Understanding the Buddha’s Teachings August 2, 2009
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: bodhisattva, Buddha, buddhism, Dharma talks, Mahayana, Many-Schools Buddhism, Source Buddhism, sutras, Theravada
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On July 26, we read Chapter 5, “Understanding the Buddha’s Teachings” in Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings. Here’s a summary.
Listening to a Dharma talk, our job is not to compare it to our own ideas to see how it measures up and then accept or reject it; we learn nothing that way. Instead, we listen with an open mind and heart so the rain of the Dharma can penetrate the soil of our consciousness, just as the earth opens herself to the rain. A teacher doesn’t give us the truth; the seeds are already in us waiting to be watered.
Before his own realization of the path the Buddha tried various methods of suppressing his mind which did not work. For example: “I thought, Why don’t I grit my teeth, press my tongue against my palate, and use my mind to repress my mind?…As a wrestler might take the head and shoulders of someone weaker than he…I did this. I was bathed in sweat…and I was exhausted by these efforts….I was not able to tame my mind.” He was telling us not to practice this way, but later this passage was distorted and presented as a genuine practice method. We need to look at each sutra in light of the overall body of teachings to determine what might be a solid teaching and what might be incorrect.
There are three streams of teachings:
- Source Buddhism, the teachings the Buddha gave during his lifetime. Even during his lifetime many of the teachings were memorized and conveyed incorrectly. For 300 years after his lifetime, his teachings were transmitted only orally. Only one monk had memorized the entire canon, and after another hundred years he was persuaded to recite them so they could be written on palm leaves.
- Many-Schools Buddhism, 18 or 20 schools, each with its own recension of the Buddha’s teachings, written down in Pali in Sri Lanka. These may be viewed as “threads of a single garment.” Two remain today: the Tamrashatiya canon, the Southern Transmission or “Teachings of the Elders” (Theravada) in Pali; and the Sarvastivada canon in Sanskrit and Prakrit, the Northern Transmission, fortunately accessible because they were translated into Chinese and Tibetan. (The Buddha himself spoke none of these languages; he spoke a local dialect, and there is no record of his teachings in his own language.)
- Mahayana Buddhism, from the 1st or 2nd century B.C.E. Laypeople had been excluded from practice of the Dharma. The Mahayanists reacted to this, putting forth the ideal of the bodhisattva who practiced and taught for everyone’s benefit.
The three streams complement each other; Many-Schools and Mahayana Buddhism were needed to renew overlooked or forgotten teachings. “Buddhism needs to renew itself regularly in order to stay alive and grow.”
The sutra or Dharma talk is not itself insight, but is like a map of Paris which you should eventually put aside so you can actually enjoy Paris. It is like “a finger pointing to the moon. Do not mistake the finger for the moon.” The sutras are essential, but we must use our own intelligence and the help of a teacher and Sangha to understand them and put them into practice. We should feel lighter, not heavier; they should awaken us, not be additions to our storehouse of knowledge. Sometimes the Buddha did not reply to a question because he did not want his followers to be caught by even his own words or notions. Like a sculptor who draws on his knowledge to repair an ancient statue in order to study art, when we have an overall view of the teachings we can help fill in missing pieces.
The First Dharma Talk / The Four Noble Truths July 31, 2009
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: awakening, Buddha, Four Noble Truths, interbeing, Middle Way, Noble Eightfold Path, suffering, well-being, wheel of the Dharma
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On July 19 we read Chapters Two and Three from Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching. Here are summaries.
Chapter Two: “The First Dharma Talk” Siddhartha Gautama left home at 29 years old. After studying with many teachers, he sat under a bodhi tree, vowing not to stand until he was enlightened. He sat all night and had a profound breakthrough. After 49 days of enjoying the peace of his realization, he walked to the Deer Park in Sarnath to share his understanding with the five ascetics with whom he had practiced earlier. He explained to them that everything has to inter-be with everything else and that all things have the nature to awaken.
He taught them the Four Noble Truths: the existence of suffering, the making of suffering, the possibility of restoring well-being, and the Noble Eightfold Path that leads to well-being. He described how he had become a free person, and at that moment the Earth shook and the voices of all living beings throughout the cosmos said that “an enlightened person had been born and had put into motion the wheel of the Dharma, the Way of Understanding and Love.” Since then the wheel has continued to turn and it is up to us to keep it turning for the happiness of the many.
