Respectful fellow practitioners and Dharma protectors: Good evening! Amituofo.
Today,
we will continue to learn
how to understand Buddhism.
Because of the time
it's 8:30pm.
To be honest, it's a bit late.
So tonight's
Understanding Buddhism
will end at 9:10 at the latest,
so we should all
(treasure this shortened) opportunity
to absorb as much as we can.
I heard Dylan say that
the (translated script) is not completed yet,
because he didn’t have enough time.
He was given three sessions worth
of material yesterday. We can
take our time to get in depth to it.
In fact, the beginning of (that script)
is actually the continuation
from the last time.
We have stopped for two weeks.
I would like to apologize
to everyone.
Why do we
want to learn Buddhism,
to understand Buddhism?
We must understand why in this environment,
no matter what race you are, whatever
tribes or whatever lineage you have,
or countries,
I believe every one of us has
a sense of hope,
especially for modern people,
young people.
The era for young people (to practice)
is now and they all hope that they can be
successful in their career work,
not just the work side,
professional side,
also their personal life, also be happy,
without pain, without worries.
That's what we call living
a happy life.
A lot of people want to seek for this kind of 寶藏,
this kind of treasure, called a perfect,
beautiful life.
However,
this treasure already exists
in front of us.
And also this treasure in Buddhism.
It's all found in Buddhism,
or pointed out by Buddhism.
However, we are not aware of it.
This treasure is very clearly stated in Buddhism.
As long as you learn seriously, you will get it,
you will get the treasure.
We must understand that,
we must understand this point.
Everyone has the treasure,
but you need to
work hard to find it back.
In the past, that's why in Mr. O Yang Jingwu,
back in the nationalist China era,
in the early 1900s.
In the 20th century,
Buddhism was required,
not just as a choice,
but it's a necessity
for the people living
in his time 20 era(century)
and the 21st century is no exception, because
as a human, we have a lot of issues that need
to be resolved and seek help to be solved.
So this is
the use of Buddhism to us.
So we talked
about the terminologies and
we talked about enlightenment.
So we have learned about the first level
Right Awakening, so we're moving on
to the second level called 正覺,
Equally Perfect Enlightenment.
Equally Perfect Enlightenment.
Why do we need to learn an enlightenment
that is Equally Perfect to Buddha?
Why do we need to achieve this level?
It is because a person who has
Equally Perfect Enlightenment
has selflessness.
If using a very shallow way
to describe “me”,
like, who am I, the self,
the easiest way to understand it,
the shallowest way to see this is selfishness,
self interest, selfishness.
Today, why do we practice Buddhism for
an amount of time, but there is no effect.
Or the effect is minimal, very small.
Some people
even have more afflictions
after learning Buddhism,
the more they learn,
the more burden they feel,
the more unhappy they are,
because deep inside their heart,
there is still an “I”,
this false self is still there.
Deep inside, it’s still me, me, me,
and because of “I”,
if there is still “I”,
an illusion of self, we have all the afflictions
because of my happiness, because I'm sad,
because I don't get,
I need, I don't need, I love, I don't love,
I love, I hate,
there's a lot coming from this “I”.
That's why Buddha told us we need to use
the first step to gain enlightenment,
which is true freedom,
is to break through this illusion of “I”.
When you are sick,
you go to the doctor,
right?
So the same thing,
if your view is wrong, or
if you are lost, spiritually, in all respects,
you need a doctor
like Buddha, to solve it,
to help you by pointing out the solution.
We need to know that every one of us
has a disease, not just our body,
our heart as well.
Not just mental, like our heart,
because of the false view of self,
illusion of self,
because there is self, then if self cannot be
satisfied, if self cannot reach anything,
then it's not happy.
Therefore, the affliction begins.
Only a person who is selfless
can see things clearly.
They will
be able to discern the truth
from the falsehood.
It's a bit deep now,
because we're talking about
Equally Perfect Enlightenment.
