Do you do good?

From left to right.

Mahastamaprapta 大势至菩萨 (da shi zhi pusa) - Amitabha Buddha 阿彌陀佛 (amitofo) - avalokiteshvara 觀世音菩薩 (guan shi yin pusa)

In my last class in Psychology of Religion, the lecturer asked, does Buddhist think about good things? I raised my hand and replied "no". I don't know what was the message received by her, but she replied something along the line, "Buddhist think good things la".

As usual, if it's not something I can explained quickly, I refrained from talking in the class. I know it's common in religion teachings to do good, in speech, thoughts and action. I also know that, there are practice in Buddhism that required the cultivator to think "bad", such as staring at the corpse to realize how foul the living body can be in sight and smell, with the purpose to realize the living body is impermanence, and reduce the attachment for the human body.

Practise of a certain direction in dualism value,  is to discipline and to balance. For example, if I never understand the merit of being kind and compassion to people, ideally, it is good for me to start having good and kind thoughts towards people. For those who already practise compassion in their daily life with ease, it would be great to compliment the practise with wisdom, learning how to be flexible and control. Compassion and wisdom have to come together, like a pair of wings.

However, to be good, or to have wisdom is not the sole purpose of Buddhism. In a meditative state, a Buddhist aim to enter Samadhi, for pureland 净土 practise, it is to chant namo amitofo so focus that there's no other thoughts but namo amitofo. In the end, you dont' even chant or think about amitofo but you are still doing it.



Above shown is commonly known as the 3 saint from the west, 西方三圣。Especially amitofo and
avalokiteshvara, both are commonly worshiped in northern buddhism temple  or chinese families. 

What to practise as a Buddhist?

Recently, I had a conversation, the person asked "what else to do as a Buddhist, other than being vegetarian and offer incense on the 1st and the 15th of every month in Lunar Calender"

In my mind, the first answer I have is, there is nothing to do, but I answered, "there is many things to be done as a Buddhist." Sure, the main practise to purify the "heart" is either chanting or meditation, but if I were to go into details, there is the precepts, the virtuous act, the 6 paramitas (perfections) and so on. Lately, I find cleaning the toilet and removing tough stain to be calming. The practise is endless, from the obvious and grand, to subtle actions and intentions.

When I first start my practise, I encountered endless difficulty. I never embrace any religion as an adult, and I have trust issues even today. There are certain practise of Buddhism requires faith and there are teachings that talks about the spirit/unseen. They are topic that were very alien to me at that time. I find the teachings very comprehensive, and one of my questions is to apply in life. To achieve this, I made a vow, if Buddhism does not work in a practical manner, I would stop the practise for good. In a Buddhist term, I offered my speech, will and body to the practise of Buddhism. I gave up everything, include my ego and habit so I can proceed. Of course I was not a mindless zombie, there were something that stays and it took a lot of effort to overcome.

People are looking at form, shape, style and even structure to understanding something, but those are within dualism. The essence of Buddhist is beyond dualism, non dual. There is a precept on speech. I do not swear normally, but there are exceptions I did this for specific purpose. One of it is to build rapport, there are times, I have company that feels awkward for swearing and I would swear in that occasion. The other occasion is to relieve anger. If I have someone that was harmed or bully, I might say "who the fuck did that to you, I'm going to look for him". When I say that, I may say it in a wrathful and angry voice, but I do not carry resentment to any party, and often, my friend will feel better. This is also part of emotional redirection.

There are endless practise in Buddhism, even in eating, sleeping, sex and cleaning the floor. The question to ask is, do you serve the ego or are you cultivating your heart?