09/24/13
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1052 Lesson 25-09-2013 WEDNESDAY
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thoughts and ideas, where this era provides a similar - or even more -liberal cultural traditions inherent in the Gupta era
through http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org
Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita Maha Tera passed away at 3.48am peacefully on 22-09-13 and his cremation is on 27-09-2013 Friday morning at Mahabodhi Dhammadutta Vihara Allura (near Nelamangala) Bangalore. Please participate in the peace march.
Kannada
ಧಮ್ಮ ಸ್ನೇಹಿತರು ಆತ್ಮೀಯ
ಪೂಜ್ಯ ಆಚಾರ್ಯ ಬುದ್ಧರಕಿತ ಮಹಾ ತೇರಾ 22-09-13 ರಂದು ಶಾಂತಿಯುತವಾಗಿ 3.48am ನಲ್ಲಿ ದೂರ ಜಾರಿಗೆ ಮತ್ತು ತಮ್ಮ ಅಂತ್ಯಸಂಸ್ಕಾರ ಮಹಾಬೋಧಿ Dhammadutta ವಿಹಾರ Allura (Nelamangala ಬಳಿ) ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ನಲ್ಲಿ 27-09-2013 ಶುಕ್ರವಾರ ಬೆಳಗ್ಗೆ ಆಗಿದೆ. ಶಾಂತಿ ಮಾರ್ಚ್ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಲು ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು.
ಮಹಾ ಭೋದಿ ಸಮಾಜ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು
Marathi
Dhamma मित्र प्रिय
आदरणीय आचार्य Buddharakkhita महा टेरा 22-09-13 वर peacefully 3.48am वाजता निधन झाले आणि त्याच्या प्रेतदहन Mahabodhi Dhammadutta Vihara Allura (Nelamangala जवळ) बंगळुरु 27-09-2013 शुक्रवार सकाळी आहे. शांती मार्च सहभागी करा.
महा Bodhi सोसायटी बेंगळुरू
Hindi
धम्म प्रिय मित्र
आदरणीय आचार्य Buddharakkhita महा तेरा 22-09-13 पर शांतिपूर्ण ढंग से 3:48 बजे निधन हो गया और उसका अंतिम संस्कार महाबोधि Dhammadutta विहार Allura (Nelamangala के पास) बंगलौर में 27-09-2013 शुक्रवार की सुबह है. शांति मार्च में भाग लेने के लिए कृपया.
महाबोधि समाज बंगलौर
Tamil
தம்மா நண்பர்களே
மதிப்பிற்குரிய ஆச்சார்யா புத்தரக்கித மகா தேரா 22-09-13 அன்று நிம்மதியாக 3.48am மணிக்கு காலமானார் மற்றும் அவரது தகனம் மஹாபோதி தம்மதூத விகார அல்லூர்
(நெலமங்கள அருகே) பெங்களூரில் 27-09-2013 வெள்ளிக்கிழமை காலையில் உள்ளது. சமாதான பேரணியில் பங்கேற்கவும்.
Telugu
ధమ్మం స్నేహితులను ప్రియమైన
గౌరవనీయులైన ఆచార్య బుద్ధరక్కిత మహా తేరా 22-09-13 న శాంతియుతంగా 3.48am వద్ద దూరంగా ఆమోదించింది మరియు అతని దహన మహాబోధి Dhammadutta విహార Allura (Nelamangala సమీపంలో) బెంగుళూర్ వద్ద 27-09-2013 శుక్రవారం ఉదయం ఉంది. శాంతి మార్చి పాల్గొనేందుకు దయచేసి.
మహా బోధి సొసైటీ బెంగుళూర్
Bengali
Dhamma বন্ধুরা প্রিয়
Venerable আচার্য Buddharakkhita Maha Tera 22-09-13 শান্তিপূর্ণভাবে 3.48am এ দূরে পাশ এবং তার শবদাহ Mahabodhi Dhammadutta Vihara Allura (Nelamangala কাছাকাছি) বেঙ্গালুরু এ 27-09-2013 শুক্রবার সকালে হয়. শান্তি মার্চ অংশগ্রহণের করুন.
Maha Bodhi সমাজের বেঙ্গালুরু
Urdu
Dhamma دوست عزیز
آدرنیی آچاری Buddharakkhita ماہا تیرا 22-09-13 پر امن طریقے سے 3.48am میں انتقال ہو گیا اور ان کے آخری تدفین Mahabodhi Dhammadutta Vihara Allura (Nelamangala کے قریب) بنگلور میں 27-09-2013 جمعہ کی صبح پر ہے. امن مارچ میں شرکت کریں.
