Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Manjushri Puja
There will be a Manjushri Puja on September 29, Saturday, at 4:30pm - 5:30pm at PCCI Library.
"Anger Solves Nothing"
Public Talk on Modern Buddhism
Public Talk on Modern Buddhism - Ancient Wisdom in a Modern World
6 December 2012, Hong Kong
The teachings of Buddha reveal how to find pure happiness through developing deep peace within our own mind. In the text ‘Modern Buddhism’ Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso has presented these teachings in a way that makes it easy for modern people to gain experience of the profound path to inner peace.
Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong, General Spiritual Director of the New Kadampa Tradition – International Kadampa Buddhist Union, will share her practical experience from the Modern Buddhism teachings and guide us on how to follow these instructions and apply them into our lives.
The Public Talk registration is now open. To facilitate us to process the registrations, please register online. For registration and details, please visit KMC Hong Kong's website:
http://www.meditation.hk/en/courses/Modern-Buddhism-Ancient-Wisdom-in-a-Modern-World/
Asian Festival - A World of Loving Kindness
Blessing Empowerment of Buddha Maitreya
7 - 11 December 2012, Hong Kong
The Asian Festival is a precious opportunity for friends from all over Asia to receive spiritual advice and enjoy a spiritual holiday. Everyone is welcome. This year, we have the good fortune to receive the Blessing Empowerment of Buddha Maitreya and the Teachings on Loving Kindness from Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong.
Buddha Maitreya is the Buddha of Loving Kindness and the source of Kadam Lamrim. From these precious teachings, we can learn the three aspects of love and begin to practice them in our busy daily lives. Through our own experience we will understand how keeping a loving heart makes us happy and is the best protection from problems and pain. Eventually, through receiving Buddha Maitreya’s blessings continually, we will come to know the most powerful love, that wishes everyone to be happy all the time and works tirelessly towards that goal.
The Asian Festival registration will start at 9:00pm on Sunday 16 September 2012 (Hong Kong time). To facilitate us to process the registrations, please register online. For registration and details, please visit Asian Festival's website:
http://www.kadampafestivalasia.org/en/
Monday, June 11, 2012
June Teaching: Joyful and Meaningful Life
A Warm and Friendly Heart—Affectionate Love
"In general, whenever we see our child, husband, wife or parents a heart-warming feeling of affection naturally arises within us and we hold them dear. But such affection does not arise when we see other sentient beings, especially those who disturb us. If we are to develop true bodhichitta this warm feeling must be extended to embrace everyone. if as a result of long and continual meditation our mind becomes accustomed to looking upon each being with affection and warmth, we have realized this fourth stage in the development of the mind of enlightenment."
Pure Concentration—Abiding in a Tranquil State Free from Distractions
"Bodhichitta and the wisdom directly realizing emptiness are like the two wings of a bird that can carry us to our destination, the ground of enlightenment. To realize emptiness directly, we need to attain tranquil abiding. Without tranquil abiding, our mind is unstable, like a candle flame exposed to the wind, and so we are not able to realize clearly and directly realization of emptiness. It is not just the direct realization of emptiness that depends upon tranquil abiding; we also need tranquil abiding to attain spontaneous realizations of renunciation and bodhichitta..."
The Supreme Good Heart—The Wish to Benefit Others
"Bodhichitta is the supreme good heart. This profoundly compassionate mind is the very essence of spiritual training. Developing the good heart of bodhichitta enables us to perfect our virtues, solve all our problems, fulfill all our wishes, and develop the power to help others in the most appropriate and beneficial ways. Bodhichitta is the best friend we can have and the greatest quality we can develop."
Increasing Concentration and Wisdom—Seeing the Real Nature of Things
Emptiness is not nothingness but is the real nature of phenomena; it is the way things really are. Emptiness is the way things exist as opposed to the way they appear. We naturally believe that the things we see around us, such as tables, chairs, and houses, are truly existent because we believe that they exist in exactly the way that they appear. However, the way things appear to our senses is deceptive and completely contradictory to the way in which they actually exist. Things appear to exist from their own side, without depending upon our mind.
