Make Reflection A Daily Affair

The old wise saying [不怕念起，只怕觉迟], literally translated, the phrase tells us as living beings tumbling in samsara, we are bound to have thoughts, whether wholesome or not. The key does not lie in controlling these thoughts, as the mind is like a monkey, swinging from tree to tree. The essence is to be aware and mindful when these thoughts arise and reflect upon them. This applies to our actions and speech as well, as karma is heaping along the way when we commit them.

One of my friends who left his job to start a company more than a year back confessed that his engagement in businesses for pure commercial gains has 'helped' him grew "devil horns" on his head. He started to reflect on the cause of his restlessness and unhappiness and realised that his suffering stemmed from one of the three poisons, Greed. He then made a wise decision to leave the partnership to pursue for a more wholesome career that focuses on integrity as an essential core value. I sensed that he is a happier person now.

Reflection is a powerful yet simple way that helps us to improve our relationships with our family, colleagues, friends and even with ourselves. Importantly, we must be true to ourselves.

Why Shurangama Sutra Will Be The First Sutra To Disappear

Namo Amituofo!

In The Scripture Preached by the Buddha on the Total Extinction of the Dharma, it is clearly stated that Shurangama Sutra will be the first sutra to disappear from our saha world.

Quote, "In fifty-two years after that, the Shurangama Scripture and the pratyutpanna-samádhi will prematurely change and vanish, and shortly afterwards the twelve divisions of the Mahayana canon will also be destroyed in their entirety, and will not appear again. The robes of the monks will spontaneously turn white."

So why is this sutra the first one to disappear? This sutra is also known as "The Mirror Of Truth". In this sutra, Sakyamuni Buddha explain in details how to differentiate between His real Buddhism teaching and fake teaching spoken by Mara the evil king. In this Dharma-Ending age, Viharas are everywhere and Dharma-Masters are many. Every master has his own way of explaining Dharma and a goal to achieve.

All Dharma talks by different masters have similar contents and purpose, to teach us Buddha Dharma, and to encourage us to perform good deeds. However, according to Shurangama Sutra, the only real Dharma spoken by Sakyamuni Buddha is one which teaches us to escape samsara in this very life time. If it teaches you to be born again as human, then it is not said by Sakyamuni Buddha, it is said by Mara.

Why so? Think about it, are we sure we are going to be born again as a human? In order to be born as a human, we must observe the five silas strictly. In this era, it is extremely difficult for a layperson to do so. Say, we really could follow the five silas perfectly, and be born as a human. Are we sure as a human we can continue our Buddhist practice to finally become enlightened as an Arhat, or even a Buddha? What if we were born in a non-Buddhist family, or in that life our past negative karma was stronger and hinder us from Bodhi path? It's a nightmare!

That's why Sakyamuni Buddha told us to escape samsara in this very life time, it is very dangerous to wait for the next ones. As a famous saying goes, "It is hard to be born as a human. It is even harder to encounter and believe Buddhism. It is the hardest to find a real Dharma-Master who leads us to escape samsara".

As for Mara the evil king, he's not happy if we escape samsara. It means we escape his control. So he does many many tricks to keep us transmigrating endlessly. One of the tricks is to speak of fake Buddhist teaching where 99% is real and that 1% is the trap to keep us within his grasp.

However, as Shurangama sutra is the mirror of truth which exposes Mara's fake teaching from the real one, it must be destroyed first. After this sutra is gone, there's no way for us to tell which teaching is real and which is fake. We'll unknowingly become Mara's disciples. How sad!

There's even a rumor circulating recently that says Shurangama Sutra is not said by Sakyamuni Buddha and should not be treated as Buddhist Scripture and it should be neglected. The day of Dharma disappearance is closing!

Once again, I'm hoping everybody who reads this posting is able to keep this sutra with you and circulate it if you can. This will prolong the disappearance from happening.

Please visit BuddhaSutra.com for Shurangama Sutra, or simply click on the link.

Namo Amituofo!

