The Teachings of Ajahn Chah

The Teachings of Ajahn Chah

In every home and in every community, whether we live in the city, the countryside, the forests or the mountains, we are the same in experiencing happiness and suffering. So many of us lack a place of refuge, a field or garden where we can cultivate positive qualities of heart. We experience this spiritual poverty because we don’t really have commitment; we don’t have clear understanding of what this life is all about and what we ought to be doing. From childhood and youth until adulthood, we only learn to seek enjoyment and take delight in the things of the senses. We never think that danger will threaten us as we go about our lives, making a family and so on.

If we don’t have land to till and a home to live in, we are without an external refuge and our lives are filled with difficulty and distress. Beyond that, there is the inner lack of not having sīla and Dhamma in our lives, of not going to hear teachings and practice Dhamma. As a result there is little wisdom in our lives and everything regresses and degenerates. The Buddha, our supreme teacher, had mettā for beings. He led sons and daughters of good families to be ordained; to practice and realize the truth, to establish and spread the Dhamma to show people how to live in happiness in their daily lives.

(Ajahn Chah)

13 August 2023

Luang Phor Chong (Jong)

Luang Phor Chong (Jong)

In the evening after everyone has gone to bed, Luang Phor Chong (Jong) Puttasaro of Wat Naa Taang Nok would head up to sweep the temple courtyard. Then he would enter the kuti to sit in samadhi. 

After some time, he would head out to the temple courtyard and start sweeping again. Luang Phor Chong would carry out this routine every night, for up to 3 times per night, to the astonishment of all those who were still awake watching him.

Not long before Luang Phor passed away, his luksits couldn’t endure holding in their doubts anymore, so they burst out asking, “Luang Phor, why do you like to sweep the temple courtyard late at night, when all the other monks have already fallen asleep?”

Luang Phor Chong replied, “When the temple is clean, the heart is also clean. After you sweep the temple, you should sweep your heart. In this way, you will not be reborn in the lower realms after you die.”

Luang Phor Chong (Jong)

Wat Naa Taang Nok, Ayutthaya

Admin: Luang Phor Chong is still very popular with devotees even though he has passed away for a long time already. If you run a business, you can always go to Wat Naa Taang Nok to pray for good trade and sales. It is also another recommended place to pay respects to Thao Wessuwan. According to locals, more people started coming to this temple after the Chao Awat, LP Maen started building more Tao Wessuwan statues. 

Cr. to the original owner of this photo

12 August 2023

The Skill of Release: Teachings of Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

The Skill of Release: Teachings of Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

Sitting here and bringing the mind to stillness is not really all that hard to do. The reason it seems hard is because we misunderstand things. Our views are wrong, and so are our presuppositions. If we study so as to understand this point, we’ll know the truth.

For example, when we think that the mind goes here or there, that’s not the truth. It’s just a preconceived notion. Actually, the mind stays with the body at all times. What goes is just the light, as with a flashlight. 

The bulb stays in the flashlight; it’s simply the light that goes flashing out. The bulb and the light are two different things. The bulb has light, but the light outside of the flashlight doesn’t have a bulb. 

The mind—awareness itself—stays with the body with each in-and-out breath. The knowledge that goes flashing out isn’t the real thing. You can’t take the light and put it back in the flashlight, just as when a person tries to catch a light beam it doesn’t stick in his hands.

So if the mind is always in the present, why do we practice concentration? We practice concentration because there are two kinds of fire or electricity in the mind: hot fire, the fires of passion, aversion, & delusion; and cool fire, the fire of jhāna, or mental absorption. 

If we understand how to train the mind, we’ll meet with the cool fire. Hot fire is bad for the nerves of our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body. Our sense organs are like light bulbs. The nerves of the senses are like the filaments in the bulbs. If we hook them up to the wrong kind of current, they’ll explode immediately. 

If we hook them up to the right current but never turn them off, they’ll wear out. 

So we practice concentration because we want cool electricity, the cool fire of jhāna. Cool electricity does no damage to our senses and enables us to use our senses to see the truth, to understand everything we see, hear, smell, taste, touch, and think about. This way the mind can be cool and at peace.

This is the skill of insight meditation. When sights strike against the eye, perceptions arise right at the contact, and we can see them with discernment. When sounds strike the ear, when smells strike the nose, when flavors strike the tongue, when tactile sensations strike the body, or ideas strike the mind, discernment gets right there in between them. 

This way sights don’t stick to the eye, and the eye doesn’t stick to sights; sounds don’t stick to the ears, the ears don’t stick to sounds, and so forth. This is intuitive insight, or six-factored equanimity, which can let go both of the senses and of their objects. The true mind stays cool and at peace, like the cool fire that lasts and poses a danger to no one.

When people don’t train their minds, they have to live with hot fire, which wears down different parts of their minds, such as the nerves of their eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body. When these nerves wear down, they become ignorant. Their eyesight is darkened. When they see sights, they don’t know the truth of those sights. This is called unawareness. Their ears go deaf: When they hear sounds, they don’t know the truth of those sounds. The same holds for their nose, tongue, body, and mind. Whatever they sense, they don’t know the truth of those things. This is called unawareness. It gives rise to craving and defilement, and leads to suffering. This is what it means to be ignorant of the truth.

People ignorant of the truth are like the blind. They have trouble everywhere they walk, thinking that high things are low and low things are high—as when a blind person walks along level ground, lifting his feet up high because he’s afraid he might trip over something. In the same way, people who don’t know the truth think that deep Dhamma is shallow, shallow Dhamma is deep; high Dhamma is low, low Dhamma is high. That’s Wrong View. 

When your views are wrong, your practice is wrong; your release is wrong—like lifting your feet to walk up a set of stairs that doesn’t have any steps. There are people who want to put themselves on a high level but without the proper basis. Their minds don’t have any concentration. They keep walking, thinking, imagining about high-level Dhamma, but they end up back where they started. They’re like a blind person trying to climb a staircase whose bottom step is missing. He’ll just keep stomping on the same spot of ground. In the same way, people on a low level who think they’re on a high level end up sinking further and further into the ground. The more they try to climb up, the deeper they go. Like an elephant fallen into the mud: The more she struggles, the deeper she sinks.

The steps of the stairs are virtue, concentration, and discernment. If we follow the steps, we’ll get to where we want to go—like a person with good eyesight climbing stairs that actually have steps. 

