【Content】
Tolerance brings about vitality.
Tolerance makes everything grow.
Tolerance gives out warmth.
Tolerance and warmth lead to Universal love.
With Universal love, this world belongs to you.
With tolerance and Universal love, merging your life with Buddhadharma, you then become a bodhisattva. This is what Master JinBodhi has advocated: enlightenment in one lifetime.”
I am from Busan, Korea.
I am from Taegu, Korea.
I am from Seoul.
Vancouver.
Singapore.
I am from San Francisco.
Taipei, Taiwan.
Los Angeles, USA.
Seoul, Korea.
San Jose, USA.
I am from Tokyo, Japan.
San Francisco.
Silicon Valley, USA.
Zhunan, Taiwan.
San Francisco, USA.
Vancouver, Canada.
Maryland, USA.
Irvine, USA.
Singapore.
New York, USA.
I am from Vancouver, Canada.
Meditation Master JinBodhi’s Dharma Teachings
The Purpose of Practicing Dharma: Part 1
In June 2009, Bodhi Meditation International successfully held in Busan, South Korea, a 12-day Third Level Advanced Retreat taught by Master JinBodhi. Students coming from Korea, Canada, United States, Taiwan, Singapore, and other places to attended this magnificent event.
Simultaneous translation for multiple languages enabled students to listen to Master’s teachings on the truth of Buddhadharma.
I am very happy to be with everyone in Busan Center in Korea, to study Buddhadharma in depth.
What’s the purpose of learning Buddhadharma? I’d like you to tell me. Just shout. “Single-mindedness”. Leave suffering and attain happiness”.
Anything else?
“Helping all sentient beings,” “to get a pay raise.”
Master JinBodhi acknowledged all of these.
He said Buddha’s teachings were to perfect our lives, even to help us achieve total liberation. Hearing that Buddhadharma can bring prosperity, everyone became interested. “Buddhadharma can bring prosperity.” Is this against Buddha’s teachings?
Some say that self-cultivators — monks and Buddhadharma practitioners — should not focus excessively on wealth. True, we shouldn’t cling to wealth excessively, but this doesn’t mean no wealth at all. Anyone here who would like to go to the Pure Land of eternal bliss? Raise your hand.
I want to go too. It’s great there. Better than a presidential palace. Warm in summer and cool in winter…Sorry, I got it wrong.
Should be “warm in winter, cool in summer.” There is heat in winter and breeze in summer. Afraid of sunlight? It turns into moonlight. Afraid of walking? You can fly. Go wherever you wish, think of it and you’ll be there. That’s how Pure Land is depicted.
The teachings state that nothingNis lacking in the Pure Land.
Amitabha Buddha lived there, leaning on a rotten walking stick and wearing one shoe with a broken heel.
No, that’s not how it is. That’s the beggars.
Buddha is actually of great prosperity, great dharma power and great ease.
Notice the words “great ease.”
If we are starving, can we be at ease?
Is there any dharma teacher who, with a growling stomach is able to maintain his composure?
Are there any who stay still as a rock when in a storm? No.
Then what exactly is Buddhadharma?
Simply put, it is a way of surviving.
Secondly, it is a way of liberation.
To someone who can’t make a living, Buddhadharma shows him the way; a path and the confidence to live on. This is the most vital. Buddha said that saving a life was more valuable than building a 7-story stupa. We should help people to live a good, if not a better life.
This class brought us into Buddhism, and we learned what Buddhadharma was about. When we were studying, I could really feel the presence of Master and Buddha, as if they were with me all the time.
Buddha and Master’s power supported me, giving me more confidence and more courage to deal with everything. I found that my cultivation is elevated again, I have learned to eliminate worry before it occurs. Then I can stay calm. I feel I am happier now. I’m still learning, striving to do better.
This Third Level Retreat is surely more advanced than the Level 1and Level 2 Advanced Retreat. All participants have the chance to become an instructor in their local centers.
Master JinBodhi shared the truth of Buddhadharma in simple and accessible language with every student. We learn Buddhadharma for liberation, to leave suffering and gain happiness, to achieve enlightenment.
