Tweet
Good day to all, 
Buddhist teachings have helped bring an understanding to my life that was previously missing. I had a very uplifting experience at a low point in my life when I stumbled across some texts on the fundamental teachings of Buddhism, such as the Four Noble Truths. This was about the same time that I first started practising Wahnam Chi Kung and since then both my Chi Kung practise and understanding of Buddhism both intellectually and experientially have developed in tandem.
I think that at the beginning some aspects of Buddhist practise I would easily have dismissed as religious dogma and not necessarily appropriate to my own spiritual development. However my own personal experience has been that although a small leap of faith is sometimes required to adopt a belief system that challenges a conventional one, chi kung and meditation practise transforms the educational experience from being an intellectual, what if, how, why, process to something far more tangible.
I regularly recite sutras, dharanis and mantras because I can easily identify many benefits in my own life, such as improved results in my chi kung practise possibly due to better concentration and focus. I also feel it is likely that there are many other benefits working on other levels that I am not necessarily aware of because of my limited understanding and viewpoint.
One issue has been on my mind for a while and I wanted to give it time first before I asked the question.
In August earlier this year I visited the BBC website and was hit with this headline:
"Monk dies in freak mower accident" 
This was a story about Reverend Gyosei Handa at the Nippon zan Miohoji Buddhist temple. You can find a little article about this event at the BBC website address below:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/b...ts/6958580.stm
This brought to my mind something that Sigung wrote in his book "Sukhavati, Western Paradise - Going to Heaven as Taught by the Buddha," on page 147:
In my humble opinion I think that there is some form of protection. My own understanding is somewhere between a belief in protection from a god which belongs to the phenomenal realm and protection to myself because sutra recitation would help me attain a one-pointed mind which then allows me to see phenomena for what it is and therefore not be completely subject to the waxing and waning of karmic laws belonging to the phenomenal realm.
Referring back to the accident involving Reverend Gyosei Handa and other atrocities and human rights violations around the world involving what I would assume were earnestly devout Buddhist monks for instance in Burma (Myanmar) and Tibet. Is it right then to assume that Sigung's statement quoted above shouldn't be taken literally, or could it simply be the case that
if I view life and death as points in a cycle controlled by karmic laws that I am simply misinterpreting the accident or the "suffering" of the monks in the oppressed regimes as a negative event, when in fact they could equally be considered as something different from another viewpoint.
Apologies for the lengthy post, I would certainly appreciate any advice or understanding anyone can bring to me on this.
With gratitude,
Joel
Buddhist teachings have helped bring an understanding to my life that was previously missing. I had a very uplifting experience at a low point in my life when I stumbled across some texts on the fundamental teachings of Buddhism, such as the Four Noble Truths. This was about the same time that I first started practising Wahnam Chi Kung and since then both my Chi Kung practise and understanding of Buddhism both intellectually and experientially have developed in tandem.
I think that at the beginning some aspects of Buddhist practise I would easily have dismissed as religious dogma and not necessarily appropriate to my own spiritual development. However my own personal experience has been that although a small leap of faith is sometimes required to adopt a belief system that challenges a conventional one, chi kung and meditation practise transforms the educational experience from being an intellectual, what if, how, why, process to something far more tangible.
I regularly recite sutras, dharanis and mantras because I can easily identify many benefits in my own life, such as improved results in my chi kung practise possibly due to better concentration and focus. I also feel it is likely that there are many other benefits working on other levels that I am not necessarily aware of because of my limited understanding and viewpoint.
One issue has been on my mind for a while and I wanted to give it time first before I asked the question.
In August earlier this year I visited the BBC website and was hit with this headline:
"Monk dies in freak mower accident" This was a story about Reverend Gyosei Handa at the Nippon zan Miohoji Buddhist temple. You can find a little article about this event at the BBC website address below:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/b...ts/6958580.stm
This brought to my mind something that Sigung wrote in his book "Sukhavati, Western Paradise - Going to Heaven as Taught by the Buddha," on page 147:
According to Buddhist teaching, those who recite the sutras conscientiously are always protected by gods, and are therefore generally free from calamities. It is not easy to prove this claim scientifically, and some people may regard this belief as superstition, but if we look around objectively or care to take the trouble to investigate how many people involved in accidents are spiritual, it is not difficult to see its validity. Personally, I have not met someone who chants sutras conscientiously becomes and inmate of an asylum or dies in an accident.
Referring back to the accident involving Reverend Gyosei Handa and other atrocities and human rights violations around the world involving what I would assume were earnestly devout Buddhist monks for instance in Burma (Myanmar) and Tibet. Is it right then to assume that Sigung's statement quoted above shouldn't be taken literally, or could it simply be the case that
if I view life and death as points in a cycle controlled by karmic laws that I am simply misinterpreting the accident or the "suffering" of the monks in the oppressed regimes as a negative event, when in fact they could equally be considered as something different from another viewpoint.
Apologies for the lengthy post, I would certainly appreciate any advice or understanding anyone can bring to me on this.
With gratitude,
Joel
from the ♥
Comment