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Jeann Zhuang

Finding out what & how things really works: What it takes for us to live happy, fulfilled & successful lives.

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Jeann Zhuang

Time Out to Mourn, Reprioritize & Restart

Time Out to Mourn, Reprioritize & Restart

November 13, 2020 By Jeann Zhuang

Since my last post on 31 July 2020, a lot has happened.

Actually it started way back in May, when my dad who’s living alone, had a fall that we didn’t think much of, and was admitted to the hospital.

To make things complicated, the COVID-19 situation in Singapore didn’t make it easy for us to visit him frequently.

Since his situation worsened early August up until his passing on 18 August 2020, my hardcore deliberate practice schedule came to a standstill.

Let’s just say when we come face to face with a death of a family member, or someone we love, it makes you rethink everything about life and your life. Reprioritize what’s important.

My quest remains on finding out what and how things really work: What it takes for us to live happy, fulfilled and successful lives.

But to begin with, we need to face the fact that
1. We gotta be alive for that to be valid.
2. Death is inevitable.

Then it got me thinking about faith and religions. The role of religion in our lives. But at the same time, how do we wear the different hats?

I’ve struggled and failed to document the details of my dad’s passing even though the logical mind wanted to. So much for wanting to write a book in memory of my dad, what I’ve learned from our estranged-to-reconciled relationship over the 33 years he left us. Each time I recall the details that felt so fresh and raw, I couldn’t help but break down each time.

So now that the memories have gotten fuzzy and the feelings calmed, only do I have the strength put down in words, in memory of you, Papa.

Filed Under: Journal Tagged With: Papa

ACI Course 1 Class 4 | The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes

ACI Course 1 Class 4 | The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes

July 31, 2020 By Jeann Zhuang

In this blog post, I will be sharing my thoughts; ideas, insights, opinions and findings from The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes after watching Class 4 of ACI (Asian Classics Institute) Course 1. 

As part of my quest, I have to research, read and watch content, which includes Buddhist literature, in order to aid my attempt to extract, adapt and contextualise the ideas that can help us all live happy, fulfilled and successful lives, and also really, the best way to find out if we can really make a 2500-year-old tradition relevant to us today, not as a “religion” but as a secular philosophy with broad applications. 

On to Class 4!

My Class Notes for Class 4: A Pledge to Compose the Work

Class 4 took a different approach; according to what Geshe Michael said in the video lesson, the traditional approach. It kind of felt more free style and you don’t really know what to expect, with anecdotes and stories from the ancient texts.

Eventually the class ended with going through the homework questions which then gave more structured information, and hence takeaways.

3 Principal Paths & Steps On The Path

The principal thing that a person should put to practice—the essence of all the high teachings of the Victors—is the three principal paths, or what we call the “Steps of the Path.”

Geshe Michael Roach

Just want to add a note here for my future investigation: seek clarity between the three principal paths and the “Steps of the Path.” Is he referring to another text, Liberation in Our Hands? Or Lam Rim in Tibetan. If he is not, then what, how and why are the three principal paths called “Steps of the Path”?

On Authentic & Accurate Teachings

Therefore we can say that the teaching we decide to practice should have three distinguishing features:

  1. It should have been taught by the Buddha.
  2. It should have been cleaned of any errors: sages must have brought the teaching to its authentic final form, having examined it to determine whether any wrong ideas crept into it after the Buddha taught it.
  3. It should have brought true realizations to the hearts of master practitioners, once they have heard, considered, and meditated upon it. And then it must have passed to us through the various generations of an unbroken lineage.

If the dharma we seek to practice has these three characteristics, it is authentic.

Milarepa

Milarepa is the most famous meditator in Tibet. 

He didn’t start his serious meditation until he was 50. He was 50 before he did his great retreats. So no excuses, including “I’m old.”

The point; if you don’t meditate on advice passed down from ear to ear  The place; you can sit in a cave to meditate but you’re wasting time if you don’t have a good oral tradition.

Christian Studies

In Christianity, the study of Christianity, a big tradition where the farther back you go, the better the information is; learn Greek, Latin; study the bible in Greek. The idea in Christian studies is the farther back you go, the more pure the information. 

Buddhist lineage; Buddhist Studies 

  • The closer you come to Pabongka for example, the more pure it is. 
  • If you really want to understand Buddhism, go further back to Tsongkapa or Pabongka. 
  • You need the explanation of each generation to understand the next generation back
  • In this tradition, the more years it went by, the better the presentation; more and more clear 

Class 4 Homework Questions & Answers

1) Name the three characteristics of an authentic teaching, one which is appropriate to make your practice successful.

  • It should have been taught by the Buddha – He’s omniscient, he knew you were reading the book when he wrote the book, he was reading your mind when he wrote the book, maybe he know what you need.
  • Read books which have been through the process of purifying by each generation; made more and more accessible each generation. Not forgetting the relationship between accessible and accurate; don’t corrupt the teachings.
  • There should be people who used it and got the results; there should be testimonials of people seeing emptiness directly. Evidence that it worked for people.

2) List the three requirements of a good student as found in Aryadeva’s 400 Verses.

  • A good student comes to a class with an open mind; doesn’t mean they accept everything, but they listen. They are unbiased. Ask questions, but they check everything.
  • High spiritual IQ; They say they start to cry in the class sometimes; they get goosebumps when they start talking about emptiness.
  • Big vision; talking about other planets. Jump across the sky; think big. A big vision in mind to help every person on this planet; and again it doesn’t mean everybody becomes a Tibetan Buddhist, it means people start using the 4 Steps, people start using these ideas that you can become successful by sharing, by giving to others. Hopefully this becomes a culture of the world, and no one knows who started it.

Post Class Thoughts—Any practical strategies and methods? 

[My quest: find out what and how things really work: What it takes for us to live happy, fulfilled and successful lives. With a current focus on—but not limited to—Buddhist philosophy. 

From my current focus, 2 more questions came along.

Can we extract, adapt and contextualise the ideas and concepts from Buddhist philosophy to live a happy, fulfilled and successful life?

Can we really make a 2500-year-old tradition relevant to the 21st century, not as a “religion” but as a secular philosophy with broad applications that we can use in our lives? (source)

Most importantly, I will share my thoughts; ideas, insights, opinions, findings, and experiences as a test subject, and then document how you too can apply practical strategies and methods in your daily life to live a happy, fulfilled and successful one.]

With my quest guiding me forward, let’s look at my takeaways from the fourth class of the course.

It was a little hard to follow this class given its go-with-the-flow approach. Thankfully with my quest as a compass, and the takeaways from the previous class, it helps with continuity and context.

So in Class 3, I mentioned, “This class focuses on finding a lama, which in secular context would mean finding a qualified teacher in various domains or even a qualified mentor.”

For this class, the focus then is to find accurate and reliable content, as well as being a good student to benefit from having both a qualified teacher or mentor as well as learning content that is accurate and reliable.

Let’s find out more.

1. Accurate & Reliable Content

Today we live in the knowledge economy.

There’s so much noise in the online world. Everybody is teaching, or trying to teach you something.

Authentic

Authenticity might be a hard one in the secular world. What defines authenticity? Or being authentic? Especially when creativity and innovation forces us to keep coming up with new ideas. And if we think about it, nothing’s really “brand new.” Then again, is originality synonymous with authenticity?

Or would fusion count as authentic?

In a world where the lines are getting muddled, we’re careful with imposters and rip-offs.

But how would we define authenticity?

Instead of getting bogged down by authenticity, and its subtle nuances, let’s just agree for now, in our secular world, that authentic content respects copyright. It’s simplistic, but let’s make do for now.

Which is why I propose a focus on accurate and reliable content.

Accurate

Accurate content would be it’s error-free, fact-checked, and it was thoroughly examined by the teacher, trainer, coach etc.

Again, we can’t guarantee 100% accurate content, so let’s look at why I mentioned, reliable.

Reliable

This clicks with the last point for the first homework question.

There should be people who used it and got the results; there should be testimonials of people seeing emptiness directly. Evidence that it worked for people.

We would have to do our due diligence. Remember the three tests?

1) The statement cannot be disproved by any direct perception you have or have had.

2) The statement can’t be contradicted by correct, airtight reasoning. 

3) Nothing he ever said before contradicts what he said later. 

Do your homework to check out not just whether your shortlisted teacher or mentor is qualified, but whether or not what you’re going to learn from them is accurate and reliable!

