Page 36 - 加拿大佛教会湛山精舍杂志季刊第73期

法脈摭實
D HARMA COLLECTION

we all long for. ation from suffering and from unwholesome karma.
It means, furthermore, allowing one’s mind to settle
At this point we all, hopefully, understand that life as in the teachings, thereby fostering emancipation from
such has no beginning and no end, and the forms we dependence on circumstances. Shakyamuni attained
tend to consider real are actually not so. Yet most the great liberation from the fetters of circumstance
of us cultivate the view that one such false form is a by means of his perfect, incomparable enlightenment.
more or less independent entity demarcated by birth Out of great compassion he shared his findings with
and death, around which life structures itself. Only all sentient beings so they may, likewise, set them-
when it has been singled out as one complete se- selves free. All of his teachings are directed toward
quence and designated as life of a person, does it be- this goal. Whoever has entered the path to Bodhi
come one of the countless manifestations in the steam will be able to appreciate the perfume and the fla-
of life. In reality, there is no birth that precedes dura- vor of freedom by means of dharmas along the way.
tion and death. There is nothing there which begins, Buddhadharma answers our questions directly and
nothing that dies. There are only moments follows exhaustively. One of its fundamental teachings em-
one another, the preceding one being the cause of the phasizes the importance of abandoning unwholesome
one which follows; each moment, though unique, is or unskillful actions through our body, speech and
causally connected with the preceding one and with mind, because only in such manner can we abandon
the one which immediately follows. The only reality, bad karma and progress on our path to liberation. As
as far as mind is concerned, is change, and change, one rises from the status of sentient beings to buddha-
and change, without end. We speak of birth and death hood, one’s wisdom and one’s life gradually become
because we get caught up in the wheel of existence. boundless. The mind, freed from obstructions, feels
Because our mind gets caught up in circumstances, comfortable and relaxed, and that is the principle of
there is birth and death, and when circumstances are evolution.
favorable there is happiness, attachment and clinging;
circumstances being unfavorable, there is aversion, Search for Truth has been in the forefront of human
hate and anger. We almost never perceive a given endeavor as far back in history as the available re-
situation as a fabrication produced entirely by our cords allow as to go. What are the results? Modern
own thoughts and feeling. On the contrary, we con- science is effective in the realm of phenomena and in-
sider all of it real, and react to a given situation with tellect, working with the branches, not with the roots.
clinging or with anger; in both cases we sink deeper Philosophers have proposed thought-systems such as
into ignorance. Due to our conceptualizing of what monism, dualism idealism, materialism, liberalism
we experience, we react to circumstances by give and determinism, to name only few, and their ongo-
rise to greed, hatred and ignorance countless times. ing debate has not yielded any plausible conclusion
Each thought forms a new fetter and reinforces the in the realm of metaphysics. Confucius, one of Chi-
old ones, tying together body and mind and we keep na’s most influential thinkers, expounded on relation-
on turning in the wheel of existence without respite. ships between people in general and between society
Our bodies follow our minds; if our minds do not re- and its members in particular, but he did not address
linquish delusion and abide in greed, hatred and ig- man’s relationship to the absolute. These numerous
norance, our bodies will follow our minds and suffer, concepts remain epistemological paradigms of little
endlessly repeating the cycle of birth and death. In real value in terms of providing a method of dealing
this manner countless karmas are produced. with the great matter of life and death.

Modern understanding of evolution does not address Buddhadharma is the only source that provides a
its full breath. The only real evolution means liber- method together with the teaching. Why is it that

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