In Gratitude

General discussion, particularly exploring the Dharma in the modern world.
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genkaku.linrx
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2021 1:07 pm

In Gratitude

Post by genkaku.linrx »

I am busy at work, but I thought I would take a short breather to express gratitude to the dharma teachers who played a deep and profound role in shaping my outlook on life and how I live in the present moment. :namaste:

Adam

When I was still an undergraduate in Singapore in the years 2002-2006, I started exploring Buddhism and posted actively in the then e-sangha, and I chanced upon a Zen teacher named Adam Fisher who taught very simple, zen-like anecdotes. I found his short wordings beneficial, and I began practising sitting meditation on my own, usually of the Metta and breathing type. He was special to me because even though I am ethnic Chinese, in Singapore our education is almost primordially in English, so I can hardly understand any Buddhist teaching in Mandarin Chinese. This means that a teacher like Adam who lived in Northampton, Mass, USA and who learned the dharma from Japanese roshis were useful for me because he taught in English and could exchange ideas without the Buddha dharma without forgetting that the Buddha was also an Asian.

Adam would blog actively apart from running his Black Moon Zendo at his backyard, and I would read and respond to his writings on an irregular basis. His writings revolved mostly about the daily news to his family stories, and it also helped me to learn that he was a parent to two sons and a daughter. Being secular meant a lot to me because I wanted a Buddhism that was pragmatic and applicable, I did not want Buddhism to be a holy goodie two shoe storyboard that revolved around monastic lifestyle. I wanted to know how married Buddhists practise Buddhism, because I am heterosexual and respected parenthood. Adam could offer me teachings that benefit me in the exact way I wanted it.

Adam passed away on February 19, 2021. He was 80. I still miss his blogposts alot, but I have gotten used to life without his teachings. He was not famous and not proud, and I decided that I would take up zazen as a lifetime pursuit, encouraged by his being a role model for me.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thay, as he is affectionately known to most Buddhists, entered my life in 2003 when I was sandwiched between a relationship with a Christian and Buddhist practice. I found his book "Living Buddha, Living Christ" to be a perfect reference guide for me to live my life in a country where Buddhists make up 30+% of the population while Christians were 20+% of the populace. I was touched by his simplicity and austere lifestyle and the fact that he was of South East Asian ethnicity as I am. He had seen the world during his growing up years, having been to US and France to practise and propagate engaged Buddhism, and it was his hands on approach to Buddhism that made sense to me. I wanted a Buddhism that was engaging the masses, not one that lives up in the mountains away from the secular life of a typical householder.

I started reading or buying his books, and my favourite books from Thay include "Teachings on Love" and "Peace is Every Step". I also began to practise the five mindfulness trainings prescribed by the Plum Village sangha that he oversaw, and I found peace in myself for the first time since being conscripted as a soldier around the same time as the 911 attacks took place in USA. One of my favourite practices from Plum Village would be chanting the "Insight That Brings Us to the Other Shore" as taught by Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. This is one of my preferred English translations of the Heart Sutra from Asian languages. I feel solace and peace of mind whenever I listen to and / or chant this short but profound teaching.

Thay passed away this year, as many would know, and I still miss him a lot. I pray that he is in a better place already. He has done a lot for the Buddhist community and deserves a good afterlife.

[/b]释广超 Venerable Guang Chao[/b]

I was introduced to Venerable Guang Chao when I was still in elementary school. He was a Buddhist scholar and monk who ordained in Singapore under the lineage of the late Master Hong Choon after graduation from my alma mater, the Nanyang Technological University. Guang Chao was important to me. He was a scientist by training so he was the first Buddhist monk I knew who would teach about physics and not just arty farty religious studies. Throughout his career, he expounded dozens of Buddhist scriptures, though mostly in Chinese which I can barely understand, and ordained dozens of disciples as well. The bad news was also the good news, even though taught alot, I could not understand what he was teaching, and all I did over the years was to collect his teachings as audio recordings and preserve them over the internet as a personal project to archive his teachings. I ran this library of his teachings over the past dozen of years at https://guangchaofayin2020.blogspot.com .

Venerable Guang Chao also passed away this year in 2022, around the same time as Thich Nhat Hanh. I miss him dearly.

Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Lee

Even though it was Ajahn Brahm who taught most of the Theravada teachings that I learned, it was Ajahn Chah his late teacher who benefitted me the most in my practice of meditation. I loved to study Ajahn Chah's teachings which till this day is still being preserved at http://www.ajahnchah.org . I loved his teaching "Everything is Teaching Us" because he made the Buddhist philosophy utterly omnipresent for me. I believed in his ascetic practices even though I lived the secular life as a layperson, and I respected Thai Buddhism a lot along the way too. I visited Thailand several times during this lifetime and I can feel the aura of spirituality whenever I land in Thailand. Simply put, I love Thailand.

Another Thai monk whom I endear is Ajahn Lee. Ajahn Lee was a secular married man before he renounced the home life and became a monastic. He knew what it was like to live a life as a layperson. It was in the early 2010s when I was helping to start a project titled "BuddhismIs" did I began transcribing teachings from Ajahn Lee, and I was touched by how well he could relate to the suffering I had as an ordinary householder. I did not get a chance to study more of his teachings, but I respect this wise man a lot.

Both dhamma teachers passed away when I was still younger, I thank them for the positive influence they had in shaping my views towards life.

Well, this is about all for the time being. I count my blessings that I met the Buddha Dharma this life and express my deepest and profound gratitude to these late teachers for helping me cope with the duḥkha that is this life. Thank you one and all!
:thanks:
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