The three points of the sutra On Turning the Wheel of the Dharma are: the Middle Way – avoidance of the extremes of austerity and sensual pleasure; the teaching of the Four Noble Truths; and engagement in the world – relating to ourselves and the world as thoroughly as possible. The Discourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma teaches us to recognize suffering and transform it into mindfulness, compassion, peace, and liberation.
Chapter Three: “The Four Noble Truths” The Four Noble Truths are “the cream of the Buddha’s teaching.” The First Noble Truth is suffering (dukkha). The Chinese character for suffering means “bitter.” We all suffer to some extent, and must recognize it and touch it. We may need a teacher and a Sangha to do this.
The Second Noble Truth is the origin, roots, nature, creation, or arising (samudaya) of suffering. After we touch our suffering, we have to look into it deeply to see what spiritual or material foods we have ingested to cause it.
The Third Noble Truth is to stop creating suffering (nirodha) by refraining from doing the things that make us suffer. The thought that “Everything is suffering and we cannot do anything about it” is the opposite of the Buddha’s message. The Third Noble Truth is that healing is possible.
The Fourth Noble Truth is the path (marga) to refraining from doing the things that cause suffering, called the Noble Eightfold Path. The eight practices making it up are Right View, Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Diligence, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.
Entering the Heart of the Buddha July 23, 2009
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: Buddha, communication, liberation, suffering, transformation of suffering
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On July 12 we began our reading of Thich Nhat Hanh’sThe Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching with Chapter One, “Entering the Heart of the Buddha.” Here’s a summary.
Buddha was not a god; he was a human being like us and suffered like us. Because there is suffering in our heart, we may enter his heart. It is the pain in our hearts that makes communication possible.
Throughout his life, the Buddha said repeatedly, “I teach only suffering and the transformation of suffering.” He provides a course of action that can transform suffering into peace, joy and liberation. He used suffering to liberate himself, and we can do the same.
We mustn’t wait until we have no more suffering to allow ourselves to be happy. We can enjoy all the wonders in life – the sunset, the smile of a child, the flowers and trees – even while we have pain in our heart. If you have experienced hunger or cold, you know the paradise found in food or warmth. Despite our suffering, we can enjoy the wonders of life, for the benefit of all beings as well as for our own sake.
Here Thay includes a poem written in his youth, illustrating the impact of the war on him, saying the wounds of war in him are still not healed. “Once the door of awareness has been opened, you cannot close it.” Suffering is necessary for our growth, peace and joy. Thay encourages us to “Embrace your suffering, and let it reveal to you the way to peace.”
The Eyes of the Elephant Queen April 5, 2009
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: Buddha, collective awareness, continuation, Earth Holder, environment, interbeing, Kingdom of God, mindfulness, Mother Earth, nature, Plum Village, present moment, Pure Land, samsara
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This week we read the final chapter, Chapter 10, of Thich Nhat Hanh’s The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology. Here’s a summary.
During the last year of the Buddha’s life he spent the Rain Retreat near the city of Vaishali. As he was leaving, knowing it was his last time, he turned toward Vaishali and looking with “the eyes of an elephant queen,” gently taking it all in, he said to Ananda, “Don’t you think that Vaishali is beautiful?” We have the eyes of the Buddha and the elephant queen too if we see deeply into the beauty of nature around us.
We are the continuation of the Buddha. The Buddha in us is sitting, enjoying our breath, mindfully taking in the world and the beauty of nature. Knowing how to do this, we can’t say our life has no meaning. From this moment right now and in every moment of our daily lives we have the opportunity to transmit the Buddha to our children and their children in the way we sit, walk, look, listen, and eat. We are helping our parents, ancestors and children to evolve, and our teacher to fulfill his vow. Our life will become a message of love. Living this way, we can prevent global warming from harming our planet.
The Kingdom of God or the Pure Land of the Buddha is a reality, not a vague idea. When we recognize that all the wonders of nature – the flowing river, the blossoming tree, the singing bird, the animals, the sunlight, fog and snow, the beautiful, solid green pine tree, our child with her smile, ourselves – are part of the Kingdom of God, we will work to preserve and protect them so our children and their children can enjoy them. As life at Plum Village demonstrates, money and conveniences are not necessary to find joy and happiness. When we’re inhabited by mindfulness, breathing and getting in touch with the stars, moon, cloud, and river, we step out of samsara, the cycle of repeated suffering and take steps that lead into the Pure Land of the Buddha, the Kingdom of God.
