Buddha-dharma Q and A 2013-10-24

CTTB Abbot Dharma Master Heng Lyu



Question: Is it appropriate that putting Buddha’s images, sutra or mantra on a person’s body who is dying?

DM Lyu: We should be respectful to the Buddha’s image. When someone is dying, it is better to put the Buddha image in front of him so that he is able to contemplate. It is not suitable to put the Buddha image, or sutras and mantras on the dying body, because the body is not clean or pure. Usually we talk about how we should respectfully offer seven jewels and fragrant flowers to Sutra, Buddha image, then how should we put them on a dead body? we should reverently put the Buddha image and sutra where they are supposed to be. It is not that we are not willing to help the dead, but we should do it right.



Question: Could you teach us how to recite the Buddha’s name?



DM Lyu: Na Mo Amituofo. I think what is important is that we should calm down our body and mind at all times, then when we physically and mentally calm down, reciting the Buddha’s name becomes easier. By calming down body and mind means that you keep your body still, and make your breath (Qi) soft and gentle, it is said “A gentle breath brings a peaceful mind.” When your Qi is gentle and your mind is peaceful, the Buddha’s name will spontaneously arise in your mind, which is quite natural. If you mind and body is anxious, mixed-up and nervous, then your Qi is not smooth, then you will be very emotional. You may recite Buddha’s name only once, but your next recitation will be swept away by your discursive thoughts. This is why the Buddha talked about the four places of mindfulness, which are the body, feeling, mind and dharma. You adjust your body and feeling first, then you start reciting the Buddha’ name, this way, your efforts on the mind and dharma will be easily effective.



Question: Could you teach us how to meditate? How to investigate the topic “Who is mindful of the Buddha?”



DM Lyu: The same as what I just mentioned. First, you should adjust your body and Qi (breath) well, so your mind can easily calm down, and then you can start practicing contemplation. If you are used to reciting the Buddha’s name, then when the Buddha’s name arises in your mind, you can contemplate “who is mindful of the Buddha”. If usually you do not recite the Buddha’s name, you can contemplate on “Who is meditating?” “Who is contemplating?” Find the source of your thought, return to the root and then find the origin. This is meditation.



Question: How can we live in the moment?



DM Lyu: Actually our life has no beginning or end. Every present moment is a beginning of new life. If we are able to know this then we should cherish being here and now. Take the example of mindfulness, the body, feeling and thought as a simple illustration. The reason we do not live in the present is that we live in deluded thoughts. If we want to pull ourselves out from such deluded thoughts, we can use the Dharma of mind, feeling and thought, which I just mentioned, to adjust our body, feeling and breath. This way, naturally you will be pulled out from your coarse thoughts. For the remaining subtle thoughts, you should use your own dharma-door to counteract it. If your dharma-door is reciting the Buddha’s name, then you recite the Buddha’s name, if it is holding mantra, then you recite the mantra. By doing so, your mind will be united with the Dharma, and you are able to live in the present.



Question: How can we introduce the twelve causes and conditions to beginners so that they can understand?



DM Lyu: It would be an endless lecture. The lecture on twelve causes and conditions can be long or short. But I will specifically focus on the stages of contact, feeling, love and grasping. Why? Because we all have six sense-faculties, contact becomes very important to us. That plus feeling, love and grasping are stages that we are able to control.



Why is contact very important? We can choose what to come into contact with. Although we cannot fully control this, still we can choose. For example, today by coming to Buddha Hall, we chose a wholesome environment. By wishing for rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, we are making a choice about the place of contact. In all, what we come into contact with is very important for us. Since contact can trigger the seeds of consciousness, it is said that seeds manifest in actions, actions influence and nourish seeds of consciousness. Our seeds of conciseness will trigger actions upon encountering certain conditions; therefore contact will affect us, and it is important. A Chinese saying goes “Those close to the red will turn red, those close to the ink will turn black”, which talks about the same principle. What kind of webpage we browse on internet and what kind of music we listen to will affect us.