People who practice concentration can know things whether their eyes are opened or closed, because they have brightness within them.

~~~

The Skill of Release: Teachings of Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

https://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html#skillofrelease

10 August 2023

Phra Suthipong Apipunyo

Phra Suthipong Apipunyo

A long long time ago, long before your great-grandfather’s time, humans were always happy. They didn’t know what “suffering” meant, there was no such word in the dictionary.

The demons felt envious of human happiness, so they held a meeting. During the Annual Demon Meeting, it was decided that a demon volunteer would take turns to try to hide happiness from the humans. 

The first demon, a powerful wizard, went to the remote mountains as far as the eye could see on the horizon, and hid happiness there. But soon the humans who liked exploring mountains and going hiking found it. 

The second demon was a water ghost, who volunteered to hide happiness in the depths of the oceans. 

However, humans still found it after learning to dive in the seas. 

The third demon, a space alien, tried to hide happiness in outer space. But humans still learnt to build rockets and spaceships and found happiness above the planet. 

Wherever the demons tried to hide happiness, humans still managed to find it in the end. 

The demons were frustrated.

Finally, the demons were out of ideas when suddenly, a small voice spoke up, “I’ll volunteer to do it.” 

Everyone looked around the room but couldn’t identify the source of the voice, until they saw an almost invisibly tiny demon. 

The demons almost wanted to burst out laughing in disbelief. The demon leader couldn’t help but ask, “Where will you hide human happiness?” 

“I’ll hide it in the hearts of humans. If you hide it there, they will never find it,” the little demon replied. 

And so as time passed, it has been proven that the little demon was right. Because how many people will find true happiness?

If you think happiness is in the sea…go to the beach.

If you think happiness is in the mountains…go for a hike.

If you think happiness lies in having a lot of money…then devote your life to making money. 

If you think happiness lies in being famous…then do whatever it takes to become famous. 

But even if you go to the sea, the mountains, have all the money or fame in the world, you still won’t be happy when you suffer from depression or disease. 

Even all kinds of beautiful treasures cannot fill the emptiness of the heart. They only bring short-lived satisfaction. Finally, it ends up in stress and exhaustion. 

Fortunately, all human beings are born with this one ability, to be a generator of happiness for oneself. 

Happiness that doesn’t depend on others or external factors. 

The source of happiness within human hearts is experiencing contentment with whatever one has at the moment and knowing what is enough. 

Phra Suthipong Apipunyo

Wat Pa Si Mongkhon

Cr. https://www.facebook.com/TongTongsuthipong/

9 August 2023

The Origin of Materialism

The Origin of Materialism

A good nun lived a very simple life, with few possessions and dwelling in a cave. Every morning, she would take her alms bowl to the nearby village to collect just enough food for her one meal of the day. She had plenty of time to meditate, study, and teach what she knew to any of the local villagers.

When she returned from almsround one morning, she noticed a hole in her spare robe, so she found a small piece of cloth and hand sewed a patch onto the robe. She’d done this before. You see, in her cave lived a family of mice, and they liked nibbling her robes. While sewing, she thought that if she had a cat, then there would be no mice, and she wouldn’t have to spend so much time sewing patches. So the next day, she asked the villagers for a cat, and they gave her a well-behaved brown cat whose color matched her robes.

The cat needed milk and fish, so the nun had to ask the villagers for these extra items every morning. One morning, she thought that if she had her own cow, then she wouldn’t need to keep asking for milk to feed the cat to keep away the mice that chewed her robes. So she asked one of her wealthy supporters for a cow.

Once the nun had a cow, she had to get grass for the cow to eat. So she begged the villagers for grass to feed her cow to provide milk for the cat to keep away the mice that chewed her robes.

After a few days, the nun thought that if she had her own field, then she would not need to harass the poor villagers for grass every day. So she arranged for a collection to be made to buy a nearby pasture to provide grass for her cow to provide milk for the cat to keep away the mice that chewed her robes.

It was a lot of work looking after the pasture, catching the cow every morning and milking it, so she thought that it would be helpful to have a boy, a young attendant who could do all these chores for her. In return, the nun would give him moral guidance and teachings. The villagers selected a boy from a poor family in dire need of some moral guidance. Now she had a boy to look after the pasture to provide grass for her cow to provide milk for the cat to keep away the mice that chewed her robes.

Now the nun needed to collect more than twice as much food every morning, because young boys eat a lot. Moreover, she needed a small hut nearby for the boy to sleep in, because it was against the rules for the boy to sleep in the cave with a nun. So she asked the villagers to build a hut for her boy who looked after the pasture to provide grass for her cow to provide milk for the cat to keep away the mice that chewed her robes.

By this time, she began to notice the villagers avoiding her. They were afraid that she was going to ask them for something more. Even when they saw a brown cow approaching in the distance, thinking it was the nun, they would run away or hide in their houses with the door securely bolted and the curtains drawn over the windows.

When a villager did come to ask her some questions on meditation, she said, “Sorry. Not now. I’m too busy. I have to check the hut being built for the boy who looks after my field to graze my cow that provides the milk for my brown cat that keeps away the mice so that I don’t need to keep patching my robe.”

She noticed what she was saying and realized: “Such is the origin of materialism.”

She then told the villagers to dismantle the hut, sent the boy back to his family, gave away the cow and the field, and found a good home for her cat.

A few days later, she had returned to her simple life, with few possessions and dwelling in a cave. After returning one morning from the village with just enough alms food for her one meal of the day, she noticed that a mouse had chewed another hole in her robe.

With a quiet smile, she sewed on another patch.

11 August 2023

My Father Really Loved Me By Ajahn Sumedho

My Father Really Loved Me
By Ajahn Sumedho

"My father died about six years ago. He was then 90 years old, and he had never shown love or positive feelings towards me. So from early childhood I had this feeling that he did not like me. I carried this feeling through most of my life; I never had any kind of love, any kind of warm relationship with my father. It was always a perfunctory: “Hello son, good to see you.”

And he seemed to feel threatened by me. I remember whenever I came home as a Buddhist monk he would say, “Remember, this is my house, you’ve got to do as I say.” This was his greeting – and I was almost 50 years old at the time! I don’t know what he thought I was going to do!

In the last decade of his life, he was quite miserable and became very resentful. He had terrible arthritis and was in constant pain, and he had Parkinson’s disease and everything was going wrong. Eventually he had to be put in a nursing home. He was completely paralysed. He could move his eyes and talk, but the rest of his body was rigid, totally still. He hated this. He was resentful of what had happened to him because before he had been a strong, independent, virile man. He had been able to control and manage everything in his life. So he hated and resented having to depend on nurses to feed him and so on.

My first year here I remember discussing my parents with my sister. She pointed out to me that my father was a very considerate man. He was very considerate and thoughtful towards my mother. He was always eager to help her when she was tired or unwell – a very supportive husband. Because I came from a family where it was normal for a man to be like that, I had never recognised those qualities. My sister pointed out that it is not often that a husband is supportive or helpful to his wife. For my father’s generation, women’s rights and feminism were not the issue. “I bring in the money, and you do the cooking and washing,” was the attitude then. I realised then that I had not only completely overlooked these good qualities, I had not even noticed them.

The last time I went to see him, I decided that I would try to get some kind of warmth going between us before he died. It was quite difficult to even think this because I had gone through life feeling that he didn’t like me. It is very hard to break through that kind of thing.

Anyway, his body needed to be stimulated, so I said, “Let me massage your leg.” And he said, “No, no, you don’t need to do that.” And I said, “You’ll get bedsores; you really have to have your skin massaged.” 

And he still said, “No, you don’t have to do it.” Then I said, “I would really like to do it.” And he said, “You don’t have to do it.” But I could tell that he was considering it. Then I said, “I think it’ll be a good thing and I’d really like to do it,” and he said, “So, you’d really like to do it?” and I said, “Yes.”

I started massaging his feet, his legs, his neck and shoulders, his hands and his face, and he really enjoyed the physical contact. It was the first time he had been touched like that… And I began to realise that my father really loved me, but he didn’t know how to say it because of his upbringing. He’d been brought up in an Edwardian time in a very formal environment. His had been a “don’t touch, don’t get emotional” sort of a family. They had no great emotional explosions; feelings were always controlled. Now I realised that my father was quite a loving sort of man, but he could not express his feelings because of his background. 

And I had this great sense of relief.

I couldn’t understand him when I was young because I did not understand his upbringing and what he had been through. It was only when I grew older that I began to understand the consequences of having such an upbringing. Once you are conditioned in that way, it is difficult to break out of it. I could see when I looked back that behind the behaviour of my father there was love, but it always came out in a commanding or demanding way because that is the only way he knew how to talk. Like the way he said, “Remember, this is my house, and you have to do what I say.” If I was going to be offended by that, I would have had a miserable time. But I decided not to pay any attention to that statement and not make a problem of it…"

This reflection by Luang Por Sumedho is from the book, Gratitude, (pdf) pp. 45-48.

Source: https://www.abhayagiri.org/reflections/532-my-father-really-loved-me?fbclid=IwAR2DjffwpEWIQxFrPF9eRojSF_brxH74YuRyU4jfp-yj21LNtzYj9ziLTr8

