Faith and Devotion

Good evening, everyone. Good to see you all. Anybody feel the energy of the mantra? It's very powerful. The metta, loving-kindness prayer, is all included in that mantra. The mantra is invocation of the great compassion of Avalokiteshvara. It has a very high frequency, high energy.

So if you find yourself, or you need a mantra, you can utilize that. And continual generation of compassion within for all beings will bring you that joy in our hearts. Today I wanted to touch upon faith and devotion.

For those of you who were at the panel discussion, or watched the video of the panel discussion, on past Saturday, Bhikkhu Bodhi mentioned faith and devotion practice, which is one of the five powers. I believe it's faith, mindfulness, energy, and, uh, and, uh, and, uh, concentration.

But faith is something that I haven't used that word much with you all, because it could be misperceived as the faith that has been talked about in other religions. Faith in Buddha Dharma is really trust and confidence. trust and confidence in what? The faith in Buddha Dharma and Sangha.

So we take refuge. Right? Like when we did our salutation to Triple Gem and something that I emphasize as a first step, first button is to take refuge to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. For Buddhist practices, that is the first step. Buddha not only represents the Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha from 2600 years ago, but it also represents our Buddha nature within.

Our true essence, our true nature is the Buddha, nature. So when you become enlightened, you're realizing that your own nature, your own essence is the Buddha nature. Okay? So, we are taking refuge to that essence. Dharma is a pointer to that nature. So, it's Shakyamuni Buddha's teaching as a dharma, but it also represents that truth itself.

What you are. So, when you ask yourself, what is this that's aware? What is this present? What am I? You don't see that right now, right? You're stuck with don't know. When you continue to look deeply into it, you'll see that truth. That absolute truth that is non-dual.

Non-linear. Which means it's not is or isn't. It's hard to grasp that with our mind. That's why we have to let go. Our filtering system, our own old way of perceiving things. To be able to see the truth, your paradigm has to change.

That's why we practice. We're practicing to calm,

to let go so we can see what truly is. That's the wisdom. To see as it is. In the Sangha, there's a lot of misinterpretation in the West. When Buddha said Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, I was his Sangha, a monastic Sangha that was willing to let go the householder life to become homeless, to become a mendicant, to devote one's complete life into surrendering to the Dharma, to the practice.

that's why it became one of the triple gem three jewels of Buddhism. And when anybody even the monks or lay people at the time decided to follow or learn from Buddha they first took refuge I take refuge to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha you're taking refuge like like a refugee from all the sufferings of the world to the truth that would liberate that would set you free from all suffering that's why we have to become devoted to the truth complete surrender to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha and without the Sangha pointing you towards that direction you're going to be lost so that's why I witnessed a lot of Buddhist practitioners as I traveled across the country for a year kind of lost actually there weren't teachers to point to set the example so so there has to be that trust and confidence okay I may not have built that with you some of you some of you I may have but those of you that has been practicing here with me

how many of you are benefiting from the practice? okay so that benefit is something you have to experience in order to have that trust and confidence in the method in the way the path that I am showing you that's where the faith comes from from your own experience that this is beneficial I wonder where it would take me if I continued that's why ask for or even demand commitment and consistency in your practice only way you will benefit is when you practice right not just from hearing this is the way you have to walk the path okay that's why I came up with those daily practice guidelines okay how many of you are following that exactly to the teeth?

as much as possible as much as possible yeah I have to be truthful it's okay that's why we're practitioners right we're all practitioners and I'm telling you that's the bearable minimum yes that I came up with yes that I came up with so if it's becoming boring you know because it's too repetitious then you need to increase the time number of mindful activities number of random acts of kindness that is listed on there okay offerings we make those those are all necessary parts to help us progress through the path the way to true realization okay there will be more information and training to come but right now everyone here needs to practice this and I keep mentioning the reflection you know a lot of people struggling with that it's really your own journaling of your own experiences for yourself to become more aware of your day-to-day practice and day-to-day experiences and then for me to also see where you're at it gives me indication if you don't participate in that I have no idea I'm not going to read your mind and it doesn't show the trust and confidence in my guide that I'm providing if that doesn't become your priority those minimum requirements if it's not your priority then how can I help you it becomes your priority and you won't be able to benefit either until you really dedicate yourself into that that's where that devotion comes in based on that trust and confidence that devotion comes in the practice comes in right so it all kind of match together so that's why we need that relationship that teacher-student relationship that's why we need you to take refuge surrender to the teaching to the guide and I know there's the habitual energy okay it creates struggle inconvenience but as you have benefited you can continue to move further if you commit to consistency okay so just by being consistent even though you may not think you're benefiting even though you think you're not making progress just by staying consistent with your practice you are the fact that you're being consistent with self is a progress I mean compared to the people that are not right you're already making progress just by staying consistent so kind of harping on this because without it

can't get you to the next level and if you want to know whether your practice is making progress or not it's not how long you can sit and you checked up all the boxes reflect on yourself and see if I'm still reacting to the outside if I'm reacting with judgment am I being judgmental?