We need to savor it,
to pay attention to it
What is real and false,
we use happiness as a standard.
You must see the actual reality
behind our speech, thoughts
and actions.
What kind of thing should I avoid, to avoid
myself falling into the cycle of suffering?
What are the things I need to face?
What is the right thing I need to do,
no matter how hard it is,
in order to face my issues?
Also, we need to see things clearly,
in order to see what is actually evil,
what is actually good,
or what is actually twisted,
or what is actually pure.
Is the path that I'm walking (on right)?
This is just a metaphor.
The mindset that I have, the attitude,
everything we speak
is that on the right path?
In the Five Precepts,
one of them is
no sexual misconduct.
If we can learn about Buddhism in depth,
especially the Sexual Misconduct Precept,
if we break it,
we only break, not only our marriage,
we cause harm to the people around us
not just husband and wife, your children,
your own parents stuff,
and your society in general.
So, this is one of the cases where we need
to have a very clear mind in order
to resolve it, in order to walk through.
Another case, about right and wrong.
Say today, my actions, my speech,
my decisions, are they right or wrong?
Are they benefiting people or
harming other people,
in other words?
People who have that level of selflessness are
able to see through the pros and cons
the benefits and the harms,
the rights and wrongs of everything, because
in a lot of cases, we do something
without knowing,
we're harming them or hurting them,
intentional or unintentional.
Sometimes our actions, our speech
might harm people
without us knowing it.
Shakyamuni Buddha
has told us as soon as
your heart is empty, void of selfishness,
that means you let go of selfishness,
this false sense of self,
only then will your life start to change,
everything you do, the way you eat,
the way you think, the way you see things,
view things will be different,
180 degrees opposite from the worldly people.
As long as there's this “I”,
self still there,
you will cause diseases at any levels
physically and mentally. It needs to be solved,
otherwise your suffering will continue.
Therefore, today Buddha taught us that
if I have not broken through
the false sense of self,
I have not let go of the false sense of self,
there is no way we are able to see things
unbiased and clearly.
Not just Buddhism, in society, whatever position
you are, whatever career you're doing,
whatever position you're in,
as long as you have a heavy ego or
self in there, a lot of self in there,
then you can't get true happiness.
A lot of people thought
they did good deeds
in society.
They thought:
I have done so many good things,
I donated money and much more like
cleaning the rubbish and stuff, am I
accumulating merits? Is that actually
accumulating merits? Not necessarily.
There are cases where people are doing
meritorious deeds, looks like they are
doing the meritorious deeds,
however, they ended up
in the Three Lower Realms.
Why? Why did that happen?
It is because
they don't know
what is actually meritorious.
They thought
what they are doing is meritorious,
but it's not.
It's not harmful now,
but it gets worse
as it accumulates
and you keep doing the false things
that you bring with you
into the next life.
because all the elements of selfishness
are still there, mixed in there.
It’s like poison inside a beautiful dew.
Some people are very good at speaking
very nicely, looking very nice, and acting like
a very nice person,
and so they look like
they are doing good things.
But we must understand the heart behind it,
is it pure? In the past,
have you seen a Chinese drama?
I always watched it when I was young.
A lot of 武俠 kind of thing.
Mr. Bao, you know the Bao Qingtian包青天,
the Judge Bao lived during the Song Dynasty
was a very fair judge, who has a very dark
complexion and was very righteous.
Everyone trust him, because he was very unbiased.
In the story, there was a lot of cases,
case studies, right?
The reason he was called unbiased was because
he dared to challenge the authorities
that were corrupted,
corrupting(abusing) their roles.
So in front of the law of equality, right? and
then he was able to oversee the power
and able to
capture these corrupted people
into the law.
So why did Mr. Bao capture all of these seemingly
good people, a lot of them looked like good
people, everyone praised them,
but Mr. Bao exposed their actual intention
and the deeds behind the scenes,
they were not actually good (people).
