This is extracted from Pureland of the Patriachs - Master Han Shan....
The Dharma of Buddha Recitation is for the purpose of achieving rebirth in the Pure Land, thus ending the cycle of Birth and Death. This is a most crucial matter. Therefore, sentient beings are urged to practice Buddha Recitation. Unfortunately, people today understand only that Buddha Recitation can lead to the end of Birth and Death, without understanding where the root of Birth and Death lies. How should you practice Buddha Recitation so as to end the cycle of Birth and Death? If you do not sever the root of Birth and Death, how can you expect to end that cycle?
What is the root of Birth and Death? An ancient master has said:
If your evil karma were not heavy, you would not have been born in the Saha world. If love-attachment is not severed, you cannot be reborn in the Pure Land.
Therefore, we know that love-attachment is the root of Birth and Death. All sentient beings are subject to the suffering of Birth and Death because of the affliction of love-attachment. The root of this attachment does not come from this life alone, nor indeed from one, two, three or four previous lives. Rather it stems from time without beginning, birth after birth, death after death. Abandoning one life only to reappear in another life, we are always swayed by love-attachment, up to our present lifetime. Thinking back, when did you have a single thought not tied to this root of love-attachment?
The seeds of this love-attachment have accumulated over long eons and are planted very deep. Therefore, birth after birth, death after death, the cycle never stops. For now, you should direct your mind to Buddha Recitation, seeking only to be reborn in the Pure Land. If one part of your mind is geared to Buddha Recitation while the other is tied to Birth and Death, even if you continue this recitation until the final moment, you will only see that you are still rooted in love-attachment, still in the cycle of Birth and Death. At that time, you will realize that such Buddha Recitation is useless. You may then complain that Buddha Recitation does not bring results, but it will be too late for regrets.
I urge those who practice Buddha Recitation to understand first that love-attachment is the root of Birth and Death. Buddha Recitation requires that you sever love-attachment in thought after thought. During recitation at home, when you see your son or daughter or grandchildren, or your material possessions, you are attached to all of them. Thus, everything and every thought is a recipe for Birth and Death. You may recite the Buddha's name, but if the root of love-attachment is in your mind and you never lose this for one moment, you need not wonder why you cannot concentrate on it! (11)
When the mind is filled with attachments, Buddha Recitation remains superficial. One part of the mind is practicing Buddha Recitation while the other is increasingly filled with love-attachment. If thoughts of children and grandchildren are in the forefront of your mind, the mind trying to recite the Buddha's name cannot resist the mind of love, and thus you cannot sever love-attachment. This being so, how can you expect to put an end to the cycle of Birth and Death?
Because this condition of attachment stems from many previous lifetimes, for fruitful Buddha Recitation, just start in the present, even though you may not be wholly familiar with the method nor have a fully sincere mind. If you have no power and no control over yourself now, you will have no control during the final moments of your life either.
Therefore, I would like to urge all of you: if you really want to recite the Buddha's name and put an end to Birth and Death, 12) cut off the root of Birth and Death in thought after thought. Then, Birth and Death will end in thought after thought. It is not advisable to wait till the end of your life to do this. I urge you to do your best. Bear in mind that everything is Birth and Death. To end the cycle of Birth and Death in your current lifetime, concentrate on reciting the Buddha's name in thought after thought. If you practice like this every moment and still do not end the cycle of Birth and Death, then all the Buddhas would be lying. So whether you are a monk or a layman, just keep Birth and Death at the forefront of your mind. This is the method for ending Birth and Death and there is no more wonderful method than this.
"'When the mind is filled with attachments'' - if that is the case- would it not be erroneous to identify with Buddhism and recite ... cos one is still being attached to that orthodoxy!
attachment in the form of Dharma is known as Right mindfulness.
mind fill not of any other myriad stuff but the single Buddha's Name is Right Mindfulness or Single Pointedness.
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Originally posted by Dawnfirstlight:
For those loved ones who are non believers, I pray to Buddha that they will 开智慧, if not in this life, hope that it will be in their next life, so that they can 自度. What I can do is to dedicate merits to them after chanting, shifu says it helps.Sometimes I will "trick" them to chant Amitabha at least once in their lifetime as shifu says this is planting seed in them. When the seed will grow, it depends very much on themselves. If not in this life, may be it will grow in their next life.
Sorry Dawn... because everytime think of Dharma Ending... got abit pessimistic.
