Monday 31 January 2011

Luangtah Maha Bua Yannasampanno (1913-2011)

Source: The Bangkok Post,http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/219009/forest-monk-passes-away-at-98

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Revered abbot Luangtah Maha Bua Yannasampanno (Acharn Maha Boowa Ñanasampanno) has passed away at the Wat Pa Ban Tad forest temple in Udon Thani province. He was 98.

The director of Udon Thani Hospital, Pichart Dolchalermyuthana, said the abbot's condition deteriorated at 2.49am yesterday and he passed away at 3.53am.

Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn was at the abbot's bedside until his last moments and she personally announced his death.

Crowds of followers joined the princess in offering alms to monks yesterday morning in a traditional merit-making ceremony for the abbot.

The princess also presided over a royally sponsored bathing rite on behalf of Their Majesties the King and Queen last night.

Royal wreaths have been placed at a pavilion where the abbot's coffin is laid. His Majesty the King also presented an urn and will sponsor religious rites for the abbot for seven days.

Udon Thani governor Khomsan Ekachai said religious rites would continue for a month before authorities decide on a cremation schedule.

Luangtah Maha Bua expressed in his will, made in 2000, that he wished all donations he received would be spent on buying gold, and that the gold, together with earlier donations, would be handed to the Bank of Thailand to add to the country's reserves.

A committee will be formed to manage Wat Pa Ban Tad's assets and donations received at the funeral. Phra Ajarn Sudjai Thantamano, the temple's deputy abbot, will be the executor.

Luangtah Maha Bua was widely regarded as a living ''arahant'', a monk who has attained spiritual liberation after having extinguished all worldly desires. His official title in the ec clesiastical hierarchy is Phra Dhamma Visuthimongkol.

He used temple donations to support numerous charities, hospitals, schools, homes for the disadvantaged and shelters for abandoned animals.

After the economic meltdown of 1997, Luangtah Maha Bua took advantage of his nationwide popularity to raise over 12 tonnes of gold and about 300 million baht in cash in various denominations to replenish the depleted foreign reserves.

But Luangtah Maha Bua also courted political controversy when, in 2005, he publicly criticised Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Luangtah Maha Bua fiercely questioned Thaksin's appointment of Somdet Phra Phuttacharn, abbot of Wat Saket in Bangkok, as acting supreme patriarch.

He viewed the appointment as a gross violation of royal powers and an attempt to control the clergy.

Luangtah Maha Bua became seriously ill in November. He was treated by physicians at Wat Pa Ban Tad.

HRH Princess Chulabhorn, one of his followers, visited him and worked with the medical team.

He was born in 1913 to a rice- farming family of 16 in the village of Ban Tad in Udon Thani.

He agreed to a request from his parents to be ordained in 1934 when he was 21 years old. It was intended to be a short monkhood, as is customary for many young men, but he soon became committed to a spiritual quest.

Luangtah Maha Bua was a disciple of the late Ajarn Mun Bhuridatto, a charismatic leader of the forest monk tradition in the Northeast.

While urban monks focus on the studies of Buddhist texts, forest monks devote themselves to rigorous meditation and a life of simplicity close to nature as the path to spiritual liberation. Ajarn Mun was also revered as an arahant.

The death of his teacher in 1949 prompted Luangtah to practise rigorously in the seclusion of the forested mountains. His spiritual breakthrough reportedly came six months later.

In 1997, he talked to his followers about death. He said this lifetime was his last and he would never be born again. His followers took this as a confirmation of him becoming a spiritually enlightened monk.

Luangtah Maha Bua also took the occasion to prohibit chanting at his funeral ceremony, calling it unnecessary. He also prohibited the temple from using his dead body to attract visitors and donations. He said he would prefer his funeral to be simple because the Buddha taught simplicity.

Phrakru Atthakit, abbot of Wat Pa Doi Labnga in Kamphaeng Phet province, said the cremation ceremony for Luangtah Maha Bua was expected to be held in early March.

Phrakru Atthakit headed the council of monks which took responsibility for the treatment of Luangtah Maha Bua during his illness.



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From Bhikkhu Sujato, Australia: Luang Tah Maha Bua was one of the great monks, indeed great human beings, of the last century, and his passing away signals the end of an era. He has said for years that people should not mourn his death, as he has long gone beyond rebirth. Fierce and funny, profound and unique, he was a true original. May he rest in Nibbbana!




Friday 28 January 2011

Có nên ca hát không?

Trong các phòng thảo luận Phật giáo của Paltalk (www.paltalk.com), thỉnh thoảng thấy có các tranh luận về vấn đề ca hát của hàng tu sĩ lẫn cư sĩ. Xin có vài dòng góp ý dưới đây.

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1) Cư sĩ tại gia

Đối với người cư sĩ tại gia nguyện giữ 5 giới căn bản, ca hát không là vấn đề. Đức Phật không ngăn cấm người cư sĩ ca hát, sử dụng âm nhạc. Điều quan trọng là gìn giữ tâm ý, không để bị lôi cuốn, loạn động bởi âm thanh qua bài ca, tiếng hát, nhạc điệu. Âm nhạc và ca hát – đối với hàng cư sĩ – nếu biết sử dụng khéo léo, đúng thời, đúng mục đích, là một phương tiện truyền thông tốt trong các sinh hoạt Phật giáo.

Tuy nhiên, nếu người cư sĩ nguyện giữ 8 giới (bát quan trai giới) – thông thường trong các khóa thiền hay những ngày bố-tát tịnh tu – không ca hát là điều giới thứ 7 cần phải tuân giữ:

– Trong đêm nay và ngày nay, ta nguyện sống tránh xa không xem múa, hát, nhạc, diễn kịch, không trang sức bằng vòng hoa, hương liệu, dầu thoa và các thời trang (Tăng chi bộ, chương Tám pháp).

2) Sa-di, sa-di-ni xuất gia

Không ca hát là giới thứ 7 trong 10 giới căn bản của hàng sa-di, sa-di-ni:

– Ðệ tử thực hành giới tránh múa, hát, nhạc, kịch (Tiểu bộ, Tiểu tụng).

3) Tỳ-khưu, tỳ-khưu-ni xuất gia

Giới không múa hát, thổi kèn, đàn, xem múa hát, nghe đàn kèn tuy không ghi rõ trong giới bổn Ba-la-đề-mộc-xoa nhưng có ghi trong các điều liên quan đến tội Tác ác (dukkata) [*], thuộc Tiểu phẩm (Chương V), của Luật tạng. Duyên sự như sau (dựa theo bản Việt dịch của Tỳ-khưu Indacanda):

... Một lần nọ, tại thành Rājagaha (Vương xá) có lễ hội ở trên đỉnh núi. Các tỳ-khưu nhóm Lục sư (lục quần tỳ-khưu) đã đi xem lễ hội ở trên đỉnh núi. Dân chúng phàn nàn, phê phán, chê bai rằng:

– Tại sao các sa-môn Thích tử lại đi xem vũ, ca, luôn cả tấu nhạc, giống như các kẻ tại gia hưởng dục vậy?

Các tỳ-khưu đã nghe được những người dân ấy phàn nàn, phê phán, chê bai. Các tỳ-khưu ít ham muốn, tự biết đủ, khiêm tốn, có hối hận, ưa thích sự học tập, đến trình sự việc ấy lên đức Thế Tôn. Ngài khiển trách nhóm Lục sư ấy, rồi bảo các tỳ-khưu rằng:

– Này các tỳ-khưu, không nên đi xem vũ, ca, hoặc tấu nhạc; vị nào đi thì phạm tội dukkata (tác ác). [*]

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[*] Theo Gs Rhys Davids (Vinaya Texts – bản dịch Anh ngữ Luật tạng), "dukkata" dịch là "wrong doing" (làm xấu, tác ác) là những lỗi nhẹ, chỉ cần tự sám hối là đủ.

4) Ngâm nga theo âm điệu ca hát

Ngay cả đến việc ngâm nga các bài kệ, bài pháp với các âm điệu trầm bổng du dương cũng bị Đức Phật khiển trách và ngăn cấm. Một lần nọ, các tỳ-khưu nhóm Lục sư ngâm nga giáo pháp theo âm điệu ca hát với sự kéo dài. Dân chúng phàn nàn, phê phán, chê bai rằng:

– Các sa-môn Thích tử này ngâm nga giáo pháp theo âm điệu ca hát với sự kéo dài giống y như chúng ta ca hát vậy.

Các tỳ-khưu đã nghe được những người dân ấy phàn nàn, phê phán, chê bai. Các tỳ-khưu ít ham muốn, tự biết đủ, khiêm tốn, có hối hận, ưa thích sự học tập, đến trình sự việc ấy lên đức Thế Tôn. Ngài khiển trách nhóm Lục sư ấy, rồi bảo các tỳ-khưu rằng:

– Này các tỳ-khưu, đây là năm điều bất lợi khi ngâm nga giáo pháp theo âm điệu ca hát với sự kéo dài:
  • bản thân vị ấy bị say đắm trong âm điệu,
  • khiến cho những kẻ khác cũng bị ảnh hưởng say đắm trong âm điệu,
  • hàng cư sĩ tại gia phàn nàn, chê cười vị ấy,
  • trong khi ra sức thể hiện âm điệu, thiền định của vị ấy bị phân tán,
  • điều cuối cùng là vị ấy khiến dân chúng thực hành theo đường lối sai trái.
Này các tỳ-khưu, đây là năm điều bất lợi khi ngâm nga giáo pháp theo âm điệu ca hát với sự kéo dài. Này các tỳ-khưu, không nên ngâm nga giáo pháp theo âm điệu ca hát với sự kéo dài; vị nào ngâm nga thì phạm tội dukkata (tác ác) – (Luật tạng, Tiểu phẩm).

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Thursday 27 January 2011

Ven Ayya Khema (1923-1997)

Source: http://www.buddhanet.net/

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Ayya Khema was born in Berlin in 1923 to Jewish parents. In 1938, she escaped from Germany with two hundred other children and was taken to Glasgow, Scotland. Her parents went to China and, two years later Ayya Khema joined then in Shanghai. With the outbreak of the war, however, the family was put into a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp and it was here her father died. She later married, had a son and a daughter, and now has four grand-children.

Four years after the American liberation of the camp, Ayya Khema was able to emigrate to the United States. Between 1960 and 1964 she travelled with her husband and son throughout Asia, including the Himalayan countries, and it was at this time she learned meditation. Ten years later she began to teach meditation throughout Europe and Australia. Her experiences led her to become a Buddhist nun in Sri Lanka in 1979, when she was given the name of 'Khema' (Ayya means Venerable) meaning safety and security.

She helped to establish Wat Buddha-Dhamma, a forest monastery in the Theravada tradition, near Sydney, Australia, in 1978. In Colombo she set up the International Buddhist Women's Centre as a training centre for Sri Lankan nuns, and the Parappuduwa Nun's Island at Dodanduwa. (now unfortunately closed).