When we learn to apply Buddhadharma to everyday matters, that’s when we come to grasp Buddhadharma clearly. Otherwise, the most essential of Buddhadharma, the realm of liberation, would be separated from our life. It would become irrelevant.
In Japan, there was once a famous meditation master living in a temple. One day he received a well-known writer who specialized in writings about transcendence, liberation and enlightenment, all success stories.
He asked the master to give him a teaching. This master didn’t know who the writer was. His disciples blocked the writer’s entry. So he knelt there, refusing to leave. The master had no choice but to meet him.
The master asked, “What do you want to ask me?”
The writer said, “My wife wants to leave me. Please tell me what to do.”
The master said simply, “Be good to your wife.”
“I’ve been good to her.” “Give her all your money.”
“That’s what I’ve done.” “Buy more makeup for her.”
“I bought a whole pile.” Then… well…
The master had nothing more for him.
“I have no more ideas. Please leave. I can’t help you.”
The writer said: “I know you are the best meditation master in Japan.
“You simply don’t want to help me. So I’ve made up my mind that I won’t leave before you tell me what to do.”
On the third day the writer was still there.
In the morning when the master was cleaning his room, he found a book on his shelf about spirituality and liberation.
He told the writer, “Oh, I’ve found the answer. Now go to a bookstore to buy this book. Read it. It’ll help you.”
The writer said, “Sorry, but I wrote this book. Please tell what to do.”
The master was really stumped. After 7 days, the master said, “I became a monk because my wife dumped me.”
Master, through this funny story, made it clear that Buddhadharma is intertwined with our everyday life. They are inseparable.
For example, diligence, optimism, self-reliance, and integrity are all basic personal qualities. They are exactly the way of life in Buddhadharma. In order to be liberated, you must first survive.
Buddhadharma is not just words. No matter what we do, in society, in all kinds of schools, in society, in all kinds of schools, we usually learn technical skills to make a living.
Although these skills are useful and necessary, what’s lacking is the guidance to achieve liberation, live better, freer, have fewer worries, and surmount every obstacle along the way.
It’s rare to be able to learn this. What is Buddhadharma then?
Master said that as long as it can help people become free of worries, it is Buddhadharma.
Buddha said: “There was originally no Buddhadharma, no definite dharma; it came into being to meet the needs of human beings.
That’s because once people learn Buddha’s compassion, they need the right methods to help others. That’s how Buddhadharma came into being.
Generations of masters practiced like this. With questions come answers.
In the sutras, when Buddha is introduced, the answers always come because there’s a question.
Buddha always answers. Buddha wouldn’t know where to start if there were no question asked. I guess Buddha was a quiet being. Daily conversation was just nonsense.
Once he was asked a question, he could give the answer. Buddhadharma seems to be plain, simple, and very basic.
But when we study it in more depth, we’ll find that it’s beyond our imaginations. It’s so great, extraordinary, free, and sacred. Not only did everyone listen to Master’s teachings in the golden meditation hall, they also bathed in Busan’s refreshing sea breeze while enjoying great conversations.
In this modern city, everyone retreated to a world of peace in mountains and valleys, enjoying the serenity of meditation with our master.
In this beautiful place, everyone was elevated to a new realm. The song taught by Master JinBodhi still echoes in our minds.
When we study Buddhadharma, we explore the real way of liberation, transcendence, and achievement. We need to re-clarify our aspirations. We need to re-clarify our aspirations.
Only with a clear goal can we reach the destination.
Only with a clear goal of practicing dharma can we be worries free and walk toward success.
How much worry is there in the human world?
Master said that greed, anger, and ignorance are the main causes of human sufferings. Among them, the hardest to overcome is greed. Because of our attachment to greed and obsession, we suffer incessantly throughout the cyclic life.
Some people may not lack material comfort. Maybe you are rich, but it doesn’t mean that you are all noble or liberated in spirit. Not necessarily.
Many people do not lack money. But they lack wisdom and the blessing of Buddhadharma. Some are happier with less money and suffer when they have more.
