questions without answers

Looking out my window

2009-10-31T15:41:00.000-07:00

Gioi thieu Dai Hoi Quán Âm

2009-10-31T08:40:00.001-07:00

i a movie star

2009-10-29T16:24:00.001-07:00

Te Wāhi Whānau - The Birth Place in Second Life

2009-10-28T14:26:00.001-07:00

Mac vs. PC in Second Life!

2009-10-28T14:18:00.001-07:00

Teaching on Je Tsongkhapa's Guru Yoga (Gaden Lhagyama) 2 - by Tsem Tulku Rinpoche

2009-10-20T13:30:00.001-07:00

2009-10-17T22:18:00.001-07:00

The Eighteen Bodhisattva Root Downfalls
(1) Praising ourselves and/or belittling others

This downfall refers to speaking such words to someone in an inferior position. The motivation must contain either desire for profit, praise, love, respect, and so on from the person addressed, or jealousy of the person belittled. It makes no difference whether what we say is true or false. Professionals who advertise that they are Buddhists need to take care about committing this downfall.

(2) Not sharing Dharma teachings or wealth

Here, the motivation must be specifically attachment and miserliness. This negative action includes not only being possessive of our notes or tape recorder, but also being stingy with our time and refusing to help if needed.

(3) Not listening to others' apologies or striking others

The motivation for either of these must be anger. The first refers to an actual occasion when yelling at or beating someone and either that person pleads for forgiveness, or someone else begs us to stop and we refuse. The latter is simply hitting someone. Sometimes, it may be necessary to give rambunctious children or pets a smack to stop them from running into the road if they will not listen, but it is never appropriate or helpful to discipline out of anger.

(4) Discarding the Mahayana teachings and propounding made-up ones

This means to reject the correct teachings about some topic concerning bodhisattvas, such as their ethical behavior, and to make up in their stead a plausible yet misleading instruction on the same subject, claim it to be authentic, and then teach it to others in order to gain their following. An example of this downfall is when teachers who are eager not to scare away prospective students condone liberal moral behavior and explain that any type of action is acceptable so long as it does not harm others. We need not be a teacher to commit this downfall. We can commit it even in casual conversation with others.

(5) Taking offerings intended for the Triple Gem

This downfall is to steal or embezzle, either personally or through deputing someone else, anything offered or belonging to the Buddhas, Dharma, or Sangha, and then to consider it as ours. The Sangha, in this context, refers to any group of four or more monastics. Examples include embezzling funds donated for building a Buddhist monument, for printing Dharma books, or for feeding a group of monks or nuns.

(6) Forsaking the holy Dharma

Here the downfall is to repudiate or, by voicing our opinions, cause others to repudiate that the scriptural teachings of the shravaka (nyan-thos), pratyekabuddha (rang-rgyal), or bodhisattva vehicles are the Buddha's words. Shravakas are those who listen to a Buddha's teachings while they are still extant, while pratyekabuddhas are self-evolving practitioners who live primarily during dark ages when the Dharma is no longer directly available. To make spiritual progress, they rely on intuitive understanding gained from study and practice conducted during previous lives. The teachings for both of them collectively constitute the Hinayana, or "modest vehicle" for gaining personal liberation from samsara. The Mahayana vehicle emphasizes methods for attaining full enlightenment. Denying that all or just certain scriptures of either vehicle derive from the Buddha is a root downfall.

Maintaining this vow does not mean forsaking a historical perspective. Buddha's teachings were transmitted orally for centuries before being committed to writing, and thus corruptions and forgeries undoubtedly occurred. The great masters who compiled the Tibetan Buddhist canon certainly rejected texts they considered inauthentic. However, instead of basing their decisions on prejudice, they used the seventh-century Indian master Dharmakirti's criterion for assessing the validity of any material - the ability of its practice to bring about the Buddhist goals of better rebirth, liberation, or enlightenment. Stylistic differences among Buddhist scriptures, and even within a specific text, often indicate differences in time when various portions of the teachings were written down or translated into different languages. Therefore, studying the scriptures through methods of modern textual analysis can often be fruitful and does not conflict with this vow.

(7) Disrobing monastics or committing such acts as stealing their robes

This downfall refers specifically to doing something damaging to one, two, or three Buddhist monks or nuns, regardless of their moral status or level of study or practice. Such actions need to be motivated by ill will or malice, and include beating or verbally abusing them, confiscating their goods, or expelling them from their monasteries. Expelling monastics, however, is not a downfall if they have broken one of their four major vows: not to kill, especially another human being; not to steal, particularly something belonging to the monastic community; not to lie, specifically about spiritual attainments; and to maintain complete celibacy.

