About Wholeheartedness ~~TBS News 355

I pass these 2 articles to my old friend Aleric to translate
months before he became a Christian.
Now he can even quote from the bible.

He just pass them to me. I thought these will be the final
translations that he is helping me with but he re-assured
me that he can still continue with articles of GM that
mentioned anything about the Bible.  :)

At end of November, he is making a trip to Canada for
a friend's wedding there.

If he had stayed in the team, he would have paid
a visit to Brenda which i asked him to .

Well, maybe i might have the premonitions  beforehand
Aleric would chose Christanity over Buddhism and
pass him these 2 to translate.


****************

From True Buddha News Weekly Issue 355, December 6, 2001, page 3

About Wholeheartedness (Part One)
Dharma Talk by Living Buddha Lian Sheng on 30 July 1997 in Seattle
Translated by Aleric Er

Let’s talk about wholeheartedness today.

I have read the bible and have a good understanding of Jesus Christ and His teachings. There is one thing which I admire about Jesus and that is when He was crucified, He did not hold any grudge against those who wronged Him and instead, He prayed to God to forgive them because they did not know what they were doing. (Luke 23: 34) You will be moved if you read this part of the text in the bible.

Although we are different from Christianity in our cultivation of the truth, Jesus’ act of praying for forgiveness for the masses who have wronged Him, believing that they have acted out of ignorance, is similar to spirit of the Buddha. It is not much to forgive someone because you are of a higher status or have the authority to do so. However, think about the pain when you accidentally cut yourself. Compare that to the searing pain when Jesus was nailed to the cross. He bled from the nails in His hands and His feet and was left to bleed to death, to endure the pain as life ebbs from him. For most people, they would curse the heavens and those who have caused the crucifixion. To have a kind heart, a forgiving heart under such circumstances is something we should akin to.

From his birth till his death on the cross, Jesus was single-minded and wholehearted in His endeavours. It did not change even when He was nailed onto the cross. He never wavered from his task of salvation.

Likewise, we must also be wholehearted in Buddhism. The heart must not change or waver, once it does, you will have regrets. Imagine Jesus wondering why He must go through so much suffering and be nailed on the cross in order to bring salvation to the people. “Wholeheartedness” means you must have no regrets even in these circumstances.

It’s difficult to live a life without regrets, people find it hard to persevere, but Jesus did.

Jesus was slandered and defamed. Yet he carried on preaching wholeheartedly. He was scolded by the masses as He proclaimed himself to be the son of God as they deemed Him only as a carpenter’s son. In Nazareth, Jesus followed in Joseph’s occupation as a carpenter and everyone teased him as the “Son of a carpenter, not the son of God”. Yet, Jesus carried on preaching and spreading the word.

There was a part in the bible about slander. There were people who wanted to follow Jesus and he told them to follow him. It is like when we say, “Ordained and follow me”

Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8:22). Just think what the people must have thought and said about Jesus after he said those words, they might have said that He was not filial and was heartless and that one should not follow Him. He could have said “Go home, be a filial son and bury the dead and then follow me.” However, that was not what He said according to the bible and He could have been rebuked as such.

What He was asking the disciple to do was to be wholehearted, not to bother with other matters as it will be handled by others. Just like us who have left our worldly matters behind us. Imagine if a man had to attend to his son’s wedding, his daughter’s wedding, his neighbour’s affairs, where would he find time to cultivate? How can we wholeheartedly cultivate the way? You might think about such things but it is an indication that you might have left the world spiritually but your body is still lagging behind in such worldly tasks.

I’m not asking you to shy away from work that has to be done in temples, just that we must be wholehearted and not be waylaid by worldly matters especially those that has to do with money and fame.

Om Mani Padme Hum

From True Buddha News Weekly Issue 355, December 6, 2001, page 3
About Wholeheartedness (Part Two)
Dharma Talk by Living Buddha Lian Sheng on 30 July 1997 in Seattle
Translated by Aleric Er

Let’s talk about “wholeheartedness” again.

