Video Introduction to Buddhism

Human Life - Last Dhama Talk by Chief Priest, Maha Vihara 7-7-2006

This is Ven Dhammananda very last dhamma talk at the Maha Vihara given on
the 7th July 2006 and he came as always when they rang the bell at 8.10pm into the PH Henry hall but this time in his wheel chair.


*Human Life ( last talk by Chief Priest , Maha
Vihara, 7.7.2006)*

"Dear devotees actually I never thought I would have
the chance to see and talk to you, half of my body
is dead, but my heart, my mind still has energy.
What is this diseased body, is it life ? Its not
life, it is the house, life is the energy, mental,
khammic and cosmic all joined together as "energy "
that is life .

Body is decayed and life goes away. Actually we must
be happy when time comes to depart without
suffering, to crave so much for the body, we spend
our whole life decorating it, looking after it ,
one day it decays and when energy and the elements
dissipate then mental energy will build another
house. Life started with mental energy and then
birth occurs. Every single child cries, none smiles
after birth. LIfe is suffering. We are using whole
amounts of energy to maintain this physical body,
but one day we have to depart. Then leaves solidity
and fluidity ~ 2 elements only, heat and motion has
gone .

Christians and Muslims are particular about the body
as they believe in resurrection, we do not believe
that there is anything in this physical body. Spend
thousands on funerals, but the departed never get
anything. Only way to support the departed, you must
know how to make use of this life, that is why
religion is needed to help us to cultivate
compassion, sympathy and kindness and supporting
others .

David Morris (*no idea who he is *) sent me a
letter, he said there are 2 reasons to be happy as
an old man, (1) he will be free from pain and
suffering. (2) Ever since he became a Buddhist he
has tried his best to maintain and uphold the 5
precepts, if there is another life it won't be an
unfortunate one as he departs with confidence .

In the end the dying man takes no solace in dancing
and singing , only through meritorious deeds will
you get confidence and this will support the khammic
energy in the rebirth. We must know how to handle
life, by doing service to others to help release
their suffering. Many die with fear and confusion in
mind, can't take rebirth in upper realm. Meditation
is important to maintain purity. Prince Siddharta,
when he was born, there were 5 astrologers invited
to predict his fate. 4 said that he would either
grow up to be a sage or universal monarch. Last one
said definitely a sage.

When craving and attachment is completely removed,
mind is then completely pure. This body is not life.
Its a house built by energy and 4 cosmic elements.
Unfortunately in the past 2500 years, Buddhists in
Asia have introduced a lot of rites and rituals,
never introduced by the Buddha. Just keep away from
evil by reducing anger, jealousy, enmity, try to do
meritorious deeds, try to develop the mind through
understanding. Try to purify the mind.

If you are cruel, hot tempered or stingy try your
best to take this out. If you pray to God to take
this out do you think God can do that? Buddha can't
also, but he can tell you how to do that. War is
declared by the human mind, peace also comes from
our minds, not from heaven nor from God.

In Buddhism, first by understanding without
believing, when you develop a right understanding,
then you can carry on a religious way of life. When
you doubt, you must think and investigate, then
accept or reject. Other religions say if there is
doubt, then God will punish you.

All over the world different schools have sprung up
and they follow their own traditions which they have
maintained for a long time. Buddha had rejected old
traditions, but it was introduced to the primitive
narrow minded people. People in Asian countries
don't study the dharma.

Next do Good. Reduce the anger and do something to
train the mind through right understanding. Change
the mind, through your own experience you can
understand what is right and wrong .

I have been in Malaysia for 53 years, used to have
even no room to sleep. The Chinese were the main
Buddhists here and through Buddhist societies we
made them understand what Buddhism is.

My mind mental and life energy is still active but I
am half way dead, you must know how to do this.
Although the end of my life is now near, I have no
fear. Arahants can disconnect mind from body to
experience nibbanic bliss and at that time you
cannot tell if they are dead or alive, their bodies
are still warm and their complexions will remain
ruddy. They can do that for 1 week at the most .

Remember there are 4 kinds of happiness :

(1) Happiness of Possession - In owing your own
property, your house, land, business, bank account.