Feeling follows after contact and is subject to our choice too. Because right now our body and mind are experiencing all kinds of feelings. Body has the body’s feeling and mind has the mind’s feeling. Just as what I mentioned, if we can adjust to being mindful of body and feeling, we will be able to focus on our breath, which makes our breath gentle and mind peaceful, and allows us to work on the feeling.



However, usually this is hard to control. Whenever a state arrives, all the seeds of consciousness in the past will immediately manifest. In case of the feeling of suffering, the condition for emotional love immediately arises. Love does not only mean like, it also means dislike as well. Love and hate are actually the same thing. When we give rise to a feeling of dislike, we generate two kinds of reaction, with one being opposite the other, “I am angry because this feeling is not what I want.” For example, if somebody scolded me today or the microphone is too loud, I will feel that the sound is very noisy and uncomfortable, so we become repulsed. The repulsive emotion is - “I hate this, I am angry, or I will escape and go away, since I do not want to hear this.” This is the reaction to the feeling of suffering.



You think “This kind of feeling is nice. I like it.” Then the next you do is grasping onto it. How? “I think I like it. I want it.” Wanting something is grasping. Rejecting what you don’t like is also grasping. Grasping starts from a thought of love which unites with the mark of self which then attaches and grasps. Whenever there is an attachment or grasping, the seed of consciousness is planted.



Question: How do we avoid depression in our daily life?



DM Lyu: In terms of science, the reason we get depressed is because malfunction of chemical ingredients, we will get well if we take some medicine.

However, from the perspective of Buddhadharma, it is because of the seeds of consciousness. Because there are too many negative seeds in the field of our consciousness, they will be triggered by conditions. If the cause and conditions of contact are not wholesome, the seeds being triggered will bring the feeling of suffering. Moreover, if we are unable to control our own emotions, we will feel angry for a long time and unable to resist. Since we find no way to escape this, we become depressed. From the perspective of Buddhadharma, the best method I would suggest is that you choose a wholesome environment. Since a pure environment will help you let go of the defiled seeds of consciousness, you could come to the Buddha Hall. Another method I would recommend is being grateful, since gratitude can help us purify the negative seeds.



Question: Sometimes, there are auspicious signs or special states during a dharma assembly. How should we treat these occurrences?



DM Lyu: In the Surangama Sutra, it says that “Do not take it as sagely.” This is all there is to it. If you take it as “I have some states”, then it will be trouble. Therefore we should treat it as ordinary, nothing special. That is all.



Question: When I am reciting mantra or sutra by myself, maybe because I am too sensitive or fearful, I always felt that, somebody or something is standing by me, but actually there is nobody around me. When I recite the Earth Store Sutra, I can feel this. Why is that? How can I stop this feeling?



DM Lyu: Whether we’re visible or invisible beings, we all live together in this world. It is due to affinities that we meet. What is important is that we should be compassionate toward visible or invisible beings, humans, devas and demons. They are all living beings, like Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. If we have such a compassionate heart, everything will become auspicious as you wish. Just as what I mentioned before, compassion is the best lifestyle, and the ideal lifestyle.



Question: How do I become unafraid of ghosts?



DM Lyu: It’s all the same principle – just be compassionate. When you have compassion, everything is auspicious and wish-fulfilling.





Question: How do we break through ignorance, reveal genuine wisdom and return to the proper original mind?



DM Lyu: Starting from body, feeling, mind and dharma, which I just mentioned. Do this one step at a time. This is why when Venerable Ananda asked the Buddha, and the Buddha specifically taught these four steps. Follow this sequence to practice and you will easily get better.





Question: How does one get rid of the hatred toward some people?

DM Lyu: Again, start from compassion. But first we have to be compassionate to ourselves.





Question: I have heard that we are in the Dharma-ending age, how can we practice the proper Dharma in this age?



DM Lyu: The Venerable Master Xuan Hua told us, it is people who propagate Dharma, not Dharma that propagates people. If you have the resolve to uphold the Buddha-dharma, it is proper Dharma; otherwise, it is the Dharma-ending age.