Ayya Khema received the full ordination at Hsi Lai Temple, a Chinese Mahayana temple in Los Angeles, California, under the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order, in 1988. She was allowed to choose Theravada or Mahayana for the full ordination from her preceptor and she chose the Theravada.

Subsequently, she was the spiritual director of Buddha-Haus in Germany, established in 1989 under her auspices. In June 1997 "Metta Vihara", the first Buddhist forest monastery in Germany, was inaugurated by her, and the first ordinations in the German language took place there.

In 1987 she co-ordinated the first international conference of Buddhist nuns in the history of Buddhism, which resulted in the setting-up of Sakyadhita, a worldwide Buddhist women's organisation. H.H. the Dalai Lama was the keynote speaker at the conference. In May 1987, as an invited lecturer, she was the first ever Buddhist nun to address the United Nations in New York on the topic of Buddhism and World Peace.
 
Ayya Khema has written twenty-five books on meditation and the Buddha's teachings in English and German; her books have been translated into seven languages. In 1988, her book "Being Nobody, Going Nowhere" received the Christmas Humphreys Memorial Award.

Ayya Khema ordained Ven. Sister Sangamitta from Switzerland (now practising in Thailand) Ven. Sister Dhammadina a graduate of Peradeniya University, Ven. Sister Vayama from Australia and Ven. Sister Uttpalvanna of Galle and her pupils in Sri Lanka.
 
Ayya Khema drew her last breath on November 2, 1997 at Buddha Haus, Mittleberg Uttenbull in Germany after a brief illness.

Her books:
  1. Buddhist Women at the time of the Buddha, by Hellmuth Hecker & Ayya Khema
  2. Meditating on No-Self
  3. Self-Image or Self-Knowledge
  4. Who is My Self?
  5. Be and Island
  6. When the Iron Eagle Flies
  7. I Give You My Life
  8. Visible Here and Now
  9. Being Nobody, Going Nowhere
  10. Come and See for Yourself
  11. All of Us [Beset by Birth, Decay & Death]
Collection of about 400 Dhamma talks: http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/334/

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Ven Minh An-Khantipalo-Lawrence Mills

Rachael Louise Wass


Source: http://www.quangminh.org.au/ 
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Minh An was born as Lawrence Mills in North London in 1932, and was the son of a shopkeeper and school teacher. During the war, his family evacuated to Norfolk where he attended Thetford Grammar school. This became a high point of his school career when he was inspired by one of his school teachers during these war years (the teacher was a consientious objector at the time) when he was taught all about Indian and Chinese history (something unheard of in colonial England). Indian history recounts one of it's great periods, during King Ashoka's reign who became a follower of the Buddha....this was a remarkable time in India's history, as he set up a number of historic decrees that still are revered today (if you notice the wheel on the Indian flag...I believe this is Ashoka's emblem).
  
Lawrence completed a diploma in horticulture, but was called up for 2 years of national service in the deserts of the Suez Canal Zone. While in the army he read his first book about Buddhism and became a Buddhist. Later, back in the UK he returned to work in horticulture (working in the world renown Kew Gardens, whidh is not just a garden...but an incredible and important research and repository of plants from around the world) then still as a young person, became inspired to travel to Thailand and Burma, becoming a fully ordained monastic. He became good friends while living in a hermitage in northern India, with another western monastic named, Ven. Sankarishita who later went on to form a new Buddhist group called Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. (if you've ever bought a book from Windhorse Publishing...that is FWBO Publishing house). Lawrence was known as Ven. Khantipalo at that time, and continued to study and become an accomplished translator of Buddhist sutras from Pali into English, as well as author of books...this scholarly work is still used today by many people.

Lawrence came to Australia in 1973 and set up a hermitage/monastery called "Wat Buddhadhamma" in Sydney, this is one of the very first Theravada monasteries in Australia...and certainly Lawrence was one of the single Western monastics of that time...a forefather of Buddhism in Australia. After some time, Lawence decided to leave the monastery and became a "lay teacher" and married, and co-founded another Buddhist centre in far North Queensland, he would often teach at Buddhist Summer schools and various places around Australia and overseas. In his later years, Lawerence life changed again and he divorced and also suffered a major stroke although he continued to teach, translate and write books. He came to Quang Minh Temple under the kind and compassion of our Abbot, Ven Phuoc Tan earlier this year, and was ordained as a noviciate into the Vietnamese tradition, giving him his new name of Minh An (meaning Peace:with Wisdom).

It is true, Minh An (Lawrence) in his later years has slowed down a little, and his health needs are more advanced, though his contribution and accumulated practice over many years (nearly 60 years) and no doubt lifetimes brings an opportunity for us as practitioners and fellow meditators to honor our elderly and provide them with the a time to share and be purposeful in our lives....there is a great wisdom and compassion to be accessed by just being present together in meditation on Wednesday nights.....I hope you can join me then.

Books that Lawrence has written if you have interest, I think many available from Windhorse Publishing:
  1.  Noble Friendship: travels of a Buddhist Monk
  2. Tolerance: A study from Buddhist Sources
  3. Buddhism Explained
  4. Pointing to Dhamma
  5. Banner of the Arahants
  6. Calm and Insight
  7. Buddha My Refuge
  8. Jewels within my Heart (Dhammapada)

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Monday 24 January 2011

Yasa - Vị cư sĩ đầu tiên đắc quả A-la-hán

Yasa - Vị cư sĩ đầu tiên đắc quả A-la-hán

Tại thành Benares (Bārāṇasī) có con một nhà triệu phú tên Yasa, trưởng thành trong khung cảnh dồi dào phong phú. Một buổi sáng, chàng dậy sớm hơn mọi khi, và lúc nhìn các nàng hầu thiếp nằm ngủ ngổn ngang bừa bãi thì lấy làm nhàm chán. Ấn tượng ghê tởm này luôn luôn ám ảnh chàng. Toàn thể đền đài nguy nga tráng lệ bấy giờ đối với chàng chỉ còn là một nơi tối tăm buồn bã, đầy dẫy những hình ảnh thô kịch xấu xa. Nhận thức tánh cách tạm bợ của đời sống phàm tục, Yasa trốn nhà ra đi. Chàng nói: “Thống khổ thay cho tôi! Đọa đày thay cho tôi!” và đi về phía Isipatana (Lộc Uyển), nơi mà Đức Phật tạm ngự sau khi độ năm vị tỳ-khưu (anh em Kiều-trần-như) đắc quả A-la-hán.

Yasa đến nơi lúc Đức Phật đang đi kinh hành. Thấy chàng từ xa đến, Đức Phật bước ra ngoài đường kinh hành và ngồi lại một nơi đã dọn sẵn. Yasa đứng cách đấy không xa, than rằng: “Thống khổ thay cho con! Đọa đày thay cho con!”

Đức Phật dạy:

“Nơi đây không có thống khổ, hỡi này Yasa! Nơi đây không có đọa đày, này hỡi Yasa! Hãy đến đây, Yasa! Hãy ngồi xuống đây, Như Lai sẽ giảng giáo pháp cho con.”

Yasa lấy làm hoan hỷ được nghe những lời khuyến khích của Đức Phật. Chàng tháo đôi giày bằng vàng ra và đến gần Đức Phật, cung kính đảnh lễ Ngài và ngồi lại một bên.

Đức Phật thuyết Pháp và sau khi nghe, chàng đắc quả Dự Lưu (Tu-đà-hoàn), quả vị thứ nhất trong bốn quả vị thánh giải thoát.

Đầu tiên, Đức Phật giải thích về hạnh bố thí (dāna), giới luật (sīla), những cảnh trời (sagga), những tai hại của nhục dục ngũ trần (kāmadīnāva),về phước báu của sự xuất gia (nekkhammānisaṃsa). Đến khi nhận thấy tâm của Yasa bắt đầu thuần thục và sẵn sàng lãnh hội giáo lý cao siêu, Ngài giảng về bốn chân lý cao quý (tứ diệu đế).

Mẹ của Yasa là người đầu tiên ghi nhận sự vắng mặt của con. Bà báo cho chồng. Nhà triệu phú liền ra lệnh cho gia đinh cỡi ngựa đi tìm bốn phương và chính ông đi về hướng Isipatana. Khi nhận ra dấu đôi giày bằng vàng của Yasa in trên đất, ông phăng lần đến nơi Đức Phật.

Thấy ông từ xa đến, Đức Phật dùng thần thông không cho ông nhận ra con. Nhà triệu phú đến gần Đức Phật và cung kính hỏi thăm Ngài có thấy con ông không? Đức Phật bảo: “Hãy ngồi lại đây. Ông sẽ được gặp mặt con của ông.” Nghe vậy, ông triệu phú lấy làm mừng rỡ, vâng lời ngồi xuống. Đức Phật giảng cho ông một thời Pháp. Sau khi nghe giảng, ông đắc quả Dự Lưu. Ông rất hoan hỷ bạch:

“Lành Thay! Lành thay! Bạch hóa Đức Thế Tôn, cũng tựa hồ như có người kia dựng lại ngay ngắn một vật gì đã bị lật đổ, hay khám phá ra một vật đã được giấu kín, hay vạch đường chỉ lối cho người lạc bước, hay cầm ngọn đèn rọi sáng trong đêm tối để cho ai có mắt có thể trông thấy, Giáo Pháp mà Đức Thế Tôn giảng dạy bằng nhiều phương thức cũng như thế ấy. Bạch Đức Thế Tôn, con xin quy y Phật, Pháp và Tăng. Xin Đức Thế Tôn thu nhận con vào hàng thiện tín. Xin Ngài cho phép con nương tựa nơi Tam bảo, từ ngày này đến giờ phút cuối cùng của đời con.”

Ông là người thiện nam đầu tiên thọ lễ quy y với đầy đủ ba ngôi Tam Bảo, Phật-Pháp-Tăng. Trong khi nghe Đức Phật thuyết pháp cho cha mình, Yasa đắc quả A-la-hán. Như thế, Yasa là vị cư sĩ đầu tiên đắc quả A-la-hán. Vừa lúc ấy, Đức Phật thu thần thông để nhà triệu phú nhìn thấy con. Ông lấy làm vui mừng, thỉnh Đức Phật cùng vị đệ trở về nhà trai tăng ngày hôm sau. Đức Phật chấp nhận bằng cách làm thinh.

Sau khi ông triệu phú ra về, Yasa xin Đức Phật cho thọ lễ xuất gia sa-di và tỳ-khưu. Đức Phật truyền giới cho Yasa với những lời sau đây:

“Hãy đến đây hỡi tỳ-khưu! Giáo pháp đã được truyền dạy đầy đủ. Hãy sống đời phạm hạnh thiêng liêng của bậc xuất gia để chấm dứt mọi đau khổ.”

