In Buddhism, the 3 marks of existence are: suffering, impermanence, and non-self. If you are skilled in contemplating these marks, you will have no suffering; there will be no need for techniques to cope with suffering.

Lives of all ordinary beings naturally contain much suffering. We must learn to see reality as it is instead of wishing it to be what we want to see. Wishing to have no suffering is simply wishful thinking unless we really walk the spiritual path, the Noble Eightfold Path, and attain Nibbana. Until then, we must face the reality and accept it the way it is. How many individuals have no suffering? You are not alone. The existence of suffering actually gives you a sense of existence. Don’t you want to exist in this world? Want and don’t want are desires in different forms. Want leads to greed and clinging; don’t want leads to aversion and hatred. Clinging to sensual pleasures, existence and non-existence leads to delusion and ignorance of the Four Noble Truths. Some people want to exist; some others don’t want to exist. They will not escape suffering due to their desires. If you accept suffering, neither seeing it as a bad thing nor a good thing, you will not have fear, anger, anxiety, depression, grief, lamentations and despair. All of a sudden, you experience no suffering; the suffering which you felt in the last second suddenly vaporizes. You shouldn’t wish to have no suffering, because no suffering means you will have no sense of existence. Wishing and praying never work anyway. Of course, you shouldn’t wish to suffer, unless you foolishly subscribe to the wrong views of Asceticism. Just let it be. Walk the middle path. Tell yourself: that’s ok. It’s not unbearable at all. There are countless others who suffer thousand or million times worse than you are experiencing. Be content instead of greedy for more pleasures and less suffering.

Suffering is not necessarily a bad thing. Suffering is a great teacher. It keeps on urging us to find the path to walk and liberate ourselves. It inspires us to let go of what is causing us to suffer; it pushes us to run away and escape from the “great teacher” called “suffering”. Desires are the strongest fetters binding us to this existence. The nature of suffering is it can exist only if we want it or we have desire for it, consciously or unconsciously. Until the day we break all the fetters, if we really get there, then we will feel liberated or released. We will naturally have no suffering, not because we want or don’t want it. What has to be done has been done. There’s no more coming back into this existence. There is no longing for life but also no longing for death. Just being at the present. No remorse or guilt about the past; no worries or anxiety about the future.

Everything is impermanent. Wishing something to be permanent is unwise. For all ordinary beings, permanently happy and no suffering is impossible. Wishing to get something which is impossible will surely be futile but disappointment is a certainty. The good news is, not only good time is impermanent but bad time is also impermanent. Bad times can end in no time. Living a day longer is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing if we have lived it skillfully, happily, and cultivating ourselves in terms of virtue, equanimity and wisdom. It’s a curse because we are one day nearer to death. It’s a curse only if we live it unskillfully and allow suffering to exist, depriving ourselves of our birthright happiness. Nobody can take away our virtue, equanimity and wisdom; we can only lose them ourselves. We choose to be ordinary instead of extraordinary. An extraordinary noble disciple of the Buddha will exert Right Efforts, resolutely and ardently, to (1) restrain the arising of unwholesome thought, (2) abandon unwholesome thought which has arisen, (3) arouse the arising of wholesome thought, and (4) sustain the wholesome thought which has arisen. He will exert Right Mindfulness, contemplating the Dharma or the Buddha’s teaching on the three marks of existence. He will exert Right Concentration, focusing inwards to find inner peace instead of looking outwards and worsen the five hindrances: sensual desires, ill will and anger, restlessness and worries, doubt, sloth and torpor.

An ordinary person tends to think the body is the self, or the self is inside the body, or the body belongs to the self. This view is not wrong, but it is also not right. It isn’t right because this view doesn’t bring happiness but suffering. It isn’t wrong because nothing is wrong, at least not permanently wrong. A view can be considered the Right View if and only if it brings us happiness or cessation of suffering. One of the Right Views is: everything is empty of “self”. The body is not the self, and there is no self inside the body, and there is no self to take possession of the body. The body is simply made up of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind. A cut on the body may cause pain to this body, but it isn’t me who is suffering. It is just like a cut on the vehicle. The breaking up of this body is known as death, but it isn’t me who is suffering. It is just like the breaking up of this vehicle beyond repair. An ordinary person likes to think he is special, thinking he has a soul or a self, unlike a robot (also made of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind) which can also think, move and talk. Are we really special? Do we really have a soul or a self? No one can give us any proof of its existence or non-existence. However, this view is not important at all. If we choose to think we are not special, that we also have no self like the robot, we can be happier. We will have no ego, therefore unmoved by whatever happens in the outer world. The eight winds (gain and loss, honor and disrepute, praise and blame, pleasure and pain) can’t move this rock head. There is no I, mine, or myself; therefore, dirt has nowhere to stick to. Suffering cannot exist on non-self. Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind have no footing on this kind of existence.

