Spritual Renaissance

Domestic Violence. Wife battery. Those were the initial thoughts occupying Venerable Chang-Hwa's mind one day when she was attending to a lady devotee who seemed visibly shaken at the Buddhist Temple she was stationed, not long after her ordainment as a Buddhist nun under the late Venerable Grand Master Sheng Yen. “What did Shi Fu teach us under this circumstance?”

She continued to stall for time while churning her mind trying to look for an appropriate response. Meanwhile, she learned that their children knew about the incident as well. "That's not good," she reasoned.

Then the question followed naturally. “Why did he hit you?”

“Well, he likes to donate to orphanages and welfare homes. And I always nag him as it's like throwing away good money.”

“Huh?”. And after a palpable sigh of relief, Venerable Chang-Hwa was in her elements. “Do you know what great blessings your husband have accrued by giving to others? It's a tremendous act of kindness that should invite praise, not criticism. You're indeed blessed to have him as your husband whom you should cherish.”

After a brief moment of bewilderment, the woman's face beamed. That's how a change of perspective can tip the emotional balance from utter outrage to gratitude.

The above anecdote is just one of many that Venerable Chang-Hwa shared with us on Jan 24, 2010 in Clearwater, a Dharma session organized by Brother Peter and Sister Nancy Kau on behalf of the Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association (DDMBA).

Entitled the Art of Letting Go, Venerable Chang-Hwa, who is the Director of the New York Ch'an Meditation, led the attendees through the various pathways toward cultivating inner peace and leading a life that is devoid of cravings, but instead, one filled with compassion and rich with giving that are enshrined in the Living Proposition for the 21th Century as encapsulated in the 5/4 movement of the Mind, a thoughtful legacy from the late Grand Master Sheng Yen who has worked tirelessly to inject tranquility into the daily hustle and bustle of the masses through Buddhist practice and meditation. (The image of the Late Grand Master on the right is taken from the newsletter of the Malaysian Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhism Information Center.

The 5 refers to the five realms, and the 4, virtuous pathways under each of the realms. Captioned as the Spiritual Renaissance, the 5/4 Movement of the Mind has its roots in protecting the four environments (Spiritual, Living, Natural, and Social) that the late Master Sheng Yen first advocated in 1992. The bilingual version of the essence of the 5/4 Movement of the Mind appears below, courtesy of Wify's Chinese calligraphy based on the handouts and the DDMBA website for the English translation:


Fivefold Spiritual Renaissance - A Proposition for Living in the 21st Century

The Four Fields for Cultivating Peace

To uplift the character of humanity, we propose to cultivate:

* Peaceful Mind through being content and having few desires.
* Peaceful Body through diligence and a simple life.
* Peaceful Family through love and respect for each other.
* Peaceful Conduct through peaceful thoughts, words, and actions.

The Four Guidelines for Dealing with Desires

A proposal for calming minds:

* Our needs are few.
* Our desires are many.
* Pursue only what we can and should acquire.
* Never pursue what we can’t and shouldn’t acquire.

The Four Steps for Handling a Problem

A proposal for resolving difficulties in life:

* Face it: Face the problem, do not deny its existence.
* Accept it: Accept the reality; everything happens for a reason.
* Handle it: Take care of things with wisdom, and take care of people with compassion.
* Let it go: Make best efforts to resolve the matter, regardless of its outcome

The Four Practices for Helping Oneself and Others

A proposal for getting along with others:

* Be grateful for favorable and adverse situations that nurture our growth.
* Be thankful for opportunities to offer ourselves to others.
* Be reflective on improving ourselves through meditation, contrition and beginning anew.
* Be inspiring to others through our behavior.

The Four Ways to Cultivate Blessings

A proposal for increasing blessings:

* Recognize our blessings: be content and happy.
* Cherish our blessings: treasure what we have and repay the kindness that we have received.
* Nurture our blessings: share with others and give to those in need.
* Sow the seeds of our blessings: benefit all people with the growth of wisdom and compassion.

They are self-explanatory. The hard part is to embrace them in our daily life, making ourselves the living proof of the spiritual renaissance, one day at a time.

Sister Nancy Kau introducing the Dharma teacher of the Day, Venerable Chang-Hwa.

Venerable Chang-Hwa engagingly answering a question from the floor.

The attentive audience.

A group photo, courtesy of Brother Peter Kau.