Abortion From A Buddhism Perspective

My friend recently told me that she had an abortion. Upon hearing this news, I was sad for both the baby and my friend. The baby missed a chance to be born as a human and to be able to listen to Buddha Dharma. My friend did a heavy karma by doing an abortion.

So I told her about her wrong doing and advised her to repent and read the "Dharani Sutra of the Buddha on Longevity, The Extinction of Offences And the Protection of Young Children".

Below are related passages from that particular sutra. To read the whole sutra, please go to BuddhaSutra.com, or simply click on the link in the previous paragraph.

(begin quote)

When The Buddha was in the world, there was Laywoman by the name Confusion. She was practising the Buddha Dharma in her home life. She begged The Buddha to allow her to leave the home life. Sorrowfully she cried to The Buddha, "World Honoured One, I have created deep and evil karma. I am regretful of my evil conduct, and seek to repent my offences. I hope to reform, in order to lead a life of goodness. I only hope The World Honoured One will bestow kindness upon me and listen to the details!"

"My circumstance is such that my family's condition does not allow me to bear any children. That is why I used medicine to murder the foetus, which was fully eight months old. The foetus that I aborted was fully grown with four healthy limbs and was complete with a human form."

"Later I met with a wise man who told me, 'People who have purposely aborted the foetus will be infected with serious illnesses in the present lifespan and receive the retribution of a short lifespan with very little blessing. After they have passed away, they will fall into the Avici Hell to experience terribly acute sufferings'."

"After listen to that, I was very frightened and I deeply regret what I have done. I only hope that the World Honoured One, with your strength of great kindness and compassion, will save me from falling into the deep pit. Please tell me the ways of liberation. Do allow me to leave the home life, so as to not undergo such acute sufferings."

The Thus Come One of Pervasive Lights and Proper Views said to Confusion, "There are five kinds of Evil Karma which are difficult to extinguish, even if one were to repent of them. What are the five kinds of offences? The first one is killing the father, the second one is killing the mother, the third one is abortion, the fourth one is to injure The Buddha, the fifth one is to create disharmony among the Sangha assemblies. These five types of evil and sinful karma are difficult to extinguish."

.....

As you are able to repent sincerely before me, I will of course teach you The Sutra of Longevity and The Extinction of Offences, in order to free you from the suffering of being chased and caught by the evil ghost of impermanence."

"Confusion, let me tell you. In the future World of Five Turbidities, if there are people who kill the father, harm the mother, who purposely abort the foetus, who destroy The Buddha's Pagoda and Temple…"

"Who shed The Buddha's Blood, who create disharmony among The Sangha and others, they have created the five unwholesome deep offences and will surely fall into the Uninterrupted Hell to suffer the acute torments."

"If these beings who have committed the five unwholesome offences are able to accept, uphold this Sutra of Longevity and The Extinction of Offences, to write it down, read and memorize it, or copy it down by themselves, or ask others to copy the Sutra, they will be able to put an end to their offences, and be born in the Brahman Heaven to enjoy the heavenly blessing."

(end quote)


I begged her to wholeheartedly read the entire sutra and act accordingly. Hoping that she could wash away her great offense and not fall into hell realm after this life.

Besides cleansing the karma of abortion, this sutra when recited also helps protect young children during birth and infancy. It also grants longevity to those who are sick. This is a wonderful dharani sutra and we must be grateful to Sakyamuni Buddha's compassion for telling it.

So please, download and keep this sutra. By giving this sutra to those who need it, is the least that we can do to help yet brings the greatest merit.

Amituofo!

BuddhaSutra.com

First of all, thank you Kelvin for supporting BuddhaSutra.com.

I built this website, mainly because I was inspired by what Ven. Master Jin Kong did to propagate Buddha Dharma. He donated copies of Complete Buddhist Sutra Collection to every Buddhist organizations all over the world. So if a calamity should happen to any part of the world, this Sutra collection will not be lost.