Although things appear directly to our senses to be truly, or inherently, existent, in reality all phenomena lack true, or inherent, existence...If we dream of an elephant, the elephant appears vividly in all its detail—we can see it, hear it, smell it, and touch it—but when we wake up we realize that it was just an appearance to mind. We do not wonder, 'Where is the elephant now?', because we understand that it was simply a projection of our mind and had no existence outside our mind. When the dream awareness that apprehended the elephant ceased, the elephant did not go anywhere—it simply disappeared, for it was just an appearance to the mind and did not exist separately form the mind. Buddha said that same is true for all phenomena; they are mere appearances to mind, totally dependent upon the minds that perceive them.
...Notwithstanding their real nature, we are fooled by appearances, and grasp at...tables, bodies and worlds as truly existent. This grasping mind is self-grasping. The result of grasping at phenomena in this way is that we develop self-cherishing, attachment, hatred, jealousy, and other delusions, our mind becomes agitated and unbalanced, and our inner peace is destroyed.
To understand how all phenomena are empty of true, or inherent, existence, we should consider our own body. Once we have understood how our body lacks true existence, we can easily apply the same reasoning to other objects."
"In general, whenever we see our child, husband, wife or parents a heart-warming feeling of affection naturally arises within us and we hold them dear. But such affection does not arise when we see other sentient beings, especially those who disturb us. If we are to develop true bodhichitta this warm feeling must be extended to embrace everyone. if as a result of long and continual meditation our mind becomes accustomed to looking upon each being with affection and warmth, we have realized this fourth stage in the development of the mind of enlightenment."
Pure Concentration—Abiding in a Tranquil State Free from Distractions
"Bodhichitta and the wisdom directly realizing emptiness are like the two wings of a bird that can carry us to our destination, the ground of enlightenment. To realize emptiness directly, we need to attain tranquil abiding. Without tranquil abiding, our mind is unstable, like a candle flame exposed to the wind, and so we are not able to realize clearly and directly realization of emptiness. It is not just the direct realization of emptiness that depends upon tranquil abiding; we also need tranquil abiding to attain spontaneous realizations of renunciation and bodhichitta..."
The Supreme Good Heart—The Wish to Benefit Others
"Bodhichitta is the supreme good heart. This profoundly compassionate mind is the very essence of spiritual training. Developing the good heart of bodhichitta enables us to perfect our virtues, solve all our problems, fulfill all our wishes, and develop the power to help others in the most appropriate and beneficial ways. Bodhichitta is the best friend we can have and the greatest quality we can develop."
Increasing Concentration and Wisdom—Seeing the Real Nature of Things
Emptiness is not nothingness but is the real nature of phenomena; it is the way things really are. Emptiness is the way things exist as opposed to the way they appear. We naturally believe that the things we see around us, such as tables, chairs, and houses, are truly existent because we believe that they exist in exactly the way that they appear. However, the way things appear to our senses is deceptive and completely contradictory to the way in which they actually exist. Things appear to exist from their own side, without depending upon our mind.
Although things appear directly to our senses to be truly, or inherently, existent, in reality all phenomena lack true, or inherent, existence...If we dream of an elephant, the elephant appears vividly in all its detail—we can see it, hear it, smell it, and touch it—but when we wake up we realize that it was just an appearance to mind. We do not wonder, 'Where is the elephant now?', because we understand that it was simply a projection of our mind and had no existence outside our mind. When the dream awareness that apprehended the elephant ceased, the elephant did not go anywhere—it simply disappeared, for it was just an appearance to the mind and did not exist separately form the mind. Buddha said that same is true for all phenomena; they are mere appearances to mind, totally dependent upon the minds that perceive them.
...Notwithstanding their real nature, we are fooled by appearances, and grasp at...tables, bodies and worlds as truly existent. This grasping mind is self-grasping. The result of grasping at phenomena in this way is that we develop self-cherishing, attachment, hatred, jealousy, and other delusions, our mind becomes agitated and unbalanced, and our inner peace is destroyed.
To understand how all phenomena are empty of true, or inherent, existence, we should consider our own body. Once we have understood how our body lacks true existence, we can easily apply the same reasoning to other objects."
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