Với ngài Yasa, tổng số các vị A-la-hán trên thế gian lúc bấy giờ là bảy vị – Đức Phật, năm anh em ngài Kiều-trần-như và ngài Yasa. Ngày hôm sau, Đức Phật đến nhà ông triệu phú với sáu vị đệ tử A-la-hán. Hai bà – mẹ và bà trước kia là vợ của ngài Yasa – đến nghe Đức Phật thuyết pháp, đắc quả Dự Lưu và xin thọ lễ quy y Tam Bảo. Hai bà là những người tín nữ đầu tiên.

Đại đức Yasa có bốn người bạn tên Vimala, Subāhu, Puṇṇaji và Gavampati. Khi bốn vị này đã nghe tin người bạn cao quý của mình đã cạo râu tóc và đắp y để sống đời không nhà cửa, không sự nghiệp, thì đến thăm và tỏ ý muốn noi theo gương lành ấy. Ngài Yasa tiến dẫn cả bốn vào yết kiến Đức Phật, và sau khi nghe Pháp, cả bốn đều đắc quả Dự Lưu. Sau đó bốn người này xin xuất gia, được Đức Phật giáo huấn, chỉ dạy bằng một bài pháp thoại và đắc quả A-la-hán. Vào lúc bấy giờ, trên thế gian có mười một vị A-la-hán.

Năm mươi người bạn khác của đại đức Yasa, tất cả đều thuộc về các gia đình nổi tiếng nhất trong vùng, cũng đến thính Pháp, đắc quả Dự Lưu. Rồi các vị đó xin xuất gia tỳ-khưu, được Đức Phật giáo huấn, chỉ dạy bằng một bài pháp thoại và đắc quả A-la-hán. Vào lúc bấy giờ, trên thế gian có sáu mươi mốt vị A-la-hán.

Sau đó, đức Thế Tôn bảo các vị tỳ-khưu:

– Này các tỳ-khưu, ta đã thoát khỏi tất cả các sự trói buộc thuộc về cõi trời và loài người.  Các ông cũng đã thoát khỏi tất cả các sự trói buộc thuộc về cõi trời và loài người. Hãy cất bước du hành vì lợi ích của nhiều người, vì an lạc của nhiều người, vì lòng thương xót thế gian, vì sự tiến hóa, sự lợi ích, sự an vui của chư thiên và nhân loại, chớ đi hai người chung một đường. Hãy thuyết giảng Giáo Pháp toàn hảo ở đoạn đầu, toàn hảo ở đoạn giữa, và toàn hảo ở đoạn kết, thành tựu về ý nghĩa, thành tựu về văn tự, giảng giải về Phạm hạnh thanh tịnh một cách trọn vẹn và đầy đủ. Có những hạng người sinh lên bị ít ô nhiễm sẽ là những người hiểu được Giáo Pháp, nhưng do việc không nghe Giáo Pháp sẽ bị thoái hóa.

Đó là các sứ giả hoằng pháp đầu tiên trên thế gian này.

* * *
Tham khảo:
1) Đại phẩm, Luật tạng, Tỳ-khưu Indacanda dịch Việt (2005)
2) Nārada Māha Thera, Đức Phật và Phật Pháp, Phạm Kim Khánh dịch Việt (ấn bản 2019).

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Đức Phật giáo hóa Yasa và cha của ông.

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Tóm tắt về chữ "Niệm" (sati, mindfulness)

A Brief History of Mindfulness
Bhikkhu Sujato
Source: http://sujato.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/a-brief-history-of-mindfulness/

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I’ve been revising my second book, A History of Mindfulness, and I’m kinda amazed that anyone actually read it. It’s hard going. For those with better things to do than wade through oceans of textual references, here’s the sankhittena version. (For non-Pali geeks, that means the short version!)

The word sati, which we translate ‘mindfulness’, means ‘memory’, and was originally used by Brahmans in the sense of memorized Vedic scriptures. To effectively recall large bodies of text, you get into a zone of clarity and presence, free of distractions. This was one of the influences in developing what we today call ‘meditation’.

The Buddha adopted this Brahmanical usage, and used sati to for both ‘memory’ (of texts) and ‘presence of mind’ in meditation.

Modern teachings on mindfulness are almost exclusively derived from a peculiar 20th century interpretation of one text, the Pali Satipatthana Sutta. This doctrine, the vipassanavada, says that satipatthana is a practice of ‘dry insight’, where the meditator, without previous practice of tranquility meditation, is ‘mindful’ of the changing phenomena of experience. This alone is sufficient to realize enlightenment.

When we carefully consider the range of teachings found in early Buddhist texts on mindfulness, it becomes clear that this doctrine does not hold up.

There are seven versions of the Satipatthana Sutta material, as well as hundreds of other texts on mindfulness. Relying on all these, not just one, we come to the following picture of mindfulness in early Buddhism. While sati is used in many contexts, the most important is the four satipatthanas, or ‘establishments of mindfulness’. These are ‘right mindfulness’, the seventh factor of the eightfold path. The purpose of satipatthana is to gain the eighth factor, right samadhi or the four jhanas.

The word satipatthana is a compound of sati and upatthana, meaning to ‘set up’ or ‘establish’. It is the focussing and presence of awareness on an object; in other words, it basically means ‘meditation’. Satipatthana is the ‘contemplation’ (anupassana) of body, feelings, mind, and principles (dhammas). ‘Anupassana’ means ‘sustained watching’. It is an awareness that stays on one thing and doesn’t jump from object to object. For this reason, satipatthana is said to be the ‘way to convergence’, ekayana magga.

The main practice of satipatthana is breath meditation, anapanasati. One focusses on the breath, keeping awareness there, continually ‘remembering’ the breath. As the physical breath becomes tranquil, one moves from body contemplation to the awareness of the subtle feelings of bliss and rapture that arise in the breath. The mind becomes purified. Finally one reflects on how the whole process is impermanent and conditioned; this is contemplation of dhammas (‘principles’).

There are many other types of meditation that can be classified as satipatthana, but all of them follow a similar course.

The Pali Satipatthana Sutta includes a number of sections that are not shared with other texts on satipatthana, and which are later additions.

One of the additions is the inclusion of the awareness of postures and daily activities among its meditation exercizes. The awareness of postures is, in every other text, part of the preparation for meditation, not a kind of meditation itself.

Another late addition to the Pali Satipatthana Sutta is a ‘refrain’ following each meditation, which says one practices contemplating ‘rise and fall’. This is a vipassana practice, which originally belonged to only the final of the four satipatthanas, contemplation of dhammas.

The contemplation of dhammas has also undergone large scale expansion. The original text included just the five hindrances and the seven awakening factors. The five aggregates, six sense media, and four noble truths were added later.

Each version of the Satipatthana Sutta is based on a shared ancestor, which has been expanded in different ways by the schools. This process continued for several centuries following the Buddha’s death. Of the texts we have today, the closest to the ancestral version is that contained in the Pali Abhidhamma Vibhanga, if we leave aside the Abhidhammic elaborations.

Tracing the development of texts on satipatthana in later Buddhism, there is a gradual tendency to emphasize the vipassana aspect at the expense of the samatha side. This happened across various schools, although there is some variation from text to text, and perhaps some differences in sectarian emphasis. This led to various contradictions and problems in interpretation.

Nevertheless, in all schools and periods we also find presentations of satipatthana that hark back to the original meaning. For example, the great Yogacara teacher Asanga defined mindfulness as ‘the sustained awareness of the previously experienced object’.

By considering mindfulness in its historical conext, by including all relevant texts, and by understanding the historical evolution of the schools, we arrive at a richer, more nuanced, and more realistic understanding of mindfulness. This not only helps us appreciate our tradition better, it gives a more useful, balanced, and authentic framework for practice.

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Tuesday 18 January 2011

Buddhism in the West (3): New Buddhism

Extract from Huston Smith and Philip Novak, “Buddhism: A Concise Introduction” (2002):

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What is new about the New Buddhism of America? Five things: It is meditation-centered and largely a lay phenomenon. It exhibits gender parity. And it is cross-pollinating. It is socially and politically engaged.

1-2. It is meditation-centered and a lay phenomenon. The first two items must be considered together. Down through twenty-five Asian Buddhist centuries, monks and nuns have been the tradition’s vanguard, and meditation has been almost exclusively their province (and often only for an elite fraction of them). The vast majority of Buddhist laity have limited their concerns to the earning of merit—the accumulation of good karma leading to better rebirth through ethical conduct and ritual observance. The New Buddhism of America, however, has upset this traditional arrangement. First, it is largely a lay movement. And second, meditation is not the province of a relatively few specialists, but the basic practice of the many.

Two important corollaries follow. First, the New Buddhism has redefined the boundaries of the traditional Buddhist Sangha. At its narrowest, in the early days of the Buddha’s mission, the Sangha included only monks and nuns. Soon it was understood to include all people, monastic and lay, who formally took refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, the Triple Gem. In the New Buddhism, however, there seems to be widespread if informal agreement, encouraged by widely influential Asian teachers, that the Sangha includes all people who practice Buddhist meditation, whether or not they have formally taken refuge.

The second corollary is that the primarily lay makeup of the New Buddhism has loosened and in some cases virtually undone the usual lines of authority in Buddhist Asia that automatically elevated monks over laity, elders over juniors, and men over women. American Buddhist groups have been decisively influenced by the pluralist, democratic, and genderconscious milieu in which they find themselves. Governance and decision making in many of these groups is now in the hands of a council or board of trustees that operates by consensus.

3. Women and men are equals. Although America’s New Buddhism cannot be said to have broken completely with the legacies of gender inequality in Asian culture and Buddhist history, Western society’s trend toward gender parity is departing from that legacy. In most American Buddhist groups there are slightly more women than men. The sexes practice together as equals and share the same roles and responsibilities in ways largely unknown in Buddhist Asia.

4. American Buddhism is cross-pollinating. The historian Rick Fields notes that “Asian Buddhists who have not communicated for hundreds or thousands of years now find themselves sitting next to one another in a new [American] home.” Coleman concurs: “Never before in the long history of Buddhism have all of its major traditions entered a new area at the same time, and never before has there been so much contact and exchange among these different traditions.” Most see this situation as an unprecedented opportunity for creative evolution; hybrids are, after all, the very stuff of life. Proponents note that the cross-fertilization of ideas could catalyze a revolutionary critical examination of heretofore unexamined assumptions about sectarian superiority.

5. It is socially and politically engaged. The last element of the New Buddhism is a little different from the others. It is not as broadly characteristic of the whole fabric as are the other four, and to date, it remains an eddy in the larger stream. Like-minded New Buddhists argue that working toward individual inner peace is not enough. What is also deeply needed is a corresponding effort to alter social injustices in order to lessen the suffering of humanity at large.

Monday 17 January 2011

Buddhism in the West (2): Ten Emerging Trends

Ten Emerging Trends in Western Dharma


Lama Surya Das
Source: http://www.orientalia.org/article586.html

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For a number of years now, I have been observing religious trends and the transplantation of Asian Buddhism into the fertile fields of the Western world. From my particular vantage point, I observe what I call trends in Western Buddhism or American Dharma.