Buddha is truly great, for he knew everything about human sufferings.
For example, the suffering of “not getting what one wants.”
If I wanted something, I’d feel pained when I didn’t get it. Once I have it, I’d be afraid of losing it. Let’s say I bought a huge, bun-sized diamond. Before I have this diamond, I was fine. Now, I’m constantly worried. It’s like holding my heart in my hand; it pulses with my heartbeat. Afraid of dropping or breaking it. Maybe too big to hide it in my mouth. Or a smaller stone may be accidentally swallowed.
I’m afraid of it being stolen or me being robbed. Leave it to the children? But they’re not worthy. Really, it’s really a torturing treasure. So we suffer after owning something.
Someone might suggest getting rid of it. The owner would rather die than lose it. This may seem a light-hearted story, but it’s actually about a serious issue.
Who doesn’t have things they like? We all do. They’re all attachments.
With attachment, liberation becomes difficult. Just like the diamond, it’s your sweat and blood, and it has a lot of emotions in it. You’ve spent your life pursuing it. You went through a lot of hardship for it. Before you got it, you dreamed about its sparkle.But once you have it, do you still find it as beautiful as before?
If placed the sharp edge against your skin, it cuts you easily. It feels icy cold if held in your hand. You might lose teeth if you bite into it. Because of your attachment, you pay a hefty price.
Attachment is the most difficult obstacle for anyone who wants to achieve higher wisdom and liberation. No matter who you are, higher wisdom and liberation. No matter who you are, it’s extremely difficult to give up the things you like.
No matter who you are — a great hero or an ordinary person — it’s hard to relinquish your good feelings and sensations.
Then it’s nearly impossible for us to achieve liberation. Can we?
This topic is the most important. We need to reflect on it slowly.
I have no hope of your instant liberation, but expect you to let go one step at a time. It’s truly difficult to do so.
Remember, the more you are attached to love and hate, the more you pay for it. Buddha has great wisdom. How great? Like an ocean. Buddha is an ocean of wisdom.
Master JinBodhi said that our desires is the greatest obstacle in self-cultivation and liberation. It makes life miserable and full of pain, like living in incessant torture.
Fortunately, the Buddha has shown a way to liberation. There’s infinite wisdom in Buddhadharma. It’s not extreme. It doesn’t forbid love.
It’s impossible to be emotionless. We feel love, hate, like and dislike. All are important parts of our life. They can be dissolved, but it takes years of effort.
Though feelings can’t be dissolved right away, there’s a way to deal with them. If we love someone or something, we will simply use this feeling to broaden and magnify our love. We extend it into a “great love” or “Universal love.”
All great ancient saints and sages advocated the way of compassion. When our heart is connected with the great compassionate energy of Heaven and Earth, the benefits we receive are beyond imagination.
Universal love brings us health, prosperity, and auspiciousness, it is wish-fulfilling for all our generations to come, as long as you help people selflessly.
Sometimes when we help people, we expect something in return. Most of the time people would think: “He’s rich so I’ll help him.” “He’s talentend so I’ll help him.” “She’s pretty so I’ll help her.”
These are all forms of expecting a return, which will bring about sad results. You might feel bad when someone doesn’t return a favor.
With expectation comes disappointment. Thus we should have great compassion, wishing everyone well. Do not expect anything in return.
We should help others without expecting rewards. Would this be better for us? Certainly. When we compassionately help people with no thought of reward, we actually receive more benefits which far exceed any monetary reward.
With selfless Universal love and compassion to help society, the benefits we receive are beyond anything in this world.
Thus, our good deeds will pave a healthy, wish-fulfilling, and auspicious, bright way for our children.
In addition, anyone wishing for higher achievement in self-cultivation will have laid a solid foundation if they’ve helped many people. They’d have accumulated perfect merits and virtues. Only then can you really achieve true liberation. A lot of people cannot sit still in meditation.
Teachers would say it is their bad karma. Why 2 people from a similar background, one can sit still but the other can’t? But the fidgety one has studied for longer than others!