ماہا Bodhi معاشرے بنگلور
Gujarati
Tel: 080-22250684
Dear Jc,
Very sad to hear about the demise of ’ Bada Bhanteji’,
who dedicated his life to propagate Buddhism in general and Mahabodhi
centre at Bangalore in particular.
Dr Bala
Medicine and Pharmacology
மருத்துவ இயல்
The
original Nāland had medicine as one of its compulsory subject
Tibetan medical
system embraces the traditional Buddhist belief that all illness
ultimately results from the three poisons of the mind: ignorance,
attachment and aversion. Tibetan medicine follows the Buddha’s Four
Noble Truths which apply medical diagnostic logic to suffering. By
synthesizing traditional medicine with modern medical research, this
faculty could become a cutting edge pharmaceutical and medical research
institute.
Buddhist beliefs of all illness
HEALING:
A TIBETAN BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE
HEALING:
A TIBETAN BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE
Compiled
by: Ven. Pende Hawter
What
is healing?
What
do we mean by healing? Do we mean healing of the physical body,
healing of the psyche/soul/mind, or both of these. What is the connection
between body and mind?
Many
modern healing techniques regard successful healing as the cure
of the presenting physical problem, whether this be symptoms of
cancer, AIDS, chronic fatigue syndrome, or some other illness. If
the person does not recover from the presenting physical problem,
or if that problem recurs or another develops at a later time, this
may be regarded as failure.
It
is not uncommon in these situations for the therapist or organisation
that has been helping the “sick” person to infer or state
that the person must have done something wrong, that they haven’t
stuck strictly enough to the diet or meditated enough or done whatever
else it was that they were supposed to do.
In
these situations the person can become very guilty, depressed or
angry. In many cases, they just give up hope. To avoid these problems,
it is necessary to consider a more comprehensive view of healing
that incorporates not only physical healing but mental healing.
Mind
is the creator
To
understand healing from the Buddhist perspective, a useful starting
point is to consider the Buddhist concept of mind. The mind is non-physical.
It is formless, shapeless, colourless, genderless and has the ability
to cognize or know. The basic nature of mind is pure, limitless
and pervasive, like the sun shining unobstructedly in a clear sky.
The
problems or sickness we experience are like clouds in the sky obscuring
the sun. Just as the clouds temporarily block the sun but are not
of the same nature as the sun, our problems or sickness are temporary
and the causes of them can be removed from the mind.
From
the Buddhist perspective, the mind is the creator of sickness and
health. In fact, the mind is believed to be the creator of all of
our problems. That is, the cause of disease is internal, not external.
Unlimited
potential
You
are probably familiar with the concept of karma, which literally
means action. All of our actions lay down imprints on our mindstream
which have the potential to ripen at some time in the future. These
actions can be positive, negative or neutral. These karmic seeds
are never lost. The negative ones can ripen at any time in the form
of problems or sickness; the positive ones in the form of happiness,
health or success.
To
heal present sickness, we have to engage in positive actions now.
To prevent sickness occurring again in the future, we have to purify,
or clear, the negative karmic imprints that remain on our mindstream.
Karma
is the creator of all happiness and suffering. If we don’t have
negative karma we will not get sick or receive harm from others.
Buddhism asserts that everything that happens to us now is the result
of our previous actions, not only in this lifetime but in other
lifetimes. What we do now determines what will happen to us in the
future.
In
terms of present and future healing, the main objective is to guard
our own actions, or karma. This requires constant mindfulness and
awareness of all the actions of our body, speech and mind. We should
avoid carrying out any actions that are harmful to ourselves and
to others.
Buddhism
is therefore a philosophy of total personal responsibility. We have
the ability to control our destiny, including the state of our body
and mind. Each one of us has unlimited potential - what we have
to do is develop that potential.
Healthy
mind, healthy body
Why
do some people get ill while others remain in the best of health?
Consider skin cancer. Of all the people who spend many hours out
in the sun, some will develop skin cancer and others will not. The
external situation is the same for all of them, but only some will
be affected. The secondary cause of the skin cancer - the sun -
is external, but the primary cause - the imprints laid down on the
mindstream by previous actions - is internal.
Also,
people with similar types of cancer will often respond quite differently
to the same treatment, whether this be orthodox or alternative.
