Dharma Talk
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Taking the Precepts as Our Guiding Principle
Taking the Precepts as Our Guiding PrincipleApr /22/ 2023– Apr / 23/ 2023 Hello everyone, welcome to our Dharma talk at Dharma Rain Meditation Center. What is the guiding principle? We often concentrate on the main points; guiding principle is the main point or key point highlighted by its representative, normative, and lead characters. Some people disagree that taking the precepts as our guiding principle, they said that focusing on Zen, Pure Land or reciting the Buddha’s name is our program and the most important part of cultivation. This is a very common opinion. Many Buddhist ask me: Which Dharma gate should I learn? Should I recite Buddha’s name or…
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Taking the Precepts as Ancestors’ Teaching
Taking the Precepts as Ancestors’ TeachingApr /15/ 2023 – Apr / 16/ 2023 Hello everyone, welcome to our Dharma talk at Dharma Rain Meditation Center. As we all know, there are four parts of the tripitaka sutra Dharmakara, collection of sutras, Viyana Pitaka，Abhidhamma Pitaka and secret Dharma. After Buddha’s Nirvana, Kasyapa held the first Buddhist council in the Saptaparni Cave with five hundred Arhats. Buddha never wrote down his teachings. Ananda recited an oral tradition of Buddha’s teaching from his memory, prefacing it with “Thus have I heard on one occasion”, which is a collection of sutras. Upali was 90 years old, he reciting the Vinaya or precepts. After being…
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Taking the Precepts as the Code of Conduct
Taking the Precepts as the Code of ConductApr /8/ 2023 – Apr / 9/ 2023 Hello everyone, welcome to our Dharma talk at Dharma Rain Meditation Center. When studying sociological norms, teachers often say that the law is the minimum universal moral requirements. Can we also say that precepts are a code of conduct for different level cultivators? What is morality? Literally to say: Tao is a theory and a path, close to the truth, practice it the right way, attain the enlightenment, it called virtue. Master Tai Xu said: “Be suddenly enlightened means Tao; practice it cleanly and naturally called the virtue.” We can find that Buddhism’s morality takes…
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Taking the Precepts as Your Master
Taking the Precepts as Your MasterApr /1/ 2023 – Apr / 2/ 2023 Hello everyone, welcome to our Dharma talk at Dharma Rain Meditation Center. The Shurangama Sutra says: Controlling your heart as the precepts, reaching the samadhi due to the precepts and getting the wisdom because of samadhi. We call it Three Non-Outflow studies. In April, May and June, we will discuss the precepts, samadhi and wisdom. It is well-known that the precepts, samadhi and wisdom is a summary of the Eightfold Path. They are three weapons to deal with desire, anger and ignorance, helping people ultimately relieve the afflictions and attain nirvana. The three are mutually reinforcing and…
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Trin Guhyani Being Oneness
Trin Guhyani Being OnenessMar /25/ 2023–Mar/ 26/ 2023 Hello everyone, welcome to our Dharma talk at Dharma Rain Meditation Center. Buddhist often say: “Trin guhyani are the oneness”, but what exactly Trin guhyani are? According to the Mahā ratna kūṭa sūtra, Bodhisattva jiyi asked Guhyapada: “how many secret Dharma does Buddha have?” Guhyapada answered:” listen without your idiot thoughts, think about it after you hear it, I am going to tell you Buddha’s secret Dharma now, it has three kinds of secret, one is kaya -guhya , two is vag -guhya , three is mano -guhya.” After that, Guhyapada talked about the meaning of three different secret Dharma: kaya -guhya…
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The Secret Teachings from Buddha Actually Has No Secret At All
The Secret Teachings from Buddha Actually Has No Secret At AllMar /18/ 2023 – Mar/ 19/ 2023 Hello everyone, welcome to our Dharma talk at Dharma Rain Meditation Center. We analyzed why the Esoteric Buddhism practice is so prevalent in China and understood that the so-called Esoteric Buddhism practice is not the secret teaching from Buddha. Some people might ask, then what it is? What is the secret teaching from Buddha Shakyamuni? In which Sutra? Who took the secret from Buddha and who is keeping those secrets? Quite good questions, let us just start from here and talk about what is the secret Dharma and what is the secret teaching…
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Secret Dharma is in Wonderful Functions
Secret Dharma is in Wonderful FunctionsMar /11/ 2023 – Mar/ 12/ 2023 Hello everyone, welcome to our Dharma talk at Dharma Rain Meditation Center. Some people said, since the secret teachings from Buddha actually have no secret at all, then what is the significant meaning of it? In other words, why we need the secret teachings from Buddha, and how can we use it for practice? This is the topic we will discuss today. As we said before, the way we practice Dharma is to go to the resource of the river to learn the teachings from Sakyamuni Buddha, to learn the noble behaviour of Buddha. Today, we will study Buddha’s…
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Esoteric Buddhism is not Buddha’s Secret Dharma
Esoteric Buddhism is not Buddha’s Secret DharmaMar /4/ 2023 – Mar/ 5/ 2023 Hello everyone, welcome to our Dharma talk at Dharma Rain Meditation Center. Talking about Esoteric Buddhism, Some people assume that we will talk about god and ghost, all kinds of secret or wired cultivation method now, well, this is sort of the regular opinion for most people, even the Buddhism practitioners, they think esoteric Buddhism is the Buddha’s speechless teaching, is theurgy, is following root guru without keeping any precepts and more efficient than those down-to-earth efforts. We do not judge it first; let’s see what esoteric Buddhism school is. Tantra, also known as Vajrayana, is…
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Reborn to the Pure land
Reborn to the Pure landFeb /25/ 2023–Feb/ 26/ 2023 Hello everyone, welcome to our Dharma talk at Dharma Rain Meditation Center. How to reborn to the Amitabha Pure Land? It is a question that every being should consider. When I was talking about our topic of pure land, some people thought about the pure land school immediately, today I would like to talk a little bit about the history of the pure land school. Just like Zen, the pure land school also came from India; however, it did not become a sectarian religion in ancient India. In China’s Buddhist scriptures translation, there are nearly 100 sutras mentioned as pure land…
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Guiding All Beings Reborn to the Amitabha Pure Land
Guiding All Beings Reborn to the Amitabha Pure LandFeb /18/ 2023–Feb/ 19/ 2023 Hello everyone, welcome to our Dharma talk at Dharma Rain Meditation Center. Why Shakyamuni Buddha recommended and guided people to reborn in the Sukhavati AKA Amitabha Pure Land. How exactly is the Amitabha Pure Land? We’ve read a short description of Buddha Expounding Amitabha Sutra; you must be impressed by the world which ground is made of gold however you may still be confused by the meaning or function of the things like ponds made of seven kinds of jewels and filled with water with eight types of merits, what are those for except fitting our human…