There is no other explanation: It must be his deep bad karma. Karma is like a debt. When I do more good deeds, I have cleared my debt, then my mind is calm.
Have any of you experienced the joy and happiness of helping someone?
You feel peaceful too.
Those who do not help people or practice self-cultivation can’t understand. This is one kind of dharma bliss. There are many kinds. One is helping people. When there is true compassion for others, the one being helped is happy, and the one helping, too. That kind of happiness nurtures our life.
The compassion from Buddha transforms our DNA and the defects in our genes. It eliminates our evil karma, opens our wisdom, helps us succeed in our career. When people who self-cultivate manage their business dealings, they’ll succeed. They do not just focus on their own profits; they focus on creating employment opportunities for people.
I’ve met several such practitioners, though they’ve earned enough money, they keep their business running well so that their employees can make a living.
That’s the reason they keep running their business. I was quite moved by them Because of their intention, their business became more prosperous.
Similar companies can’t generate business. But these people always have a lot, with employees working overtime and thus making more money.
Tolerance is vitality.
Tolerance makes everything grow.
Tolerance is warmth.
Tolerance plus warmth is Universal love.
With such Universal love, the world is yours.
Everything will go as you wish.
If we can achieve such state of life, what state of life should we call it?
It is the bodhisattva state of life. Only bodhisattvas are without obstacles.
In Buddhadharma, a bodhisattva is tolerant, all-loving, and selflessly helpful.
Let us connect with compassion. Let us live the bodhisattva’s way, which seeks no rewards.
Master said that this is the quick way for enlightenment in Buddhadharma. Bodhisattvas such as Guanyin, Mahathamaprapta, Manjusheri, and Earth Store (Ksitigarbha), etc., inspire our praise and admiration with their compassion, ease and beauty.
Our admiration often comes from our perception that they are deities. We can never achieve enlightenment. But I still believe we can. If you combine my teachings with action and do good deeds, then you can be a deity.
Today’s bodhisattva images are what Buddha uses to remind us of our future dharma image. He tells us that if we practice the bodhisattva’s way, broadly and deeply, we’ll be like him.
The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni Buddha said: “If I can achieve buddhahood, so can everyone.”
Some might ask: “If I just help people, can I get to that state?
If so, I could skip practicing.” Helping people is the best cultivation. Because you can remind yourself of compassion, helping, loving, and taking responsibilities every day. That’s the best self-cultivation.
By letting others acquire all the beauties in life, you’ll gain more knowledge and accumulate greater energy you’ll gain more knowledge and accumulate greater energy so as to give more to others.
Just like a compassionate mother who nurses her baby — she needs to get enough nourishment first, before she can feed her baby. Only then can her baby grow healthy.
As a person of compassion, in order to help people, we must diligently and tirelessly cultivate and gain knowledge of Buddhadharma, so as to attain higher achievement.
This is the bodhisattva’s way, the bodhisattva’s actions. You are a bodhisattva.
How to cultivate our compassion in everyday life? Master said: “When there are benefits, give them to others and shoulder more responsibilities when there are any. When you sense others’ mistakes, do not over-criticize but show compassion.
In the sutras, it said that Buddhadharma cannot nourish “rootless” grass. However, any grass will take root, there is no rootless grass. Here, “root” refers to the foundation of enlightenment. It’s about causality.
Even though this grass is rootless now, I’ll patiently nurturing it. It may become rotten, but it’ll root again. And I’ll water it constantly, tend to it with motherly love.
Just like the compassionate Buddha and bodhisattvas. Regardless of their foundation, we’ll teach and help everyone in society with compassion and love.
With any means or even just a reminder, we must always have the compassion in our heart without stopping. We must always have the motherly love, to help and guide people. This is the bodhisattva’s way in Mahayana Buddhism.
Before the close of the class on the purpose of learning Buddhadharma,
Master asked everyone to cherish time and life, and extensively apply loving compassion in our precious life, so as to help ourselves, family, friends and everyone to achieve illumination, prosperity, enlightenment and liberation.