Some will make a complete recovery. Some will recover temporarily
and then develop a recurrence. Others will rapidly become worse
and die. Logically one has to look to the mind for the cause of
these differences.
Buddhism
asserts that for lasting healing to occur, it is necessary to heal
not only the current disease with medicines and other forms of treatment,
but also the cause of the disease, which originates from the mind.
If we do not heal or purify the mind, the sickness and problems
will recur again and again.
This
introduces the notion of “ultimate healing”. By ridding
the mind of all its accumulated “garbage”, all of the
previously committed negative actions and thoughts, and their imprints,
we can be free of problems and sickness permanently. We can achieve
ultimate healing - a state of permanent health and happiness.
In
order to heal the mind and hence the body, we have to eliminate
negative thoughts and their imprints, and replace them with positive
thoughts and imprints.
The
inner enemy
The
basic root of our problems and sickness is selfishness, what we
can call the inner enemy. Selfishness causes us to engage in negative
actions, which place negative imprints on the mindstream. These
negative actions can be of body, speech or mind, such as thoughts
of jealousy, anger and greed.
Selfish
thoughts also increase pride, which results in feelings of jealousy
towards those higher than us, superiority towards those lower than
us and competitiveness towards equals. These feelings in turn result
in an unhappy mind, a mind that is without peace. On the other hand,
thoughts and actions directed to the well-being of others bring
happiness and peace to the mind.
Conscious
living, conscious dying
It
is important to consider what happens to us when we die. The Buddhist
view is that at the time of death the subtle consciousness, which
carries with it all the karmic imprints from previous lives, separates
from the body. After spending up to forty-nine days in an intermediate
state between lives, the consciousness enters the fertilised egg
of its future mother at or near the moment of conception. New life
then begins. We bring into our new life a long history of previous
actions with the potential to ripen at any time or in any of a myriad
ways.
The
state of mind at the time of death is vitally important and can
have a considerable effect on the situation into which we are reborn.
Hence the need to prepare well for death and to be able to approach
our death with a peaceful, calm and controlled mind.
Death
itself can be natural, due to exhaustion of the lifespan, or untimely,
due to certain obstacles. These obstacles arise from the mind and
can be counteracted in different ways. One method commonly employed
in Tibetan Buddhism to remove life obstacles is to save the lives
of animals that would otherwise have been killed. For example, animals
can be rescued from being slaughtered or live bait can be purchased
and released.
For
those with a life threatening illness, it is important to understand
that being free of that illness doesn’t mean that you will have
a long life. There are many causes of death and death can happen
to anybody at any time.
Not
just pills and potions
Tibetan
medicine is popular and effective. It is mostly herbal medicine,
but its uniqueness lies in the fact that in the course of its preparation
it is blessed extensively with prayers and mantras, giving it more
power.
It
is said that taking such medicine will either result in recovery,
or, if the person is close to death, they will die quickly and painlessly.
(Another theory, based on personal experience, is that it tastes
so bad you want to recover quickly so that you can stop taking the
medicine!)
Blessed
pills and blessed water are also used extensively. The more spiritually
developed the person carrying out the blessings or the healing practices,
the more powerful is the healing result or potential. These pills
often contain the relics of previous great meditators and saints,
bestowing much power on the pills.
Many
Tibetan lamas actually blow on the affected part of the body to
effect healing or pain relief. I have seen a person with AIDS with
intense leg pain have his pain disappear after a lama meditated
intensely and blew on his leg for twenty minutes. Compassion is
the power that heals.
Visualisation
can also be very powerful healing. One method is to visualise a
ball of white light above your head, with the light spreading in
all directions. Imagine the light spreading through your body, completely
dissolving away all sickness and problems. Concentrate on the image
of your body as completely healed and in the nature of light.
This
type of meditation is even more powerful when combined with visualising
holy images and reciting mantras. I often tell my Christian patients
to visualise the light as Jesus, with the light emanating from him.
In
the Tibetan tradition, there are many Buddha figures (deities) which
can be visualised while reciting their mantra. The Medicine Buddha;
Chenrezig, or Avalokiteshvara (the Buddha of Compassion); or one
of the long-life deities such as Amitabha are commonly used. Deities
can be in peaceful or wrathful aspects. The wrathful ones are often
used to cure heavy disease such as AIDS.
If
you are not comfortable with these images, you can use other objects
such as crystals, or simply visualise all the universal healing
energy absorbing into you, transforming your body into light, and
imagine yourself as totally healed.