Speaking of the emerging Western Buddhism, there are many colorful, smaller threads woven into the larger tapestry. There seem to be groups variously emphasizing monastic Buddhism, lay Buddhism, ethnic Buddhism, meditation Buddhism, chanting Buddhism, ritualistic Buddhism and bare bones Buddhism; there is mystical Buddhism and practical Buddhism, academic Buddhism, therapeutic Buddhism, intellectual Buddhism, as well as anti-intellectual, no-mind Buddhism.

Some people are attracted to hermitage and retreat Buddhism, congregational Buddhism, socially engaged Buddhism, missionary Buddhism, health and healing oriented Buddhism, upper-middle path Buddhism, Jewish Buddhism, Christian Zen Buddhism, vegetarian Buddhism, pacifist Buddhism, tantric Crazy Wisdom Buddhism, to name a few.

The Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh said, "The forms of Buddhism must change so that the essence of Buddhism remains unchanged. This essence consists of living principles that cannot bear any specific formulation."

In The Awakening of the West: The Encounter of Buddhism and Western Culture, Stephen Batchelor writes, "Buddhism cannot be said to be any of the following: a system of ethics, philosophy, or psychology; a religion, a faith, or a mystical experience; a devotional practice, a discipline of meditation or a psychotherapy. Yet it can involve all these things."

Like him I know there is really no such thing as Buddhism; there are only Buddhists. When I speak of the ten trends on Western Buddhism, I therefore do so with certain reservations, not the least among them that I am primarily emphasizing meditation practice groups. Remember, these are emerging trends and there is still a way to go to fulfill this vision.

Trend #1. Meditation-based and Experientially Oriented

As Westerners, we typically come to Buddhism for meditation and contemplation in an attempt to improve our quality of life. We want to bring more mindfulness to what we do. We are usually attracted to Buddhism not through academia but because we want personal transformation, direct religious experience and compassion into our daily lives. The Dharma is not just something we believe in, but something we do.

Trend #2 Lay-Oriented

Although there is certainly room for traditional monasticism -- both short - and long-term -- Buddhism in the West is obviously much more lay-oriented than it has been historically. Practitioners are now bringing personal issues of relationships, family and work to the Dharma center in an effort to make more sense out of life.

Trend #3. Gender Equal

In an effort to go beyond traditional patriarchal structures and cultures, we have already make great strides in supporting women as well as men in teaching and leadership roles. There are more and more women teachers, and they are providing some of the finest teaching. Gender equality remains an ideal, but one that seems reachable. We all -- male and female -- have an opportunity to refine our more feminine aspects and practice a Buddhism in which we keep the heart and mind balanced, respectful of both body and soul. We are trying to learn from the past so as not to unwittingly repeat the mistakes of others.

Trend #4. Democratic and Egalitarian

Western Buddhism needs to evolve in a much less institutionalized, less hierarchical and more democratic fashion. Almost by definition, personal growth and the purest interests of the individual are going to be stressed more than institutional preservation and growth.

Trend #5. Essentialized, Simplified and Demystified

For the most part, noticeably absent from Western Buddhism are the complex, esoteric rites and arcane rituals designed for initiates only. Western teachers generally stress essence more than form, as well as teachings that are tolerant for daily life. It is thus practical and this world oriented, rather than otherworldly and hermetic, with great emphasis on integrating Dharma practice via mindfulness and compassion into daily life.

Trend #6. Nonsectarian

Most Westerners seem to have a true appreciation for many different meditation techniques and traditions. We have seen how politics, the quest for power, and sectarian bias have created chaos within various religious communities. We understand it is essential that we strive diligently not to fall into those same traps. As practitioners, we are generally interested in broadening and deepening our experience of the various different Buddhist spiritual practices. I think it is safe to say that there is a true appreciation of the benefits of nonsectariansim, ecumenicism and cross-fertilization. In fact, many teachers are already synthesizing the best of the various traditions. American karma is our great melting pot. We have to live with that and make the most of it.

Trend #7. Psychologically Astute

There is a growing appreciation for explaining Buddhist principles within the idiom of transformational psychology. Faith and devotion are important and useful for some, but the larger appeal is to the individual’s spiritual development and psychological and emotional well-being. Dharma students are encouraged to bring spirituality into their lives as opposed to using spirituality as a way of avoiding personal issues. We are working on ourselves and there are any number of interdisciplinary tools and methods. Psychotherapy and Buddhism are most often taken as complementary.

Trend #8. Exploratory

In line with our scientific and skeptical upbringing, questioning and inquiry are encouraged. We are striving to be dynamic and forward-looking. I see contemporary Dharma as basically a non-dogmatic Dharma, which is inquiring, skeptical, rational and devoted to testing and finding out for ourselves. Western Dharma is trying to stretch beyond dogma, insularity, isolationism and fundamentalist thinking.

Trend #9. Community Oriented

Through our shared spiritual, ethical, and educational interests, we are strengthened and building our spiritual community as well as our connections to each other. There is a great emphasis on the needs of the Sangha in the sense of the larger community instead of individual priests and leaders. One day, Ananda asked the Buddha, "Is it true that the Sangha, the community of spiritual friends, is half of the holy life?"

Buddha answered, "No, Ananda, the Sangha community is the whole of holy life."

Spiritual friends, spiritual friendships and simple friendliness -- this is the holy life. Here in the West where more and more people are expressing their personal needs for spiritual growth, it is the challenge of the Sangha today to provide spiritual encouragement for generations to come.

Trend #10. Socially and Ecologically Conscious

Gandhi once said, "Those who say the religion has nothing to do with politics do not understand religion." Increasingly as Buddhists we are attempting to extend our sense of social and moral responsibility to include others, particularly those who are suffering from various injustices and deprivations. We are also searching for ways to express our deep concern for the natural world. The contemporary lay Sangha is like an interdisciplinary "Lobby for Wisdom and Compassion."

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The Dharma is very suited to a Western way of life. It need not be complicated, mysterious or fancy. Buddha Dharma is ordinary life including everything from meditation to relationship yoga and parenting practice. Among other things, it involves itself with the body-mind connection, which might well include suggestions like eating right, exercising right and having a sense of humor. One of my teachers, the late Dudjom Rinpoche, once said, "The Dharma is not fancy. It’s like blue jeans: good for every occasion, every day. It’s good for work. It’s good for school. You can wear blue jeans to a wedding, to ride horses, anytime."

* * *

Theo Pháp sư Surya Das, Đạo Phật ở phương Tây có 10 chiều hướng nổi bật như sau:


Chiều thướng 1: Hành thiền và thực chứng

Chiều hướng 2: Nghiêng về giới cư sĩ

Chiều hướng 3: Bình đẳng giới tính

Chiều hướng 4: Dân chủ và bình đẳng

Chiều hướng 5: Cốt lõi, đơn giản và không huyền bí

Chiều hướng 6: Phi tông phái

Chiều hướng 7: Sắc bén về tâm lý

Chiều hướng 8: Có tính thẩm trạch

Chiều hướng 9: Nghiêng về sinh hoạt cộng đồng

Chiều hướng 10: Quan tâm đến xã hội và môi trường

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Buddhism in the West (1): Theravada


Theravada Buddhism in the West 
(Focusing on America and Canada)



Text of a talk given by Dr.Thynn Thynn 
in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Saturday, May 19th, 2007 on the occasion of the Buddha’s Birthday.



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Blessings, the honorable Dr. Aung, Venerables and honored guests. I would like to thank Dr. Aung and the International Buddhist Friend Association for inviting me to give this talk. I am very humbled and honored.

I would like to begin this talk by recalling that in 1897, exactly 110 yrs ago, the first-ever Wesak celebration in San Francisco was presided over by Anagarika Dharmapala of Sri Lanka. This was perhaps the initiation of Theravada Buddhism in the New World. But it was not until the mid- 1960s that Theravada teachings were actually transplanted to America. During the 1950’s, both Zen Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism were brought to America and made it their Western home. Before Theravada teachings arrived here, there was an extremely important development in the teachings in Southeast Asia, especially in Burma.

At about the same time that the World Parliament of Religions was taking place in Chicago in 1893, Ledi Sayadaw, the foremost scholar and meditation master, translated the Pali Canon into lay Burmese and thus planted the seeds of Vipassana meditation amongst monks and lay people alike. This was a watershed event in the annals of Burmese Buddhism, because for the very first time the Pali Canon became accessible to the lay community. Ledi Sayadaw delegated a layman – Saya Thet Kyi – the task of bringing Vipassana meditation to the lay Burmese community. Saya Thet Kyi, who was actually a farmer, became the first lay meditation master in Ledi Sayadaw’s tradition to popularize Vipassana meditation and began teaching organized retreats around the country. Many meditation centers were set up in Burma, and small groups of Westerners began coming to study with Saya Thet Kyi in the early part of the 20th century.

Prior to that, for 1500 years Vipassana meditation and the scriptures were confined to the monastics. Vipassana was practiced sporadically by monks, mostly on their own. With the coming of Ledi Sayadaw, a new era dawned for Burmese Buddhism. So in reality, the Vipassana movement amongst the larger lay community in Burma is actually just a little over a century old.

From Saya Thet Kyi grew a long line of lay Vipassana teachers beginning with U Ba Khin, a high government official. In the late 60s, Westerners began to visit and explore meditation with U Ba Khin, the first of whom were Robert Hoover and John Coleman, from England, and notably Ruth Dennison from America. That trio brought Vipassana meditation to England and America in the early part of the 1970s. In the meantime, Sayagyi Goenka, an ethnic Indian in Burma, studied with U Ba Khin and went to India and began teaching there; he also was a key teacher who spread the teachings and practice all over the world.

Another lineage was developing in the wake of Ledi Sayadaw, begun by Thaton Mingun Sayadaw. From him a long line of famous Burmese Meditation teachers evolved, the first of whom was the famous Mahasi Sayadaw. During the Burmese independence period in the 50s, Wai Bu Sayadaw and Mahasi Sayadaw were the most famous Meditation Masters and were instrumental in spreading the Vipassana practice amongst the lay population. In the Post-independent Period, Mahasi Sayadaw was invited by the Burmese Government to establish a meditation center in Yangon, and this created the ideal situation for Westerners to come to Burma to practice Vipassana meditation. In the same era many famous Burmese Masters such as Monhnyin Sayadaw, Sun Lun, and Mogok Sayadaw appeared on the Burmese Buddhist scene, making Vipassana in Burma a household word. In the 1960s, young American explorers of Asian spirituality also flocked to Budh Gaya in India and were exposed to Burmese Vipassana practice there as well. Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, and Jacqueline Schwarz-Mandell were initiated into the Vipassana meditation tradition by Munindraji, an Indian who was trained in Burma by Mahasi Sayadaw. These four American aspirants also went to Burma and studied with Mahasi Sayadaw himself as well as Sayadaw U Pandita. Jack also ordained in Acharn Cha’s tradition in Thailand. They returned to the West and in the mid-70s began to teach Vipassana in America.

