But if you listen attentively, you'll find his teaching is very close to the Buddhist heart. He simply says that you too can become an enlightened person if you focus your mind on the present and become mindful or conscious of your daily activities.
To him, nirvana is not something that lies in the future or in the past but something you can experience right now, with every breath you take.
Ironically, the voices of the leaders of Buddhism in this country are nowhere to be heard. In fact, they have not raised any alarm over the spread, like wildfire, of the Jatukam Ramathep amulets, which have become a new source of hope, luck and protection for desperate Thais.
One estimate puts the number of Jatukam Ramathep amulets now on the market at four million, priced from several hundred baht to more than a million each. But soon the prices will burst like a stock-market bubble.
We have moved further and further away from the original Dharma teaching of the Buddha.
We probably needed an outsider like Hanh, who is a Mahayana monk, to remind us, as followers of Theravada Buddhism, how far we have deviated from true Buddhist doctrine.
Eighty-one-year-old Hanh's teaching is similar to the Most Venerable Buddhadasa Bikkhu, who went against the mainstream Buddhism of his time by directing us right to the heart of Dharma without the need for rituals cloaked by orthodox practices.
Buddhadasa said every one of us could attain enlightenment by looking at a flower and by experiencing eternity in the state of the present.
Hanh, who is participating in the Visakha Bucha celebrations as a guest of the Thai government, also tells us to experience Dharma directly by awakening our minds. To him, Buddhism is simply a vehicle to help us attain enlightenment. It is the means, not the goal.
This is similar to a situation when you want to travel to a destination, say, Chiang Mai. Once you have reached Chiang Mai, you forget your comfortable aircraft or your car.
Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen monk who now resides in France and has followers around the globe, further explains that you can apply this concept of mindfulness to all kinds of activities in your daily life such as driving or walking. Most of the time, you find that you allow your normal life to be guided by instinct rather than by consciousness or mindfulness.
Take driving to work as an example. Most often, you are surprised to find that you have arrived at the parking lot of your office without realising how you have done it. In this respect, you are driving your car by instinct, while your mind is wandering everywhere. An accident could occur at any time.
But if you drive with consciousness, you realise every moment, every second. You are thus in firm control of your driving.
More than 2,000 years have passed since the Lord Buddha propounded his concept of space and time. But the state of the present is very tricky. Once you realise it, it has already become the past. And you can't grasp the future because it has not arrived yet.
So what exactly is this very elusive state of the present? It is neither the past nor the future, and it exists in a fraction of a millionth of a second.
Buddhist Dharma explains that our soul exists in a state of the present, similar to the light of a candle, which comes into being and vanishes almost simultaneously. The light comes into being by the burning of the wax before disappearing as the wax burns out. But then new wax gives the light a new lease of life before vanishing again in this life-and-death cycle.
So the candlelight is simply an illusion of this alternate burning and vanishing process. If we understand this very nature of our mind, then we'll realise the way of the world and become enlightened.
Hanh's teaching has the power to motivate people from the West because they can apply it to their lives.
He wants you to focus on the present and then do your best, live your best and then think well, talk well and act well.
But if you are to observe the practice of Theravada Buddhism in Thailand now, you'll have a hard time understanding what Buddhism is all about. This has given rise to the misunderstanding that Buddhism is turning one's back on the world.
Thai monks are no longer role models as they are increasingly involved in worldly scandals.
Do we have to close our eyes to the world, close our ears to the sounds, avoid the taste of food, avoid smells and ignore our senses? This is not necessarily so.
For us, as lay Buddhists, we can live a normal life by simply being aware of our activities every single moment. We can let our conscious mind, instead of instinct, guide us. Then we will have compassion towards our fellow human beings. Then we can love peace, accept differences and have more understanding of others.
This is the essence of Hanh's teaching, which makes him one of the world's most popular Zen monks.
Thanong Khanthong
The Nation
Showing posts with label buddish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buddish. Show all posts
05 August 2007
01 August 2007
Distinguishing Jatukams
The Wat Wang Tawan Tok area of NST, long an area for buying and selling amulets, has turned into a paradise for those who want to buy sought-after models of Jatukam priced from 70 to 100 baht each. Priced this low, it is doubtful they have passed through the sacred ritual, which, along with the materials used to produce them, distinguishes the "real from the fake" images. Reportedly, only a skilled eye can tell the difference.