Gratitude Monastic Sangha pdf book:

https://www.abhayagiri.org/books/567-gratitude?fbclid=IwAR0xMR3o2MPjebU6jzvCSu5kfG02HO19lLH6BJR8U9qBfdvtU47operQh7s

8 August 2023

About Ghost Part 6 …..,,

About Ghost Part 6 …..,,

IV. The World of Ghosts and the Human Life

In this universe, there are respective worlds for the ten Dharma Realms (Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Pratyekabuddhas, Sravakas, and the six realms mentioned earlier). There are the Buddhas' worlds such as the world of the Eastern Pure Land of Azure Radiance and that of the Western Pure Land of Bliss. Heavenly beings have their worlds subdivided into three realms and twenty-eight heavens. We human beings have our world with the three oceans and five continents. Among human beings there are different races with different body types. Some of us are rich and some poor, some are smart and some are a little slow. 

Animals, too, have their worlds; some of them fly in the air, others walk on the ground and still others swim in the ocean. In the same way, the ghosts in hell have many different ways of being. Ghosts live in a world something like the one people live in. They have families, and they have to work to maintain themselves. Some of them are rich while others are poor. 

Their world, too, has disputes and grievances.

 Ghosts have many different sorts of characters; some of them are violent and cruel, but some of them are kind and good.

Ghosts and human beings actually live very close to one another. Not all ghosts live in hell. 

They are right here with us, to the left and right of us. You do not have to travel to hell to find ghosts because ghosts are all over the place, right here in our world. What kinds of ghosts live in our world? Look around you. Everywhere you can see people who abuse drugs, who waste themselves away in sexual indulgence, who harm others, who commit violent acts, who rob and steal and murder. Are these people not worse than ghosts? Are we not all tempted at times to be like ghosts ourselves, to withhold help when it is needed, to turn away when we see something wrong, to be suspicious, to speak badly about our friends, to be gluttonous and mean spirited when we know full well what the right thing to do is? It really is true that "human ghosts" can be much worse than the ghosts in hell.

When we think of ghosts, we usually only think of asking a monk to come to our homes and bless them, but we often do not think of blessing the "ghosts" of our world. When ghosts are blessed and delivered from suffering, we can all enjoy peace in our minds and in our dwellings. 

Likewise, when "human ghosts" are delivered, morality would be elevated and our society can become peaceful. How should we proceed to deliver those "human ghosts"? The Buddhist methods include taking refuge in the Triple Gem, upholding the Five Precepts, practicing the Six Paramitas (perfections), and performing the Ten Virtues. Truly taking refuge in the Triple Gem can bring deliverance as follows: taking refuge in the Buddha means never falling into the hell realm; taking refuge in the Dharma means never falling into the animal realm; taking refuge in the Sangha means never falling into the hungry ghost realm. If all of us would uphold the Five Precepts of Buddhism—no killing, no stealing, no sexual indulgence, no harsh words and no drugs or alcohol—we would all be much farther from evil. We would no longer be planting new seeds of evil that one day might cause us to be reborn in the realm of hell or to become evil ghosts.

In this modern world, evil is present all around us. If for any reason any of you ever becomes tainted by any of that evil, please come quickly to Buddhism to purify yourself. If all of us would devote ourselves to promoting social values, to supporting education, to helping others and to raising the level of society's kindness, then all "human ghosts" would soon be freed from their sufferings.

Thank everyone of you for coming tonight. I hope that by our efforts, society can be purged of ghosts and that every person will become a moral and upright human being. Instead of thinking about ghosts, people should think about the Buddha. Instead of acting like ghosts, people should discover the Buddha nature inside them. Then this human realm will become like the Pure Land and none of us will have to worry about hell anymore

Source

www.blia.org

http://tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/A_discussion_on_Ghosts

Categories: Buddhist TermsGhosts

End

7 August 2023

About Ghost part 5……,,,

About Ghost part  5……,,,

III. Where Do Ghosts Live and What Are Their Pleasures and Pains

Human beings live on the earth in the human realm. Where do ghosts live? In human life there is pleasure and pain. What gives ghosts pleasure and pain?

The Abhidharmamahavibhasa-sastra says that wealthy ghosts live in mountain valleys and gorges, on the coasts of the world's oceans, in the air, in forests or in temples where people worship them. They are like people who live in penthouses in cities or in luxurious resorts in the picturesque countryside. Poor ghosts live in remote areas near graveyards, or in piles of grass and wood, or in latrines, or in deserted areas. Poor ghosts do not have homes for themselves, but usually wander around like human beggars, completely exposed to the natural elements of wind and rain. They are mired in anguish.

Some ghosts suffer a great deal and some of them actually have quite a lot of fun. Suffering ghosts experience terrible hunger and unbearable thirst. They never have anything to eat and even if they see a river, they cannot drink from it. If ever they do lift water from a river to drink, it will instantly turn into flames in their throats. Even the most delicious food offerings are useless in relieving their perpetual hunger. If you want to help these beings, you may offer them a simple meal of fruits and vegetables in a Buddhist ceremony. Through the merits and blessings of the Buddhist sutras and mantras, the burning fire in their throats may cease, thereby allowing them to eat. Definitely do not offer them sacrifices, otherwise, you will only increase their evil karma and suffering.

The Ksitigarbha Sutra says that, of the merits in chanting sutras and making offerings for the ghosts, six out of seven parts will benefit human beings while only one in seven parts will benefit the deceased. From this we can see how important it is to use our time here while we are healthy to do as much good as we can. If we wait until we are dead and our bodies are stretched out and stiff, then it will be too late to do anything for ourselves, and other people will not be able to do us much good either.

Happy ghosts live pleasant lives full of good food and beautiful clothes. They have vehicles to take them wherever they want to go and they generally pass their time pleasantly. Happy ghosts have it pretty easy because when they were alive, they were generous towards others. 

They became ghosts, though, because they often regretted their generosity or felt stingy in their hearts. 

Even though the life of a happy ghost is more pleasant than the life of a human being, it is still much better to be a human being. These ghosts are very timid and only dare to come out late at night. They are afraid of light and never appear in the day. If they happen to come across a human being, they run and hide in dark places because they are afraid to touch people. Once we understand how afraid of us ghosts are, we will not feel the need to fear them so much.

Sometimes human beings unintentionally disturb ghosts. In Taiwan, there is a folk custom of "marrying" a dead daughter (so she will have a place on someone's ancestral shrine). 

There is a story about a couple who tried very hard to find someone to "marry" their daughter who had died before she was married in life. The daughter had not married in life because she did not want to, and their forcing her to do so after death only angered her and caused her more misery.

"Father, Mother," she said. "when I was alive you tried to force me to marry to carry on the family and now that I am dead and have become a ghost, you still want to force your will on me!"

Since the ghost thought this young man was good-for-nothing in wishing to "marry" a ghost, she intentionally caused her "husband" a lot of trouble. On the "wedding night," she came and hit her "husband" on the head, boxed his ears and struck him in the face. She continued to push and hit him all night long. The "bridegroom" never once caught sight of his "bride," but when the morning came, his face was swollen from being punched so often. 

The next day he took her name away from his family shrine and returned it to her parents.

Why do people do such ignorant things? How strange that a man would consider sleeping with a ghost and putting her name in his family shrine. What good could that ever bring? In Taiwan, some people also have the custom of burning paper representations of automobiles, houses, American dollars, television sets, refrigerators and other things so that these items will go to the ghost realm where their departed loved ones can enjoy them. (The smoke is thought to carry them to the ghost realm.)

The truth is, ghosts have five types of magical powers, and they can move around by just thinking of where they want to go. They do not need cars. If they did use cars, it would take them longer than if they had gone by their own powers. If everybody burned a paper car for their loved ones, pretty soon hell would be overloaded with automobiles. There would be traffic accidents and no one would ever get anywhere. In this human realm, home appliances are either 110 volts or 220 volts. If they do not have the right outlets in hell, our appliances will be useless there. American dollars are used almost all over the world, but do you think they will be accepted in hell, too?

Ghosts have their own ways of living and we do not need to be too concerned with them. A loved one who has passed away may have gone to heaven or been reborn as a human being. 

You can not be sure they have become ghosts and that their lives are full of sorrow and need. If we are going to honor our ancestors, we do not need to burn paper money for them because we will only end up with a heap of useless ash. It would be much better for everyone to donate money in the names of our ancestors. We can build schools, establish scholarship funds and do other good things in their names. In this way our ancestors can make a useful contribution to the human realm.

In Chinese literature, there is a wonderful and vivid story about ghosts. Once there was a ghost who had just left his human body. As a new ghost, he discovered that he was so inexperienced he could not find anything to eat. He was getting really hungry when he met an old ghost. The old ghost said to him, "Young fellow, why are you so skinny and why is your face so pale and gaunt?"

"I have been a ghost for quite a few days now," the new ghost replied, "but I have not yet succeeded in finding anything to eat. That is why I look so bad. My friend, you have been a ghost for a much longer time than I have. Please tell me how to get some food!"

"That is so easy," the old ghost said. "What I usually do is to play some ghost tricks and do something supernatural. That is what gets me fed!"