Just like what Geshe Michael Roach mentioned in Class 3,

… be demanding, your mental real estate is irreplaceable. You have so many hours in your life. The number of breaths you will take has a number and don’t waste it. Check the people out. Don’t go and sit for a year and find out they are not qualified.

Geshe Michael Roach

I would say, check the person or people out together with what they promise to teach you!

2. Being A Good Student

Great, now you’ve done your due diligence and all’s clear with the person and the content.

Now the onus is on you.

Honestly, out of the three requirements for a good student from the Buddhist text, perhaps the first one would fit best to our secular needs, which is

A good student comes to a class with an open mind; doesn’t mean they accept everything, but they listen. They are unbiased. Ask questions, but they check everything.

I doubt it’s asking us to be difficult or cynical. Perhaps skeptical, but in the words of American Astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, as a proper skeptic to get to the truth.

The second requirement, instead of high spiritual IQ, I would say EQ. Nothing beats being grateful and having a heart of respect for someone who’s going to impart you knowledge that might transform your life.

The last requirement, instead of the Buddhist metaphysical big vision. Think big would suffice. Think how what you’ve learnt could be used to make a difference to the world, how can you contribute?

Conclusion: What Next? 

I feel more relieved down that we’ve covered finding qualified people to teach us the stuff we want to learn, as well as knowing how to screen the stuff they teach and us taking the responsibility to learn well.

Personally, I think it’s pretty cool that I was able to extract, adapt and contextualise ideas from Buddhist philosophy.

How does these ideas so far contribute to us living happy, fulfilled, and successful lives?

One thing I know right now, it’s aligned to Anders Ericsson’s research on expert performance as well as Cal Newport’s ideas on craftsman mindset. Both contribute to living happy, fulfilled and successful lives. More on this in upcoming posts!

Next on the study list, ACI Course 1 Class 5.

Filed Under: ACI Course, Buddhist Literature Tagged With: Accurate Teachings, Authentic Teachings, Being A Good Student, Correct View, Correct World View, Lama, Milarepa, Renunciation, Steps On The Path, The Three Principal Paths, Three Principal Attitudes, Three Tests

ACI Course 1 Class 3 | The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes

ACI Course 1 Class 3 | The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes

July 23, 2020 By Jeann Zhuang

In this blog post, I will be sharing my thoughts; ideas, insights, opinions and findings from The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes after watching Class 3 of ACI (Asian Classics Institute) Course 1. 

As part of my quest, I have to research, read and watch content, which includes Buddhist literature, in order to aid my attempt to extract, adapt and contextualise the ideas that can help us all live happy, fulfilled and successful lives, and also really, the best way to find out if we can really make a 2500-year-old tradition relevant to us today, not as a “religion” but as a secular philosophy with broad applications. 

Diving in!

My Class Notes for Class 3: How to Take a Lama 

The video lesson basically focused on answering the homework questions, so the following notes also include substantiating context from the reading for Class 3: “The Key that Unlocks the Door to the Noble Path, folios 5b-7b. “

Lama & Proper Behavior

When we speak of “proper behavior towards your lama,” it’s necessary for the student to realize that we draw no distinction between the person who delivers him formal dharma teachings and the person who teaches him the alphabet and so on. Whatever a disciple undertakes in the service of his lama during the length of their relationship—whether it be attending to him, paying him respects, or so on, everything except those minor things like the personal daily recitations that the student does for himself—all of it counts as what we call “lama practice.” 

Geshe Michael Roach

On finding a qualified teacher

… be demanding, your mental real estate is irreplaceable. You have so many hours in your life. The number of breaths you will take has a number and don’t waste it. Check the people out. Don’t go and sit for a year and find out they are not qualified.

Geshe Michael Roach

10 characteristics of a qualified lama

  1. Controlled; self control like a well tamed horse; keeps their morality; they are ethical.
  2. Peaceful; they have good meditation, if they are peaceful they have behavior signs such as: they don’t get upset easily, they are very good at problem solving, they are calm, do things carefully etc.
  3. Super peaceful; seen emptiness directly or they understand emptiness correctly. It’s best they have seen it directly.
  4. The teacher should know more than the student.
  5. They enjoy the trouble of teaching people, they enjoy teaching people. They work hard for their students and they think it’s fun to teach people and to help their students.
  6. Rich in scriptural knowledge; they know all the great books, they’ve memorized them.
  7. They have seen emptiness directly for sure; super understood and super realized emptiness (reference point 3).
  8. Master teacher; they adjust to the student’s level.
  9. Super love; made of love. They teach for the love of their students and not for money, not to get attention, nor to get famous.
  10. They never give up on you.

Post Class Thoughts—Any practical strategies and methods? 

[My quest: find out what and how things really work: What it takes for us to live happy, fulfilled and successful lives. With a current focus on—but not limited to—Buddhist philosophy. 

From my current focus, 2 more questions came along.

Can we extract, adapt and contextualise the ideas and concepts from Buddhist philosophy to live a happy, fulfilled and successful life?

Can we really make a 2500-year-old tradition relevant to the 21st century, not as a “religion” but as a secular philosophy with broad applications that we can use in our lives? (source)

Most importantly, I will share my thoughts; ideas, insights, opinions, findings, and experiences as a test subject, and then document how you too can apply practical strategies and methods in your daily life to live a happy, fulfilled and successful one.]

With my quest guiding me forward, let’s look at my takeaways from the third class of the course.

This class focuses on finding a lama, which in secular context would mean finding a qualified teacher in various domains or even a qualified mentor.

1. Lama; teacher or mentor

If you look up “lama,” apart from the 4-legged furry creature, you’d find a myriad of definitions but mostly sum up as a spiritual teacher in Tibetan Buddhism, or a teacher who teaches the Dharma.

Again, let’s steer away from the religious tones and nuances and adapt it for the modern day, secular living context.

When we speak of “proper behavior towards your lama,” it’s necessary for the student to realize that we draw no distinction between the person who delivers him formal dharma teachings and the person who teaches him the alphabet and so on.

Geshe Michael Roach

Simplified, our school teachers, or extra-curriculum teachers, mentors at work and business, life coaches, even possibly our parents are included in “proper behavior towards your lama.”

My takeaway here is the attitude one should have when we learn from somebody—teacher, mentor, coach—who is imparting us skills that we either didn’t have before, or helping us become better at something.

Instead of a transactional and mercenary attitude, “I paid you therefore you’re obliged to teach me,” perhaps we should be grateful and apply what we learnt about the three problems of the pot here as well.

Because, sometimes or more than often, money can’t buy the best teacher. Maybe you think so, but your attitude determines how much that best teacher is willing to teach.

2. Finding a qualified teacher or mentor

You can look up to your teacher or mentor, hold him or her in reverence, be in awe, idolize, and whatsoever, but you gotta make sure he or she is qualified.

After all, like what Geshe Michael Roach mentioned in the video,

… be demanding, your mental real estate is irreplaceable. You have so many hours in your life. The number of breaths you will take has a number and don’t waste it. Check the people out. Don’t go and sit for a year and find out they are not qualified.

Geshe Michael Roach

Don’t waste your time and your mental capacity to learn less than you could.

So how do you check them out to find out if they are qualified? While the list again is for finding a qualified spiritual teacher, let’s take some creative liberties here to adapt it to finding a qualified teacher or mentor in our secular modern-day life:

  1. Integrity: someone who does the right thing regardless of who’s looking. Can’t imagine a mentor who doesn’t practice what he or she preaches, right? Or a teacher that tries to pull the wool over your eyes.
  2. Emotionally stable: passionate about what they teach but cool-headed. Can’t imagine a mentor who lashes out at you every other day right?
  3. Expert: The teacher should know more than the student. Erm, duh?
  4. Passion: They enjoy the trouble of teaching people, they enjoy teaching people. They work hard for their students and they think it’s fun to teach people and to help their students. If not, why bother?
  5. Master teacher: they adjust to the student’s level to help you grow in way that suits you best!
  6. Professional: They teach for the love of their students and not for money, not to get attention, nor to get famous. They get their priorities right basically.
  7. Attitude: They never give up on you. In other words, they are driven to help you succeed!

So, instead of the 10, we streamlined it to 7 qualities that you can use as a checklist to find that qualified teacher or mentor.

Conclusion: What Next? 

I actually thought this class would prove impossible to extract any ideas to adapt it into the secular context.

But who knew?

The fact that we do look for teachers and mentors to help us grow personally and professionally—I mean, look at the growing personal development industry—means we shouldn’t take finding a qualified one too lightly.

