Spiritual Study: Participants needed for survey

Dear All:

Below is a genuine U of T student referred to me by Chris Ng of BEFC. See if you can help by completing the survey or forwarding this email to potential participants.

"Hi,

I am a University of Toronto student enrolled in the Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health program. I am conducting an online study on beliefs, personality, religion, and spirituality in order to develop a psychometric measure that will help further our understanding of how certain spiritual beliefs and practices can promote health and well-being (e.g., understanding the Buddhist notion of karma or the practice of mindfulness meditation and how they relate to our health). I need over 1000 people to complete this survey and was hoping you could help me by filling it out. At the end of the survey you can choose to receive a free personality report and enter the draw to win a $100 gift certificate for Amazon.com. The following link will take you directly to the survey and will provide you with further details about it: http://jbplab.net/survey . Thank you so much for your help!

Sincerely,
Megan Walberg

P.S. If you know of anyone who may be willing to complete this survey, please feel free to pass this link (http://jbplab.net/survey) on to them. Thanks!"


Regards,
Olivia Tsang
President of HYBCO

*Huayen Buddhist Community of Ontario*
http://www.huayenontario.org/
http://www.huayen.org/
http://www.huayenworld.org/

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PS. The deadline for the survey is beginning of December 2009.

Hello, I have a few questions

Hello,

My name is Denise and I am a student at the University of Phoenix; I am currently studying world religions and I am interested in learning more about your religion. Additionally, If you do not mind, may I ask you a few questions about your religion for my world religions class? If you wish not to answer my questions, I will understand; If you do not mind answering my questions, please answer the questions below:


1. Explain to me your religion and beliefs?
2. Do you believe in any other supreme being or gods, in addition to Buddha?
3. Does your religion contain any scriptures? If so, explain to me of what is contained in it?
4. Can you explain to me of where your religion originated?
5. Can you explain to me of how your religion came to be and who is its creator?
6. In your faith, what do you believe happens after death?
7. In your faith, are there consequences for your actions?
8. Do you do any specific rituals or sacred practices?
9. Do you have any special, religious holidays for your faith?
10. Explain what you do in your place of worship?


Thank you so much for your time!

Sincerely,
Denise

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Dear Denise:

I will try my best to answer your questions


Huayen Buddhist Community of Ontario is a Buddhist Organization who practices and advocates the Buddhist religion,especially the Huayen school (or branch) of Buddhism.

As Buddhist, we believe in the followings:

1. All sentient beings (human and non-human) have the potential and ability to be Buddha, the Enlightened One.

2. Every thing happens due to innumerable causes, "causation and condition" is an essential law of Nature in this Realm.

3. We are all inter-related and inter-depended. Together we are ONE. (One in Many and Many in One).

As Buddhist, we believe there are many forms of beings, being human is only one of the forms. There are many gods who exist in another realms, their abilities and potentials are different from human but not necessarily more supreme than human. Or put it in another words, we do not believe in one God, who is the Almighty.

There are too many Scriptures in Buddhism, it takes anyone more than one's life time just to read them once. The most basic types of Scriptures are categorized into Sutra, Precept & Discourse. They describes the Law of Nature, the Way to Enlightenment, and the Path to accomplish Complete Perfection.

Buddhism originated in India. After Buddha Sakyamuni, who was an Indian Prince- Gautama, became Enlightened, he showed us the way how we can be enlightened too. His teachings we call "Dharma" or Buddhism.

If you like to find out the story of Buddha, please go to wikipedia.org. There is no creator to this world, it exists due to Causation and Dependant-conditioning.

Buddhist believes in re-incarnation, there are innumerable lives before and after this life, in many forms and realms.

Buddhists believe in consequences, not one action one consequence, but innumerable actions lead to a single result and this result subsequent leads to many consequences. As said before: interrelationship and interdependence.