"So that is how you do it," the new ghost said. "Now I understand."

The new ghost was delighted with his new understanding and immediately ran to the east side of town. He entered a poor person's house where someone was grinding flour. As soon as he had the chance, the ghost stepped up to the grinding wheel and started to move it himself. 

When the person in the house saw that the wheel was moving all by itself, he called out in surprise, "Wow! The wheel is moving all by itself and no one is pushing it! There must be a ghost here! It must be our compassionate Buddha who sent him here to help us because we are so poor and have to work hard all the time!"

The new ghost kept pushing the grinding wheel all night long. He was made very tired by the work and his eyes began to glaze over, but when dawn came he still had not gotten anything to eat. He ran straight back to the old ghost.

"Hey, you! You told me to play some ghost tricks to make my life better," he complained angrily. 

"I followed your advise completely. I worked all night, yet I did not get one thing to eat!"

"Oh, you fool," the old ghost said. "The home you went to believes in Buddhism. Buddhists are not afraid of ghosts. Why should they give you anything to eat?"

"So that is how it is. I see. I will try another place tonight," the new ghost said. That night he slipped through the shadows and went to a different house on the west side of town where some people were pounding rice. He picked up the pounding stick and began pounding the rice for them. When the people saw what was happening, they were very surprised.

"Amazing! Look at that! Last night the Buddha sent a ghost to someone's home to help him grind flour, and tonight Lao Tzu has sent a ghost to help us pound rice."

The new ghost worked as hard as he could until the sky began to lighten and he heard roosters crowing. 

His back and arms were terribly sore and he felt tired all through his body, but still he had not been given a single thing to eat. He raced back to the old ghost, more than a little bit angry this time.

"Now, try to explain this to me. Why did they not give me anything to eat? I do not understand!"

"My young friend, those people were Taoists. Not only do they not fear ghosts, sometimes they even try to catch them!"

"Then what should I do? Do I have to go hungry day in and day out? I can hardly bear it!"

"Here is what you do," the old ghost said. "Find a house without any Buddhist statues or signs of Taoist gods. In that place, anything will be possible."

The new ghost looked all over the town until at last he found a house which had no gods and no images of the Buddha in it. Inside there was a room full of people enjoying a feast of fish, meat, vegetables and wine. When the new ghost saw their sumptuous meal, he was so tempted that he began to drool. He had to promptly think of what to do to get them to feed him. He saw a skinny little dog crouched by one of the legs of the table. The dog was wagging its tail in the hope that someone would throw him a bone. The ghost grabbed the dog and started to race around the room so it looked to the people as if the dog were flying.

"Look at that!" someone exclaimed. "How can that be? How can the dog be flying around like that? Did someone cast a spell on him?"

The whole room fell into a commotion as the dog flew around and around. Somebody suggested that they call on Jesus to help them. Another person said, "No, Jesus can help people change, but he cannot do anything when it comes to ghosts."

Someone else said, "Let us read Confucius's words out loud. Maybe he can help us!"

Another person answered, "No! Have you forgotten that Confucius refused to talk about ghosts? He told us to keep away from them! He will not be able to help us, either!"

Things went on like this with people arguing back and forth for quite some time. At last they decided to call on a spirit medium to exercise his magical power.

"This ghost is bewitched. Let us kill the dog and prepare for him a table of food complete with three types of meat and wine. That will appease him!"

The people quickly did as instructed and prepared a bounteous feast for the ghost, who enjoyed every last bite of it. "That was great!" he said when he was finished. "That was really good!" The food was so good, in fact, the new ghost never wanted to leave that house again. 

Every night after that he performed some new trick to get the people to make him more food. 

So, this is truly the way to "invite a ghost into your house."

In life, we have to be careful to always treat others with kindness and to keep ourselves well within the limits of good behavior. Definitely do not ever invite a ghost into your home. 

Sometimes people fall in bad company, with robbers or murderers. If you ask that kind of person to help you even once, you will have a world of trouble on your hands. You may even lose your life for it. In Taiwan, there are some really foolish customs wherein people worship ghosts, rocks, trees, and practically everything. If you follow these customs and invite all these spirits and ghosts into your home and honor them as special guests, you will be inviting disasters onto yourself. We should be careful to give our respect only to people who deserve it, to people who are honorable in their own lives. To ensure our well-being and safety, we should keep our distance from people who worship spirits and practice magic.　

cont…….

Source

www.blia.org

http://tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/A_discussion_on_Ghosts

Categories: Buddhist TermsGhosts

6 August 2023

About ghost part 4………,

About ghost part  4………,

II. Different Kinds of Ghosts and Their Appearances

How many kinds of ghosts are there and what do they look like? The Abhidharma-nyayanusara says there are three kinds of ghosts.　

A. Wealthy Ghosts

Wealthy ghosts are something like wealthy human beings. They enjoy a lot of offerings and they are never in want for food or clothing. Examples of such ghosts include those honored in an ancestral shrine or those revered for their great powers and blessings.　

B. Not-So-Wealthy Ghosts

These ghosts are like most people in the world. Although they receive some offerings, they are less well-off as wealthy ghosts.　

C. Poor Ghosts

These ghosts are much like homeless human beggars. They have no place to live. 

Sometimes they eat and sometimes they do not. Their livelihood depends largely on handouts from others. 

For the most part, these poor ghosts wander around alone in very remote parts of the world. Only when there is a special offering made for them in the temple can they get something to eat.　

The Abhidharmamahavibhasa-sastra says that there are two kinds of ghosts.

A. Ghosts with Dignity and Prominence

These ghosts are strong and tall. They wear ornate headpieces, flower garlands, and beautiful clothing. 

They eat delicacies and ride in carriages pulled by horses or elephants. 

They have servants who care for them wherever they go and they live lives full of pleasure and amusement. They are much like royal people in the human realm. The Chinese folk god, Cheng Huang Lao Ye, is this kind of ghost.　

B. Ghosts Lacking in Dignity and Prominence

These ghosts have messy hair that flies all over and covers their faces. Their clothing is ragged, at best, and often they are forced to go completely naked. Their faces are pale and ugly. They carry old broken, begging bowls. They are very similar to downtrodden beggars in the human realm.

Ghosts can also be divided into the general categories of large and small ghosts. Large ghosts are about one yojana tall, based on the Indian measurement units. One yojana is approximately seven miles. Imagine that! They are huge creatures. In Chinese, they are sometimes called "big-headed" ghosts because their heads are as big as mountains. 

However, their long throats are as narrow as needles and, for the most part, they are unable to eat anything. For this reason, they are very weak and they have to use canes whenever they want to walk somewhere. Their hair is long and messy and dirty. In contrast, small ghosts are very tiny. They are about as big as newborn babies.

There also are beautiful ghosts and ugly ones. Beautiful ghosts are so beautiful they look like heavenly beings and are not in the least bit frightening. Ugly ghosts are remarkable especially for their runny noses and the sores all over their bodies, which constantly bleed and emit noxious pus. There are noble wealthy ghosts and lowly impoverished ones also. Noble ghosts, like the Ghost King of Great Strength, are venerated by people. Lowly ghosts are orphaned ones who wander from place to place.

Whether ghosts are wealthy or poor, beautiful or ugly, with or without dignity and prominence, large or small, they all are representative of human beings in some way, and they do not all live in hell. Have you not also seen signs of them in this world?

Zen Master Ju Man once had a friend named Wang. When Wang died, Master Ju Man held a special Dharma service chanting sutras to help him in the next rebirth. A year or so after Wang's death, Master Ju Man set out for Yangchou in Chiangsu Province. While he was on the road, Master Ju Man suddenly saw his old friend Wang standing in front of him. Master Ju Man was astonished at the sight of him and asked, "Did you not die already? How is possible that you are here now walking around?"

Wang quickly interrupted the Master. "Hush, do not talk so loudly. Come with me into the mountains and we will discuss everything in detail."

When the two at last got to a remote mountain gorge, Wang said, "Master Ju Man, let me tell you now. I am not a human being. I am a ghost. When I was a human, I never did anything bad and I often tried to help other people. In addition to that, there were all those sutras you chanted for me after I died. Now King Yama of Hell has appointed me to be an investigator for him in the human realm."

"Amazing! So, what do you do as a ghost investigator?"

"It is my job to make a detailed record of human acts of corruption, murder, theft, depravity and cruelty. I record everything I see and report all of it to King Yama. He keeps these records and makes sure that all transgressions are repaid in kind. People who murder will experience being murdered themselves. People who steal will someday have things stolen from them, and so on."

After Wang finished speaking, he reached into his clothing and pulled out a red flower to give to Master Ju Man as a token of payment for the kindness Master Ju Man had shown him when he was still a human being. When Master Ju Man saw the flower, he tried to refuse it. "I am just a monk," he said. "What do I need this flower for?"

"This flower is not like other flowers," Wang said. "If you carry it in your hand, it will allow you to tell if someone is a human being or a ghost."

"How will carrying a flower in my hand help me do that?" Master Ju Man asked.

"If you have this flower in your hand as you walk down the street, a righteous person will never look at it. Ghosts, however, will stare at the flower with great intensity. If an individual stares at the flower and then makes gestures to attract attention, then you will know that this individual is a show-off ghost. If a ghost looks at the flower and then looks at you, you will know that he is a lustful ghost. If the ghost looks at the flower and then looks at himself, then you will know that he is a greedy ghost. If a ghost looks at the flower and then starts rubbing his hands together, you will know that he is a cheating ghost."