If merits can be seen like report books when I was a primary school kid, I will work very very hard... I not saying I doubt but I just saying if merits are like tangible forms...
Originally posted by likeyou:
Hello 2009nov, my pc dont have any chinese character...thus I saw all squares. I am sorry I cannot answer this questions.I think I have too strong attachment to my love ones and family members.
Oh i see... zhi4 ta2 er4 li4
hanyu pinyin should be correct i think lol
When the watcher (includes the I , the me - which is accumulation of memory n time, concepts, precepts, preconceived set patterns of eg, what is right , what is wrong, what is ', what was, what ought to be - they all come from memory, texts, scriptures.) it is merely reinforcing the I and the me. Buddhist recitation reduced to a ritual is simply a vicious cycle. I doubt it is freeing cos the ''problem'' of the intellect cannot be solved/reconciled by the intellect. It is the left side of the mind fighting with the right side of the mind. Left hand fighting right hand.
The watching is beyond the mind and that watching is free'' of the I'' and the me'' and one gets to see what really is. Cos there is no division of left/right or what is or what was or what it ought to be. One simply has nothing to fall back on to know what is rite wrong left right. Balance comes when one trancends the duality of ... Trying to bring in balance is mind's ways!'
One cannot partake of the ocean as a personal experience. When one does it is the I, the me. It is still the mind. There is a differece between looking and seeing. Looking is always for ? seeing is simply seeing things or ... as it comes.
Originally posted by sinweiy:Non duality is a great wisdom through seeing the nature of things through a focus of the mind. One pointedness toward a single focus and concentration is simply a way or method to many who have difficulty in renoucing attachment. Utimately yes even dharma have to let go. Like a boat reaching the shore, we have to let go of the boat to get ashore. Pureland is a fast boat. But it is difficult to believe, especially to a smart person attached to intellect.
What the six senses within the eight consciousness can precieve is not the Real I./\
Easy to say "let it go", but really hard in reality to let go of something sentimental or attached to you deeply.
Originally posted by Fugazzi:
The watching is beyond the mind and that watching is free'' of the I'' and the me'' and one gets to see what really is. Cos there is no division of left/right or what is or what was or what it ought to be. One simply has nothing to fall back on to know what is rite wrong left right. Balance comes when one trancends the duality of ... Trying to bring in balance is mind's ways!'
Fugazzi wrote:
"The watching is beyond the mind and that watching is free'' of the I'' and the me'' and one gets to see what really is."
Hi Fugazzi,
What you have described is the 'I AM' level experience.
Buddhism goes further than this to no-self, non-duality and emptiness. In the non-duality stage of realisation and experience, the watcher is not beyond or behind the mind/thoughts etc. At the non-dual level realisation, inner and outer is seen as an illusion. The perception of the 'watcher' beyond is a subtle false impression.
To experience non-duality, a more thorough letting go is required. Basically, there are many layers of graspings/desiring that are invisible/unconscious.
Regards
Originally posted by likeyou:
Easy to say "let it go", but really hard in reality to let go of something sentimental or attached to you deeply.
Yes not easy at the very beginning, but with practice it will weaken and weaken more and more, until it falls off.
We are not really attached to the people or things we think we are. It's more like we are attached to our mental projections and thoughts - thoughts and memories of the past, thoughts and daydreams of how these things can become.
If we merely, see them as they are - with no memories and thoughts of the past with these, they will just be like any other person.
If you practice Pureland, instead of following these thoughts when they come up and re-experiencing the happy feelings etc., immediately transform the thought into the Buddha's name. Try to keep the Buddha's name in mind at all times, then the thoughts will have no room to make trouble for you.
Originally posted by Fugazzi:When the watcher (includes the I , the me - which is accumulation of memory n time, concepts, precepts, preconceived set patterns of eg, what is right , what is wrong, what is ', what was, what ought to be - they all come from memory, texts, scriptures.) it is merely reinforcing the I and the me. Buddhist recitation reduced to a ritual is simply a vicious cycle. I doubt it is freeing cos the ''problem'' of the intellect cannot be solved/reconciled by the intellect. It is the left side of the mind fighting with the right side of the mind. Left hand fighting right hand.