We’re not just talking about the fees we have to pay them, but the limited time we have in our lives! After all, we want not just the biggest bang out of our buck, but the greatest transformation we want without wasting too much time.

So find a qualified teacher, one who is worthwhile for you to respect and grateful to grow under his or her wings!

That said, gotta move on to ACI Course 1 Class 4 to find out more!

Filed Under: ACI Course, Buddhist Literature Tagged With: Bodhichitta, Bodies of a Buddha, Correct View, Correct World View, Lama, Mahamudra, Renunciation, Tantra, The Three Principal Paths, Three Principal Attitudes, Three Problems of the Pot

ACI Course 1 Class 2 | The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes

ACI Course 1 Class 2 | The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes

July 13, 2020 By Jeann Zhuang

In this blog post, I will be sharing my thoughts; ideas, insights, opinions and findings from The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes after watching Class 2 of ACI (Asian Classics Institute) Course 1. 

As part of my quest, I have to research, read and watch content, which includes Buddhist literature, in order to aid my attempt to extract, adapt and contextualise the ideas that can help us all live happy, fulfilled and successful lives, and also really, the best way to find out if we can really make a 2500-year-old tradition relevant to us today, not as a “religion” but as a secular philosophy with broad applications. 

Let’s go!

My Class Notes for Class 2: The Lama and the Word; Why Learn the Three Principal Paths?; An Offering of Praise 

The video lesson basically focused on answering the homework questions, so the following notes also include substantiating context from the reading for Class 2: “The Key that Unlocks the Door to the Noble Path (Lam bzang sgo ‘byed) written by Pabongka Rinpoche (1878-1941), a commentary upon the Three Principal Paths (Lam-gtzo rnam-gsum) of Je Tsongkapa (1357-1419), folios 1a-5b.”

The Three Principal Paths

  • A fast track to Buddhahood: the teaching known as the “Steps to Buddhahood.”
  • The instruction on the three principal paths is the very heart and very life of this teaching.
  • “The three principal paths are like the main beam that supports all the rest of the roof; your mind must be filled with these three thoughts if you hope to practice any dharma at all, whether it be the open or the secret teachings of the Buddha. A mind caught up in renunciation leads you to freedom, and a mind filled with hopes of becoming a Buddha for the sake of every living being brings you the the state of omniscience. A mind imbued with correct view, finally, serves as the antidote for the cycle of life.”

Merit or Good Karma

  • Continuing from the above, unless one has the three main attitudes, one can do non-virtuous deeds, also called non-merits, or deeds of merit, deeds called “invariable,” which will keep us in the cycle of birth.
  • “But unless the three principal paths fill your thoughts, each of these profound practices can only bring you back to the cycle of birth—they can’t even begin to lead you to freedom, or to the state of knowing all.”
  • Merit is also known as good karma, and it does not necessarily lead to nirvana and Buddhahood if it’s not committed with good motivation.
  • There can be “dirty good karma,” which is karma committed with bad or selfish motivation.
  • Reference to the three problems of the pot again, specifically, “[Pabongka Rinpoche] spoke first about how we should avoid the problem of being like a dirty pot because a good motivation was important not only for our classroom hours, but essential too for the steps of contemplation and meditation that should follow the initial period of instruction.”
  • “Once you’ve managed to develop these attitudes, every single virtuous act you perform leads you, despite yourself, to freedom and the state where you know all things.”

Mahamudra or The Great Seal

Mahamudra is Sanskrit for the “great seal”

  • Means seeing emptiness directly 
  • In Tantra; secret teachings, mudra is your partner, which means the commitment to practice the secret teachings, speeding up the process to attain enlightenment together. 

The relationship between the three principal paths and the great seal is that one cannot touch Tantric practice without the three principal paths.

Two Principal Causes that bring about the state of Buddhahood

  • Method:
    • Bodhisattva’s training; code word for the activities and thinking of a Bodhisattva
    • Principal paths 1 & 2
  • Wisdom:
    • Understanding emptiness
    • Principal path 3

Two Bodies of a Buddha & their causes

  1. Rupakaya: Physical part of the Buddha (There’s 2 parts inside the physical body:
    1. Nirmanakaya – emanation body
    2. Sambhogakaya – 112 marks; 32 major signs & 80 secondary signs, the one that stays in heaven
  2. Dharmakaya: (Also 2 parts:
    1. Jñanadharmakaya – mental state of a Buddha; the omniscience of a Buddha, the ability to see all things at all time, past, present & future
    2. Svabhavakaya – the emptiness body; you have it now, it’s your “Buddha nature”; Tathagata garbha, it means you already have emptiness, you can change into Buddha)

Wisdom causes Dharmakaya (The mind of a Buddha and the emptiness of a Buddha combined; the body of all things) which is path 3; correct view; the direct perception of emptiness from the three principal paths

Merit causes Rupakaya which would be path 1; renunciation & path 2; bodhichitta.

The connection between the first and second principal path: The second principal path is just the first principal path aimed at everybody. Bodhichitta is just renunciation spread towards everybody.

Two Obstacles to Buddhahood

  • Mental affliction obstacles: the obstacle which is kleshas (mental afflictions)
  • Obstacles to omniscience: the obstacles that stop you from omniscience

Post Class Thoughts—Any practical strategies and methods? 

[My quest: find out what and how things really work: What it takes for us to live happy, fulfilled and successful lives. With a current focus on—but not limited to—Buddhist philosophy. 

From my current focus, 2 more questions came along.

Can we extract, adapt and contextualise the ideas and concepts from Buddhist philosophy to live a happy, fulfilled and successful life?

Can we really make a 2500-year-old tradition relevant to the 21st century, not as a “religion” but as a secular philosophy with broad applications that we can use in our lives? (source)

Most importantly, I will share my thoughts; ideas, insights, opinions, findings, and experiences as a test subject, and then document how you too can apply practical strategies and methods in your daily life to live a happy, fulfilled and successful one.]

With my quest guiding me forward, let’s look at my takeaways from the second class of the course.

This class focuses almost entirely on becoming a Buddha, which makes it so religious that it’s challenging to consider any practical applications that’s secular.

That said, if we just stretch a little with the creative liberty, we might still be able to find one, or maybe even two.

I've had enough!

1. Renunciation or, I’ve had enough!

Instead of going the entire mile of becoming a Buddha in the complete sense of the word ‘renunciation,’ let’s adapt it for the modern day, secular living context.

Renunciation, or dismay at the pain of the world

Asian Classics Institute

Ever felt that you’ve had enough of the “same shit, different day” saying?

I recall listening to Tony Robbins Unleash Your Power Within audiobook and he talked about how good is not enough. We need to raise our standards if we truly want to unleash our power within.

Instead of settling for mediocrity, which more than often feels worst than what the word seems to convey, we can only rise to become the best versions of ourselves if we’ve had enough, even of “good enough.”

Perhaps like Tony Robbins himself said, we need to raise our standards, commit to the high standards we set for ourselves, to become outstanding.

Thinking that we want better and deserve better isn’t going to help get achieve better. Taking action does.

The 10% shift daily, doing the small things which are easy, daily, are what compounds into a revolution.

Let’s break free from mediocrity!

Peak

2. Merit or demerit system?

Before we even consider the cycle of birth, let’s consider the cycles we are going through in this life.

The cycle of ups and downs. Again, aren’t you guys sick of it? Have you not had enough of the ups and downs?

For some reason what I took away from the idea of merit or good karma, in context of our personal and professional lives, is that if you accumulate enough of what’s needed, you will meet the tipping point.

But if you go about raising your standards one day and then sabotaging yourself the next, then you’ll always be on the see-saw getting nowhere instead of making your way up, consistently, to the peak.

And the see-saw is really a classic example of me versus you. If one goes up, the other must come down. But no one wants to be the one going down, so we’re always driven by our selfish needs—a self-centred motivation.

On the other hand, if you commit yourself to the high standards of reaching the peak, some people might laugh at you before you begin, some might give up along the way, but you might win yourself a tribe of trusted few, where you guys would depend, motivate and support one another to get to peak, together.

Conclusion: What Next? 

It was tough to extract, adapt, and contextualise ideas from this class to apply in our secular lives.

I think there’s more to explore in the idea of the merit-demerit system in our lives.

For instance, focusing on growing a team and helping your team members grow is obviously creating the momentum to succeed together. Whereas if the team gets distracted and begins to focus on their individual needs, the team falls apart. Or if the team wastes time thinking of how to beat and sabotage others instead of raising their own standards of becoming outstanding is certainly a demerit system because the team could raise the standards for the competition to catch up, instead of trying to fend their position.