Touching the flower, I’m touching the cloud, the rain, the sun. Looking with the eyes of the Buddha, we can see this is reality, not poetry. The flower must inter-be with the cloud, the rain, the sun. Being really means interbeing. This is true for me, you, and the Buddha. Interbeing and nonself are the objects of our contemplation. We have to train ourselves so we can touch this truth in every moment.
Mother Earth is a body that we have destroyed just like bacteria or a virus destroy a human body. But like beneficial bacteria, we can protect the body of Mother Earth. We must see that we inter-are, living and dying, with Mother Earth. We are a family, and as a family should take care of each other and our environment. Positive change in individual awareness brings positive change in collective awareness. This should be first priority. We should sit with our family and the Bodhisattva Earth Holder to decide how to act. “With your first mindful breath, healing will begin.”
Diet for a Mindful Planet, Part 2 February 2, 2009
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: Buddha, climate change, deforestation, Four Noble Truths, Four Nutriments, global warming, mindful consumption, mindful eating, pollution, suffering, vegetarianism
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This week we completed our reading of “Diet for a Mindful Planet” from Thich Nhat Hanh’s The World We Have.
To nourish compassion toward animals, Buddhists have practiced vegetarian eating for more than 2000 years. Since raising animals for food is responsible for one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, it turns out that vegetarianism may be one of the most effective ways of fighting global warming as well as world hunger.
Mother Earth suffers deeply because of our way of eating. Raising animals for meat is the world’s biggest source of water pollution when waste from farms and slaughterhouses flows into rivers, streams, and drinking water, and has led to the destruction of hundreds of millions of acres of forests in the U.S., as well as the tropical rainforests and the plant and animal species living there, for livestock grazing. According to the National Corn Grower’s Association, 80% of all corn grown in the U.S. is consumed by livestock, poultry and fish production. Tens of thousands of children die every day when this corn, or the tremendous amount of grain and water used to make alcohol, could have been given them to eat. When we eat meat or drink alcohol, we are eating the flesh or drinking the blood of our children. If we stop, these industries will stop producing. We share responsibility for climate change, deforestation, and poisoning of the air and water. By cutting meat out of your diet for even five or ten days a month, you will be performing a miracle. When we ask, “What shall I eat today?” we are making choices that help or harm the Earth.
In many Buddhist traditions, monks and nuns are vegetarians, as are many lay practitioners. American practitioners are following this pattern as well, or vowing to eat 50% less meat. This vow can bring peace, joy, and happiness from the moment we take it, and can bring worldwide change. Children, teachers and parents, leaders of organizations and communities can all practice mindful consumption, and can set an example for others. A mayor would want to protect the people in his town from the violence and suffering that come from unmindful consumption. Even the president has Buddha nature – the seed of understanding and compassion. When we get out of our shell we can see that we are interrelated with everyone and everything, that our acts affect all humankind and all the cosmos. Maintaining health, both bodily and mental, is an act of kindness toward ourselves, our ancestors, parents, children, future generations, and society – the entire planet.
In the Discourse on the Four Kinds of Nutriments, the Buddha speaks of food as only one source of consumption. The second source is sensory impressions: when we look at films, read magazines, see advertisements and listen to conversations, we are consuming. Sometimes we consume relaxing music, fresh garden smells, or the beauty of the world. But sometimes we consume toxins, through advertisements or conversations full of hate or violence. The average child has seen 8000 murders and over 100,000 acts of violence on television by the time she finishes elementary school. These poisons destroy the body and consciousness transmitted by parents and ancestors. This toxic sensory consumption is illustrated by the Buddha in the story of the cow with a skin disease who suffers as her flesh is eaten by tiny creatures in the trees, the soil and the water. We are like this cow without skin when we allow toxins to penetrate and destroy us.
The third nutriment is the food of our intentions and volitions to do things with our lives. The Buddha illustrates this with the story of a young man pulled toward a pit of burning coals by two strong men. The strong men represent our cravings for fame, honor, praise, sex or money. These cravings pull us along and consume us, leaving no opportunity for mindfulness or awareness.