There's a lot of greed element,
hatred inside as well, like,
trying to get back at someone.
So, we need
wisdom to see through this,
something that is hidden very deep
and the point is that
so that we are able to
do good, actual good things.
In Buddhism,
there is a standard for being good,
you want to be a good person, right?
There are standards for being a good person.
To be a true good person, a person deserving
to be quite good, what is it?
How do we define it, how does Buddha
define it? Buddha taught us in the
Three Pure Meritorious Deeds淨業三福.
If you fulfill these three big categories of
meritorious deeds, then you're considered,
qualified as a good person.
What is the first meritorious deed?
The first one is to be filial to the parents,
which is love and respect to the parents,
only then will you be considered as an entry
level good person. Then you also need
to be respectful to your teachers.
So love your parents
and respect your teachers.
Buddha is our teacher.
So, when he
taught you something that
you understand you should follow.
When you move up to that level,
uphold the precepts
of no killing,
no harming sentient beings,
verbally or physically.
Other than that, every kind deed you do, if
you divert away from the standards,
then it's not considered as good.
It's true.
Other than these standards,
if you divert from that, then
all the good deeds
are not considered as good
without this foundation,
without this guide.
A lot of people ask me: Master,
I want to be a good person.
I want to do good things.
what are the good things for me to do?
In front of you, every time, everywhere,
wherever you are, you can do good (deeds).
So therefore, a lot of people say: Master,
in Buddhist Dharma Center, for example,
our Dharma Center, should we do charity?
Is it good? It's good, right? People say it's good.
If we come here, at the temple, and I want to
start by doing charity, charitable deeds,
I would say not necessary. Making offerings to
the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is a big thing
and is a good merit. Yes, it is.
But what kind of heart do you have?
What kind of attitude do you bring
with you when you offer it?
It's very important,
actually
most important,
because a lot of people bring a lot of
elements of self, which is my fame,
my position, my face, my wealth.
They are using that kind of intention to offer.
If people would bring this kind of attitude
and still keep it in their heart,
then we didn't really learn Buddhism,
we didn't really use the Buddha's Dharma
to wash it away.
We are not considered
as true Buddhists.
Therefore, when you see things,
people doing charitable (work),
it's good, right?
People recognize you, the country will even
give you a plaque saying that this group
of people are very good.
And it will
put you in the pedestrian
and praise you on national television,
because
you contribute a lot to the society,
is it a good thing?
It looks good. But it's not right.
Why?
Where do you go wrong?
Didn't Shakyamuni Buddha (teach us) to be
a good person, to do good deeds,
speak good words?
Yeah, we should come to the Buddha temple
and protect the Dharma
by helping out the temple.
Also give offerings
to the Venerables
so that I can accumulate merits,
also give it to the temple,
so they accumulate merits.
Yes, it's good.
However, we must know the core value,
the core foundation, the core purpose
of a Dharma Center,
what's the point of a Dharma Center?
What's the 本分?
What's the first responsibility
of a Dharma Center?
It's not to seek recognition.
It's not to seek fame,
or praise.
We are not here
to accumulate wealth,
or to want a big temple,
grand or grandiose, with all
the beautiful buildings and architecture
so that I can
control a lot of people in this place.
Is that an actual Dharma Center?
During Shakyamuni Buddha's time,
through his whole life,
he only had three clothes.
And he lived under a tree, slept under a tree,
he didn't have a place actually, owned by him.
No, he didn't have it.
He sat under trees most of the day.
If he wanted to have a Dharma place,
a good one, or a really luxurious one,
he just needed to say:
I want a Dharma place.
The 16 countries would flock to him and
build one in every single place
he walked by.
It was easy, because
all of his Dharma protectors are Kings,
but he did not accept it.
He did not ask for it.
So the point of Buddhism, and the point of
building a Dharma place that
we see now is to educate.
If the fundamental responsibility is not clear,
then what's the point of coming in here
and learning Buddhism?