Early Buddhist Text (EBT) does not mention the source of life on Earth. It indicated there were lives on Earth an extremely long time ago. However, the human species was not one of them. There were devas without gender differences in another realm of existence. Some of these devas came down to Earth. They ate the mushroom on Earth and started to like it. As they ate more, they put on weight and became unable to fly. Their bodies started to change. Some evolved to become male, others became female. The males and females then started to become attracted to each other. Some of them had sex. It was deemed disgusting by the majority. Therefore, those who committed the “offence” were chased out of the village. They started families and had children.

Initially, humans had extremely long lives. After several generations, desires of humans increased and led to greed, jealousy, stinginess, like and dislike, hatred, and delusion. The lifespan decreased from one generation to another. Also, crimes of killing and stealing increased. To solve the problems, humans started to elect a leader. He wasn’t required to toil the soil but to take care of societal security. He was a security guard and got paid by the people to do the policing job. With the monopoly to use force, he made himself the king of the land. However, he was virtuous and protected the people from security threats internally and externally. After several generations, the morality of humans decayed so much that lifespan became shorter than 20 years. There were of course the associated changes to the body structure of humans (probably became like monkeys). Then, humans started to repent and improve their morality. As a result, humans became happier and lifespan increased. However, there were many cycles of increasing lifespan followed by decreasing lifespan in the past million of years.

It is not wrong to say that Buddhism has embraced the theory of evolution from the start, which was about 2500 years ago.

The true Dao can never be fully understood, leave alone describing it (道可道也 非恒道也). Similarly, it is not possible to define or describe how a human being lives a good life according to Daoist principles. I can only list a few basic principles.

Daoist philosophy is all about being in harmony 顺应 with Nature 自然. The Nature here includes all beings, humans, Earth, Heaven (time and space above Earth), Dao (the hidden force dictating the working of everything in the Universe) (道大 天大 地大人亦大 国中有四大 而人居其一焉 人法地 地法天 天法道 道法自然). It is about adapting to Nature, which may vary with time and space. It is about being like water: soft, loving, flexible, and adaptive as opposed to hard-headed, violent, rigid, and refusing to change one’s personal views and habits. Adapting means a Daoist is always satisfied with reality (good or bad according to common people), see reality as it is and accept the reality instead of wishing reality to be what he wishes to see, no suffering of fear, anger, hatred, anxiety, depression, grief, lamentation, and despair. A good life is one with perpetuate inner peace, unmoved by whatever happens in the outer world. A good life is lived when one is happy all the time (逍遥自在). Nature 自然 simply means “the way it is”, not dictated by anyone and unexplainable or need no explanation (不以人的意志为转移). Feeling unhappy about anything is simply foolish because no amount of guilt or remorse can change the past, and no amount of anxiety or worries can guarantee a future which one wishes to see. We can only live happily in the present moment, do what has to be done (to make us happy and our neighbors happy). If we die the next moment, we have done what has to be done, whether we complete the task or not (明道如费 进道如退 夷道如类 上德如谷 大白如辱 广德如不足 建德如偷 质真如渝 大方无隅 大器免成 大音希声 大象无形 道褒无名 夫唯道 善始且善成). I have no self; therefore, nothing can hurt me and I have no fear of anything (何谓贵大患若身 吾所以有大患者 为吾有身 及吾无身 有何患).

Accept Imperfections of You and Me

Be Happy and Accommodative

Let Go of Past Things and Events

Don’t Worry About the Future

Have no Craving and no Aversion

Therefore no Delusion of

What should or shouldn’t Happens

It sounds so “Buddhism”. In fact, some people speculated that Lao Zi went to Nepal and was a teacher of Gotama Buddha. Of course, there is no historical proof. The Truths do not belong to anyone. The Truths are Dao, which is everywhere, waiting for people in any part of the world to discover it spontaneously. The Truths or Dao is the same everywhere, yet it is different at one time and space compared to another. We perceive it as different simply because we are in touch with only one part of the Elephant.

Daoist principles on how human beings live a good life are recorded in Dao De Jing and the many parables written by Zhuang Zi. Current practices of Daoists have mostly deviated from the original teaching.

