Dharma Time, Anytime

All traditional religions share one common ground – for their teachings to be of benefit to all. Indeed, this is so for Buddhism.

But why study Buddhism? Buddhism introduces us to ourselves and helps us understand ourselves better. Think back to the “you” that you were 10 years ago, how different are you from the “you” that you are now?

Chances are, you would be very different today … in terms of how you think, see and describe yourself.

As time passes, the description of the self changes. Even the description of you at any one point of time would be different. If I were to ask you to describe yourself to 3 people – your boss, your children and your closest friend – at this very moment, I am sure the three descriptions of yourself would be very different.

Looking through the body, we realize that our body is not the “I” that we so often refer to. Instead, it merely houses the “I”. So it is important that we do not place too much unnecessary emphasis on making the “I” happy and generating an attachment to the self – the self that does not even truly exist on its own side.

What makes Buddhism so attractive today is its flexibility. Buddhism is represented by 3 main aspects of lifestyle, religion and secret training. While the ultimate aim is to obtain liberation from the cyclic suffering of samsara, the method in which one achieves that is flexible. As followers, you have the option to embrace whichever aspect you think is more suitable for you. Unless vows are taken, there are no hard and fast rules in Buddhism. Even if vows are taken, one must remember to apply the vows with wisdom and especially applying the essence of Buddha’s teaching of adopting the middle view of non-extremism.

In our everyday living, we normally engage our mind in autogear – besides focusing our efforts on making money, there is normally little impetus to improve the spiritual aspects of the mind.

We also tend to compartmentalise our lives – weekdays for work, evenings and weekends for family, perhaps a little time everyday before sleep for prayers.

But Buddhism is a way of blending your life, career and religion. I paraphrase His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama who said that the greatest mistake in life would be to separate life from Dharma.

Indeed, cultivation of The Middle Path is like putting the mind through 24-hourround- the-clock training. We should learn to see every single “non-Dharma” external experience and link it to Dharma. For instance, as we dress ourselves for work every morning, reflect upon and appreciate the kindness of all the kind sentient beings that had a hand in creating that comfortable cotton shirt or beautiful silk blouse you put on.

Through this, we further realise how even though we often consider ourselves independent of other people, this is in reality not the case at all. When we are mindful of all our daily actions, we will avoid falling into the trap of compartmentalising life into Dharma and non-Dharma activities.

Being mindful of ourselves is key to the success of our Dharma practice. After all, Dharma practice is basically about guarding one’s mind. Our conceptual mind is strong and it often causes us to label and grasps at things around us. We do not realise that these labels are ultimately artificial and serve only to draw us deeper into delusion.

So how do we guard our mind?

First of all, recognise that we already have in our possession the most precious wishfulfilling jewel we could ever have – a perfect human rebirth. We should rejoice at having this incomparable opportunity to come into contact with the Dharma and to be free to practice the Buddha’s teachings.

We should also cultivate a healthy and positive attitude towards death. As we recognise its certainty, we should also rejoice at every day that we are able to wake up to, and to see it as being given another chance to purify our negativities and accumulate merit.

Next, we look around us and realise that every single being is searching for the same thing – happiness. With this thought, we develop the thought of bodhichitta – the aspiration to gain enlightenment to benefit all sentient beings.

When Buddha taught the Dharma, there was a customised lesson to suit the needs of all kinds of sentient beings in his 84,000 teachings. In particular, the teachings can be categorised into the 3 main groups – the Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana.

The Hinayana teachings, also known as the Theravada or Hearer’s vehicle, direct the practitioner to abandon attachment to the self in this current life, not to harm sentient beings. The objective was to reach Nirvana and attain Arhatship so that he does not undergo further rebirth.

In the Mahayana Vehicle, the emphasis is likewise to abandon attachment to this life, but in addition to liberating the self, the practitioner aspires and works towards liberating other sentient beings as well.

The Vajrayana Vehicle, like the Mahayana Vehicle, encourages its practitioners to aspire to become Buddha and liberate other sentient beings. It further teaches that its practitioners to incorporate Dharma into all of life’s activities with the aim of ultimately realising the union of Wisdom and Compassion.

At this point, I would like to share another perspective of the 3 Scopes that will give you some food for thought.

Since food is an important part of every culture and the soy bean holds a special place in the Asian cuisine, let’s consider the humble soy bean.

In its unprocessed and whole form, we can think of it as Buddha’s Hinayana scope – providing lots of nutrition and serving to benefit all who eat it.

Now, expand this humble soy bean in hot boiling water and then grind it into a paste. The bean loses its original form and identity but retains its nutritious essence. I liken this to practitioners of the Mahayana who like this soy bean, circle in the boiling waters of samsara everyday. The emphasis is on helping others, regardless of what happens to their own form and identity.

Next, allow this boiled bean to ferment with the addition of special bacteria and we soon have our various types of soy sauces. Many of us forget that the fermentation itself is a smelly and disgusting process. I am sure that if we all experienced the process, we could never want to see another bottle of soy sauce again.

But think again because, like the fermenting bean that soon develops into its desired state, practitioners of the Vajrayana scope practice mindtransformation to see the dirt, grime and negativities of samsara and transform them into a practice that leads quickly to definite enlightenment.

Regardless of the level of practice you engage in, the Buddha’s teachings will all direct us towards uncovering the true state of our pure Buddha nature.

We should think and reflect more in our practice of compassion. We will achieve some result when we realise the immense debt we owe to all sentient beings. We will awaken to more ideas and realise that compassion has to be applied at the right time, to the right people… and done with wisdom.

As we practice the Mahayana, we should train in the Bodhichitta mind. Dedicate any action that you undertake, whether to accumulate merit or confess any wrongdoings, to the great enlightenment so that countless sentient beings may benefit when you become a Buddha.

Here are some simple practices you can incorporate into your daily life to practice the Dharma and accumulate merit.

Before each meal, spend some time to reflect on the spread before you. Pray for the animals that had died to become your food, so that they would quickly gain a higher rebirth. Next, generate appreciation and rejoice in the merits of all the sentient beings whose efforts resulted in the delicious meal before you – this includes the farmer who planted the rice grains you are eating, the butcher who sold you the pork in your sweet and sour pork dish, the stall keeper who packed your fresh green vegetables … right down to the person who cooked and served you the tasty, nutritious meal.

Besides accumulating merits by making offerings, you can also accumulate vast merits by rejoicing at the merits of others.

For instance, you may have driven past and admired many beautiful houses, complete with huge manicured gardens and long impressive driveways. Instead of feeling envious and upset that you do not possess anything quite as impressive, grab hold of such stray thoughts and transform them. Rejoice in the house owner’s good karma that allows him to live in such a big, beautiful house. Visualise this house as an offering that you make and dedicate the merits of this offering to gaining enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.

This technique can be applied to practically anything and everything that catches your fancy. The key here is to make the offerings sincerely from our hearts, else we risk cultivating greed and attachment instead.

Practicing the Dharma does not require you to invest lots of money but it does require you to invest effort. As long as you make a sincere effort to be mindful of your daily actions, this can and will become Dharma.