There's no benefit from Buddhism,
if we do not understand
why we are learning Buddhism
and then Buddhism's most important role,
for the Dharma Center is to educate us
how to be a human. This is the first step
and the most fundamental step.
How to be a good human,
how to be a decent human being?
If we can’t even be a decent human being
and I say I want to be born in the Pure Land.
Do you have guarantees to do it?
It’s the guarantee I'm talking about.
Can you be happy in this life,
if you can't be a decent human
how can you be healthy,
how can you live carefreely,
if you are not a decent person?
Today, we learn Buddhism. We must understand,
to be able to break through, see through
what is actually harmful
and what is actually beneficial,
what is right and
what is wrong?
So at the point of understanding this,
only then do we know that attaining
enlightenment is the permanent way.
It's a long term way to actually bring us to that
state of happiness or to liberate ourselves
from suffering, to avoid sufferings.
So every type of
Dharma Center must have a goal
when they are established.
So we're talking about a grand (plan)
like a shared objective, but
every Dharma Center must have a goal.
Remember, if we are coming to
a Dharma Center,
we must ask the first question:
Today,
I come here to learn Buddhism,
what's my goal?
Today, I chant Amituofo right?
this Dharma place,
the time and now I chant Amituofo.
Have I started to understand and
believe it, Am I truly confident
in Buddhist teaching?
because in this era, there are many offshoots,
the motivations and options, or schools and
branches of Buddhism that exist today.
Every single denomination and every single
offshoot from the denomination have
their own specific cultivation goal,
like our family,
each family has different objectives.
Everyone is different,
they have different ambitions and goals.
So does the Dharma Center.
Today if we wish to be successful in
cultivating Buddhism, in these lessons,
we must not mix them up.
Mix all the denominations and offshoots up
because if we mix up different methods
of learning Buddhism,
in the end,
you'll learn nothing, master of none,
because we're a jack of all trades.
You can’t get any depth in anything.
For example, one of the current branches
is Pure Land Buddhism.
If I want to chant Amituofo,
I would go to
a Pure Land Dharma Center.
If I like to meditate, not to sit in meditation
as in meditative tranquility,
I can go to a Zen Dharma Center.
If you want to learn, tantric or mantra based
learning, then you can go to
a Tibetan Buddhism Center,
or if you like to do good deeds, really like to
help vulnerable people and connect with
people then go to Tzu Chi (Foundation).
You can’t mix them up together. Suddenly,
on Monday, I want to go to
a Pure Land (Dharma Center).
On Tuesday, I go to a Zen (place).
On Thursday, I will go to
a Tibetan (Buddhist place).
And on Friday, I go to
Tzu Chi (Foundation.)
It’s mixed up, too much.
You will get confused because everyone has a
different goal, they say different things and
you hear them all the time,
all of them are right,
so nothing is right in a way
and get nowhere in our practice.
Just like when we learn painting,
if you want to focus on one path, you need to
understand the painting itself,
the techniques and all that.
You need time to get into it.
You can't just on Monday learn painting.
On Tuesday, learn piano, on Thursday,
learn dancing. Mix them up.
You need to set aside time for you to focus on
getting in depth into what you want to learn.
So be specific and focus on one goal
and one path at a time.
For a beginner of Buddhism,
we must have a goal,
we don't do that because we don't like other
branches or temples, no, no. It's not because
we're excluding people who are narrow minded.
The whole point is
to get something in the end,
to learn something in the end,
because especially
this denomination, I actually
meant for the beginners,
helping the beginners so that when they come in,
they only have one path, one clear path,
everyone's following that one path.
You have a very clear guideline
and you have peers, you have a teacher,
they're all following one path,
you will easily achieve success
because you will move
forward quickly.
Especially in this era,
for a Dharma Place, a Dharma Center
to be authentic is not easy,
because authentic Dharma Center will be
protected, literally protected by Buddhas
and heavenly beings,
like they will be a bodyguard
of this Dharma Center.