There are many rituals or scared practices in Buddhism, but they are not the true essence of Buddhism, one can practice Buddhism with or without rituals.

There are many religious holidays in Buddhism, the most noticeable one is the Vesak Season or Wesak Day (Buddha's Birthday)

Buddhists do not worship, we praise, respect and follow Buddha's footstep. In our place of Practice, we usually meditate, chant, recite Sutra, do repentance, do prostrations or have Dharma discourses.

1. How has Buddhism shaped your life?
Personally, Buddhism elevates my quality of life tremendously as it gives me insights to the value and meaning of life as well as the TRUTH of life.

2. What are the challenges, if any, to practicing Buddhism?
There are too many challenges,mainly:
1. to be SELFLESS
2. to understand how the mind works
3. to realize the true nature of things
4. to transform and fully utilize one's ability and potential. (which is beyond speech and thinking)


Hope these answers are of use to you.

Good luck with your study.

Yours in the Dharma
Olivia Tsang

Borobodur

From Tony Prince:

Dear friends,

Recently I noticed on the Buddhist Channel website

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/

an item about a visit to Borobodur (婆羅浮屠) in Java by a group of Buddhist monks from a number of different countries, including Taiwan. (You can see the article on this page:

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=58,8385,0,0,1,0.

If you're not familiar with Borobodur, it is perhaps the largest Buddhist monument in the world, a kind of gigantic stone mandala consisting of four walled galleries, roughly rectangular in shape, with three circular terraces above them. The walls of the galleries are covered with beautiful relief sculptures, and there are 72 stupas on the terraces, with a single, large stupa in the very centre. Everywhere there are buddha-images and figures from traditional Indian and Buddhist mythology. The idea is that the pilgrim will circumambulate the galleries, symbolically ascending level by level until the terrace of Enlightenment has been reached. If you'd like to know more, there is a brief introduction to Borobodur in Chinese on the following page:

http://indonesia.go2c.info/java/borobudur.htm

The Chinese Wikipedia also has a more comprehensive article at:

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/婆羅浮屠

The reason I'm writing to you about all this, however, is because Borobodur is also a Huayen monument. The sculptures in the lowest gallery illustrate scenes from the Jatakas (本生說), stories of the Buddha's previous lives, but the three higher galleries are devoted mainly to the story of Sudhana and his quest for complete Enlightenment (善才童子五十三參). There are said to be altogether 420 panels of sculpture devoted to the "入法界品". So a visit to Borobodur is also a Huayen pilgrimage, and in ascending the monument one is symbolically following in the footsteps of Sudhana (善才童子) himself.

Considering all this, and in view of Ven. Hai Yun's current status as an official holder of the Huayen lineage, it occurred to me that it would be appropriate if Heshang himself could lead a group to Borobodur at some time. This would be a way of spiritually reclaiming this wonderful monument for Huayen and would also help to establish Huayen's claim to be a genuinely universal teaching.

Thank you.

Yours in the Dharma,
Tony 合十

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What Does It Mean To Be Enlightened?

Gunasekera forwarded me the following from Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi:
Would like to share with you...

What Does It Mean To Be Enlightened?

By Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi

In a conversation with an aged brahmin, the Buddha once explained concisely what is meant by a Buddha, an enlightened one:

“What has to be known, that I have known;
What has to be abandoned, that I have abandoned;
What has to be developed, that I have developed;
Therefore, O brahmin, I am a Buddha.”

These are not only three characteristics of a Buddha; they are also the three objectives we aim at in following the Buddha’s teaching. We follow the Dhamma to fully know what should be known; to abandon what should be abandoned; and to develop what should be developed. These are the goals of the Buddhist path and the three accomplishments that mark the attainment of enlightenment.