The former is not only consuming resources but not helping the team grow and the industry grow, and then consumers have to settle for less, which makes it a waste of time when it could have been put to better use when you focus on raising your own standards so that the industry grows and even your competition grows as a result, in the end benefiting the customers, and everyone.

That said, gotta move on to ACI Course 1 Class 3 to find out more!

Filed Under: ACI Course, Buddhist Literature Tagged With: Bodhichitta, Bodies of a Buddha, Correct View, Correct World View, Mahamudra, Renunciation, Tantra, The Three Principal Paths, Three Principal Attitudes

Buddhism Without Religion: Radical or Practical?

Buddhism Without Religion: Radical or Practical?

July 1, 2020 By Jeann Zhuang

In this post, we’re going to find out if it’s even possible to have Buddhism without religion: radical or practical?

We’re going to look at 

  • Terminology: Buddhism, Dharma and so on 
  • Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy? 
  • Separating philosophy from religion

First I have to say that I’m no Buddhist scholar, philosopher, or academic. Currently a trainer and speaker in the DCI Seed System which uses the ancient but universal ideas from Eastern philosophy, I may have some exposure and understanding of the Buddhist ideas, but I’m no expert.   

So let’s not forget that right now, I’m taking on the stance of a curious learner who is finding answers to the questions I currently have:   

Can we extract, adapt and contextualise the ideas and concepts from Buddhist philosophy to live a happy, fulfilled and successful life? 

Can we really make a 2500-year-old tradition relevant to the 21st century, not as a “religion” but as a secular philosophy with broad applications that we can use in our lives?  

Let’s start.

Terminology: Buddhism, Dharma and so on

1) Let’s start with the key word: Buddhism

So I did a quick search and selected the following definitions. 

Buddhism, religion and philosophy that developed from the teachings of the Buddha (Sanskrit: “Awakened One”), a teacher who lived in northern India between the mid-6th and mid-4th centuries BCE (before the Common Era). 

Britannica

Buddhism is a faith that was founded by Siddhartha Gautama (“the Buddha”) more than 2,500 years ago in India. With about 470 million followers, scholars consider Buddhism one of the major world religions. Its practice has historically been most prominent in East and Southeast Asia, but its influence is growing in the West. Many Buddhist ideas and philosophies overlap with those of other faiths.

History

Buddhism is a spiritual tradition that focuses on personal spiritual development and the attainment of a deep insight into the true nature of life. There are 376 million followers worldwide.

BBC

Buddhism is the world’s fourth-largest religion with over 520 million followers, or over 7% of the global population, known as Buddhists. Buddhism encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on original teachings attributed to the Buddha and resulting interpreted philosophies.

Wikipedia

While there are definitely more varying definitions of “Buddhism,” I chose the above because it shows us the mixed views that the Western world have about Buddhism. 

Given how Asians are most likely to view that Buddhism is a religion—I’m an Asian and was “born into Buddhism,” brought to visit Buddhist temples to pray to the Buddha and so on—just like how I viewed Christianity as a religion when I converted as a teen (it’s complicated), it’s actually refreshing for me to reconsider Buddhism as a philosophy as well as a religion. 

In a way, maybe, it becomes a matter of how much do you want to engage?

We’ll explore more in a jiffy, but let’s continue with terms.

2) Who’s Buddha? 

Here’s a few short extracts when I looked for the definition of “Buddha,” 

“The historical Buddha was an Indian prince named Siddhartha Gautama who lived some 2,600 years ago in an area that today is part of northern India and Nepal.”  

Who Was the Buddha?

Buddha, born with the name Siddhartha Gautama, was a teacher, philosopher and spiritual leader who is considered the founder of Buddhism. He lived and taught in the region around the border of modern-day Nepal and India sometime between the 6th to 4th century B.C. 

The name Buddha means “one who is awakened” or “the enlightened one.” While scholars agree that Buddha did in fact exist, the specific dates and events of his life are still debated. 

Biography

The teacher known as the Buddha lived in northern India sometime between the mid-6th and the mid-4th centuries before the Common Era. In ancient India the title buddha referred to an enlightened being who has awakened from the sleep of ignorance and achieved freedom from suffering.

Britannica

Most of us are familiar with the Buddha, even if you’re not a Buddhist. 

Unlike most religions, Buddha is not the Creator of the universe, or God. Rather, from the definitions available, there’s 3 levels to understand who Buddha is. 

1. The historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who was born a prince, but through his personal encounters, experiences with suffering; old age, sickness and death, gain personal insights and decided to seek answers out of this self-perpetuating cycle of life and death. He first became a monk, then adopted asceticism, and eventually the “Middle Way,” which avoids 2 extremes. Through deep contemplation and meditation, he had a series of insights into the nature of reality, and he was eventually enlightened while meditating under a Bodhi tree, and became known as the Buddha, “one who is awakened,” or “the enlightened one.” From then until his passing from this world, he taught the path to liberation that he had realized. 

2. “The term buddha means “awake” or “awakened,” so it can refer to any number of beings that are believed to be fully enlightened, not just the historical Buddha.” 

3. “It can also refer to an archetype or idea of an enlightened being.” 

Are There Other Buddhas?

So let’s look at the term that is associated with what the Buddha taught: Dharma. 

3) What is Dharma? 

“Dharma, Sanskrit dharma, Pali dhamma, key concept with multiple meanings in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.” 

Britannica

Here, we’re interested in the definition of Dharma in Buddhism, 

“In Buddhism, dharma is the doctrine, the universal truth common to all individuals at all times, proclaimed by the Buddha. Dharma, the Buddha, and the sangha (community of believers) make up the Triratna, “Three Jewels,” to which Buddhists go for refuge. In Buddhist metaphysics the term in the plural (dharmas) is used to describe the interrelated elements that make up the empirical world.” 

Britannica

While the definition above seems like it makes sense but it doesn’t quite explain what exactly is dharma, so let’s look at another definition. 

“Buddha’s teachings are known as “dharma.””

History

There’s also reference to Dharma as the laws of how things work, how our reality or universe functions, as well as the method, the path or understanding to seeing how things work, how our reality and universe functions. 

Specifically, Dharma on one level can be referred to the collection of Buddha’s teachings, or “ideas, books, videos, audios—physical dharma”  and on a deeper level, what Buddhists would also refer to real dharma, which is understanding emptiness, specifically seeing emptiness directly. 

Dharma Jewel: Books vs. Understanding

With the Eastern philosophy reaching the West, there’s also the idea of secular dharma,

Secular dharma looks at the teachings of the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (Pali: Siddhattha Gotama), and the teachings and practices of the dharma in the context of the global, modern world.

People who practice secular dharma are distinct from those who engage in Buddhist practice but are otherwise secular. While there is overlap, “secular dharma” describes a different movement.

While secular dharma practitioners have been connected with a range of Buddhist lineages, and none, secular dharma is a development out of certain modernizing trends within different schools of Buddhism. A secular space is open-minded and tolerant and does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, gender, ability, beliefs, or faith. Those who engage with a secular dharma community are not required to adopt metaphysical beliefs or become involved in activities generally associated with religion, Buddhist or otherwise, such as chanting or praying.


Can Someone Be A Secular Buddhist?

Dharma vs. Dharma practice 

“The art of dharma practice requires commitment, technical accomplishment, and imagination. As with all arts, we will fail to realize its full potential if any of these three is lacking. The raw material of dharma practice is ourself and our world, which are to be understood and transformed according to the vision and values of the dharma itself. This is not a process of self- or world-transcendence, but one of self- and world-creation.

IN A FAMOUS PARABLE, the Buddha imagines a group of blind men who are invited to identify an elephant. One takes the tail and says it’s a rope; another clasps a leg and says it’s a pillar; another feels the side and says it’s a wall; another holds the trunk and says it’s a tube. Depending on which part of Buddhism you grasp, you might identify it as a system of ethics, a philosophy, a contemplative psychotherapy, a religion. While containing all of these, it can no more be reduced to any one of them than an elephant can be reduced to its tail.”

Buddhism Without Beliefs

According to this article, it gets one thinking. Are you sure? If you’re not, you can’t be, then why are you taking what you read as the absolute truth, which is what I call blind faith. 

While there is definitely value in religion, and one can definitely have a faith—as do I—my stance is, in the words of Neil deGrasse Tyson, “be a proper skeptic.” We need to investigate the ideas without bias. 

