Secret of Karma

Karma (or kamma in Pali) language is one of the pillars of Buddhism yet it is one of the least understood aspect of Buddhism even by Buddhists. Karma is the result of an action with “will” and although it is similar to “cause – and – result” relationship it is different in 3 ways:

An action needs to be done by “will” to be karmic. For example if you kill a cat which jumps onto street while you are driving with normal speed and tried to avoid the cat, this killing will not create bad karma because you did not have will to kill the cat. On the other hand if you torture yourself emotionally with this accident, you are willingly harming someone (yourself) and you create bad karma.

Second, you can balance the net karma. If you have been a bad person up to now, you can start to be good and act with wisdom and if you are blessed with a long enough life, you can have net good karma from this life. But again “will” is the key here : “good” actions coming from a plain scare of the consequences of having bad karma will not erase a lot of bad karma. But a sincere remorse as a result of will to train your mind, to get rid of the mind of greed and selfishness will create huge positive karma.

And third, the consequences of karma can be seen in this life or in the next life(s). So some really bad things happening to good people may be a result of their karma coming from their past lifes.
Many people only know the actions with bad karma and the actions with good karma. But there is also something which is not well known: actions with no karma. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to attend to a state of mind where actions generate no karma. Actions with good karma are needed to stay in the favorable realms of samsara like human beings and deities.  Only from these planes of existence one can rise to nirvana.  And for nirvana, one needs actions without karma.

There are many secrets of karma to know. For more detailed information, you can take a look at Create Karma Points.

Coyote dancers for Chuchok

According to Buddhist legend, Chuchok was an old beggar from Kalingkarat Province and thanks to the good deeds he has done in his previous lifes he has became very rich from being a beggar. And although he was quite ugly he has married to a very young and attractive woman. Today, Chuchok is thought by many Thais to be one of the very best amulets for bringing wealth and granting wishes.

There is at a small shrine in the suburbs of Bangkok which is quite an interesting place to visit. But what makes it truly remarkable are the coyote dancers!

The story is this: a few years ago someone won very big in lottery thanks to Chuchok. He has decided to reward the beggar with scantily clad dancers and a new tradition has started. If you want to have good fortune, a lot of money and a beautiful lady, all you need to do is to offer this old Brahmin a nice show! If you are lucky enough, you can enjoy to watch one of these offers when you visit the shrine.

You can watch a video of this interesting shrine here : Shake It Baby for Chuchok.

Coyote dancers for Chuchok

Meditation Changes The Brain says Neurologist

"I think the important thing is that regular meditation can help people adjust to the vicissitudes - the up-and-down aspects of their lives - and to have a greater sense of well-being" says 86 years old neurologist James Austin, who is a scientist and a zen Buddhist for nearly 40 years. Austin is Emeritus Professor of Neurology at the University of Colorado Health Science and he was in Singapore last week to talk on Buddhism and Neuroscience.

Dr Austin says that meditation causes physical changes in the brain. Actually tiny receptors in the brain which connects the brain cells change on their own but meditation allows them to change in an orderly manner. You can think of meditation like the fitness for the brain. To shape out our body we exercise, i.e. we go to gym. And although our muscle mass changes over time even if we do not exercise, without disciplined exercise we have no control over these changes and also these changes have no significant importance. Worse, without exercise we end up an unhealthy body covered with excessive fat.

Meditation has the same effect on the brain, physically. Meditation develops the brain and increases the grey matter in the brain which results in healthy brain and mind. So meditation transforms our brain as it transforms the mind to a stronger state and this transformation according to James Austin is permanent. In his well book Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness which aims to establish a link between the neurological workings of the brain and meditation:

Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness

Zen and The Brain takes notice of several additional techniques that people use to further cultivate the art of concentrating while they are meditating. Some of these approaches evoke calibrated levels of added stress responses within the brain itself. Moving beyond these mechanisms, the book suggests that gradual transformations take place in the brain functions of persons who go on to engage in a very long-range process of mindful self-discipline and introspection. 

All this involves a program of systematic training. It proceeds within a culturally acceptable, established meditative tradition, a setting which invites its aspirants to participate in repeated meditative retreats and to share its discomforts with other like-minded seekers in a supportive social framework. 

However, for the professional researcher, it is no simple matter to study the resulting psychophysiological changes. In fact, Part II of the book is an analysis, critique and summary of the existing reports of breathing, of "brain waves" (EEG), evoked potentials, "ink blot" tests, PET scan results, etc. Beyond that, the book goes in to incorporate its working hypotheses with suggestions for future research. 