What does it mean to say that our task is “to know that which should be known”? What we have to know, what we have to understand, is that which is closest to ourselves, what we usually refer to as our self. What we usually refer to as our self is this complex of body and mind. For most of us, from the time we are born right up to the time of our death, our minds are oriented outwardly, engaged in a tireless quest for pleasure and sensual gratification, for the enhancement of our self, for the confirmation of our sense of ego-identity. Very few people stop and turn around to consider the question, “What is it that I call my self? What is it that I refer to as my self?” And yet, if you reflect for just a moment, you will see that this is the most important question we can ask.

So our task in following the Buddha’s teaching is to investigate, to examine, that which we refer to as “I,” as “my self,” as “what I am.” We usually take these terms to refer to some kind of persisting entity, an ego, a substantial self possessing a real identity, but what the Buddha asks us to do is to see what we find when we look for the referents of the terms, “I,” “me,” and “my self.” When we look, when we investigate, what we find are just components of bodily and mental experience, which the Buddha has classified into five aggregates: physical form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness. These are called the “five aggregates of clinging” because they are the things that we ordinarily cling to as, “This is mine, this is what I am, this is my true self.” Our task in following the Buddha’s teaching is to understand the true nature of these five aggregates. We thereby come to know that which constitutes our identity. From birth, through adulthood, through old age, to death — this whole process of life is just a procession of the five aggregates.

The second project the Buddha’s teaching sets for us is “to abandon that which should be abandoned.” What should be abandoned are the defilements. The Buddha uses the word kilesas as an umbrella term that includes all the mental states that cause suffering and unhappiness in our lives. The unwholesome mental states are called kilesas. The word can be translated afflictions because they bring suffering. It can also be translated defilements because they defile and corrupt the mind. The Buddha has analyzed the nature of the defilements and has beautifully explained how they can all be traced to the three “root defilements” of greed, hatred, and delusion. Our task in following the Buddha’s teaching, in practicing the Dhamma, is to overcome, to eliminate, to abandon the defilements of greed and hatred that give rise to many other branch defilements. But greed and hatred spring ultimately from delusion or ignorance. And thus to eliminate all the defilements, we have to eliminate ignorance.

Ignorance is what covers up the five aggregates, that which should be known. Thus the way to overcome ignorance is through the first task — “knowing that which should be known.” When we know that which should be known, ignorance falls away — and then greed, hatred, and all the other defilements fall away. It isn’t possible, however, to accomplish this merely by having the desire to do so. We can’t expect simply to think, “I want to know that which should be known,” and immediately it is known. That’s why the whole practice of Buddhism is a process of walking a path. The great gift that the Buddha offers the world is not simply a profound philosophy, not simply a very penetrating psychology, but a practical, systematic, step-by-step path that we can cultivate in sequence.

To cultivate the path means to “develop that which should be developed.” That is the third project the Buddha speaks of in his four-line verse: “That which should be developed, that I have developed.” So what the Buddha has developed is what we have to develop. The path is structured in such a way that it proceeds not suddenly, not abruptly, but in a gradual step-by-step manner to help us climb the ladder to the ultimate freedom of enlightenment. One has to begin by keeping the coarser _expression of the defilements under control. One does this by observing the precepts, the Five Precepts or the Eight Precepts. These control the coarser expressions of the defilements, the way the defilements break out or erupt in the form of unwholesome actions.

We next have to cultivate concentration. When we try to collect the mind, we gain insight into the workings of our own minds. By understanding the workings of our own minds, we’re gradually changing the shape of the mind. First, we are beginning to scrape away the soil in which the unwholesome roots have been lodged. The process isn’t a quick or easy one, but requires gradual, persistent, and dedicated effort. As one practices consistently, the mind will eventually settle into firm concentration. It acquires the skills needed to remain consistently settled upon an object, without wavering, and this provides the opportunity for wisdom to arise.