If a Dharma Center reaches this authenticity,
first they must have Saddharma which is the Dharma
of the Buddha, who does the teaching
and then the mass of people who follow it,
actually practice it, not just talk about it
but actually practice it.
It's all
earned from our practice
and it benefits all beings.
If you want to be happy, want to achieve
happiness, achieve that perfect goal
we can’t just ask others to give it to us.
For example, a husband and wife
that argue everyday,
why do they argue?
My wife,
for example,
always demands a lot from me,
(she says): I have a lot of expectations for you,
but in the end, all I get is disappointment.
In the end, what's left is pain.
The more you love(expect),
the more you pain(suffer).
So for the ladies here, think about your husband,
do you have expectations of your husband?
some form of expectations?
Everyone
has expectations of something,
not just someone, something,
but we must understand that if you want to
truly have merits that are worthy
of protection by the heavenly beings,
we have to start from ourselves, change from
ourselves, be good ourselves, rely on
ourselves and improve our own quality.
To attain Equally Perfect Enlightenment,
we must break through one grade,
there are many grades of ignorance
many layers, think of onions,
you must break through at least
first grade of ignorance,
only then can you earn enlightenment
to one grade of Dharmakaya
which is the truth itself
and that kind of attainment is
what Buddha has attained.
So you're actually on the same platform
as Buddha, a long way to go
but you are there.
So hence, it’s called正等正覺
Equally Perfect Enlightenment,
Equally Perfect Enlightenment Buddhas,
but we are not Buddha yet. However, we will
discuss with everyone, who can be
considered an actual Buddha,
like at the same level of Buddha.
So this level is called Bodhisattva.
It's called Equally Perfect Enlightenment
and there's no selfishness at all.
And when you keep going down this path
of breaking ignorance,
and keep
bringing back your true self,
your Buddha nature or the Dharmakaya,
then you'll reach a certain level
where everything is cleared
eventually
and you have achieved
Unsurpassed Equally Perfect Enlightenment .
It's complete. It's perfect.
It's what we call perfection
in the literal sense.
This person is called Buddha.
If you attain
Equally Perfect Enlightenment
you'll be called a Bodhisattva.
So this is level two,
the first level
is Arhat or Right Awakening
and then this one is
Equally Perfect Enlightenment,
Bodhisattva,
and then, Buddha, which is the highest level.
So all these names in Buddhism
have a purpose.
If you attain Right Awakening,
(this is) the first step, Right Awakening,
is called Arhat.
You can see in the first sentence. Arhat, Bodhisattva,
Buddha, they are common titles and
there are procedures in gaining these titles.
They are all humans,
their attainments (were accomplished)
in the state of the human realm.
They are not immortals or 仙. they are not really
immortals but they're not like spiritual
spirit beings or something.
They're humans.
So, where do Buddhas,
Bodhisattvas and Arhats currently reside?
It's a way to describe
something, when someone
has reached the other side of the shore,
this shore of sufferings, of pains,
of complications,
all of the pain,
then that person is called Arhat,
Bodhisattva, Buddha, depending on
how far they reach.
Only when you achieve one of these three levels,
can your life be considered as
a successful (one).
These three terms
we must be familiar with,
no matter what traditions or anything
as long as it's Buddhism,
we must be very aware of these three terms.
It's not meant
to be one person,
it is not an individual.
You say
Oh Bodhisattva help me!
Which Bodhisattva? Which Buddha?
So it's like a Professor, Master,
or Bachelor in university.
There are common titles,
conferred to someone
who earned it.
For example, our historical Buddha,
Shakyamuni Buddha, is that title only
reserved to him, this Prince Siddhartha? No.
There are many Shakyamuni Buddhas.
If you recall the name,
what’s the meaning of Shakyamuni?