After Master Ju Man and Wang had parted company, Master Ju Man walked into town carrying the red flower in his hand. The first person who came toward him sauntered along contentedly, never once glancing at the flower. "Good, that must be a righteous human being," Master Ju Man thought to himself.

He walked a little farther and saw a very fashionable woman dressed in beautiful clothes. 

She stared directly at the flower, and patted her cheek.

"Oh no, that must be a show-off ghost," Master Ju Man thought.

After a while, a man, also dressed very well, walked toward Master Ju Man. He stared at the flower, turned his eyes to Master Ju Man, and said disappointedly, "This is only an old monk."

"Oh no, he is a lustful ghost!" the Master muttered to himself, somewhat displeased.

Master Ju Man kept walking and before long another person approached him. This one stared at the flower and then at himself. "Oh no," Master Ju Man thought. "He is a greedy ghost!"

Master Ju Man turned and started down another street. Far down the street someone started staring at the flower and rubbing his hands together. "Oh no, now I have run into a cheating ghost. This flower is really powerful. Look what it is showing me!"

Master Ju Man walked some more and thought about what he had just seen. Before long, he found himself at the gate of his temple. Thinking it would be inappropriate to bring the red flower into the temple, Master Ju Man threw it on the ground behind him and started to enter the temple gate. In seconds, he heard a lot of noise and arguing going on behind him. 

He turned and saw that all the ghosts he had just seen in town had been following him. Now they were fighting over the flower he had thrown on the ground. At last, one of the ghosts prevailed in the fight and held the flower in his hand. As the other ghosts stopped to look at it, Master Ju Man saw that the beautiful red flower had turned into a mere bone from some dead body.

In this world, sometimes we try so hard to attain wealth, fame or power, but in the end what do we really get? Is it not just like that story? In the end, we are left holding nothing but a pile of old bones and a handful of dirt.

There is an old Buddhist saying, "Today I know nothing of tomorrow: Why should I waste my time on disputes and discords?" Therefore, we should not fight over the flowers of superficial glory and vanity in life. Rather, we should honestly and diligently work toward meaningful goals in life.　

cont……

Source

www.blia.org

http://tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/A_discussion_on_Ghosts

Categories: Buddhist TermsGhosts

5 August 2023

About Ghost part 3

About Ghost part 3

There are reasons why ghosts exist. There are certain kinds of karma which cause people to become ghosts. The Buddhist Karmic Rewards Sutra gives ten reasons in all:　

1) The body has committed evil. One has killed, or stolen, or indulged in other evil behavior.

2) The mouth has committed evil. One has repeatedly lied, slandered, or spoken with great harshness. One has indulged in idle, thoughtless talk.

3) The mind has committed evil. One's thoughts have been full of greed, hatred, ignorance or other defilements.

4) Greed. One has been greedy and grasping and not understanding of the value of giving.

5) Covetousness. One has been envious and wanted things that do not belong to oneself.

6) Fawning and jealousy. One has often been jealous of other people and thus created evil thoughts.

7) Perverse ideas. One has denied the value of morality and the difference between good and bad.

8) Attachment and not letting go. One feels strong attachment and clinging in one's mind and cannot joyfully let go.

9) Dying of starvation. People who starve to death become hungry ghosts.

10) Dying of thirst. People who die of thirst become ghosts.

One of the Buddha's greatest disciples, Mahamaudgalyayana, often traveled to hell to ask the ghosts there about their conditions and about the causes which had sent them to hell. In the Mahamaudgalyayana Sutra there is a fascinating record of one of Mahamaudgalyayana's conversation with the ghosts in hell. From their exchange, one can glean how the law of cause and effect works. At one point a ghost asked Mahamaudgalyayana, "Venerable One, here I have fallen into the ghost realm and I suffer all kinds of pain and punishment. Why does my head always hurt so much? It feels like it is about to split open!"

Mahamaudgalyayana answered him, "When you were a human being you often hit other people on their heads. For this reason you not only have become a ghost, but you also have to endure those terrible headaches."

Then another ghost begged him, "Venerable One, here I am a ghost and my life is miserable! I have to sleep out on the street because I have no home to protect me from the wind and rain. 

Why do I have to suffer like this day after day?"

Mahamaudgalyayana answered, "In your last human life you were very wealthy and you had a beautiful home, but you never helped others. Instead, you only made it difficult for anyone in need of shelter. 

Therefore, you ended up suffering, sleeping outdoors in the cold and rain now."

Then another ghost asked, "Venerable One, now that I am a ghost I still have lots of money. 

Yet, it is strange because I never spend any of it. I just walk around in old patched clothes all the time. 

Why is that?"

Mahamaudgalyayana answered him, "When you were a human being, you were often generous with others but after giving something away, you always had second thoughts for having been kind. Your generosity in that life is the cause for your having wealth now, but your wavering has made you live like a poor person."

As all the ghosts crowded around Maha-maudgalyayana to learn more from him, a sallow, emaciated ghost standing alone at the edge of the group slowly intoned in a long quavering voice, "Venerable One, here I am a ghost, but I can eat nothing! Why is that? I am so hungry that I feel dizzy all the time! Why is that?"

Mahamaudgalyayana answered, "When you were a human being you worked in the kitchen of a temple, and in that position you often stole money which had been donated for food. If a devotee gave you twenty coins, you would keep ten for yourself and use only ten to buy food for the kitchen. The result of those actions is that now you have to go hungry yourself."

"Venerable One," another ghost complained in desperation. "Now that I am a ghost, I suffer so much pain. 

My body hurts all the time as if it were being poked with needles and slashed with knife blades. I feel as if I am being burned in a fire. Why do I have to suffer so much?"

"When you were a human being you often caught fish and hunted animals. You killed so many creatures that you have to suffer their pains now," Mahamaudgalyayana said, answering him with great compassion.

When the ghosts at last began to fall silent and reflect on Mahamaudgalyayana's words, one of them in a halting and uncertain tone asked, "Venerable One, why have I become a ghost who is so slow at thinking? 

I am so stupid compared to these other ghosts who all possess quick minds. Why is that?"

"Because when you were a human being you loved to indulge yourself in alcohol. On social occasions you often encouraged people to drink alcohol and to indulge in meat, so now you are a little slow in your thinking and not as nimble as the other ghosts."

Mahamaudgalyayana patiently stayed with the ghosts until all of their questions had been answered, and then he left. From these questions and answers recorded in Buddhist sutras, we can get a pretty good idea of why some people become ghosts and what kinds of punishments fit what kinds of transgressions. Chefs and homemakers be warned! Do not take money intended for food and keep it for yourselves, or you too might become a hungry ghost one day! 

If you are in business, be careful what you do! Do not think you can get away with skimming a little extra for yourself or with cheating your customers. For those who slaughter for the sake of satisfying their tastes and those who indulge in intoxicating drinks, be forewarned. Do not let a moment of self-gratification cause you endless suffering and regrets.　

cont…….

Source

www.blia.org

http://tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/A_discussion_on_Ghosts

Categories: Buddhist TermsGhosts

4 August 2023

About Ghost Part 2…

About Ghost Part 2…

I. The Good and Bad Ghosts and the Law of Causation

In this world, there are good people and bad people. In the world of ghosts, it is the same. 

There are good ghosts and bad ghosts. Even though there are bad people in this world, good people outnumber them by quite a lot. It is the same with ghosts. There are some very evil ghosts, but most ghosts are good ghosts. People, sometimes, are much worse than ghosts. 

Human beings sometimes will do things no ghost would ever consider doing.

In Nanyang there once was a man named Ting-po Sung. One night Sung was hurrying home when suddenly he saw a ghost. Sung acted as bravely as he could and asked, "Who are you and why are you walking so strangely?"

"I am a ghost, that is why. Now, who are you?" the figure answered.

Sung was frightened to hear the ghost's reply, and he was even more afraid to admit that he was a human being. Might not the ghost harm him if he admitted that? In a moment's inspiration, Sung decided to do what human beings do best—lie. "Oh! I am a ghost, too," he said.

"You are a ghost, too, are you? Well, where are you going?"

"I am on my way to the city," Sung replied.

"Great," the ghost said, obviously pleased to hear that. "I am on my way to the city, too. Let us walk together."

Sung had no choice but to accept the invitation. With great trepidation he fell in behind the ghost to walk to the city. After a while, when they both began to show signs of fatigue, the ghost turned and made a suggestion. "The city is still far away," he said. "Walking like this is tiring. Let us take turns carrying each other instead. That way we can still make good progress and one of us will be able to rest. What do you think about this?"

"This is a good idea," Sung said.

"Okay, I will carry you first." With that, the ghost hoisted Sung onto his back. "Wow! Are you ever heavy! 

How did you get so heavy?" the ghost asked.

Ghosts have no definite form and no weight. They are a kind of spirit or a kind of energy (ch'i). 

They can pass through walls and become invisible at will. So, to a ghost, a human being is very gross and heavy.

As soon as Sung heard the ghost's question, he made up another lie. "I am so heavy," he said, "because I died just recently."

The ghost believed Sung and they continued to travel along with the ghost carrying Sung.

After a while, they came to a river. The ghost stopped and said, "We better swim across here." 

With that he dove into the water and, with the grace of a cloud flying through the air, swam to the other side. When the ghost got to his feet and turned around, he saw Sung still struggling in the middle of the river, splashing the water and panting very loudly. Gradually, Sung got closer. 

