Category: Buddhist
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Online Class – foundation course completed – 网上课程 – 基础课程完成
Dear readers, After 26 months of discussion and exploration, we have finally completed our online discussion on the core teachings of the three great classics in Chinese Civilization. With the focus on personal and spiritual cultivation, we first learnt about the transcendental reality and the way towards it from Laozi’s Daodejing. After understanding our…
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Diamond Sutra – All phenomena are like a dream – 金刚经 – 一切有为法，如梦幻泡影
With every beginning this is an end. After 9 months of exploration and discussion, we have finally come to the end of this classic. In this last chapter, the Buddha reiterates the blessings of following and sharing this sutra, and reminds us again that we should not attached to various forms when sharing the wisdom…
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Diamond Sutra – perceive, see, believe, understand as such – 金刚经 – 如是知，如是见，如是信解，不生法相
When the Buddha about to conclude this sutra, he tested his student Subuti and asked: “when someone talk of the notions of self, others, living beings, and immortality, does s/he understand what i teach?” Subhuti answered: “no, because these notions too, are merely names and mental conceptualization, are not to be attached, and not to…
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Diamond Sutra – the limitless universe – 金刚经 – 一合相
In advanced meditative state, one sees the limitless universe. Is this real? Is it the end? Some arrives there and claim it is so. The Buddha says in this chapter: despite of its magnificence and splendor, it is not the ultimate, as when we attach ourselves with it, we becomes and limits to it. Therefore…
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Diamond Sutra – Buddha can neither come nor go – 金刚经 – 无所从来，亦无所去，故名如来。
Tathagata in Chinese is “如来”, which means “as is”, or “as is originally is”. This “original is” is a state prior to all mentalizations and descriptions, and is beyond the descriptions of coming and going, sitting or lying, a he or a she, etc, which are identifications built on the notions of time and space,…
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Diamond Sutra – Bodhisattvas do not receive reward for their merits – 金刚经 – 菩萨不受福德故
There is virtue in practicing charity, which follows the law of karma (law of attraction); Ordinary people claims the virtue as theirs, which reinforces and continues the “self” and its way of life; Bodhisattva dedicates the virtue for the well-being, fulfillment, growth, transcendence, and liberation of themselves and all beings. * * * 不受不贪分第二十八 NO GREED AND…
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Diamond Sutra – understanding can be sudden, which sweeps away all mental blockages, practice is not sudden, which get perfected in stages – 金刚经 – 理即顿悟,乘悟并消；事非顿除,因次第尽
After expounding that real Buddha is beyond image and sound, the all compassionate Buddha reminds us that real Buddha does not mean no image and no sound either, and that we should not satisfy with just the proper understanding of truth and should diligently practice it in our life. Why did the Buddha say so?…
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Diamond Sutra – Buddha is beyond image and sound – 金刚经 – 若以色见我，以音声求我，是人行邪道，不能见如来
Further to our earlier discussion “Buddha beyond form and appearance” and “Buddha beyond form and no-form“, in this chapter the Buddha reiterates, real Buddha is beyond appearance and sound. If one “sees” or “hears” the Buddha, one has probably been side-tracked. Next time you see or hear something resembling something like the Buddha,…
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Diamond Sutra – the Buddha did not save any living being – 金刚经 – 实无有众生如来度者
Further to his earlier teaching “are we living beings, are we not“, the Buddha reminds Subhuti again in this chapter, “don’t think that I have liberated any being, for if you think so, i will be fallen into the limitation of a self, others, beings, and immortals“. As devoted students of healing and enlightenment, don’t…
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Diamond Sutra – Blessings and Wisdom Beyond Compare – 金刚经 – 福智无比
How much will you contribute to support yourself? How much more would you contribute to support your family? How much more will you contribute for your community, country and the world? If we contribute 10 dollars, we can buy someone a meal; if we contribute 10 million dollars, we can perhaps build a…