(8) Committing any of the five heinous crimes

The five heinous crimes (mtshams-med lnga) are (a) killing our fathers, (b) mothers, or (c) an arhat (a liberated being), (d) with bad intentions drawing blood from a Buddha, or (e) causing a split in the monastic community. The latter heinous crime refers to repudiating the Buddha's teachings and monastic institution, drawing monastics away from them, and enlisting them in one's own newly founded religion and monastic tradition. It does not refer to leaving a Dharma center or organization - especially because of corruption in the organization or its spiritual teachers - and founding another center that still follows Buddha's teachings. Moreover, the term sangha in this heinous crime refers specifically to the monastic community. It does not refer to "sangha" in the nontraditional usage of the term coined by Western Buddhists as an equivalent of the congregation of a Dharma center or organization.

(9) Holding a distorted, antagonistic outlook

This means to deny what is true and of value - such as the laws of behavioral cause and effect, a safe and positive direction in life, rebirth, and liberation from it - and to be antagonistic toward such ideas and those who hold them.

(10) Destroying places such as towns

This downfall includes intentionally demolishing, bombing, or degrading the environment of a town, city, district, or countryside area, and rendering it unfit, harmful, or difficult for humans or animals to live in.

(11) Teaching voidness to those whose minds are untrained

The primary objects of this downfall are persons with the bodhichitta motivation who are not yet ready to understand voidness. Such persons would become confused or frightened by this teaching and consequently abandon the bodhisattva path for the path of personal liberation. This can happen as a result of thinking that if all phenomena are devoid of inherent, findable existence, then no one exists, so why bother working to benefit anyone else? This action also includes teaching voidness to anyone who would misunderstand it and therefore forsake the Dharma completely, for example by thinking that Buddhism teaches that nothing exists and is therefore sheer nonsense. Without extrasensory perception, it is difficult to know whether others' minds are sufficiently trained so that they will not misconstrue the teachings on the voidness of all phenomena. Therefore, it is important to lead others to these teachings through explanations of graduated levels of complexity, and periodically to check their understanding.

(12) Turning others away from full enlightenment

The objects for this action are people who have already developed a bodhichitta motivation and are striving toward enlightenment. The downfall is to tell them they are incapable of acting all the time with generosity, patience, and so on - to say that they cannot possibly become a Buddha and so it would be far better for them to strive merely for their own liberation. Unless they actually turn their aim away from enlightenment, however, this root downfall is incomplete.

(13) Turning others away from their pratimoksha vows

Pratimoksha, or individual liberation vows (so-thar sdom-pa), include those for laymen, laywomen, probationary nuns, novice monks, novice nuns, full monks, and full nuns. The objects here are persons who are keeping one of these sets of pratimoksha vows. The downfall is to tell them as a bodhisattva there is no use in keeping pratimoksha, because for bodhisattvas all actions are pure. For this downfall to be complete, they must actually give up their vows.

(14) Belittling the shravaka vehicle

The sixth root downfall is to repudiate that the texts of the shravaka or pratyekabuddha vehicles are the authentic words of the Buddha. Here, we accept that they are, but deny the effectiveness of their teachings and maintain that it is impossible to become rid of disturbing emotions and attitudes by means of their instructions, for example those concerning vipassana (insight meditation).

(15) Proclaiming a false realization of voidness

We commit this downfall if we have not fully realized voidness, yet teach or write about it pretending that we have, because of jealousy of the great masters. It makes no difference whether any students or readers are fooled by our pretense. Nonetheless, they must understand what we explain. If they do not comprehend our discussion, the downfall is incomplete. Although this vow refers to proclaiming false realizations specifically of voidness, it is clear that we need to avoid the same also when teaching bodhichitta or other points of Dharma. There is no fault in teaching voidness before fully realizing it, however, so long as we openly acknowledge this fact and that we are explaining merely from our present levels of provisional understanding.

(16) Accepting what has been stolen from the Triple Gem

This downfall is to accept as a gift, offering, salary, reward, fine, or bribe anything someone else has stolen or embezzled, either personally or through deputing someone else, from the Buddhas, Dharma, or Sangha, including if it belonged only to one, two, or three monks or nuns.

(17) Establishing unfair policies

This means to be biased against serious practitioners, because of anger or hostility toward them, and to favor those with lesser attainments, or none at all, because of attachment to them. An example of this downfall is to give most of our time as teachers to casual private students who can pay high fees and to neglect serious students who can pay us nothing.

(18) Giving up bodhichitta

This is abandoning the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all. Of the two levels of bodhichitta, aspiring and involved, this refers specifically to discarding the former. In doing so, we give up the latter as well.

Occasionally, a nineteenth root downfall is specified:

(19) Belittling others with sarcastic verses or words

This may be included, however, in the first bodhisattva root downfall.

