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Satya Narayan Goenka, commonly known as S.N. Goenka, was a Burmese-Indian teacher of Vipassanā meditation. He was born to a rich Indian family in Burma and moved to India in 1969 and started teaching meditation. He emphasised on the fact that the Buddha’s path to liberation was universal, non-sectarian and scientific in nature. He became an influential teacher and established meditation centers worldwide. He was also instrumental in the construction of the Global Vipassana Pagoda on the outskirts of Mumbai. Goenka was an invited speaker at the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders at the United Nations in New York City on August 29, 2000. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2012.
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The Buddha sent his sixty Dhamma sons in various directions after helping them to establish themselves in Dhamma. They worked as the first Dhamma ambassadors disseminating pure teachings of the Perfectly Enlightened One (a Sammā Sambuddha who attains full enlightenment by his own efforts) to the people.
They taught people the same Dhamma as the Buddha had taught them. The Buddha never called his teaching ‘Buddhism’. Had it been so, it would have become a sect. Instead he called it Dhamma and referred to its followers as Dhammika (one who walks on the path of Dhamma). These 60 Dhamma ambassadors applied themselves to the task of teaching Dhamma to the people. Had they taught Buddhism people might not have accepted it as it would have been just one of the many sectarian views. Dhamma actually belongs to all. It is universal, everlasting, crossing all boundaries of different sectarian views. The laws of nature, which govern the universe are called Dhamma. These laws apply to all without any exception. They work without fear or favour. The Dhamma of fire is to burn and cause others who come in its contact to burn. The Dhamma of the sun is to provide light and warmth and that of the moon is to provide light and coolness. These are equally available to everyone.
It seems to me, therefore, that the first ambassadors of Dhamma did not have to face much difficulty in their work of spreading Dhamma. One of the reasons for this could be that they did not set out merely to give sermons on Dhamma, but helped people to practice it and adopt it in life. Had it been merely limited to sermonizing, then like various sects already there in society it would have been just one of them as said above. But whereas other sectarian teachers did not know how to teach Dhamma so that people could live it, those ambassadors did so. They highlighted the practical aspect of Dhamma, so that by practicing it, people gained immediate benefits.
The following three are the major constituents of Dhamma:
1. Morality (Śīla)
The first constituent of Dhamma is morality, i.e. righteousness. Nearly all followers of various sects and doctrines prevailing during that time accepted the importance of morality.
I know this from my own experience because I was born and brought up in an orthodox Hindu family. The elders taught me the lesson of cultivating devotion to God. In the prayer to God taught to us by the teacher in school, we were instructed to pray to Him to.“Take us in your refuge, make us virtuous”.
The teacher in our school asked us not to commit any such deed by body or speech, which hurts or harms any being. Committing such an act is wrong conduct and not doing it is right conduct. In all traditions, the lesson of right conduct is taught from childhood onwards. So I can very well infer that when the Dhamma ambassadors of the Buddha set out on their journeys to spread his teachings and they first asked people to observe precepts of morality, there was no opposition to it from any quarter. These Dhamma ambassadors must have taught them that the thought of doing wholesome or unwholesome actions first arises in the mind. Then it gets manifested as deeds of speech and body. None of the wise men might have had any difficulty in accepting this truth also. For living a virtuous life, one has to certainly avoid committing misdeeds of body and speech. Although it is very necessary, it is very hard to free the mind from misdeeds.
It might not have been difficult for a common man of that time to understand that mind precedes all phenomena. All phenomena spring from mind. Mind matters most which is chief, and therefore everything is mind-made. – Mano-pubbaṅgamā dhammā, mano-seṭṭhā manomayā. It is necessary to purify the mind for purifying oneself. An action of speech or body performed with an impure mind is a misdeed, which harms one and also others. Similarly, an action performed with a pure mind is virtuous action beneficial to one and also to others. When the mind gets defiled the actions of body and speech also get defiled and their consequences cause suffering. As it is said –
Manasā ce paduṭṭhena, bhāsati vā karoti vā;
Tato naṃ dukkhamanveti, cakkaṃ’va vahato padaṃ.
If with an impure mind one performs any action of speech or body, then suffering follows that person as the cart wheel follows the foot of the draught animal.
Similarly –
When the mind is pure the actions of body and speech also become naturally pure and their results lead to happiness.
Manasā ce pasannena, bhāsati vā karoti vā;
Tato naṃ sukhamanveti, chāyā’va anapāyinī.
