20110521 eightfold path and meditation2
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20110521 eightfold path and meditation2
- 1. Buddhist Association of Canada Cham Shan Temple 加拿大佛教會 湛山精舍 禪修學佛入門 Introduction to Buddhism and Meditation 2011/05/21
- 2. Buddhist Association of Canada Cham Shan Temple ná mó fó tuó 南 無 佛 陀 Namo Buddha ná mó dá mó 南 無 達 摩 Namo Dharma ná mó sēng qié 南 無 僧 伽 Namo Sangha
- 3. Meditation禪修 Towards a Liberated and Enlightened Life 煩惱輕智慧長
- 4. The Basic Method of Cessation-Contemplation Practice Sit in a relaxed and upright posture, with straight spine, open chest, hands resting naturally on the thighs with thumbs touching each other. To take such a posture already expresses the genuine dignity of being human. To remain in that posture during the ups and downs of our thought and emotional processes expresses the fundamental confidence of trusting in unconditional goodness. The eyes are open [or closed] with soft gaze, slightly down, and we take the same attitude to the other senses—open but not fixed or harshly string to experience something.
- 5. The Basic Method of Cessation-Contemplation Practice As we sit there, we allow our minds to identify with the outgoing breath, to go out with it, and then to return to be attentive to the posture as the breath comes in. As thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations begin to pop up, we note them and let them be as they are, not trying to push them away, or holding onto them and indulging them. We begin to become mindful of the precise details of our thought and perceptual processes and also aware of the relationship between them. A thought or feeling arises, and then it goes away. Where it arises from and whence it goes, who can say? But occasionally we might catch a glimpse of non-thought, of open mind. A glimpse can be tremendously refreshing. It is such a relief to realize that we can afford to let go of our conceptualizing process altogether.
- 6. The Basic Method of Cessation-Contemplation Practice The meditative practice of watching thoughts without getting involved in them works like a hotel manager who just stands there watching the guests come and go in his hotel without himself participating in all the hustle, bustle and chatter. For a hotel manager who just stands there and watches, after a while all the guests eventually depart the hotel and it becomes empty and quiet. All he does is just stand there and observe the situation without saying a word and soon the lobby quiets down.
- 7. The Basic Method of Cessation-Contemplation Practice It's also like a mother who watches her children use up all their energy playing and running here and there, but who remains unruffled and unconcerned until the children eventually tire, lie down and fall asleep. In other words, if you just practice awareness and watch your thoughts, eventually they will die down all by themselves. You don’t have to do anything except watch them. The mental state of clarity you then start to uncover can be described as a quiet field of peacefulness along with awareness.
- 8. The Basic Method of Cessation-Contemplation Practice When your mind empties through this practice of watching, your vital energies (called “chi” by the Chinese) will begin to rise in your body and enter your head. That stream of ascending and refreshing chi energy will silently pour into your brain to quiet your thoughts just as a stream of clear water that enters a muddy pond will soon push the pollutants away as well.
- 9. The Basic Method of Cessation-Contemplation Practice All you have to do to let it happen is just let go of your thoughts and rest your mind. Then it will happen all by itself. The practice of watching enables you to eventually LET GO of thoughts (you actually hold onto them without knowing so meditation is basically the act of breaking this habit) so that this happens naturally.
- 10. Four Eons 四劫 The four eons of a world; the periodical gradual destruction of a universe: (1) 成劫 eon of formation; (2) 住劫 eon of existing; (3) 壞劫 eon of destruction, (4) 空劫 eon of nothingness.
- 11. EON An eon is the period of time it takes for a universe to come into being and then disintegrate again. But the point is that at the same time one is progressing on this path, one has great loving kindness and compassion for others and is doing wonderful things to benefit others.It is explained that it takes a very long time to progress along the Mahayana path but the fact is time does not really exist; it is not real. There is no such thing as time. In fact, a short period of time and a long period of time are fundamentally the same. They are just like time in a dream. In a dream it does not matter if you think it is a long time or a short time. When you are enjoying the moment, time is non-exist.