Be flexible like water instead of being imprisoned by dogmatic ideologies. Love everybody unconditionally 慈 like our children; minimize desire and waste 俭 so that we save up resources to share with more people; don’t compete 让 for personal benefits but let others get what they need. Don’t hate ugly things and don’t love beautiful things because all manmade definitions are false. Don’t be busy body 无为; help others only if they really need your help. Forgive others; help someone even if he is unfriendly to you 以德报怨. Keep learning every day but reduce reliance on knowledge 为学日益 为道日损 损之又损 以至于无为; digest the knowledge into an integral part of the mind 无为而无不为, like the way we walk without having to think about the ABC of walking. Follow the heart but harmonize with Nature; adapting to the up and down of Nature.

RIGHT AND WRONG 是和非

举世而誉之而不加劝，举世而非之而不加沮，定乎内外之分，辩乎荣辱之境，斯已矣。

If we don’t have the desire to seek acceptance from anybody about who we really are, what we believe in, what we say and do, we will not be bothered to do more when the whole world praises us; we will not feel disappointed when the whole world disagrees with us. Our self-worth need not depend on how other people think of us. Human distinctions of honors and disgraces are false; none of these external things are important for our happiness.

NAME AND NAMELESS 有和无

无用之用，方为大用。

We don’t really know everything if we know the use of usefulness but not the use of uselessness; if we know the use of knowing but not the use of not knowing. Human definitions of useful and useless are false. At different times and spaces, useful can become useless, and useless can become useful, to ourselves or to others. Learn everything (学); then, break frees from all indoctrinations and become independent thinker (立); use one fundamental principle to bind together all the knowledge so that we are not confused by the wide differences (不惑); have no fear, obligation, and guilt (知天命); we will then be able to listen to different opinions (耳顺); and become totally free (从心所欲).

HONORS AND DISGRACES 荣和辱

宠为上，辱为下；得之若惊，失之若惊，是谓宠辱若惊。

Human distinctions of honors and disgraces are false. Competing to get honors and worrying about losing them are as bad to our mental health as being afraid of getting humiliated and becoming a prisoner of dogmas. Nobody can hurt us without our permission; we give them permission when we choose to let our inner peace be disturbed by praises or condemnations.

UNION AND SEPARATION 离和合

君子之交淡若水，小人之交甘若醴；君子淡以亲，小人甘以绝。彼无故以合者，则无故以离。

The relationship of gentlemen is as plain as water; the relationship of little-men is as sweet as wine. A gentleman is lukewarm but pure in his feelings; a little-man is warm-hearted due to a hidden agenda and will break up a relationship easily when there is nothing else to gain. For all relationships which are formed spontaneously without any reason, let them all end spontaneously without any reason. All emotional attachments are not real things; it exists only in our minds. Don’t crave for a relationship. Don’t mourn for the departure of anyone.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE 成和败

知穷之有命，知通之有时，临大难而不惧者，圣人之勇也。不知命，无以为君子也。

Knowing the going of life naturally has ups and downs; therefore, not afraid to face disastrous moments in life, such is the courage of the Sages. Success and failure depend on Dao, time, space, and people. A person who doesn’t understand this can never become a gentleman who doesn’t blame Heaven or other people.

LIFE AND DEATH 生和死

适来，夫子时也；适去，夫子顺也。安时而处顺，哀乐不能入也，古者谓是帝之悬解。

Our great teacher came into this world spontaneously at the right time, and leaves this world spontaneously and peacefully as a necessary natural sequence of events. Accept the Natural Laws, be content with the ways things are and how things change, come as we are and go as we should, then our hearts will not be troubled by what common people consider sadness or joy. This is what our ancestors called the great relief from all punishments of being hanged upside-down.

Many children have lost the ability to be cheerful due to the “education” they received from the schools and the society. They are easily enraged by the “wrong doings” of classmates because of the doctrines of what is right and what is wrong that they cannot change. They have so much intolerance and are “allergic” to many people and many things. They are easily sad when they fail to meet their “responsibility” to please the parents, family members, friends, classmates, the schools, and the society. They are afraid to be happy, because they are ashamed to show crazy happy emotions; they are so serious and so worried about their image and what other people think. They mourn for the past, worry about the future, and anticipate troubles. They have a lot of fears, obligations, and guilt (F.O.G.). They have so much desire for success, wealth, fame, external beauty, relationship, delicious food and perfect health, so much so that their incomes always lag behind their appetites, so they are always not satisfied with their lives. They have lost the natural contentment and birthright happiness.

Compassion and righteousness are beautiful things for a person to have because these values can bring happiness to the person. An angry person cannot at the same time be happy. However, compassion and righteousness become ugly when people are demanded to show these values; the person who stands on “moral high-ground” will be unhappy and ugly (for not showing compassion and forgiveness), and the person who is scolded will be unhappy and ugly (for showing sour face). We must accept the fact that different cultures have different doctrines about what compassion and righteousness mean. What we consider right is the result of mental preconditioning, and other people with different mental preconditioning may consider it to be wrong. If everybody chooses to abandon the desire to be right and the desire for other people to be right, he will not be troubled by criticisms and he will show more humility towards other people. Everybody will be happy and also not make other people unhappy.