Although we are Tibetan Buddhists, we can draw parallels from the bible in the way we cultivate.

Like Jesus’ wholeheartedness, the sutra talks about a heart that is not choatic. It is the same reasoning, the bible and the sutra can be used to verify each other’s teachings.

We talked about slander, Jesus’ life was riddled with slander and can be said that He was the one who was most slandered against.

Slander is very powerful. When Jesus’ reputation spread and His group of followers grew, the government claimed that He was trying to overthrow the government when He was in fact the savior - the messiah. However, the government was threatened with His reputation and His ability to move the masses, they had to think of a way to accuse Him of a crime and sentence Him. They thus claimed that He was planning to revolt, a heavily punishable crime then.

A lot of slandering and defamation went on in Jesus’ life. From calling him the son of a carpenter instead of the son of God, and then labelling him as not being filial and then incriminating that he was planning to overthrow the government. Inevitably, he was crucified.

There are theologians today who believe that Jesus might have been a rebel, and they theorized that if He had been able to carry out His work He would become a ruler.

Religion is a very powerful vehicle. I have read about the evolution of religions, including Christianity. We can tell that it is not easy to have faith in a religion. You have to use your eyes to observe and once you decide on its validity, you have to believe wholeheartedly.

In Buddhism, we have to know the truth and the way of the Buddha. It is exact. You must cultivate it wholeheartedly. We must respect the Boddhisatvas, practice the teachings in the sutras and do it with an unwavering heart, like the one described in the Amitabha Sutra. You must have faith no matter what obstacles or sufferings come your way.

It is the same in the old days. Christianity was deemed a new age religion or cult. The mainstream religion in those days there was Judaism. The mainstream religion will of course cast out all other religions and oppress them. It was definitely a difficult  time to be a Christian. In Jesus’ time and the period following, it was not an easy job being a Christian. In fact, there was a disciple, Paul, formerly known as Saul, who used to persecute Christians before he became a follower himself. When he become a disciple, he changed his name to Paul. Christianity used to be called a cult and had to operate underground. However, after spreading the belief wholeheartedly, Christianity became the mainstream religion, something which was once considered a non-mainstream and new age religion.

Now let’s talk about Buddhism. It started in India with Siddhartha Gautama’s teachings. There were two important priests then spreading their religions, one was Mahavira and the other was Buddha, Mahavira’s religion, Jainism, and Buddha’s Buddhism were both considered new age religions. In fact, the mainstream religion in India at that time was Brahmanism and it oppressed any other non-mainstream religions. Buddhists then did not find it easy to keep their faith.

Today, a visit to India will make one realise that Hinduism and Islam still are the main religions practiced there. Islam filtered through from the Middle East and Pakistan and many of the Indian dynasties were Muslims based. That’s why Hinduism and Islam are still the main religions in India while Buddhism is not. Buddhism used to be considered a new-age cult.

However, if we study Buddhism today, we can see the Buddha is real and the teachings are exact. Buddha’s way is flawless. The sutra even describes the Great Chiliocosm, something which is absent in other religions.

Therefore, once we realise this, we must learn the Buddhist laws wholeheartedly, chant wholeheartedly, cultivate wholeheartedly. This is the importance of wholeheartedness.

Today, our True Buddha School is considered a new age religion, when you start to spread our teachings, you will find it more difficult. However we are still teaching the thoughts of Buddha, the mainstream religion will still oppress the others. Nonetheless you must spread the teachings wholeheartedly. Once you start, the radiance that you emit in the future will make Buddha’s teachings mainstream.

Thus it is very important, once you experience the “real” and you cultivate it, you will “realise” it and it will eventually become the “truth”. Once you are truly enlightened, you will become radiant and attract more towards deliverance. You will change from a non-mainstream to a mainstream religion because that is where all mainstream religions come from.

Om Mani Padme Hum