from the Verse 45 in The Way to Buddhahood:
Humans depend on the basic necessities of life to obtain happiness,
But these necessities are derived from previous charities.
Thus, for sentient beings, the Buddha
Always praises first the good fortune of giving.
When the Tathāgata expounded the Dharma, he did not teach like we do now. He did not always begin with discourses about liberation from birth and death, birth in a Pure Land, all things being identical with emptiness, or both mind and the Buddha being identical.
1. How is the Mind and Buddha identical? IS it referring to Buddha nature?
~> That’s right, we can think of it as Buddha-nature, it can also be regarded as the state of achieving liberation / enlightenment, and it can also be regarded as “the very moment when the Truth (emptiness) appears”.
~> However, these aspects are too profound to be understood by beginners, so the Buddha would not teach sentient beings these difficult teachings at the beginning.
If the people were able to believe in and practice these virtues and also appeared to have the roots of virtue necessary to transcend the world, then the Tathāgata would expound the world-transcending Dharma.
2. What is the world-transcending dharmma? Is it Mahayanna? or the end to suffering?
~> In Theravāda, it refers to all teaching and practice that lead to nibbana, the highest good and final goal in Theravāda Buddhism.
~> In Mahāyāna , it refers to the practice of all bodhisattvas, with the ultimate goal of becoming a Buddha and helping sentient beings.
For their happiness humans depend on the basic necessities of life such as clothing, food, lodging, transportation, and medication.
3. Is happiness just at the physical level?
~> There are different levels of happiness, but for ordinary people, they only consider the abundance of external materials, thinking that having these basic materials is equivalent to obtaining happiness.
~> They are not yet considering higher-level happiness, such as the happiness of achieving meditation, the happiness of saving sentient beings, or the happiness of liberating troubles.
Of the threefold fortunate karma, giving was what the Tathāgata always preached first. He did this for a very important reason, as was clearly expounded in the verses by Candrakīrti Bodhisattva.
4. What is the verse by Candrakirti Bodhisattva? (is this the same Candrakirti that wrote the commentary on narajuna?)
~> Madhyamakāvatāra (入中論) is a commentary on the meaning of Nagarjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (中觀論) and the Ten Stages Sutra (十地經).
~> The mentioned verse in the book as :
All living beings yearn for only happiness,
And yet there is no human joy without enjoyment of possessions. The latter in their turn arise from generosity.
This Buddha knew and so spoke first of giving.
彼諸眾生皆求樂
若無資具樂非有
知受用具從施出
故佛先說布施論
~> The general idea is: all living beings pursue happiness, but in their pursuing process, the external material is often determined to be the main cause of happiness. In fact, those are not TRUE happiness. Nevertheless, these external materials are not useless. With abundant resources such as food, clothing, housing and medicine, they can be used to relieve SOME of the suffering of sentient beings. But, to be abundant, sentient beings must first learn to GIVE (You can fulfill your wishes only if you have a heart of charity). That's why the Buddha first expounded about the importance of "giving".
5. How do we cut the root of poverty? Is it by sharing our wealth after first taking care of our own needs?
~> From the perspective of “mindset”, Buddha encouraged us to cultivate “the sharing mind”.
~> From the perspective of “living (real life activity)”, we undoubtedly need to take care of our basic life in the first place.
~> The good deeds of “giving” will pay more attention to the "charity mind", especially the need to restrain one's greed and stinginess.
~> Hence, having the mind of generosity not only allows us to gradually eliminate poverty, but also does not prevent us from taking care of our own needs.
6. What are the differences between: Desire, craving and clinging?
~> Generally speaking, they are the same, but show varying degrees of greed. They are being counted as one of the 'three poisons' (三毒); in Yogâcāra (唯識) consciousness theory, it is one of the six primary afflictions (根本煩惱).
~> The basic sense includes :greed; sensual attachment, covetousness; to hanker after, to want.
~> From Skt. rāga / Pali. lobha, usually translated into CRAVE.
~> From Skt. tṛṣṇā / Pali. taṇhā, regularly translated into DESIRE.
~> In the narrative of twelve dependent origination (十二緣起), CLINGING will arise after CRAVE, which leads to different degrees of greed. As I usually say, the more we crave, the more we cling.
These necessities of life are dependent on the fortunate karma of giving, so when the Buddha preached the Dharma he urged people to accumulate merit through giving; by doing so they would avoid future poverty and the hardships that affect one’s economic state and one’s practice of the Buddha Dharma.
7. In which Sutta does the Buddha say: "give now and you will get a good return in your next life" or is this a comment by Ven. Yin Shun?
~> This is a basic and common view in the Āgamas Sūtras, or divisions of the early Indian scriptures; and also in the Pāli Canon.
~> For instant, in the Saṃyuktâgama no.1146 and Samyutta Nikāya 3.21.
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