meetup.com reading session topics kickoff : heart sutra
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this is the beginning of a new thread on a book reading session
which i share with everyone on the afterthoughts reading of books
each time there will be a book being offered to penned down my feeling abt a certain chapter
this week i starting on ven shengyen :there is no suffering - heart sutra
ven master shengyen talks on heart sutra from the chan buddhism perspective
skipping the prologue ,we covered first the qualities of a bodhisattva
atitude practice and method ..
as in the Heart sutra ,Avalokiteshvara was named the contemplating liberation bodhisattva
according to the book,in Buddhadharma,there are the 3 gates of liberation
the gate of emptiness
the gate of no-form , the gate of no vows ....
(to be continued ) -
what is the meaning of bodhisattva ,according to ven shengyen ,
they are being who vowed to help beings without concern for their personal benefit.
you see in everyday life , in our working life , we meet different kinds of people
and different kinds of people show different needs and want.
As a Buddhist ,the difficulty lies in how to help other ,but not overdoing it
this takes time and practice ,and sometimes we are not appreciated in our effort at all
clearly ,as a clever Buddhist ,one should keep a low profile ,and never to loudly proclaim that we are Buddhist.There are people who just like to judge people based on level of conduct to their conviction(religion),but they are just not seeing themselves as turpidities.
the real practice all begins in our heart,if we willing to take each day as a practice and getting corrupted by those insiduous people , we will see one day those that work with us ,mellow down and turned humble.
our existence in this world is temporary ,and why we are in this certain company working is also due to our previous karma .with this in mind ,always have a forgiving mind to other who may comes to hurt us verbally and in action
dealing with difficult people
alot of people do encounter people who just want to try to be difficult with us
we need to analyse the difficulties he/she impose was it to the personal or for
work matter .Sometimes it proves too much a challenge to sell ones idea ,but we just have to try.Our working relationship with other is but impermanence,
if we just cannot tackle them in our lives , we should gracefully avoid conflict or even leave the department or company
using 5 precepts as a guide , we must know never to break of violate the precepts as it will bring harm to sentient beings and even to ourselves
Using Diamond sutra analogy "all pheonomenon ,are like dream , illusion ,bubbles and shadow, like dews ,and lightning , thus one should reflect upon ." -
hmm, y not follow the book , but talk on day -to -day stuff ?
reason is simple : Buddhism is not a subject abt deep deep idea
but close to our heart , so i offer some sharing on day-to-day ideas -
i have a simple analogy, image one day you have a friend who helping you with a drawing assignment
and halfway through the drawing , u realise he need a ruler
you take out a ruler and passed to him
but u know , he is a quick-tempered person
will u 1.put it on the table ,do your stuff
2.push it to him and make sure he use it
3.yell at him to use the ruler
all three produce different results , this is a common day-to-day practice and situation we faced in dealing with our fren -
Bodhisattva idea is not high up there , unfathomable but down to our daily lives
when our close fren need financial help , you have to weigh ur ability and how much he can return in due course
even down to our interpersonal relationship ,
frenship gets sour when both party quarrel over failed business venture
financial lending and interest conflict
and
most young people do , boyfriend and girlfriend problem
we must often let go of the concept " Please swear you will be my true fren !"
becos as exhorted in Buddha last words to us
"Subject to change are all things,Strive on with dilligence"