Impermanence

Dhamma reflection: Dialogue between a boy with a mother on the topic of impermanence and appreciating life.

Supposing a little child has broken a cup, he will be afraid his mother will scold him. However, if the mother is wise, she will give him such advice as below.

[Boy said:]
Mum,mum, Come here and look.
The cup is broken by me.
I am so sorry about it.
I really apologize for it.

[Mum said:]
It is alright, boy.
No problem, boy.
The cup is made of glass,
So, it will be broken easily.

[Boy said:]
Why are you not angry with me?
Why do you not scold me?
Normally, you always get angry,
When I break any things, mum.

[Mum said:]
Today I realize the nature of things,
Things are impermanent,
Transient in nature.
Things get broken, sooner and later.

As long as we treasured it before,
Have used it before,
Really appreciated it before,
So it fulfilled its purpose.

We see things in positive way, son,
We see things in useful way, son,
We have used the cup to hold the water.
We have used the cup to drink from it.
It lets our body be cool and without thirst.

The cup has finished its function.
So, we are happy with it.
Now, the cup is broken.
Never mind, the cup has done its duty.

Let's us buy another cup.
Let's us appreciate another cup.
So also, we live in this moment, appreciating what we have.
Therefore, We live in this life, appreciating each other.

Impurity of the body

Beauty is only skin deep.

This is the truth, but who wants to know?

We spend money on clothes, decoration,

To beautiful this body.

It looks beautiful on outside,

It is really ugly inside.

Full of impure things,

urine, feces, sweat, snot.

We need to take care of it,

Bath it, feed it, groom it.

Taking care of it every day,

Day and night.

Yet it lets us down

By aging, sickness and death.

Not so say we should ignore it,

Because we still need it.

Just as the boat carrying passengers to other shore,

So also the body carrying us to the truth.

From the body, we learn the truth:

Impurity, impermanence, suffering and non-self.

Though it shows us this truth,

We choose to ignore it.

Welcome to the truth,

If you really like the truth.

Domain and life goal

Domain and life goal Whatever we do, if we do at the area/skill we know, then we can get success very easily. If we do in an unskillful area, we can succeed if we have many supports from others. If we do in an unskillful area, we cannot succeed if we are lacking of support from others. This area is called 'gocara' in Pali, meaning is domain, field, pasture. Today, I have a talk with a devotee. She is failing in business because she is doing a business that she is not familiar with, and her family cannot support it. She fails because of wrong domain and lack of support. For the yogis, the domain is the four foundations of mindfulness. As long as yogis stay in this domain, that means practising the four foundations of mindfulness, i.e. body, feeling, mind and dhamma, they will succeed in their meditations. Also to be succeed in gaining education, or doing a job, etc, the chanda (wish/desire) and faith/confidence (adhitthana) in ourselves are very important.In fact, chanda is one of the adhipati (predominance) condition among the 24 conditions. Adhitthana is one of the 10 paramis. As for me, my wish is to learn Pali more and improve in my Dhamma knowledge. I also have the confidence that I can achieve my aim. If we have a very strong wish and confidence, and we work at right domain/area, we can succeed in our life goal. [Sayalay Cala Theri, 10th Mac 2016]

DHAMMA CLASS

DHAMMA CLASS
March, 12th to 22th 
1. Learning the Ultimate Truth and Personal Truth by meditation.
2. Applying Pali and Abhidhamma into Vipassana Practice - Patthana, Pali suttanta.
By Sayalay Cala Theri.
at Tharbawa Centre, Than Lyin, Yangon.

Forgiveness

Dhamma Reflection on Forgiveness

This time is a smooth time, after going ups and downs.
In the peacefulness, I learn to be gratitude.
In the turmoil time, I learn to be patience.

When making mistakes in life, I check my own motivation.
When people making mistakes, I learn to forgive them.
For my own mistake, I learn to forgive myself, and to improve further.

As the Buddha says, 
There is only mind and matter, 
There is no 'I' or self.
Due to the defilement in this 'I', 
so this 'I' are making mistakes, 
small or big,

So regrets float up in mind, 
once and while.
Thoughts come and go,
Happy thoughts make me happy,
Sad thoughts make me sad.

By understand meditation
or mental cultivation, or mental development,
means seeing the truth, removing the false view,
So this 'I' understand this 'my mistakes' 
Is due to defilements in this mind.

It is good to forgive others,
It is good to forgive myself,
Why I choose to live in regrets?
When I can choose to live in wisdom.

If this life is a biggest lesson in the world,
Let me cultivate good, develop wisdom,
Let me a true disciple of the Buddha,
Let me be someone who is wise and good.

Sharing to you, from me, at this time, at this moment.

[by Sayalay Cala Theri, 8th Mac 2016)

A Quick Guide for Beginners in Buddhism now exist in our section of Dhamma articles.

Essence of Dhamma in four pages only. [Click here to browse the Dhamma articles.]

Teaching in Thabarwa in March 2016 (10 days)

Teaching in Thabarwa in March 2016 (10 days)
Title: Personal truth and Universal truth
Date:12nd March to 22nd March, 2016
Teacher: Sayalay Cala Theri
Place:Thabarwa meditation centre, Than Lyin, Yangon.
Contents:
1. Pali              
2. Abhidhamma
4. Basic Buddhism
5. Meditation Discussion
6. Actual Meditation
7. Sharing Merits.