And we can find evidence that supports reason over blind faith  from the monastic textbook An Explanation of the Art of Reasoning by Purbuchok Jampa Tsultrim Gyatso (1825-1901), the tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, stating the three tests: 

1) We have confirmed, with our own direct valid perceptions, those parts of the statement which correspond to “evident” reality;

2) We have confirmed, with our own logical, deductive form of valid perception, those parts of the statement which correspond to “hidden” reality; and

3) We have established that those parts of the statement which correspond to “deeply hidden” reality are free of any internal contradiction or similar faults.]An Explanation of the Art of Reasoning

The three tests from Buddhism above corresponds with Geshe Michael Roach who uses 3 simple terms for us to easily understand what it actually means: 

1) Burn or Melt the gold: We should confirm with our own experience that the information works 

2) Cut the gold: Does the information pass the test of being logical? Does it in theory make sense?  

3) File the gold: Are the original sources that recommend this information believable? Are there testimonials? Case studies?

And the three tests also be found in the Asian Classics Institute Foundational Course 4: Proof of Future Lives, Class Four: Being of Totally Correct Perception.

The three tests for checking if what someone said is accurate, Chepa Sum in Tibetan, in the class notes, 

1) The statement cannot be disproved by any direct perception you have or have had.

2) The statement can’t be contradicted by correct, airtight reasoning. 

3) Nothing he ever said before contradicts what he said later. 

In the answer key, 

“What are the three main methods for a normal person to determine that the Buddha is totally correct about the very deep teachings He gave? 

a) The teachings cannot be disproved by any valid perception that we have or have had. 
b) The teachings cannot be disproved by any airtight reasoning. 
c) The teachings themselves are free of any internal inconsistency: nothing that Lord Buddha said at one time contradicts what He said at another time.” 

In other words, it seems like Buddha invites us to rigorously check what he said and inspect if it works using logic and our own experience instead of being a mere believer. 

“The dharma is not a belief by which you will be miraculously saved.  It is a method to be investigated and tried out.” 

Buddhism Without Beliefs

So what hints to me that we can distinguish Buddhist philosophy from the religion itself, is when we are able to engage in the content without the metaphysical beliefs through activities generally associated as religion, such as chanting, prayer or other rituals. 

Instead, we can take the stance of a curious learner, maybe using a scientific, logical approach. Or even a craftsman whereby we test the ideas,  experiment with the method for ourselves, to see what really works. 

4) What Makes You A Buddhist

The most simplistic definition of “Buddhist” is a follower of the Buddha. Very much like how if you’re a follower of Christ, that makes you a Christian. 

Or that by accepting and keeping the Buddhist refuge vows would make one an official Buddhist. 

But of course, we can always edge over to the on-going debate about how Buddhism is scientific, because with the vast collection of literature, there are numerous texts—yet translated into the major languages—that as they are gradually translated, reveal an alignment with contemporary mind sciences, such as neuroscience, quantum physics, psychology and so on.  

Which means, if we base “what makes you a Buddhist” upon the three tests logical approach above, we might teeter towards the possibility of a new definition of being “Buddhist.” Much like taking a scientific approach to life doesn’t necessarily make you a scientist, so maybe we could already be taking on a Buddhist approach to life without taking on the title of Buddhist. 

Books and doorway

5) Buddhist philosophy

Back to the question, Buddhism without religion: Radical or practical?

Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy? 

First let us look at Britannica’s definition:

Philosophy, (from Greek, by way of Latin, philosophia, “love of wisdom”) the rational, abstract, and methodical consideration of reality as a whole or of fundamental dimensions of human existence and experience. Philosophical inquiry is a central element in the intellectual history of many civilizations.

For discussion of major systems of Eastern philosophy, see Buddhism; Chinese philosophy; Confucianism; Daoism; Hinduism; Indian philosophy; Jainism; Japanese philosophy; Shintō; Sikhism.

Britannica

While Britannica’s article includes Buddhism as part of Eastern philosophy, when you click on “Buddhism,” the category leads you to “PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION > PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES.” And just below the title “Buddhism,” the label “religion.” 

So come on, is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy then? 

The article Is Buddhism a Religion? presents the 2 sides of the coin, Buddhism as an intricate philosophical system and as a religion. 

“If you were to go by the stream of psychology and neuroscience books published over the last two decades, you’d think Buddhism is an intricate philosophical system designed by a man with a keen insight for the emergence of psychoanalysis and philosophy some 2,400 years down the road.” 

Is Buddhism a Religion?

While Buddhism requires faith, it is “faith that is dependent on experience and reasoning, not unexperienced hopes or wishful thinking.”

When does Buddhism tip from philosophy over to religion? When metaphysics come into play. 

“Is Buddhism a religion? To many, certainly. Like other world religions, it offers a set of ethical codes to be followed, best practices used to instill empathy, calm, and compassion into your day. It also has its system of metaphysics. What follows life—the heavens and hells—is specific to Buddhism, yet every religious system has devised its own mystical taxonomy. In this sense, Buddhism is not alone.” 

Is Buddhism a Religion?

But if you’re only keen on approaching Buddhism as philosophy? 

In the next part we will explore further the separation of philosophy from religion. 

Separating philosophy from religion

“When Gautama passed away around 483 B.C., his followers began to organize a religious movement. Buddha’s teachings became the foundation for what would develop into Buddhism.

Over the next few centuries, Buddhism began to spread beyond India. The thoughts and philosophies of Buddhists became diverse, with some followers interpreting ideas differently than others.”

History

Could this be how Buddhism became a religion? 

But the question right now would be… Can Buddhism be without religion, be secular? 

The usual suspects or proponents of secular Buddhism or presenting Buddhism as a philosophy rather than a religion would be American neuroscientist Sam Harris and British author Stephen Batchelor. 

Known for his controversial stand against religion, and as an atheist, Sam Harris has written many books and articles that challenges religion. 

In his article, Killing The Buddha, the opening paragraph is enough to get your heart rate up. 

“Kill the Buddha,” says the old koan. “Kill Buddhism,” says Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith, who argues that Buddhism’s philosophy, insight, and practices would benefit more people if they were not presented as a religion.” 

Let me take you to the point. Sam Harris basically challenges and also puts down superstition or in my words, groundless beliefs that are not proven. 

“This is not to say that Buddhism has nothing to offer the world. One could surely argue that the Buddhist tradition, taken as a whole, represents the richest source of contemplative wisdom that any civilization has produced.

The wisdom of the Buddha is currently trapped within the religion of Buddhism. Even in the West, where scientists and Buddhist contemplatives now collaborate in studying the effects of meditation on the brain, Buddhism remains an utterly parochial concern. While it may be true enough to say (as many Buddhist practitioners allege) that “Buddhism is not a religion,” most Buddhists worldwide practice it as such, in many of the naive, petitionary, and superstitious ways in which all religions are practiced. Needless to say, all non-Buddhists believe Buddhism to be a religion—and, what is more, they are quite certain that it is the wrong religion.” 

Killing The Buddha

And he goes on to put down religious dogmatism, especially what he hints at as ridiculous superstitions, until he gives a nod at Buddhism for its similarity to science. 

“For the fact is that a person can embrace the Buddha’s teaching, and even become a genuine Buddhist contemplative (and, one must presume, a buddha) without believing anything on insufficient evidence. The same cannot be said of the teachings for faith-based religion. In many respects, Buddhism is very much like science. One starts with the hypothesis that using attention in the prescribed way (meditation), and engaging in or avoiding certain behaviors (ethics), will bear the promised result (wisdom and psychological well-being). This spirit of empiricism animates Buddhism to a unique degree. For this reason, the methodology of Buddhism, if shorn of its religious encumbrances, could be one of our greatest resources as we struggle to develop our scientific understanding of human subjectivity.” 

Killing The Buddha

While he continues with his radical lecture about the problem of religion, and how problematic religious associations are with “genuine truths,” here’s my proposal in distinguishing the difference between approaching Buddhism as a philosophy and religion, without dissing either: 

Philosophy

Study the literature: Texts by the Buddha; scribed by his followers, commentaries by scholars, courses, and articles with the objective of finding out how the information relates to us and how we can use it (to live happy, fulfilled and successful lives — my quest).

Religion

Faith in Buddha or Buddhas’s teachings as the driving force in one’s Dharma  practice, studying the literature with the objective to 

1) To not be reborn in the lower realms of hell, craving spirits and animal

2) Attain nirvana — be freed from sansara: self-perpetuating cycle of suffering 

3) Attain enlightenment with a bigger motivation: for the sake of all sentient beings, in order to help all be liberated from sansara as well

Using logic and proof to explore the possibilities of the concept of the supernatural and afterlife

Belief in the metaphysics; supernatural & afterlife

Using a scientific, logical, craftsman’s approach where one test the ideas, experiment with the method for ourselves, to see what really works (for us to live happy, fulfilled and successful lives — my quest).

