Category: Chinese Philosophy
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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…
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Diamond Sutra – How to Pray – 金剛經 – 如是祈祷
So far, we have learnt the importance of setting our spiritual intention beyond form, and we also learnt the importance of not following the notions of a self, others, beings, and immortality in our practice. One may ask, without the notion of the self, how can we set our spiritual intention? Careful examination of one’s self…
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Diamond Sutra – The Dissolving of Negative Karma – 金刚经 – 罪业之消灭
This chapter describes the process of letting go negative karma. From individual karma point of view, where everything we experience now is a consequence of our past actions and habits, the experience of attacks and insults from others are the results of our past actions and habits. If, at the moment of experiencing attacks/insults/unpleasant situation,…
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Diamond Sutra – The Setting of Spiritual Intention – 金刚经 – 菩萨发心
In the Buddhist tradition, the most important part of spiritual cultivation is the first step and also the ongoing step – the setting of intention (发心）. As the Chinese Classics describes, the superior man is prudent in the beginning, as an error of millimeter in beginning will eventually lead to an error of thousands of…
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Diamond Sutra – Transcending vs. Enduring Hatred – 金刚经 – 忍辱与超辱
One day, when the Buddha was meditating as a Bodhisattva, king Kaliraja came test the Buddha. He said, ok, now you are practicing the 6 paramitas (charity, precepts, endurance, diligent, concentration, wisdom), let see how enduring and charitable you are! And he start cutting off Buddha’s limbs one by one. The Buddha did not resist, and let Kaliraja…
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Diamond Sutra – There is no Buddha who teach anything – 金刚经 – 没佛说法
Further to the earlier part of the Sutra “Buddha beyond form and appearance” and “There is no Buddha who attained enlightenment“, this chapter further describes that real Buddha cannot be recognized by its specific 32 characteristics in appearance, and that Buddha has not taught anything. While some Buddhist scriptures describe Buddha to have 32 characteristics…
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Diamond Sutra – the mystical presence of this Sutra – 金刚经 – 佛罗汉天人护法与此经同在
When one align to the truth of this Sutra, either through reading, reciting, or sharing, celestial beings will offer their protection and blessings, and one is at one with all Buddhas and their disciples. How can it be so? It is because all Buddhas and teachings arise from the truth of this Sutra, therefore when…
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Diamond Sutra – Buddha’s teacher, Buddha land – 金刚经 – 佛陀的老师，佛土是什么
Further to the early teachings of – There is no Buddha who attained enlightenment, and there is no enlightenment to be attained, this chapter explains that the Buddha did not obtain any teachings from his teachers, and Bodhisattva does not adore any describable Buddha land. For a teaching that can be obtained is not the…
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Diamond Sutra – The 4 levels of Arhat – 金刚经 – 四果罗汉
Arhats are enlightened beings who attained individual liberation in Buddhism. They are 4 levels of Arhats: 1. Srota-apanna (须陀洹) – partial enlightenment, still need 7 returns to earthly life before full liberation 2. Sakrdagamin (斯陀含) – partial enlightenment, still need 1 return to earthly life before full liberation 3. Anagamin (阿那含) – partial enlightenment, no need to return…
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Diamond Sutra – All Buddhas and their Supreme-Enlightenment-Dharma originate from this Sutra – 金刚经 – 一切诸佛，及诸佛阿耨多罗三藐三菩提法，皆从此经出
“All Buddhas and their teachings originate from this Sutra” said the Buddha. The Sutra here, refers to not the printed Sutra, nor the spoken or written words, nor the teachings therein, but to the historical and on-going source of all the above. The Sutra here, refers to the realization that Mahakasyapa had when Buddha raised the Lotus…