Ledi Sayadaw’s lineage is carried in the West to this day by lay meditation teachers such as Daw Mya Thwin, Sayagyi Goenka, and Ruth Dennison, whereas Mahasi Sayadaw’s lineage branched out into two streams. A monastic stream to the West was carried by Burmese abbots such as Sayadaw U Pandita, Chan Myei Sayadaw, U Lekhana, Satamaranthi Sayadaw. This monastic track serves both Burmese and western meditators during their annual visits. The other Mahasi stream is carried by lay American Vipassana teachers such as Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salsberg, and Jack Kornfield.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka had its own meditation Masters and was producing the best scholars, for example the late Sri Lankan monk Walpola Rahula, and Western scholars such as the late Nyanitiloka, Nyanaponika Thera from Germany and later Bhikkhu Bodhi who is of American origin. Their English translations of the Pali Texts were invaluable to Westerners studying and practicing Theravada Buddhism. Aya Khema, a German nun ordained in Sri Lanka, founded the Nun’s Island in Sri Lanka, which served as an important venue for Western women to practice meditation in Asia.

Thai Buddhism was also developing in the 1950s with the advent of Acharn Cha, a forest monk to whom a group of young Americans flocked to study with. Among the first from the West were Acharn Sumedho, Acharn Passano and Acharn Amaro. One notable Thai teacher was Acharn Nyeb a lay Thai woman.

Theravada Comes To the West

The first Theravada Sri Lankan and Thai monasteries were established by their respective immigrant communities around the 1960s in Washington DC, LA and NY. Later other Sri Lankan and Thai monasteries were founded in LA, Denver, and Chicago in the 70s. The same happened in Canada where Southeast Asian immigrants started setting up their own centers.

At the same time, the Mahasi stream of lay teachers Joseph, Jack, Sharon and Jacqueline established the Insight Meditation Society in late 70s in Massachusetts. IMS offered practices from all Theravada traditions: from Mahasi, U Ba Khin, and Acharn Cha.

A new development took place in 1979 -80 was the visits of the famed Burmese Masters Mahasi Sayadaw and Taungpulu Sayadaw to America. Mahasi Sayadaw was accompanied by the late Sayadaw U Silananda and U Kelatha. The latter monks stayed behind and founded monasteries in California and Maryland respectively. Later on additional viharas were started in NY, LA, Chicago, Texas and other towns in US. Taungpulu Sayadaw also set up a monastery in Santa Cruz in California with the help of an Indian-Burmese teacher Dr. Rina Sircar. She later became the Chair for Buddhist Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, and was the very first Burmese-born woman to make any mark in America. Meanwhile, Laotians and Cambodians also established their own temples. The first higher ordination of an American, Scott DuPrez, took place in Wat Thai in 1979 in LA.

By the end of the millennium, there were more than forty temples in the US and Canada. Vipassana meditation began to be popularly known as Mindfulness or Insight Meditation amongst North Americans, and sitting groups in towns and cities were springing up all over the US and Canada. This was a new phenomenon, never seen in Asian Buddhist countries. Mindfulness or Vipassana sitting groups initiated by American Dhamma teachers totaled about 90 in 32 states by the year 2000. Spirit Rock Meditation Center was founded in Marin County north of San Francisco in the early 90’s by Jack Kornfield and others as a west-coast extension of the Insight Meditation Center in Massachusetts. In Shelburne Massachusetts a center was founded in the Goenka tradition. Bhavana Society was founded in late 80s by Bhante Gunaratana a Sri Lankan monk. Abhayagiri Monastery in the tradition of Acharn Chah was established in 1986 in Northern California with co-abbots Acharn Amaro, from the UK, and Acharn Passano, a Canadian from La Pas, Manitoba.

Having grown up secluded in a Buddhist country in the Orthodox Theravada tradition, when I moved to America in 1990 I felt like Alice in Wonderland. Suddenly there they are – the many Buddhist traditions and schools flourishing in the West – Zen , Tibetan Buddhism, Pure Land , Chan, Korean Zen, Vietnamese Zen, Theravadan temples, Vipassana centers, engaged Buddhism, the Buddhist women’s movement and so on. It was a great eye-opener to know that the various Northern Buddhism Schools and as well as Theravada Buddhism had been growing on the fertile ground of the North Americas for a century already.

From the time I migrated from Burma to Thailand in the early 80s to the time I established a Dhamma center in Northern California in 1998, it was like being fast forwarded from 19th century to 21st century Buddhism overnight. I witnessed the turn of the millennium of Buddhism in the West in Dec 2000 exactly 10 yrs after setting foot in US. As a newcomer to the American Buddhist scene, it took me quite a while to get the whole perspective.

Currently, about 180 ethnic Theravadan monasteries all over US are settled in their own enclaves and are serving the religious and cultural needs of their respective ethnic communities. There are 18 Sri Lankan, Thai, Khmer, Laotian and Burmese monasteries in Canada and Lay Buddhist organizations like the International Buddhist Friend Association. Amongst the ethnic monasteries, Sri Lankan monasteries drew the most Westerners compared to Burmese and Thai Temples due to the Sri Lankan monastic’s’ fluency in English. Unfortunately, the only abbot who was fluent in English amongst the Burmese Sayadaws was the late Sayadaw U Silananda but he was in great demand by the expatriate Burmese communities not just in America but all over the world. The only branch monastery he established was in Mexico.

The lay Vipassana movement began by Sayagyi Goenka and the pioneer Western teachers took off and exploded all over North America. According to Sharon Salzberg, it all started innocently by them simply teaching what they had experienced in their own practices in Asia, but it seemed to have a life of its own. Mindfulness has been taken up by not just the average American but by professionals, lawyers, Universities and colleges. Stanford University has an accredited course in mindfulness, UC San Francisco started a mindfulness club, and UCLA followed suit. Mindfulness has been incorporated into the popular stressreduction clinics begun by Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts. Steven Smith from Hawaii took it into the business world as did Mirabai Bush of Mind and Life Institute. Psychotherapy is being integrated with mindfulness, as pioneered by Jack Kornfield, and now hordes of psychotherapists are integrating mindfulness into their own practices. But the interesting thing about this development is that many in the public who take up mindfulness meditation do not seem to know where this practice comes from, and most of them have not even heard the term Theravada Buddhism. Such is the paradox of the fast growth of Vipassana as a meditative trend.

IMS is more traditional and sticks to the traditional Theravadan model. They also have a Buddhist Studies Center to provide scriptural studies: its west-coast counterpart, Spirit Rock, is more eclectic in its approach and incorporates other traditions such as Tibetan retreats, Shamanic work, more of a smorgasbord or cafeteria approach. Dhamma Dena, a meditation center founded by Ruth Denison in Southern California, focuses mainly on the U Ba Khin tradition with innovative additions of movement and dance.

On the more orthodox front, Bhavana Society founded by Sri Lankan abbot Bhante Gunaratana provides a traditional form of practice and Buddhist milieu for Westerners and Asians alike. In the mid 90s Abhayagiri a Western monastery from the Archan Chaa tradition was established in Northern California and attracts Americans as well as Thais and Cambodians. Metta Monastery in San Diego is headed by Thanissaro Bikkhu a scholar and meditation teacher trained in the Thai forest tradition of Archan Lee Dhammadaro. These two monasteries maintain the strict Thai forest monastic tradition. The impact of these traditional monastic models on the American community is slow and gradual. The strict monastic codes of conduct and the patriarchal model of Theravada Buddhism in the West seem to be the stumbling block for Westerners, especially women.

Most of the traditions present in America seem to be represented in Canada – the Mahasi , Goenka, Achan Chah lineages, and teachers from IMS and Spirit Rock teach retreats here. The first ordination of a Canadian Bhikkhu by Canadian monks – Venerable S. Nanada abd Oavaro – took place at Birken forest monastry, and is a first for Canadian Theravada Buddhism.

One could say that Theravada Buddhism is the last wave of Buddhism to arrive in the New World and we are to a certain extent riding on the popularity of Buddhism began by Zen and the Beat generation, plus the success of Zen Masters like Suzuki Roshi, Maezumi Roshi and later Tibetan Buddhism brought by Chogyam Trungpa and other Tibetan Lamas. It is also important to note that the immense popularity of Dalai Lama in the West has a tremendous impact on the public in the New World, paving the way for new comers like Theravada Buddhism and Vipassana to follow.

Engaged Buddhism

Buddhism arriving on American soil also encountered political and social activism, and as such was absorbed into the field also. The Buddhist Peace Fellowship is one outcome, and members are from across the board of Buddhist traditions. Joanna Macy a famous activist is well respected in Western Buddhist circles for her work in Deep Ecology and the anti-nuclear movement.

Women In Buddhism in America

Although Western women teachers in the Zen and Tibetan traditions and the Vipassana movement have become prominent in America, very few Asian Theravadan women have achieved prominence other than Dr. Sircar. Another woman teacher from U Ba Khin’s tradition – Sayama Gyi Daw Mya Thwin – lived in England and came to teach in America off and on. From the Thai tradition there is Bikkhuni Dr. Prem, a psychotherapist who founded a temple in Massachusetts. I am a late arrival and my Dhamma center in Northern California was established in 1998. There are three retreat centers recently founded by Burmese women, Thanti Thitsa in LA was founded by Dr Khin Thi Oo a physician, a monastery was founded in Springfield Illinois by Dr Khinne Swe Myint, and a retreat center in Canada by a Burmese nun Daw Khemernandi. These centers invite Burmese abbots to teach retreats to Burmese and Westerners. Two Western Bhikkhuni, Ven. Sucinta and Ven Sudhamma, are abesses of the Sri Lankan temple Carolina Buddhist Vihara in South Carolina. This is the first of its kind – two Western Bhikkunis in charge of an ethnic Sri Lankan Vihara –because most Sri Lankan monks who were in residence there could not stay long because of loneliness and homesickness.

In my own experience of starting a Dhamma center in California and the experiences of other women, unfortunately I feel that female Asian Dhamma teachers are not taken seriously by the Burmese Buddhist community nor the Western Dhamma community. It may be so because we are a rare breed and a new phenomenon. In Burma there have only been nuns who founded nunneries teaching Vipassana and there has been little lay attention paid to Asian women teachers teaching in US. Hence my gratitude to Dr. Aung and the IBFA is boundless for inviting me as a Dhamma teacher and in recognition of my work in the US. It is a very rare honor indeed. My sense of the North American Dhamma scene is that – unless we female Dhamma teachers can successfully publish books – the work of female teachers will not be widely known or appreciated.

According to the well known Buddhist writer Sandy Boucher, when Buddhism arrived on the shores of America, feminism was already full blown and the patriarchal system of Theravadan monasticism did not sit well with Americans. Women in our era began to examine the status of women in Buddhism and finally started to find their own voice. Thereafter began an era of empowerment for Western women. In the early 80s, the first International Conference for Women called Sakyaditha (daughters of the Buddha) took place in Budh Gaya presided over by His Holiness Dalai Lama. Participating women from all Buddhist traditions from Asia and the West converged and founded their own forum and interconnectedness.