Wisdom is the third quality that needs to be developed. Wisdom comes through examination, through investigation. When one has developed a strongly concentrated mind, one uses that mind to investigate the five aggregates. As one investigates, one directly sees into their real nature, into “the true characteristics of phenomena.” Generally, one first sees the arising and falling away of the five aggregates. That is, one sees their impermanence. One sees that because they’re impermanent, they’re unsatisfactory. There’s nothing worth clinging to in them. And because they’re impermanent and unsatisfactory, one cannot identify with any of them as a truly existing self. This is the empty or self-less nature of the five aggregates. This marks the arising of true insight wisdom.

With insight-wisdom, one cuts deeper and deeper into the root of ignorance until one comes to fully understand the nature of the five aggregates. When one does so, one can then say that one has “known that which should be known.” And by fully knowing that which should be known, the defilements “that should be abandoned have been abandoned,” and the path “that should be developed has been developed.” One then realizes that which should be realized, the extinction of suffering right here and now. And, in the Buddha’s own words, that is the mark of an Enlightened One.
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The Fivefold Spiritual Renaissance Campaign

Sharing the following note with you:

The Fivefold Spiritual Renaissance Campaign
A Proposition for Living in the 21st Century
-by Master Sheng Yen of Dharma Drum Mountain

A Formula for Uplifting Our Character

• Cultivate a Peaceful Mind - by reducing desires and knowing contentment.
• Cultivate a Peaceful Body - by being diligent and thrifty.
  
• Cultivate a Peaceful Mind - by mutual love, respect, and assistance.
  
• Cultivate a Peaceful Mind - by working with sincere dedication.

A Formula for Calming the Mind

• Our needs are few.
• Our wants are many.
• Pursue only what we can and should acquire.
• Never purse what we can't and should not acquire.
  

A Formula for Resolving the Difficulties of Life

• Face It - Face the difficulty squarely.
• Accept It - Accept the reality of the difficulty.
• Deal with It - Deal with the difficulty with wisdom and compassion.
• Let It Go - Take the results in peace and move on.
  

A Formula for Getting Along with Others

• Feel Grateful - for events that help us grow.
• Feel Thankful - for chances to hone ourselves.
• Reform Ourselves - through the Dharma.
• Inspire Others - through exemplary behavior.
  

A Formula for Increasing Blessings

• Recognize Blessings - Knowing contentment ensures happiness.
• Cherish Blessings - Treasure what we have with gratitude and seek to repay kindness received.
• Nurture Blessings - Blessings diminish with lavish living but grow with selfless giving.
• Sow the Seeds of Blessings - Serve and contribute broadly so all may receive blessings.

Website of Dharma Drum Mountain - http://www.ddm.org.tw/

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The Way to the Truth...

Steve posted the following:

"Here's the question:
If you choose one belief system over another, WHY?
Is your choice closer to the "truth" of how the universe operates?
If "yes", how does one know? "

Mingte asked for my opinion.

My understanding for the Truth (for now) is that Truth is universal and eternal. Regardless of whether anybody or mind can perceive the Truth, it is forever there. Thus one's belief has no significance to the Truth.

Truth is absolute and sustainable through all places, times and even dimensions. What are the Truth? The ways the law of causes and effects, the law of Dependant Originations, the Four Noble Truths etc...operate. How the five aggregates work, how the mind works, how the universe operates, how GOD works. The five aggregates, the minds, the universe and GOD all have no real substance, and are empty in nature. Yet the WAYS they operate are the Truths. Thus there is the saying that "the Way is the Truth".

How can the Truth be perceived? Two important prerequisites are contemplation and manifestation. Truth is not something to talk about, to argue over, or believe in. Truth is an absolute for us to realize. In order to perceive the Truth, one's mind needs to be pure and clear. In order to have a pure and clear mind, one needs to have concentration or in Buddhist term, "in Samadhi".

So there is no easy way out. If one is interested in finding out the Truth, starts practising the Right Way, develops the Right Concentration, purifies one's Mind into a "Pure Land", recognize and realize the Truth, then finally manifests the Truth.

This is my understanding of the Truth for now...

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