Compassion and purity. So there's a lot of Buddhas
that are compassionate and pure,
across the whole Dhamma Realm.
isn't Shakyamuni Buddha only meant to the one,
the Prince Siddhartha, it is, in case,
but in its most deepest sense of meaning,
it's not just one person,
it goes beyond one person.
If we talk about a story closer to us,
well not that close,
in the Tang Dynasty,
Precept Master Dao Xuan
was the first patriarch
of the School of Precepts in China.
Just for information,
the School of Precepts is shared
by both Theravada and Mahayana.
Do you have any
impressions of this Master?
I think a lot of those
(who are old practitioners know), but
there are many young people who don't know.
Venerable Master Dao Xuan
was the patriarch of
the School of Precepts in China.
He was very famous
when he cultivated on the mountain,
you know, who gave the offering to him?
He actually cultivated in the mountains,
the heavenly being was the one
who cooked for him,
and offered it to Venerable Master Dao Xuan.
He didn't even need to
ask for alms among the folks.
He didn't need to worry about
food, cooking, washing,
heavenly beings just offered to him.
You know why Heavenly being thought
he was deserving of receiving alms
because he actually held precepts,
he actually followed precepts,
his behavior was right.
A lot of people say: Shakyamuni Buddha
was the one from India, right?
The sage from India.
No, it’s not just (referring to) him.
He is just everywhere,
Shakyamuni Buddha is everywhere,
not just on this earth,
in many, many universes.
Another famous example, Bodhisattva Guan Yin,
Avolakiteshvara is Guan Yin.
Is this one person? No. It is also a title.
There are many Guan Yin Bodhisattvas.
Like, is there only one professor
in the world?
No, right. There are many Professors.
Professor Lee, Professor Alex, Professor Malcomb,
there are an infinite number of them,
which one are you referring to
if you call their name?
Even with medical doctors,
there are many doctors in hospitals,
which doctor do you want to refer to?
If we think
they are one person
then we are wrong.
Bodhisattva Guan Yin,
what does Bodhisattva Guan Yin mean?
Compassion,
a person who is really
compassionate is Bodhisattva Guan Yin.
There are alot of Bodhisattvas or
the practitioners who have attained
Equally Perfect Enlightenment Bodhisattva
that are very compassionate, that have
boundless compassion. That means
there's a lot of Bodhisattva Guan Yins.
Then there is also another Bodhisattva
Pu Xian, Di Zang,
Di Zang means Earth Treasure.
Maitreya means happiness,
there are endless Maitreya Buddhas.
They're all compassionate.
So which one are you referring to? For example,
Guan Yin, if you are actually as compassionate
as Guan Yin then you are Guan Yin.
You are Bodhisattva Guan Yin
If you have a strong vow of saving all the beings
and be respectful and filial to the parents
and all beings,
then you are
Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha
(Di Zang).
...
If you ask people around, your parents,
your friends, your peers what a Bodhisattva is
or in Chinese Pusa,
they can’t explain it，
it’s hard.
They don't understand,
they have no concept of it.
In our Youth Group,
if you ask what a Bodhisattva is,
are we clear what a Bodhisattva is?
Before we learn this,
we will be confused.
We did not learn it in depth,
so we don't know.
We always thought this name was an individual,
we didn't know that there is infinite meaning
inside this name.
Have you all read the Infinite Life Sutra?
Yes, we have. It's actually very good.
it’s just we need to find an English version.
And what is Amitabha Sutra?
What is Amituofo?
We are also not clear.
What is Shakyamuni Buddha
we also don't know, we should learn.
If we don't learn, how can we cultivate?
If we don't know who is my teacher
and what is the profile of my teacher
then how do I attain anything under him?
If I say Amituofo and I don't know who Amituofo is,
how can I have a connection with this teacher
and actually learn?
Same goes for Bodhisattva Guan Yin and
Bodhisattva Di Zang, we need to learn,
there is only benefit and no harm at all.