One of the stickiest points in Theravada Buddhism is the discontinued Bhikkhuni tradition in Theravadan countries. This issue is frequently addressed at the conference by such Buddhist women activists such as Prof Chartsuman Kabilsingh of Thailand, Karma Lekshe Tsomo a Tibetan nun, Aya Khema and others. Sakyaditha Conferences have been held every few years.

Against great resistance from Theravadan orthodoxy, some women persisted and got themselves ordained in Taiwan and South Korea. The struggle to set up the Bhidkkhuni Sangha was on, and the first male monastics to relent were the Sri Lankans. The Bhikkhuni Sangha was revived in Sri Lanka in 1998 with the ordination of 23 Bhiddkhunis in Danbulla. Currently over 200 Bhikkhunis have been ordained in Sri Lanka. A few Thai and Burmese bhikkhunis were ordained in Sri Lanka but the two Burmese bhikkhunis live in America where the spiritual climate is more conducive for them. In 2005 the first Bikkhuni Vihara was founded by Bhikkhunis Tathaaloka and Sucinta in Fremont, California. There is indeed a glass ceiling for all women in Buddhism, whether Western or Asian, ordained or laywomen, and it is a high ceiling to crack. My experience teaching and setting up a Dhamma center in America is no exception.

My attempt to establish a yogi center (semi-renunciate) from the Burmese tradition has had to contend with and overcome the great obstacle of gender issues. I chose this yogi tradition because it is neither hierarchical nor patriarchal and does not require ordination. It simply allows the person to commit and live a religious life and is not encumbered with rigid rules that do not work well in Western societies. So far I have found that it works very well and at my center the gender issue is a non-issue. Both men and women students are able to focus on their own practice and study without the distraction of gender struggles and biases.

I have been asked many times by Burmese friends why I don’t have a monk preside at my Center. This shows how foreign the tradition of lay women teachers is to the Burmese Buddhist community. It was an enigma for a lot of the Burmese Buddhist expatriates when I began to establish the center in America. For one thing, having a monk and a woman teaching in the same center is setting up for a split in the community. Most Burmese will support the Burmese monks, while Westerners on the other hand will relate better to a lay person. And most important of all I need the freedom and flexibility to chart my own course for the Center and carve out a path that will fulfill my aspirations to bring Theravada Buddhism to the West in addition to building lay Dhamma community of practitioners. Hence my center does not conform to any of the traditional Theravadan silent retreat centers nor simulate monasteries or nunneries in Burma or in the west.

Experience of setting up a Dhamma center in US

It is in this cultural environment that I had started my own center in Northern California nine years ago bringing Vipassana in Daily Life Meditation. When I was studying Buddhism in Burma, I thought the monastic tradition was too rigid and orthodox and tried to be more eclectic in my own journey. But when I arrived in America, I saw how Buddhism can become diluted and even distorted or admixed with different popular trends and practices, so I realized that I had to carve out my own traditional/non-traditional path when I began to teach in America. It was also part of my own evolution as a Dhamma teacher from Asia, to learn to steer the middle way between orthodoxy and excessive liberalism in creating my own Dhamma Center. It was in seeing the American Dhamma scene that I came to the realization of the importance and significance of the orthodox traditions. Without the strict monastic lineage of scholarship and practice in the Burmese tradition in Burma, Vipassana practice would not have had a chance to survive and even be brought to the West. But it is also true that the Theravada monasticism which served so well in Asia is not going to be suitable for the kind of Dhamma work I wanted to carry on in America. Hence my decision to find an alternative way of approaching the situation by establishing a Theravadan Center for householders in order to preserve and propagate the Dhamma.

I had to find a way to keep the identity of Theravada Buddhism, yet not stymie the atmosphere with an overkill of rigid Buddhist religious culture. How to bring the ancient teachings to bear in this day and age in the West within an alien culture and yet maintaining the original Buddhist thoughts without diluting them is an enormous challenge. But I regard it as a wonderful opportunity to use creative sensitivity to transcend the cultural differences of East and West, This has been the most exciting part for me, to meet these challenges, and to find the common ground of human expression that speaks to the heart and to the depth of our being. I came to realize that it is not just the meeting of the minds but of the hearts that close the cultural divide of East and West.

I wanted to experiment and let the center and the community grow organically at a comfortable pace, loose enough yet not too lax. Along the way I fashioned a way to the assimilate Buddhism and the North American psyche. I have come to understand and respect the spirit of independence of Americans and their willingness to explore and take risks. I felt it was important not to stymie these qualities, but instead to help Americans how to temper that spirit with wisdom and empathy. Americans also have a certain paranoia about authority, and in order to circumvent this in building community, the first thing I did was to form a horizontal organization rather than a top-down management style that Americans are wary of. Taking a leadership role yet also building consensus was what I found to be most successful with my American students. My goal is to show Americans that when authority is conferred with wisdom and metta, there can be a synergistic relationship of mutual respect and love on both sides, with the authority intact and the result I found is an empowered group of American Dhamma practitioners at our Sae Taw Win II Dhamma Center.

With these perspectives in mind I began teaching how to incorporate Vipassana and the Noble Eightfold Path in everyday life, with the fundamentals of Theravada Buddhism supporting the practice as opposed to the silent sitting retreat models taught in most Theravada centers. Later I began to introduce the essence of Abhidhamma to help my students understand the mental landscape of the untrained mind and how to transform one’s mental conditioning using mindfulness of mind states. The incorporation of the Noble Eightfold Path and Abhihamma teachings have been crucial to help American students bring Vipassana into their everyday life and ultimately become a way of life for them. I also developed a curriculum of graduated and continuing courses of theory and practice which runs about two years. This gives the students a well rounded education in classical Theravada teachings and this was crucial in deepening their own practice at the same time developing a healthy respect for classical Buddhism.

I also began to design a conflict resolution model and called it “Bringing Harmony to Conflict based on the Noble Eightfold Path.” My nine years of experience in community building in America have shown me that the most difficult stumbling block is the lack of integrating the Noble Eightfold Path in the student’s practice, where untrained mind and speech were the causal factors in bringing about disruption and disintegration of spiritual communities and families. I began to introduce Right Speech during the third year of setting up the center and by the fifth year I had developed the conflict resolution model. This has proved to be a pivotal step in the success of building a more stable growing community through the deepening quality of the students’ mindfulness practice.

Another facet was using modern educational science in creating the curriculum and using hands on training methods adapted from Montessori school and other alternative educational systems. This was also very much enhanced by using modern high tech means in presenting ancient teachings, which are very abstract, and also using technology to make the teachings and practice available for long distance students from America and elsewhere in the world who track our ongoing classes online.

I also surmised that for Theravada Buddhism to be established in the West there is a need to train lay Westerners to be teachers in Theravadan tradition. So far I have been training four of my senior American students as Teachers in Training who have become the central core of the small community. They are able to provide not only teachings but also be role models for our growing community of students. My goal in to developing classical Theravadan teachings and practical courses at our center using modern educational techniques and technology, is with the intention that these courses can be repeated and adopted by other centers if they so wish.

Teaching Modules

Over the last two years my assistant teachers and I have been designing and refining our courses. Currently we are trying to develop them into teaching modules that can be used by any other group who would like to use these modules at their own center.

Whither Theravada in the West

One question that comes up for me on Theravada Buddhism in the West is “where do we go from here? “ In the West we seem to have two ends of the spectrum in the Theravada tradition: the strict monastic tradition on the one end, and at the other end of the spectrum the loose and eclectic mindfulness movement which has more or less left traditional Theravada identify behind. Will the mindfulness movement in future generations become like Yoga in the West, just a stress reduction technique? Will Theravada Buddhism be confined to Asian ethnic groups and a few Western Monasteries? Are we not going to examine or find a way to make Theravada Buddhism and Vipassana meditation relevant to Westerners without losing our identity? With this question I would like to end my talk.

May all beings be peaceful! Sadhu sadhu sadhu!

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Thiên tài từ đâu ra?

David Shenk
http://www.bbc.co.uk

*

Những tài năng thể thao hay nghệ thuật từ đâu ra? Khi mô tả họ "nhạc sĩ thiên tài", "vận động viên bẩm sinh" hay "thông minh thiên phú", chúng ta mặc nhiên cho rằng tài năng là do di truyền, có người có, người không có.

Nhưng nghiên cứu khoa học mới cho thấy nhiều điều thú vị về nguồn gốc của tài năng. Tất cả đều là quá trình phát triển, kể cả những gì có sẵn trong gen.

Các đây 100 năm, các nhà di truyền học tin rằng gen là người máy, sản xuất những mệnh lệnh giống hệt nhau như một cái máy, và phần lớn công chúng vẫn tin như vậy.

Nhưng trong những năm qua, kiến thức của các nhà khoa học đã được cập nhật rất nhiều.

Nay họ biết gen tương tác với môi trường chung quanh, khi ẩn khi hiện. Trên thực tế cùng một gen có các tác động khác nhau tùy vào nó tương tác với cái gì.

Dễ bảo

"Không có yếu tố gen nào có thể nghiên cứu độc lập tách rời khỏi môi trường," Giáo sư Michael Meaney từ McGill University ở Canada nói.

''Và cũng không có yếu tố môi trường nào hoạt động độc lập với gen. [Dấu vết] chỉ xuất hiện từ sự tương tác giữa gen và môi trường."

Điều đó có nghĩa tất cả những gì về chúng ta - cá tính, trí thông minh, khả năng - thực ra do cuộc đời của một người quyết định. Khái niệm ''bẩm sinh'' không còn đúng nữa.

"Một con thú bắt đầu cuộc đời của nó với khả năng phát triển nhiều cách khác nhau," nhà sinh vật học Patrick Bateson từ Cambridge University nói.

"Con thú có tiềm năng theo các con đường phát triển khác nhau. Con đường nó chọn tùy thuộc vào môi trường con thú đó lớn lên."

Nói vậy gen không có vai trò gì à? Dĩ nhiên không phải vậy. Chúng ta đều khác nhau và có những tiềm năng khác nhau. Sẽ không bao giờ có chuyện tôi là cầu thủ bóng đá Cristiano Ronaldo. Chỉ có Cristiano Ronaldo hồi bé có cơ hội thành Cristiano Ronaldo bây giờ.

Nhưng ta cũng nên biết Cristiano Ronaldo có thể đã rất khác so với ngày nay, với những khả năng khác. Nói cách khác, tài năng lừa bóng của Cristiano Ronaldo không phải xuất phát từ gen.

Khả năng thích nghi

Tài xế taxi London nổi tiếng nhớ đường của một trong những thành phố phức tạp nhất trên thế giới này. Năm 1999, bác sĩ thần kinh Eleanor Maguire chụp hình não của họ và so sánh với những người khác.

