Dear Kalyanamittas,
Below are the outline short notes and audio links to our last Thursday class (6th Sept 2018) recording for sharing by all.
https://broteoh.com/wp-content/uploads/Short-Notes-Teoh-Thu-180906.pdf
Dearest Soo Yee,
Thanks for the rather good suggestions and I had revised them as per attachment.
Brother Teoh’s 6 September 2018 Thursday Talk outline Short Notes
The Application of the 4 Noble Truths (as taught by the Buddha) to help resolve all our Lives situations and ‘problems’ amicably with wisdom:
- Meditation is not apart from life. To be able to be at peace at all times requires wisdom and understanding of the way things are or how they unfolding according to nature’s conditions.
– With wisdom and understanding, we can avoid the mental conditions that bring about suffering.
2. Master Hsu Yun finally came to understand that the true cultivation of the Buddha Dharma is to be developed via mindfulness to realize the true mind – via 明心见性(míng xīn jiàn xìng) leading to the understanding that dharma is not apart from life and it should finally lead one to the cultivation of virtues and wisdom via mindfulness. For virtues strengthen our karmic nature and wisdom liberates our mind from all suffering. These will enable us to live the noble life of an enlightened being with the following 4 great conducts as taught by the Buddha: I) of good conduct; ii) of upright conduct; iii) of wisdom conduct and iv) of dutiful conduct is the order of the noble disciples of the Buddha.
3. Master Hsu Yun’s initial cultivation has good conduct and upright conduct but he lack wise and dutiful conducts hence the reason why he had initially neglected his worldly duty (of his form and mind) by not having the understanding to take care of his age old parent and 2 wives that he married. He failed to understand that the form and mind is subject to karma hence the need to fulfil his life responsibilities first. His life’s story tells about his this initial neglect. He initially deviated from his cultivation via focusing just on concentration (or samatha) meditation – leaning more towards meditative absorption and one-pointedness of mind states that lead him to experience great calmness and peacefulness of mind with psychic ability (while meditating in seclusion for 6 years in the mountain caves) and not insight via a silent mind which is free; that is he didn’t develop the daily mindfulness to cultivate the 4 foundation of mindfulness (Satipatthana practices) leading to wisdom and awakening. – Until finally, he realize his karmic repercussions of his behaviour and wrong practices after meeting up with a wise noble (enlightened) being who advice him accordingly. He then realized the importance of having right duty, right speech, right action, and right livelihood and that the real Dharma is in the midst of life and society. That was the reason why after that he determined to endure the strenuous pilgrimage journey of doing the ‘3 steps one bow’ to walk from Mount Puto (Putosan) to Mount Wutai (Wutaishan) to fulfil his deep and arduous vow to repay the debt to his parents. “According to records, he decided to go on a “three steps, one bow” style of pilgrimage, partly to repay the debt to his parents. He started off from the island Putuo Shan near the city of Ningbo and went to Wutai Shan, near the city of Datong. Reciting the name of the bodhisattva Manjushri with each prostration as he went, it took him three long years. After that, he walked across China and into Tibet, India and Burma, before returning to China in 1890.
4. “Without wisdom, if you touch psychic… – It will NOT lead to peace and insight, instead..
– It will bring about deviation, possible harm, misery, more conflict and suffering – leading the cultivator astray.
5. Sis Tammy asked questions about human behaviour; citing a recent rift in relationship with her office colleague.
6. Brother Teoh advise her to apply the4 noble truthsteaching (which is liken to the understanding of the secret of life) to solve her problem amicably via the dharma way.
– Being with people you dislike and not having things your way are explained in the first noble truth, as being part of the harsh realities every living being will inevitably experience (and consequently having to choose how to respond to these situations) if they live long enough. When you are confronted with these realities, contemplate and reflect on the 5 aggregates of form and mind (final summary of the first noble truth). This will unravel the root cause of suffering which is craving borne of delusion within yourself (2nd Noble Truth); allowing you to finally understand your mind and realize or ‘see’ your self-nature. Realize that suffering need not be when there is wisdom (3rd Noble Truth), then through the application of the Noble 8 Fold Path (4th Noble Truth); Example through right view leading to right thoughts, right communication (or speeches) and right actions etc. to resolve situations amicably.
- Whatever thought that does not give rise to karmic negativities like fear, worry, anxiety and sadness, sorrow and lamentation etc. are all right thought. Thoughts that bring about love, wholesomeness, goodness, kindness, gentleness, understanding, harmony, contentment; generosity and respect etc. are all right thoughts.
- Wrong thoughts are thoughts that conditioned the evil roots of Greed, Hatred and Delusion leading to negativities of karma and suffering. Thoughts that conditioned yourfear, worries and anxiety, sorrow and lamentation, etc. (when you recall your phobias, scars of memories, fearful experiences, lustful thoughts, etc.)
- Brother Teoh developed the below flow chart pointers to help Sister Tammy understand how to apply the Noble 8-fold path to help her resolve her problem amicably:
Human relationship —> I) Right Communication –> ii) Human Behaviours —-> iii) Any karmic implication (or how it is going to manifest in terms of karma) —> iv) How to apply the Dharma in such situation to resolve issues amicably via noble 8-fold path instead of reacting and arguments. For more details please do listen to the recording.
7. Human beings are just the way they are, and the world is the world and when conditions are such things will be such or the way it isso we need wisdom to accept all these truths via understanding to stay peaceful otherwise if we wants things our way which is not nature’s way then suffering will arise. That is we cannot be rigid in our ways of treating others and we need to understand their habitual tendencies and behaviours borne of the 3 evil roots. (Above outline short notes draft was prepared by Sister Soo Yee)
Bye! and with metta always,
Teoh
https://broteoh.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Teoh-Thu-180906.mp3
 |
www.dropbox.com
Shared with Dropbox
|
|