Two Great Delusions

We must rid our minds of two great delusions - the delusion of the intrinsic reality of the material world and the delusion of the intrinsic reality of the individual self. These two delusions are, as it happens, the fundamental assumptions which underlie the philosophy of popular thought and the destroyers of deep peace, harmony and happiness.

Of course we can argue these points with the most sophisticated logic. The ego-mind is very skilled at that. I have seen the fear in the eyes of people scrambling for survival in their pre-fabricated constructed realities, fighting sometimes with anger to grasp at the realities they have been lead to believe. Only these delusions can only bring perpetual suffering.

I thought of Lisa (not her real name), a beautiful young Malaysian woman whom I met about eight years ago at a dinner in Brisbane Australia. I was there to speak about mental health. She was at the dinner with her boyfriend. She was a photographic model, successful in the height of her career. She told me about the new luxury apartment she had moved into. She had never heard much about mental illness before and found the topic quite amusing, referring to those who are challenged with illness as the “crazies”. She lived and moved in the material world and asserted her individuality in her forceful language.

It was some nine months later I was visiting a man who had been long term in a Brisbane Psychiatric hospital. As I walked along the corridor of the ward accompanied by a nurse, I passed patients room. My heart stopped as I noticed an Asian woman whose eyes met mine. She started to speak but then turned away. The nurse asked me if I knew her as this woman had only been admitted to hospital after a crisis had no known friends who visited her and was reluctant to talk to the treating staff.

As I entered her room I recognized the young Malaysian woman I had met at the dinner party. Her “boyfriend” had been married to another woman. He had been a successful business man but the stress of living a double life and the shame of eventually being found out brought him to suicide. Lisa had found him hanging at the back of his office.

Her world had come crashing down around her. Unable to work, the bills mounted up until she was evicted from her luxury apartment. Deep depression set in and she was found by police wandering the streets without shoes in the middle of the night.

It was a long journey back to recovery for Lisa. She could not have done it by herself. He rugged individuality had become smashed within an instant of time and the vulnerability of our human nature had come to the fore.

She recently shared with me how the incident had become a turning point in her life and that she saw life’s “true reality” now.

Lisa is just one person of so many I have journeyed with whose illusion had been burst like a soap bubble. Suffering is so often the soil in which the seed to enlightenment is planted.
Of course, there is no need to suffer so greatly to understand the truth. If we could only let go of the illusion and give compassionate comfort to the frightened ego that it can be transformed. In transformation there is freedom and life.

Pure Land is but one breath away. Pure Land is not just a future reality. Meditative Samadhi is not just a beautiful feeling. It is a living reality. It is a mistake to think that our practice is just for some eschatalogical event. It is now.

Practitioners of the Way ought not be tempted into the rugged individuality of worldly society. Western Buddhism is in real danger of being reduced to a Double Gem rather than the treasure of the Triple Gem. The Sangha is being diminished. Buddhism cannot just be practiced in isolation by just reading books and internet web sites. Its potency lies in the Triple Gem of which Sangha is vital. It is when we practice as a vibrant community that the Dharma comes alive and our practice takes form. Enlightenment will sadly elude us to think otherwise and we will fall prey to the fundamental assumptions of the philosophy of our times and produce much suffering. 

The Eight Awakenings

Many people coming to test the waters of Buddhism for the first time often wonder where to start. There are literally hundreds of sutras with each school of Buddhism focusing on specific sutras that are at their foundation.

It is clear that Buddhism is about the issue of suffering and how to overcome it. Suffering takes on many forms from severe pain and illness and death to the petty annoyances that plague us on almost a daily basis. Buddhism teaches us to live a supremely happy and value centred life with the means to end the cycle of birth and death which is suffering.

The sutra of the Eight Awakenings is a very short sutra. In fact many Chinese monks used to learn this one by heart not only because of its brevity but also because it contained within it the essential of Buddhism.

I often call it the Mediators’ Sutra as it is a foundation sutra for all meditation work. It is well worth contemplating these Eight Awakenings carefully examining them in the light of your own life. I have included them here in their entirety.

Buddhist Disciples! At all times, day and night, sincerely recite and bear in mind these eight truths that cause great people to awaken.

The First Awakening:
The world is impermanent. Countries are perilous and fragile. The body is a source of pain, ultimately empty. The five skandhas are not the true self. Life and Death is nothing but a series of transformations—hallucinatory, unreal, uncontrollable. The intellect is a wellspring of turpitude, the body a breeding ground of offenses. Investigate and contemplate these truths. Gradually break free of death and rebirth.

