Amla - Phyllanthus emblica (syn. Emblica officinalis)( 余甘子)

Amla, better known as Indian Gooseberry, is widely used in the Ayurvedic medicine (a traditional medicine system in India) system of India. Amla is extremely rich in vitamin C, having thirty percent more than oranges. It’s packed with many vitamins, minerals, tannins and other helpful nutrients. Amla also works well for inflammation. It is a good anti-inflammatory for joints especially. This potent herb is also used to reduce fevers, strengthen the heart, control blood sugar, treat urinary tract infections and improve eyesight. (reference from http://www.herbslist.net/amla.html)

On the way to Vulture Peak, Thay bought some amla fruits for us because we all had sore throat. Thay told us Indians use this fruit as a herbal medicine to cure sore throat. The taste of amla is incredible. The taste of amla fruit is sour, bitter, sharp, astringent, and it is quite fibrous but the after taste is incredibly sweet. The sweet sensation lingered in my throat and between my teeth, it was amazing. I was dumbfounded by how the fruit soothed my throat.

In my opinion, a person who embodies the sentiments of an amla is one who faces their hardships with persistence and courage. Despite of meeting many adversities in one’s life, one will eventually taste the sweetness of success. I believe the meaning of this fruit correlates to the life of the Buddha. Siddhartha gave up his luxurious life and lived as an ascetic for six years. During those six years he practiced with all his might, seeking the answer to end suffering. Through endless meditation he reached Buddhahood and discovered the ‘Middle Path’ .

There are many Chinese idioms for this fruit:

• Light at the end of the tunnel
• Bitterness finishes, sweetness begins (苦盡甘來)
• Pleasure comes through toil

31/12/2011

Can Buddha Dharma (teachings) help the poor?

Someone asked me this question and I have no clue how people will react with my answer. I believe that Buddha Dharma can help the poor. Although living in poverty, a person can still be happy. A person who is wealthy can be unhappy. Buddha Dharma is teaching us how to accept what we have, how to see things as they are not as what we want them to be, and learning how to let go. Buddha taught us Anicca (impermanent), Dukkha (unsatisfactory/suffer) and Anatta (non-self). If we understand the truth then whatever condition we are in, our mind can be content and happy. Although Buddha Dharma cannot bring wealth and things into our daily life, it can make our mind rich and happy.

Why did Buddha strive to reach enlightenment? He strived for enlightenment because he saw all these sufferings and wanted to find a way out from it. I am sure at Buddha’s time, there would be as many beggars as there is today. Buddha illustrated the best example to us by how he became poor, yet could still be happy. He gave up his luxurious life and became a beggar. Buddha begged for food and lived under a tree. All he had was a cloth which he wore on his body and an alm bowl. Buddha always had a serene and happy mind because he understood the truth - Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta . He did not discriminate what was good or bad. His mind had transformed into ‘Pure Land’. No matter how harsh the condition was, the Buddha kept a peaceful mind.

Although there are many poor people in India where Buddha became enlightenment, that doesn’t mean they understand Buddha’s teachings. Buddha Dharma is a mind training exercise, not something that will make you become wealthy.

31/12/2011

Garbage Collector

 

These images are taken from Yoshihito Koizumi

There is a computer language called Java. It has a garbage collector built in. The garbage collector is a form of automatic memory management. It attempts to reclaim the memory used by objects that will never be accessed again by the application. There are sometimes when we are like a garbage collector. We collect all sort of garbage such as other people’s garbage, our own garbage and don’t know how to dispose them. When we see something we don’t like to see, we keep it in our garbage collection; when we hear something we don’t want to hear, we keep it in our garbage collection. Metaphorically speaking, the garbage we collect is essentially what we don’t like or what we like. Its gets to a stage where we can no longer handle this garbage as it is full. Our emotions are dislocated. We feel misery; we feel as though life has deceived us; thus become unhappy because we cannot accept. Simple, the more garbage we collect, the more unhappy we will be. Our unhappiness is caused by how heavy our baggage has become, effecting our ‘happy’ life negatively. One must learn to let go. 

