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For the last two weeks, we have been building a surround for a large Buddha Rupa Image.

This week, we have been constructing a walk-in wardrobe where we could store household linen, tablecloths, towels and other requisites needed by our Centre.

Appropriate ceremonies and offerings are needed for both minor works at our Centre.

Obviously, in both cases, the construction must meet local building regulations to make sure they are not likely to fall down, are rain-proof, wind-proof, have a good fire rating and are vermin proof.

We had to purchase standard materials.

Fortunately, our Centre has a reasonable supply of tools and some of our Members bring their own power tools and know how to use them together with safety equipment.

One of our Members is a qualified electrician.

These are practical things we need to make our Centre run smoothly.

We are blessed that we are practical enough to have Members who can do minor works to a commercial standard at our site.

This is an example of our Teacher's merit from past lives coming to help him develop our Centre this life without too much flurry and worry.

But very few other Buddhist Centres can operate in this practical manner in such a cost efficient manner. Many persons would like to come to what we have but they cannot do it.

Why is it so difficult to be practical in worldly matters?

Can it be taught? Should it be taught? If the answer is yes, by whom to whom?

The Encyclopaedia Britannica Yearbook of Science and the Future 2000 poses the following:

Looking over the millennia of recorded history, we are struck by the amazing consistency of human nature, by how little our drives and conduct have changed, by how powerfully the Greek tragedies and Shakespeare's plays still reach across the centuries to move us.

Nevertheless, people and social norms do change, just enough in each new period of history to make the behavior of our forebears seem startling, or at least a little puzzling.

Communication technology appears to be an important factor in this constant rearrangement and rebalancing of social processes.

Its effects will be such that, despite our smug certainty about our enlightened lifestyles and the correctness of our values, we assuredly will appear quite bizarre and opaque, if not utterly obtuse, to our great grandchildren. (1)

All human beings live a practical life driven by their 'kamma' (their past experience) and it was not so long ago that all the things around them served the practical life within their culture.

The notion of practicality is a function of the value system operating in a particular culture.

This practical life included various forms of art, trade and sport.

Blood sports, where animals or humans are killed, may have run their course for the time being.

Persons practicing blood sports called 'hunting' have always said it is a practical survival skill to be able to kill. Yet it is not considered sporting to put stunning poisons into a water hole and collect the stupefied fish. It requires no special skill and a five year old child or an old sick female is just as proficient as a male in his prime.

So, things that are easy and practical are sometimes outlawed.

Our Teacher told a story of Australian troops who fished water holes by exploding a hand grenade to stun the fish.

There is a need to hide the killing act under some practical ritual.

Things are sometimes so widely practiced they pass without analysis.

Another example, within the European culture, is of persons who sang composed music in their places of worship. Chanting in the Latin tongue served the practical use of teaching religious doctrine that went across national borders in the form of belief systems.

The difficulty is that ancient Latin, as opposed to ancient Greek, was very poor in its ability to translate logic terms. It is estimated in the Middle Ages in Europe, the average priest had a working vocabulary of 800 Latin words.

In those past times, as Andre Malraux observed, persons lived in a museum without walls, where a Gothic statue was a component of the Cathedral.

Similarly, a classical picture was tied up with the setting of the period, and not expected to consort with works of a different mood and outlook.

The art forms, the stained glass windows and frescoes were not viewed as practical articles of commerce that could be bought and moved elsewhere.

In those times, only persons wealthy enough, if they were so inclined, could go on a grand tour of Europe to see the art forms in the practical places.

Yet in those days a man who had seen the totality of European masterpieces was extraordinary.

Gautier saw Italy, with the exception of Rome, only when he was thirty-three; Hugo as a child; Baudelaire and Verlaine, never.

The same holds for Spain; for Holland rather less, as Flanders was relatively well known.

The eager crowds that thronged the Salons, composed largely of real connoisseurs, owed their art education to the Louvre.

Baudelaire never set eyes on the masterpieces of El Greco, Michelangelo, Masaccio, Piero della Francesca or Grunewald; or of Titan, or of Hals or Goya - the Galerie d'Orleans notwithstanding. (2)

Even in the world of religion, the notion of what is practical tends to change with time.

In this Dhamma-ending age, in Australia, religions are downgraded in the public workplace as having no relevance to work.

Unfortunately, some religions tend to use mass marketing promises and avoid the truth that the practice of religion is very difficult and that it is also difficult to achieve the insights that the religions hold.

The world has played a trick on many a religious practitioner. The practitioners are most often humanists, rarely scientists or engineers. They are drawn into the field because of their love of books, their love of knowledge, and their idealistic desire to contribute to the making of a better society.