Question: Why are there so many ants, rats and insects in the temple? How can we get rid of them while avoid killing them with chemicals?

DM Lyu: I just mentioned that not only we humans, you and me, live in this world, but spirits, ghosts and other kinds of living beings on lands or in the air all reside in this world. Therefore we should be compassionate to them. We should keep the environment clean, but whether they move away or not is up to them.





Question: I am a volunteer in the temple. Sometimes I ate in the temple but did not pay. Do I owe to the Triple Jewel? Need I pay back in next life?



DM Lyu: Why not just pay off in this life, you don’t have to wait until your next life, since you need pay interests in next life.

Actually I feel that we should do things within our capacity. By working in the temple, you are close to the monastic. Offering to the Triple Jewel indicates your sincerity, and that brings virtue and blessings. However if it is unaffordable to you, then you don’t have to force it, since after all you are working for the temple.





Question: When I check out flowers and fruits in the supermarket, the salesman would smell it. Can we still offer these flowers and fruits to Buddhas?



DM Lyu: Our reverence is the most important. The reason why we said that flowers and fruits that have been smelled cannot be offered to Buddhas, is that we are not respectful. We casually smell them first, then offer to the Buddhas. Actually, when they were growing, many insects and microorganisms already smelled them. So does this mean they cannot be used as offerings? The key point is being respectful.



Question: How do we deal with boxes with the Buddha character or sutra title on them?



DM Lyu: Last time, I read a letter addressed to City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. The person did not dare to write “Buddha”on the paper, so he wrote “Ten Thousand Bs”. We live in City of Ten Thousand Bs.

We should handle them with a respectful mind. It depends on how you use those boxes. If you use them to place Buddhist Texts, then there is no problem. If you use them to place miscellaneous items, then it is better you erase or cover the character “Buddha”. Somebody said that you might cut a hole on the box, but I am afraid it won’t be usable any more. The Buddha taught us to be frugal, but it is better you take off the character if you plan to recycle them, since people doing recycle may discard them on the ground casually, and that is not appropriate.





Question: When we are reciting the Buddha’s name, what is the difference between listening versus visualizing during the recitation? Did Buddha investigate a meditation topic?



DM Lyu: Reciting the Buddha’s name is doing false thinking, by which we can gather in the ear faculty, and focus our mind on the four places of mindfulness. That way, we constantly maintain pure thoughts without discursive thoughts. It is because we are not able to maintain a pure thought, that we need a Dharma-door to work on the mindfulness of Dharma.



Did Buddha investigate a meditation topic? He did. However Buddha is formless, “He has already been a Buddha”, thus he has already returned to his original Buddha-nature, and he is in the Buddha-nature at all times. In terms of Chan, it is “transmitted beyond teachings”. The original source is where there are no words or languages. A mediation topic is also an expedient means for us to return to our original source of purity. In fact we are Buddhas to come in the future, and Buddhas are awakened living beings. It’s that simple.



Question: My mother is very old and her memory is lost, but she keeps crying. Dharma Master, how can I help my mother?



DM Lyu: Make her laugh all the time. In China, there was a Lao Lai Zi who made his parents very happy when they were old. You can learn from Lao Lai Zi and make your parents happy.



Question: I’ve heard that if we recite Great Compassion Mantra five times, Moonlight Mantra seven times, and Sunlight Mantra seven times every day for three years nonstop, then all our karmic obstacles will be eradicated. I however skipped two or three nights without recitation because I was busy. Does that mean I have to restart?



DM Lyu: The starting point is on your mind. How does one eradicate karmic obstacles? By constantly holding mantras in our mind, the karmic obstacles will be eradicated. It is not fixed when you will pay off the karmic obstacles. As long as you keep the right mindfulness all the times, your karmic obstacles are gone. Otherwise, once you lose the right mindfulness, your karmic obstacles will reappear.



