Patience

For most of us, patience refers to tolerance or endurance. In Buddhism, it has a specific meaning. It actually refers to a mind that can remain undisturbed when we are harmed by others, when we are suffering or when we face obstacles in the course of Dharma pursuits.

How could we develop such a virtuous mind in the face of people who are harming us? Is it possible to do so without being angry and striking back? If we are willing to change our perspective about harmful people and strongly acquaint ourselves with the desired state of mind, it is definitely possible to cultivate patience towards these people.

Towards harmful people, we can think of them as follows:
i) They are the only ones who can give us the opportunity to practise patience.
ii) They are worthy of our compassion (rather than our anger) because they are creating far more suffering for themselves in the future than for us, due to the negative karma accumulated from harming us.
iii) They are helping us to finish our negative karma forever as the real cause of the harm is our own past negative karma. And since they are only the external condition for the ripening of our negative karma, they are not to be blamed for harming us.
iv) They are also victims, like us. It is their delusion and karma that is driving them to harm us. The real source of harm is not them, but their delusions that afflict them.
v) They are merely ordinary beings and it is the nature of ordinary beings to be deluded, just as it is the nature of fire to burn.
vi) Their harmful actions arise due to causes and conditions that are beyond their control. The real source of both the act of harming and the suffering inflicted are the conditions of karma and their delusions.
vii) They do not exist inherently, just as the we do not exist inherently and our act of being patient also does not exist inherently.

Apart from the above, if we know the sufferings that anger can cause us to experience when we retailiate, and how patience can benefit us, we will certainly be able to have a calm mind even when there is harm inflicted upon us.

Source: "Path to Enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism" by Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden

Equanimity

Most of us do not have an equal attitude towards living beings. We are kinder to people we like than to people whom we dislike, and we are indifferent towards strangers. If we look deeply, we will see that we label people we like as friends because they like us, praise us, do things we like. We label people as enemies when they dislike us, criticise us, hurt us and do things we find unpleasant. As for people who have not harmed nor benefited us, we label them as strangers. In this way, we generate an uneven state of mind towards others.

Is it harmful to have such an uneven state of mind? When we "cling" onto a friend, we nourish our delusion of attachment. When we encounter our enemy, we strengthen our delusions such as anger or fear. With strangers, we generate boredom. How could our mind be happy and peaceful if we are constantly subjecting ourselves to such discriminations which generate delusions? With such a mind, it will not be feasible to develop the mind of enlightenment, Bodhicitta.

Is it possible to develop an equal attitude towards every living being? Of course, it is possible. How? By changing the way we look at living beings.

i) Consider every living being beyond one lifespan: our enemy in this life may have been our benefactor in our past lives.

ii) Recognize the impermanent nature of all our relationships.

iii) Recollect that every living being has been our mother in our previous lives and has been kind to us.

iv) Appreciate that, like us, all living beings wish for happiness and not suffering. As every living being is equally afflicted by suffering in cyclic existence, why should some deserve more of our compassion and love than others?

v) Reflect on whose view is correct if we and our enemy have equally bad perceptions about one another?

vi) Meditate on emptiness of inherent existence. Friends, enemies and strangers are labelled by our mind, in dependence on a valid basis.

Once we develop equanimity, our delusions such as attachment, anger and ignorance will naturally decrease since we have equalize the object of our emotions. In fact, we will reap its immediate benefit when we feel more relaxed and are able to put up with disagreement by people.

Sources: "Path to Englightenment in Tibetan Buddhism" by Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden and "The Essential Nectar: Meditations on the Buddhist Path" by Geshe Rabten

Cyclic Existence

What is cyclic existence? It is the 5 contaminated aggregates which arise from karma and delusions.  All beings have 5 aggregates, namely form, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness.

Cyclic existence is the experience of ordinary beings. Ordinary beings are those who have not realized emptiness of inherent existence.
Cyclic existence is not the external, material world.
Material things and environments are merely things of cyclic existence and places inhabited by beings of cyclic existence, not cyclic existence itself.