Human life is precious; human life is bitterly short. It is extremely rare to be born in human form. In the grand scheme of things, our lifetime is extremely short.
I started teaching dharma at the age of 26. Now I am in my 40s, it’s way too fast. It feels as if I have not passed puberty, but I am already middle-aged. It’s gone like that. Time flies.
The most precious thing in the world is time. We must make the best use of it. We must do the right things. Otherwise, on our deathbed, when looking back, we’ll regret not having reached our expectation of the highest realm.
What a pity if we didn’t dare to try!
We must courageously act, just like Buddha and bodhisattvas. The realm of Buddha and bodhisattvas is of great compassion, virtues, awe-inspiring and fearless.
His dignity and solemnness, which originated from his wisdom, left a deep impact on everyone who came into contact with him. His compassion can melt icy mountains and crack open stones.
In the evolution of humanity, Buddha’s teaching and compassion helped us to understand the world, Buddha’s teaching and compassion helped us to understand the world, to create and manage our world.
It’s all inspired by Buddha’s compassion and wisdom. Many of our noble Buddhist forefathers, to help liberate all sentient beings, taught the truth of Buddha’s compassion.
Christians and Catholics, and people of all the major religions of compassion, have dedicated time and effort in their entire lives to helping others. That’s immeasurable merits and virtues. To me, they’re Buddha and bodhisattvas’ various manifestations in the human realm.
Thus, there is greater peace, and more people understanding compassion. I hope everyone, believing in compassion, can work hand in hand, heart to heart. Together we can make this world more beautiful and peaceful.
If this world lacks compassion, kindness, Universal love, respect, courtesy, care, and benevolence, it will be a disaster. World peace would be impossible without the teaching of compassion by major religions.
My wish has extended, not only to myself but also my family and everyone that…You know, I wish everyone well and I will do whatever it takes to help other people however I can.
For me to fully help others, I have to be in good shape myself. That’s why it’s important for me to keep on practicing, to keep on improving myself. So that I can really go out there and really help.
Master’s teaching is really great. Although he knows everything, he is very humble. In order to teach us, Master pretends not to know. Of course, he knows. I feel that Master’s wisdom is the same as Buddha’s. He uses many skillful means like Buddha. I am overjoyed that in this life I can meet Buddha. This is my true feeling.
In this Master’s teaching, regarding the purposes of learning Buddhadharma, there are 4 major parts.
Firstly, Buddhadharma is a way of surviving and living. It makes our life better, happier, more prosperous.
Secondly, it is a way of liberation. By letting go of greed and attachment, we find freedom and auspiciousness.
Thirdly, Buddhadharma is the way of compassion. It teaches us to expand our love to include everyone, to help them.
And lastly, Buddhadharma is a way of achievement. Learning its compassion and the bodhisattva’s way benefits us and others for more peace in the world.
From basic needs to ultimate enlightenment, compassion is the essence and teaching of Buddhadharma. This is Master’s teaching on the purpose of learning Buddhadharma. “Bodhi” means perfect enlightenment. It means achieving buddhahood.
It’s not just a simple exercise. It is the fundamental cornerstone of meeting basic human needs. Buddhadharma is limitless. Whether it’s chanting or other practice methods from the Chinese “Chan” school or Esoteric Buddhism, in the various schools, the first benefit of the practice is health in body, mind and spirit.
Then, it’s liberation and perfect enlightenment. I now have profound understanding, especially of Buddhadharma. I’ve never felt this way before.
Now, I know Buddha and Bodhisattva more. I know what I should do. My next step is to practice the bodhisattva’s way and help more people.
Now I am happier day by day. It’s has given me the ability to help more people. I’ve found treasure in Bodhi Meditation. I am happy body and mind. Through this Third Level Retreat, I’ve stronger faith in my Master.
With Master’s blessing in this retreat, my back pain is much better now.I feel my life started anew in this advanced retreat. Bodhi Meditation has greatly improved my body, mind, and spirit. Master’s wish is now my wish.
Let there be hundreds and then millions of flames ignited by a single spark. I have the courage to take this mission. Respect and grateful.