Over
the centuries many people have used these methods and have recovered
from their illnesses, even from conditions such as leprosy, paralysis
and cancer. The aim of these practises is to heal the mind as well
as the body, so that the diseases or problems will not recur in
the future.
Also,
many diseases are associated with spirit harm. Lamas and other practitioners
will often recite certain prayers and mantras or engage in ceremonies
to stop the spirit harm and allow the person to recover.
A
seven year old girl I knew had petit-mal epilepsy as the result
of spirit harm; the epilepsy disappeared after various rituals and
prayers had been performed. Whenever she had an epileptic attack,
the girl would see a frightening apparition coming towards her.
After the initial prayers had been performed, however, her attacks
lessened and she would see a brick wall between her and the frightening
figure. This wall was the colour of a monk’s robes. Eventually the
attacks and visions disappeared altogether.
In
summary, we can say that the essential ingredients in the healing
process, for both the person doing the healing and the person being
healed, are compassion, faith, and pure morality.
Changing
our minds
Another
powerful method of healing in Tibetan Buddhism is to meditate on
the teachings known as thought transformation. These methods allow
a person to see the problem or sickness as something positive rather
than negative. A problem is only a problem if we label it a problem.
If we look at a problem differently, we can see it as an opportunity
to grow or to practice, and regard it as something positive. We
can think that having this problem now ripens our previous karma,
which does not then have to be experienced in the future.
If
someone gets angry at us, we can choose to be angry in return or
to be thankful to them for giving us the chance to practice patience
and purify this particular karma. It takes a lot of practice to
master these methods, but it can be done.
It
is our concepts which often bring the greatest suffering and fear.
For example, due to a set of signs and symptoms, the doctor gives
the label ‘AIDS’ or ‘cancer’. This can cause great distress in a
person’s mind, because they forget that it is only a label, that
there is no truly existent, permanent AIDS or cancer. ‘Death’ is
another label that can generate a lot of fear. But in reality ‘death’
is only a label for what happens when the consciousness separates
from the body, and there is no real death from its own side. This
also relates to our concept of ‘I’ and of all other phenomena. They
are all just labels and have no true, independent existence.
Lama
Zopa Rinpoche, a highly realised Tibetan Lama, says that the most
powerful healing methods of all are those based on compassion, the
wish to free other beings from their suffering. The compassionate
mind - calm, peaceful, joyful and stress-free - is the ideal mental
environment for healing. A mind of compassion stops our being totally
wrapped up in our own suffering situations. By reaching out to others
we become aware of not just my pain but the pain (that is, the pain
of all beings).
Many
people find the following technique powerful and effective: think
“By me experiencing this disease or pain or problem, may all
the other beings in the world be free of this disease, pain or problem”
or “I am experiencing this pain/sickness/problem on behalf
of all living beings.”
One
voluntarily takes on suffering in order for others to be free of
it. This is similar to the Christian concept of regarding one’s
suffering as sharing the suffering of Jesus on the cross. Even death
can be used in this way: “By me experiencing death, may all
other beings be freed from the fears and difficulties of the death
process.”
We
have to ask ourselves “What is the purpose of my life? Why
do I want to have good health and a long life?”. The ultimate
purpose of our life is to be of benefit to others. If we live longer
and just create more negative karma, it is a waste of time.
Giving
and taking is another powerful meditation. As you breathe in, visualise
taking the suffering and the causes of suffering from all living
beings, in the form of black smoke. When breathing in the black
smoke, visualise smashing the black rock of selfishness at your
heart, allowing compassion to manifest freely. As you breathe out,
visualise breathing out white light that brings them happiness,
enjoyment and wisdom.
Developing
compassion is more important than having friends, wealth, education.
Why? Because it is only compassion that guarantees a happy and peaceful
mind, and it is the best thing to help us at the time of death
We
can use our sickness and problems in a very powerful way for spiritual
growth, resulting in the development of compassion and wisdom. The
highest development of these qualities is the full realisation of
our potential, the state of full enlightenment. Enlightenment brings
great benefit to ourselves and allows us to work extensively for
others. This is the state of ultimate healing.
I
have outlined some of the concepts that are the basis of the Buddhist
philosophy on healing. Many of these methods were taught by Lama
Zopa Rinpoche at Tara Institute in Melbourne in August 1991 during
the first course given by Lama Zopa specifically for people with
life-threatening illnesses.
Some
of these ideas may appear unusual at first, but please keep an open
mind about them. If some of the ideas appear useful to you, please
use them; if not, leave them aside.
May
you achieve health and happiness.