- 13. 2. BhavangaCalana, Vibrating Bhavanga
- 14. 3. Bhavanga-upaccheda, Arrest Bhavanga
- 15. 4. Dvāra-vajjana, Sense-door Consciousness
- 16. 5. PañcaViññāna, Sense Consciousness
- 17. 6. Sampatticchana, Receiving Consciousness
- 18. 7. Santīrana, Investigating Consciousness
- 19. 8. Votthapana, Determining Consciousness
- 20. 9. -15. Javana, Impulsion
- 21. 16. Tadālambana or tadārammana (That Object)
- 23. b. moral sampaticchana (moral receiving) and
- 25. "A certain man with his head covered went to sleep at the foot of a fruiting mango tree. Then a ripe mango loosened from the stalk fell to the ground, grazing his ear. Awakened by that sound, he opened his eyes and looked; then stretching out his hand he took the fruit, squeezed it, smelled it, and ate it.Herein, the time of his sleeping at the foot of the mango tree is as when we are subconsciously alive (bhavanga-sota). The instant of the ripe mango falling from its stalk and grazing his ear is like the instant of the object striking the sentient organism (bhavanga-calana). The time of awaking through the sound is like that of adverting by the five sense-doors agitating the subconscious life continuum (pañca-dvāravajjana). The time of the man’s opening his eyes and looking is like that of accomplishing the function of seeing through visual cognition (cakkhu-viññāna). The time of stretching out his hand and taking the mango is as that of the resultant mind element receiving the object (sampaticchana). The time of taking it and squeezing it is as that of the resultant element of mind-cognition examining the object(santīrana). The time of smelling it is as that of the inoperative element of mind-cognition determining the object (votthapana). The time of eating is as that of apperception (javana); Tadālambana isenjoying the taste of the object."
- 26. The Noble Eightfold Path
- 27. THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS The Noble Truth of Suffering The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering The Noble Truth of the Way to the Cessation of Suffering
- 28. Three QualitiesEightfold Path Wisdom 1. Right View Sanskrit: prajñā, Pāli: paññā 2. Right Intention Ethical Conduct 3. Right Speech Sanskrit: śīla, Pāli: sīla 4. Right Action 5. Right Livelihood Meditation 6. Right Effort Sanskrit and Pāli: samādhi 7. Right Mindfulness 8. Right Concentration
- 30. Understanding the law of karma and its fruits. This means recognizing that we are responsible for our intentional actions.
- 32. The intention of benevolence, the kindly wish for other beings to be well and happy
- 34. Abstinence from divisive speech, instead speaking words that encourages harmony
- 35. Abstinence from harsh speech and speaking gently
- 37. Abstinence from stealing, and observing honesty
- 41. Mindfulness is presence of mind, attentiveness or awareness.
- 43. Leads to the four stages of Dhyana(Jhana).
- 44. i) The First Dhyana (Delight)
- 45. ii) The Second Dhyana (Joy)
- 46. iii) The Third Dhyana (Peace)
- 48. The Noble Eightfold Path
- 49. The Way to End Suffering The Noble Eightfold Path describes the way to the end of suffering, as it was laid out by Siddhartha Gautama. It is a practical guideline to ethical and mental development with the goal of freeing the individual from attachments and delusions; and it finally leads to understanding the truth about all things. Together with the Four Noble Truths it constitutes the gist of Buddhism. Great emphasis is put on the practical aspect, because it is only through practice that one can attain a higher level of existence and finally reach Nirvana. The eight aspects of the path are not to be understood as a sequence of single steps, instead they are highly interdependent principles that have to be seen in relationship with each other.
