At the end you get nothing

My brother stated: “Practising Buddhism is stupid. At the end you get nothing.” I asked him: “What do you want to get?” He said: “Buddhists make their life so plain. They are so negative. A person’s life journey without enjoyment in material and fame is such a waste.” I asked him: “Ok, let’s say you have all these things. Will you be happy? How many millionaires are truly happy? At the last minute of their lives will they die in peace? Are you happy right now?”

I told him the biggest achievement in practicing Buddhism is to achieve a peaceful mind. A peaceful mind is just like a millpond that reflects whatever come into and not attach. I wish I could share with him my experience. I wonder who can truly understand this nothing will set us free.

Equanimity

What is equanimity? 

Here are some definitions from the web:
• composure: steadiness of mind under stress wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn 
• Equanimity describes the unattached awareness of one's experience as a result of perceiving the impermanence of momentary reality. ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equanimity 
• The state of being calm, stable and composed, especially under stress en.wiktionary.org/wiki/equanimity 
• equanimous - collected: in full control of your faculties; "the witness remained collected throughout the cross-examination"; "perfectly poised and sure of ... wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn 
• equanimous - Calm and composed; of stable disposition en.wiktionary.org/wiki/equanimous 
• Calmness and self-control, especially after a shock or disappointment or in a difficult situation http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
 
So equanimity is something to do with an immobile mind or self-control under any circumstances. Our mind jumps up and down on the basis of what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and thought. One day we hear we have cancer; our mind does not settle, and worries fill our thoughts. In another minute we may hear we have just won seven million dollars in the lottery; our mind is thrilled and ecstatic. Next if someone tells us off and calls us an idiot; straight away anger fills our minds and revenge is desired. There isn’t one minute our mind is not shaken by the world around us. This applies to most of us. 

If we have practice our equanimity, it becomes more difficult to shake our minds into such quivers. What does this mean? When we are in difficult situation or joyous moment, we don’t lose ourselves in a swirl of thoughts. To develop equanimity we need to understand impermanence and practice acceptance of our karma (Karma is our actions in thought, speech and deed). Everything is the outcome of our own karma and because of this we can then free ourselves from fear. We also need to understand the Buddha’s teaching of no-self (impermanence). No-self guides us on to the path of liberation. 

To develop equanimity, we have to let go all possessive thoughts of mine; from small things to the whole heart clings such as our body. We also need to let go of our egoistic thoughts of self. Equanimity does not come as sudden enlightenment; we need to practice hard in our daily lives. 

Equanimity is not suppressing our feelings or seeing things in a wrong way and not acting upon it. Lots people think equanimity is to suppress our feelings. Suppress means we attempt to deal with things in denial. Equanimity allows us to fully experience our feelings, not its suppression. 

Here is my first experience on equanimity back in 2006. 

Observer 

The solid body of mine floats a stream of sensations 

The world I see from my eyes
The words I hear from my ears 

The smell I breathe through my nose 

The food I taste on my tongue 

The feelings I feel from my body 

The thoughts I conceive into my mind 

All form into this stream of sensations 

This stream of sensations - Pleasant and unpleasant 

Or even neutral I treat them equality 

Because of their nature is the same 

Arising and passing away 

Through these sensations I come to realize 

The law of nature Keep changing and so impermanent 

So impersonal of these changes 

I have no control of them 

These non-material like of sensations 

If I attach to them 

I will have endless of suffering
 

I keep telling myself 

I am not a planner, future teller, past owner 

I am just an observer 

Patiently and attentively 

Aware and equanimity 

To observe this stream of sensations 

As it is and not as what I want it to be 

Moment to moment 

Not the past nor the future 

Just this moment 

22/12/2006 

Equanimity allows us see things clearly and enjoy our live fully anywhere and anytime in the world around us. Finally I could like to re-tell a story which I love so much – The Eight Winds Cannot Move Me. I have copied and modified this story from http://www.edepot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3121
 
Su Dongpo was a famous scholar of the Song Dynasty who lived at Guazhuo (located at the northern shore of the Yangtze River). Across the river, on the southern shore, is Golden Mountain Temple where Zen master Foyin lived. Su Dongpo, one day, feeling accomplished in his practice, wrote a poem and sent it to Foyin for feedback. Here is the poem: 

"Bowing with my highest respect 
To the deva of devas, (The deva of devas means the Buddha) 
Whose fine light illuminates the whole universe, 
The eight winds cannot move me, 
For I am sitting upright on the golden purple lotus blossom. (golden purple lotus means a "throne" of
spiritual attainment)
 
After receiving the poem from the attendant and reading it, Foyin wrote one word as his comment. When the attendant came back with the poem, Su Dongpo, expecting words of praise from the Zen Master, quickly opened it to read the comment. However, on that page, nothing was written except the word "Fart!" (means "absolutely nonsense") Upon seeing such an insult, Su Dongpo was on fire with anger. Immediately, he boarded a boat and crossed the Yangtze River to argue with Foyin. 