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Diamond Sutra – Way to Enlightenment – 金刚经 – 成佛之路
The highest truth and the way to it is revealed in this chapter. If we adopt an open mind and examine carefully what being said, we can see that what the Buddha suggests here – cultivate selflessly all good virtues – is no different from the core message of the founders of all other world’s…
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Diamond Sutra – there is really no Dharma to gain – 金刚经 – 得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提，为无所得
In a typical learning process, we receive some information, digest it intellectually or follow it experimentally, then it become part of us as an integrated part of our life. Very often, we consider it a gain after we learn something. However, in this sutra, after telling us that there is really no Dharma to teach, and…
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Derek’s Approach – update – 教学方案 – 更新
No self is the Dao, no self and no “no self”; Proper awareness is the Buddha, and there is no such thing as proper awareness; Charity is the Superior Man, who proceeds in middle of Confucianism Daoism and Buddhism. 无我就是道，无我无无我； 正觉就是佛，正觉非正觉； 布施是君子，儒佛道中行。 http://lisiming.net/study-with-derek/dereks-approach/无我就是道，无我无无我； 正觉就是佛，正觉非正觉； 布施是君子，儒佛道中行。 http://lisiming.net/zh/study-with-derek/dereks-approach/
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Diamond Sutra – Are we living beings? Are we not? – 金刚经 – 彼非众生，非不众生
After learning the highly profound yet seemingly paradoxical teachings from the Buddha, Subhuti couldn’t help but ask the Buddha, based on our limited wisdom, can we as living beings develop faith to accept and follow these teachings? The Buddha, possessing the perfect 5 eyes which penetrate all truths, see that there is the potential of falling…
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Diamond Sutra – there is really no Dharma to teach – 金刚经 – 说法者，无法可说，是名说法
There is really no Dharma to teach, said the Buddha. Does it sound familiar to Chapter 1 of Laozi’s Daodejing (whatever spoken is not the real and everlasting Dao)? If the two masters met, i imagine there will be a smile of mutual recognition! But the Buddha put it out more seriously in this chapter,…
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Diamond Sutra – Is there merit? Is there no merit? – 金刚经 – 福德有实，福德无？
In chapter 8 of this Sutra, the Buddha said blessings of sharing this Sutra far surpass that of any worldly offerings. Is it really so? Can we acquire this great merit or huge blessings for sharing the wisdom of this Sutra? The Buddha continues in this chapter: if the real merit can be described, it…
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Diamond Sutra – Neither the past, the present nor the future mind can be found – 金刚经 – 过去心不可得，现在心不可得，未来心不可得
After learning that the Buddha possesses 5 eyes, which penetrate different levels of truth of this world, the Buddha explains how this penetration works. He explained, there are many worlds he sees, as numerous as the sands in the Ganges River, and there are many beings in each of these numerous worlds with different minds. Yet,…
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Diamond Sutra – 5 eyes of the Buddha – 金刚经 – 佛陀有5眼
The Buddha has 5 eyes: 1) Human eyes – what we ordinarily use to see 2) Deva eyes – sight that transcend ordinary time and space 3) Wisdom eyes – mental/psychic discernment that aligns with truth 4) Dharma eyes – perception of one’s innate unchanging reality 5) Buddha eyes – perfect perception as the Buddha…
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Diamond Sutra – Real vs. Fake Bodhisattva – 金刚经 – 真假菩萨
We have learnt that there is no Buddha who “obtained” enlightenment, as enlightenment is beyond the notion of something that could be obtained by someone. In this section the Buddha furthers that there is no Bodhisattva who could save any beings. Why? Because the notion of “Bodhisattva” is absence in a real Bodhisattva when carrying…
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Diamond Sutra – Everything is Teaching to Enlightenment – 金剛經 – 一切法皆是佛法
After learning how to set spiritual intention (beyond form) and how to pray (quieting our self), the Buddha reminded us through his own example that enlightenment could not be obtained (as it is beyond the dualistic paradigm of a separate someone who obtain a separate something), there is no teaching which leads one to enlightenment…