Last week’s talk was by Dr Wong Yin Onn and was centred on
education in the Dhamma rather than education in school. It was really engaging
as he used many songs and video clips.
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The 3 Universal Characteristics (impermanence,
suffering and non-self) are everywhere and experienced by all of us
o
Impermanence – no state (pleasant/ unpleasant)
lasts forever. Chief cause of suffering – our belief that things can last
o
Non-self – no permanent unchanging being can be
found i.e. we all fall sick, age etc
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Existence is endless as we are reborn over and
over again
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The only way out is liberation. A teacher can
only show the way
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Analogy: the pill scene from The Matrix
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“That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else
you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or
touch. A prison for your mind.” - Morpheus
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Like Neo, we have to take the blue pill (uncover
the truth) rather than the red (live in denial, which is easier) to be
liberated
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Some truths are easier to see (e.g. everyone
will die) than others (e.g. non self)
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An e.g. of non self as illustrated by this scene
in The Matrix. There is no spoon; it is the mind that bends. There needs to be
many things i.e. the concept of the spoon, the concept of bending, the eye to
see the spoon, the brain to receive and interpret the signals etc
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Another e.g. Q: Is there a sound if a tree falls
in the forest when no one is around?
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A: There are only (sound) waves. For there to be
a sound, there must be a sense object, sound base and sound consciousness i.e.
the concept of sound, the tree that falls, sound waves, eardrums and the brain
to receive and interpret that sound
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We are finished if we surrender our intellect to
blind faith as it does not allow us to ask why; we should always ask questions
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The song “Dust In The Wind” by Sarah Brightman
(Originally sung by Kansas, which I personally prefer) reminds us of
impermanence
o
When people die and are cremated, their body is
reduced to ashes in an hour or so, like dust in the wind
o
Money can only buy a beautiful funeral but not
another minute of life
o
We often futilely cling onto what is impermanent
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The songs “Colours of the Wind” (Pocahontas) and
“Circle of Life” (Elton John) remind us that all beings are interconnected
o
We owe our success due to so many factors and
people, and not just our own hard work; if we believe it was just due to our
efforts it will inflate the ego
o
In life, never take morethan we give
o
Until we find the path unwinding we will be in
the circle of samsara
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The song “Imagine” by John Lennon illustrates
Buddhist principles
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Buddha did not teach a religion but taught a
noble way of life
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We can see cause and effect e.g. drank alcohol
and then knocked down someone in an accident
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Using the Force, Yoda easily frees the X-Wing
from the bog. He tells Luke that it is because he did not believe it that he
failed, which is similar to walking the path and attaining Nibbana
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NIbbana is a reality transcendent to the entire
world of mundane experience (this is investigated in quantum physics)
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The Jedi Code “There is no emotion, there is
peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is
serenity. (There is no chaos, there is harmony.) There is no death, there is
the Force.” Reminds us of Dhamma
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I could not find the scene from “The Tao of Kung
Fu” he showed us but found this similar one instead, where we observe that
o
All of us have
capacity for the greatest of good and evil; we have dualistic thinking
as joy can’t be felt without an equal capacity to feel despair etc
o
We should give things e.g. feelings a name –
labelling is objectifying them; not identifying themselves as ourselves –
meditation technique – arising thoughts are due to causes and conditions; only
ours if we make them so
o
We often see them, think they are us and act
upon them
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It is the fear of fear itself that makes us
fearful i.e. many of our fears are an imagined outcome of the future, have to
do with the sense of self and do not actually come true; we have to realise
that there is nothing to fear
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Many things are neither completely black nor
white e.g. kamma; hardly anything we do is 100% unconditional
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