Before the boat even pulled onto the shore, Foyin was already standing there waiting for Su Dongpo. Upon seeing Foyin, Su Dongpo said, "Zen Master, we are such intimate Dharma friends! It is fine that you do not compliment my practice or my poem. But how can you insult me like this?" 

Innocently, as if nothing had happened, Foyin asked, "How have I insulted you?" Without saying another word, Su Dongpo simply showed the word "Fart" to Foyin.
 
Laughing wholeheartedly, Foyin said, "Oh! Didn't you say that the eight winds cannot move you? How come you are sent across the river with just a fart?" Hearing what Foyin said, Su Dongpo was extremely embarrassed." 

Notes: A truth equanimity is unmoved by the 8 worldly conditions... 
1) gain/benefit 
2) loss/devastation 
3) fame/acclaim 
4) defame/bad repute 
5) praise/approval 
6) blame/ridicule 
7) pleasure/happiness 
8) pain/suffering

2010

How I see - practicing KN in our daily life

After attending BN1 course, Ni Su taught us the 'Don't talk' technique. I have used it daily. Whenever I hear something that I don't like to hear, I say to myself 'Don't talk'; whenever I see something that I don't like to see, I say to myself 'Don't talk'; whenever I feel something that I don't like (such as something itchy, numbing, painful) to feel, I say to myself 'Don't talk'. This 'Don't talk' has two meanings - firstly do not have self-dialogue in our mind and secondly do not react to the outside world. 

Since a young age we have always been taught to react. Our habit is to react. We react to the things that we like by craving. We react to the things that we dislike by aversion. Craving and aversion is the root of suffering. We want things that we cannot attain. This brings us endless suffering. 

For example someone wants to become famous. Through his life he is discontent and whines about his current living status. He will never be happy. My daughter says happiness is not measured by success, fame or fortune but contentment in one’s life at that present moment.

By practising KN we don’t have craving or aversion. We are just a silent observer with full cognitive awareness. In this way we save ourselves a lot of trouble (hatred, revenge, jealousy and conflict). We are not being coward. This is to give ourselves a breathing space to understand the situation objectively. This will help us live in harmony with ourselves and others. This will keep peace among ourselves and the world around us. This will help us to stand above all situations and have a greater and wider perspective.

Last Sunday 17/7/2016 during the Fundamental Meditation course the instructor asked us by practising this will we become a log of wood? (does this mean to have no feeling?). This is not the case at all we do have feelings and much more sensitive than before but we just do not react to them. We see them as they are (yathabhutha) not as what we want them to be.

How I see - practicing KN and karma (Nghiệp/业)

Karma, what is karma? Karma is the result of things that we have done through our actions, speech and thoughts. In another sense it also means deed. Karma can be good, bad or neither good nor bad. It is a cause and effect. For example you speed on a 50 km zone, you will get a ticket for your speeding. It is as simple as that. What you have done is what you will get. There is a Chinese idiom "you plant melons, you will get melons. You plant beans, you will get beans."

However Buddhist’s believe otherwise. They believe they can change the outcome by not creating an opportunity for the negative outcome to surface. It is all to do with conditions. For the speeding case of course we have no choice but to pay for the fine. However for example in the case of stealing, if we have committed this act and we knew this was our fault we should change our behaviour and not commit to future acts of stealing. Deep down we may have this event of stealing in our mind but Buddha said we should not dwell in the past, present or future. The act has occurred and we are not able to reverse it. We acknowledge this event and move on.

By practising KN, our past, present and future will not arise in our minds. By practising KN we will not feed or create conditions for our karma to arise. We can purify our minds or karma by dwelling in the world of wordless cognitive awareness. 

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Here is my conversation from last night with my friend A:

A asked: “If Bahiya (Bahiya sutta in Udana 1.10) died while he dwelled in the Buddha mind, does this mean he has completely purified his Āsava (defilement/ lậu hoặc/漏惑).

I replied it must be as in the sutta Buddha states Bahiya was an arahant. [The Buddha describes the arahant as having transcended ‘the round of birth and death, they have destroyed the taints/Āsava, lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the ultimate goal, destroyed the fetters and become completely free, liberated through final knowledge’ (Majjhima Nikaya 1. 141)].

A asked: “If I am dwelling in the Buddha mind right now and I died, do I have Āsava?”

I replied: “No.”

A asked: “Now if I am not dwelling in the Buddha mind and I died, do I have Āsava?”

I replied: “Yes.”

A asked: “Āsava is an illusion, is it not?”