The person is also not cyclic existence.  He/she is simply someone who takes rebirth again and again in cyclic existence because he/she has the 5 contaminated aggregates, bound by delusion and karma. These aggregates are pushed uncontrollably by delusion and karma from rebirth to rebirth. As long as the wisdom realizing emptiness of inherent existence is not cultivated, delusions continue to arise without any choice, contaminated karma created, rebirths perceptuate and sufferings experienced. This is cyclic existence!

Source: "Path to Enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism" by Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden 

Causes of Delusions

What are delusions? They are states of mind which cause our mind to be unpeaceful. They are also known as afflictions, defilements, negative or contaminated minds. If we wish to develop peaceful states of mind, one way is to know what causes delusions to arise.

There are 6 factors which cause delusions to arise.

i) Latencies

ii) Sense object

iii) Bad company

iv) Wrong explanations

v) Familarity with any delusion
vi) Inappropriate attention

When our mind comes in contact with any object of the senses, certain latency or karmic potential that is already in our consciousness ripens into a particular delusion, such as anger. Without latencies and sense objects, no delusion will arise. Even a mere memory of a desirable object and the pleasurable object associated with it can trigger the seed of attachment and generate craving. Thus, whenever we encounter an object of the 6 senses, we must be mindful and alert to stop our mind from being tempted and avoid responding in a deluded way. When one realizes emptiness of inherent existence, it is possible to enjoy an attractive person without attachment and not to be angry with hateful people.

Being in the company of certain people can stimulate our own delusions. Their attitudes and behaviour can have a subtle influence on our mind. Similarly, exposure to unwholesome stories, movies, television programmes can stimulate our delusions to arise. Hence, it is important that we associate with the good people and expose ourselves to good reads etc, in order to plant wholesome seeds in our mind.

When we become familiar with a particular delusion, it will arise spontenously and effortlessly. Furthermore, allowing our mind to dwell on the desirable attributes of an object that we are attached to or the hateful characteristics of someone we dislike, will strengthen our delusions of craving and anger respectively. To overcome them, we need to apply the appropriate antidotes to the respective delusions.

Source: "Path to Enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism" by Geshe Acharya Thubten Loden

The Power of Joy

 Everyone wants to be happy and joyful. How wonderful it would be if we can cultivate true joy within us in everything we do!

True joy nourishes our mind and body. It can be generated in whatever we do, even in our practice of meditation. When there is joy and concentration during our walking, sitting or any other types of meditation, we are doing our practices correctly. If we do not feel joyful, something is wrong with our practice.

When we are joyful, not only does it benefit us, it can also inspire others to be joyful. This is because when we are happy, our joy is naturally felt by the people around us. When we share our joy with one person, we are already offering joy to many people.

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Source: "Answers from the Heart" by Thich Nhat Nanh

Purpose of Retreat

People go for retreats for various reasons. For those attending a Buddhist retreat, the purpose is not about learning more about Buddhist psychology or a particular sutra. Its purpose is to help us untie the knots that we possess within us.

These knots are mainly of 2 types: i) our concepts and ideas and ii) our afflictive emotions. All of us have concepts and ideas. When we become attached to them, we loose our freedom and open mind. When this occurs, we are no longer in touch with the truth in life. The second type of knots that we possess is our afflictive emotions such as fear, anger, arrogance, despair and discrimination.

If we wish to be in touch with reality, we need to remove our concepts and ideas. If we wish to be happy and be free, we need to overcome our destructive afflictive emotions. One quick way of doing so is to go for a retreat.

During the retreat, when we listen to a Dharma talk, we are not polluting ourselves with more concepts and ideas. Instead, the actual purpose of listening to a Dharma talk is to help us release the concepts and ideas that we hold on strongly. We listen so as to get free from all notions and concepts.

Source: "Answers from the Heart" by Thich Nhat Nanh

Contentment

Contentment is a state of mind. It is a mind that stops yearning for more....a mind where we are happy with what we have and who we are. However, it is not about complacency. In my opinion, it is possible to set goals in our lives and yet be contented in the present moment, but I am not sure how this works. Perhaps, the key lies in not being attached to the goals in our lives.

