I tried a new approach to meditation in today's session, it being the 13th of the now monthly Dharma session organized by Middle Way Buddhist Association and held at its Pinellas Park venue. Previously, I have been using the Breath method, concentrating on the inhaling and exhaling to focus the mind, with some success. Then I read in Daniel Goleman's The Meditative Mind (Putnam Book, 1988, pg. 186) that “some of the most widely used concentrative meditations employ mantras as the objects of focus.” It cited “Om Mane Padme Hum”, a pithy Buddhist mantra, as an example. And that was what I did, today.Effect-wise, it wasn't much different from the Breath method as random thoughts and pieces of sounds picked up by my hearing still wandered in and out of my mind, breaking up my silent chanting in the process. But I heeded the lessons that I have been taught: let the thoughts and the sounds make their way through, and gently bring the mind back to the mantra chanting.
I think I began to lose track of the time toward the later part of the meditation session, until I heard the chime signaling the end of the session. Reluctantly, I reentered the physical world to attend the Dharma talk by Bhante Dhammawansha that ensued. Calling it a discussion rather, Bhante said the time for Dharma discussion is auspicious, timely, fortunate, precious, and beneficial. So was the Dharma topic today: Great Compassion, or Mahakaruna. This is the Buddhist compassion that knows no limits. Also in Buddhism, wisdom and compassion go hand in hand.
Compassion can be defined simply as the heart warming, even melting, upon seeing suffering, which then precipitates a want to help. Unlike cruelty, it takes efforts to cultivate compassion. For example, most people would just smash a mosquito on one's arm with one's palm without giving it a second thought. A truly compassionate person would have to consciously let go of that killer instinct, and softly shoo the mosquito away. Most may also rationalize their “destructive” action on the “for the greater good” argument that mosquitoes are vectors of debilitating deceases such as Malaria and Dengue Fever. However, Bhante gently reminded us that while animals have single-point poisonous parts (for example, tails of scorpions and fangs of venomous snakes) in their bodies, ours is a whole-body arsenal of poisons. That's food for thought indeed.
So many times we seek and see happiness outside of and around us, but never feel the compassion inside. We must realize that what we see outside are tools to an end, including Dharma. An oft-cited Buddhist analogy is once we have crossed a river in a raft, we don't carry the raft with us but leave it behind for others.
When we practice compassion, there is no place in our mind for cruelty, for jealousy, and all the other negative human emotions. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama humbly proclaims, “My religion is my compassion.”
But as the cliché goes, it's easier said than done. How, then, can we cultivate and develop compassion? Bhante said we can start with doing the little things such as:
1) Do little things for others.
2) Speak kind words.
Then to expand the sphere of and elevate our level of compassion:
3) Realize that we will be helpless and hopeless one day. [Here the discussion shifted to cases of people committing suicide, say through a self-inflicted gun shot, just to escape the situation to which Bhante responded that the last thought that a person leaves this world with is important in determining his/her next life, perhaps one prone to wielding the same weapon to cause harm to others then. An attendee also posited that this very act would deny others the opportunity of giving. The proper thing to do is perhaps not to expect anything in return.]
4) Think everything as impermanent, thus laying a great seed to develop compassion.
5) Know yourself. We need to take care of ourselves first [not in the sense of serving our own needs first, but so that we are in a position to help others].
6) Listen to others' lamentations, hear the crying world.
7) Put ourselves in others' shoes [Brilliant scientists who develop and program mass weapons of destruction (chemical, biological) are likened as people with knowledge but without compassion.]
8) Have a calm, peaceful personality.
At this juncture, the sky started pouring, pelting the roof to a crescendo. It also afforded Bhante the chance to liken the rain to the shower of compassion, removing the desert in the heart just like the rain would make the plants rejoice and flourish.
Adding to the above list, an attendee suggested: think inter-connectedness, to which Bhante offered the term, one brotherhood.
To conclude, Bhante suggested that we keep a journal of good deeds that we have performed on a daily or weekly basis. One such entry could read: Today I smiled back to a person who got angry with me. At the end of the year, a reading of the journal would provide a glimpse into our compassionate journey and also spur us on to aspire to great compassion in the Buddhist sense.
In the midst of discussion, several attendees also touched on the issue of being vegetarians in consonance with the Buddhist precept of no killing, even though Buddha did not decree that one should not consume meat explicitly. As a matter of Buddhist Edict, Buddhism does prohibit eating meat prepared when one has witnessed the killing of the animal, one has heard the killing of he animal, and one has ordered the killing for the meat preparation, or that the animal was killed because of me. Then there are views that merely the act of consuming meat alone, even though it is not in violation of the Buddhist Edict, is tantamount to creating a demand for meat, and the same act is amounting to condoning the killing, or letting others kill for you. Another attendee also pointed to the moral high ground that some self-righteous activists position themselves to judge others. This is a complex, highly charged and emotion-laden human interaction that is surely beyond the ambit of this discussion to resolve. But Bhante's exhortations through the Buddha's words and his teaching are sobering:
“No harm to others because of me.” .... The Buddha
Do not have a differentiating mind.
As usual, the attendees feasted on a vegetarian lunch prepared by the various volunteers during which more exchanges of views, doubts, and explanations took place; but these would remain as private discourses among lay Buddhists since none of us have the “credentials”, as yet, to say one way or the other. But the contents did provide fodder for more self investigation through experiential learning.
A doubling of Wify with Arnold (left), and Sandra (right), two fellow attendees.
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