About me

This blog is created by a Buddhist living in Singapore. He embraces the Mahayana spirit of Bodhicitta, deeply respecting all Buddhist Traditions as expressions of Kindness guiding us on the path towards human perfection ~ Buddhahood.

He likes to post stuff that he had read or think is good to share here, sometimes he adds a little comments here and there... just sometimes..

ひらめき電球 Contact Me

Labels


“Sariputra, if there are people who have already made the vow, who now make the vow, or who are about to make the vow, ‘I desire to be born in Amitabha’s country,’ these people, whether born in the past, now being born, or to be born in the future, all will irreversibly attain to anuttarasamyaksambodhi. Therefore, Sariputra, all good men and good women, if they are among those who have faith, should make the vow, ‘I will be born in that country.’”

~ Amitabha Sutra

When I obtain the Buddhahood, any being of the boundless and inconceivable Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters whose body if be touched by the rays of my splendour should not make his body and mind gentle and peaceful, in such a state that he is far more sublime than the gods and men, then may I not attain the enlightenment.

~ Amitabha Buddha's Thirty-Third Vow

Monday, March 22, 2010

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

This documentary is shown in a 5-part playlist.





~End of Post~






--------------------------------------
Technorati:

Read more!

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

How Do You Feel?

Dzogchen Rinpoche suggests that perhaps it doesn’t matter that much

by GEMMA KEOGH

In the West we are often told that the key to our well-being is to understand our emotions, that inner balance can be realized through
being constantly “in touch” with our feelings. But His Eminence
the 7th Dzogchen Rinpoche, holder of the ancient Dzogchen lineage,
disagrees. He teaches that this approach could actually be doing us more harm than good.

Dzogchen Rinpoche explains that it can be dangerous to overindulge
in emotional analysis. “We are encouraged in the West to continually assess our emotions. In conversation we frequently ask and are asked, ‘How are you?’, ‘How are you feeling?’ “In Asian culture, especially Tibetan culture, ‘How are you feeling?’ is not something that is generally asked because of the understanding that emotions are fi ckle and ever changing. Hence importance is not placed on them; instead it is placed on accumulation of wisdom.

“In Tibetan Buddhism particularly in the Dzogchen tradition, we say emotions have no inherent existence as we cannot pinpoint where they come from, where they reside/stay or where they go.

“However the experience we have of our emotions is often so intense that we believe in their reality. This is just a trick of the mind but we can unwittingly get drawn in and, like moths attracted to the light of a fatal flame, we suffer.

“When we have not recognised the empty nature of our emotions we can become caught up in their complicated details and create more suffering for ourselves and others. The answers that we constantly
search for do not lie within our emotions.

“Instead when we rest our mind, we can recognise our emotions for what they really are and experience wisdom that lies beyond them.”

This approach is at odds with popular Western psychology which suggests that we repeatedly examine our thoughts and feelings in search of the missing clue in the mystery of wellbeing. But as Dzogchen Rinpoche explains, emotions are the culprits of our dissatisfaction, the thieves that in fact deceive us and rob us of our inner-peace.

So how can we recognize and transform the suffering that our emotions create? Dzogchen Rinpoche offers a very simple but profound solution based in the ancient meditation tradition of Dzogchen.

“When we turn our minds inwards and rest, we can experience a stability that is beyond the highs and lows of our emotions —spontaneous peace that is beyond the mind.

“When we make resting the mind our habit, we will no longer be fooled by our emotions and we can experience genuine wellbeing.”

www.dzogchen.org.in


~End of Post~





--------------------------------------
Technorati:

Read more!

Monday, March 01, 2010

我的堪布----貢噶旺秋

宗薩欽哲仁波切 口述

陳念萱 翻譯

一九八二年錫金西部地方的一個秋末午後,由於我與我的許多老師們的衷心期盼,剛從學校畢業的我,試圖在錫金的西部地方,設立一個傳統的佛學院,重建文化大革命時期在西藏被毀的宗薩大學。在這樣一個單純的鄉間,只有一個小房子和幾個出家僧的我,想完成這份工作,還真有點為難。事實上,我連教書的老師都尚未有著落。