An Enlightened master according to Buddhist suttas is an Arahant. It is extremely rare and difficult to find an Arahant. Even if he stands in front of us, we are incapable of identifying him as an Arahant simply because we have to be his equal to know his attainment. A wise person can identify another wise person and also a fool. A fool cannot identify a wise person but mistaken another fool as a wise person. If you are a wise person, you can evaluate another based on a few criteria according to “The Shorter Elephant Footprint Simile” sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 27.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.027.than.html

A monk may be a world renown master, praised by a respectable individual, praised by the many who are praised, and many converted from another religion to become Buddhist monks as the disciples of the world renown master; yet, we cannot come to the conclusion that he is an Enlightened master according to Buddhist suttas. He should be observed and evaluated, over a long period of time, according to the following criteria:

1. Virtue: strict adherence to the rules of the Vinaya, beyond the Eight Precepts.
2. Sense Restraint: restraint over the faculty of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, touch, and mind.
3. Mindfulness & Alertness: he acts with alertness in each and everything he does.
4. Abandoning the Hindrances: he has no covetousness (lust for sensual pleasure), ill will and anger, restlessness and worries, sloth and torpor, doubt.
5. The Four Jhanas: purity of equanimity and mindfulness, neither-pleasure-nor-pain.
6. The Three Knowledges: He recollects his manifold past lives; He sees — by means of the divine eye, purified and surpassing the human — living beings died and reborn, and he discerns how they are inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate in accordance with their kamma; He has direct and personal knowledge of Nibbana.

With the above, yet you cannot come to the conclusion that the master is an Enlightened Arahant. The only way to really discern an Arahant is: you must be an Arahant. You know you are an Arahant when:

“Your heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, is released from the fermentation of sensuality, the fermentation of becoming, the fermentation of ignorance. With release, there is the knowledge, ‘Released.’ You discern that ‘Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.”

The good news is: you don’t have to look for an Enlightened master. You can learn from the Buddha, the original Enlightened master, our principal teacher, from the Early Buddhist Texts (EBT):

• the Dīgha Nikāya, the collection of long (Pāḷi: dīgha) discourses
• the Majjhima Nikāya, the collection of middle-length (majjhima) discourses
• the Samyutta Nikāya, the collection of thematically linked (samyutta) discourses
• the Anguttara Nikāya, the “gradual collection” (discourses grouped by content enumerations)

You don’t have to find a living Enlightened master. You can find a venerable monk to be your teacher or tutor. However, this is not the most important thing to do. The venerable monk can possibly teach very well, but you will have no awakening or attainment of the truths if you are incapable of learning. You cannot perfect your virtue, equanimity and wisdom if you stop at knowing the path but not walking the path leading to cessation of suffering.

Everybody can teach, but not everybody can learn.

Every -ism is a wasn’t. Confucianism today wasn’t the original teaching of Confucius. Daoism today wasn’t the original teaching of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi. Similarly, Buddhism today wasn’t the original teaching of the Buddha.

If you really want to learn Confucianism, you must study the original words of Confucius. If you really want to learn Daoism, you must study the original words of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi. Similarly, if you really want to learn Buddhism, you must study the original words of the Buddha.

There is no dispute between the numerous Buddhist sects that the above Four Nikayas are authentic and original suttas. Some Buddhist sects call them Agama suttas. Of course, not all of them were original words of the Buddha. All of them were words heard by disciples of the Buddha. That is why the suttas always start with “Thus as I heard”. No one sutta should start with “the Buddha said”. There are possibilities that some suttas were counterfeits, or wrongly heard/recalled by the disciples, or misunderstood.

I would embrace the original type of Buddhism.

Thinking can bring a kind of happiness. However, a more superior type of happiness is gained from not thinking. This is the kind of happiness in a meditative state. A person in meditation must stop thinking in order to gain blissfulness. It is not wrong to say that “not thinking” is “ignorance”. In that sense, it is not wrong to say “ignorance is bliss”. However, this bliss of ignorance is temporary. No one stays in a meditative state forever. When one comes out of meditation, it is hard to stop thinking. Therefore, he will not have any bliss from thinking about all kinds of problems involving himself, his family, his local community, his country, the world environmental problems, as well as problems of other people in another country (such as LGBTQ, pro-life, pro-choice, atheism, human rights, democracy, freedom of speech, etc.) which are non of his business. In other words, bliss of ignorance is usually temporary, whereas bliss of Enlightenment is permanent.