If with a pure mind one performs any action of speech or body, then happiness follows that person as a shadow that never departs.
When these ambassadors of the Buddha taught people the way to become righteous by attaining control over their minds, then their actions of speech and body naturally became virtuous.
#Buddha #Buddhism #Zen #Life #Lifestyle #wisdomwinds
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The Buddha sent his sixty Dhamma sons in various directions after helping them to establish themselves in Dhamma. They worked as the first Dhamma ambassadors disseminating pure teachings of the Perfectly Enlightened One (a Sammā Sambuddha who attains full enlightenment by his own efforts) to the people.
They taught people the same Dhamma as the Buddha had taught them. The Buddha never called his teaching ‘Buddhism’. Had it been so, it would have become a sect. Instead he called it Dhamma and referred to its followers as Dhammika (one who walks on the path of Dhamma). These 60 Dhamma ambassadors applied themselves to the task of teaching Dhamma to the people. Had they taught Buddhism people might not have accepted it as it would have been just one of the many sectarian views. Dhamma actually belongs to all. It is universal, everlasting, crossing all boundaries of different sectarian views. The laws of nature, which govern the universe are called Dhamma. These laws apply to all without any exception. They work without fear or favour. The Dhamma of fire is to burn and cause others who come in its contact to burn. The Dhamma of the sun is to provide light and warmth and that of the moon is to provide light and coolness. These are equally available to everyone.
It seems to me, therefore, that the first ambassadors of Dhamma did not have to face much difficulty in their work of spreading Dhamma. One of the reasons for this could be that they did not set out merely to give sermons on Dhamma, but helped people to practice it and adopt it in life. Had it been merely limited to sermonizing, then like various sects already there in society it would have been just one of them as said above. But whereas other sectarian teachers did not know how to teach Dhamma so that people could live it, those ambassadors did so. They highlighted the practical aspect of Dhamma, so that by practicing it, people gained immediate benefits.
The following three are the major constituents of Dhamma:
1. Morality (Śīla)
The first constituent of Dhamma is morality, i.e. righteousness. Nearly all followers of various sects and doctrines prevailing during that time accepted the importance of morality.
I know this from my own experience because I was born and brought up in an orthodox Hindu family. The elders taught me the lesson of cultivating devotion to God. In the prayer to God taught to us by the teacher in school, we were instructed to pray to Him to.“Take us in your refuge, make us virtuous”.
The teacher in our school asked us not to commit any such deed by body or speech, which hurts or harms any being. Committing such an act is wrong conduct and not doing it is right conduct. In all traditions, the lesson of right conduct is taught from childhood onwards. So I can very well infer that when the Dhamma ambassadors of the Buddha set out on their journeys to spread his teachings and they first asked people to observe precepts of morality, there was no opposition to it from any quarter. These Dhamma ambassadors must have taught them that the thought of doing wholesome or unwholesome actions first arises in the mind. Then it gets manifested as deeds of speech and body. None of the wise men might have had any difficulty in accepting this truth also. For living a virtuous life, one has to certainly avoid committing misdeeds of body and speech. Although it is very necessary, it is very hard to free the mind from misdeeds.
It might not have been difficult for a common man of that time to understand that mind precedes all phenomena. All phenomena spring from mind. Mind matters most which is chief, and therefore everything is mind-made. – Mano-pubbaṅgamā dhammā, mano-seṭṭhā manomayā. It is necessary to purify the mind for purifying oneself. An action of speech or body performed with an impure mind is a misdeed, which harms one and also others. Similarly, an action performed with a pure mind is virtuous action beneficial to one and also to others. When the mind gets defiled the actions of body and speech also get defiled and their consequences cause suffering. As it is said –
Manasā ce paduṭṭhena, bhāsati vā karoti vā;
Tato naṃ dukkhamanveti, cakkaṃ’va vahato padaṃ.
If with an impure mind one performs any action of speech or body, then suffering follows that person as the cart wheel follows the foot of the draught animal.
Similarly –
When the mind is pure the actions of body and speech also become naturally pure and their results lead to happiness.
Manasā ce pasannena, bhāsati vā karoti vā;
Tato naṃ sukhamanveti, chāyā’va anapāyinī.
If with a pure mind one performs any action of speech or body, then happiness follows that person as a shadow that never departs.
When these ambassadors of the Buddha taught people the way to become righteous by attaining control over their minds, then their actions of speech and body naturally became virtuous.
#Buddha #Buddhism #Zen #Life #Lifestyle #wisdomwinds
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