RECOGNITION OF LORD BUDDHA
BY THE FIVE WORLDS
In the Buddhist religious ceremony, whether it is conducted by one Monk or a number of Monks, through their prayer, they invite all the Gods and Devas residing in the Universe to come and witness the ceremony and to listen to Lord Buddha Dharma.
Their prayer in Pali goes like this: ‘Siddhi Brahma ca Indhra ca Catuloka Bhiraggaka Samuddha Butung Kanga Ca Sab Siddhi Bhavantume'.
These Five worlds are:-
All of them want to understand Dharma. They want to practice Dharma and they want to attain Dharma. What is the Buddha Dharma? According to my understanding, this has two important words or meanings:-
If they want to learn, understand and attain Dharma, they must wake up first otherwise they will not learn and understand Dharma. Therefore, it is necessary for all of us to wake up. For example, when we are asleep, we do not know whether we are hungry or thirsty. Once waking up, we will know these conditions.
When talking about Kilesa (desires) it has two meanings, that is, desire in the right way and desire in the wrong way. Alternatively, it could be said either positive desire or negative desire.
All of us must be careful in order conquer negative desires by continuously practicing and carrying out good deed. Lord Buddha taught us how to listen. Here one might be asking what do we listen?
The simple answer is ‘To listen to goodness or righteousness, practicing, doing and having faith in them without any doubts'. Goodness or Righteousness come from Lord Buddha's own teachings and principles as he was the Awakened One, the Enlightened One, the Realised One,
His Dharma Principles can lead all worlds' beings to the Supreme Happiness (Borommasukha – Nibbana). I would like to give you an example, all Buddhist Monks observe 227 codes of conducts (227 Dharma Precepts).
But, in actual fact, they are human beings like all of you. They suffer pain, feel hungry, feel hot and cold, feel happy and sad like all of you. They are the ‘Sammati Monks – assumed Monks'. Here, I would like to point out that once we are unable to conquer our own desires, it is extremely, if not impossible, to teach other people to control theirs.
Here is a good example, a teacher always advises his student not to smoke, not to take drugs while he himself carry out the contrary.
In this case, his students are unlikely to follow their teachers' advice. So, it is necessary to listen to goodness or righteousness as it is the supreme teaching of Lord Buddha who has demonstrated to us that goodness or righteousness can lead world beings from sufferings and to be happy.
This is why Lord Buddha's Teachings have been accepted by the Five Worlds as they are the principles of truth that can truly lead all beings from sufferings. Lord Buddha taught us how to practice, how to conquer sufferings with wisdom, to know the cause of all sufferings and to find ways to conquer them.
Sufferings must be conquered at their roots where they start. It will not help if we want to conquered sufferings somewhere else. Where are the roots of all sufferings, one might ask?
They are in our Citta. Wisdom are also in our Citta. There are 84, 000 Phra Dharma Khanna of Lord Buddha wisdom. During his search for wisdom for six years, Prince Suddhartha tortured himself endlessly in order to gain wisdom. He suffered enormously, but he never gave up. He kept going firmly and determinedly to find the supreme wisdom until he attained Enlightenment from his own breathing.
Lord Buddha knew all, by himself. He realised all, by himself. He attained Enlightenment, by himself. What I explain to you at this moment is not my Dharma, it is Lord Buddha Dharma. What you worship and respect at this moment is to worship and respect Lord Buddha Dharma. And above all, what you are practicing at this moment is not my Dharma, but is Lord Buddha Dharma.
My knowledge is very limited. I do not claim that I know more than Dharma. This is not so, as Dharma has been existence before me. Lord Buddha Dharma is universal, not only beings of the Five World recognise and accept Lord Buddha Dharma, but any beings who practices, carries out and follows Lord Buddha Dharma, he will find happiness in life, he will be able to conquer his sufferings to a large degree, if not all.
To escape from sufferings, it is necessary to be knowledgeable, and this knowledge can be gained from wisdom. Wisdom can be obtained from vigorous practicing goodness or righteousness. Listen to goodness, practicing goodness, as a result, sufferings will be eliminated. Goodness is the supreme knowledge of Lord Buddha Dharma.
In brief, I can only emphasize, ‘Listen to Dharma, Practice Dharma and Believe in Dharma then enjoy the fruition of a suffering free life'. Here are some of the things, which I would like all of you to take more:-
Do not listen to anyone, except Goodness of Righteousness.
Do not perform like anyone, except carrying out Goodness or Righteousness. Goodness or Righteousness are in Lord Buddha's Teachings.
Lord Buddha knew all of these before and he would like to pass his teachings to all of us to practice so that we can reduce and eliminate, if not all, our suffering so that we can be happy. On the question of ‘Emptiness' the meaning of ‘Emptiness, has been classified into three ways:-
Sunyatta Buddho – means Lord Buddha is the One who is Empty;
Sunyatta Buddho also means the one who has already awakened. If one is not awakened how would one know one's own mental and physical conditioned.
Sunyatta Dharmo – means Dharma is an Emptiness;
Sunyatta Dharmo also means the one who knows. If one is not wakened, how would one know one's own mental and physical conditioned;
Sunyatta Sangho – means Buddhist Monks are empty;
Sunyatta Sangho also means the one who keeps on practicing Dharma. If one is not empty, how would one has the time to practice.
Lord Buddha was the Awakened One. Lord Buddha was the Enlightened One The Teachings of Lord Buddha are Sacca Dharma. Lord Buddha would like the Sangha and all beings of the worlds to practice his Dharma so that they can be happy and free from sufferings.
The Teachings of Lord Buddha are Sacca Dharma. They are Empty and can be practiced by anyone regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, age, sex, or social status. They are Goodness and Righteousness. They do not belong to anyone. Lord Buddha Dharma is Anatta. Emptiness means that the Citta has finally liberated itself from all Kilesa and found happiness. Happiness means that the Citta is free from all desires.
The Citta is free where Vimutti Sukkha has occurred. Happiness is when the Citta is no longer the slave of any Kilesa. Sunyatta Buddho also means already awakened, already liberated. If there is no liberation, the Citta will not be happy. Therefore, Buddho is an emptiness which we use in our Vipassana Kammathana practice which we call ‘ Anapanasati' which means breathing in and breathing out. This kind of breathing is called Buddho or Sunyatta Buddho.
Dharmo means Dharma is an ‘Emptiness' which means anyone can practice Dharma in anywhere. There is no restriction. That is why it is called Sunyatta Dharmo – Dharma I everywhere with everyone and in the Citta. If our Citta is not empty how can we fill it with Dharma.
Sangho means members of the Sangha are empty. Emptiness in this context means that members of the Sangha are empty from mistreating anyone. They are the ones who study and practice Dharma. They are the ones who leave everything worldly. That is why we obtain the word Sunyatta Sangho.