Tu Viện Quảng Đức, 105 Lynch Rd, Fawkner, Vic 3060. Australia. Tel: 9357 3544. quangduc@quangduc.com* Viện Chủ: HT Tâm Phương, Trụ Trì: TT Nguyên Tạng *   

25. Trusting to Luck

11/06/202009:02(Xem: 2152)
25. Trusting to Luck
Buddhist Sunday School Lessons (Venerable Sumangalo)

Duc The Ton 4TRUSTING TO LUCK

Venerable Sumangalo

It is a very wrong idea to believe in good or bad “luck”. If we have such ideas in our minds, we should get rid of them while we are still children, and never again allow such wrong thinking to influence us. If we believe in “luck”, then we cannot believe in the Dharma.

Lord Buddha taught us that good effects, that is to say, good results, come from good causes, and that only bad results can come from bad causes. A person who does not do clear thinking and whose actions are not good, cannot reasonably say that the bad effects that come into his life are just “bad luck.” Bad thinking and bad living produce bad conditions of life, just as surely as two plus two add up to four. On the other hand, good thinking and good acting produce good conditions of life, just as surely as two plus two add up to four. It is superstitious to believe in “luck”, and anyone who has such a belief shows thereby that he does not have any deep understanding of the Buddha’s teaching.


Our lives are happy and peaceful or else unhappy and unpeaceful, depending on our own individual way of living. We make our own happiness or unhappiness and there is no such thing as luck. When a person says he has “bad luck”, he really means he has bad karma. Anyone who understands the teaching about karma, will not make the mistake of believing in luck, because he will know that everything that happens in our lives happens as a result of a cause we ourselves have created.

We all know that if we plant roses we shall soon have a beautiful bush of roses. The rose bush will never blossom with Angsana flowers. That would be against nature’s laws. Likewise, if we plant an Angsana tree, we can be certain it will bear Angsana blossoms and never roses. This same law governs our own lives. We get out of life what we put into life. We harvest what we have planted. Every Buddhist child must learn as early as possible in life that whatever happens to us is the result of our own personal karma and that believing in luck shows only ignorance and superstition. 

SENTENCES FROM THE DHARMAPADA

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought; it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts.”

“If a man speaks and acts with pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.”

“Fools of little understanding have themselves for their greatest enemies, for they do evil deeds which must bear bitter fruit.”

 

QUESTIONS

  1. Can we believe in “luck” and also believe the Dharma?
  2. What does the word “superstition” mean?
  3. What do we mean by “laws of nature”?
  4. What do good thought and good actions produce?
  5. What do bad thoughts and bad actions produce?
  6. Does some god control our thoughts and acts, or do we control them ourselves?
  7. What do we mean by sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting?
  8. Does anything “just happen” or is there a cause for everything?
  9. Would it be natural for roses to bloom on an Angsana tree?
  10. What do we mean by “personal karma”?
In Trang
Gửi ý kiến của bạn
Tắt
Telex
VNI
Tên của bạn
Email của bạn
Trang đầuTrang trước1234567Trang sauTrang cuối

07/08/2021(Xem: 9594)
The BEP Buddhist Embroidery Project was started by attendees of the London Buddhist Vihara (Monastery) in 1994. The BEP decided to teach embroidery to people who had not learnt it in childhood. The late Venerable Apparakke Jinaratana, a Theravada Buddhist Bhikkhu (monk), who lived in a cave in Sri Lanka, near a very poor village, was using very old newspapers (supplied by villagers) as tablecloths. The BEP decided to embroider tablecloths, wall hangings and sitting cloths for his use. Although items are given to one monk, they actually belong to the whole of the Bhikkhu Sangha [Order of Buddhist Monks] according to the Vinaya (Buddhist Monastic Discipline). In Asian villages, washing is done in streams and waterfalls, and hung to dry in the hot sun, so items do not last as long as they do in the west.

30/07/2021(Xem: 5771)
Introducing Buddhism by Venerable Dr Balangoda Ananda Maitreya Mahanayaka Thera Abhidhaja Maharatthaguru Aggamaha Pandita DLitt DLitt (1896-1998) and Jacquetta Gomes Bodhicarini Upasika Jayasili. Introducing Buddhism was originally published by The Buddhist Society London in 1988, to accompany The Buddhist Society’s Introducing Buddhism Course, on which Jacquetta Gomes was one of the teachers. Introducing Buddhism has subsequently been published by Buddhist organisations in England, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the USA. Introducing Buddhism is available on several websites including Access to Insight, CBE Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia and Google Books. Introducing Buddhism was launched by the BCC Buddhist Cultural Centre in Sri Lanka with 24 other books under the patronage of Venerable Dr K. Sri Dhammananda Chief Sangha Nayaka of Malaysia and Singapore, in December 1997.

03/05/2021(Xem: 8302)
As a child, my mother Enid often said to me, “There is no such thing as a silly question,” and then would add, “unless.” This latter word was left hanging, and I eventually realised that it was up to me to learn the depth of its meaning. At the same time that Enid was planting seeds for reflection, my first spiritual teacher, Ven. Lama Senge Tashi, encouraged me to cultivate more skilful thoughts, speech and actions. Sometimes I would try to verbally assert “I” or “Me,” and Lama would respond with, “Who is speaking?” or “Who is asking?”