Blessings, prayers, chantings, rites & rituals

That’s my take.

However, it may be worthwhile to note that it’s not a hard and fast separation. One could practice Buddhism as a religion, but still approach and utilise its philosophical aspects. 

Conclusion: So What? 

It’s been one hell of a challenging article to write, and this is not the end of exploring Buddhism without religion, whether it’s radical or practical, it’s only the beginning, as part of my quest. 

It is radical to some, practical to some, and I think it’s both. 

That Buddhism can be both a religion and a philosophy, and it can be radical and practical, depending on who’s looking at it. 

Now that we’ve covered 

  • Terminology: Buddhism, Buddha, Dharma, Dharma practice, Buddhist philosophy 
  • Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy? 
  • Separating philosophy from religion

A couple of things struck me really hard. 

Buddhism as a religion with its own metaphysical system of beliefs; in reincarnation, deities and so on, is based on a rigorous and intricate philosophical approach founded by a prince a long time ago. 

Just like science, successors to his field of study continued inquiring the methodology he left behind. 

Sure enough, some approach Buddhism entirely in faith, of Buddha as the central figure of worship, but Buddhism offers more than just blind faith and dogma. 

Recall the three tests. 

The historical Buddha invites us to engage in logical and rational discourse and experimentation of the ideas and methodology he once presented. 

According to him, he is awakened. According to the records left behind, they claim he is awakened. 

The question is, how would you know if that’s true?

And… so what if it’s true?

You can choose to believe based on scriptural authority and just believe as is, or do your part. 

You may not want to be awakened, or become enlightened, so how far would you go with the ideas and methodology presented? 

What’s the premise of your experiment? 

That’s a question for me, as I continue on my quest, to find out what and how things really work, if and how we can extract, adapt and contextualise the ideas and concepts from Buddhist philosophy to live a happy, fulfilled and successful life.


  • Time Out to Mourn, Reprioritize & Restart
  • ACI Course 1 Class 4 | The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes
  • ACI Course 1 Class 3 | The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes
  • ACI Course 1 Class 2 | The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes
  • Buddhism Without Religion: Radical or Practical?

Filed Under: Buddhist Literature, Buddhist Philosophy, Philosophy Tagged With: Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist philosophy, Dharma, Dharma practice, Three Tests

ACI Course 1 Class 1 | The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes

ACI Course 1 Class 1 | The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes

June 26, 2020 By Jeann Zhuang

In this blog post, I will be sharing my thoughts; ideas, insights, opinions and findings from The Principal Teachings of Buddhism: The Three Principal Paths, or Attitudes after watching Class 1 of ACI (Asian Classics Institute) Course 1. 

As part of my quest, I have to research, read and watch content, which includes Buddhist literature, in order to aid my attempt to extract, adapt and contextualise the ideas that can help us all live happy, fulfilled and successful lives, and also really, the best way to find out if we can really make a 2500-year-old tradition relevant to us today, not as a “religion” but as a secular philosophy with broad applications. 

So let’s get started. 

ACI Foundation Course 1: The Principal Teachings of Buddhism 

ASIAN CLASSICS INSTITUTE MAKES THE FOUNDATIONAL, PROFOUND, AND TRANSFORMATIONAL TEACHINGS OF THE BUDDHA AVAILABLE TO THE WORLD IN AN ACCURATE, ACCESSIBLE AND RELEVANT WAY

Asian Classics Institute

“ACI Course 1 is a thorough study of the three great realizations (commonly known as the “three principal paths”) needed by every practitioner of Buddhism—which is why it’s the first of the 36 courses. These three are:

  • renunciation, or dismay at the pain of the world;
  • the Wish for enlightenment, or wanting to become a Buddha ourselves so that we can help every living being in the universe; and
  • a correct view of the world, or seeing that there is no person, and no object, which does not come the seeds in my own mind.” 

Reading materials, interactive transcripts, video recordings in English, Chinese, Spanish, Russian and German for ACI Course 1 Class 1 can all be found on The Knowledge Base, which archives the teachings and events of the Asian Classics Institute. 

“The Knowledge Base is about sharing a new view of the world which can make you successful in every aspect of life. Its basic tenet is that our reality is shaped by how well we take care of others.Acts of kindness towards others create seeds in the mind that determine everything about the people and the world around us, as reflected in everything from our finances, health, and partner, on up to happiness, peace of mind, and enlightenment itself.” 

The Knowledge Base

Based on the class notes in PDF format I’ve downloaded, here’s what’s included: 

  • An introduction to the lineage and overview of the 18 foundation courses 
  • Buddhist prayers 
    • Offering the Mandala 
    • Refuge and The Wish
    • Dedication of the Goodness of a Deed 
    • A Buddhist Grace 
  • Course Syllabus (An overview of Course 1 and the reading for each class) 
  • Homework for 10 classes
  • 10 quizzes 
  • 1 final examination 
  • Class notes taken by a student in class, comes with a disclaimer
  • Answer key for the homework, quizzes & examination 

ACI Course 1, 10 Classes Overview 

Class 1: An introduction to The Three Principal Paths 

Class 2: The Lama and the Word; Why Learn the Three Principal Paths?; An Offering of Praise 

Class 3: How to Take a Lama 

Class 4: A Pledge to Compose the Work 

Class 5: Encouragement to Study; Why You Need Renunciation; Stopping Desire for This Life 

Class 6: Stopping Desire for Future Lives; How to Know When You’ve Found Renunciation 

Class 7: Why You Need the Wish for Enlightenment 

Class 8: How to Develop the Wish for Enlightenment; How to Know When You’ve Found the Wish for Enlightenment 

Class 9: Why You Need Correct View; What is Correct View? 

Class 10: How to Know When Your Analysis is Still Incomplete; How to Know When Your Analysis is Complete; A Unique Teaching of the “Implication” School; Put Into Practice What You Have Learned; The Conclusion of the Explanation; A Disciple’s Prayer; A Secret Key to the Three Principal Paths 

My Class Notes for Class 1: An introduction to The Three Principal Paths 

The course content is translated from a book called Lamtso Namsum, its full name is Lam Gyi Tsowo Namsum.  

Real title: Three Main Paths of Buddhism, but changed to The Principal Teachings of Buddhism to make it more accessible. 

  • Principal teachings: main teachings 
  • 3 attitudes that are the principal teachings of Buddhism 
  • 3 big ideas, not methods or routes 

Lineage or tradition 

  • Author of the book is Je Tsongkapa; this book, 14 verses, is a letter written to Nawang Drakpa, his disciple
  • Pabongka Rinpoche wrote the commentary to the original text; his entire commentary is in the course 
  • Trijang Rinpoche (1901 – 1981), Pabongka’s disciple & Dalai Lama’s teacher, edited the Lam Rim, who is also Khen Rinpoche’s root teacher
  • Khen Rinpoche wrote the introduction to this course 
  • Geshe Michael Roach translated Pabongka Rinpoche’s commentary and wrote this course 

The text doesn’t jump right into the three principal paths but preliminaries which is tradition: 

  • Avoid the 3 problems of the pot 
    • Upside down (already full of other ideas): Not open to learning 
    • You can’t pour water into a dirty cup: What you hear you mix it up with other stuff you’ve learnt 
    • Don’t be like cup with a hole in the bottom: You’re leaky, you learn something today and forget by tomorrow. 

All Lam rim texts have 3 big divisions and they depend on the motivation of the people (refers to heart)  

  • Little people: I don’t want to go to the lower birth (The Pen teaching would satisfy)   
  • Medium people: I don’t want any kind of samsara; suffering life, I want nirvana for me 
  • Big people: Want everyone to be enlightened; Bodhisattva 

Three Principal Paths: 

  • Renunciation: Not the classical meaning of renunciation / It means: recognize that if you don’t figure out the seed system, everyone around you will collapse and die, including you. I’m tired of seeing the suffering in the world, I want to fix it. Give up misunderstanding how the world works: wrong worldview. 
  • Bodhichitta: Wish to become enlightened to help all the living beings 
  • Wisdom: See emptiness directly if you want to become enlightened 

Should have been called the Three Principal Attitudes 

  • The three are mental, ways of thinking, attitudes 
  • Not paths, not concrete, not even instructions, not Sutras 

Post Class Thoughts—Any practical strategies and methods? 