What is the bliss of Enlightenment? It must entail “not thinking”. It is not wrong to say it is a kind of “ignorance”. The difference from “bliss of ignorance” is very subtle. Bliss of Enlightenment entails “not thinking” permanently, or being “ignorant” permanently whether in meditation or not. “Not thinking” allows a person to start living to the fullest possible.

We have been indoctrinated from young age to old age that “thinking” is good and “not thinking” is bad. It is the norm. It is the practice of common people. It is true that “thinking” makes us as common as all ordinary people. It is also true that extraordinary people do uncommon things. It is a choice we have to make: do we want to become ordinary people or extraordinary people? Do we want to keep on “thinking” but forget about living? Or is it better to stop “thinking” and start living? Many people only “think” they are thinking, but very few can really think. Majority of the people would rather die than to think. This kind of “not thinking” or “ignorance” will not bring them any meaningful bliss. In other words, ignorance doesn’t always bring blissfulness. In most cases, ignorance leads to delayed suffering (as opposed to delayed gratification) which may be multiple times heavier than people who are not ignorant.

An Enlightened person has Right View and Right Thinking. He sees reality as it really is rather than wishing reality to become what he wants to see. He is awakened to the truth that: 1) life of an ordinary being has a lot of suffering, 2) all suffering is due to desire (but not all desires lead to suffering), 3) suffering ceases when desires stop, 4) the way leading to cessation of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path. An Enlightened person thinks only wholesome thoughts but not unwholesome thoughts. In other words, he doesn’t think about many things which are unworthy to think. He is “ignorant” in that sense, and that “ignorance” is bliss. He focuses on living and “not thinking”. It is true that some knowledge is unworthy to know or unnecessary to know. Chasing unlimited knowledge with limited life is a great ignorance which brings more suffering and no bliss.

The bliss of Enlightenment is permanent. An Enlightened person permanently has no suffering (fear, envy, jealousy, hatred, anger, anxiety, depression, grief, lamentation, despair, etc). This is only possible through abandoning of greed, aversion, and delusion to perfect one’s virtue, equanimity and wisdom. He has direct and personal knowledge of non-self, impermanence, and the nature of suffering. There is nothing he wants to get and nothing he doesn’t want to get (good or bad). This is the true meaning of no desire. He doesn’t long for life and also not longing for death. He lives happily here and now, totally ignorant of the past and the future. Ignorance is bliss in this case, because no amount of guilt or remorse can change the past, and no amount of anxiety and worries can guarantee a future which one wishes to see. An Enlightened person sees reality as it really is, accepts reality as it is and has no delusion of wishing to change reality.

Devadatta was a disciple of the Buddha. He thought highly of himself and he had many followers. He was a vegetarian while the Buddha accepted whatever alms given by lay devotees and was not in favor of choosing what to eat and what not to eat (so long as there was no killing of animals intentionally to prepare food for the alms giving). One day, Devadatta suggested the Buddha was old and should pass the leadership of the Sangha to him. The Buddha criticized the ego/conceit of Devadatta and graded his attainment as being much lower than the Buddha’s favorite disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana. Devadatta was very angry and he left the Sangha with his followers.

Would you not judge Devadatta as a false Buddhist? Today, there are still a few Buddhist sects who worship Devadatta. They made excuses to extenuate the unwholesome deeds of Devadatta. Would you not judge these followers as false Buddhists? The Buddha disowned Devadatta because he was deemed as a false Buddhist. Sariputta and Moggallana were tasked to go around telling other Buddhists about the departure of Devadatta away from the Sangha.

Devadatta became an advisor to Prince Ajātasattu and enjoyed a lot of offerings from the prince. He later encouraged the prince to kill his father, King Bimbisāra, to take over the throne.

Would you not judge Devadatta as a false Buddhist?

Devadatta used the soldiers of Prince Ajātasattu and plotted to assassinate the Buddha. The assassins were instead tamed by the Buddha and became lay followers of the Buddha. On another day, Devadatta beat a drunken elephant and directed it to charge towards the Buddha. The elephant was also tamed by the Buddha.

Would you not judge Devadatta as a false Buddhist?

There are many Buddhist sects today. Many have created new sutras and lied to followers as if these were words of the Buddha. They further claimed that they are the greatest and true Buddhists but denigrate others as “inferior vehicle” or Hinayana. The ego, pride and conceit are so obvious; which contradict the teaching of the Buddha. The act of name-calling others as “inferior vehicle” or Hinayana is a violation of many teachings of the Buddha in the Noble Eightfold Path. It violates Right View; they are not seeing reality as it is, but wish reality to be what they want to see. They are not seeing the Four Noble Truths; the excessive desire is causing suffering to themselves, and they are not walking the path leading to cessation of suffering.