The Second Awakening:
Too much desire brings pain. Death and rebirth are wearisome ordeals, originating from our thoughts of greed and lust. By lessening desires we can realize absolute truth and enjoy peace, freedom, and health in body and mind.

The Third Awakening:
Our minds are never satisfied or content with just enough. The more we obtain, the more we want. Thus we create offenses and perform evil deeds. Bodhisattvas don’t wish to make these mistakes. Instead, they choose to be content. They nurture the Way, living a quiet life in humble surroundings —their sole occupation, cultivating wisdom.

The Fourth Awakening:
Idleness and self-indulgence are the downfall of people. With unflagging vigor, great people break through their afflictions and baseness. They vanquish and defeat the four kinds of demons, and escape from the prison of the five skandhas.

The Fifth Awakening:
Stupidity and ignorance are the cause of death and rebirth. Bodhisattvas apply themselves and deeply appreciate study and erudition, constantly striving to expand their wisdom and refine their eloquence. Nothing brings them greater joy than teaching and transforming living beings.

The Sixth Awakening:
Suffering in poverty breeds deep resentment. Wealth unfairly distributed creates ill-will and conflict among people. Thus, Bodhisattvas practice giving. They treat friend and foe alike. They do not harbor grudges or despise amoral people.

The Seventh Awakening:
The five desires are a source of offenses and grief. Truly great people, laity included, are not blighted by worldly pleasures. Instead, they aspire to don the three-piece precept robe and the blessing bowl of monastic life. Their ultimate ambition is to leave the home life and to cultivate the Path with impeccable purity. Their virtuous qualities are lofty and sublime; their attitude towards all creatures, kind and compassionate.

The Eighth Awakening:
Like a blazing inferno, birth and death are plagued with suffering and affliction. Therefore, great people resolve to cultivate the Great Vehicle, to rescue all beings, to endure hardship on behalf of others, and to lead everyone to ultimate happiness.

These are the Eight Truths that all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and great people awaken to. Once awakened, they even more energetically continue to cultivate the Path. Steeping themselves in kindness and compassion, they grow in wisdom. They sail the Dharma ship across to Nirvana’s shore, and then return on the sea of birth and death to rescue living beings. They use these Eight Truths to show the proper course for living beings, causing them to recognize the anguish of birth
and death. They inspire all to forsake the five desires, and to cultivate their minds in the manner of Sages.

If Buddhist disciples recite this Sutra on the Eight Awakenings, and constantly ponder its meaning, they will certainly eradicate boundless offenses, advance towards Bodhi, and will quickly realize Proper Enlightenment. They will always be free of birth and death, and will abide in eternal bliss

The Power of Mantra

Mantras in Chinese Buddhism form an important part of daily Buddhist practice. The sutras contain a host of mantras uttered by Shakyamuni Buddha with clear instructions on the use and the benefits of such mantras. Each tradition or “school” of Buddhism will have its primary mantras used at its main daily ceremonies as we do at our monastery of Guang Jue Temple in China. Esoteric Buddhism places more emphasis on the chanting of mantras than other traditions. Nonetheless mantras play a dynamic role in our daily practice.

The “lore” of mantras in Chinese Buddhism is very little known in the West. The reasons for this may be varied. Firstly there is the inaccessibility of mantras. There has been only a small amount of work done in the Romanization of texts written in Chinese, that is, written in pinyin. What is available is often difficult to find as published and scholarly books on the subject are hard to come by. Secondly the Chinese mantras are on the whole transliterations from the ancient Sanskrit as it is considered that the sacred mantras uttered by the Buddha should not be translated but remain in their original version. This is because the sounds of the words play a significant part in the efficacy of the mantra. This makes the mantras unintelligible and rather strange sounding to the Western ear. Thirdly there is a lack of clear teaching about mantras and their use that can cross the cultural divide of Eastern and Western thought. Many still feel that mantras are the domain of superstition and are unnecessary to the daily practice of Buddhism.

I was first exposed to mantras as a young child in Southern China when father had left me in the care of an “Ai Yi” during his frequent business trips. The “Ai yi” would often take me to a local Buddhist temple where I heard monks reciting mantras and the Ai yi would recite them during her devotions at home. The sounds intrigued me as a child. At the same time they seemed to instill in me something which I felt was part of me as if the sounds resonated on another plane of my being. It was not until much later in life when I committed myself to Pure Land Buddhism that these ancient mantras began to make sense to me.

