FGS Buddhist Temple Auckland Buddhist Youth College Semester 2 Learning Life Values through the Story of the 10 Great Disciples of Buddha
On 18th and 25th September 2021, around 15 YAD members gathered again with joy and excitement, waiting for the start online class of Buddhist Youth College. Before the class, a peaceful meditation was carried out for everyone to cleanse its mind and release tension.
Lucy Shi started the 2nd class on the sharing of Ananda’s story. She mentioned that Ananda was compassionate as he prioritised gender equality as he asked if the female could become part of the Sangha. Lucy Shi also shared a story about a boy named Jaya that was offering crops to the Buddha. Even though the yields were filled with mud, Buddha told Ananda that it was fine as Jaya had a pure heart to offer to the Buddha. Lucy Shi ended the sharing with a quote from Venerable Master Hsing Yun “There is no merit in giving millions when you wish for a reward.”
Allen Wang then continued the class by sharing a story from Sariputra, the disciples of Buddha with the supreme wisdom. Allen shared that in one of his life, he vowed to practice the way of Bodhisattva. One deva tested his determination by acting as a young man who needed an eyeball to make medicine for his sick mum. Sariputra gave out two of his eyes, but then the young man said that his eyeball was too smelly, and he stepped it on the ground. The deva then revealed themselves and praised his determination. Allen mentioned that we need to learn to be determined from Sariputra, especially during the difficult time of the lockdown.
The 3rd class started with Manisha’s presentation on Subhuti’s story, one of the ten disciples of Buddha who was born in a wealthy family but refused to be the slave of money then became symbolic of being born of emptiness but pursuing the truth of emptiness and impermanence in life. Manisha expressed her thoughts. Everything is dependent on each other with constant dynamic changes; nothing can exist on its own. Especially the suffering in life depends on our perceptions of the world, and reality is dependent on causes and conditions. Therefore, the negative emotions are illusions that we create through our perceptions when facing difficulties.”
After the presentation, a significant discussion was instantly initiated, “This is so deep! My understanding of emptiness and impermanence has been totally restored!” said Muyang. He also related to his personal story, which made him realised and valued the most important things in life, “With less expectation in life, I can feel more peace.” Lucy Shi then added her opinions about impermanence regards the COVID-19 situation, “Change itself is never changing, just like the lockdown in Auckland surprised us a big time.”
The Minister in Charge of FGS Auckland, Venerable Rulian concluded, “the law of causes and conditions is key when facing difficulties in life. Positive thinking comes with positive results and vice versa. The way everything changes is so dynamic that it cannot be anticipated. Therefore, we just need to enjoy these surprises. That is why we need to follow the right teacher and the right directions on the right path when we learn Buddhism. It is so lucky for us to learn from Venerable Master Hsing Yun and be able to serve the community with the attitude of Three Acts of Goodness and Four Givings (3G4G).”
The second part of the class was Lisa’s presentation with the story of Purna, who is also one of the ten disciples of Buddha and well renowned for spreading the Buddha Dharma fearlessly with all his endeavour, including ten years of preaching in Sudana. Lisa said Purna’s words and actions reminded her of 3G4G – “Say Good Words, Do Good Deeds, Think Goods Thoughts. Give others confidence, give others joy, give others hope and give others convenience.” Also, she has learned to be compassionate to each other, be brave in life and follow her own heart. At the end of this presentation, Lisa impressed the class with the Kahoot! quiz game, which she made based on the contents of her presentation. It is very entertaining and educational. Everybody enjoyed the game.
In the group discussion of Purna’s story, Yao Chang expressed her opinions of Purna acting as her idol and teacher who guides her in daily life, “I really want to become someone like Purna, hopefully someday I can spread the Dharma just like him.” Ben Lu agreed upon the admiration towards Purna, “Purna is truly a disciple of Buddha’s students, the sacrifice he made to give all his heart to preach Buddha Dharma in a barbarian place is tremendous.” Edwin said, “we need to be courageous in life because things do not come easy. Therefore, we need to challenge ourselves and chase for the right things.”
Venerable Rulian concluded, “Purna becomes such compassionate and courageous person because he has faith and firm believes in Buddhism, faith exists through his blood and his heart, it will never change even in the afterlife. Therefore, we need to spread the Buddha Dharma as we are taught by Venerable Master Hsing Yun and find our inner weaknesses then progress from it. That is why we need to come to the temple more often because these weaknesses are easily exposed in the right direction. It is difficult to do it individually as we lack enough wisdom, so we need to learn more. Go to cold places when the weather is cold. Go to hot places when the weather is hot. After experienced them all, you can overcome more challenges and difficulties in life, just like Purna went to preach in Sudan with confidence and love even though there is no law abide and full of war.”
Then Venerable Rulian expressed concern about the challenges Manisha faces at working in the hospital. “Because we know the patients and their families are worried, so we try our best to be compassionate, show that we care, and we will help them in the best way we can, even sometimes they may not understand, we will still help them”, Manisha replied. Furthermore, Venerable Rulian asked Muyang, “What would you do if someone challenges you to be kind to him/her unconditionally just because you study Buddhism?” Muyang replied, “For me, whenever I face problems, I think about how difficult our Abbess and Venerable has come to New Zealand to serve the community, how they built our temple from scratch without complaining, they are inspiring, and it motivates me. My problems are so much smaller compared to theirs, so eventually, my worries will fade away.”
In conclusion, Venerable Rulian indicated that we should always come back to our faith, especially when we have expertise in different fields. We need to study the Buddha Dharma and practise it to be confident and prepared when we face challenges and obstacles in life.
The second online class of FGS Buddhist Temple NZ Youth Buddhism College Semester 2 ends with the theme song from IBLYAC: I Have Faith.