The fourth nutriment is the food of consciousness. The Buddha illustrates this with the story of a criminal sentenced to being stabbed 100 times; when he didn’t die, he was sentenced to 100 more stabbings, and when he still didn’t die, yet 100 more. When asked by the Buddha whether the man suffered, the monks responded that to be stabbed 100 times must have been unbearable, but 300 times unimaginable. We have been stabbed many times in the deepest levels of our consciousnesses. This is the First Noble Truth: that life involves suffering (dukkha), including sickness, anger, despair and depression. The suffering of our ancestors is within us, represented by the stabbing of the criminal. It continues in our daily lives, stabbing us many times every day.
It is not just our suffering. It is the suffering of all previous generations, human and non-human, our collective consciousness. This is the Second Noble Truth. We inter-are with all species, and receive the effects of those suffering the consequences of war, even if we are not in a war zone. Our unconsciousness is aware of the suffering occurring everywhere. As long as we blame others for suffering, we cannot transform. But if we see our suffering as part of a greater consciousness, our own individual pain is eased and our suffering can cease. This is the Third Noble Truth, well-being and the end of suffering.
The Fourth Noble Truth is that suffering can be ended by following a mindful path. If we don’t practice mindful consumption of the four nutriments, we cannot save our planet. Our practice should produce collective enlightenment, collective awakening. We have to touch the Buddha inside us every day, so that awakening can manifest in us and save our planet.
Diet for a Mindful Planet, Part 1 January 28, 2009
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: Buddha, Dharanimdhara, individualism, mindful eating
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This week we began reading Chapter 3, “Diet for a Mindful Planet,” from Thich Nhat Hanh’s The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology. A summary follows.
The Buddha once told his monks the story of a refugee couple who, upon finding they had insufficient food while fleeing across a desert, decided to kill and eat their child. Carrying his flesh on their shoulders, eating small amounts each day to retain their energy, they cried to each other every night, “Where is our beloved son now?” Eventually they arrived in the new land. Reflecting on how horribly these parents suffered, the Buddha concluded that we must learn to eat mindfully with compassion in our hearts to avoid eating the flesh of our own children. To safeguard our future, we need to make changes in the present. Due to our unmindful production and consumption, we face not only catastrophic global warming and climate change; we also create an environment of violence, hate, discrimination and despair.
People believe their bodies belong to them and they can do whatever they want with their bodies. The law supports this as individualism. But the Buddhist view is that all things – clouds, trees, soil – come together to make up the body, so one’s body belongs to ancestors, parents, future generations, society, all living beings. Our bodies are like the Earth, held together by the bodhisattva Dharanimdhara, Earth Holder. Keeping the body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the cosmos and a practice of a bodhisattva precept (the Fifth Mindfulness Training).
We often eat to cover up uneasiness, to forget worries and anxiety. Instead of consuming, the Buddha recommends that we practice breathing or walking to manifest energy of mindfulness at these times of suffering. Mindful eating helps us know how much and what to eat. If we take only as much as we can eat (or less), chewing carefully, eating only what is healthy, we will not eat the flesh of our children.
When we touch our food mindfully, we touch it in gratitude to nature, living beings, the cosmos. Eating mindfully, we pick up our food, look at it for a few moments, put it in our mouth and chew carefully fifty times. There are two kinds of joy, between which we need to learn to distinguish:
- One is healing and nourishing, bringing us calm, comfort, peace, freshness, clarity, lucidity.
- One is destructive, bringing us suffering, from alcohol, sweets and other toxins.
Each bite of food we eat contains the life of the sun and the Earth, and can reveal the meaning and value of life, the interconnectedness of all things. The opportunity to share food with our family and friends is precious and we are fortunate. Holding a bowl of rice or piece of bread, we know this and remember with compassion those who are hungry or without friends or family. We don’t need to go to a temple or church to practice this.
A Global Ethic January 19, 2009
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: bodhisattva, Buddha, Buddhist ethic, consumption, Earth Holder, five mindfulness trainings, five precepts, global ethic, Holy Spirit
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This week’s dharma reading was Chapter Two, “A Global Ethic,” from Thich Nhat Hanh’s The World We Have. A summary follows.
The Buddha in us must evolve to remain relevant, since the sufferings of our times are different from those of Siddhartha’s time. The Buddha of our time wants to offer a global ethic so that we can protect all species and restore harmony. We are a continuation of the Buddha; we can help continue what he began 26oo years ago.