Não của các tài xế lâu năm có vùng hippocampus lớn hơn bình thường - đó là phần trên não giúp nhớ địa danh. Bác sĩ cũng thấy cỡ của phần này lớn nhỏ tùy theo năm nghề của người tài xế. Điều đó có nghĩa vận động trí nhớ trong khi lái taxi đã làm thay đổi não của người tài xế.

Kết quả nghiên cứu này cũng đúng trong trường hợp của các nghệ sĩ violin, người đọc chữ Braille, người tập thiền, và bệnh nhân đang hồi phục sau khi bị tai biến mạch máu não.

Não sẽ thích nghi với yêu cầu của chúng ta đưa ra.

Số phận

Khái niệm mới này thực khó nuốt khi mà người ta đã cố gắng thuyết phục chúng ta rằng mỗi một người trong chúng ta kế thừa một lượng thông minh nhất định, và đa số chúng ta sẽ là những con người tầm thường.

Chúng ta được làm quen với chỉ số thông minh IQ từ gần một thế kỷ qua. Vậy mà người nghĩ ra cách đo lường này, Alfred Binet, có ý kiến ngược hẳn, và khoa học cuối cùng về phe Binet.

"Trí thông minh đại diện cho một số khả năng trong quá trình phát triển," Robert Sternberg từ Tufts University, USA, phát biểu năm 2005, sau nhiều chục năm nghiên cứu.

Các chuyên gia nghiên cứu trong lĩnh vực này, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Kevin Rathunde và Samuel Whalen đồng ý.

"Những người học giỏi không nhất thiết sinh ra thông minh hơn người khác," họ viết trong quyển sách Talented Teenagers (Những thiếu niên có tài), "mà do siêng năng và có kỷ luật hơn."

James Flynn từ University of Otago, New Zealand, đã thống kê được chỉ số IQ tự chúng đã tăng dần trong thế kỷ qua, vốn sau khi nghiên cứu cẩn thận, ông nói là nhờ có văn hóa tinh vi hơn. Nói cách khác, chúng ta thông minh hơn là nhờ sự nhào nặn của văn hóa chúng ta.

Sâu sắc hơn, Carol Dweck từ Stanford University, USA, đã chứng minh được rằng sinh viên nào hiểu rằng trí thông minh có thể đào tạo, thường có nhiều tham vọng và thành công hơn.

Điều đó cũng áp dụng cho tài năng khi ta thấy những người đứng đầu trong các bộ môn, ngày nay có nhiều kỹ năng hơn so với các thế hệ trước.

Tất cả những khả năng tùy thuộc vào tiến trình phát triển tiệm tiến mà các nền văn hóa nhỏ đã tìm ra cách để cải tiến.

Nhào nặn

Trong những năm qua một lĩnh vực hoàn toàn mới gọi là "chuyên môn học", do nhà tâm lý học Anders Ericsson từ Florida State University dẫn đầu, đã tìm cách xác định nguồn và phương pháp của những sự cải tiến nho nhỏ đó.

Từng bước nhỏ họ ngày càng hiểu hơn làm thế nào thái độ, cách dạy, và cách thực hành khác nhau có thể giúp đưa con người vào các lộ trình khác nhau.

Con cái của bạn có tiềm năng trở thành vận động viên đẳng cấp quốc tế, nghệ sĩ tài ba, hay một nhà khoa học đoạt giải Nobel?

Sẽ là điên rồ nếu cho rằng ai cũng có thể làm hay trở thành bất kỳ cái gì. Nhưng ngành khoa học mới cho thấy cũng điên rồ nếu nghĩ rằng sự tầm thường là hiển nhiên trong đa số chúng ta, hoặc bất kỳ ai trong chúng ta cũng có thể biết những giới hạn của mình trước khi bỏ ra vô số tài lực và thời gian.

Khả năng của chúng ta không được đúc sẵn trong gen. Chúng có thể nhào nặn được, và có thể làm khi đã là người lớn. Với sự khiêm tốn, niềm hy vọng, và sự quyết tâm phi thường, bất kỳ đứa trẻ nào, ở bất kỳ lứa tuổi nào, đều có thể khao khát đạt được những điều to lớn.

* - *

Is there a genius in all of us?

David Shenk 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/

*
Where do athletic and artistic abilities come from? With phrases like "gifted musician", "natural athlete" and "innate intelligence", we have long assumed that talent is a genetic thing some of us have and others don't.

But new science suggests the source of abilities is much more interesting and improvisational. It turns out that everything we are is a developmental process and this includes what we get from our genes.

A century ago, geneticists saw genes as robot actors, always uttering the same lines in exactly the same way, and much of the public is still stuck with this old idea. In recent years, though, scientists have seen a dramatic upgrade in their understanding of heredity.

They now know that genes interact with their surroundings, getting turned on and off all the time. In effect, the same genes have different effects depending on who they are talking to.

Malleable

"There are no genetic factors that can be studied independently of the environment," says Michael Meaney, a professor at McGill University in Canada.

It would be folly to suggest that anyone can literally do or become anything. But the new science tells us that it's equally foolish to think that mediocrity is built into most of us”

"And there are no environmental factors that function independently of the genome. [A trait] emerges only from the interaction of gene and environment."

This means that everything about us - our personalities, our intelligence, our abilities - are actually determined by the lives we lead. The very notion of "innate" no longer holds together.

"In each case the individual animal starts its life with the capacity to develop in a number of distinctly different ways," says Patrick Bateson, a biologist at Cambridge University.

"Like a jukebox, the individual has the potential to play a number of different developmental tunes. The particular developmental tune it does play is selected by [the environment] in which the individual is growing up."

Is it that genes don't matter? Of course not. We're all different and have different theoretical potentials from one another. There was never any chance of me being Cristiano Ronaldo. Only tiny Cristiano Ronaldo had a chance of being the Cristiano Ronaldo we know now.

But we also have to understand that he could have turned out to be quite a different person, with different abilities. His future football magnificence was not carved in genetic stone.

Doomed

This new developmental paradigm is a big idea to swallow, considering how much effort has gone into persuading us that each of us inherits a fixed amount of intelligence, and that most of us are doomed to be mediocre.

The notion of a fixed IQ has been with us for almost a century. Yet the original inventor of the IQ test, Alfred Binet, had quite the opposite opinion, and the science turns out to favour Binet.

"Intelligence represents a set of competencies in development," said Robert Sternberg from Tufts University in the US in 2005, after many decades of study.

Talent researchers Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Kevin Rathunde and Samuel Whalen agree.

"High academic achievers are not necessarily born 'smarter' than others," they write in their book Talented Teenagers, "but work harder and develop more self-discipline."

James Flynn of the University of Otago in New Zealand has documented how IQ scores themselves have steadily risen over the century - which, after careful analysis, he ascribes to increased cultural sophistication. In other words, we've all gotten smarter as our culture has sharpened us.

Most profoundly, Carol Dweck from Stanford University in the US, has demonstrated that students who understand intelligence is malleable rather than fixed are much more intellectually ambitious and successful.

The same dynamic applies to talent. This explains why today's top runners, swimmers, cyclists, chess players, violinists and on and on, are so much more skilful than in previous generations.

All of these abilities are dependent on a slow, incremental process which various micro-cultures have figured out how to improve. Until recently, the nature of this improvement was merely intuitive and all but invisible to scientists and other observers.

How a London cabbie's brain grows

London cabbies famously navigate one of the most complex cities in the world. In 1999, neurologist Eleanor Maguire conducted MRI scans on their brains and compared them with the brain scans of others. In contrast with non-cabbies, experienced taxi drivers had a greatly enlarged posterior hippocampus - that part of the brain that specialises in recalling spatial representations.

What's more, the size of cabbies' hippocampi correlated directly with each driver's experience: the longer the driving career, the larger the posterior hippocampus.

That showed that spatial tasks were actively changing cabbies' brains. This was perfectly consistent with studies of violinists, Braille readers, meditation practitioners, and recovering stroke victims.

Our brains adapt in response to the demands we put on them.

Soft and sculptable

But in recent years, a whole new field of "expertise studies", led by Florida State University psychologist Anders Ericsson, has emerged which is cleverly documenting the sources and methods of such tiny, incremental improvements.

Bit by bit, they're gathering a better and better understanding of how different attitudes, teaching styles and precise types of practice and exercise push people along very different pathways.

Does your child have the potential to develop into a world-class athlete, a virtuoso musician, or a brilliant Nobel-winning scientist?

It would be folly to suggest that anyone can literally do or become anything. But the new science tells us that it's equally foolish to think that mediocrity is built into most of us, or that any of us can know our true limits before we've applied enormous resources and invested vast amounts of time.

Our abilities are not set in genetic stone. They are soft and sculptable, far into adulthood. With humility, with hope, and with extraordinary determination, greatness is something to which any kid - of any age - can aspire.

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Friday 14 January 2011

Luận sư Di-lặc

Nhân nói về mùa Xuân Di-lặc và vị Phật tương lai, Ngài Bồ-tát Di-lặc, có lẽ cũng cần tìm hiểu thêm về một vị Di-lặc khác: Luận sư Di-lặc, thầy của Luận sư Vô Trước.
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Theo Wikipedia, một số các nhà Phật học như các vị giáo sư Erich Frauwallner, Giuseppe Tucci, và Hakiju Ui cho rằng Luận sư Di-lặc (Maitreya-nātha – khoảng 270-350 TL) là tên một nhân vật lịch sử trong 3 vị luận sư khai sáng Du-già hành tông (Yogācāra) hay Duy thức tông (Vijñānavāda): Di-lặc (Maitreya-nātha), Vô Trước (Asaṅga), Thế Thân (Vasubandhu). Tuy nhiên, theo truyền thống, nhiều người tin rằng đây chính là Bồ-tát Di-lặc (Bodhisattva Maitreya) – vị Phật tương lai, và hiện đang ngự tại cung trời Đâu-suất (Tusita).

Sự khác biệt này bắt nguồn từ nhiều lý do, trong đó:

(a) trong thời kỳ Đại thừa bắt đầu phát triển tại Ấn Độ, người ta vì tôn kính các luận sư cao tăng nên có khuynh hướng tôn xưng quý ngài là các vị Bồ-tát; từ đó, có thể đã có sự nhầm lẫn giữa ngài luận sư Di-lặc là thầy của ngài Vô Trước và ngài Bồ-tát Di-lặc, vị Phật tương lai;

(b) một số các bài luận thường giải thích là do quý ngài ấy hiểu được qua trạng thái nhập định (samadhi) và tham cứu với các vị Bồ-tát ở các cung trời, nhất là với ngài Bồ-tát Di-lặc tại cung Đâu-suất.

