Foreword
To practice Buddhism correctly, one needs proper guidelines from an authentic and unbroken lineage transmission, or from those with experience. Although Buddhism in Australia offers a rich variety from many well-known Buddhist schools in the world, new practitioners can be confused with contradicting advice and overwhelmed with so many options which can be chosen.
In the academic world, many writers often keep their advice tradition-specific, namely, Theravada and Mahayana, later on Vajrayana. Readers, if by chance, are reading several texts from different schools, are advised to speak to experienced practitioners or a Dharma master to work out how to begin their spiritual journey in Buddhism.
Bringing Wisdom To Life is a good companion, written to offer readers a view, drawing from various traditions on specific topics. It is a book which blends teachings from all the major traditions so seamlessly that we can see them simply as Dharma. No matter what tradition of Buddhism we may practice, in this approach all traditions are accessible, and their usefulness and relevance in helping us develop on the Buddhist Path is immediately apparent.
The publishing of this book is timed to coincide with the 40th Anniversary of the Buddhist Discussion Centre Australia. Founded in 1978, it is one of the first Buddha Dhamma centres to be established in Melbourne, Australia. I have had a long association with the teachers and members of the centre during thirty of those years. As I read Bringing Wisdom to Life I was aware that the book distills the accumulated learning and experience gained at the centre throughout that time, and is a valuable living record of this flourishing Buddhist community.
Bringing Wisdom to Life is written for the 21st century and is well suited to the conditions we now live in. It will be equally enjoyable and useful whether the reader is contemplating the Buddhist Path or is an experienced Buddhist practitioner.
I congratulate the authors Anita Carter and Frank Carter for writing this book to contribute to world Buddhism, and for sharing their experience in a way that others can benefit from.
I recommend Buddhists and those interested in Buddhism to read it.
Venerable Phuoc Tan
Abbot Quang Minh Temple
Braybrook, Victoria, Australia
Acknowledgement
We deeply acknowledge the Buddha Sakyamuni, our Founder, and the many Buddhist Teachers who we have had the opportunity and privilege to have met and received Teachings from.
The Teachings in this book are a culmination of Teachings given at the Buddhist Discussion Centre Australia by the Founder Mr John D. Hughes and various Buddhist Teachers who have taught at the centre over the past forty years.
They are a practical guide for implementing the Buddha Dhamma in everyday life.
We thank the authors of the writings we have quoted, for disseminating the Buddha Dhamma in our world making it available for us all to benefit from.
We also warmly thank Alec Sloman for his patient help in sourcing references used in the book, Alice Chow for helping to prepare the text for publication and Alex Serrano for his generosity and skill in addressing the grammatical short comings in the text and providing feedback which has enhanced the quality of the writing and content.
Finally, thank you to the students who attended the many classes conducted by the Buddhist Discussion Centre Australia and who gave the authors the occasion to write the contents of Bringing Wisdom To Life as a vehicle to hand on the precious Buddha Dhamma.
Introduction
It’s important when embarking on a new field of learning to know where to start. This is particularly the case for Buddhism. There is a vast amount of information about Buddhism published in many forms which may lead us to start at the middle, at the end, the general or the specialized, in the deep or in the shallow, or, if we are fortunate, at the beginning. We may find one source from one Buddhist tradition, the next from another tradition, and possibly the contents side-by-side do not sit easily together.
It wasn’t always like this. In the distant past, students of Buddhism mostly received their information from a single source, usually a Buddhist Temple or Teacher they first felt a connection with, or where they were first introduced by their parents, friends or other students.
There is a deep connectivity across all Buddhist traditions and at every level of the Buddhist Teachings which relates to the science of the mind as discovered by The Buddha, and the technology of how to finally and fully understand ourselves.
This is the promise of Buddhism, the Buddhist Path, which, when followed diligently, leads us to the top of the tallest mountain, and from that peak any person can see everything about themselves, clearly, perfectly. This is the wisdom view, and wisdom will undo the causes of our suffering.
No single book can provide everything we need on our journey to awakening. “Bringing Wisdom to Life” is offered to help you see some of the steps on your path. Maybe it will be your first steps, or maybe steps to help you “get” the next bit, but whatever you need to move along the path, at least some of it you can find in this book.
Chapter 1 – The Happiness You Are Looking For
There are many ways of explaining Buddhism. Sometimes it is said it is not a religion, it is a philosophy or a way of living. Whatever label it has is less important than how it can help us.
Buddhism is a way of living and self-training which develops and refines our disposition, our attitudes, our behaviour and cultivates our mind on a path that produces deep personal happiness and well being.
Buddhism enables us to turn our lives into an unfolding source of inner understanding or insight of ourselves, others and the world we experience.
The teachings of Buddhism are based upon the way nature works, the way our mind works naturally. These Teachings arise from The Buddha's perfectly clear observation and insight into the mind and into the processes of life.
The Buddha simply saw things perfectly clearly. That was the quality of his attainment as a Buddha. This is what is generally referred to as enlightenment. His incomparable Buddha mind was sublime wisdom itself, and the origin of what became the religion Buddhism.
There were 56 religions in The Buddha's time. Why did he start another one?
The Buddha saw what no one else at his time could see. What none of the other religions at that time or since have offered humanity. He saw the truth about the actual nature of the mind and body - the nature of the different types of consciousness we can experience, the nature of thought, perception, memory, the nature of feeling, the natural laws which govern our minds functions and, the truth about the elusive nature of what we call our "self".
And in recognising this nature of mind he also discovered a particular awareness, unseen by everyone in the noise of our mental phenomena, a unique, already-liberated state which has no mental pain whatever. It is described as perfect peace and it is named nirvana in Sanskrit, or nibbana in the Pali language used in the Buddha's time.
The Buddha, having discovered the existence of an unconditioned state, that he called nibbana, spent the next forty-five years of his life teaching countless others the path or practice through which nibbana could be known each for himself or herself. It is a naturally existing state that is the goal of Buddhist practice.
So many persons in our modern cultures who are not socially isolated, are well educated, and have affluent lifestyles frequently experience many forms of unhappiness. These include worry, stress, anxiety, insecurity, sadness, anger, frustration and depression.
Australia, for example, has one of the world's highest rates of suicide, particularly among our youth, yet our biggest cities are regarded as being among the top ten cities in the world to reside in. Our material standards of living are among the world’s best. Yet our mental culture appears, by this criterion, to be nothing special.