[My quest: find out what and how things really work: What it takes for us to live happy, fulfilled and successful lives. With a current focus on—but not limited to—Buddhist philosophy. 

From my current focus, 2 more questions came along.

Can we extract, adapt and contextualise the ideas and concepts from Buddhist philosophy to live a happy, fulfilled and successful life?

Can we really make a 2500-year-old tradition relevant to the 21st century, not as a “religion” but as a secular philosophy with broad applications that we can use in our lives? (source)

Most importantly, I will share my thoughts; ideas, insights, opinions, findings, and experiences as a test subject, and then document how you too can apply practical strategies and methods in your daily life to live a happy, fulfilled and successful one.] 

With my quest guiding me forward, let’s look at my takeaways from the first class of course.

1. Three Problems of the Pot 

This really reminded me of the many social media posts I have encountered about a man who went to a master, but ended up having hot tea spilling over from his cup to illustrate the idea of our cup is already full. 

I started thinking how “Three Problems of the Pot” really reminded me of me, and the people around me, who are either searching for ways, or just wishing to become happy, fulfilled and successful.

Let me put it this way: 

Problem 1: Upside down, already full of other ideas, not open to learning 

These are the wishing folks. They want to, wish to, hope to become happy, fulfilled and successful. They appear to be “all ears” to what you have to offer them, but actually they are immensely comfortable in their discomfort. It’s ironic, but I guess most people are. 
Yet another quote comes to mind, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” 

Problem 2: You can’t pour water into a dirty cup: What you hear you mix it up with other stuff you’ve learnt 

The over-zealous, over-enthusiastic, over-anxious person who wants instant happiness, instant fulfilment and instant success. 

It’s like conducting an experiment. If you want to know whether something works, you first have to test it out “as is” first. 

No one mixes Mexican tacos with Szechuan hotpot. 

There’s two Chinese sayings:

  • 画龙点睛
  • 画蛇添足

The first means dotting the eyes to the dragon you’ve drawn, the second means to add legs to the snake you’ve just drawn. 

What does it mean? 

The first means the finishing touches to a masterpiece, and the second is basically adding unnecessary touches, or again another quote: 

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” 

So one wonders why they don’t see their results of happy, fulfilled and successful lives? 

A reminder that it doesn’t mean putting the engine of a jet inside a Ferrari with monster truck wheels would get us faster. Don’t start by picking and mixing, start by getting good, master the tools, achieve results, know how things work, then build your own rocket only when you’ve got what it takes. 

Problem 3: Don’t be like cup with a hole in the bottom: You’re leaky, you learn something today and forget by tomorrow. 

I guess to become happy, fulfilled and successful we have to actually remember what we learnt, and put into action.

Not just action as and when we remember, but put what we’ve learn into practice, disciplined, consistent, committed to become happy, fulfilled and successful. 

2. Three Principal Attitudes 

Really got me thinking beyond religion.

More as a human. 

All the human rights, animal rights, women rights, and so on…

What are we all really fighting for, albeit in different causes? 

What does it all boil down into? 

Attitude 1: Renunciation

I guess it comes close to the first principal attitude, which is in Buddhism, renunciation. 

But as humans, nobody wants to suffer, nobody wants pain, and nobody wants to die.

Honestly. 

You may say, there are people who want to die, but that’s because they see death as a way to end their misery, their suffering, their pain. 

But instead of seeking the “easy way out,” there’s something to learn here from the class. And we don’t have to be a Buddhist to have an attitude towards all the unnecessary inequalities, suffering, misery, pain, unhappiness that we, humans, animals, etc are going through. 

In a way, that’s why we stand up for what we believe in, and fight for what we believe in. 

But it seems here, in Buddhist philosophy, perhaps we have to figure out what is said here in the class introduction, “a correct view of the world, or seeing that there is no person, and no object, which does not come the seeds in my own mind.” 

That’s Attitude 3, but let’s get to Attitude 2 first. 

Attitude 2: Bodhichitta 

Based on the above, of us fighting for what we believe in, like protecting animals, or against children abuse etc, lies a heart that cares. 

So I’m guessing, it should come an inch closer to the Buddhist idea of Bodhichitta? 

I mean, first, not all of us agree on the concept of enlightenment as Buddhism, so it’s kind of contrived to even wish to become enlightened based on the Buddhist’s definition: the Wish for enlightenment, or wanting to become a Buddha ourselves so that we can help every living being in the universe. 

But at the very least, I care about my loved ones, I care about feeding those in need enough to donate food and deliver food to those facing hunger, I care about animal cruelty enough to start a movement, I care about eradicating poverty enough to donate to efforts by the United Nations, I care about children getting the education to break out of the chains of poverty enough to sponsor children to go to school, I care enough about something enough to take action. 

I guess, all, if not most of us, have something that we care about that we would step up to do something to protect, contribute, or empower others. 

That’s an attitude. 

Attitude 3: Wisdom

Ok this one is not just a little tricky but mind boggling for most, even for Buddhists. 

It says in the introduction, “a correct view of the world, or seeing that there is no person, and no object, which does not come the seeds in my own mind.” 

But from what I heard in the class, wisdom, which is to see emptiness directly if you want to become enlightened. 

Firstly, back to the point about becoming enlightened above. 

Secondly, what does it mean to see emptiness directly? Well, this calls for another blog post or even blog series to properly research and share my thoughts. 

Lastly, is there a correct view of the world? Does it mean everything comes from seeds in my own mind? What does that even mean? Does it mean there are wrong views then? What are they? 

It’s not practical to answer these questions in this blog post, but definitely calls for more research and blog posts to answer them. So stay tuned. 

Conclusion: What Next? 

There are lessons to be learnt from Buddhism that could be related to, applied to our lives without having to become a Buddhist. 

As I’ve extracted, adapted and contextualized the 

  • Three Problems of the Pot 
  • Two out of Three Principal Attitudes 

It also kinda brought be back to what I learnt in Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Scientific Thinking and Communication MasterClass, to not be intellectually lazy and to be a proper skeptic. 

Moving on to ACI Course 1 Class 2…

Thoughts? 

Filed Under: ACI Course, Buddhist Literature Tagged With: ACI Course 1, ACI Course Class 1, Bodhichitta, Correct World View, DPE, Renunciation, Seeing Emptiness Directly, The Principal Teachings of Buddhism, The Three Principal Paths, Three Problems of the Pot

On Memory Training: After Reading Moonwalking with Einstein, Now What?

On Memory Training: After Reading Moonwalking with Einstein, Now What?

June 8, 2020 By Jeann Zhuang

Here’s my two-word wrap up on memory training after reading Moonwalking with Einstein: Now what? 

I’m writing this blog post 6 days after I read Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything from cover to cover, and it certainly proved how pathetic my memory is and what Joshua Foer said—if I don’t remember it wrongly—about not remembering much about a book after reading it. 

Moonwalking with Einstein
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

Reading the last few pages of the book was what left me feeling frustrated. It wasn’t the talk about how we have external memory devices help us do most of the remembering and therefore the big question of whether or not there’s still a need for us to rely on our internal memories.

The frustration arose because I was here to find out the exact methods we can train our memory. 

To me, that question can be easily answered in my own context: train your internal memory so that I can easily retrieve information at will and analyse it while using external memory devices as backup and verification. 

So this post, I’m going to create my own closure on memory training in relation to my quest by covering the following points  

  • Points that stood out in the book 
  • Piecing together bits and pieces of concrete “to-do” steps for memory training from the book 
  • Moving forward: memory training strategy 

Let’s get down to it because I start forgetting. 

Don’t Forget to Remember: Points That Stood Out in Moonwalking with Einstein 

307 pages and 6 days later, depending on my external memory device: Evernote which helped me remember my notes, and now shifting that responsibility to my unreliable—what other choice do I have?—working internal memory, it’s all boiled down to the following 5 points that stood out for me. 

1) Time: tempo at which we experience life’s passage, time as a mental construct 

Time as a mental construct

We’ve always looked at time—the clock, our watch or any other device to tell the time—as this external guiding hand that takes us through our daily lives and our entire life, really. 

We’ve always thought we can depend on the numbers we see that indicates time. 

But what really stood out in my reading, is how time is an experience, documented by our memories, that allows us to maintain the illusion of continuity from moment to moment, year to year, to experience stability and make sense of things. 

Continuity defines our “self,” and it depends entirely on memory. Once our memories start failing, with case studies mentioned in the book, we lose track of time, and even who we are. 