Through others’ speech and actions, we can learn what we should do and what we shouldn’t do. For example, when we see a beautiful sunset, we see it as a beautiful sunset. We shouldn’t expect tomorrow’s sunset to be the same. When we see something we don’t like to see, we can learn from the thing that we don’t like to see. We accept and move on. We should see thing as it is, not as what we want it to be. It’s the same thing as how our thought rises in our mind. If it’s a good memory, we acknowledge it; if it’s a bad memory arises in our mind, we should acknowledge it and should no longer need to follow these thoughts. The past has already passed. The future is yet to come and we must live in the present moment. Let each moment come and pass naturally, likewise as the sun rises and sets. The more we follow our thought the more trouble your mind will get.

If we want to be a happy person, we need to learn how to dispose our garbage. Letting go is the way to dispose our garbage. Why do we need to meditate? It’s to observe what sort of garbage we have inside our mind and learn how to let go.

31/12/2011 Rajgir

Incredible India

I have received many chain emails about how messy, how unclean and how horrible Indians deal with their tourists.

India is incredible to me. It’s expected that India is messy, unclean, and smelly. Beggars scatter around town to town, and it’s a fact. However they are not the essence of India.

I have been in India twice and still enjoy it so much. I like the people there. They always smile at you, wave at you and say hello to you when you go pass. Boys and girls are always happy. They love to have a photo taken with you. Indians are so friendly. They are fascinated by the tourists and we are fascinated by them. They don’t yell. They don’t fight. I honestly haven’t seen it happen even once during my 12 week stay in India.

In OZ land, we have road rage every single day but in India, the traffic is incredibly jammed. All cars, trucks and rickshaws come from all directions. Drivers use horns to alert others to overtake them. It’s like a mutual way of saying, ‘You give way to me and I give way to you’. Their horns have melodies, like a symphony of horns. It seemed the drivers know what they want. At the surface, we focus on the noisy traffic and the hectic bustling on the roads. However, when I look closely I can see how the traffic system harmoniously flows. Harmony is the essence of India. It’s fascinating to watch our drivers driving around through India.

The Indians who I have met have all been friendly. When we get lost and ask for directions, people want to help us, even if they don’t know the way. Although this gesture is somewhat kind, it is a pain because we are lead to the wrong direction.

I often saw beautiful Indian women walking through the dusty streets with colourful saris. Especially in the morning when the air is full of mist, there would be stream of women dressed in colourful saris. It gives the place a sense of mystery.

Religions in India are incredible. The world’s major religions were founded in India – Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. Religions in India are like a buffet. You can pick and choose what suits you.

The food and spices are incredible. The spices are so strong that you couldn’t even smell the scent of farts. I know this as I myself have proved this. I love India food. I have tried Mattar paneer in different states and places. Every place had its own distinct interpretation of the dish, which I enjoyed all of them.

India has a bountiful collection of historical and ancient artefacts, including incredible relics from the past. It will take many years to explore closely to all for the caves and forts. India has got my love that no matter how many times I visit, I won’t feel bored of it. India hasn’t put me off. India is incredible and I love it.

31/12/2011

Poem for Ullambana

Mother's Love

Under the sun of winter, warm

Under mother’s love, infinity lucky

When you hungry, someone prepares the meal for you

Weather change cold, someone asks you warm enough or not

Storm or rain, someone worries you might get wet

When you travel far, someone worries about you

When you are sick, someone forget to sleep and eat

Every day and night, someone wish you brave and diligent

Since young till old, someone blesses you healthy and happy

Under the sun of winter, warm

Under mother’s love, infinity lucky

Mother’s love, we never can repaid

Mother’s love is far beyond all measure

To all mothers, I love you

Greed

From my last article on learning, I talked about greed. I have to tell a funny story about this greed. Years ago, my husband bought a big TV. I mean it was big, real big. He told my sister this big TV was on special in Big W if she wanted to get one for herself. She watched our TV and enjoyed it very much. So she was determined to get one for herself. On that particular day, she rang her husband from work, woke him up and made sure her husband got there first thing when the shop opened. She couldn’t trust her husband so she took a sicky and went to the shop with her husband. Finally she got what she wanted a big TV. She got home and cleared all her stuff out from her room, placed her TV in and realised her room was too small for it. She then put all her stuff back to where they were and finally found some room in her living room for this big TV. After all this running around and hard work, she connected her TV. She was exhausted and saw her craving for a big TV drove her to do all these. She laughed out loud and told everybody about her lesson. The way she described her greed is hilarious. Don’t we all have this kind of moments that our feelings drive us insane and we do not even realise it.

