you see many things over the years, what is the cause of Dhamma. If you can find the cause of Dhamma you'll find the Buddha. Knowledge of the time, Buddha knows why the psyscho-synchronization of events happen when they do, not easy to see at all that one. The features of Dhamma Buddha knows, skillful means the Buddha knows. And what is to be taught and what was not to be taught, Buddha has all knowledge and only teaches, if you've study texts you'll see, there are fourteen questions Buddha wouldn't answer, not that he didn't know the answer but he said it's not fruitful for the cessation of suffering. So knowing what's fruitful to teach and what is not fruitful to teach.

Buddha's, in the same text, the wisdom of Buddha's four characteristics; of no attachment, of not being hindered, of not falling into fallacies, of not being retrograde, in other words of never running backwards, on every jhana. Buddha on 52 different levels, has got all these things. Now, if you have done a lot of meditation you'll realise that up in arupa jhanas certain types of knowledges come and when you go down to rupa jhana, say first rupa jhana, first level, you can only bring down maybe 1 millionth of what you learnt in high jhana. But Buddha has characteristic of being able to hold on all bands. Something that no one else but a Buddha can do. Very interesting.

Now, Buddha attains knowledge of the essential nature of all Dhammas. Phenomenal, that's you know, worldly, lokiya if you know pali. And transcendental which is lokutara if you know pali. All of them. We can come to  arahant, nirvana, without that knowledge. We just need some knowledge and we get nirvana. Arahant, Buddha, look at difference.

The self confidence of the Buddha is explained as being four-fold, and his super-human powers. He's got six-fold psychic knowledge which some of you have got. Celestial eye, celestial ear, and so on, telepathy,  some of you've got. And ten-fold knowledge power.

The super, the Buddha has five eyes, physical eye, ajana eye, you know this one, celestial eye, Dhamma eye and Buddha eye. Only Buddha has Buddha eye. Best we can do is fully developed Dharma eye which is excellent, but. The Buddha is superior to all other beings in seven matters; his body is superior, his living is superior, his wisdom is superior, his virtue is superior, his practice is superior, his mystery is superior, in other words his penetration of understanding is superior, and his deliverance is superior.

So superiority in body means the Buddha has the thirty two major characteristics and eighty minor characteristics of a great being. Some of you I've taught because I touched ajana, develop ajana spot here. I told you to keep down so, won't get too lumpy.  Mahoney didn't of course, his is out here. That is one of the marks of a great man.

If you can brighten your mind and try and understand the magnitude of Buddha's achievement, for yourself, not hearsay, not because I say so or if you read in text. If you can brighten and meditate on the characteristics of Buddha, as your mind becomes educated by itself, into knowledge of Buddha, then when you take refuge in Buddha Dhamma Sangha, no worship, your refuge will get deeper. And when that's done enough, you'll come to understand that although the Buddha doesn't take any rebirth, finish, Buddha is still in existence. That is one way of saying, somehow.

Under the Bo tree in Sri Lanka, very strong feeling of Buddha. When I was in Bangladesh I was meditating, Buddha had walked around there, I saw one of his, after, what do we say after birth after death, bodies, whatever you like, something like that? I could see with vision outside.

So, if you meditate like that you'll come to, the mind will come to understand Buddha's characteristics, and then, when you take refuge in Buddha Dhamma Sangha, you'll get deeper refuge, and then, automatically, your practice will become more guarded. Because, and those blessing cords I gave some of you, eighty four million protectors you've got.

So as the refuge gets deeper you'll, you'll actually know what the flavour of Buddha is. You'll know what his vibe is if you like, for yourself. Now we get this through meditation. Whatever your mind thinks is Buddha attribute, it is too limited, so gently sweep it aside and look again. Your mind is narrow. You get an idea of Buddha. Gently sweep it aside, behind that delusion will come one brighter. You'll know when you're going in the right direction because you get energy. Energy of Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha comes strong. And then instead of using that energy for a trip, recollect qualities of Buddha. Now, the devas will help you if you go up to, say, third or fourth rupa jhana, go up to deva world. If you've got celestial eye go and chat to the devas, they know one thousand epithets of the Buddha. But their knowledge is limited too. If you practice like this you will get stronger and stronger understanding of Buddha nature.

Then you take refuge in Buddha, and that refuge brings about bright mind, and that bright mind of course has got guarding characteristics of Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha. And therefore your practice  moves with ease, in other words you're happy.  You can practice a million times better with ease, without much trouble. Simply by recollection of attributes of Buddha, don't, don't let your mind hold onto anything you hear about Buddha, anything you've read about Buddha, that's hearsay, you've got to discover for yourself. So try that.

You take rest now, I think. Have a rest.

You are protected by requesting the Buddha to be the ultimate refuge and teacher, by requesting the Dhamma to be the path for transcending fears through practicing the meaning of what he taught, and by requesting the Sangha to be companions who guide you along the path.

Taking refuge is the foundation of all practices. By simply taking refuge you plant the seed of liberation within yourself. You distance yourself from all the negative actions you have accumulated and develop more and more positive actions. Ultimately, refuge will lead you to the state of Buddhahood.

May all obstacles and hindrances to taking refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha be removed with ease for all beings.

May all beings devote themselves earnestly to taking refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha for it's benifits are immeasureable.

May all beings come to know, each for himself of herself, the attributes of the Buddha.

May all beings attain the Buddha way.

This script was written and prepared by Alec Sloman, Anita Hughes, Frank Carter and Lainie Smallwood.

References

Recording Title: Refuge and the Three Hinderances to Refuge

Tape 1, Side 1 (no side 2)

Teacher: John D. Hughes

Date of recording: 06/07/1984

Transcribed by Frank Carter

Checked by:

CD Reference: 06_07_84T1S1A

File Name I:\06_07_84T1S1A_JDHtranscribe.rtf

www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/tisarana.html

Buddhist Dictionary, Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines by Nyanatiloka

The Light of Wisdom Root Text by Padmasambhava, Commentary by Jamgon Kongtrul the Great

The Words of My Perfect Teacher, Patrul Rinpoche

Document Statistics.

Word count: 3,562