03/05/2021(Xem: 8345)
During the Covid-19 pandemic a dharma sister passed from this life. Her name was Robyn. Although she did not call herself a Buddhist, nevertheless, Robyn had a special connection with the deity Medicine Buddha. Over the six years that I worked with her, in my role as a hospital chaplain, Robyn frequently asked me to chant the mantra of Medicine Buddha and guide her through the visualisation. During her many stays in hospital, this particular practice brought comfort to her while she was experiencing chronic pain, anxiety and fear of the unknown. The medications she took would sometimes cloud her memory, so I would guide her through the details of the visualisation and begin chanting:

03/05/2021(Xem: 8602)
Once, as I was about to hold a summer Dharma class on a beach, as the first students began to arrive for the session I picked up two rocks and carefully placed them, one on top of the other, on to a much larger rock base. Observing what I had just done, three students approached: a young married couple and their five year old son.

03/05/2021(Xem: 8780)
True Seeing (Ven. Shih Jingang) One day, while Little Pebble and his Master were walking through a garden, the old teacher stopped to look at a white rose in full bloom. He motioned for his young disciple to join him, and they both sat down near where the flower was growing. ‘Little Pebble,’ said the Master, ‘when you look at this object, tell me what you think about it.’ ‘The flower is pretty,’ stated the boy. ‘I like it.’ ‘’’Flower,” you say. “Pretty, like it,” you say,’ replied the Master, looking to see how his young disciple reacted. Then he added, ‘Mind creates names like flower, and thoughts of like and dislike, pretty and ugly. This mind is small and closed, but if you can see beyond it to the nature of mind, then all is vast like space, completely open to all things. In this state of awareness, there is neither a flower nor a non-flower. Understand?’ But the young disciple did not quite understand, so his Master continued, ‘Little one, come here each day,

03/05/2021(Xem: 10562)
One day, Little Pebble went to his teacher, and said, ‘Master, my friend’s dog Tiger died.’ The look on Little Pebble’s face told the old monk that he was troubled. ‘Little one, do you have any questions?’ ‘Master, where did Tiger go?’ ‘Where did you come from?’ asked the old monk. ‘From my mummy’s tummy.’ ‘And where did Mummy come from?’ Little Pebble couldn’t think of an answer. The Master regarded his young disciple for a moment, then said, ‘Remember, when you made shapes with mud and named them Mummy, Daddy, Master?’

03/05/2021(Xem: 6630)
“Calling forth the Great Compassion, we are one with our True Nature; that which is directly Buddha, also indirectly Buddha. Oneness with the Triple Treasure, endless, joyous, perfect being. Morning thought is Kuan-Shih-Yin, evening thought is Kuan-Shih-Yin. All present thoughts arise from Mind, no thought exists apart from Mind.” These are the words of the Ten Verse Life-Prolonging Kuan-Yin Sutra. Who is reciting them? A few blocks away, an old man is crying out for help and someone hears. He is a brother, sister, father, mother from a previous life. A phone is picked up and then there are footsteps running towards the sound, “Help me! Help...” Someone sees the old man sitting on the top step, near the front door of his house.

03/05/2021(Xem: 7249)
No past, no present, no future. All created things arise and pass away. All names and labels dissolve. You can observe this in meditation practice and, in experiencing impermanence in life and so-called death. At the conclusion of the Diamond Sutra, it is said that, this is how we should view our conditioned existence: as a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a drop of dew, a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom and a dream.

03/05/2021(Xem: 5780)
Today I sit alone in a house. The government of the country in which I live has requested that I stay here in isolation for the health and safety of the community both here and abroad. Countless others are doing the same thing, except that some call it a forced lock down, or an obstacle to their free movement. I see this as an opportunity to practice. The Buddha taught that the suffering connected with birth, sickness, old age and death is a fact of life for sentient beings in Samsara. But so is the possibility of transcendence from Samsaric suffering. So, for a practitioner, the question is not just “Why?” but also “How?” Why do I/we suffer and, how do I/we overcome suffering? The answer to the former is found in intuitively recognizing (the 3 Poisons): harmful habits of attachment, anger and ignorance; and the answer to the latter lies in resolving to study and practice the Noble Eightfold Path (the antidote) and, fully realizing Buddhahood for the benefit of a
Trang đầuTrang trước1234567Trang sauTrang cuối
facebook youtube google-plus linkedin twitter blog
Nguyện đem công đức này, trang nghiêm Phật Tịnh Độ, trên đền bốn ơn nặng, dưới cứu khổ ba đường,
nếu có người thấy nghe, đều phát lòng Bồ Đề, hết một báo thân này, sinh qua cõi Cực Lạc.

May the Merit and virtue,accrued from this work, adorn the Buddhas pureland,
Repay the four great kindnesses above, andrelieve the suffering of those on the three paths below,
may those who see or hear of these efforts generates Bodhi Mind, spend their lives devoted to the Buddha Dharma,
the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Quang Duc Buddhist Welfare Association of Victoria
Tu Viện Quảng Đức | Quang Duc Monastery
Senior Venerable Thich Tam Phuong | Senior Venerable Thich Nguyen Tang
Address: Quang Duc Monastery, 105 Lynch Road, Fawkner, Vic.3060 Australia
Tel: 61.03.9357 3544 ; Fax: 61.03.9357 3600
Website: http://www.quangduc.com ; http://www.tuvienquangduc.com.au (old)
Xin gửi Xin gửi bài mới và ý kiến đóng góp đến Ban Biên Tập qua địa chỉ:
quangduc@quangduc.com , tvquangduc@bigpond.com
VISITOR
110,220,567