My morning practice

2009-10-17T11:08:00.001-07:00

JE TSONGKAPA’S YOGA
(Meditation, prayer and recitation method.)A method to increase Wisdom, Memory, Compassion, Patience and to Ward off Negative Energies, Spells and Spirits. With this practice, one makes a connection to Maitreya Buddha. It is Simple, Complete and Effective for today’s modern individual.

(Invocation)
From the heart of the Lord of the Ganden
Devas emerges a brilliant white cloud, like
a great mass of fresh yogurt. Atop sits
Tsongkapa all knowing, King of Dharma;
we request your coming to this place along with your great disciples.

(Prostration)
My lord Guru is seated before me upon a
lion-throne, lotus and moon cushion, His
body is white and he smiles blissfully.
Please remain many eons and serve as the great merit field for the growth of my mind’s faith, and for the increase of Lord Buddha’s teachings.

(Praises)
His omniscient wisdom-mind encompasses
all that is existent. His voice is a profound
teaching, which ornaments the ear of the
fortunate pupil. His body’s beautiful radiance evokes wondrous admiration. To Lama Tsongkhapa, whom merely viewing hearing or contemplating earns one great merit, I make prostration.

(Offering)
I present to you, great merit field,
Tsongkhapa, beautiful offerings, water, a
display of flowers, fragrant incense, butter-
lamps, perfumes and more both physical, and mental offerings, vast as the clouds and wide as the ocean.

(Confession)
The unwholesome actions of body, speech
and mind, which I have accumulated over
a measureless period, especially actions
contrary to the three vows, (Vinaya, Bodhisattva, Vajrayana) I regret extremely and from the depths of my heart, and I reveal each and every such action.

(Rejoice)
We totally rejoice in your magnificent
achievements, my Lord who received
numerous teachings and performed the
practices with utmost diligence, who abandoned the eight worldly objectives and made the most meaningful use of the eighteen opportune conditions during these degenerate times.

(Request to turn the wheel of Dharma)
All you Holy gurus, unerring in conduct,
may you precipitate a rain of realization
of Bodhicitta and Sunyata from the clouds
of all knowing compassion, which fills the Dharmakaya sky, providing for the field of disciples precisely what is needed.

(Requesting to remain)
May the Vajra body created from the
purity of clear light, free of the rising and
setting of cyclic existence but visible to
the ordinary viewer only in its unsubtle, physical form, stay on unchanging, without waning, until Samsara ends.

(Dedication)
May this merit accumulated by myself and
others, beneficially serve all sentient
beings and the Buddhadharma and
especially may the essential teachings of the unerring master Tsongkhapa, become clear and enduring.

(MIG-TSE-MA Mantra)
MIG-MEY TZE-WEY TER-CHEN CHENREZIG
DRI-MEY KHYEN-PI WANG-PO JAMPAL YANG
DU-PUNG MA-LU JOM-DZEY SANG-WEY DAG
GANG-CHEN KE-PEY TSUG-GYEN TSONGKAPA
LO-SANG TRAG-PEY SHAB-LA SOL-WA DEB

Dear worthy root Guru, please ascend the
lotus seat atop the head of myself and the
other beings, and in your great kindness
please remain with us. Bestow upon us the blessings of your body, speech and mind.

Precious, noble, root guru, please occupy
the lotus seat within our hearts and in
your great kindness remain with us. Please
grant us your blessings for our temporal success and for the supreme attainment.

Beloved, noble, root Guru, please occupy
the lotus seat within our hearts and in your
great kindness remain with us. Please stay
on until we achieve the great goal of enlightenment.

Someone sent me this in Second Life

2009-10-16T18:10:00.001-07:00

October 13, 2009

-----Set Free-----

Excerpt from Acts 5:17-26

As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. “Look, the men you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.”

-----Reflection by William C. Green-----

Divine intervention frees the apostles from prison. Religious authorities had put them there because they wouldn’t keep quiet. They kept teaching in the spirit of Jesus—and the people were often persuaded by what they taught.

We see here the two essential components of divine assistance: freedom and commandment. The apostles are let out of jail for a reason. They are to carry on God’s work. Faith is private. But ultimately it involves others and is meant to be shared. After all, that’s how we learned it—from parents, friends, colleagues, or church. We didn’t just dream up faith on our own anymore than did the apostles. And we, too, are called to pass it on.

It’s easy to get so used to feeling locked up by oppressive circumstances that we can’t believe the cell door has been opened. It’s our responsibility to get going and walk the talk of faith. This, then, becomes a lesson for others, too.

How am I, how are you, exercising this freedom and responsibility? How am I stuck when the only hindrance to moving on is me and my own self-imprisoning habits of doubt? What justice and dignity do I withhold from others by thinking I can’t do enough, or give enough, to make a difference? What are we teaching others by our own example? What do our lives say about God?

