This is an article I wrote for one Chinese member. She was
very confused and questioned me. Before she was a Christian, but
then she wanted to join the temple and she was puzzled and
confused. She did not know how to free herself from confusion
and guilt.
I'd like to share this, because some of our students are also
from different backgrounds and now they are in the Buddhist
temple.
I just told her that to have a religion, or to have a faith, is
in order to liberate and to purify the mind. To cultivate this
freedom in the mind and to have it in control.
Lots of people believe in God. What is God? What does God mean?
God is beauty. God is compassion. God is wisdom. God is reality.
We are Christian and we are Buddhist, but no matter what
teaching you believe in, the truth is only one. It does not
matter that your understanding of the truth is a different
version to mine. Both are human versions, ordinary versions of
the truth, not the truth itself.
That is not the truth that Jesus Christ tried to tell us. That
is not the truth the Buddha tried to tell us. No matter how hard
they tried, they could not get the message to us, because we do
not have the Christ mind or the Buddha mind. Because we don't
get what the truth is, we think religions are different, that
some are higher or lower and we fight against each other. That
is wrong. That is because we don't have a clear mind.
From the defiled mind everyone has a different version of the
truth. So now our point is, not to change to a religion of a
different name, or adopt a different faith or to change to a
different God. We need to make it all one within us.
Everyone has the potential for that oneness, that clearness,
that openness of mind. That is the purpose of religions. It is
okay to have many names for different religions and different
faiths, but we have to realize that religion itself is not the
truth. It's okay to have different methods and ways, but don't
cling to the methods or cling to the ways. Ways and methods are
not the truth, they only help us to realize the truth.
If you are Christian and you are defiled you cannot see the
Lord. If you are Buddhist and you are not selfless then you
cannot see Buddha.
With this kind of defiled mind you try to fight against each
other's religions, but in doing so, you move away from God, away
from Buddha. You are not going to be close to God or close to
Buddha if you are fighting or in conflict.
If you are a Christian and you cultivate that great love towards
sentient beings, then the Lord is in you. If you are Buddhist
and you cultivate that selflessness and egolessness, then Buddha
is in you.
No matter what religion you have, your obstacles are ignorance
and attachment. So don't take religions wrongly. Religion is
only for you to balance this mind, to clear this mind, to free
this mind.
If any religion cannot bring you this peace of mind, then you
cannot blame the religion. It's not the religion that makes you
confused. It's because you don't know that the problem is within
your own mind. You don't have the right attitude, the right view
from inside out. You need to balance this mind away from the
extreme.
People chant the Buddha's name. What is the Buddha's name
practice for? It is to cultivate awareness, cultivate
mindfulness, cultivate enlightenment. When Buddhist chant the
compassion mantra, it is to cultivate the great compassionate
heart. When we prostrate to the Buddha, its because we want to
cultivate that tender heart, that humble mind, that soft heart.
If you don't pray, God will not punish you If you don't bow,
Buddha will not punish you, because the God and the Buddha, are
selfless, they are kind and fair and gentle and that means the
punishment is not from them. Punishment is from the ignorant
mind.
Students ask: How can I have two religions?
If you think of two Gods, you are not clear and open and honest.
What is serving the Lord? Serving the lord is simply the
cultivation of honesty, kindness, fairness and clarity. If you
have an open and clear mind, you serve the Lord Jesus or serve
the Buddha, by always being just, kind, gentle and compassionate
and there is no contradiction at all.
If you go to church or go to the temple, it is in order to
cultivate that selfless devotion and afterwards when you leave
the church or the temple, you are going to be more open minded
more joyful, because that teaching is going to help you to be
connected with more people and more love and more understanding.
I have faith but I am not the faith. My faith is not the truth
yet.
We still have ego and so we are one-sided. We are still
narrow-minded we are still 'I'. Until one day when there will be
no 'I' and we will be in harmony with all the sentient beings
and then you see the truth.
Many people think that they understand the teachings, but when
you are learning, it is not necessarily what the teacher intends
to teach you. The teacher realizes the teaching and he tries to
tell you, but if you are not at his level of insight, you don't
quite get it, because it is your own interpretation of the
teachings.
You need to purify the mind, because the real teacher is your
own purity.
What is important is not the teaching, what is important is the
mind.
If you have that open state of mind, teaching is everywhere,
teaching is in the birds singing, teaching is in the sunshine,
teaching is in the moonlight, because when you have a clear
mind, you realize the reality and you do not have ignorance in
you.
Now we teach and we think: 'This is the truth!', but no,
learning is not from hearing, its not from reading, it is from
the mind. Teaching is only for you to cultivate the enlightened
mind and after you have cultivated this mind you will realize
that you have the wisdom within you and that everybody has the
same.