I think the point you're making can be found in this article..
http://www.buddhanet.net/khrisna.htm
3. The Krishnamurti Connection With Buddhism
In many ways Krishnamurti's message is similar to the one that Buddhism teaches. Both point to the ease and susceptibility of the human mind to succumb to conditioning as the origin of all our human problems. Both doctrines, therefore, prescribe the use of an intense awareness of all of our mental processes, thoughts, memories, beliefs, hopes, and fears in order to gain that state of enlightenment which Krishnamurti calls insight or complete and unconditional freedom.
On the surface there appears to be conflict between Krishnamurti and Buddhism on some points. To Krishnamurti the process of enlightenment takes place instantaneously, like a sudden awakening. To most Buddhists enlightenment would take place only after years of painstaking meditative practice and countless rituals.
In the preceding we examined the nature of human psychological time. Time is measured by humans usually through a process of increase or decrease. We sense that time is passing because we are growing older or earning more money or waiting to be promoted to a higher rank. More precisely, psychological time is our perception of the process of increase or decrease and nothing more. Without that perception there would be no sense of passage of time.
When we talk of working and meditating over a period of years to achieve enlightenment it is the same as saying, "I will create the passage of time by undergoing a process of 'increase' from a lower to a higher spiritual level". By taking this approach we will have avoided taking the discontinuous leap into enlightenment, and instead we will have created our own delay in achieving enlightenment. As we mentioned earlier, the human ego is involved with this process. In fact, one could say that the human ego is this process, i.e. perception (increase/decrease) = psychological time = ego.
It stands to reason that any Buddhist authority who urges others to work real hard over a long period of time in order to achieve enlightenment is selling an ego package. Yet, we sometimes hear such advice coming from Buddhists. Krishnamurti's view of enlightenment is not that of a gradual one which increases slowly over years of hard work, because that sort of ego-related process creates its own delay and thus insures that the end is never attained. In Krishnamurti's view enlightenment comes by its own accord where and when it chooses, and there is little that we can do about it. It comes to us at auspicious times like a major discontinuity in our lives, and it reminds us of some Buddhist accounts of awakening which were induced by an unexpected slap to the face or a blow to the body. Ego involvement in enlightenment (or meditation for that matter) is no more than an interference which will negate the process.
It is the author's opinion that Krishnamurti's views provide us with more insight into The Sutra of the Heart of Transcendent Knowledge than most explanations available from the Buddhist world. In the Sutra, Avalokitesvara states that there is no birth and no cessation, ... no decrease and no increase, ... It is the exact same process which Krishnamurti dwells upon in volume after volume of his works. Enlightenment is a state that is timeless which means that its chief attribute is one of no-time, meaning no involvement with ego or ego-created time. Once an acknowledgment is made by the ego that time is required to attain enlightenment, the search has gone off on a hopeless tangent and will end in failure. The ego has to surrender its jurisdiction in the matter of enlightenment and allow something which is infinite and unknowable to take its course.
To Krishnamurti any process of thought is unsacred. Thoughts of the dharma or Buddha are as unsacred as any other type of thought. The only thing remaining sacred in Krishnamurti's view is that which thought is incapable of capturing or the unknowable. All thoughts are mere human creations of the human brain stem and are forever incapable of capturing that which is infinite and unknowable.
At first it seems that most Buddhists would agree with the foregoing paragraph. But there is plenty of Buddhist literature available which encourages Buddhists to meditate upon sacred images or thoughts or The Eight-Fold path or some mandala or mantra. It is self-evident that a state of complete emptiness is impossible as long as any images whatsoever persist in the mind. The Sutra says that emptiness is form and all form is emptiness, yet many Buddhist leaders keep on encouraging others to fill this vast, wonderful emptiness with a product of the human nervous system as if that product is sacred enough to occupy space as long as it has received the authorized stamp of approval from a duly appointed Buddhist authority.
Some Buddhist groups conduct prayer meetings. Prayer is an obvious exercise of the ego, a deliberate, calculating way to gain an increase over a period of time. There are some who feel that more prayer results in more gain. It is another attempt to attain something despite the fact that there is no attainment.
4. No Path, No Progress, No Goal
"...the bodhisatvas have no attainment, they abide by means of prajnaparamita."
To Krishnamurti there is no "path", no procedures, no organization, and no rules that should be laid down by men for other men to follow on the road to enlightenment. As part of the path, Buddhists must observe a very typical, man-made, structure which begins at the top with The Three Precious Ones: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Each of these pillars has subsets of rules associated with it: The Five Skandhas, The Eight Siddhis, etc. Some would have us believe that learning all these articles of faith are necessary for enlightenment.