- 50. 1. Right View Right view is the beginning and the end of the path, it simply means to see and to understand things as they really are and to realise the Four Noble Truth. As such, right view is the cognitive aspect of wisdom. It means to see things through, to grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature of worldly objects and ideas, and to understand the law of karma and karmic conditioning. Right view is not necessarily an intellectual capacity, just as wisdom is not just a matter of intelligence. Instead, right view is attained, sustained, and enhanced through all capacities of mind. It begins with the intuitive insight that all beings are subject to suffering and it ends with complete understanding of the true nature of all things. Since our view of the world forms our thoughts and our actions, right view yields right thoughts and right actions.
- 51. 2. Right Intention While right view refers to the cognitive aspect of wisdom, right intention refers to the volitional aspect, i.e. the kind of mental energy that controls our actions. Right intention can be described best as commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement. Buddha distinguishes three types of right intentions: the intention of renunciation, which means resistance to the pull of desire, the intention of good will, meaning resistance to feelings of anger and aversion, and the intention of harmlessness, meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop compassion.
- 52. 3. Right Speech Right speech is the first principle of ethical conduct in the eightfold path. Ethical conduct is viewed as a guideline to moral discipline, which supports the other principles of the path. This aspect is not self-sufficient, however, essential, because mental purification can only be achieved through the cultivation of ethical conduct. The importance of speech in the context of Buddhist ethics is obvious: words can break or save lives, make enemies or friends, start war or create peace. Buddha explained right speech as follows: 1. to abstain from false speech, especially not to tell deliberate lies and not to speak deceitfully, 2. to abstain from slanderous speech and not to use words maliciously against others, 3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others, and 4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth. Positively phrased, this means to tell the truth, to speak friendly, warm, and gently and to talk only when necessary.
- 53. 4. Right Action The second ethical principle, right action, involves the body as natural means of expression, as it refers to deeds that involve bodily actions. Unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind, while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind. Again, the principle is explained in terms of abstinence: right action means 1. to abstain from harming sentient beings, especially to abstain from taking life (including suicide) and doing harm intentionally or delinquently, 2. to abstain from taking what isnot given, which includes stealing, robbery, fraud, deceitfulness, and dishonesty, and 3. to abstain from sexual misconduct. Positively formulated, right action means to act kindly and compassionately, to be honest, to respect the belongings of others, and to keep sexual relationships harmless to others. Further details regarding the concrete meaning of right action can be found in the Precepts.
- 54. 5. Right Livelihood Right livelihood means that one should earn one's living in a righteous way and that wealth should be gained legally and peacefully. The Buddha mentions four specific activities that harm other beings and that one should avoid for this reason: 1. dealing in weapons, 2. dealing in living beings (including raising animals for slaughter as well as slave trade and prostitution), 3. working in meat production and butchery, and 4. selling intoxicants and poisons, such as alcohol and drugs. Furthermore any other occupation that would violate the principles of right speech and right action should be avoided.
- 55. 6. Right Effort Right effort can be seen as a prerequisite for the other principles of the path. Without effort, which is in itself an act of will, nothing can be achieved, whereas misguided effort distracts the mind from its task, and confusion will be the consequence. Mental energy is the force behind right effort; it can occur in either wholesome or unwholesome states. The same type of energy that fuels desire, envy, aggression, and violence can on the other side fuel self-discipline, honesty, benevolence, and kindness. Right effort is detailed in four types of endeavours that rank in ascending order of perfection: 1. to prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome states, 2. to abandon unwholesome states that have already arisen, 3. to arouse wholesome states that have not yet arisen, and 4. to maintain and perfect wholesome states already arisen.