So here I am, putting a little extra time and effort to help protect Buddha Dharma. What I did is meaningless if nobody supports the idea. However, if every Buddhist from all over the world could visit the site and download the entire collection to his/her computer, even print them out, then we really help protect Buddha Dharma from disappearing.

Below is taken from the profile page of BuddhaSutra.com.

"The purpose of this website is to propagate Buddha Dharma to the whole world. As we all know that this is the Dharma-Ending age, Buddhism is getting weaker whereas our worldy desires grow stronger.

As said before by Shakyamuni Buddha (Scripture Preached by the Buddha on the Total Extinction of the Dharma), in this Dharma-Ending age all Buddhist-Sutras will disappear slowly one by one, starting with Shurangama Sutra and the last one to be Infinite Life Sutra. After the first sutra is gone, the world will start to enter a chaotic time where evil deeds will become daily routines.

This website hosts the complete list of all the Buddhist Sutras, including the Shurangama and Infinite Life Sutra. Hopefully we all can keep this site up and running for a long period of time, thus prolonging the sutra disappearance from happening."

I hope the message is clear. Let's help protect Buddha Dharma.

Namo Amituofo!

The Respect Of Lives

Firstly, I applaused Ian's aspiration and determination in establishing BuddhaSutra.com to perpetuate the learning of Buddha teachings.

I was reading the book "The Food Revolution" written by John Robbins, the only son of the founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire, who was groomed to follow in his father's footsteps, but chose to walk away from Baskin-Robbins and the immense wealth it represented to pursue the deeper American Dream...the dream of a society at peace with its conscience because it respects and lives in harmony with all life forms. This is one great book that you should get your hands on, it can not only save your life, your spiritual soul as well.

In the intro of the book, he said "I am aware how strong are the forces of ignorance, greed, and denial in our society. I know it is possible that we won't make it.

But I am also aware of how strong is the longing and the love of life in the human heart. And so I know it is possible that we will make it, that we will create a sustainable economy that protects the living systems of the Earth, that we will come to be part of the world's repair. The power of darkness in our world is great, but it is not as great as the power of the human spirit. We can learn to provide for our needs and limit our numbers while cherishing this beautiful planet and its creatures. It is in our nature to honor the sacredness of life."

To learn more about the man and his books, please visit www.foodrevolution.org.

Wanting Something So Badly For So Long, You'll Get It Eventually

Today, I felt overjoyed that after 14 years I finally got in touch with Eric Chia. The person whom introduced me to Buddhism. I feel that I can never repay for his kindness and generosity for sharing Buddhist teachings with me. His merits are limitless.

When he called me earlier today, I felt like jumping to him and hug him tightly. The first few words we exchanged were... "How are you, I have been thinking about you every now and then". I felt so warm inside.

Funny how when we think of someone that person will feel it and think of us back. When the two persons think of each other all the time, they will eventually meet, no matter how far they are apart. Therefore we must always think of Amitabha Buddha, as he is also constantly thinking of us, so when this life comes to and end we will definitely see Him coming with his retinue of Boddhisatvas to welcome us to Sukhavati heaven.

Then me and Eric talked about how we progress in our own daily Buddhist practice. He told me that he has been meditating regularly and has reached a significant advancement in his meditative study. So his goal is to become an arhat.

I remember discussing with him 15 years ago in Aberdeen Scotland, how we wanted to become monks. So I asked him if he is still on the course. Then he told me that just recently he made an announcement to all his friends and relatives that 15 years from now when his children are able to support themselves, he will leave home to become a monk somewhere near Penang Malaysia.

Upon hearing this good news, I felt happy for him, yet sad for myself. I envy him for having such a supportive family and such light karma that he will be able to fulfill his lifelong dream. As for me... I believe my karma is heavier that even the idea of becoming a monk is always promptly rejected by my parents and wive.

Well... do not despair I told myself, keep practicing the path and perform more good deeds. One day the time will come, hopefully not long after Eric's time.

Once again thank you Eric!

Amituofo!