Then it gets you rethinking about the concept of time you’ve always considered. 

Time, the tempo at which we experience life’s passage, is not external. 
Time is a mental construct, our experience of it depends and is altered by our memories, our cognitive abilities… If our internal memory begins malfunctioning, our experience of time and our reality changes. 

My take? We need to keep our minds and memories in peak performance to optimise our experience of time and reality, in other words, our lives. 

2) Simonides of Ceos: Method of Loci 

Engaging one’s spatial memory to remember

A method to remember, is Simonides of Ceos’ Method of Loci, engaging one’s spatial memory in the act of remembering. 

2 things:

  1. Images to represent the content you want to remember. Such as your grocery or to-do list
  2. Loci, or places, to store the above images

His technique is to convert something unmemorable into a series of engrossing visual images, which could be disturbing to some, if you make it really vaudeville or just lewd.

After generating these highly impressionable series of images, you then mentally arrange them within an imagined space, for example, the different spaces where you can deposit the images in your bedroom, and suddenly those usually forgettable items become unforgettable. 

This is called the memory palace. And it’s important to create a space in your mind’s eye where you know well and can easily visualise. 

It’s crucial then to have thousands of memory palaces, each built to hold a different set of memories. 

So whenever you need to retrieve a specific information, you just need to go on a mental tour. 

My take? Sounds insanely intense to have to be familiar with so many spaces, and not to say, strenuous to create engrossing visual images and then mentally arrange them in that imagine space every time you need to remember something. But how do we start, and get better at it? 

3) Memory Techniques: Impressive but Ultimately Useless?

Impressive but what’s the purpose?

The memory championships described in Moonwalking with Einstein makes me wonder what’s the entire purpose of memorising random numbers up to the 7th digit and playing cards with tedious memory techniques and using tools like ear muffs and goggles to block out distract during the memorization. 

Does make me agree with the Chinese who objected that Simonides’ method of loci way more tedious than rote repetition which is faster and simpler. 
As part of the championship, memory athletes have to memorize poems, but it turns out to be the category that’s the hardest for most. But to me, it’s the category that’s the most important and useful for academics, scholars, even knowledge workers today. 

Instead of memorizing playing cards and numbers, what are the memory techniques that can support us with remembering and retrieving information at will and analyse them? Given how I agree that it’s important that we remember the content, where it’s retained in our memory, in order for us to retrieve it in the first place? 

My take: We don’t need memory techniques to impress people and remember useless stuff, but we need a method to retain important information in our personal and professional lives, so that we can get better at what we do, in terms of efficiency and expertise. 

4) Art of memory: proper retention and ordering of knowledge 

Proper retention and ordering of knowledge

Effective learning is to be able to learn and remember anything you want, and to be able to easily retrieve that information at will and analyse it. In the book, what caught my attention is also its mention about how a trained memory is less about gaining easy access to information than about strengthening one’s personal ethics and becoming a more complete person.

I feel that the former strengthens the latter. 

Another really cool point about proper retention and ordering of knowledge points out how invention depends on inventory. New ideas come from the blend of old ideas—if order to invent, one first needs a proper inventory of existing ideas to draw upon. 

The art of memory is ultimately useful not just as a tool of recording but a tool of invention based on indexed inventory and composition because one is able to find just the right piece of information at just the right moment. 
In the past, the goal of training one’s memory was to develop the capacity to leap from topic to topic and make new connections between old ideas. 

As an art, memory was most importantly associated in the Middle Ages with composition, not simply with retention,” argues Carruthers. “Those who practiced the crafts of memory used them—as all crafts are used— to make new things: prayers, meditations, sermons, pictures, hymns, stories, and poems.

But even if facts don’t by themselves lead to understanding, you can’t have understanding without facts. And crucially, the more you know the easier it is to know more. Memory is like a spiderweb that catches new information. The more it catches, the bigger it grows. And the bigger it grows, the more it catches.

 … but memory and intelligence do seem to go hand in hand, like a muscular frame and an athletic disposition. There’s a feedback loop between the two. The more tightly any new piece of information can be embedded into the web of information we already know, the more likely it is to be remembered. People who have more associations to hang their memories on are more likely to remember new things, which in turn means they will know more, and be able to learn more. The more we remember, the better we are at processing the world. And the better we are processing the world, the more we can remember about it.

My take: I agree with the above, and I look forward to having an improved memory.

5) Brain is muscle, memory training is mental workout 

Memory training is mental workout

Deliberate practice is what separates experts from the rest of us. 
Experts tend to engage in very directed, highly focused routine, as Anders Ericsson, a Swedish psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University who is internationally recognized as a researcher in the psychological nature of expertise and human performance, observed after having studied the best of the best in many different fields. 

Ericsson found that top achievers tend to follow the same general pattern of development. 

They develop strategies for consciously keeping out of the autonomous stage while they practice by doing three things: focusing on their technique, staying goal-oriented, and getting constant and immediate feedback on their performance. In other words, they force themselves to stay in the “cognitive phase.”

Deliberate practice, termed by Ericsson, by its nature, must be hard since they don’t allow the “auto-pilot” cruising mode to kick in, but they opt to stay in the phase where they are always pushing themselves to get better, deliberately. 

The point here? 

Think of enhancing your memory more like improving a skill, using deliberate practice. 

On top of the art of memory, it’s important to approach memory training like a science. 

You can develop hypotheses about your limitations, conduct experiments and track data, in order to analyse what you’re doing and how to get better at remembering. So this memory training practice would have to be focused and deliberate, so that you can collect data such as keeping track of how long the practice session is and any difficulties encountered along the way and then analyse it for feedback. 

In order to remember well, during this memory training deliberate practice, one has to pay attention; stay focused. We forget because we’re too busy trying to formulate thoughts on how to reply instead of paying attention. This highlights a reason why Simonides technique works well because it enforces a degree of attention and focus that we normally lack; dwelling on something makes it more memorable. 

My take: If memory can be trained through deliberate practice, it’s time to figure out HOW. 

Reconstructing: Piecing together bits and pieces of concrete “to-do” steps for memory training

Reconstructing the to-do for memory training

1) 1 hour of memorization daily 

2) Collect architecture for memory palaces 

  • Know buildings thoroughly—to have such a rich and textured set of associations with every corner of every room “mental storehouses” so that it’s easier to deposit mental images into these mentally visualized places — like photoshop, layering on the canvas
  • The better I knew the buildings, and the more each felt like home, the stickier my images would be and the easier it would be to reconstruct them later. 

3) Get in shape   

  • Health, physique, sharp mind
  • Reminded me of 2 books I read years ago, but forgot most of the content: Feed Your Brain, Lose Your Belly and Super Brain 

4) Deliberate practice 

  • Think of enhancing memory more like improving a skill
  • Practice would have to be focused and deliberate
  • Keep track of how long the practice session is and any difficulties encountered along the way 
  • Collect data and analyse it for feedback

5) Spend meditative time 

  • Develop a meditation practice 
  • Spend time during the meditative time to dwell—as described in deliberate practice above—on an important content that I want to remember

Moving Forward: Memory Training Strategy 

1 hour of memorization daily is pretty much out of the question for me with my current workload and schedule. From personal experience which went undocumented, I realised that the part on dwelling—meditative time worked for me. 

However, meditative time wasn’t an eyes-shut meditation, but I spent time to dwell and contemplate on the content over and over… it took me 2 months to become so familiar with the content that I believe it’s etched deeply in my memory.

What happened wasn’t just pure remembering, but I have synthesized the content with my understanding of it. That’s what made it stick; made me remember.  

So here’s my memory training strategy that I would integrate in my current routine. 

  • After reading a piece of content (such as an article, or chapter)
    • Write notes 
    • Spend time to synthesize what I remembered with my understanding 
    • Write what I understood in my own words—just like this blog post
  • Remembering facts and important information, i.e. of important biographies 
    • Use the method of loci 
    • Recall the memory every now and then to enforce the images 
  • Get in shape
    • Have a healthy routine where I sleep earlier and wake up earlier
    • Cut digital consumption during deliberate practice times
    • Cut digital usage before sleep so I don’t result in digital fatigue
    • Re-read Feed Your Brain, Lose Your Belly & Super Brain to shape up 
    • Start an exercise routine 

Conclusion: What’s Next? 

Gonna pen this down in my schedule: Monthly updates on memory training deliberate practice. 

Don’t forget to stay tuned.

Filed Under: Deliberate Practice, Memory Training, Science Tagged With: Anders Ericsson, Method of Loci, Simonides of Ceos

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