Zen history reminds us of two things. First, that a most extraordinary man lived 2500 years ago, a meditator who experienced a brief, unusually deep alternate state of consciousness. Second, that this man's legendary example and teachings prepared the Way for an extraordinary series of followers. How did Siddhartha and many other enlightened Zen patriarchs suddenly become fully enlightened? Only after they had pursued the particular kinds of rigorous meditative disciplines that were commonplace in their respective eras. 

In Siddhartha's case this process took some six years. Why, as a result of his undergoing this major alternate state of consciousness, did he thereafter remain permanently transformed? The book addresses the psycho-physiological basis for such a permanent ongoing transformation. It emphasizes that such "awakened" persons express themselves in newly emerged traits, attitudes, and behaviours. And it considers how this transformation may have come about as a result of functional and structural changes in the circuitry of the brain."
Source : James Austin Interview on Zen and The Brain

Buddhism in a nutshell

"Do good, avoid evil, and purify the mind." said The Buddha. Do the good (Dana), avoid evil (Sila) and purify the mind (Bhavana).

Dana

Dana means to giving or generosity. You do not need to give something material to practice Dana. An encouraging word, a warm smile, a small but useful tip can be enough to practice generosity. But you should give without any expectation. The idea here is to be able to let something you have to go.

Dana is not done to become a flower child, it is done to cultivate the perfection of giving:

1) Dana, giving without expectation, hesitation or regret is a confrontation against the strong "self" and "my" illusion. By letting go the things we have, we practice letting the self go.


2) Dana creates positive karma and helps the sentient being to reborn again in higher planes of being. Planes under this are full of too much suffering to purify mind and reach the Nirvana.

Sila


Sila is overall (principles of) ethical behavior in Buddhism. The Buddha warned us to avoid these 5 precepts:

1 - Killing
2 - Stealing
3 - Adultery
4 - Consuming toxic material (alcohol or drugs)/toxic thoughts (anger, jealousy, etc ...)
5 - Lying

5 precepts are not commands. These are things which harms us or others, creates negative karma and avoids us to purify the mind. One who wants to purify the mind needs to stay away from them.

Bhavana

Bhavana is the spiritual cultivation in Buddhism. It is what we call Buddhist Meditation (there was not a exact word corresponding to meditation in classical languages of The Buddha's time). Dana and Sila proects the sentient being from lower planes of Samsara but Bhavana helps to release it from Samsara. The most fundamental error Westerners have about meditation is that they think the Buddhist meditation is a concentration practice.In fact, concentration is a form of "attachment" and the opposite of the goal of the Buddhist goal of Nirvana. Buddhist meditation practice is not concentration, it is "letting go". Nirvana is achieved by losing things on the way not gaining things. Nirvana is achieved when one is able to let this world go.

The 2nd Asian Buddhist Film Festival Singapore

In Singapore, going to cinema can be boring. For long months, there is simply nothing other than Hollywood and Chinese blockbusters following each other and small film festivals are rare gems. But luckily there are these small film festivals. One of them is the Asian Buddhist Film Festival, 2nd will be held in May 2011. I hope this becomes a yearly event, the first one was 4 years ago!

The festival will be held between May 5th and 8th 2011 and will screen movies from Bhutan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Sri Lanka and the United States featuring diversity of Buddhist ways and Asian cultures.

The event's first movie is highly acclaimed Hong Kong movie Echoes of the Rainbow. This movie is actually not about or related to Buddhism. It is about the struggles of a working class family in 1960's Hong Kong. It depicts a Hong Kong and an Asia gone long ago. But it is about love, family and universally accepted values of mankind, which qualifies the movie well for the festival. The festival will end by screening of Qi Xia Temple (the story of Ji Ran, an abbot who housed and protected thousands of civilians in his monastery from Japanese soldiers during the Japanese occupation of Nanjing) from China. You can see the list of movies here.

"There are two kinds of Buddhist movies: those that focus on Buddhist subjects and those that don't. Those first shows Buddhist walking around and doing Buddhist things, than there are also movies showing Buddhist values without mentioning the 'B' word.

Echoes of The Rainbow is what i call a Buddha-less Buddhist movie. It foregrounds necessity of mindfulness and compassion in everyday life, but it does not spend a lot of time on mantras, incense, gongs and extreme haircuts."

Dr John Whalen-Bridge, associate professor of English at National University of Singapore and one of the festival's organizing comittee members

In fact the lead characters in Echoes of The Rainbow are Christian and  the movie includes some church screens. "I quickly realized why they chose it, because there are not many barriers or differences among all the different religions" says Alex Law, the director of the movie.  

According to Golden Village web site the tickets for opening and closing mights are at 20 Singapore Dollars each. Tickets for all other sessions will be priced as $10.