judgmental of others of the situation brings about negative reaction negative reaction that happens automatically based on that habitual way for my way so this practice is not about changing the outside circumstance to my likings to change people to where I want them to be it's not a magic potion for that it's about changing my own perspective my own perception of the world does that make sense?

the annoying people the people that continue to poke you will always be there in fact, you want them there to test your own reactions if you're still reacting to those if you're still judging them just recognize no need to judge yourself for it just recognize okay, this is what I need to work on so, right mindfulness okay of the Eighth Noble Path is about being vigilant of myself self-awareness practice really that's what right mindfulness is putting our awareness attention to ourself you know simply put our speech actions and thoughts our body and mind right and the establishment of mindfulness we talk about body feelings thoughts and experiences that's all happening in the mind anyways so it really is body and the mind which we call ourself continue to look at my thoughts my reactions what am I doing what do I need to do right now okay in order to do that we have to train ourselves to be present right that's why we meditate meditation really is to discipline the mind to stay fully focused right here and right now okay then you know the shamatha practice is about calming all the thinking mind to a state where you can see through before the state before the thought arises so before we even we can even get there even though I inject the inquiry practice what am I?

what is this? it's a very high level practice some of you may be ready for it okay some but first train your mind to be right here fully open so our practice our meditation practice is to be present

with open heart simply put that's why I keep instructing you to leave everything as is allow things to be now don't take that to where you're becoming passive to whatever is happening outside that's not what that's not what I'm saying allowing things to be means we're not reacting negatively with our judgments and negative emotion we're just seeing we're just seeing having a discernment versus judgment okay this person is doing something dangerous it's not oh I'm just going to pay attention to myself no you act you respond accordingly what is necessary what is beneficial for that moment without that negative emotion that creates suffering within ourselves and others like anger frustration you know fear anxiety all of those are not helpful are not beneficial right never ever is it beneficial some people say anger gives me the energy it's misdirected it's misguided energy just have to be able to discern okay I need to act quickly I need to externally I need to maybe raise my voice whatever it is you do it consciously because you know that's what is necessary based on compassion to benefit the situation and the people that's why I practice this wisdom and compassion wisdom to see what it is to have that discernment and compassion to act upon it okay to respond accordingly not react in automatic karmic habitual propensities that we have and we cannot move away from our old way of being until we become more aware of it make sense?

yeah that's why we're training ourselves when we take the time to meditate we're training our mind to become more aware because that is awareness mindfulness is awareness on what?

on me so when you change your paradigm of the world the world changes you may not believe that, right? but this is where your faith will come in play how you see the world changes the world okay so it's our own perception anybody believe that?

raise your hand no? kinda? sorta? yeah I'll leave it at that I won't go into explaining how that works but you'll see okay if you can believe that then keep focusing on how you're proceeding people, situation all those stressful environments right? everybody experiences stress, right?

one way or the other whether you're retired whether you're you know working as a teacher whatever you're always there's always stress involved in this life that's why Buddha said number one truth is life is dukkha you have to accept that that's truth but it doesn't always have to stay that way right? because once you understand the diagnosis of it the causal condition for it then you can have nirvana complete liberation from suffering it all depends on your mind but what is mind?

right? so we have to study investigate our own self to really understand the nature of mind

to become free from the jail cell that our mind creates and it starts with me myself and I that illusion okay so it's a known fact you know most significant aspect of Buddhism is law of impermanence and law of non-self right? but we're all still clinging on to that but when you look for it there's nothing to be found is there?