They violate Right Speech; they are telling lies, saying malicious and divisive speech against other Buddhist sects, and saying rude remarks (calling others Hinayana).

They violate Right Thought; having so much ego and conceit, thinking about their selfish gain, and attacking other Buddhist sects.

They violate Right Livelihood. They tell lies to gain donations from lay followers, use the money to build lavish temples, buy luxury cars, and spend a lot of money on marketing and propaganda. They provide chanting services to increase their income. They organize chanting gatherings of lay followers to gain wealth from the admission fees.

They violate Right Efforts. They don’t prevent unwholesome thoughts from arising, and they don’t abandon the unwholesome thoughts which have arisen.

They violate Right Mindfulness. They are not mindful of the Dharma recorded in the Nikayas or Agama sutras. Instead, they held onto the counterfeit sutras. They are not mindful of the Three Marks of Existence: suffering, impermanence, and non-self.

They violate Right Concentration. They have no equanimity and Samadhi; as exhibited by their sensual desire, ill will and hatred, restlessness and worries, sloth and torpor, and doubt about the original teaching of the Buddha, doubt about the training, and doubt about Samadhi.

Would you not judge them as a false Buddhists? There are monks who wear the robe but still live lay life like householders. There are monks who get married and also monks who engage in sexual misconduct. There are monks who despise the Four Noble Truths because they enjoy having desire. There are monks who mainly pray to devas and devis in their temples.

The Buddha taught us to cultivate the Four Brahmavihara: loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Out of loving kindness, we wish all Buddhists to hear the true Dharma and gain liberation for themselves. We have no ill will or hatred against the various Buddhist sects. Calling them out as false Buddhists is out of loving kindness, i.e. we hope they realize their unwholesomeness and return to the right path leading to cessation of suffering. We have compassion for them even if they don’t change their ways; we empathize with their powerlessness to control their bodies and minds.

We live joyfully every second, wanting little. We are equanimous, unmoved by the eight winds: gain and loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame, pleasure and pain.

“Questioning based on preconceived views, you’re confused by what you have grasped.

And so you are unable to glimpse even the slightest notion of the real truth.

That’s why you mistook the truth as nonsense.

Whoever construes ‘equal’, ‘superior’ or ‘inferior’, by that he’d dispute;

whereas to one unmoved by these three,

‘equal’ or ‘superior’ does not exist.

With whom would the true man argue ‘this is true’ or ‘this is false’?

He in whom there is no ‘equal’ or ‘unequal’, with whom would he join another in dispute?”

– SNp 4.9 Magandiya Sutta

Judging Buddhists as false or true Buddhists does not necessarily go against the teaching of the Buddha. The determining factor is the intention or volition. It is encouraged if the intention is for oneself to emulate the true Buddhists and avoid following the wrong ways of false Buddhists which can otherwise lead to decadence. Buddhists are discouraged to debate with outsiders about right and wrong ways. The judging of right and wrong ways is just for personal consumption rather than praising/blaming others. The criticism must not be personal, i.e. not name-calling and not calling out the name of an individual.

Would you like to live with fear, anger, grief, lamentations, despair, anxiety, and depression? Would you like to live with sufferings? If you don’t like sufferings, wouldn’t you want to KNOW the path leading to cessation of sufferings?

If you already have no mental and physical suffering, then it means you already KNOW the TRUTH, i.e. Enlightened. It means you already have perfect virtue, equanimity and wisdom. It means you already abandoned greed, hatred and delusion. You will not be asking this question: “What’s the point of knowing?”

Fear is for the fools; really wise people have no fear. Fools feel fearful due to phenomena they don’t understand or cannot explain. Sciences, Technologies, Engineering, Mathematics, Geography, History, and many other subjects are very useful for the well being of everyone. However, all these will be redundant if one is still unhappy due to lack of EQ or spiritual knowledge and attainment. A world-renowned scientist cannot be regarded as a wise person if he still has fear, anger, grief, lamentations, despair, anxiety, and depression. His knowledge is useful to others but not useful to himself. His knowledge becomes a burden to himself due to ego, pride, or conceit. The more he acquired knowledge, the more he suffered. This is not the case only if he has the wisdom to be unmoved by eight winds: gain and loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame, pleasure and pain.

The attributes of a wise person include: loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Loving kindness is the opposite of aversion, hatred, ill will and anger. Compassion is forgiving of others for their powerless in controlling their bodies and minds. Joy is the opposite of greed, craving and clinging. Equanimity is the opposite of restlessness, worries, ignorance and doubt.