Dharanimdhara, or Earth Holder, is the bodhisattva who preserves and protects the Earth. Like an architect or engineer who creates space or builds bridges and roads, her job is to help us communicate and protect the planet. We should recognize and collaborate with her.
Although the skin of an orange remains the skin and the sections remain the sections, it is all “orange.” Similarly, though we may be French or Japanese, or Buddhists or Christians, we don’t have to be transformed to live and work in harmony. But harmony is not possible without a global ethic, and the global ethic of the Buddha is the Five Mindfulness Trainings. They are concrete and nonsectarian, and are found at the roots of any tradition; they can be adopted by anyone. They are: to refrain from killing; to refrain from stealing and social injustice; to refrain from sexual misconduct; to refrain from unmindful speech and refusal to listen; and to refrain from unmindful consumption. (For the complete Five Mindfulness Trainings, see our Mindfulness Trainings page.)
The Fifth Training, on mindful consumption and mindful eating, contains the solution to our world’s dilemma. By learning what to consume and what not to consume, we keep our bodies, our minds, and the Earth healthy, and do not cause suffering for ourselves and others. We become the hands and arms of the Earth Holder, able to act quickly.
The Buddha resides inside us as energy, just as in the Christian tradition the Holy Spirit is the energy of God. Wherever the Holy Spirit is, there is healing and love. We can speak in the same way of concentration, mindfulness, and insight, which give rise to understanding, compassion, forgiveness, joy, transformation and healing. “If you are inhabited by that energy, you are a Buddha, at least for the moment.”
Stopping, Calming, Resting, Healing December 15, 2008
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: Buddha, habit energy, healing, mindfulness, shamatha, struggling, vipashyana
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Today’s dharma reading was Chapter 6 from Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation. A summary follows.
Buddhist meditation has two aspects: vipashyana, “looking deeply;” and the more fundamental shamatha, “stopping.”
This first function of shamatha, stopping, is illustrated in the Zen story of a man on horseback who, when questioned about where he was going, replied “I don’t know! Ask the horse!” The horse represents our habit energy against which we are powerless. We are always running, always struggling; when we are at war in ourselves, war with others is not far away. We have to learn the art of stopping these emotions that rule us. Instead of running from them, we can stop them by practicing mindful breathing, walking, smiling; then we will find understanding, love, and the desire to end suffering and bring love. With mindfulness we can recognize habit energy and stop it from dominating us.
After stopping, the second function of shamatha is calming. With conscious breathing in and out, we both stop our activity and calm our emotions. The Buddha’s teachings on calming the body and mind and looking deeply at them can be summarized in five stages:
- Recognition – for example, knowing anger is in me
- Acceptance – not denying my anger
- Embracing – holding my anger like a crying baby
- Looking deeply – understanding what has brought anger to me
- Insight – seeing what sources triggered my anger
The third function of shamatha is resting. A pebble thrown into the air falls into the river, slowly and effortlessly reaching the riverbed where it rests, allowing the water to pass by. When sitting in meditation, we can allow ourselves to sink into position and rest without effort like the pebble.
This rest is a precondition for healing. Animals rest until they are healed, without a thought for anything else, while humans worry or seek out doctors or medicine, not pausing to rest. Lying down is not necessary; we can rest while sitting or walking in meditation. Allow your body and mind to rest like an animal in the forest, free of struggle, free of the need to attain things. Without stopping, calming, and resting, our destruction will continue. All of us – individuals, communities, nations – need healing.
Two Commentaries on the Heart Sutra November 30, 2008
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: Ananda, Buddha, death, emptiness, Heart Sutra, illusion, increasing and decreasing, interbeing, Mara, senses
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We continued our look at the Heart Sutra this week with two chapters from Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra.
The Moon is Always the Moon
We worry that we are decreased upon our death by becoming a speck of dust. But just as a sheet of paper contains the sunshine, the logger, and the forest, a speck of dust contains all the universe. We cannot destroy anything. Though assassins wanted to reduce Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. to nothingness, the assassins failed; these two men remain with us. They continue in other forms, including in us. Although the moon appears, as we see it, to increase and decrease, it remains the moon.
Buddha is Made of Non-Buddha Elements
This chapter enumerates the eighteen realms of elements (the dhatus).