With a quaint impractical streak, these practitioners still treasure some fields they choose, such as archeology or the study of the images and artefacts of religion, because it promised scholarship, reflection, and an absence of competitive pressures. They did not seek power or wealth, and they have been quite successful in not achieving either.

Their approach to management is at best wary, at worst openly hostile. Our teacher, finds this predisposition in many if not most of today's religious students.

Management, they instinctively feel, is a conspiracy to keep people from doing what they want to do and to make them do what somebody else wants. It is repressive, it is devious, it is undemocratic.

Feeling besieged, they wallow in self-pity, and blame politicians, the business community, and the general public for a materialistic and self-centred attitude under which the finer and nobler values are no longer appreciated.

That is a comfortable thesis - self proclaimed martyrdom is felt to be spiritually uplifting, but the difficulty from the Buddhist perspective is that this is the totally wrong approach. In fact it destroys and hinders spiritual development of a person because it does not follow the Middle Path.

How do we explain cultural change?

Its meaning is found in 'Kamma' which means 'action'. The resultant of that action tends to run our lives.

Our view of what is a practical job for us comes from our former action - our Kamma

By Action (Kamma) one becomes a farmer;
By Action one becomes a craftsman;
By Action one becomes a merchant;
By Action one becomes a servant;
By Action one becomes a thief too;
By Action one becomes a fighting man;
By Action one becomes a sacrificer;
By Action one becomes a King.

In this context, 'action' or 'kamma' is supposed to be the only cause of differences among human beings in the world.

Therefore 'kamma' is used to indicate all types of human activities in general. This view denies that men's and women's positions in the world are determined by birth or the will of a creator.

The Vasettha Sutta uses the term 'kamma' in the same context as mentioned above, to connote the spiritual and ethical dimensions of the term. 'Kamma' in the following verses may contain both meanings, ie; physical and ethical.

Some centuries ago, some of the Europeans involved in the grand tour generated a strong intention to wish that these various items, we term 'works of classical art', ought somehow come to their native country - and so planted the seeds where such objects could be seen as having commercial value.

To Asians in classical times, thinking about an art collection en masse is not in accordance with the noble purposes of viewing only one piece at a time in solitude, perhaps over a period of several months.

A painting was not exhibited, but unfurled before an art lover; its function was to deepen and enhance his or her communion with the universe.

In China, the full enjoyment of art works necessarily involved ownership, except where religious art was concerned.

This was thought to be a practical way to increase understanding.

In the Western world, the notion of art as something capable of being appreciated only by the connoisseur and those who could afford it has been transformed over the passage of time, has come to be regarded as a symbol of national prestige and pride.

Today, we think we are practical and successful if we assemble an exhibition of 40 pieces by a 'Grand Master', having a market value of several million dollars, within half an hour.

How did we come to the notion that this activity is practical? What end does it serve?

It is time to review our kammic drive to follow such commercial behaviour.

Let us examine the underpinnings of this notion of practicality.

Mastery of different things, using art and literature, using different skills and activities, can enable you to see the different options and other ways of seeing things as a way to question what your practical concerns are, like money, food and sex, and show how they all lead to suffering.

Without getting too pompous about things, remember to deal with a series of contradictions every day as 18th century culture transmitted through your family folklore collides with elegant fifth order knowledge arising from Buddha Dhamma insights.

Work on the assumption that whatever you say, there are about at least ten better solutions written down just waiting for you to read.

If anyone ever says to you things do not matter, just know they are talking first order rubbish and move on.

There is no single idea worth dying for but there are thousands of noble ideas worth living for.

If you spend your life being so narrow, then you are saying there is no better way to live except what you know now.

That is because what you think about as practical cannot withstand polarity tests.

When we are building something new and we meet with a spider, we do not kill it.

From its world, we have just smashed up its home.

Remember, the idea that you cannot find happiness building on the blood of other living creatures is probable to be sound in ecosystem preservation if any thing found in ecology is valid.

The very untidy nature of living in a supply chain management system gives you daily reminders of your lack of merit.

One example of this approach would be to run out of soap powder and use dish washing detergent in the washing machine even though it is bad for the machine.

Why do we need to make such a review?

We need to review the core value system operating in today's commercial culture and find it is probably the most sustainable culture in history and it is possible, as has been done over the last decade, to make the wealth of the world grow by a factor of ten.

Never has there been cause for so much optimism in the world as to realise that World War Three did not happen even with opposing super powers armed to kill on a large scale.

And the reason was that the human species really has an in-built practicality within its kammic stream.

It is much better to fight a token war by using the notion of Art as a view of national prestige than how many persons you kill.

Such inventions are useful in the practical sense, even if you cannot personally imagine how one oil painting could be worth $40 million.

It is cheaper than an aircraft carrier, is it not?