(2) Happiness of Enjoyment - Using what you have
earned you can enjoy good food, nice house, nice
dress without abusing bluffing cheating others.

(3) Happiness of Debtlessness - Try best not to
borrow from others , spend within your own means ,
you gain self respect .

(4) Happiness of Blamelessness - Try to lead life
without doing harm to anybody .

These 4 kinds of happiness must be with you. Don't
be lazy do some work, do not neglect what you have
earned maintain and protect what you have earned,
then you can decide what to do including adopting a
Buddhist way of life up to becoming an arahant, know
how to adjust your way of life, how to associate
with others. Who are they? Associate with good
people, not harmful, wicked people. Support your
father and mother, look after your wife and
children. Don't neglect relatives, help them.
Develop your mind to the extent that you are not
shaken by the 8 winds of change ~ praise/blame,
fame/shame, gain/loss, pleasure/pain and treat all
the same. Then
at this stage nothing will affect you."

--
All meetings end in partings
That which rises must fall
That which is collected will be dispersed
Birth ends with death

"It is easy enough to be pleasant when life flows by like a song. But the
man worthwhile is one who will smile when everything goes dead wrong."
---Ella Wheeler Wilcox
--
Sabbe dhamma nalam abhinivesaya
All phenomena should NOT be clung to as "I", "My" or "Mine".

Question & Answer, Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda

Question: Why is incense offered to the Buddha?

Dear Master,

It has been great benefit and blessings to me to be able to buy most of the
books authored by you. I had taken the Triple Gems for almost 10 years now
but due to family commitment, was never able to find time to attend even a
single Dharma talk. I could only read from your books and gain much
knowledge from it. Your contributions that touch down in the hearts and
humble level understanding of laymen like me is truly highly commendable.

I would be grateful if you can tell me if this is one of the true and
amusing facts in the Buddha's life.

An ex-colleague's husband who was a Buddhist once undertook a recluse life
in one of the temples in Thailand for a month. Beside the Sangha life he
experienced as well as learning to chant and practice the code of conduct,
they were also taught about the Life of the Buddha. He told me that it is
actually not necessary to burn incense for the Buddha for it was a wrong
idea being brought down by folks during the Buddha's time.

The story goes like this. One day Buddha was residing under a tree doing
his meditation as usual. As the place was in bad condition, it was infested
with flies and mosquitoes everywhere. In order not to kill the insects one
of the 5 precepts - Do not kill) that hounded Him, he burnt some incense so
as to ward off the insects with its smoke. At that time, a few folks at the
nearby village was passing by and saw Buddha's actions at a distant and
from then, the thought of burning incense was passed down up till now.

I don't know how true this is but I find it really amusing and presume that
the folks actually didn't see clearly what the Buddha was trying to avoid.
I hope you would not feel offensive about it.

My apologies if my message has been intruding.

With Metta

XXXXXXXXX

Answer: 

Dear XXXXXXXXX, 

At the outset, greetings of peace, happiness, good health and long life to
your goodself and your family.

I am certainly amused by the story you just shared. The Buddha certainly did
not light incense to keep away insects. The practice of offering incense and
flowers is an ancient Indian practice to pay homage to great teachers. This
practice was adopted by Buddhists in ancient India as it is a good and
valuable practice.

The Buddha certainly did not need incense to keep the insects away as one
who has achieved Enlightenment can allow one's body to be subject to decay,
pain, etc but will not allow one's mind to disturbed by it. The Buddha went
forth fearlessly to tame the intoxicated elephant; Nalagiri, the bandit;
Angulimala, to mediate between two warring countries, etc. He certainly did
not need to be afraid of insects biting him.

This story related to you must have been misunderstood by the person who
related the story or the person who taught your friend's husband.

With the Blessings of the Noble Triple Gem.

Yours in the Dhamma,

Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda

Buddhist Musician in Appeal to Hostage Takers

The following was extracted from National Politics News (Korea English Version)

"The world is one. Why have to fight, why have to kill, make this heaven to hell? God! What he wants is peace of mankind."