The words of the ancient Chinese mantras from the sutras of the Buddha have no clear meaning. Of course, one can translate the original Sanskrit – to a point. Even in the original Sanskrit there are words and whole sentences that are untranslatable. This is because the words of the mantra go beyond human meaning. They are the essential oils of the Dharma, the concentrated syrup of the sutras in which they were uttered. As they have no cognitive meaning they go beyond the “thinking’’ mind to our higher mind. It is here that their seed is planted and begin to take effect.

In Pure Land Buddhism it is part of our practice to chant the name of Amitabha Buddha; “Namo Amituofo” These two words are a mantra themselves resonating within our soul the name of the Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha of infinite Light and Life and dispelling the loads of impure karma.

Perhaps the most well-known of mantras in Chinese Buddhism is the Great Compassion Dharini. I recall one morning during an extended chanting of the mantra in the great temple hall at Guang Jue Monastery. Plumes of incense enveloped monks and lay people as the chant increased in tempo. I could discern the harmonic tones of the monks as my mind seemed to whirl and sway in the chant. The face of the Kuan Yin Bodhisattva peering through the incense clouds seemed to smile. I felt myself entering a warm trance and this warmth seemed to embrace my whole body. Later I tried to make meaning out of this experience. It was beyond meaning.

Traditionally different mantras are known for their specific actions. For example, the Medicine Buddha mantra is traditionally used for healing. The Cunti Spirit Mantra has been well known in Chinese folk lore for the granting of wishes. Do they have power? Can they heal? Many have attested to their power and help. I, too, have had personal experience of many mantras and their remarkable assistance to my own life and to those of others. It would be too lengthy to write these experiences in this document. I have, however, included here the personal experiences of a Chinese practitioner and his own recording of other people’s experiences. It makes interesting reading and may invoke the reader’s own interest to pursue mantras a little more closely. Indeed at Guang Jue Temple in China many come on Temple Stay or retreat and are able to study mantras more closely.

Do you have to believe in them for them to work? This is a question many ask me. Faith, is indeed important. However, the Buddha never insisted on blind faith but one that is reasoned and tested. I invite you to make your own tests and come to your own conclusions.

Hello dear friends, after some practices, I feel that different Buddha / Bodhisattva names, sutras, mantras or Dharanis have different flavor(effect)s. Many friends also have some experience about chanting holy-names/sutras/mantras/Dharanis. I would now like to share them with all you friends.

The meanings of the marks:

(1) - In normal state;

(2) – In a deeply meditative state;

(3) - The experiences told by other practitioners;

(?) - Unsure.

In general, all the holy names/sutras/mantras/Dharanis can eliminate bad karmic obstructions and debts for others or self, the followings are specific characteristics of each of them:

Amitabha / Namo Amitabha:

(1) Refreshing cool; brilliant light (can protect the practitioner); joy (can eliminate your bad mood); heart open; gentle; supplies life-energy; makes your body agile; improves your relationship with others.

(2) A very strong joy filled up the upper part of my body, that joy is far greater than the normal joy. (Buddha Name Samadhi?)

(3) Brilliant light; joy; warm flow; fragrance; wishes come true; often can know the future events; cure illness; pull upward (The chanter would feel that his soul is being pulled upward by a strength, this upward strength may counteract the downward strength of his own karma, so that he can fly up freely); saw the light from the tuft of white hair between the Buddha's eyebrows.

Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum (Six-Words-Great-Enlightening-Dharani):

(1) Refreshing cool at the center of the heart; sometimes at the throat, mouth, and head also feel the Refreshing cool; eliminates the three poisons (greed, anger and ignorance); improve your wisdom.

(3) Refreshing cool; eliminates the three poisons; improve wisdom.

Shurangama Mantra (Heart):

(1) A large area of the chest feels the Refreshingly cool sensation; reduce leak; reduce lustful desire; overcomes the desire of meat eating; improves your wisdom; makes you clear-headed and energetic; makes you look more handsome; reduces desires to make keeping precepts easier; seldom dream or not having any dream at all; dispels evil spirits.

(2) made a secure protective boundary; vibration

(3) Reduces lustful desire; clear-headed and energetic; precepts keeping become easier

Medicine Master Buddha Dharani:

(1) Refreshing cool; cure illness; seldom dream/not having dream. The flavor of this Dharani is a bit similar to Shurangama Mantra.

(3) cures illness, helps release lower beings from their woeful state to a higher level when reciting in meditation

Great compassion Dharani:

(1) Refreshing cool; nourishes the body; removes the dreggy things in the body; cures illness; reduces leaking; reduces lustful desire; makes you look younger and more beautiful.