- 56. 7. Right Mindfulness Right mindfulness is the controlled and perfected faculty of cognition. It is the mental ability to see things as they are, with clear consciousness. Usually, the cognitive process begins with an impression induced by perception, or by a thought, but thenit does not stay with the mere impression. Instead, we almost always conceptualise sense impressions and thoughts immediately. We interpret them and set them in relation to other thoughts and experiences, which naturally go beyond the facticity of the original impression. The mind then posits concepts, joins concepts into constructs, and weaves those constructs into complex interpretative schemes. All this happens only half consciously, and as a result we often see things obscured. Right mindfulness is anchored in clear perception and it penetrates impressions without getting carried away. Right mindfulness enables us to be aware of the process of conceptualisation in a way that we actively observe and control the way our thoughts go. Buddha accounted for this as the four foundations of mindfulness: 1. contemplation of the body, 2. contemplation of feeling (repulsive, attractive, or neutral), 3. contemplation of the state of mind, and 4. contemplation of the phenomena.
- 57. 8. Right Concentration The eighth principle of the path, right concentration, refers to the development of a mental force that occurs in natural consciousness, although at a relatively low level of intensity, namely concentration. Concentration in this context is described as one-pointedness of mind, meaning a state where all mental faculties are unified and directed onto one particular object. Right concentration for the purpose of the eightfold path means wholesome concentration, i.e. concentration on wholesome thoughts and actions. The Buddhist method of choice to develop right concentration is through the practice of meditation. The meditating mind focuses on a selected object. It first directs itself onto it, then sustains concentration, and finally intensifies concentration step by step. Through this practice it becomes natural to apply elevated levels concentration also in everyday situations.
- 58. Basic Terms 5 aggregates (skandhas) 4 elements 6 sense organs, 6 sense objects, 6 sense consciousness 12 links of causation (nidāna) 4 noble truths 8 fold path 6 paramitas 4 persuasions 3 / 5 vehicles 10 realms
- 59. Basic Terms 10 Chinese schools Life story of the Buddha Buddhist History in India Buddhist History in China Practice
- 60. The Ten Schools of Chinese Buddhism: 1. Reality School or Kosa School or Abhidharma School.2. Satysiddhi School or Cheng-se School. 3. Three Sastra School or San-lun School.4. The Lotus School or T'ien-t'ai School 5. The Garland School or Hua-yen School or Avatamsaka School. 6. Intuitive School or Ch'an School or Dhyana School.7. Discipline School or Lu School or Vinaya School. 8. Esoteric School or Mi School or Mantra School.9. Dharmalaksana School or Wei-Shi School or Fa-siang School.10. Pure-land School or Sukhavati School or Ching-t'u School. 中国的佛教共分十宗，分别是：俱舍宗、成实宗、三论宗、天台宗、华严宗、唯识宗、律宗、禅宗、净土宗、密宗。
- 61. The following topics are for the upcoming Saturday Meditation Class: May 21 - Eight Fold path presented by Shirley Lew May 28 - Ten realms presented by Winnie Tsang June 4 - Ten Virtuous Actions by Brandilee June 11 - Heart Sutra Started by Shengguang Shi and 3/5 Vehicles
- 62. Questions and Comments 討論 www.ChamShanTemple.org www.shengguangshi.blogspot.com ShengguangShi@hotmail.com Shengguang Shi 釋聖光 Tom Cheung 張相棠 Kam Cheung 張仁勤 Dennis Yap 葉普智
Notes de l'éditeur
- The Noble Eightfold Path offers a comprehensive practical guide to the development of those wholesome qualities and skills in the human heart that must be cultivated in order to bring the practitioner to the final goal, the supreme freedom and happiness of Nibbana.
- The Fourth Noble Truth shows the Way leading to the Cessation of Dukka or suffering.This is also known as the ‘Middle Path’ because it avoids both extremes: one extreme being the search for happiness through pleasures of the senses, which is ‘low, common, not beneficial and way of the ordinary people’ and the other being forms of asceticism, which is ‘painful, unworthy and not beneficial.Having himself tried both extremes and having found them to be useless, the Buddha discovered through personal experience the Middle Path, ‘which gives vision and knowledge, which leads to Calm, Insight, Enlightenment, Nirvana. This Middle Path is generally referred to as the Noble Eightfold Path because it is composed of eight factors: Right view, Right Intention, Right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.This discussion of the Noble Eightfold Path brings us to the second major aspect of the Buddha’s teaching, the Path of Practice.