When Perspective visited Wat Wang Tawan Tok last month there was a huge crowd of people, even though it wasn't on the weekend. Most locals know about the place where people can buy Jatukam that have not passed through the sacred ritual. Many people were buying the Jatukam for souvenirs or gifts, others purchased large amounts but declined to say why.
Vendors were also close-mouthed about how and where they obtained the Jatukam.
If only people paid attention to the materials which are purportedly incorporated into certain models of Jatukam, they would likely question how they could be obtained.
Brochures and leaflets promoting various Jatukam models list the components. For example, one model claims to use bits of earth surrounding the burial site of the placental material and umbilical cord of Luang Por Tuod (Wat Chang Hai, Pattani), who is said to have passed away 425 years ago. When Perspective tried to contact persons in charge of the production of this amulet at Wat Mahayong in NST to ask about the claim, a monk deferred the question to some people at a downtown centre. When these people were tracked down, they also failed to provide any information on how they were able to find the place where the placenta was buried.
On reflection, it would seem that many of the materials might be quite hard to secure, such as soils from places mentioned in the chronicle of the Lord Buddha's journeys in India and Nepal. Some Jatukam models are even claimed to contain leaves of Sara trees in Kushinagar, the place where the Lord Buddha attained paranirvana.
The agencies responsible for obtaining the materials claim they are able to get them by sending people to India and Nepal, but they do not want to be named in newspapers.
The sacred rituals are usually performed at various temples. Some models advertise that the ritual is performed on multiple occasions - three, five, seven, up to nine times - on particular Jatukam. Most models perform the ritual, at least once, at Pra Mahathat Voramahaviharn temple, the main temple in Nakhon Si Thammarat, which is fully booked until the end of this year.
The rituals have certainly interrupted the normal schedule of those who wish to study and practise Dharma. One nun and her followers had to move their classes from the main Vihara of the temple to a kitchen. "There are a lot of noises since the temple became the venue of sacred rituals for Jatukam," said the nun.
The rituals for some models are held on mountaintops which are considered sacred, or the "umbilical cord of the sea", reportedly at the mouth of the Nakhon Si Thammarat sea located in Pak Phanang district.
There are a number of monks, shamans and Brahmans whose presence is highly prized at these rituals. Some producers say they have to put a large amount of money into an envelope for each of these holy men.
Bangkok Post
AMULET SENDS MIXED BLESSING
While Jatukam may have brought fortune to some, the majority of people in Nakhon Si Thammarat are still lacking in basic necessities. — NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
The Jatukam talisman craze and related businesses have injected a stimulant into Nakhon Si Thammarat's economic growth, but at what cost, asks SUPARA JANCHITFAH
On the surface, it seems that the booming trade in Jatukam talismans in Nakhon Si Thammarat (NST) is a completely positive development for the province. When one looks deeper, however, it becomes apparent that there is a downside to being ground zero for the phenomenon that has taken Thailand by storm.
The abrupt success of Jatukam-related businesses has translated into jobs and prosperity for many people. Locals commonly observe that the amphetamine trade in the province is not as widespread as before. This is in line with statistics from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) which reveal that in October of last year there were 121 drug cases in NST province. Six months later, in March, the number of cases had drastically declined to only four (see graphic).
No clear explanation has been given behind the waning of activity, but it seems plausible that it could be due to a switch from amphetamine trafficking to the legal marketing of Jatukam.
On the other hand, reports on crimes such as theft, often involving Jatukam, are on the increase in the province, as a quick glance at local newspapers attests. This might be related to the high demand for some Jatukam models.
Many locals are also worried that some people in the Jatukam trade do their business in dishonest ways. "I met one of my students who purchased imitation Jatukam that cost him around 100 baht for three images. He said he sells them for 800 baht each in Bangkok," said a teacher at a secondary school.
"I asked him, don't you think this is a sinful act? He told me that he was just satisfying the needs of those buyers who want to get special models at a low price," he added.
Moreover, there are a number of reports that some vendors have run away with money from buyers who paid in advance for yet-to-be released models, using forged advance reservation books. The fake agencies do not show up on the appointed days to give buyers the talismans.
www.readbangkokpost.com
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