If you raised your awareness by a factor of a million or so, it would be possible to see such things with human benefit to our minds.

Your parents could not elaborate on the hidden warfare that keeps the world at peace by such well-thought out policies.

What your parents would consider practical and impractical are not factors that lead to success in Dhamma. What do our parents have to do with this?

Parents are your early teachers and they inculcate the early notion of what is practical and what is not.

Parents would say that chopping wood in the rain is impractical, but from a Dhamma perspective, what they would consider practical under those circumstances would prevent you from making merit.

The scope of the notion of practicality is limited by "conventional" thinking. This type of thinking is what drives the conventional notion of practicality and is guided by wrong view as there is no understanding of cause and effect.

Practicality is one of the five styles encouraged at our Centre. Through practicality, in the culture of our Centre, practicality revolves around the notion of allowing members to perform meritorious activities and often this is contrary to the conventional way of doing things.

For example, when we built the Eastern Gate, we all passed on two nails each to the builder to use in constructing the roof of the gate. Doing this allowed everyone to put in the causes of owning a house in the future. Anyone not initiated in the rationale for this behaviour would consider such an approach quite clumsy, but we operated with the correct view of cause and effect from the organisational viewpoint.

There is a habitual tendency to adopt a practical approach to problem solving, planning and going about daily activities.

Learning to live a less practical life comes about when you arrive at a broader view which recognises that there are other factors to consider in addition to conventional practicality.

The notion of what is practical has changed over time and so the context, including the value system culture of the time period in which it is being discussed, must be considered.

Notions of practicality revolve around the idea humans have of themselves. If a culture emphasises spiritual development as a core value then it is 'practical' to undertake activities which lead to spiritual development.

Why set up Learning Organisations?

Because learning disabilities in children are tragic; learning disabilities in organisations are disastrous. By borrowing the concepts of management disciplines you can articulate a conceptualised understanding of what we are, what we stand for and where we are going by using current managerial terminology.

What could be more practical than this?

How did we manage to cure some of our learning disabilities?

By encouraging Members to take not themselves, but their roles, very seriously.

By building a shared vision of our future, we have in fact already in place the cultural strategy for the next twenty years.

Practical things include the correct body posture with the spine upright, which can help your awareness to stay in the present.

Keeping your eyes open helps you stay alert "in the middle of the Teachings" to find the Empty you are looking for. You can prepare yourself for this approach wherever you are.

If the learning task is to meet the Teacher at the summit of a peak with a climbing rope having a series of knots in it, you would be wise not to stop to undo the knots as you climb the rope.

Reaching the summit in the time available does not require that you be curious about who put the knots in the rope, or why the knots are different.

The practical task is to climb, not undo the knots.

Australians have become a highly educated race through design and through a selective immigration program. In 1993, delegates from twelve nation members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) program visited Australia to investigate the quality and capacity for transfer of Australia's industrial and technical education training.

Australia has the practical opportunity to achieve a leading regional position in workplace education because it is linked with new delivery methods, using satellite and Australian-developed distance learning techniques.

A practical organisation exhibits six main educational features:

Assigned roles;
Internal interest groups;
Social stratification;
Shared beliefs;
Participation and communication; and
Dependencies. (Clancy, 1989)

Meditation with practical 'vision' is superior to the usual methods of study.

Our Centre's lemma is "Lifetimes of Learning".

A comprehensive science of life must account for the nature, as well as the variety, of human intellectual competencies.

In how many legitimate ways can phraseology be found to act as a useful guide to the layers of meaning of "learning"?

The one great heritage of past learning may be the ability to read as much into a text as the author intended and a greater ability would be to see implications of which the original author was barely aware.

This is one face of becoming practical with "Lifetimes of Learning".

Who would have guessed that the exertion of "learning" at least two prime subjects undertaken by Lord Buddha so long ago would hold value today?

We introduce two prime "subjects" for "learning": one stresses panna, the analytical device, and the other stresses sati, the concentrative device. Together they form satipanna.

Unless these two things are practiced together, then the lack of the Dhamma of satipanna will deny the novice results of his or her exertion without the practitioner realising that this is so.

Only when a person possesses any degree of Satipanna directing in the present is it possible to exert herself or himself constantly.

A person does not need to have a colloquium to test what satipanna credentials are present in learning; it can be perceived within the quality and quantity of the actions undertaken by the learned person.

Our contributors make essential use of their sati and their panna to untangle concepts which enable them to pick the particular expression to use within their Dhamma writings.

This is another face of "Lifetimes of Learning".

Now and in the future, writers must be coached to devise either technique or use a periapt or both to hold in mind and make it clear that entanglement includes working to uproot the kilesa (defilements), tanha (craving) and avijja (ignorance) of existence.

