Buddha’s Light Enlightened the Path of Wisdom

On 21st July, the weekend Buddhist class was conducted under Venerable Jue Xi’s supervision. There were 16 students in the class. Venerable Jue Xi continued the discussion about “the five contemplation’s contemplation of counting the breath”. This method came from the “six wonderful methods” and is used to relieve confusion and distraction. The venerable stated that the six wonderful methods can only be mastered with meditation and dedication and students should allocate time to practice meditation even for a short while everyday.

Venerable Jue Xi continued explaining the next terminology and “Saha world” is the word that appeared in Amitabha Buddha Sutra. Saha world degenerate in five ways: kalpa degeneration, view degeneration, affliction degeneration, sentient being degeneration and life-span degeneration. Students were attracted to the explanation of kalpa degeneration, and they realised that being able to cultivate Buddhism is a blessing and we should not give it up easily. Venerable Jue Xi also gave the example of Sariputra asking the Buddha, “All the other Buddha lands are of such incomparable purity. Why is the realm that you teach so foul and polluted?” The Buddha then pressed his toe into the earth and in a moment the four great continents manifested before their eyes, but now there were beautiful golden rivers, burgeoning trees, blooming flowers and soft grass. The Buddha said, “This is my land. The unbearably polluted and base realm that you see is a manifestation of the karma of sentient beings.” Venerable continue to explain that the saha world is the world tormented by suffering, human beings have the power to endure it and it brings out the bodhisattva characteristic in them.

Students were happy to attend this week’s class and they slowly realised dharma is like an ocean, only through continuous learning can we have continuous improvement and only through practice can we feel the subtleness and benefit of dharma.