- Because suffering originates from craving, the purpose of treading the Buddhist path is to eliminate craving. This is not a forceful, ascetic regimen of repression and self-affliction, but a wholesome, hygienic training that gradually transforms one’s conduct, mental attitudes, and understanding – in short, the subjective quality of one’s entire life. The Noble Eightfold Path is sometimes divided into three basic divisions, as follows:Wisdom"Wisdom" (Prajñā / Paññā), sometimes translated as "discernment" or understanding at its preparatory role, provides the sense of direction with its conceptual understanding of reality. It is designed to awaken the faculty of penetrative understanding to see things as they really are. At a later stage, when the mind has been refined by training in moral discipline and concentration, and with the gradual arising of right knowledge, it will arrive at a superior right view and right intention.Morality or Ethical Conduct - For the mind to be unified in concentration, it is necessary to refrain from unwholesome deeds of body and speech to prevent the faculties of bodily action and speech from becoming tools of the defilements. Ethical conduct (Śīla / Sīla) is used primarily to facilitate mental purification.Meditation or Samādhi: mental discipline or concentrationSamadhi is literally translated as "concentration", it is achieved through training in the higher consciousness, which brings the calm and collectedness needed to develop true wisdom by direct experience by observing Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.
- Factor 1 of the path is Right View, which can also be translated as right perspective, right outlook or right understanding.The Buddha places this factor at the head of the path because in order to take up the practice of the Dhamma we must begin with a clear conceptual understanding of where we stand and where we are heading.This is like traveling from one city to another. If you want to drive from A to B, you must know the general direction of B and the roads that lead you to B. If you simply get in the car and drive in any direction you want, it is doubtful you will reach your destination. Far more likely, you will just get lost.Thus we begin the great journey towards enlightenment with right view. Right View has two levels, both of which are critical to following Buddha’s path to its end. The first is to understand the law of karma and its fruits. This means recognizing that we are responsible for our intentional actions, that good and bad deeds bring forth consequences that correspond to the ethical nature of those deeds, that our life does not end with death but continues on in other forms in which we reap the fruits of our good and bad deeds. The higher type of right view is understanding the four noble truths themselves. Understanding suffering, its origin, its cessation and the way leading to cessation, which is the Eightfold Path which will need to be developed.
- Right view naturally leads to Factor 2 of the path, Right Intention or right purpose.When we understand our existence in correct perspective our understanding modifies our volitional life, and we undergo a change in our purpose and motivation. The Buddha mentions three types of motivation that constitute right intention:The intention of renunciation, the wish to become free from sensuality and selfish desireThe intention of benevolence, the kindly wish for other beings to be well and happy The intention of harmlessness, the compassionate wish that other beings be free from pain and suffering on any living creature.These two factors, Right View and Right Intention are the forerunners of the training or practice, for they give direction to all the other factors to follow. The next three factors 3,4,5, go together as a set because they are all concerned with or ethical behaviouror morality, with correct behaviour.
- Factor 3 is Right Speech and that means…When one abstains from these forms of wrong and harmful speech one naturally has to speak the truth, has to use words that are friendly and benevolent, pleasant and gentle, meaningful and useful.One should not speak carelessly, speech should be at the right time and place. If one cannot say something useful, one should keep ‘noble silence’
- Factor 4 is Right Action that aims at promoting moral, honorable and peaceful conduct.It admonishes us that we should abstain from taking a life or killing, from stealing and dishonest dealings, from illegitimate sexual conduct.