Thay said that contentment is about practising aimlessness. When we have aims in our lives, we'll always be running and it'll be hard to have happiness in our lives. If we want to be happy, we need to stop running and start cherishing the present moment and who we are. In Thay's very own words: "You don't need to be someone else; you're already a wonder of life".

Source: "Answers from the Heart" by Thich Nhat Nanh

Doing Nothing is Something

When we occupy ourselves with many activities, we reduce the quality of our well-being. If we wish to preserve ourselves, it is important that we maintain our freshness, good humour, joy and compassion.

One way is to spend a lazy day doing nothing, and just be content with being there. It's not easy as we are so used to running around doing things. We are actually quite strong mentally if we can be smiling and relaxed when not doing anything. Contrary to what most of us think, doing nothing can enhance the quality of our well-being. As Thay aptly said, "Doing nothing is something."

Source: "Answers from the Heart" by Thich Nhat Hanh

Understanding Self

Do we know ourselves well enough? Why is it that some people are able to cope with problems better than others?

When we look at ourselves closely, we will see that we identify ourselves instinctively and emotionally with an "I" who seems to step back and look on life, striving for happiness and avoiding sufferings. It feels like it is separate from our body and mind. It also feels like it functions independently and that it lasts forever.

When we look deeply, we will come to realize that this is the false nature of "I" or Self and it does not exist in reality. The "I" exists but it does not exist in the way it appears to us.

So, what is the true nature of "I"? To look for it, we must first identify its false nature. There are many different approaches in understanding this and they vary in subtlety. At the least subtle level, we can understand the false nature of Self as being single, independent and permanent. At the most subtle level, it can be understood in terms of existing truly.

We must also remember that it is our emotional responses and experiences, not the theories of Self, that we are examining. For example, when we feel hurt or offended, we should find out who or what exactly in us that is feeling hurt or offended. We will come to realize that we feel that way because we believe in and are emotionally attached to a Self that is single, independent and lasting. Because we instinctively embrace this false notion of Self, we are constantly preoccupied with protecting it and satisfying its desires. When we examine it more closely, we will realize that such a separate, independent and lasting Self does not exist.

As the clinging to this false nature of Self is the source of all our negative emotions, actions and sufferings, we must strive to eliminate it and understand the true nature of Self as much as possible, if we do not wish to suffer.

Sources: "Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness" by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, and my reflections and knowledge on Buddhist Philosophy

Understanding Reality

Different traditions and faiths have their unique way of presenting reality. Even within the Buddhist faith, there are different school of thoughts about reality. In my view, this is not because there are many types of reality out there. These presentations arise because there is a need to cater to the different levels of understanding of a variety of people in comprehending reality.

As a start, let's understand reality by using the example of a dream. In a dream, we have a sense of being real, living in a world where there are things we feel attracted or averse to, depending on how they appear to us. As long as we do not realize that it is only a dream, we will take everything in the dream as real and respond to it accordingly. For example, when we dream of being burnt, we feel the pain although in reality, nothing has really happened. We suffer because we identify ourselves with the person in the dream. As soon as we are aware that it is only a dream, our pain disappears. Our suffering in the dream only arose from a lack of awareness that we, the person in the dream is unreal. It has no separate, independent and lasting Self of its own.

Similarly, in life, we unconsiously cling onto a Self that is perceived to be separate from everything, independent and lasting. In reality, we are interconnected, dependent on others and changing from moment to moment. Because of our clinging to such a Self that does not accord with reality, our negative emotions arise easily, making us suffer. They in turn cause us to act inappropriately, and as a result, we have to face undesirable consequences of our actions.

To free ourselves from experiencing sufferings, we have to give up our strong and ingrained habit of clinging onto our body and mind as a separate, independent and lasting Self. We have to first realize what we are clinging on, be aware of its false nature, and reflect as well as familarise ourselves, as much as possible, with the true nature of our Self.

Sources: "Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness" by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, and my reflections and knowledge on Buddhist Philosophy