Question: How do we educate this and next generation to have the right Dharma-Selecting Eye in studying Buddha-dharma? Some Dharma Master criticized Buddhist associations that renounced practicing the Eight Ways of Paying Respect and agreed to certify same-sex marriage for women, which undermines laws governing traditional opposite-sex marriages. Should CTTB make a serious statement similar in style to Shr Fu’s Vajra-like criticisms?



DM Lyu: I think the point for this issue is we should not fight in our heart. By not fighting, it does not mean that we do not talk about it. We however keep calm and cool inside. We do not get angry, neither do we avoid or escape from it. Then think about it: What were the causes and conditions behind the talk? What were the causes and conditions of the Venerable Master’s talk? What is that “thing” we must make a choice for? Is there such a thing for which we must make a choice? In fact, suffering exists whenever attachment arises.



As for Eight Ways of Paying Respect, we should respect all living beings, like the Never-slighting Bodhisattva did in Dharma Flower Sutra, “Every living being is capable of becoming a Buddha, so I do not dare look lightly upon you.” The same principle applies here. In fact not only should we respect Sangha groups of Bhikkhus, we actually should respect all living beings. For living beings who are attached to emotional love, we should use compassion to regard and treat them. The sea of sufferings is boundless, but a turning around is the other shore. If we understand this, then we will be more calm and peaceful. The Venerable Master was able to do vajra-like criticizing because he knew the causes and conditions at that time. If we speak like that these days, some people may say we are not compassionate. They may wonder: “Well, some states already passed laws allowing this. Why are Buddhists in opposition?” But we know that, as long as one is attached to emotional love, one is planting the cause of suffering. Therefore, no need argue or fight with them. We know where to go, and this is the most important.



Question: I saw a bug caught up in the spider web. Should I rescue it? Since if I save its life, then the spider will be starving. Should we let the food chain work naturally? What should I do? Do we save one and harm the other?



DM Lyu: From the perspective of Buddhadharma, I personally will save the bug, because the bug is suffering. Will the spider die without this meal? Not for sure. However we should not destroy the spider web.



Question: Does taking the five precepts require us to be vegan? Can we eat food containing eggs?



DM Lyu: It is best if you be a vegetarian after taking the precepts. If due to some causes and conditions, you are unable to do so, you can try as much vegan diet as possible. That is my suggestion for you.



Question: He made a vow with his mother so that they go to the Land of Ultimate Bliss together. Thus they recite the Buddha’s name everyday together. Is there an even better method for achieving this goal?



DM Lyu: I think this is very nice. We just talked about the twelve causes and conditions, one of which is the “tangible” condition of “contact”or “touch”. You can select a “tangible” environment where both you and your mother can recite the Buddha’s name together. This willcreate good roots and wholesome seeds of consciousness whereby, in time, you will achieve your goal.



Question: How does Buddhism interpret dreams? We cannot decide or control our dreams, be they good or bad. Are there any dreams that come from the Buddha or a demon?



DM Lyu: We are right now in a dream. The dream during your sleep is just a dream within a dream. It is said in the Vajra Sutra that “All conditioned dharma is like a dream, illusion, bubble and reflection.” Actually when we realize we are having a dream, we will wake up and then find ourselves in another dream. It is the case that we are in layers upon layers of dreams. No matter if it is a bad or good dream, if you can, first, you should be aware that you are in a dream; second, you can work on cultivation in your dream, which is the most important. You can recite the Buddha’s name or recite some mantra in your dream. As for whether it is a Buddha or demon, simply make dedications on their behalf with a compassionate heart.



Question: You just mentioned we should not put a Buddha image or sutras on a dead body. Then can we use a Darani quilt?



DM Lyu: Actually it is not according with Dharma, because when you have mantra on the quilt, you should be respectful, and make offerings with seven jewels, incense or flowers. The dead body will decay and give off smelly odor. Sometimes it even discharges liquids. It is not respectful if you put sutras or mantras on it. We should avoid doing this. Nowadays, in most cases, people use a lotus quilt.