Feeling is important, but feelings can be biased. If your mind
is open feeling is reality. The concept of mind can be confusing
because people use this word In various ways. When we speak of
the mind, we have to use another adjective to describe it. The
enlightened mind is reality.
Now the mind has many imprints and we have conditioned minds. We
have love. We have hate. If we have love, we have hate, but
actually the mind should not have love or hate, but should flow
into reality and into whatever is superior.
Compassion has no extreme, no hate, no love, but is just
whatever is needed, whatever is required. Before I meet you, I
don't think: 'Oh I must help you', but when I see you, I help
you and when I leave you, I don't think about it. Compassion is
spontaneous.
I'm sure Jesus Christ and the Lord Buddha tried very hard to
teach us this, but generally people don't understand it, because
we still have conditioned minds now. We want to make love
stronger than hate, but if you attach to one thing you attach to
the opposite because of the conditioning of our minds.
If you believe in God, you are going to be saved, is what we are
told.
What is God? God is justice, God is fairness, God is kindness,
God is no self. You think that if you believe in God, you'll be
saved. What is saved? It means you are free from anger, you're
free from hatred, you're free from injustice, you're free from
torture and suffering and free of ignorance. All the suffering
is from the mind. I'm sure God and Buddha never punished.
Punishment is from inside ourselves.
For example, if I am loaded with a plan, I won't be very
flexible. If I don't have any plan, I will be flexible. If I
have a plan I punish myself because I won't accept anyone else's
plan. Whereas with an open mind, you flow into the reality and
that reality is mind.
When you flow into the reality, the new mind is fresh, unique
and wholesome again. Now we are loaded with many imprints and
perspectives that are blocking this reality.
My point is, don't let the teachings, don't let the names, don't
let the labels, don't let the dogma or doctrines, separate us.
We should not be separate from Muslims, we should not be
separate from Christians, we should not be separate from the
traditional shamans and healers.
We should become more as one, because all the teachings are
intended to bring us together.
There is no need for teaching. If we need teaching now, it's
because we are ignorant and need some guidance, but don't study
too many teachings and block your clarity. The teaching doesn't
need to exist. The heart's openness is the point.
If I point my finger to the moon, don't look at my finger, look
at the moon.
You can learn from the sky, you can learn from animals, you can
learn from anything. You learn in order to purify your mind so
that you can find the Lord and you can find Buddha within you.
And that is religion.
(Venerable MAN YA is Abbesses of Nan Hua, South Africa's Fo Guang San Monastery, 2001 -2003)
very confused and questioned me. Before she was a Christian, but
then she wanted to join the temple and she was puzzled and
confused. She did not know how to free herself from confusion
and guilt.
I'd like to share this, because some of our students are also
from different backgrounds and now they are in the Buddhist
temple.
I just told her that to have a religion, or to have a faith, is
in order to liberate and to purify the mind. To cultivate this
freedom in the mind and to have it in control.
Lots of people believe in God. What is God? What does God mean?
God is beauty. God is compassion. God is wisdom. God is reality.
We are Christian and we are Buddhist, but no matter what
teaching you believe in, the truth is only one. It does not
matter that your understanding of the truth is a different
version to mine. Both are human versions, ordinary versions of
the truth, not the truth itself.
That is not the truth that Jesus Christ tried to tell us. That
is not the truth the Buddha tried to tell us. No matter how hard
they tried, they could not get the message to us, because we do
not have the Christ mind or the Buddha mind. Because we don't
get what the truth is, we think religions are different, that
some are higher or lower and we fight against each other. That
is wrong. That is because we don't have a clear mind.
From the defiled mind everyone has a different version of the
truth. So now our point is, not to change to a religion of a
different name, or adopt a different faith or to change to a
different God. We need to make it all one within us.
Everyone has the potential for that oneness, that clearness,
that openness of mind. That is the purpose of religions. It is
okay to have many names for different religions and different
faiths, but we have to realize that religion itself is not the
truth. It's okay to have different methods and ways, but don't
cling to the methods or cling to the ways. Ways and methods are
not the truth, they only help us to realize the truth.
If you are Christian and you are defiled you cannot see the
Lord. If you are Buddhist and you are not selfless then you
cannot see Buddha.
With this kind of defiled mind you try to fight against each
other's religions, but in doing so, you move away from God, away
from Buddha. You are not going to be close to God or close to
Buddha if you are fighting or in conflict.
If you are a Christian and you cultivate that great love towards
sentient beings, then the Lord is in you. If you are Buddhist
and you cultivate that selflessness and egolessness, then Buddha
is in you.
No matter what religion you have, your obstacles are ignorance
and attachment. So don't take religions wrongly. Religion is
only for you to balance this mind, to clear this mind, to free
this mind.
If any religion cannot bring you this peace of mind, then you
cannot blame the religion. It's not the religion that makes you
confused. It's because you don't know that the problem is within
your own mind. You don't have the right attitude, the right view
from inside out. You need to balance this mind away from the
extreme.