When he reached the bank, the ghost hurried over to ask him, "Why do you make so much noise when you swim? You will scare everybody around here!"

Sung could see that the ghost was getting suspicious of him so he used his best trick and repeated his lie from before. "I just died, so I really have not learned to swim yet," he said.

The two started for town again. As they walked, Sung thought to himself, "This is a bad night for me. 

Here I am walking along with a ghost. I have to think of some way to get away from him!" In an innocent manner, Sung asked the ghost, "Friend, I just died, and I am not all that clear about the world of ghosts. 

You have much more experience than I do. Tell me, what is the most frightening thing for us ghosts? What do we most need to watch out for?"

"Human saliva," the ghost replied. "If a human being ever spits on a ghost, that ghost has had it. There is nothing he can do to save himself."

The ghost was candid with his reply. Above them the sky was slowly starting to take on a shade of silvery gray. Dawn was approaching. The two were now close to the city.

Sung waited for a chance when the ghost was not looking, and spit a large gob of spittle on the ghost's back. Immediately, the ghost began to twist and turn. Then he fell to the ground, writhing in agony before he completely disappeared. In his place stood a small mountain goat. 

Sung took the goat into town and sold him for a good price.

This little story displays well the cruelty and deceitfulness of human beings. Sometimes ghosts are willing to help us, but we repay them by striking them with such cruel force. It really is true that sometimes people are much worse than ghosts.

Evil ghosts capable of harming human beings do exist, but if we are moral and kind throughout our lives, they can do us no harm. There is a Chinese saying which applies well here, "If we do no evil in the day, we need not worry about evil ghosts knocking on our doors at night." The ghosts outside of us are not nearly as frightening as the ghosts inside of us.

Once there was an old monk who was just sitting down to meditate when a ghost with unkempt hair and wild eyes appeared before him, trying to disturb his peace of mind. The old monk looked at him and said, "Oh my, what is this? What a mess! Look at that hair, and those eyes! 

You are really in no shape to be visiting people!"

When the ghost saw that he had failed to frighten the monk and was being admonished instead, he wrenched up his face, bared his sharp teeth and stuck his long tongue far outside his mouth.

The monk only said in reply, "What is so great about that? Your face is the same as mine; it is only a little paler and your teeth are sharper and your tongue is longer. That is all."

When the ghost saw that once again he had failed to scare the old monk, he changed his appearance again. 

He made his eyes and his nose disappear. Then he made his hands and feet disappear. However, the monk stayed the same, behaving as if nothing special were happening.

"My, you are pitiful!" he said. "You have no eyes, nose, hands or feet. I really feel quite sorry for you!"

With this response, the ghost at last gave up trying to scare the monk and disappeared. When the old monk saw the frightful appearance of the ghost, all he felt was compassion for him for having accumulated such bad karma to be turned into a ghost. Mercy has no enemies. In the face of compassion, all perverse and evil forces melt into nothingness.

We all know that people fear ghosts, but, actually, ghosts fear people much more than we do them. When ghosts see people, they run away as far as they can. They behave the same way wild animals do when they see people: they go and hide. Ghosts never come out in the day; they always wait until nighttime. The reason is that they fear people so much they come out only when the fewest people are around. If you understand this, then the next time one of you sees a ghost, you need not panic. Ghosts exist in a different realm from us and their karma has nothing to do with ours.

The Records of Hell contains a story about a man named Te-ju Yuan who got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. In the bathroom, Yuan suddenly saw a giant ghost standing quietly in front of him. 

The ghost had enormous eyes and a black face. He was wearing a long white robe. The two looked steadily at each other for a while. Then, Yuan broke into a laugh and said, "People have always told me that ghosts have ugly faces. Now I can see for myself that they are right!"

When he heard Yuan say this, the ghost felt so embarrassed his ears and face turned red and he had to leave. Sometimes a ghost's sense of shame can be even more developed than a human being's. If we are clear in our minds about what constitutes good and bad, and if we always try to behave in the right way, no ghost will ever dare interfere in our lives.

cont…….

Source

www.blia.org

http://tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/A_discussion_on_Ghosts

Categories: Buddhist TermsGhosts

3 August 2023

About Ghost part 1

ABOUT GHOSTS
Part 1

Dear Venerables and Dharma Friends:

Tonight I am going to talk about ghosts.You must all think it is strange that in this scientifically enlightened century anyone would want to talk about ghosts. In the past, even sages avoided the subject of the supernatural if they could. Confucius never spoke about ghosts. Yet, here we are on such a dark night getting ready to discuss ghosts. That seems a little strange, does it not? At the mere mention of ghosts, frightful images instantly arise in our minds of their pale faces, their wild hair and their sharp fangs. The truth is, however, ghosts generally are not very frightening. In fact, many of them are quite cute. Ghosts are like different types of animals: some of them are as frightening as lions and tigers, while others are as cute as bunny rabbits and as gentle as little kittens.

Buddhism does not teach us to worship ghosts, but Buddhism does recognize that ghosts exist. 

The realm of ghosts is one of the six realms of existence among sentient beings. (The six realms are: hell, ghosts, animals, humans, heaven, asuras.)

Many people do not believe in ghosts. 

Some people even purposely deny the existence of ghosts. They would often say smugly, "Humbug! I do not believe in ghosts." 

However, just because some people deny their existence, does that mean that ghosts really do not exist? People all over the world believe in ghosts. 

There are stories about ghosts even in the most scientifically advanced countries. The ghost of Abraham Lincoln is said to appear sometimes in the White House. A tourist pamphlet has been published which describes the twenty-nine well-known haunted houses in the United States.

Here in Taiwan, I personally have visited two houses where ghosts are known to appear. 

One is a house in Chiayi. It is a beautiful modern home with a large garden, but no one dares to live there because of the ghosts. In Taipei, I visited another ghost house on Jenai Road, right near a police station. The door of the house is bolted shut and no one has lived there for years. People say ghosts often appear in the house.

We do not have to deny the existence of ghosts regardless of whether they actually exist or not. 

We already know there are many different kinds of creatures living along side us. Birds, fish, insects and animals of all sorts add to the beauty and variety of life here. If there are also ghosts among us, would the world not be that much more interesting? Is it not narrow-minded and arrogant of human beings to deny the existence of life forms different from themselves? People are active in the day and in the early evening. Ghosts are active only late at night. They do not interfere with us and we do not interfere with them. Is that not a convenient arrangement?

In the Twenty-five Historical Tales there is a story about a scholar named Ch'ien-li Yuan. 

Even though Ch'ien-li Yuan had read many books and written many poems, he still did not believe in ghosts. Late one night, a very refined and scholarly gentleman visited Yuan Ch'ien-li. The visitor was a stranger, but he spoke very well and the two men soon fell to talking about all sorts of things. Eventually, their conversation turned to the subject of ghosts. Ch'ien-li Yuan was forceful in his denial of the existence of ghosts. 

He said, "Humbug! I do not believe in ghosts. How can someone like you be as superstitious as fishmongers and country folks?"

Tactfully, his guest gave repeated examples to persuade Yuan that ghosts did exist, but Yuan continued to deny even the possibility of their existence. "Until I actually see one with my own eyes, I will never believe in ghosts," he said.

At this, his guest's demeanor changed dramatically. "Sages and scholars throughout the ages have believed in ghosts, but you maintain they do not exist. Well, watch this... because I am a ghost."

Suddenly the guest's face began to change into a hideous ghost face with wild hair and blazing eyes. Yuan was so frightened that he lost all color in his face and became ill. Within a year he was dead.

I do not know whether any of you believe this story or not. You can test yourselves. If a lone scholar in a white robe visits you in the middle of the night, will you dare to talk to him? 

What if a shy young woman with a pale face comes to your door at midnight, will you let her in?

Many people have the mistaken belief that after death, everyone turns into a ghost. Dead bodies frighten many people because they believe the ghost of the body will attach itself to them if they draw too near. When parents pass away, many Chinese have memorial services for the ghosts of the deceased. They think their deceased parents and grandparents are ghosts wandering in hell, and if they do not appease them with ceremonies and gifts, they are not fulfilling their duties as filial sons and daughters. However, is this really a respectful attitude when you think about it? Why do people not believe their ancestors may be reborn in heaven or the Pure Land instead?

Though Buddhism recognizes the existence of ghosts, Buddhism does not teach us that everyone turns into a ghost at death, nor does everyone go to hell. After death, some people may go to heaven and still others are quickly reborn as human beings. A person has to generate a lot of bad karma in this life to become a ghost after death. Therefore, how can we assume that all our deceased ancestors have become ghosts? 

Furthermore, the real ghosts do not always have the power to harm us, and they are not nearly as scary or as evil as is commonly believed. Let us discuss what ghosts are like.

cont……

Source

www.blia.org

http://tibetanbuddhistencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/A_discussion_on_Ghosts

Categories: Buddhist TermsGhosts

2 August 2023

Ajahn Jayasāro

:: Ajahn Jayasāro ::

In the Thai Forest Tradition, teachers tend to avoid using technical terms and try to teach the Dhamma in simple down-to-earth language. 

They sometimes adopt an everyday word or phrase to encapsulate a key teaching in a fresh way. They use it continually for a certain period, and when it becomes stale they find a new one.

In the last years of his teaching career, Ajahn Cha was very fond of the word ‘my nae’ (ไม่แน่). The literal meaning of this word is ‘not sure’. 

Applied to future events it might be rendered as ‘maybe/maybe not.’ 