The greatest knowing is not-knowing. If one keeps wanting to know everything about everything, it is impossible for him to have loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. The greatest knowing is to know the impossibility to know everything, therefore, not striving to know everything. The greatest knowing is to know that one need not know everything. This can be attained when one gains direct and personal knowledge of Anatta or non-self. When one sees reality as it is, instead of wishing reality to be what he wants to see, he will remain at ease under any circumstances. When one sees the reality that he has no self, he knows he has no self to be attached to: gain and loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame, pleasure and pain.

What-is-the-Buddhist-doctrine-of-Anatta

Here are some verses in Dao De Jing about knowing 知. Do you want to know what they mean?

天下皆知美之为美 恶已 皆知善之为善 斯不善矣

是以圣人之治也 虚其心 实其腹 弱其志 强其骨 恒使民无知无欲也 使夫知不敢弗为而已 则无不治矣

爱民治国 能毋以知乎? 天门启阖 能为雌乎? 明白四达 能毋以知乎?

执今之道 以御今之有 以知古始 是谓道纪

复命 常也 知常 明也 不知常 妄 妄作 凶

知常 容 容乃公 公乃王 王乃天 天乃道 道乃久 殁身不殆

太上 下知有之 其次 亲誉之 其次 畏之 其下 侮之

故大道废 案有仁义 知慧出 案有大伪 六亲不和 案有孝慈 邦家昏乱 案有贞臣

绝圣弃知 民利百倍 绝仁弃义 民复孝慈 绝巧弃利 盗贼无有

不贵其师 不爱其资 虽知乎大迷 是谓眇要

知其雄 守其雌 为天下溪

始制有名 名亦既有 夫亦将知止 知止所以不殆

知人者 知也 自知者 明也 胜人者 有力也 自胜者 强也 知足者 富也

天下之至柔 驰骋于天下之至坚 无有入于无间 吾是以知无为之有益也

名与身孰亲 身与货孰多 得与亡孰病 甚爱必大费 多藏必厚亡 故知足不辱 知止不殆 可以长久

罪莫大于可欲 祸莫大于不知足 咎莫憯于欲得 故知足之足 恒足矣

不出于户 以知天下 不窥于牖 以知天道 其出也弥远 其知也弥少 是以圣人不行而知 不见而明 弗为而成

天下有始 以为天下母 既得其母 以知其子 既知其子 复守其母 没身不殆

使我介然有知也 行于大道 唯施是畏

以身观身 以家观家 以乡观乡 以邦观邦 以天下观天下 吾何以知天下然兹 以此

知和曰常 知常曰明 益生曰祥 心使气曰强 物壮则老 谓之不道 不道蚤已

知者弗言 言者弗知

以正治邦 以奇用兵 以无事取天下 吾何以知其然哉

祸 福之所倚 福 祸之所伏 孰知其极

重积德则无不克 无不克则莫知其极 莫知其极 可以有国 有国之母 可以长久 是谓深根固柢 长生久视之道也

民之难治也 以其知也 故以知知邦 邦之贼也 以不知知邦 邦之德也 恒知此两者亦稽式也

信言不美 美言不信 知者不博 博者不知 善者不多 多者不善

吾言甚易知也 甚易行也 而人莫之能知也 而莫之能行也 言有君 事有宗 其唯无知也 是以不我知 知者希 则我贵矣 是以圣人被褐而怀玉

知不知 尚矣 不知不知 病矣 是以圣人之不病 以其病病也 是以不病

是以圣人自知而不自见也 自爱而不自贵也 故去彼取此

勇于敢者则杀 勇于不敢者则活 此两者 或利或害 天之所恶 孰知其故

水之胜刚也 弱之胜强也 天下莫弗知也 而莫之能行也

何谓贵大患若身 吾所以有大患者 为吾有身 及吾无身 有何患

Most religions believe in the existence of the “soul”. A person is said to have a “soul” which is permanent. This “soul” is called the “self”; i.e. a living person must have a “soul” inside the body which defines the “self”. When he dies, the body cannot function anymore simply because the “soul” has left the body; i.e. the body cannot be regarded as the “self” without the “soul”. The “soul” may go to Heaven, Hell, or possess another body in the form of a human or animal. This “soul” is believed to be permanent and unchanging.