這天,正站在我那陰暗的小房間裡發愁,身邊圍繞著幾個無計可施的出家伙伴們,和一堆堆散亂四處的帳單與文件。突然,冒出一個渾身包裹著破布片,又瘦又弱的老先生,見到我倒頭就拜,滿眼含淚地向我獻哈達,激動得擠不出一個字。詫異地望著這不知哪冒出來的何許人物,不斷的追問之後,才好不容易地逐漸道出讓人大吃一驚的答案,西藏來的貢噶旺秋。

那時,西藏剛剛開放,中印雙邊的通訊情況無法確知,一年之前,我曾試探性的寫了一封信,陳述我建校的願望,寄到學術地位崇高的宗薩大學,屬名三位傳聞歷經多年勞改,仍尚在人間的傑出學者。當時西藏地方那高深莫測的情勢,很難想像出我那封地址是否有效的信,能夠到達目的地的機率有多麼小。
而今,我驚奇的望著站在面前的,看似衣衫襤褸的乞丐,竟是那三位著名的學者之一,一個地位崇高的堪布。不禁狐疑,那流個不停的淚,究竟是因為重見上師轉世(宗薩仁波切是堪布貢噶旺秋的上師-蔣揚欽哲確吉羅卓的轉世)的喜悅,還是因為憶及上師之種種的深切傷懷。淚眼婆娑地,斷斷續續述說著他的艱辛之旅與此行的目的。

  堪布貢噶旺秋在監牢裡待了二十一年,直到一九八0年,經由勞裡的傳聞,才得知上師蔣揚欽哲確吉羅卓的往生及轉世,並聽說我建校的願望,立時決定了這印度之旅。一九八一年初,被釋放之時,便立即前往協助妹妹蓋房子,這是他唯一存活的親人。之後,便一直閉門潛修,直到接獲我邀請前往印度的信函,便急促地開始計畫離開西藏。當時,西藏地方的情勢仍十分敏感,即使中國宣稱開放,但人與人之間尚瀰漫著沈重的恐懼氣息,未雨綢繆之計,堪布貢噶旺秋悄悄地出走,讓村民以為他仍在閉關中,以免引起村裡騷動。

  於是,展開了第一站的北藏拉薩之旅,一路蜷縮在卡車的後車廂,行走了許多天。在此,堪布貢噶旺秋片段地拼湊他旅程的詳細位置,為避開中共的監視,他捨棄方便常用的路徑,而選擇了長途跋涉,經凱拉克山(Mount Kialach)步行到印度。這是一段非常艱辛的長程旅行,若非同行藏胞的慷慨與仁慈,堪布恐怕無法活著走完這段旅程。

跨越西藏與尼泊爾的邊境之時,是讓堪布貢噶旺秋最感恐懼的時刻,橋兩邊村莊的緊張對峙互相監視,逼使堪布躲入大片羊群之中,避開了被發現的恐懼。當他雙腳踏上尼泊爾的國土,頓感這趟路程的最大障礙已過。

全程七個月的步行,體能衰疲的老堪布,在抵達後只休息了兩天,便全然地投入建校的工作。我們只有少數的不同年齡的工作者,睡覺的房舍都不敷使用,更別提蓋學校了,我的臥室變成教室,收容了來自極少的藏族難民的二十個學生,就這樣因陋就簡地成立了學校。

  在這草創期間的第一個月,堪布貢噶旺秋的健康情形非常糟糕,卻一再地拒絕休息,認為年事已高,需儘快的將自己所學傾囊相授。也許就是這份弘法的急迫與飢渴,迫使他生存下來,傳法變成他的呼吸。後來我聽說,在堪布貢噶旺秋被關期間,所有佛經早已被毀的情形之下,曾講述全套的經典哲理給獄友們聽,自始至終毫無遺漏地口述。在堪布貢噶旺秋的卓越教學並戒律嚴謹的管束之下,學校迅速地發展,而從錫金遷移到印度比爾。自此,在堪布貢噶旺秋弘法的虔誠專注之下,帶領出十多位的堪布(相當於藏傳佛學院的博士學位)。

堪布貢噶旺秋教會我三件事,他的弘法超凡意志力,他對上師的純然虔敬,及對釋迦牟尼佛的極度忠誠,我全心的希望,能有更多的眾生像他一樣,我希望自己能夠像他一樣。

~End of Post~



--------------------------------------
Technorati:

Read more!