Buddha in the Infinite Life Sutra
無量壽經,
so in the sutra,
people in the Pure Land,
every one of them，
everyone in the Pure Land,
they all practice
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s vows普賢十願
so they all act like Bodhisattva Pu Xian.
In the Pure Land,
people who are born there, they are all
Samantabhadra Bodhisattvas普賢菩薩
which means
they all practice the 10 Great Vows.
And the number of
Samantabhadra Bodhisattvas are infinite,
there is no way you can calculate them.
Where is Samantabhadra Bodhisattva?
We should ask,
Which Samantabhadra Bodhisattva?
As a Buddhist we should understand.
In this way of learning Buddhism,
we will not fall into superstition or
get lost when we are learning it.
So I would like to continue in depth next time
so that we are no longer treated
as a superstitious group
because we know what we are learning,
we have a clear objective of
what we are learning.
For example, I believe in Buddha,
I have taken the precepts,
I have taken refuge and precepts.
Some will ask: what is Buddha?
They cannot provide a satisfactory answer.
What is refuge? I don't know.
What is a Bodhisattva?
I don't know. That statue!
I am not sure.
There is
a lot of this happening inside
the temple among the Buddhist community.
It's very unfortunate.
I hope that as the Youth Group,
we need to take it seriously,
take the Buddha's teachings,
and understanding of Buddhism
seriously,
only then can we understand
what we have learned and
how to lead ourselves and others to learn.
In Buddhism, what do we learn?
If we ask you this question,
what do we seek in Buddhism
and all of us should be clear of
what we are looking for.
Let’s continue, to seek wisdom,
I would like to repeat myself seeking wisdom,
that's the first thing we need to seek.
How do we seek wisdom?
Let’s think about it.
In Zen Buddhism, it is to seek enlightenment.
Pure Land Buddhism talks about one mindedness,
one heartedness, not moving.
In Pure Land Buddhism,
if you have achieved
that single mindedness of Amituofo,
you transcend
Zen (Buddhism),
you have gained full enlightenment.
In Pure Land Buddhism chanting Amituofo
everyone has qualifications to attain that level,
going to the Pure Land
and once you deepen your learning,
then you have broken through the doubt,
you no longer have doubt.
And then you know
why we need to go into this
single mindedness of chanting Amituofo.
So, going back to the big question,
why are we learning Buddhism?
To seek wisdom.
So this will go in depth next week.
So now I would like to just give you
a brief overview of
what is Right Awakening,
Equal Perfect Enlightenment
and
Unsurpassed Equally Perfect Enlightenment.
Unsurpassed Equally Perfect Enlightenment
is Buddha,
Bodhisattva and then Arhat
and knowing
these three main titles
in Buddhism.
Why do we take refuge?
Why are we learning Buddhism?
These will be explained next week as well.
We have explained this in the previous class.
Today, we also talked about denominations
and schools of Buddhism a lot,
but we also talked about what the point of,
the goal of Buddhism is and why we choose
this Pure Land School out of all that
so we will talk about that next week.
Next week, Wednesday,
I would like to
invite you all to learn again.
If today
I have said anything
not right or inappropriate then
please give me some feedback.
Thank you so much.
Amituofo!
May you all be healthy.
Amituofo.
Let’s dedicate our merits.
May the Merits and Virtues
accrued from this work
Merits accrued
from the Dharma Talks
dedicate to all beings in the universe
dedicate to our karma creditors
so that they all may be born
in the Pure Land
Repay the Four Kindnesses above, and
relieve the sufferings of those
in the Three Paths below.
May those
who see or hear of this,
aspired to invoke the Bodhi heart
And cultivate the teachings
for the rest of this life,
Then be born together
in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.
Thank you so much!
Amituofo!
Today
we have almost reached
one hour of time, 9:30pm.
Next week, ...,
and go no more than about 40 minutes,
so it won't be as long as (tonight’s lesson).
Thank you so much.
