Harlem & Jill

  【聖嚴法師 心靈環保法與】 慈悲沒有敵人，智慧不起煩惱 Compassion has no enemy, wisdom gives rise to no affliction -- Master Sheng Yen 佛教中有「結緣」的說法，意思就是人與人之間彼此支持、協助，共同走上良善、光明的道路。 Buddhism speaks about "cultivating positive connection," meaning you and I support and help each other so that we can walk on the righteous and bright path together. 「慈悲沒有敵人，智慧不起煩惱」，慈悲的對象，除了慈悲別人，也要慈悲自己。因為不慈悲自己，會讓自己很痛苦。例如，有的人不肯原諒自己，於是就傷害自己。其實做錯事，改過就好，若是不斷責罰自己，就會一直陷在痛苦之中，這就是對自己不慈悲了。對別人也是一樣，如果態度不慈悲，可能就會一再地傷害他人。 In the quote "Compassion has no enemy, wisdom gives rise to no affliction, " we should not only have compassion toward others but also toward ourselves. Without self-compassion, life can be very painful. For example, if one doesn't know how to forgive oneself, they might end up punishing themselves. But the right way to deal with a mistake is to correct it, constantly reproach oneself and remain trapped in suffering . This is a form of self-cruelty. Similarly, if we are not compassionate in our attitude towa...

I have some questions about mindfulness and concentration.  In the teachings, Thay says we should practice mindfulness in our daily lives and be aware of everything happening at this moment. But we are often doing multiple things simultaneously. For example, if I am washing the dishes, I am also breathing, seeing the splashes, and hearing the sounds of the water. With multiple perceptions and feelings at the same time, which one should we be mindful of? In one of the mindfulness practices Thay taught us, he says we can practice listening to music with mindfulness. This means being mindful of the music and the melodies while also aware of our breath. But shouldn't we focus on one thing at a time? How can we be mindful of multiple things simultaneously? When we are concentrated, do we remain mindful and aware of what is happening? For example, if I am listening to a Dharma talk, should I be aware of the words being said or the fact that I am listening to a talk from this Zen master a...

  語言有很強大的力量。 佛陀說的karma是身、口、意。 因為語言可以大量被複製和流傳， 而導致資訊爆發（現在還講資訊爆發好像倒退20年，早就沒有人還在意資訊爆發了）。 所有不正的語言都源自不正的見。 當我說：你所看的所有影片、讀的所有文章，都是別人挑選過編輯過加工過的，有目的的。 更深切的事實是，我們的大腦的作用方式，本來就是把perception與既有的記憶分類結合， 並把事物貼上標籤，以毫秒的速度把世界加工後呈現為feelings & mental formations 痛苦？ 真的有痛苦嗎？ ‘我’不過是一堆地水火風而已，地水火風有痛苦嗎？ ‘有苦’是我們的想像、認知，‘有樂’也是我們的想像、認知。 那我們還費盡心思地創造了 永樂的天堂、永苦的地獄。

成佛有什麼用？What is the use of becoming a Buddha? This is a rhetorical question often asked by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. We always have the presumption that life is for a purpose and every thing we do should contribute to that purpose, otherwise it's useless. This ubiquitous utilitarianism dominates our modern society. It's so deep and prevalent that we can't even recognize we are acting under its influence. I was reading the book "The Miracle of Mindfulness" by Thich Nhat Hanh this week. He emphasizes on being mindful of one's breath, body movements, feelings and emotions a lot. That means we should be aware of our in breath and out breath at every moment, even when we are doing our work or talking to somebody.  While I seem to know what he's saying, I don't really understand why we should do that? Why should we be aware of our breath when it goes so well automatically? Why do we bother to mind it if human beings have evolved such a long way to make our ...

Words can travel thousands of miles. May my words create mutual understanding and love. May they be as beautiful as gems, as lovely as flowers. Hello, welcome back to this podcast. I'm Jill. Today, I want to share a topic called happiness or suffering, you may want to think again. We all want crave happiness and we all want try to avoid suffering. But have you ever thought about what really is happiness truly considered what happiness really means ? What makes us happy truly brings us joy and what makes us suffer causes us pain ?