1-6 are the sense organs: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind;
7-12 are the sense objects: form, sound, smell, taste, touch, object of mind;
13-18 are the contacts between the organs and their objects – the “six consciousnesses:” eyes + form brings sight; ears + sound brings hearing, etc.
The 18 realms cannot exist by themselves; each inter-is with each other.
Similarly, the twelve interdependent origins, such as birth and death, cannot exist by themselves; each relies on the others to be. The same applies to the Four Noble Truths. All are empty, and because they are empty, they exist. Understanding (prajna), the essence of the Buddha, has no separate existence. It is made of non-understanding elements, just as the Buddha is made of non-Buddha elements.
This is followed by a story of Ananda, Mara, and the Buddha. One day, Ananda was surprised to see Mara coming to visit the Buddha. Perceiving Mara as evil and the enemy of the Buddha, Ananda tries unsuccessfully to turn Mara away. Much to Ananda’s distress, the Buddha is excited to see Mara, greets him warmly, and invites him to sit down for tea.
Mara explains to the Buddha that he is tired of being Mara: tired of talking in riddles, of having to be tricky and look evil, tired of his disciples talking about social injustice, peace, liberation and non-violence. He wants to turn them over to the Buddha so he can become someone else. Ananda now fears that the Buddha will agree with Mara to trade places.
Instead, the Buddha listens compassionately and then replies that his disciples have credited him with things he hasn’t said, have built temples and statues of him to attract good food for themselves, and have packaged him and his teachings for commercial purposes. He says, “Mara, if you know what it is really like to be a Buddha, I am sure you wouldn’t want to be one.”
Dharma Nectar June 8, 2008
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: Buddha, five mindfulness trainings, five precepts, suffering, Thich Nhat Hanh
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Today’s dharma reading was Chapter 23: “Dharma Nectar,” from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1991), 151-156. Here’s a summary:
One morning while meditating alone in the forest, the Buddha encountered a handsome young man, Yasa, son of a wealthy Varanasi merchant. Yasa’s parents had always provided him with all manner of pleasures and everything he could want, but the sensitive and thoughtful Yasa no longer found contentment in this life and wished for a new life of fresh air and simplicity. He left his home and after a night of aimless wandering now found himself facing the Buddha.
After hearing Yasa’s story, the Buddha explained to him that although life is indeed filled with suffering, by living simply without being ruled by our desires, the trees, the morning mists, the moon, stars, rivers, mountains, sunlight and sounds of birds and bubbling springs indicate a universe that can provide us with endless happiness. Forgetting these wonders, people come to despise their minds and bodies and see only the suffering. “But suffering is not the true nature of the universe. Suffering is the result of the way we live and of our erroneous understanding of life.” (152)
Deeply touched, Yasa asked the Buddha to accept him as his disciple. The Buddha described to Yasa the difficulties of a monk’s life, and the monk’s commitment to “devote his mind and body to realize liberation in order to help himself and all others,” concentrating “his efforts to help relieve suffering.” Yasa agreed to these vows, and the Buddha accepted him as a disciple.
Shortly afterward, Yasa’s father came looking for him. The Buddha explained to him what had happened, and that it was possible to reduce pain and anxiety and create peace and joy for oneself and all others. Yasa’s father took great relief in the Buddha’s words, and took the vow to become a lay disciple. Then he invited the Buddha and all the disciples to come home with him to ease Yasa’s mother’s worries, and to provide instruction in the Path of Awakening.
The next day the Buddha and the six bhikkhus (disciples) ate at the home of Yasa’s parents, served by Yasa’s mother herself. The Buddha then taught them the five precepts, the foundation for the practice of lay disciples:
- First precept: do not kill…
- Second precept: do not steal…
- Third precept: do not engage in sexual misconduct…
- Fourth precept: do not say untruthful things…
- Fifth precept: do not use alcohol or other stimulants…
As Yasa’s mother listened, “she felt as though a gate of happiness had just opened in her heart.” (156) She knelt before the Buddha, and was also accepted as a lay disciple.
Following the reading of “Dharma Nectar,” the Sangha read the Five Mindfulness Trainings (the five precepts) as written in For A Future to be Possible (Thich Nhat Hanh, Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1991), and discussed some of their experiences of the Trainings in their daily practices.