A memorable event at the Memorial Service for the Late Master Sheng Yen

Last Sunday, we sped along I-4 in the afternoon, hovering tantalizingly close around the speed limit. A minivan load of seven, me at the helm, was then making its way to Orlando to attend the memorial service for the late Master Sheng Yen. In my rush, I turned into the opposite lane at 408, necessitating a detour and a U-turn to head back to the correct direction, arriving at our destination, the University Inn along E Colonial Drive, late by about ten minutes.

Then I parked at the wrong lot, one owned by a neighboring eatery, and had to move the car to the designated lot while Wify and her entourage made a beeline into the venue first. When I joined the back of the hall several minutes later, the service had already started, the august hall filled with the mind calming chanting of Heart Sutra. Palms joined and eyes closed, I joined the congregation. This was followed by the repeated recitation of Buddha's name, Namo Amitabha, which I participated by silent intonation.

Next up was the slide presentation on the various snapshots of the life of the Master Sheng Yen, right from the time when he was a schoolboy back in China, covering his academic sojourn in Japan and his ascension as a world renowned religious leader, sharing the world stage with many other prominent personalities of the faith such as His Holiness Damai Lama, and standing at the podium of the United Nations addressing the world's heads of government on the issue of world peace and harmony. I recall one anecdote in which his Master admonished him to be a Buddhist teacher, but not a Buddhist scholar.

The simple but solemn memorial service, as Master Sheng Yen would have wanted, concluded with an open session for any attendee who wished to make remarks/observations of the occasion. Amidst several lay followers of Master Sheng Yen who recounted their personal interactions with their beloved Master, two representatives from Orlando-based Buddhist Organizations, Fo Guang Shan and Tzu Chi, also took their turn to express their condolences. It was indeed a heart-warming moment to witness this denomination-transcending participation that augurs well for the continuing flourishing of Buddhism in the area.

The hallmark of simplicity, dignity, and solemnness that announces the purpose of the event.


A composite of some of Master Sheng Yen's sayings on display.

The table-full of publications of Master Sheng Yen dedicated to his immense contribution to Buddhist literature (above and below).



The slide presentation on the life of Master Sheng Yen in progress.


A group photo of the attendees.

Differentiating Among the Four Urges to Have

Continuing from my previous post on Calming the Mind from Master Sheng Yen's book, I Send You My Blessings, this post deals with the Four Urges to Have as he further dissected the social psyche that has muddled our value system despite the advances we have made on the technology front. The flourish of materialism and the rapid upheavals in social structures result in our poor understanding, bordering on ignorance, of the four urges to have: need to have; love to have; able to have; and ought to have.

Instead, oneupmanship and herd mentality become the order of the day. The ensuing social ills are already a foregone conclusion. And in his lucid style, Master Sheng Yen went on to elaborate on the right frame of mind one should bring to bear on each of the urges: the courage, the wisdom, and the serenity to know their differences with clarity.

Need to Have versus Love to Have
Need to Have is meeting a genuine need the absence of which will compromise our continuing existence. It includes both material provisions such as the basic means of food, cloth, and shelter, and equally important, spiritual endowments such as happiness, peace of mind, and compassion, to name just a few.

On the other hand, Love to Have is nothing more than the expression of greed, our covetous nature coming to the fore. In a word, such wanting is superfluous, pandering to our vanity for cosmetic luxury at best. These wants are numerous, and the temptation is formidable. Then again, there are certain wants that are appropriate in the context of etiquette such as presentable attire and technological enhancements that help us to continue functioning in a modern world such as computers and mobile phones. The key word here is aptness in consonance with social norms but not flaunting.

There are really not too many needs that would make a life meaningful. Often it's subjectivity that makes us feel empty, unfulfilled, when we are devoid of them. When faced with a decision, it's easy to confuse the Need to Have and Love to Have. A simple example will suffice here.

When we are well to do, the natural inclination is to acquire things based on our perceived taste like purchasing a new model of shoes even though the ones we have are very much wearable, elevating a Love to Have to becoming the Need to Have. However, when we are financially strapped, we realize that life goes on as usual without having to keep up with the Joneses.