Much Buddhist literature suggests that in following Buddhism there is a great object that one must attain and that one progresses towards this goal as one takes each step along the path. To Krishnamurti setting a psychological goal and working for progress in any direction will only lead to more confusion and suffering. Any attempts at psychological self-betterment will amount to no more than just one more futile duplication of many similar past efforts, all of which had previously failed.
The typical pattern of human behavior that we always seem to fall into, perhaps by virtue of conditioning, is the "work for a reward" stereotype. One finds a religion and sees something desirable in it which becomes an object of attainment. The next step is to devise a plan to acquire the object, and finally, with great deliberation we set about to carry out that plan with hard, unrelenting work.
Krishnamurti tells us that the "work for a reward" operandi has been tried countless times by homo sapiens, but it has never led us to anything new or different in the area of spiritual enlightenment. What do we make of all this? Buddhist leaders round the world tell us that there are Buddhist goals and a path of hard work and attainment for reaching these goals.
Here again Krishnamurti seems to be more in agreement with the very core of Buddhist teachings than the Buddhists themselves. The Sutra of the Heart of Transcendent Knowledge sounds more like Krishnamurti than does many of the Buddhist teachers: "There is ... no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no nonattainment ..." Here Krishnamurti is telling us to live up to the precepts of this great Buddhist Sutra. He is not telling us to follow a path, but to under stand that there is no path. He tells this just as bluntly and simply as the Sutra does. There is no apparent sympathy or embellishments for the benefit of those who either fail to understand or for those who have beliefs in goals to which they must continue to cling.
Originally posted by zero thought:Yes not easy at the very beginning, but with practice it will weaken and weaken more and more, until it falls off.
We are not really attached to the people or things we think we are. It's more like we are attached to our mental projections and thoughts - thoughts and memories of the past, thoughts and daydreams of how these things can become.
If we merely, see them as they are - with no memories and thoughts of the past with these, they will just be like any other person.
If you practice Pureland, instead of following these thoughts when they come up and re-experiencing the happy feelings etc., immediately transform the thought into the Buddha's name. Try to keep the Buddha's name in mind at all times, then the thoughts will have no room to make trouble for you.
I will try that...I will try...
Watching is a herenow happening, a by-product and that is what I implied - of being total in any moment, in any situation, in any experience. In that totality the watching (or one may call it witnessing) arises. Watching effortlessly, a silence, a presence to, being present to .... without the need to evaluate, without the need to label, without even a thought that one is watching - only when all these are not coming in is one watching or call it what one may. It is only when the identification comes in that the mind becomes watching or ... Mind cannot mirror what is or what is true. Mind exists only cos of memory and time and memory is that of the past - accumulations, definitions, teachings, scriptures. Knowledge never frees only the knowing does. Mirror (consciousness) mirrors what is or what is true. Mirror (or soul or heart or god or ...) knows no past no future it simply abides to what IS. It has no teachings, know no laws, knows no past or future. There are no two truths in existence and if there is then it a misunderstanding of the mind. A tree is simply being a tree. In fact it is a misnomer - it an alive phenomenon and cos of the inadequacy of language and constraint one labels it a tree - when what is real is it is treeing. However, when two persons look or see - big difference cos the first is looking for ... (though not conscious) and hence the difference, hence the distortion of what is; whereas the one seeing simply sees what is. Of course, it presupposes that the one purporting to see is being aware and alert to the razor's edge of the mind and no-mind! It is cos of incompletenesss of one's partaking or experiencing what is or ..what one does that the mind seeks completion. The herenow existential expereince cannot be caged cos it is infinite and never personal and at most verbalized thru the medium of words by mind. However, one has to be wary of verbalizing and limitations of words cos the word fire does not burn nor does the word love means love. For one the sun sets and for the other the sun never sets but dies every day.
Originally posted by likeyou:
Easy to say "let it go", but really hard in reality to let go of something sentimental or attached to you deeply.
because we not yet see through the nature of things. if one really see through it's much more easier. see through the nature of things help letting go and letting go help see through the nature of things.
example if on the table there are gold and brass to choose, people who know the value will take the gold. knowing the value of Pureland and Amitabha is like knowing that gold is more valuable than brass. is u know then letting go is as easy as just taking the gold.
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