(2) The Refreshing cool energy filled up the whole body, illness and pains suddenly disappeared.

(3)Refreshing cool; feel peaceful; heart open, brilliant light, cure illness for one self or for other people; reduce lustful desire; overcome the greed for meat eating; skin become better; fragrance; wishes become true; body become lithesome; prevent aging; saw the Dharma-guarding gods.

Namo Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (or Kuan Shr Yin/Kun Sye Yum)

(1) Refreshing cool; joy;

(3) makes one become happier; cures illness; reduces lustful desire; brings peace around you and for all the warring / angry beings; gives you protection from dangers; gives you a deep feeling of friendship and compassion to beings; help you cultivate these virtues

Ksitigarbha(Earth Repository) Bodhisattva and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra:

(1) Warm; comforting; eliminates fears; reduces the greed for meat eating; makes you arouse Bodhi-Heart; makes you look more righteous; makes your mind concentrate

(3) Fragrance; reduces the greed for meat eating; wishes come true; often see companion in dreams; gets future premonition. allows you to make connection with the other world dimensions to help the sentient beings in suffering with transference of merits like at the Ksitigarbha ceremonies at the 7th month; protects you when you feel being in fear of any evil beings or in situations that is uncomfortably evil; gives you a deep feeling of compassion for the suffering beings, when you feel them suffering and so pitiful you forgive their evil sins.

Cundi Dharani (heart):

(1) Refreshing cool; brilliant light; heart open; reduces leak; reduces lustful desire.

(2) Very wonderful Dharma-flavor, difficult to describe.

(3) Reduces lustful desire; wishes come true.

Wonderful Dharma Lotus Sutra (Lotus Sutra):

(1) Help you to arouse Bodhi-Heart

(2) A very strong brilliant light emitted forth from the heart, even the people outside several meters can feel it; The Refreshing cool, cozy, joyful, and energetic feeling filled up the whole body for more than one day.

(3) Dharma-joy; cure illness; saw Samantabhadra Bodhisattva; Reduce lustful desire

Namo Myue Fard Lin Wah Ging("Namo Wonderful Dharma Lotus Sutra" in Cantonese):

(1) Very wonderful Dharma-flavor, difficult to describe, consists of the effects of heart open, brilliant light, Dharma-joy, Refreshing cool, life energy, etc., very delicious.

All Buddhs' heart secret whole-body Sharira precious-box mark Dharani:

(1) makes one's heart open; supplies life energy; makes you look more handsome; sometimes feel the Dharma-joy

(3) Saw that every thing around is circumambulating

Om Vajra Sattva Hum (Vajra-sattva's heart Dharani):

(1) Refreshing cool;

(3) cures illness; chanting the full 100 words mantra can make all the sentient beings around be attentive and want to listen to it and all very orderly

According to our experience, how big the effect of mantra-chanting could be, is dependent on the following aspects:

* How great your faith is; how much you believe in it

* How wide your heart open. The greatest heart-open state is Samadhi, chanting mantra in this state can get the greatest effect. To open your heart, you have to arouse Bodhi-Heart, that is, the resolve to save all living beings, the deep compassion to all living beings.

* How sincere you are;

* How well do you keep precepts;

* How diligent you are

I feel that the energy gained by holy-names/sutras/mantras chanting are spiritual foods. Wonderful Dharma Lotus Sutra says:

The living beings in that land will always take two kinds of food: The first, the food of Dharma-joy and the second, the food of Dhyana-happiness

Making a Living Out of Buddhism

I over heard one of our volunteers remark to another: “I wish I could make a living out of Buddhism. I am always so happy when I am working here.”

I could not help but smile as I knew she meant a “financial living”. Yet, in a very real sense we are all able to make a living out of Buddhism.

The other week I travelled by train onto Sydney city. As the train came into each station faces with blank and almost dead expressions passed me by, absorbed in their i-phones, row after row, person after person immersed in world that pretends to take us out of our suffering. These were lifeless figures.

When the Shakyamuni Buddha walked the earth many asked him if he were a god. “No”, he replied. “Are you a spirit?” “No”, he replied. “I am Awakened.” Being awakened is the opposite of being asleep. When we are asleep we are in the world of dream and nightmare. One is strange and the other is frightening. Neither of which are real. That is the life that most live on a daily basis. It is a strange world because it rarely conforms to our hopes and desires. Frightening because we are living in fear of violence and losing what “happiness” we think we have. This is a very unsatisfactory way of living and creates huge problems for society. Depression is now one of the world’s major illnesses.