I replied: “Yes, it depends on how you look at it, at which angle you look at it. If you are dwelling in the Buddha mind, you see Āsava is an illusion. If your mind is a worldly mind then you see Āsava is real.”

A asked: “I don’t understand how can we reduce or purify our Āsava by using the KN technique?”

I couldn’t answer A’s question at the time but after I arrived home I have an answer for A.

Here is my answer: If we use the term Vāsanā (Habitual/behavioural tendency tập khí/習氣) then we can understand how. By practising KN we will change our habit of thinking and understand the world around us differently. Our old habit is non-stop thinking, judging, comparing, analysing, etc.etc… Now we train our minds to not over use it. When we need to think, we think; when we need to rest, we rest. With the technique KN we are not going to create any condition or opportunity for the defilement to surface. In other words we are not feeding our defilement to let it grow inside us. I hope this makes sense
==========================================

Here is a Chinese repentance verse with reference to mind and karma:
Repentance and Reform
往昔所造诸恶业，
Vốn Xưa Từng Tạo Bao Ác Nghiệp,
For all the evil karma that I have created in the past,
皆由无始贪嗔痴，
Đều Do Xưa Cũ Tham Hận Cuồng,
Arising from beginlessness greed, hatred, and ignorance,
从身语意之所生，
Theo Lòng, Ý Nghĩ, Lời Sinh Ra, 
generated by my body action, speech, and mind,
一切罪根皆忏悔。
Tất Cả Nay Con Đều Sám Hối.
I now seek to repent and reform in front of the Buddhas.
罪从心起将心忏，
Tội Từ Tâm Khởi Đem Tâm Sám,
Karma arises from the mind; repentance is by the mind,
心若灭时罪亦亡，
Tâm Nếu Diệt Rồi Tội Cũng Tiêu,
If the mind is extinguished; karma is also ended,
心亡罪灭两俱空，
Tâm Diệt Tội Tiêu Cả Hai Không,
The mind purified, karma wiped out -- both are empty.
是则名为真忏悔。
Đó Tức Gọi Là Chân Sám Hối.
This is called true repentance and reform.

How I see - practicing KN in meditation

There are many types of meditation. I can find more than 23 types of meditation on the Internet. There are focused attention, open monitoring, effortless presence, zen, focusing on breath, just sitting, vipassana, mindfulness, loving kindness, mantra, transcendental, visualisation, third eye, chakra, kundalini, Kriya, sound (nada), pranayama, Qi Gong, Tao, yoga, contemplative prayer, sitting with God, self-enquirer, etc, etc. etc.
 
All these meditation techniques are aiming to have a tranquil and a calm mind that can lead us to inner happiness. I, myself was a vipassana meditator for nearly ten years and yet my mind was not as calm as I want it be. Well may be I was not a good meditator. My practice time may not have been long enough or maybe I am not a good student after all. In 2014 I attended a 10 days retreat. After the retreat I went around to ask some long term vipassana meditators two questions. My questions were:
1) can you keep your mind quiet during meditation?
2) do your legs get numb?
 
The answers from majority:
1) No, my mind is full of thoughts but I just let them go
2) you must be kidding if you are not numb sitting cross legged
 
For someone who has practiced much longer than myself and are still having thoughts in their mind, how can I expect myself to have a tranquil/silent mind? Is this possible? Science defines our mind as something full of mental processes, thoughts and consciousness. According to this definition, thoughts in our mind are normal. This is our habit since birth. Our habit of analysing, evaluation, judging, differentiating, comparing and questioning. In meditation we are learning a new habit of letting go of our old habits. This new habit is to master our minds. When we want to think, we think in an objective way. When we don’t need to think we let it rest in the world of wordless cognitive awareness.

Can we achieve this? Can we achieve complete silence in our minds? During the retreat in 2014 I could not say we can achieve it but now I can assure with you that we can if we practice according to TTK’s KN method it may be attainable. Although I couldn’t maintain complete silence for 24 hours most of the time I can.

When we talk about meditation we think of sitting meditation with crossed legs. To me meditation doesn’t mean just sitting crosslegged. It means we maintain a tranquil mind throughout the day not just sitting. Meditation can be siting, walking, lying down and standing meditation. With whatever we do our mind is always silent with cognitive awareness. This is meditation. Of course sitting meditation is important for the deeper level of samadhi if we want to go further to develop the wisdom within.
 
Here I would like to share on practicing 'Khong Noi'.

My blood sugar level was borderline for the past few years. Since 2014 it was between 6 and 9. I watched my diet closely. I've tried to avoid any food with added sugar. I did 40 mins (20 mins in the morning and 20 mins in the evening) exercise every day to keep it low. I drank the lady fingers water. I ate brown rice and various dietary changes.