-----Prayer-----

Help us face these questions, God, knowing you will deliver us from what holds us back if we’ll take the first step. Amen.

-----About the Author-----
William C. Green has served in the local, Conference, and national settings of the United Church of Christ

Widget

2009-10-16T09:40:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween from Sukhavati

2009-10-14T16:57:00.001-07:00

Dr Dee Dee Freeman-Don't Settle For Less

2009-10-11T12:28:00.001-07:00

Nickelback - How You Remind Me (+ Lyrics)

2009-10-09T15:00:00.001-07:00

pay my rent and do the world a favor

2009-10-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

I am trying to work and make my own money, but my boss didn't pay me so I am about to be homeless.
No one wants to look at me, so you would really be doing the world a favor and me too of course if you could help me to stay in my leetle cave.
I need 125 a week. Its not much at all, I just need it like right now. I am at the end of my rope. I don't want to look at anyone else either right now.
I am working at home but money is slow. And I need to be sponsored at least another 5 weeks.

TILA TEQUILA'S DOG ONYX IS SICK OF HATERS!!!!

2009-10-01T15:25:00.001-07:00

Having fun and so busy

2009-09-21T09:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a very peaceful stress free day at the temple. There were a lot of people there and I get nervous in crowds, but everyone there like loves me a lot. I have been going there a year and we have been thru a lot.
I love them a lot.
I am offered a teaching position at Quan The Am temple too, and I am busy helping with a project in Second Life. It is called 3D Dharma Group Second Life. It was my idea but I am letting other people do most of the work. I just contribute some trees and advice.
But ryusho Ort built us a fabulous temple. And we have 5 mainland plots. In real life it would be a lot of land. I am not sure exactly but it would be more than what the real life Chua Phat To and ITC take up combined.
One set of parcels is like a park, and we have a hangout there. And then the one ryusho built for us is a traditional temple.
If you are interested in joining our group go to Sukotraz and look for the pretty little park right along route seven or IM Purity Sweetwater.
Right now SL is having issues so I can't post a Slurl.

Update: here is the SLURL http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sukotraz/119/164/69

My new Virtual World Experiment

2009-09-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

Resnik is over and I almost left Second Life. But I really believe in it as a teaching platform. So I have a few friends and we got together and bought a little land in Sukotraz. We are trying to keep tier to $15 per month and still have a nice gathering spot. The new group is the 3D Dharma Group.
Please visit us!
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sukotraz/89/165/70

closet

2009-09-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

Stuff is coming out of the closet in meditation and it is very scary. I always wanted to be celibate, my whole life. But now it is very hard. I have all of these fears. I come home alone last nite from temple and I had to walk like more than a mile late at nite. And it's so scary... I am going from a place where no one speaks my language to a place where i don't know anyone at all. It's very lonely and very terrifying. In my previous lives I lived in a community of nuns. I wasn't alone, travelling in the dark from my temple to my house. I don't think that nuns should live alone in the west. When I was at cttb the community was such a great part of the learning process. I would ask people questions non-stop. I kind of drove them crazy but i was on this selfless curious trip... actually I am still extremely curious.. I love to examine everything from every possible angle. I love to listen to people talk for hours.
Especially people from other cultures. Only one nun really indulged me in my listening addiction. She would sit and talk to me forever.
I loved it.
We got in a lot of trouble because people have hateful minds... but I learned so much about what it was like to be a Vietnamese refugee... and i loved it.
But today I a feeling so lonely because I am in this strange house and Water is acting so strange since I came back from northern cali.
He just stopped talking to me. And I dunno why, I think it has something to do with my endless curiousity... I ask him stupid questions and I think maybe he got sick of it. LOL
And the fact that i accidentally helped Nicole rip him off probably doesn't help.
I didn't know she was going to lie and cheat all those people.
I thought she was working for Dharma.
But I feel very lonely. Since he just stopped talking to me. Other people welcome me at their temples but i just have this attachment to him. I want to like be at one temple... but maybe i will stagnate if i just stick to one place. Maybe i should just open up my curiousity and go on a tour of Orange County Buddhist temples. There are a lot.
LOL
So why should I feel lonely?
I dunno, I just do and I wish I lived with people who shared my faith and belief system.

angelsdraft1 0001

2009-09-11T10:01:00.001-07:00

3d Episode 53

2009-09-11T09:13:00.001-07:00

3d Episode 51

2009-09-11T08:48:00.001-07:00

WTF IS GOING ON!!!

2009-09-06T16:27:00.001-07:00

Mariah Carey - Don't Forget About Us

2009-09-06T14:53:00.001-07:00

heal the world

2009-09-06T14:23:00.001-07:00

WHY?

2009-09-06T14:21:00.001-07:00