When we are awake we are alive. We are able to see life as a gift. Everyone likes a gift. I have watched many children at Christmas time receive gifts from their parents or relatives with huge smiles on their faces and peels of laughter and joy. Even when we try to be subdued with a:”Oh, really, you shouldn’t have done that” we nonetheless receive the gift with a smile on our face.

Rarely do we see life as a gift. We most often see it as a struggle and as a threat. We fight it – sometimes literally with great violence. We do not see it as a gift because we are asleep. When we are awake we are alive. When we live out our life as a gift to be given we are truly alive and living life to the fullest. That is how life is meant to be lived.

So many people are trying to make a living desiring to earn more and more in the fear that life will not have enough for them. They do not know the secret to true abundance. Abundance comes from our gift. This is the gift of life which is within each and everyone of us. When we find it we become livened and awake. When we find it the universe opens itself us to us.

The gift is within each of us. There is no need to criticize others for your unhappiness or lack of abundance when you already have it within you. It is only ignorance and ego that prevents you from discovering it as it hides under layers of masks.

Our Buddhist practice teaches us how to remove the masks of illusion. It teaches us to take responsibility for our own lives with a new set of skills for skillful living. Many think Buddhism is a religion. It is not. It is a life education that helps us up-skill to live effectively. When we sincerely apply the teaching methods we begin to see results in our life. This Cause and Effect. So why not change career path and make a new living?

The Buddha gave us a valuable teaching to dismantle the masks, wake up out of our sleep and live life. We can indeed make a wonderful living out of Buddhism.

Five Guidelines to Happiness and Well-Being

By the time Buddhism began to find its way into Chinese society at some period in the first century from India, Confucianism and Taoism were already firmly established.  Chinese Buddhism seemed to absorb elements of both of these great traditions.  Taoism expressed itself through many of the physical arts and traditional Chinese medicine while Confucianism spoke of the true character of a person and interpersonal relationships. 

In our search for spiritual, mental and physical happiness and well-being our tendency has often been to concentrate on one of these elements to the detriment to the others.  Even many Buddhists can easily forget the importance of the body in our daily practice. When the Shakyamuni Buddha had his turning point from ascetic practices of denial of the body through severe fasting and conditions it was a young girl who offered food to Siddhartha before he found Enlightenment. Food and body and relationship are important elements in our daily practice.

For over twenty years my work had been in the mental health arena in many capacities from  counselling and psychotherapy, support facilitation to administration and it never ceased to amaze me that recovery from mental illness was almost always aimed at drug administration over and above other vitally important elements in one’s life.

There are Five Foundations which form the interdependent web of human well-being.  I call them the Five Guidelines to Well-Being.  They are interdependent as nothing can exist solely by itself.  Each phase impacts upon the other and a deficiency in one phase will also cause a deficiency in the other.  In many ways the Five Foundations have similarities to the Wu Xing (Five Phases) of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Right Spirit (神 shen)

This refers to our sense of transcendence.  It has nothing to do with religion.  Buddhism teaches us to delve deeper into our daily problems and helps us to an understanding of ourselves in a spiritual dimension as opposed to worldly views.  We possess a soul which has continued through many reincarnations and which we make every effort to purify as to cease the cycle of birth and death and suffering.

Right Mind ( 精神  Spirit-Mind, essence, 心地 character, 意 yi)

This is a very broad area. Chinese Pure Land Buddhism speaks of our mind and mental processes as well as the Buddha Mind, or Buddha Nature.  Through the practice of Mindfulness and Buddha name meditation we begin to have a calm and peaceful mind.  A calm and peaceful mind develops a calm and peaceful character.

Right Relationship (相互依存Xiānghù yīcún)

Nothing exists by or for itself. Everything depends on something else.  Life is a complex network of relationships and inter-relationships.  The sense of separation we often have as humans is a complete illusion.  This foundation also refers to personal relationships.  We grow and understand ourselves and others through personal relationships.  Each person we meet brings us the gift or relationship no matter how joyful or painful that may be.  It is through the gift of relationship we can begin to resolve of Karmic lessons.

Right Consumption

Diet is vital of physical and mental well-being.  In our fast paced world we are consuming more and more “dead” food, food which has been highly processes and often grown using an overload of chemicals. In Traditional Chinese medicine we speak of Qi or Vital Energy 气 which sustains our physical and mental health and impacts upon our spiritual well-being.  Qi is absorbed into our body by what we consume in food, oxygen, drink and through what we process mentally (mind food).