After the 2015 TCB & BN1 courses, I tested TTK's techniques. I measured my blood sugar level before and after sitting meditation with the subject of KN. I recorded the differences. I saw it change dramatically. I was happy but during the day it would go back up. I did this for a while and then stopped.

I then tested this with a different technique. I used the 'Khong Noi' in 4 prostrates (walking, standing, lying and sitting + Qi Gong). Now I don't need to say the KN in my head and am aware of KN.
 
For three weeks my blood sugar has been between 4.2 and 5.7 no matter what I eat. I tested myself by eating lot of carbs at night, eating dessert, eating things I have avoided before and my blood sugar level is still under the threshold. It is unbelievable!

I believe having a calm and tranquil mind is very important for our body. I am very thankful to Chi Nganh & Chi Tham who insisted and told me off over a phone conversation for taking part in the 2015 courses. I am thankful for chị Hương and chị Chi who have shown me the way even before I attended the two courses. I am thankful to have meet Ni Su Triet Nhu and of course the KN technique from Venerable Thich Thong Triet.

How I see - practicing KN and belief (Tinh/信)

All religions talk about their beliefs. They believe there is a creator, heaven or a better place waiting for them. In Theravada Buddhism, Chan/Zen/Thien and TTK also have their belief. Once a meditator tastes the benefit of their practice, they 'believe' they can achieve their goal of liberation from suffering based on their hardwork. They 'believe' they are the creator of their problems and happiness.

Here I have quoted my famous Kalama Sutta from Anguttara Nikaya 3.65. Here is the text:
Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

A quote from Digha Nikaya, Mahaparinibbana Sutta 16, 2.26 "Therefore, Ananda, you should live as islands unto yourselves, being your own refuge, with no one else as your refuge, with the Dhamma as an island, with the Dhamma as your refuge, with no other refuge. ..."

TTK's teachings are based on what Buddha has taught us. This is very clear and concise. We have to work for our liberation/Salvation and enlightenment. From Paticca-samuppada-vibhanga Sutta: Analysis of Dependent Co-arising SN 12.2 there is no creator/belief involved in the practise. We are the ones who create suffering for ourselves. We are also the ones who can liberate ourselves from suffering.

How I see - practicing Không Nói (Do Not Talk = no self inner dialogue) and precepts/morality/Shila (Giới/戒)

We need to know what the precepts are in Buddhism before we can talk about them. These precepts indicate the basic norms of human behaviour to which all people naturally aspire. The five basic precepts in Buddhism are:
1. Abstain from killing
2. Abstain from stealing
3. Abstain from adultery
4. Abstain from lying
5. Abstain from intoxicants

These precepts protect us and help us to lead peaceful and happy lives. Let's say we are committed to lying. When we lie we always have to find a way to cover ourselves. We will make up stories or excuses. Today we make up this story and tomorrow we might forget. We then make up further stories to cover the first story we had. Our mind is like a storm which we brew because we don't want the truth to come out. This will repeatedly appear in our minds until one day the truth comes out and we regret what we have done.

In most of the Buddhist's sects, precepts play a big part in their practice. If we observe these precepts strictly then we will not commit to killing, stealing, adultery, lying and intoxicants. 

People question why Thien Tanh Khong (TTK) does not place importance in precepts. The most traditional way of practice is morality, samadhi/concentration and wisdom. In Nikaya Buddha mentioned "Morality, Samadhi and Wisdom" throughout his teachings in Nikaya. There are two good examples: Subha Sutta (Digha Nikaya 10) and Mahaparinibbana Sutta (Digha Nikaya 16).

As a practitioner of KN, I understand why TTK does not talk much in morality. This can be explained. If we practice KN correctly our minds should be in a state of wordless cognitive awareness. This implies we don't have inner self dialogue.

Now let us talk about each precept while we practice KN:
1) when we want to kill someone, we must have anger, hatred, jealousy or some sort of negative feelings towards the target. Our minds are toying how to commit this action. This means we have inner self dialogue. If we have practice KN then how can we have these negative feelings in our mind let alone form the idea of killing.

2) when we want to steal something, our minds are controlled with thoughts of desire and want. If we practice KN then our minds will not react when we see the object. We should not have the thoughts of want, the thought of owning and the thought of stealing. Thus we will not have the action of stealing. This applies to 3), 4) and 5) precepts.

By practicing KN our mind will become an objective mind when we contact outer and inner phenomenon. We will no longer have a judgemental, subjective and differential mind. In a higher level of practice KN, we will see the truth of nature, the emptiness of nature, the illusory nature and the interconnection of inter-beings. With these understandings of phenomenon, how can we break these precepts? By practicing KN it is morality itself. We cannot separate from morality because we are morality. 

Do you know our true nature is not evil nor good, not dirty nor clean? Therefore the true nature needs no precepts to observe.