anybody found something? when you ask yourself what am I? obviously you can't claim this body you can't claim the mind then what is it? and when you do claim this body to be you know everybody now knows based on science that makes no sense even your thoughts if you can claim it then you can be it control it you can't as soon as you claim it it's already gone so you have to continue to claim, claim, claim that's what you're doing actually claiming, claiming coming up with this I-ness, I-ness, I-ness, I-ness constantly so look at yourself to see what you're doing with your mind to keep you entangled with all those emotions everyone has traumas whether you remember it or not because that's what life does makes you experience traumas right and what you do with that okay you may not have been trained to process it and it gets locked in in your subconscious mind entangled until you shine the light on it of your awareness of your awareness on it that it has no bearing inherently unless you hold on to it adding value to it if you don't add any value to it no matter what has happened it's just past it's just a faded memory it doesn't exist anymore has no inherent value other than what we add to it so the past is what only good as the lessons we learn from it and that's it there's no other value to that if we learned our lessons that's it let it go it doesn't exist does it?

does your past exist? where is it? if it exists? in your faded memory that's it in your own stories that you're creating in your mind just like the future doesn't exist right? yet the past is gone the future doesn't exist then what exists?

the present doesn't present? where's present? it's changing as soon as you said present is no longer that's the transitory nature of all existence that's the law of impermanence it's not just the fact that everything is changing that you can't really even claim that exists you can't claim that it doesn't exist but you can't claim that it exists because as soon as you say it's gone as soon as you think you're experiencing, it's gone right, it's like a flowing river it's gone but we're looking at the river as it exists but it's no longer the same river that you just witnessed, right?

it's gone but in our mind we wrap our mind to this river this Hudson River and say yes there is that's the river right there right? but it's not the same river is it? it's not the same body that walked in that door but we claim it with our identity

that's the first error okay just recognize that if you feel any resistance to this it's the ego's way of surviving this me-ness I-ness wants to survive because I have all these special relationships you know I have all these things that I like you know all those attachments pleasures or even pain some people are very attached to their suffering you have to see that yourself no matter how much that's why even all the enlightened masters have revealed all the truth including the Buddha but the reason there's no transformation for you is because you're not seeing it yourself true transformation comes when you see it okay so continue to pay attention to yourself throughout the day that's the practice it's not just when you sit down for 30 minutes or 20 minutes watching the breath that's really just taking time to discipline the mind to get used to watching so that you can apply it moment to moment throughout the day okay how am I responding?

what am I attached to? what am I not to? what's going on in my mind right now? almost as third person you'll see once you start observing yourself you'll notice that you can do it without any identification all the thoughts will come they'll all come and go but don't claim it don't claim it with your identity then you'll see that it's just like watching a wave come and go it's like watching a river flow

you don't claim yourself as that river, right? or that stream or water same thing is happening with your mind based on all those karmic causal conditions that we have preset for this to happen and that's why it's happening that's why everything is happening exactly the way it's supposed to based on the karmic flow and if you don't want to continue to flow that direction of suffering what do you have to do?

what do you have to do? what do you have to do? if you want to continue to flow that direction what do you have to do? meditate let go what do I mention every session? intention, intention, intention yes intention is what creates that direction okay I'm not frustrated I'm just showing my frustration frustration it sounded like you were saying that you know, if you still if you just wanted to keep going in that direction what did you want, you know or if you don't want to go to continue that direction then you just have to change it that direction that you're going right now your life is your karma right?

it's supported based on your causal conditions that you've created that's supporting the manifestation of all of your experiences right now that's what karma is it's not a punishment or reward it's just your experience everything is based on supporting causal conditions you know that allows everything to manifest that karma has a directional momentum that's done based on past decisions all those unconscious choices are made our conscious choices are made they all add up to support your current, present experience it has a momentum so you reset that momentum by setting that intention every day to be mindful to be compassionate to be beneficial to make positive impacts on other people's lives by setting that making that more powerful you're setting your momentum your direction that's why I'm requiring everybody everybody to do puja every morning to set that for the day set your intention for the day and then watch yourself and then reflect on that at the end of the day so you can reset that intention and don't be hard on yourself because you weren't perfect no one's gonna be because you're a practitioner still right?

so but watch watch yourself throughout the day and reflect at the end of the day did I live by that intention? what did I miss? and then you notice it you recognize it and you reset the intention okay? that's why I need you to share that so you can see it for yourself as you write it down with the Sangha members that are there to support you

and for me to be able to see okay? is that clear? why I'm asking? this repetitive is that clear? reflections every single day? yes? I totally forget about intention you know the focus of our intention being to make a difference in other people's lives but the events that happen to you is based on your own look is it correct to say that we can get a point that you know that's probably not the way you want it to be but you were able to observe it and let it go mm-hmm but it's not going to change what's going to happen mm-hmm is that correct?

