Buddhism seeks to explain suffering in life

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New Delhi, India -- Some people view Buddhism as pessimism. They call it the "religion of misery," because the word "suffering" or "unsatisfactoriness," which the Buddha taught in his first four noble truths, sticks in their minds.

Actually, Buddhism is not pessimism nor optimism. Buddhism is realism, a way to see things as they really are. The Buddha taught us about life from our birth till death. It covers many areas of life, such as how to live wisely and happily, how to win friends, how to accomplish our goals, and even how to die peacefully.

Why is Buddhism always talking about suffering? That is the truth of life we all have to accept and recognize in order to cure it. The Buddha did not speak about suffering only, but how to overcome suffering. That is happiness in life.

Let me share with you the secrets of happiness. There are three steps to follow.

The first step is to be happy or to enjoy whatever you do.

Abraham Lincoln said, "My father taught me to work; he did not teach me to love it." Most of us do not enjoy what we have and do, especially our work. Sometimes we depend on our like or dislike emotions too much. We do things because we feel good or like it. A lot of times we refuse and suffer if someone forces us to work. The problem is how are we going to love or be happy with the things we do.

In Buddhism, "Kuttukammayatachandha" means the willingness to do things. If we don't enjoy whatever we're doing, imagine what's going to happen. We will work eight hours a day and not enjoy it. Instead, we will hate and suffer, which I think is not healthy for body and mind.

Why don't we train ourselves to take pleasure in everything we do? There is the saying, "If you do not have the thing that you like, you have to like the thing that you have."

We have to train ourselves to love and see the positive side of things that come toward our everyday lives as a lesson. When you wake up in the morning, think that it is a great day and I'm still alive. I have a chance to do good and enjoy one more day. When you are having breakfast, enjoy that, and try the best you can to apply that to each daily moment. This is the first step to happiness.

The second step is mindfulness.

There is a saying, "The lights are on, but nobody is home." We are all in the information technology era and have a lot of convenient tools that make life easy. Sometimes we aren't even aware of doing things and we behave like a robot. We live by our old habits and are not mindful.

When you are eating, make sure you are enjoying your food, not thinking or planning. We must change our old habits, especially the natural habits in which we do things in life automatically.

If you are walking, do you know right now you are walking. In a practical way you have to know each moment, whether it is good nor bad. If you are angry, know that you're angry; if you're happy, know that you're happy. Whatever you do — sit, stand, shower, have coffee, talk, and so on — add knowing or mindfulness.

Where is your mind? Is it absent? In order to gain happiness, you must bring our mind back to the here and now, and be mindful of each moment in life. Our mind and body are together, so try not to let your mind wander often. In the Buddha way, mindful action is the most important training. All teachings of the Buddha sum up to mindfulness. Be mindful, then you practice all the Buddha's teachings.

The third step is concentration.

In Buddhist countries, there are a lot of Buddha statues. One of the statue postures that is very famous is the meditation posture. In Pali, we call it the "Samadhi posture," which means concentration. When Buddhist followers see this statue, it reminds them that you should concentrate and focus on whatever you do. When you sleep or when you eat, concentrate on eating or your mind with that eating.

Do you observe yourself doing things? Can you really focus or concentrate ? It is difficult, right ? Sometimes we do a lot of things at the same time. We ponder that we are smart, that we can do a lot of things such as watching a TV show and calling our friends at the same time. Is there a quality of doing like that? I think it is not such a good habit to be like that, especially when you drive and text or drive and talk. It can cause problems. Concentration is another key to happiness and success in life.

These are the secrets to happiness; enjoy, be mindful, and concentrate. If you follow these steps hour by hour and day by day, your practice will get stronger and strongerBut you have to begin right now to change and start new way.

Enjoy the journey to happiness.

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Tawachai Onsanit is one of the founding members of Wat Pasantidhamma temple in Carrollton. Inquiries may be addressed to Ajaan Piya at p_kind_j@yahoo.com.

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Ship sets off on religious cruise to free suffering souls

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Taipei, Taiwan -- A luxury cruise ship departed from Keelung Harbor in northern Taiwan Wednesday on a three-day cruise around the island, with over 1,000 Buddhist monks and nuns on board.

They were all invited to jointly perform a religious ritual on board to free the souls of people who had died in accidents at sea, said Yen Hsiu-hua, chairperson of the Chinese Charity Sailing Foundation that planned the trip.

