ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º º º BuddhaNet: Buddhist Info Network Buddha Dharma Education Assoc. º º Web Site: www.buddhanet.net PO Box K1020 Haymarket NSW 2000 º º Email: bdea@buddhanet.net Tel: +61-2-92123071 AUSTRALIA º º º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ------------------------------- What Human Beings Believe - Phra Senah -------------------------------------------------- Abridgement of Unibuds Dhamma talk given on Friday, May 21st 1993 at the University of NSW. ----------- I'm very happy to come here and speak with you all again. Human beings can believe in many things. Some believe in God, some the sun, moon, and stars, or even animals. In India there are many scriptures that classify what we humans have and do believe. One religion is defined by the Pali word " Pubbakata Va Da". "Pubbakata" means past action, and "Va Da" means speech. A second religion is "Etsara Garana" which stands for "Supreme being action belief." Actually when Buddha was born, his parents believed in God. His parents worshipped God in a similar fashion to the way religious people do in modern times. They went to a church every day and helped support the local community. Another religion was "Hetu Va Da". This means Accidental belief, that things are believed by accident. Currently it is still trendy not to believe in karma or God. With Accidental belief, people say,"When the time comes. - It comes. When the time goes. - It goes." But you must believe what you feel helps you. Even if you believe in God or in an Accidental future, - you need balance. How could the Egyptians build pyramids, embalm bodies, and even now have computers. We cannot look down on these things. We have the world of formation - Sankara Dhuka - It exists because it changes. It forms, reforms, breaks down, builds up. We have a world of Beings - All living beings. Some say our body is composed of four elements, which gives us suffering but can also help us. We have the worlds of Space - All material things, the sun, moon, and stars. Let's go back to "Pubbakata". Followers of this religion believed in past karma. They believed your PAST karma only gives you re-birth. They also believed in God without accident. If you thought you were born with bad karma, were poor, and had a hard or bad life, then you believed that you could do nothing about your condition. However in Buddhism, we believe in PRESENT karma. We have a past, present, and future. Buddha could not accept only the past as a condition for our future. Buddha said you should believe in your own karma. In Buddhist Philosophy, if the teacher is looking for a student, that is bad. If the student is looking for a teacher, that is good. This doesn't mean that Buddha wasn't compassionate. It's just he didn't want to force his views on others, as Buddhism is difficult to learn. And certainly, if someone tries to push religion on you, you will surely runaway! The Buddha said that the ones who wanted to be Buddhist monks should be like a tigers. You must be brave, and be able to travel in the night without a torch. You must be able to avoid human beings and live in the forest. This doesn't mean you have to have a black or blank mind. Monks must have the determination of a tiger. If you want to meditate for 6 hours to contemplate and gain wisdom, you must be strong like a tiger - preferable a Bengal or Thai tiger! When some of you here created the Unibuds organisation, you must have been like an echidna or porcupine. When porcupines in winter need warmth, they lean against each other. But the spikes hurt each other, and they feel pain, but they want warmth even more. So even warmth gets pain! When you help each other with your study you have pain. But it is still good for you! I like to compare Buddhist people in a positive way with butterflies. Butterflies mean everything nice and people love butterflies in my home country Thailand. Caterpillars are considered ugly in Thailand. You will have seen them yourself here! We like butterflies, because they are so beautiful. - When you practise Buddhism, you can change from a caterpillar and fly away as a butterfly! And when you die, you will still decorate the world like butterflies. Sometimes we can compare ourselves like a terribly hot volcano, with snow outside. You need to be very calm on the outside even if a volcano or fire exists on the inside ! You see the mountain very far away, and it looks so beautiful, yet on the inside it may be boiling. We need to be like the mountain. If you want to learn Buddhism, you just have to try. Just like you learn how to cook. Then you must try your own cooking. If you have learned well, then you will cook well. Don't forget you have to eat what you cook! Just like in Buddhism, you have to work hard to practise, and perhaps then you can gain a good understanding. People worry about the Greenhouse Effect, Greenpeace, and the Japanese killing whales. We have everything, diseases, and pollution. Maybe the world will end soon. But if we understand the dhamma, we can accept the changes and realise our karma will look after us. This does not mean we should pollute the world, or not worry if we fail our exams. It does not mean we should be lazy and excuse ourselves by saying we believe in Buddhism. We should understand dhamma and always try to do the right thing. Some people complain all the time - they say that they help their friends so much but no-one helps them. They tell me this one is bad, and that one is bad. I don't know who is right or who is wrong. But we should try not to complain or gossip about others. We must have loving kindness towards others, and towards everyone. We must have faith in the Buddha and Jesus Christ. Buddha emphasised that you should practise - and not worship people or statues. If you practise by yourself I'm happy. But I'm not happy if you say "Buddha you are a very smart and a Great One!" Q1 : Phra Senah is it wrong to take genes out of one animal and put them in another ? A1 : This question is hard to answer. Are you killing any living beings ? You must have wisdom. We are not supposed to destroy the world. You have to think carefully about what results it might bring. When we go to the bathroom and turn on the hot or cold water, even then we produce different effects. If you make some products or you kill others, and you just want to sell these things for your own benefit, then this is no good for any of us. Otherwise its effects will be like CFCs to the Ozone layer! ---------------------------------- Phra Senah ordained in Thailand 10 years ago and while in Sydney, is based at the Wat Buddharangsee Temple at 88 Stanmore Rd. Stanmore. Abridgement of the Dhamma talk given on Friday, May 21st 1993 at the UNSW as reported by Mike Kiddle. Friday Dhamma Talks between 7pm - 8.30pm are conducted regularly by the Unibuds through out the year, and are open to all students and the general public.