This is another face of "Lifetimes of Learning".

All advances upon the province of scholarly acumen declare that circumspection is needed in the selection of writing technique.

Some person's kammic traits incline them to scribble by habit.

From time to time, this editor receives interesting papers for publication but decides that they are outside the mandate of BDDR.

In general, the writings we do not publish may include references to some prior art or state of the art in some "subject matter" or "Buddhistic discipline" that, in part, we judge to be outermost from the boundaries of teaching patterns found within Buddha Dhamma investigation.

There are practical faces of "Lifetimes of Learning".

For example, recently this editor had a debate with a person who claimed that his practice of work as a vermin exterminator, especially cockroaches, was approved of by an overseas Buddhist Monk. Another person suggested publicity be given to such views.

Our approach is that within our "Lifetimes of Learning" knowledge we observe that "no killing" is one of the Buddha's major precepts (which cannot be changed) and not one of the minor precepts (which can be changed).

Although the Buddha distinguished between precepts which are major and which are minor, Ven. Ananda did not ask to chronicle specifically which precepts belong to which category. Confusion has subsequently arisen as to which precepts are major and which are minor.

Unless it is clear to us that what a person states to have witnessed in their own practice aligns with some of the plurality of the eight-fold exposition of Buddha Dhamma; we restrict their writing to a no-publication position.

For motivation, writers aspiring to chronicle Dhamma and give such chronicles as Dhamma Dana (the highest gift) need to tread Lord Buddha's path by holding a pledge to commit themselves to development of their sati and panna (or even better - satipanna) as their standard archetype for cultivation.

For a writer to keep this pledge in performance, day after day, not even stopping for imminent death, is another face of "Lifetimes of Learning".

One method for a pledged Buddha Dhamma writer to wake up is to think about the efforts and advertising manners of other writers in different subcultures whose task is to market or use dialectic about the pros and cons of a product in commerce.

It would be better to think of something commonplace and not too heroic, such as, for example, tobacco consumption.

The pledged Buddha Dhamma writer should think: "While thousands of players with high sati work hard every day, day after day, in many countries, generating much effort and spending millions of dollars arguing for or against tobacco issues - what am I doing?".

Then think: "Although tobacco may be an interesting enough topic, will all their efforts and writing either for or against tobacco help wake up these player's minds to the four Noble Truths?".

It is almost universally recognised, at least in theory, that central to the adult educator's function is a GOAL AND METHOD OF SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING. (J. Mezirow 1981)

Patricia Bizzell (1992) presents in her book Academic discourse and Critical Consciousness the study of "Nate" (1). This study clearly demonstrates one example how we are taught to abolish our own world view through the power of a dominant discourse community.

Nate had a masters degree and was already teaching composition studies at a university. He then decided to do postgraduate studies in the academic subgroup of social-science oriented composition researchers.

His professor did not accept Nate's expressivist, vivid, emotional and unique style of writing and Nate failed his first year of study.

The world view of Nate's professor clashed with Nate's way of writing.

To be successful, Nate abolished his style of writing to meet the standards of the more powerful institution.

The problem is that Nate did not only change his language but he now has a world view dictated by the institution.

His writing has become boring and the new world view has affected his choice of topics for his research program..

We all have many experiences like Nate.

Influenced by our parents, teachers, business, academicians, the government and so on, we easily adopt the world view of these cultures as our own, as the best way to do things. The powerful discourse communities colonise our thoughts because we allow it to override what we normally would do. Bizzell (1992) argues that not all discourse communities are equal because some have more power than others, and those who are powerful normally exercise that power and it becomes political.

For it to be possible to learn the Buddha Dharma, we must abolish our old culture in order to practise Buddha culture.

Most teachers we meet are not Buddha teachers.

True teachers of the Dharma want the student to become happy and bright. But if we cling to our old culture, which has been built up over countless lifetimes, we cannot truly understand Dharma and keep being stuck in the game of power. This kind of use of power which stops our creativity and stops us from learning the Dharma comes from beings that have no Buddha culture, and they do not want us to be bright and successful.

This use of power by imposing ideas upon others has to do with hate. For this reason, it is necessary for us to practise and give up hate because hate clouds our mind and hinders the study of the Buddha's teachings. It is crucial to come out of our accumulated false adopted views and come to the right view as taught by the Buddha.

May all beings be well and happy.

This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes, Maria Panozzo, Vincenzo Cavuoto, Julian Bamford, Pennie White, Clara Iaquinto, Evelin Halls and Leanne Eames.

References

1. Cegielski, C. (Ed) Encyclopaedia Britannica Yearbook of Science and the Future
2000. USA 1999.

2. Malraux, Andre 'The Voices of Silence'. Doubleday and Company Incorporated.
New York 1953



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