People chant the Buddha's name. What is the Buddha's name
practice for? It is to cultivate awareness, cultivate
mindfulness, cultivate enlightenment. When Buddhist chant the
compassion mantra, it is to cultivate the great compassionate
heart. When we prostrate to the Buddha, its because we want to
cultivate that tender heart, that humble mind, that soft heart.
If you don't pray, God will not punish you If you don't bow,
Buddha will not punish you, because the God and the Buddha, are
selfless, they are kind and fair and gentle and that means the
punishment is not from them. Punishment is from the ignorant
mind.
Students ask: How can I have two religions?
If you think of two Gods, you are not clear and open and honest.
What is serving the Lord? Serving the lord is simply the
cultivation of honesty, kindness, fairness and clarity. If you
have an open and clear mind, you serve the Lord Jesus or serve
the Buddha, by always being just, kind, gentle and compassionate
and there is no contradiction at all.
If you go to church or go to the temple, it is in order to
cultivate that selfless devotion and afterwards when you leave
the church or the temple, you are going to be more open minded
more joyful, because that teaching is going to help you to be
connected with more people and more love and more understanding.
I have faith but I am not the faith. My faith is not the truth
yet.
We still have ego and so we are one-sided. We are still
narrow-minded we are still 'I'. Until one day when there will be
no 'I' and we will be in harmony with all the sentient beings
and then you see the truth.
Many people think that they understand the teachings, but when
you are learning, it is not necessarily what the teacher intends
to teach you. The teacher realizes the teaching and he tries to
tell you, but if you are not at his level of insight, you don't
quite get it, because it is your own interpretation of the
teachings.
You need to purify the mind, because the real teacher is your
own purity.
What is important is not the teaching, what is important is the
mind.
If you have that open state of mind, teaching is everywhere,
teaching is in the birds singing, teaching is in the sunshine,
teaching is in the moonlight, because when you have a clear
mind, you realize the reality and you do not have ignorance in
you.
Now we teach and we think: 'This is the truth!', but no,
learning is not from hearing, its not from reading, it is from
the mind. Teaching is only for you to cultivate the enlightened
mind and after you have cultivated this mind you will realize
that you have the wisdom within you and that everybody has the
same.
Feeling is important, but feelings can be biased. If your mind
is open feeling is reality. The concept of mind can be confusing
because people use this word In various ways. When we speak of
the mind, we have to use another adjective to describe it. The
enlightened mind is reality.
Now the mind has many imprints and we have conditioned minds. We
have love. We have hate. If we have love, we have hate, but
actually the mind should not have love or hate, but should flow
into reality and into whatever is superior.
Compassion has no extreme, no hate, no love, but is just
whatever is needed, whatever is required. Before I meet you, I
don't think: 'Oh I must help you', but when I see you, I help
you and when I leave you, I don't think about it. Compassion is
spontaneous.
I'm sure Jesus Christ and the Lord Buddha tried very hard to
teach us this, but generally people don't understand it, because
we still have conditioned minds now. We want to make love
stronger than hate, but if you attach to one thing you attach to
the opposite because of the conditioning of our minds.
If you believe in God, you are going to be saved, is what we are
told.
What is God? God is justice, God is fairness, God is kindness,
God is no self. You think that if you believe in God, you'll be
saved. What is saved? It means you are free from anger, you're
free from hatred, you're free from injustice, you're free from
torture and suffering and free of ignorance. All the suffering
is from the mind. I'm sure God and Buddha never punished.
Punishment is from inside ourselves.
For example, if I am loaded with a plan, I won't be very
flexible. If I don't have any plan, I will be flexible. If I
have a plan I punish myself because I won't accept anyone else's
plan. Whereas with an open mind, you flow into the reality and
that reality is mind.
When you flow into the reality, the new mind is fresh, unique
and wholesome again. Now we are loaded with many imprints and
perspectives that are blocking this reality.
My point is, don't let the teachings, don't let the names, don't
let the labels, don't let the dogma or doctrines, separate us.
We should not be separate from Muslims, we should not be
separate from Christians, we should not be separate from the
traditional shamans and healers.
We should become more as one, because all the teachings are
intended to bring us together.
There is no need for teaching. If we need teaching now, it's
because we are ignorant and need some guidance, but don't study
too many teachings and block your clarity. The teaching doesn't
need to exist. The heart's openness is the point.
If I point my finger to the moon, don't look at my finger, look
at the moon.
You can learn from the sky, you can learn from animals, you can
learn from anything. You learn in order to purify your mind so
that you can find the Lord and you can find Buddha within you.
And that is religion.
(Venerable MAN YA is Abbesses of Nan Hua, South Africa's Fo Guang San Monastery, 2001 -2003)