Diets with alcohol, high caffeine and “dead” food are not conducive to our well-being.  Intake of vegetables (preferably organic), herbal food, fresh air and good positive mind food sustain life and well-being.

Right Movement

We are moving beings.  We are designed to move! Yet our ever increasing sedentary life style is killing us.  Movement also refers to the proper movement of Qi, Oxygen, Blood and Fluids through the body.  When these are obstructed there is disease and disharmony.

The brain comprises about 2% of our total body weight but utilizes approximately 20% total body oxygen.  A daily exercise routine is important. Traditional Chinese Qigong, T’ai Chi or Yoga are designed to move Qi through the body and maintain good health. However, even a 20 -30 minute walk a day can make all the difference in both our physical and mental well-being.

In Pure Land Buddhism we can combine Buddha Name Recitation with Buddhist Qigong Movements as well as mindfulness walking meditation.

There is much more to these Five Guidelines which the space of this article does not allow.  However one can find an almost immediate difference to one’s well-being when we begin in any one Foundation.  When we have all of them in balance. . . well, you be the judge!

Temple of Healing

Situated amidst tranquil bamboo forested mountains a quiet country road walking distance from the little town of Zaoxi in Zhejiang province China is the Buddhist Guang Jue Monastery. It is a small monastery in comparison to many in China but has its own precious history dating back from the Qing Dynasty. It would be a normal sleepy Buddhist temple on the edge of a country town if it were not for the many foreign faces seen walking along the rustic road exercising early in the morning of going for an evening stroll. They are those who have come for temple stay and inner healing.

“John” was one of those faces. A month prior to him flying all the way from the UK to China he had been in a psychiatric hospital having been admitted with deep depression after attempting suicide. John had been in treatment for many years for anxiety and depression and had not held a job for five years. After hearing about Guang Jue Temple and reading about Buddhist healing from a trip to Beijing, John decided to visit and have temple stay for one month in the hope that he could be relieved of the “head full of anxious thoughts.” I will not forget the look on John’s face when I told him that there was no way he could be relieved of anxious thoughts but that he could learn to live in a whole new relationship with them. The frown, the mouth agape, a look of bewilderment all flashed past like prints in a picture book. John was about to re-learn life from a Buddhist perspective.
At first the 4:30am rising was a huge challenge for John who was used to sleeping in until quite late in the morning. Meditation and chanting did not come naturally to him. John’s background was in Computer Science and the world of the monastery was a strange environment to him. Eating a vegetarian diet of plants, herbs and vegetables if ever seen in Western green grocers was a further challenge. Added to this was a ancient philosophy of healing that seemed to go totally against the grain of current Western psychology.

Gautama Buddha was frequently referred to as The Great Physician. The Buddhist approach to life is able to bring healing on many levels. Chinese Buddhism has had a rich tradition of healing arts as it absorbed much of the Taoist medical philosophy. The Buddha was also known as the Awakened One – the meaning of the word Buddha. However as human beings we are far from awake. We spend our life asleep like the walking dead – asleep to our own potential living within a world of dream like illusion. The Buddha taught us another world of being alive and awake and contained within his teachings are the directions for re-discovering life.
Most healing modalities address only one or two aspects of the person. However we are an interdependent system of elements and each one must be carefully examined and balanced. Within the temple environment each of the Five Foundations of human life is addressed and life begins to take shape. It is Cause and Effect.
Every day each person has an opportunity to practise mindfulness, Qigong, chanting, meditation, Dharma and to experience the Five Foundations as they begin to take effect in one’s life.

It is early days yet but John left the Guang Jue monastery after four weeks lighter in mind and body. Two months later he has had no re-admissions to hospital, he has reduced his medication under medical supervision remarkably and he has now found meaningful part-time work and new meaning to life.

John is just one case study. There are many more who wish, naturally, to remain anonymous. However, there has in recent years been renewed interest in the healing of Buddhist as well as other religious practices within temples. One such article of interest was published in the British Medical Journal in July 2002, Traditional community resources for mental health: a report of temple healing from India by R Raguram, A Venkateswaran, Jayashree Ramakrishna, Mitchell G Weiss.

The Buddhist monastery is the ideal place for healing with its careful routine and tranquil environment along with the time honored methods of the Master Physician the Buddha. Modern medicine can alleviate pain but only the Buddha Dharma can eliminate suffering.