- Factor 5 is Right Livelihood, which the Buddha explains as earning ones’ living by a righteous and honest occupation, one that does not bring harm or affliction to others. The Buddha specifically mentions five trades that lay disciple should avoid:Business in weapons: trading in all kinds of weapons and instruments for killing.Business in human beings: slave trading, prostitution or the buying and selling of children or adults.Business in meat: "meat" refers to the bodies of beings after they are killed. This includes breeding animals for slaughter.Business in intoxicants: manufacturing or selling intoxicating drinks or addictive drugs.Business in poison: producing or trading in any kind of toxic product designed to kill.
- Next comes Mental Discipline in meditation, in which are included three other factors of the Eightfold Path, (Factors No 6,7,8 on the list) No 6 is Right Effort - In this factor, the practitioners should make a persisting effort to abandon all the wrong and harmful thoughts, words, and deeds. The practitioner should instead be persisting in giving rise to what would be good and useful to themselves and others in their thoughts, words, and deeds, without a thought for the difficulty or weariness involved.
- Right mindfulness, "also translated as "right memory", "right awareness" or "right attention. Here, practitioners should constantly keep their minds alert to phenomena that affect the body and mind. They should be mindful and deliberate, making sure not to act or speak due to inattention or forgetfulness.Right mindfulness is cultivated through a practice called "the four foundations of mindfulness" the mindful contemplation of four objective spheres: the body, feelings, states of mind, and phenomena .Mindfulness is presence of mind, attentiveness or awareness. Yet the kind of awareness involved in mindfulness differs profoundly from the kind of awareness at work in our usual mode of consciousness. All consciousness involves awareness in the sense of a knowing or experiencing of an object. But with the practice of mindfulness awareness is applied at a special pitch. The mind is deliberately kept at the level of bare attention, a detached observation of what is happening within us and around us in the present moment. In the practice of right mindfulness the mind is trained to remain in the present, open, quiet, and alert, contemplating the present event. All judgments and interpretations have to be suspended, or if they occur, just registered and dropped. The task is simply to note whatever comes up just as it is occurring, riding the changes of events in the way a surfer rides the waves on the sea. The whole process is a way of coming back into the present, of standing in the here and now without slipping away, without getting swept away by the tides of distracting thoughts.
- Right Effort and Right Mindfulness function in unison to give rise to Factor 8, Right Concentration. The texts define right concentration as the four stages of jhana (Dhyana), deep meditative absorption, culminating in perfect one-pointedness of mind and unruffled equanimity.In the first stage of Dhyana, passionate desires and certain unwholesome thoughts like sensuous lust, ill-will l, languor, worry, restlessness, and sceptical doubt are discarded, and feelings of joy and happiness are maintained along with certain mental activities.In the 2nd stage of Dhyana, all intellectual activities are suppressed, tranquility and one-pointedness of mind dveloped and the feelings of joy and happiness are still retained.In the 3rd stage, the feeling of joy, which is an active sensation also disappears, while the disposition of happiness still remains in addition to mindful equanimity.In the 4th stage of Dhyana all sensations even of happiness and unhappiness of joy and sorry, disappear, only pure equanimity and awareness remaining. Equanimity: The quality of being calm and even- tempered; composure
- In closing, one may see that it is a way of life to be followed, practised and developed by each individual. It is self-discipline in body, word and mind, self development and self-purification. It has nothing to do with belief, prayer, worship or ceremony. It is a Path leading to the realization of Ultimate Reality, to complete freedom, happiness and peace of mind through moral, spiritual and intellectual perfection.This teaching includes not only a path of spiritual development for monks and nuns, but also a code of noble ideals to inspire and guide men and women living in the world. It includes as well a comprehensive program of social ethics with wide applications to family life, interpersonal relations, economics and politics.Buddhist tradition says that the Buddha’s teaching is designed to fulfil three types of good: the good pertaining to the present life, the good of future life, and the ultimate good. The first is welfare and happiness here and now, the second is a happy rebirth and the third is Nibbana, complete release from the round of rebirths.