it could if your paradigm shifts okay then what you're going to experience mm-hmm will be different to you mm-hmm right? so same amount of work that you were complaining about mm-hmm to you it's like okay it's different mm-hmm because your perception has changed mm-hmm same people that used to trigger emotion you look at it with more compassionate eye that he's suffering or she's suffering right they're all suffering that's why they cause suffering unto others so if you see them with this intention to be helpful whether you can do something for that person or not at least we got our prayer right loving-kindness prayer praying for that person that brings that peace and joy in my heart right so it changes the experience the experience of it so all the experience that we are faced with is our own choice how we proceed we're just not trained that way yet we're just still trained to react like this is good this is bad and that's judgment always reacting with that kind of judgment instead of saying okay if I can't do something I can't do something why judge yourself for that you know I can do five things but there's twelve things on my plate can't get to it you can't get to it just do the best you can for what you can get into then where's the stress?

but it's like why do you have to give me twelve things to do when I already have you know ten other things to do see that reaction? yeah why is this person always you know nagging on me? those are reactions that's built in us to see things and judge if we can say okay that's what they are here's what I need to do maybe keep a distance maybe just pray for them they're not gonna change a lot of crazy things going on right now in the world, right?

what can we do about it? how are we being beneficial if we're just complaining about it? do what you can you know probably go out and vote that's one thing you can do, right? talk to other people, encourage other people to do what's right you know but without, we don't need anger cause that's negative energy we're sending out there okay that creates confrontation it makes them stronger if we really want to make a positive impact be positive first be that positive energy be that compassionate energy that's how we truly make an impact that's why when we see the world differently the world changes through our own beingness not even what we do just our beingness that's why we need to raise our level of consciousness that's my mission that I take that I took when I started teaching is to raise everyone's level of consciousness which means we're devoted to truth and compassion for all beings not just people I like even those that may have hurt me in the past even those that are causing suffering to others right now we clearly see that but we can still be compassionate even towards them if you don't choose to do so then you're not being beneficial you're being selfish because you're only tied to my belief what I think is right and wrong that doesn't benefit anybody in fact it eats you up right?

because you're upset this person you're just creating suffering into yourself that's why we have to stop the judging judging is really really not beneficial to our progress that we're making so you can look at that as a way to see your progress okay?

that make sense? really? good now we're just gonna practice any other questions? yes one thing that has been resonating with me today and I think after I had a conversation with you I came home I laid down I was supposed to watch a video and Hoang Po I just put it in one video came up about the man who meditated for 20 years or something like that he practiced nothing happened and he went to see the Buddha there were some questions asked yes as I was watching the video Baba Tana came up and you know I've been thinking about it for a few days and I just wanted to know where you should be at in your mind for a person like me who's you know kind of looking to always thinking about achieving something and claiming something yeah and as it pertains to enlightenment it's misleading yeah seems like you know so I just that a particular I've seen on the video I was like wow that's what I've been yeah yeah good it's a good recognition that's self-awareness being that I've been trying to achieve something trying to attain something enlightenment is not something you can attain I'm not talking about you not about anybody it's not something to be attained because that's already right here within you already it's not a special a power you gain a special state you become you're just returning to what you already are how?

by letting everything that's not it letting go everything that is not true that's the hard part right? letting go what's not true what's not real and you don't even know what's real and what's not real that's why you gotta pay attention yeah what is not real is anything that's impermanent right? because it doesn't exist right? as we just talked about well, I can't say that but I can't say it exists to be exact and I can't say it's both I can't say it's neither that's using up all your logic but that's how you let go yeah that's really the entire practice to get to the point where you let go your thought processes your own identity to see the truth then you return to your own true nature it's not something to become something else you already are that's what your realization is all about okay so trying to attain things okay and claim that I know now you know that happens with spiritual ego as you continue to practice but I'll be here for you so we'll continue to check the progress okay so if I loop you and say that's not it don't be so offended okay any other questions?

silence everybody wants to go home okay alright, we're gonna end it with our metta prayer put our palms together and repeat after me may all beings be safe may all beings be safe may all beings be peaceful may all beings be joyful may all beings be joyful may all beings awaken to their true nature may all beings awaken to their true nature may all beings be free may all beings be free thank you have a wonderful evening