"Song for Taliban" made by the Korean doctor and Buddhist musician Lee Jin-ho is spreading rapidly on the Internet with its message of peace for the captors of 21 Korean hostages in Afghanistan.

The video clip of the song, which first appeared on the Korean UCC site Pandora TV, features pictures of pastor Bae Hyung-kyu and Shim Sung-min, two hostages killed by the Taliban. It also features pictures of surviving hostages, with the caption, "Song about the invisible wall between us". Tranquil guitar music accompanies Lee's voice. The clip also includes the English lyrics on sheets of paper written by Lee and Korean subtitles.

This video was made by Lee's band, Yasodara. Lee is also a physician running a diet clinic in Seoul. “Greed and Desire in Holy disguise should not justify all the violence... Almost every war comes of religion, comes of faith," he sings.



A video clip of "Song for Taliban" written and sung by the physician and Buddhist musician Lee Jin-ho posted on YouTube(www.youtube.com).

Memorial Service - Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival

On 11th and 12th August, Kajang Buddhist Center (KBC) had organized a Memorial Service in conjunction with the 14th Day, 7 Month of the Lunar Calendar also known as "Hungry Ghost Festival"

The below is a extract according to Chinese Legend on how did this festival came about

Chinese legend has it that a long time ago, there lived a young man, Mu Lian and his widowed mother. His mother was a wicked woman. She often turned away beggars who came to her door asking for food. She liked to jeer at the working poor and their dirty clothes; in essence, the only person she cared about was herself.

Mu Lian on the other hand was a kind soul. He was a gentle person and always willing to help anybody who was in need. One day he decided to become a monk and this did not please his mother. She scowled at him for being such a useless son; she wanted him to go out and work to earn more money for her. Wealth and materialistic things meant more to her than anything else.

When she saw that she could not dissuade her son, a plan began to hatch in her mind. She decided to play a trick on the monks just to get back at them for taking away her son. Now it was the custom to offer food to the monks (this custom still exists to this very day), but only vegetarian food. Mu Lian’s mother thought that it was nonsensical that these monks did not eat meat, so one day she offered food to some monks and slipped in some non-vegetarian items According to one version of the story, the wicked woman was punished immediately and was sent to hell. Mu Lian wanted to save his mother’s soul because he knew her soul was suffering.

He set out and ventured deep into the bowels of hell. Soon he came upon his mother and he saw that she was sitting a bed of very sharp pointy stakes and was holding on to a basin of blood.

Mu Lian tried feeding her some food but the food would either turn into fire or blood. It was hopeless: he couldn’t do anything for her so he left. He returned home and started to pray.

It is said that Buddha heard Mu Lian’s prayers and was touched by Mu Lian’s compassion. Thus Buddha decreed that once a year, the gates of hell be opened so that the lost souls will be able to roam the earth and be fed. This is why every year on the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar, the Chinese celebrate the festival of the hungry ghost. This is one of five major festivals in the Chinese culture.

Food and drink will be offered at night outside the gates of houses. This is so that the ghosts do not enter their houses and cause trouble. A traditional food made for this festival is steamed sweet bread. Lanterns are lit to help guide the ghosts to the feasts set out for them. Special paper money is also burned as offerings to these ghosts so that they can take it back to hell and spend it there. To make sure that these souls stay out of trouble, entertainment is set up round the clock, mainly Chinese operas performed on outdoor stages.

From the Theravada Buddhist practices there is some similarity with a monk Mogallana and his mother whereby on the advice of The Buddha on performing a meritorious deed, Mogallana could then transfer the merits to his mother who was suffering in hell.

Members and the public came to KBC to chant the Suttas led by 4 monks whereby transference of merits to the dearly departed are performed.

Monks leading the chanting of Suttas

Members Chanting the Suttas mindfully

Symbolic offering of food and lighting candles

The tying of blessed yellow string on the right hand which serves to remind us to observe the 5 precepts.

Lady from Shandong, China

My friend Yen Tien (Australia) send me this video and after viewing it. She is married with a family and she does her daily household chores. Whenever when we feel unhappy about our current conditions, we should remember about this story of a lady from Shangdong, China.