Able to Have versus Ought to Have
Able to Have is met through our efforts, earning and deserving the fruits of our labor. It's well within our capability, and is distinct from forcing the issue with chasing after fame, status, power, and the like. No doubt such social recognitions can be enticing, and have driven many up the social ladder. But wait a minute, do we really have the wherewithal to deserve such accolades? If we have not earned them, or the enabling conditions are inadequate, but we continue to delude ourselves as deserving, we will only end up being miserable and hurt.

As to Ought to have or not, it can be put into context when quoting a popular refrain among the youth of today: I like it, so I ought to have it. This is muddled thinking at its height. Our likes are boundless. Therefore it's imperative to ask ourselves instead: Do I ought to like it? Do I ought to have it? Fame is illusory when it's not due, and wealth is mere ill-gotten gain when it is not earned. Conversely, a deserving case can serve as an motivation.

How to balance these four urges to Have? Master Sheng Yen advised us to start from the environmental protection of the mind, insulating our mind from external pollution and strengthening our inner immunity against encroachments from without. At the same time, rid ourselves of envy, anger, second-guessing, selfishness and similarly negative thoughts that would only aggravate our predicament, and learn to monitor and introspect each arising thought, understanding our Need to Have, and dissipating our Love to Have.

If and when we are able to differentiate among these four urges to have, we will have a clear direction in life toward peace of mind and harmony.

Calming the Mind

We often use the dichotomy between the haves and have-nots to illustrate the chasm dividing the affluence and the destitute present in our society, even internationally. The underlying simmer of the malcontent is all but waiting to flare up given the slightest provocation. Thus, concepts such as spreading the wealth, prospering thy neighbor, affirmative action have emerged to correct such imbalance viewed largely from the standpoint of economics.

While not discounting the potential for remediation of such externally driven measures in social engineering, the Buddhist outlook on life stresses the right views as the foundation of a calm mind as succinctly embodied in the Heart Sutra and eloquently captured in the booklet (in Chinese) translated as I send You My Blessings by Master Sheng Yen who has amalgamated the gems of Buddhist wisdom embodied in the Heart Sutra, the Pu Men Pin and the Greast Compassionate Mantra. These are:

1) The three-generational causality
His Highness Dalai Lama was once asked why those who have committed wrong deeds did not receive karmic retribution while those who have done virtuous deeds have not been showered with karmic blessings, to which he replied, “That is because you don't believe in the past and the future life. When you do, you will realize that all the pieces will fall into place when the apparent injustice is viewed from the totality of the three-generational causality whence your indignation will subside.”

Other than accepting the karmic fruits due to us, the notion of three-generational causality also includes making vows and their attribution, which behooves us to always persevere and do our best regardless of our circumstances.

2) The Pseudo combination of the Four Great Elements
Our life is comprised of five elements, divided into the physical and the spiritual. The physical category refers to our body that is made up of earth, water, fire, and wind. These do not exist before birth, but are formed when we are born, from the fetus to the adult form. The Pseudo combination refers to the continuously evolving state of our body, constantly changing.

In addition to our body, all matters are typified by impermanence, contrasting life and death, possession and loss. Precisely because of the carousel of life, death, possession, and loss, our life continues to grow. Therefore, regardless of whether we are here to receive our karmic dues, or to actualize our vows, we must manage life beneficially by being at ease with ourselves, joyous at what life throws at us, and facing life's challenges come what may.

3) The Emptiness of the Five Aggregates
The Five Aggregates or Skandas (form, sensation, perception, volition, and consciousness) are not intrinsic by themselves. Because of our egos and selfish nature, our life as constituted by the five aggregates is thus formed, and so is the ensuing numerous karmic retributions. However, Buddha knew that life itself is no better than the five aggregates, being plagued by impermanence, constantly shuffling between life and death and changing between thoughts. In this life of mutability, only wisdom remains invariant. Hence, it is admonished in the Heart Sutra that we should use Buddha's wisdom to see through the emptiness of the five aggregates.

However, a great majority of us are blind to the universality of impermanence, ignorant of causality, oblivious to conditional arising, and hence are afflicted by attachment that is manifest in wanting the unnecessary, coveting the undeserving, and chasing after the unattainable. As a consequence, crime abounds, ushering in the next generation of karmic retribution.

Conversely, a man of wisdom would not forcibly acquire things that are beyond him, nor obsess with wishes. If by chance the wish comes true, one would readily give to others in an effort to alleviate others' suffering. This is compassion born out of wisdom, one that puts others' benefits before anything else and one that would ensure absolute peace and harmony.