Applied to present experience it points to the inherent instability of conditioned phenomena.

By emphasizing the unpredictability of all things, inner and outer, Ajahn Cha introduced a new perspective on the contemplation of impermanence, one that included reference to the other two universal characteristics. All things that arise pass away, and exactly how and when they do so is inherently unpredictable. It is ‘my nae’. There is no guiding deity in control of existence, only a vast, unimaginably complex web of causes and conditions. No constituent of that web can provide a sure refuge. The simple phrase ‘my nae’ includes wishing itself aniccā, dukkha and anattā.

~ Ajahn Jayasāro

1 August 2023

#AjahnJayasaro #YellowPagesTeaching 

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“Buddhism is a science of the mind.”

The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

13 August 2023

“Buddhism is a science of the mind.”

“Buddhism is a science of the mind. It is based on the principle of cause and effect—a relationship which can be proven and the Buddha was the first person to do so. 

We are all made up of the mind and the body; they are like twins. However, the mind is eternal, whereas the body is temporary. The mind passes through a succession of previous lives and takes possession of the body at conception. After the cessation of the body, the mind goes on to another body. It is as simple as that.

On one level, all religions are similar: they all teach you to do good and abstain from harming others; their teachings are based on the relation between cause and effect. Happiness or positive feelings arise from doing good deeds. 

Suffering or negative feelings arise from doing bad deeds.

There are three principal actions: mental action, verbal action, and physical action. The results of these actions all come back to the mind, which is the primary actor. The mouth and the body are secondary actors. To restrain them, we need to have a ‘braking system’.

This so-called braking system is ‘mindfulness’. 

With mindfulness, we’ll be aware whether our thoughts are wholesome or not. Unwholesome thoughts only harm oneself. But sometimes we do not know what is bad for us, because we’re deluded—like when we take drugs, and so we need the truth to cure our delusion.

We have to learn the truth from people who have already discerned the truth, such as the Buddha and his noble disciples. People who have yet to penetrate the truth will have to learn from those who already have. The knowledge we gain from university (i.e., academic studies) does not teach us what is good and what is bad; such knowledge only deludes us.”

“Essential Teachings”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

Latest Dhamma talks on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

23 January 2024

Student: Yesterday I attended the funeral of a friend and I felt a little bit sad. In my memory of him, he was a cheerful and kind person so that’s why I felt sad. From the eulogy that I heard, he most likely would be supported with a better condition in his next life with all his good deeds he had done. 

Than Ajahn:  Your reaction on how you feel whether it’s sad, happy or neutral is more important. I think it would be better if you take it as a case study when you see a dead body, meaning that his body and your body are similar and one day you will be in the same position as his body so that you can then prepare your mind for the happening when it comes. 

If you prepare your mind, then your mind will not be hurt. Your mind can absorb it peacefully if you accept that this is the truth that will happen to everybody because it’s anicca (impermanent), it’s anattā (something you can’t control). The body is not you. 

You are not the body. You are the user of the body so you shouldn’t feel sad because you are not the one who die. The one who dies is the body and the body doesn't know that it dies. 

The body is like a tree, a doll or a mannequin.

So this is the way to teach your mind to have the right perception of the body so that when things happen to your body you should not feel hurt, you should not be sad or stressful. 

You should just say, ‘Hey, it's not me! and it's natural! 

This thing happens to everybody! It's just a matter when.’ 

Then your perception toward people will change. Every time when you see a person, you’d say, ‘He/she is going to die.’ So what’s the point of getting excited or upset. You cannot change this anyway, right? You cannot stop people from dying. The Buddha said that once you’re born, you’re subjected to death. So you should use the real life example when you see a dead person. It has a stronger impact on your mind than thinking about death without a dead body. So it's good to go to funeral so that you can see the real thing rather than contemplating on death and not seeing the real thing.

If you are a meditator, you should use this as a reminder that this is how life will end, everybody will end in death. 

So keep reminding yourself this, it will change your perspective of life from being permanent to being impermanent, and it will stop your mind from resisting the truth. The stress or suffering is caused by the mind resistance to the truth, not accepting the truth. But when you see the truth in front of your eyes and say, ‘How can I resist [this truth]’ then your mind will eventually accept the truth. When it accepts the truth, when death happens, it will not cause any suffering to the mind. So this is the goal of going to the funeral. 

The goal of going to a funeral is not to worry about how good the person who died was, or worry about his past actions, that’s not our business. Our business is to use that corpse to teach us the Dhamma, teach us the truth, to give us enlightenment. This is what we call ‘seeing the Dhamma, seeing the Truth’. 

Normally people don’t like to go see dead body because the defilements try to keep us from seeing the truth, the defilements want us to forget about death so we can enjoy life doing what the defilement wants us to do. So once you see death, you’ll find that, ‘What’s the purpose of doing what the defilement wants you to do?’ 

Because regardless of what you do, eventually you’ll end up in death and everything that you did before that wouldn’t mean anything. So you’ll have less attachment to life, less clinging to life, because there’s no purpose in clinging to them anymore. 

Before you see that truth, you have a purpose of finding happiness from things in this world, from sensual objects, but once you see death, this passion for sensual pleasure will diminish or even eliminated entirely. 

Once you don’t have passion for life, when you die, you don’t suffer. It’s the passion for living that cause you to have the suffering because you want to live but you are facing with the truth that you can’t live forever.

So keep reminding yourself that death is imminent. It can come any time. So you can change your priority and do something that is beneficial for your mind, not for your defilement, which is to practice more meditation to calm your mind, to make your mind peaceful and have equanimity so it doesn’t react emotionally to anything that happens or disappear. 

It's your defilement that makes you feel sad because you want to live but you know that you can’t go against the truth. The truth is you will die. If you accept the truth then you will not feel sad especially if you know that the body is not you, you are the user of the body. 

You are like the driver of the automobile. You are the driver of the body, you drive the body around, tell the body what to do. But you know whatever happens to your body doesn't happen to you (the driver), the user of the body. 

So this is what you want to keep reminding yourself: separating your mind from the body, and accept whatever happens to the body. If you cannot do anything about it then you will have to accept it. If you can still look after it, you can look after it, but if you can’t do anything when it gets sick, then you just have to accept it. 

Acceptance will make your mind peaceful and calm and not hurting.

“Dhamma in English, May 2, 2023.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

The teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

The teachings of Ajahn Suchart.

3 August 2023

Student:  Ajahn taught us that if we want to see defilements, we have to meditate and let the mind calm down then we’ll be able to see the defilements.  

Than Ajahn:  You can see some defilements. 

But to see the more subtle ones, you have to have a calmer mind to be able to see them. 

Normally you can see the big ones. 

The big ones are easy to see like when you get angry, when you crave for something, when you want to do something badly—these are all defilements whether you know it or not. 

But to know more subtle ones like the fetters then you might have to have samādhi first before you are able to see them. The suffering you have with your body for instance, you don’t know this is the defilement that is causing you to have this suffering with your body. Worry about your body when it's getting old, whether it’s going to get sick or not, or when it’s going to die and so forth. This is something you normally can’t see. 

You have to have samādhi then you know that this kind of feeling, this kind of thinking are not good, they are defilements. You have to stop them. 

And the way to stop them is to accept reality, accept the truth that this body is gonna die whether you are worried about it or not. 

See, you don’t want to accept the reality so you keep worrying. You only die once but you worry about it one hundred thousand times. 

That's because you don't accept reality. If you just accept reality once then there won't be any worries anymore. 

But you don't know that worry is dukkha. To you, worry is good so you have to keep on worrying. That’s why people like to worry because they think it’s good for them but they don’t know that this is causing them dukkha without them knowing it. 

But if you have samādhi then you'll know, ‘Ah! this is bad for the mind.’ It agitates the mind, it destroys the calm of the mind, so you have to get rid of this worry, anxiety, and fear because they are all dukkha. But they are all the more subtle defilements. 

Student:  What does Than Ajahn mean that we think worry is good for us?

Than Ajahn:  Because you keep on worrying. 

If it’s not good for you, why do you worry?

Student:  Oh! Because we think it’s good for us that’s why we keep on worrying.

Than Ajahn:  That’s right. If you know that it’s bad for you then you stop worrying right? Simple logic!

Student:  Yeah! I didn’t think that way. 

Than Ajahn:  If you keep something, that means it’s good for you. If you know that it’s bad for you, you’ll get rid of it right? But you don’t see it. If you have no samādhi, you won’t be able to see that worry is bad for you, bad for your mind. 

Because when you worry, you worry about your body, you see. And you think by worrying about your body, it will remind you to keep taking care of the body, so you keep worrying. 

This is bad for the mind. It might be good for the body because if you worry about the body then you have to scrutinise more about how to look after the body right? That’s why people keep on worrying because they think it’s good for them. 