The monks and nuns will pray for the deceased to rest in peace and be reincarnated in a better world, she said.

They will be joined by 11 others from Japan, who will also pray for the victims in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, she added.

The foundation leased the Star Cruises ship at a cost of nearly NT$20 million (US$693,000) and spent other NT$10 million to cover the Buddhist masters' expenses during the voyage, according to Yen.

The ship will travel clockwise around the island and return to its departure point.

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Richard Gere speaks out on suffering in Tibet

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Seoul, South Korea -- American actor and practicing Tibetan Buddhist Richard Gere spoke out on the sufferings of Tibetans under Chinese occupation in Seoul, Wednesday.

“I think it’s impossible to look at these photographs and not realize the extraordinary suffering of the Tibetan people,” Gere told reporters at a press conference promoting his Tibet-themed photo exhibition at Seoul Arts Center. “I think when you see these photographs you have to be aware of the political situation there to understand the depth where I was coming from in offering this exhibition.”

The exhibition, “Pilgrim,” features a total of 64 photographs of Tibet and India taken by Gere, as well as 24 photos of Tibet by 24 renowned photographers, including Annie Leibovitz, Steve Meisel and Jerry Uelsmann. The exhibition currently on at Seoul Arts Center runs till July 24.

Gere, who is the co-founder of the Tibet House in New York City and a persistent advocate for the Tibetan independence movement, is banned from entering China. The photos on exhibit are from a 1993 trip to China and Tibet, the only time he was able to visit those countries.
Hollywood star and practicing Tibetan Buddhist Richard Gere speaks at a press conference promoting his Tibet-themed photo exhibition at the Seoul Arts Center in Seoul, Wednesday. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald)

Back in the late 1980s, while travelling in India, Gere came across a wall that had a series of drawings of Tibetan nuns being tortured by the Chinese in Tibet. He took a photograph of the wall at the time.

“And in 1993, during my only visit in Tibet, I was able to encounter three nuns who had been just released from Chinese prison in Tibet,” Gere told reporters. “And they told me exactly the same stories (with the drawings). So I included the picture of them in the montage of these drawings that I’d seen on the wall.”

Gere did not hesitate to openly criticize the Chinese government for their occupation of Tibet.

“The same kind of torture and deaths in Chinese prisons in Tibet is still taking place today,” Gere said. “Of course it’s not only in Tibet. The Chinese communist government does it to their own people in China as well.”

Such political remarks were contrary to what art CDI, the Korean PR company for Gere’s exhibition in Seoul, told the press prior to the conference.

The PR company had requested that Gere not be asked “questions that are too political” as he was feeling "sensitive" about the local press. Gere, who seemed to be unaware of art CDI’s request, volunteered to talk about the political situation in Tibet without a reporter asking him about it.

The Hollywood star arrived in Seoul on Monday along with his wife, actress Carey Lowell and their son, Homer Gere, to promote his exhibition and experience Korea’s traditional Buddhist culture.

On Tuesday Gere met with Ven. Jaseung, the head of the Jogye Order, Korea’s largest Buddhist sect, at Jogye Temple in central Seoul. The practicing Buddhist signed the temple’s guest book with a message that wished “peace and happiness” for all beings in the world.

“I had a very nice time there,” Gere told reporters about his visit to Jogye Order on Wednesday. “The monks and nuns were so lovely and generous to us. We had the most extraordinary meal across the street from the temple. Really, really nice vegetarian meal. The Jogye form of Buddhism was actually the first form of Buddhism that I studied.”

Gere said although he has met a lot of Korean students of the Dalai Lama in the past and is very much interested in taking photos to do with Korean Buddhism, he thinks he still needs more time to explore the country first.

“What I am aware of is that Buddhism first came to Korea in the 6th century,” Gere said. “And there has been a direct continuity of very high-level Buddhism here in Korea since the very beginning. So I’d really like to explore how that has influenced the culture here and how it can affect in a very modern way present day and future.”

Gere is scheduled to visit Donghwa Temple near Daegu and Tongdo Temple near Yangsan City, South Gyeongsang Province, on Thursday. He will be participating in meditation, chanting and other Buddhist practices that are part of the “temple experience” programs at the two temples.

He is scheduled to leave on Saturday.

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