Ngài Di-lặc, theo Wikipedia, được xem là tác giả, hoặc đồng tác giả với ngài Vô Trước, của các luận phẩm:

1) Yogācāra-bhūmi-śāstra (Du-già sư địa luận, T1579)
2) Mahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra-kārikā (Đại thừa kinh trang nghiêm luận, T1604)
3) Madhyānta-vibhāga-kārikā (Trung biên phân biệt luận hay Biện trung biên luận, T1599, 1600, 1601)
4) Ratna-gotra-vibhaga, còn có tên là Uttara-ekayāna-ratnagotra-śāstra (Cứu cánh nhất thừa bảo tánh luận, T1611)

5) Dharma-dharmatā-vibhāga (Pháp pháp tính phân biệt luận)
6) Abhisamaya-alamkāra (Hiện quán trang nghiêm luận )

Hai quyển Abhisamaya-alamkāra và Dharma-dharmatā-vibhāga chỉ tìm thấy trong kinh thư Tây Tạng, và Abhisamaya-alamkāra được dịch sang tiếng Hán trong thập niên 1930. Có quan niệm cho rằng dường như 2 quyển này được trước tác về sau, không phải trong thời kỳ của ngài Vô Trước.

Theo bản mục lục của Đại chính Tân tu Đại tạng kinh, ngài Di-lặc là tác giả của:

(trong Bộ Luật)
T1499: Bồ Tát Giới Yết Ma Văn, 1 quyển, [Di Lặc Bồ Tát thuyết, Đường Huyền Trang dịch]
T1501: Bồ Tát Giới Bổn, 1 quyển, [Di Lặc Bồ Tát thuyết, Đường Huyền Trang dịch]

(trong Bộ Du-già)
T1579: Du Già Sư Địa Luận, 100 quyển, [Di Lặc Bồ Tát thuyết, Đường Huyền Trang dịch]
T1601: Biện Trung Biên Luận Tụng, 1 quyển, [Di Lặc Bồ Tát thuyết, Đường Huyền Trang dịch]
T1615: Vương Pháp Chánh Lý Luận, 1 quyển, [Di Lặc Bồ Tát thuyết, Đường Huyền Trang dịch]

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Thursday 13 January 2011

Mùa Xuân Di Lặc

Nguồn: Bồ Đề Đạo Tràng, www.bodedaotrang.com
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Ý nghĩa cúng rước vía đức Phật Di Lặc đầu năm
 Thích Phước Thái

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Hỏi: Kính thưa Thầy, con không hiểu lý do tại sao đêm giao thừa ở các chùa cũng như ở tư gia của nhiều gia đình Phật tử lại thiết lễ cúng rước vía đức Phật Di Lặc. Vậy ý nghĩa rước vía đó như thế nào? Kính xin Thầy hoan hỷ giải đáp cho con rõ. Con kính cám ơn Thầy.

Ðáp: Việc thiết cúng rước vía đức Phật Di Lặc, đây là một truyền thống đã có lâu đời. Nhưng dựa vào đâu mà người ta lấy ngày mùng một Tết hằng năm để làm ngày kỷ niệm rước vía Ngài? Vấn đề nầy, theo sự khảo cứu của chúng tôi, thì chúng tôi chưa thấy có chỗ nào nói rõ việc nầy. Chỉ thấy trong quyển “Xuân Trong Cửa Thiền” của Hòa Thượng Thích Thanh Từ, xuất bản năm 1997, Hòa Thượng có nêu ra và giải thích vấn đề nầy. Sở dĩ người ta chọn ngày đầu năm, tức ngày mùng một Tết âm lịch, các chùa theo hệ phái Phật giáo Phát Triển cũng như đa số Phật tử làm lễ rước vía Ngài, theo Hòa Thượng Thanh Từ cho rằng, đây là do chư Tổ Trung Hoa bày ra. Chớ không thấy sách sử nào ghi rõ về ngày sanh của Ngài cả.

Bồ tát Di Lặc theo sử ghi, thì Ngài là một nhân vật lịch sử có thật ở Ấn Ðộ thời Phật. Di Lặc là tiếng Phạn, Trung Hoa dịch là Từ Thị. Thị nghĩa là họ của Ngài, còn Từ là chỉ cho từ bi. Về tên họ của Ngài có nhiều thuyết nói không giống nhau. Ngài cũng có tên là A Dật Ða (tiếng Phạn ) Trung Hoa dịch là Vô Nan Thắng. Theo thói quen, chúng ta thường gọi Ngài là Phật Di Lặc, kỳ thật, thì Ngài chỉ là một vị Bồ tát nhất sanh bổ xứ, hiện ở nội viện thiên cung của cõi trời Ðâu Suất. Theo lời huyền ký của đức Phật Thích Ca, thì sau nầy, Ngài sẽ hạ sanh xuống cõi Ta bà tu hành thành Phật dưới cội cây Long Hoa. Bấy giờ, người ta mới tôn xưng Ngài là Phật Di Lặc.

Ngày nay, trong các chùa thuộc hệ phái Phật giáo Bắc Tông đều tôn thờ hình tượng Ngài, với tư thế Ngài ngồi phạch ngực, mập mạp, bụng to và miệng cười toe toét. Có hình tượng trên thân hình Ngài còn có 6 đứa con nít bu chung quanh, đứa thì móc lỗ tai, móc mắt, móc miệng v.v… Ai trông thấy cũng tưởng như là một trò đùa, nhưng đó là tượng trưng một ý nghĩa rất thâm sâu. Ý nói rằng, dù cho 6 giặc ( 6 trần: sắc, thinh, hương, vị, xúc pháp ) có quậy phá đến đâu, cũng không làm cho tâm Ngài phải bị dao động, Vì sáu căn ( mắt, tai, mũi, lưỡi, thân, ý ) của Ngài đã hoàn toàn thanh tịnh. Hình tượng nầy, người ta y cứ vào hóa thân của Ngài là một vị Bố Ðại Hòa Thượng ( HT mang túi vải lớn ) ở vào thời Ngũ Ðại khoảng thế kỷ thứ 10 bên Trung Hoa, mà người ta tạo tạc, đắp tượng tôn thờ. Thế nhưng, tại sao biết đó là hóa thân của Bồ tát Di Lặc? Vì trước khi viên tịch, Ngài có để lại bài kệ:

Di Lặc chơn Di Lặc
Phân thân thiên bách ức
Thời thời thị thời nhơn
Thời nhơn tự bất thức

Nghĩa là:

Di Lặc thật Di Lặc
Phân thân trong muôn ức
Thường thường chỉ dạy người đời
Người đời tự không biết.


Chính nhờ bài kệ nầy mà người ta mới biết Bố Ðại Hòa Thượng là hóa thân của đức Di Lặc.

Trở lại câu hỏi trên, tại sao phải lấy ngày mùng một Tết làm ngày vía? Thường người ta hay lấy ngày sanh hoặc ngày tịch để làm ngày kỷ niệm gọi là ngày vía. Nhưng ở đây thì không nằm trong thông lệ đó. Mà đây là ý nghĩa thâm sâu trong nhà Thiền, do chư Tổ khéo bày chọn ngày nầy làm ngày vía của Ngài. Theo tục lệ của người Á Ðông nói chung, người Việt Nam nói riêng, phần đông người ta rất chú trọng đến việc kiêng cử ngày đầu năm. Vì ngày đầu năm, người ta cho rằng đó là ngày quyết định cho việc tốt xấu, hên xuôi, trọn một năm. Do đó, nên người Phật tử cúng rước vía Bồ Tát Di Lặc với thâm ý là để được trọn năm an vui hạnh phúc. Vì Bồ tát Di Lặc chuyên tu hạnh hỷ xả. Do đó, nên người ta tạc tạo tượng Ngài lúc nào cũng thấy Ngài ngồi an nhiên vui cười hỷ hạ.

Ðức Di Lặc ngồi trơ bụng đá
Bao bụi trần bám đã rồi rơi
Mặc cho thế sự đầy vơi
Dững dưng như một nụ cười an nhiên.


Niềm ước vọng cuối cùng của người tu là mong cầu thành Phật. Gần hơn là người ta mong được an vui hạnh phúc. Muốn thế, tất nhiên người Phật tử cần phải noi theo tấm gương hỷ xả của ngài. Từ, bi, hỷ xả, đó là tứ vô lượng tâm tức bốn tâm hành không lường của một vị Bồ tát. Mà Bồ tát Di Lặc là biểu trưng đầy đủ cụ thể cho bốn tâm hành nầy. Lúc nào trên gương mặt của Ngài cũng hỷ xả an vui hạnh phúc.

Có xả bỏ những ưu phiền nội kết trong tâm, thì con người mới thật sự có an vui hạnh phúc. Ðó mới thật là thứ hạnh phúc chơn thật. Cho nên, khi tưởng niệm lễ bái Ngài đầu năm, người Phật tử ước vọng tương lai đời mình sẽ được thành Phật như Ngài. Ðồng thời, cũng quyết tâm thật hành theo hạnh hỷ xả của Ngài. Có thế, thì trọn năm người Phật tử mới được nhiều lợi lạc vui tươi hạnh phúc. Bằng ngược lại, thì sẽ chuốc lấy nhiều đau khổ. Ðó là ý nghĩa và cũng là lý do chính yếu mà người Phật tử tưởng niệm lễ vía Ngài đầu năm vậy.

Kính chúc Phật tử trọn hưởng một mùa xuân Di Lặc và luôn luôn an vui hạnh phúc bằng một nụ cười hỷ xả trên môi.

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Net Scam

Source: http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/ConsumerProtection/scamnet/content/pages/FightBack/email_scams.html 

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Email scams

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The Internet and email has led to a rise in unsolicited and unwanted spam and scams.
 
- Do not open email from unknown people. Delete them from your in-box.


- Do not click on links contained in unsolicited emails, including unsubscribe links. It might be directing you to a site where malicious software can be downloaded into your computer.

- Familiarise yourself with the tricks scammers use to get you to click on links including bank phishing, confirmation and e-greeting emails.

- Just because an email is personally addressed to you, it doesn't mean it's legitimate. There are a number of ways that clever scammers can make the email appear as if it is personally addressed to you. For example, they can install a program in the email they send out to capture your Display Name and embed it in a template email;

- Be aware that scammers can hijack other people’s address boxes to send spam or scams so the email could appear to come from someone you know. If someone sends you a link like this ask them why? We would suggest you send a fresh email to them rather than reply to the suspect email you have received.

- Make sure your computer has the latest anti-virus and firewall protections.

- Safeguard your email address by only providing your email contact details to people or organisations that you know and trust.

- If you have fallen for a phishing scam and provided your online bank details, change your password and contact your financial institution. Similarly, if you have provided your password for an online auction, secure payment or job site, change your password and contact the site for further advice. The scammers may be after your personal information for identity fraud.

- If your home computer is infected with a virus, you should use commercially available anti-virus software to quarantine and remove the virus. If the virus was sent to you via an infected email from someone you know, then you should advise them their computer is probably also infected.

- If you cannot solve the problem yourself, you may need to engage the services of your local computer shop or IT professional for assistance.

(For netters living in Western Australia)

- Spam, or electronic junk email, is a Federal offence. If you have been a target of spam please contact the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) at http://www.spam.acma.gov.au/  .

Forward suspicious scam emails to WA ScamNet ( wascamnet@commerce.wa.gov.au ).

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