The following is a transcript of a talk delivered by Brother ChiSing at the Dallas Meditation Center
January 19, 2014, Dallas, Texas -- So I would like to just share with you that I just came back from a week retreat near Austin at the Optimum Health Institute. I will share a little bit more about that later, but I really highly recommend it, especially if anyone is going through any health challenges. I would say out of the 20 different kinds of retreats I have gone to in my life, I would put it up there in the top 5 category. I highly recommend it. It is very holistic. It is body, mind, and spirit. It is wonderful when something is holistic. A little bit more about that later.
Tonight, I just wanted to share with you that in Buddhism, we have what is called the 3 turnings of the wheel of buddhadharma. Buddha means enlightenment, and dharma means the truth or the teachings of that truth or the practice of that truth. And so, when we talk about the wheel, in Sanskrit there is a word called chakra, which means we'll—so you can imagine that when the Buddha came and taught these noble truths to help us transform our suffering and to truly attain a real happiness, it is as if he started this wheel rolling, this movement, this spiritual movement in the world, and we are still definitely feeling it today. In fact, it is still growing. More and more people are being influenced by what the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, 2,600 years ago started.
So, in this first turning of the wheel of buddhadharma, this person named Siddhartha Gautama, the Shakyamuni Buddha, taught the way of wisdom and compassion, taught the way of liberation from suffering, taught the way of true happiness and enlightenment.
After a few hundred years, another movement began to grow in Buddhism around the first century. We call this the Mahayana movement of Buddhism. In the second turning of the wheel of buddhadharma, the evolution and development and the growth and expansion of this wonderful buddhadharma, the Mahayana emphasized the ideal of the bodhisattva, the being who is on the path of enlightenment not only for their own sake, but really for the sake of all beings.
And in the first turning of the wheel of buddhadharma, perhaps emphasis was more on liberation from suffering, but in the second turning of the wheel, the emphasis is not necessarily just on the liberation of one's own suffering. In fact, to be a bodhisattva may even require that you go through some challenges and hardships and suffering for the sake of other beings. So in the second turning of the wheel of buddhadharma, there is this non-fear of suffering, that even if we have to suffer a little bit to help other beings, we are going to do it....
Read the full transcription: http://www.awakeningheart.org/media/140119ahChiSingTranscript.htm
January 19, 2014, Dallas, Texas -- So I would like to just share with you that I just came back from a week retreat near Austin at the Optimum Health Institute. I will share a little bit more about that later, but I really highly recommend it, especially if anyone is going through any health challenges. I would say out of the 20 different kinds of retreats I have gone to in my life, I would put it up there in the top 5 category. I highly recommend it. It is very holistic. It is body, mind, and spirit. It is wonderful when something is holistic. A little bit more about that later.
Tonight, I just wanted to share with you that in Buddhism, we have what is called the 3 turnings of the wheel of buddhadharma. Buddha means enlightenment, and dharma means the truth or the teachings of that truth or the practice of that truth. And so, when we talk about the wheel, in Sanskrit there is a word called chakra, which means we'll—so you can imagine that when the Buddha came and taught these noble truths to help us transform our suffering and to truly attain a real happiness, it is as if he started this wheel rolling, this movement, this spiritual movement in the world, and we are still definitely feeling it today. In fact, it is still growing. More and more people are being influenced by what the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, 2,600 years ago started.
So, in this first turning of the wheel of buddhadharma, this person named Siddhartha Gautama, the Shakyamuni Buddha, taught the way of wisdom and compassion, taught the way of liberation from suffering, taught the way of true happiness and enlightenment.
After a few hundred years, another movement began to grow in Buddhism around the first century. We call this the Mahayana movement of Buddhism. In the second turning of the wheel of buddhadharma, the evolution and development and the growth and expansion of this wonderful buddhadharma, the Mahayana emphasized the ideal of the bodhisattva, the being who is on the path of enlightenment not only for their own sake, but really for the sake of all beings.
And in the first turning of the wheel of buddhadharma, perhaps emphasis was more on liberation from suffering, but in the second turning of the wheel, the emphasis is not necessarily just on the liberation of one's own suffering. In fact, to be a bodhisattva may even require that you go through some challenges and hardships and suffering for the sake of other beings. So in the second turning of the wheel of buddhadharma, there is this non-fear of suffering, that even if we have to suffer a little bit to help other beings, we are going to do it....
Read the full transcription: http://www.awakeningheart.org/media/140119ahChiSingTranscript.htm