Learning

Thay said to the youth group that they all need to sit for a test to see how much that they understand  Thay’s and Co’s teachings in Buddhism. My boy said he is not going to sit for the test. I asked him why not. He said he doesn’t want to enter this kind of competition. I said: “This is not a competition. This is to test how much you understand.” He then said: “We should see our understanding on how we apply it on our daily lives, it’s not on a piece of paper.” I totally agree with him but before we can apply these theories to our lives, we first need to understand what the theories are? 

There are three parts to learning:

1.       through books, people’s talks or things that we have experienced;

2.       after reading a book, hearing someone’s talk or our experience, we analyse;

3.       after we have analysed, we think they are good and workable then we apply.

The temple can teach us the first part of learning. The monks and nuns can only teach us theories and the way on practise. The second and third parts of learning are based on us.  

Why do we need to go to school and university to learn? Why do we need to read books and attend Dharma talks? It’s because we need to build up our first part of learning. A childhood friend of mine once told me: “You don’t need to go to Dharma talk or read any of these books. You only need to recite Buddha’s name then you will reach Nirvana.” I said: “Sure, but do you know why you need to chant Buddha’s name?” She said she doesn’t need to know.  I asked her whether she has a one pointed mind when she recite Buddha’s name. She said yes, her husband can and can recite 24 hours per day. I was amazed and surprised because I can’t do it myself. I then asked has he been fighting with her lately. She used to fight with her husband. She said yes. How can one fighting verbally and has one pointed mind on recite Buddha’s name. I asked if he is now reciting Buddha name days and nights, how can he find time to fight with her? How can he find time to restrict her and his children to watch TV? How can he be so mean to his family members and yet have time to recite Buddha’s name? I asked her why she recite Buddha’s name. She said her husband asked her to do so. I asked her does she feel at peace when she recites Buddha’s name? She told me there is miracle for recite Buddha’s name. I asked in what way. She said now a day she can get what she wants. She told me by reciting Buddha’s name, if you want chicken drumsticks, you get chicken drumsticks. For example she wants to get a cheap roast chicken in Coles then she went to Coles and there were roast chicken on special. What can I say to her? How can I make her understand that by reciting Buddha’s name will not make a miracle happen? How can I tell her that recite Buddha’s name is a form of meditation that can transform our troubled mind into a peaceful mind? How can I make her understand reciting Buddha’s name is not to ask for something? This is a lack of the first and second parts of the learning process.  We skipped and jumped to practise without understanding the reason why we doing it. All these superstitious and beliefs in miracles come into our daily practise just like that. How sad! No wonder Buddhism has become a religion instead of a way of life.

Here is my reflection on learning the cause of suffering – Greed, hatred and ignorance. Last night my daughter presented me a coupon for car hire – hire 3 days and get the 4^th day free from Budget. I have already hired a car for $230 because of my greed that the coupon tells me to get the fourth day free. I cancelled my original booking and used her coupon.  Guess what? I wanted to kill myself. It is $38 more than my original booking. I then went back to Qantas hoping to get the same deal but no, the cheapest deal I could get was $18 more than my original deal. My deal was gone. I hated myself so much why on earth I am that greedy. I had a great laugh with my daughter that my greediness drove me insane.  She asked: “Mum, are you mad at me?” I said why? It is my own fault that my greed drives my action. This is not her fault at all. I have the right not to listen but the ‘4^th day free car hire’ filled up my mind. I couldn’t see other things than the  ‘4^th day free car-hire’. I told her I planted the bitter seed that I will eat up my own stupid fruit and learn from this. This is all about learning. Learn the theories, analyse and apply. Do I really suffer for paying $18 more for my car-hire? You can say this stupid woman. I reckon this lesson is worth it. $18 for a lesson of greed. Cheap!  wahaha with tears. lol