But if you have samādhi, you know that it's bad for you because it will destroy your samādhi, it will destroy your upekkhā, your peace, your happiness. Your samādhi will be gone once you start worrying. 

- - - - -

Student 2:  Ajahn was talking about subtle forms of fear and anxiety. How do we recognize this is happening and deal with it appropriately?

Than Ajahn:  You don't know. You can’t. Sometimes you just feel bad and you don't know why. Someday you get up in the morning and suddenly you feel bad and you don't know what causing it. Because you don’t have enough scrutiny of your mind. You don't have a telescope to see the germs and the more subtle things in your mind so you need to have samādhi first. 

Samādhi is like having a microscope so you can look at all the microbes that you normally won't be able to see with your own eyes. 

Sometimes you just feel bad, right? And you don't know why, right? Sometimes you just have some anxiety or some worry deep inside you and you don’t even know why. 

But you worry about something all the time sometimes and sometimes you just don't know why because you never look inside the mind. 

You keep worrying about things around you and this is the one that's causing the stress. The one that’s causing the stress is not the things around you but your worry about the things around you because you don't understand the nature of the things around you. They are all work of nature, they are all anattā, they are something that you can’t control all the time. 

If you can just accept things around you for what they are then there will be no worry, no anxiety. But you still want to control things, right? You want to control all things because you thought by controlling them, it will make you happy. And then when you could not control them, they fire back at you causing you anxiety, worry and fear and so forth. 

If we can just accept reality as it is then there will be no fear, no anxiety because everything is anattā, everything is work of nature. Okay?

Student 2:  Okay, very clear. Thank you.

Than Ajahn:  So you need to practice samādhi first. If you have samādhi then when anything happens in your mind, you can see it right away. 

Because now without samādhi, you don't look at your mind, you keep looking outside. Your defilements keep pushing your mind to go look outside and be concerned about things outside, not knowing that the one that’s causing the concern is inside. Your defilement.

But if you practice samādhi or mindfulness, you're pulling the mind inside. You're pulling your mind away from sensual objects and you start to see how the mind works. So practice samādhi first. Practice mindfulness first before you can have samādhi. 

Okay?

Student 2:  Thank you Than Ajahn. 

“Dhamma in English, Jan 3, 2023.”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g 

- - - - -

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

16 January 2024

Q:  I've been getting frustrated with my inability to resist my cravings of the sugar-coated poison. Should we have expectations of ourselves?  Does it help?

Than Ajahn:  Well, you should try to do the easier part first, give up whichever craving that you can give up first. Do the easy one first then once you see the benefits from giving up your craving, you feel much better, then you’ll be more inspired to give up the harder ones. Just one at a time. Don’t take everything at the same time because it will be overwhelming. 

Like if you are addicted to cigarette, then let’s try to stop smoking the cigarettes. If you are addicted to drinking, try to stop drinking. 

Choose one or the other. Don’t do both, it’ll be too much.

Student:  Mine would be chocolate and shopping. 

Than Ajahn: (laugh) okay, you can reduce it to half, then another half. 

Q:  It’s about equanimity, isn’t it? 

Because we use them to make us feel better.

Than Ajahn:  Equanimity will help you feel better, not to feel bad when you withdraw from your craving. But you have to do both, you have to practice meditation and you also have to give up your temptation. You can do it slowly but it really depends on your strength, sometimes you can do a lot, who knows? Your strength depends on your equanimity. The stronger your equanimity is, the easier for you to give up your craving. 

Student:  There is a disparity in knowing what to do and being able to do it.

Than Ajahn:  Well, you won’t know until you try it. Set up a goal of something that you want to give up and then try to do it. It’s like the New Year resolution, whether you keep up with your resolution or not that’s another question.

You have to see that there’s poison in those things that you go after. They are coated by sugar. Everything is like sugar-coated-poison.  

But we don’t see the poison, we only see the sugar that coating it.  It’s easy to say but it’s hard to do. Maybe you also need to isolate yourself, go somewhere where you can’t get what you used to have then it might be easier because there won’t be any temptation around to tempt you. That’s why people go to meditation retreat so they can’t do what they would normally do if they are practicing at home. After a few days, you might be able to kick the habit. Try it. Pick something. One at a time. 

Student:  Like you said, once you've done one little thing it makes you happy and calm and able to do more. 

Than Ajahn:  In order to be able to do it permanently you have to look at them with wisdom. They are all anicca, anattā. They will cause you dukkha if you don’t deal with them. 

They are sugar-coated-poison. 

Everything is sugar-coated poison.

Student:  And pointless quite often. Well, this is our journey.

Than Ajahn:  Yeah. Do it. It’s the best journey because what we get is liberation from our temptation. We can be free from all temptation. 

Just imagine: nothing to go after anymore, no coffee, no cigarettes, no movies, nothing. Just sit and be happy. What more do you want, right?

Student:  so many of these entertainments disturb our minds and we think we have no time [to practice] but we have loads of time, we just waste it. Thank you.

Than Ajahn:  That’s right. Let me know how do you do with that.

“Dhamma in English, Apr 18, 2023.”

- - - - -

Question: Does the desire disappear because we are resisting it or because we use paññā to eliminate it?

Tan Ajahn: When you resist your desire without knowing the reason why you resist it, you will not be able to eliminate your desire entirely or permanently. You have to see that your desire does not bring you happiness but suffering. 

It is like when you have the desire to take drugs. You have to see that taking drugs does not bring you true happiness, but it will surely bring you immense suffering. When you can see that, then you will stop. When you resist it, you might resist it from time to time, but when your resistance is low, you might not be able to resist it again. 

So, you have to see the cause and effect of your actions following your desire that will not take you to contentment but only to more desire, eventually killing you if you take drugs. 

And then it will take you to a new birth to suffer more aging, sickness, and death. You have to see the cause and effect of following your desire and not following your desire. 

It is like taking poison; if you know that what you are taking is poison, will you take it? 

Everything that we take, every single thing that we desire, is poison, but the problem is we don’t see the suffering that ensues. We only see or remember the transitory happiness that follows. When we buy something, we are happy for a spell, but we don’t see the suffering that follows when we run out of money and when we want to buy more things but cannot buy them.

“Dhamma for the Asking, Dec 9, 2014”

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto

www.phrasuchart.com

YouTube:  Dhamma in English.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi_BnRZmNgECsJGS31F495g

“Buddhas Dumbest Student”

 “Buddhas Dumbest Student”

This student would come to every lecture, but in personal interview he would show no progress.  The Buddha would never lose patience because as a teacher it was his duty to utilize any and all methods to reach a student.  However, this student proved to be quite a challenge. 

Most teachers would have become frustrated and would have given up on this “stupid” student.  What is the point on spending so much time “dumbing down” lessons for someone who obviously lacks the intelligence to understand?  Like everything else in Buddhism – the surface observation is usually not the right one! 

After many attempts, Shakyamuni eventually tells the “dumbest” student to stop coming to lectures and to simply sweep out the temple.  At this, the monk states, “I can do that!”  So every day the “slowest” monk dutifully and carefully sweeps out the temple while all the “smart” monks are in listening to the master.  

At this point, we should start thinking that there is a message here about masters and students!!  First, this “stupid” monk never gave up and became disgusted.  That is something!  Second, he had absolute faith in the master.  

The master said sweep and he swept.  Would we have such faith in our teachers today? 

Would we have become insulted if the master said that we should not come to the seminar – and even worse, we should be some servile janitor and clean out the temple?   Lastly, think about teachers today – would they “think outside the box” and try unconventional ideas to help a “different” type of student.  

How do you teach what cannot be taught or even put into words?

So what happened?  One day our “slow” student suddenly realized that there was no more dust left in the temple to sweep!  BANG!  Instant enlightenment – with a broom no less!  

Why?  What happened?  This is Zen – that very moment is everything!  Dusting when there is no dust.   – Cleaning bowls which are already clean –  Your face before you were born!  

The dumbest person in the room realized it while all the “geniuses” in the lecture hall continued to read books and hear lectures, but never got anywhere! 

The story continues that the master understood that Hui Neng was the most accomplished, but was afraid to announce it to all the rest of the monks as there would have been an uproar (a bit of classism from our zen monks – if you ask me!)  As such, the master called Hui Neng at night and secretly transmitted to him and then sent him away to teach elsewhere.

Finally, there is a famous saying in Zen that if you meet the Buddha on the road – you should kill him.   

Here Tesshin was reminding us with the parable of the “slow” monk that realization cannot be intellectually understood or learned – it must be “rediscovered” and experienced personally.  Even a teacher like Shakyamuni can only point at “it” –  he cannot teach it.  This is why Zen emphasizes time on the cushion and living moment to moment.  

Yes!  It is possible to gain enlightenment by everyday activities.  Shakyamuni understood this and it is why he lovingly told the monk to sweep – he understood that the books and lectures were a distraction.  

Tesshin wanted us to hear that message today and remind us that enlightenment is not a function of intellect –  it is a function of realization. We all have this ability to realize as we are all human and sentient.  All that is needed is focus, hard work and faith.

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31 July 2023