Buddhist doctrine of Anatta is often translated as “non-self”. It doesn’t mean there is no “soul” or no “self”, but the real “self” is not the body and not inside the body. The real “self” is actually somewhere else, and it is remotely controlling the body which is simply an Avatar; it can be in the form of a deva, human, ghost, animal, or Hell being. When a living being dies, there is no “soul” coming out of the body. The real “self” can instantly switch the remote control to target another body. The real “self” is not permanent and not unchanging. When the Buddha or an Arahant enters parinibbana or nibbana-after-death, the real “self” ceases to possess another body; i.e. there is no more rebirth. In this case, the real “self” is transformed and it escapes the cycle of rebirth or Samsara; instead of the habit of switching his remote control automatically (like being dictated by some Natural laws, or like an iron bar which keeps being attracted to a magnet). No birth means no subsequent suffering of ageing, sickness, death, association with the disliked, separation from beloved ones, and not getting what one wants. A wise person would prefer non-existence instead of existence.

In the Buddhist doctrine of Anatta, everything in this world is empty of “self”. The real “self” is beyond this world, but the Five Aggregates of Clinging (body, feelings, perceptions, volition, and consciousness) give a person a false sense of existence. We opine something exists when there is signalling on the Five Aggregates of Clinging; we opine something doesn’t exist when there is no signalling on the Five Aggregates of Clinging. In other words, we indirectly think our Five Aggregates of Clinging are perfect which make us perfectly capable to judge whether something exists or not exist. If we accept the fact that we are not perfect, then we should accept at least the possibility that there is something beyond fathomable if we still have the Five Aggregates of Clinging; i.e. we still regard the body as the “self” or assume the “self” is inside the body. If we totally rely on the Five Aggregates of Clinging as our information input, we can never fathom the real “self”.

“Does the Buddha exist after death? Does the Buddha not exist after death? Does the Buddha both exist and not exist after death? Does the Buddha neither exist nor not exist after death?” This is one of the few questions which the Buddha refuses to answer. The Buddha does not regard the Five Aggregates of Clinging as the “self”. Existence or non-existence as defined by living beings who regard the Five Aggregates of Clinging as the “self” are not adequate to describe the real “self”. It is incorrect to say the “self” exists or does not exist. The correct answer is simply impossible to describe with words, but it can only be experienced or realized when one attains Nibbana; i.e. perfection of virtue, equanimity and wisdom through abandonment of greed, hatred and delusion. This is a state when an Enlightened one (or Arahant) is completely quenched and cool, with totally no desire, neither for sensual pleasures, existence nor non-existence. This is the cessation of all suffering, after walking the path leading to Nibbana (which is the Noble Eightfold Path). Some people may think this is a crazy idea simply because they cannot understand it; just like people who think the idea of Schrödinger’s cat is crazy. ( In quantum theory, quantum particles can exist in a superposition of states at the same time and collapse down to a single state upon interaction with other particles. In the thought experiment, a hypothetical cat may be considered simultaneously both alive and dead. Yet, when one looks in the box, one sees the cat either alive or dead, not both alive and dead.)

Buddhist wisdom is about “purification of beings, for overcoming sorrow and lamentation, for the cessation of physical and mental pain, for attainment of the Noble Paths, and for the realization of Nibbana.” – Digha Nikaya 22. An Arahant has no more fear, anger, grief, lamentation, despair, pain, or any form of suffering. He has perfect Buddhist wisdom. If a person still has any of the above suffering, can he be regarded as a wise person who has perfect wisdom? Realization of Anatta leads to the loss of “pride or conceit”. The conceit of “I am” is the fact that for the unenlightened man, all experience and action must necessarily appear phenomenologically as happening to or originating from an “I”. When a Buddhist gets more enlightened, this happening to or originating in an “I” is less. The final attainment of Enlightenment is the disappearance of this automatic but illusory “I”.

“It is said that the world is empty, the world is empty, lord. In what respect is it said that the world is empty?” The Buddha replied: “Insofar as it is empty of a self or of anything pertaining to a self: Thus it is said, Ananda, that the world is empty. And what is empty of a self or of anything pertaining to a self? The eye is empty of a self or of anything pertaining to a self. Forms… Eye-consciousness… Eye-contact is empty of a self or of anything pertaining to a self.” – Samyutta Nikaya 35.85. The world is not really empty; it is simply empty of a self. The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind are not really the self because one does not cease to exist when he loses any of these organs. Similarly, the Five Aggregates of Clinging are not the real self. The arising and passing away of signalling in these elements create a false sense of a “self”. Everything arises due to conditions and passes away when the conditions change; there is nothing to do with a “self” nor wishes of someone. When one no longer latches onto any idea of “my self,” one sees phenomena within and without simply as examples of signalling arising and passing away, he will develop a sense of disenchantment with everything in the world, thus abandoning any clinging associated with them. He will have no wish to gain nor fear of losing, wish for fame nor fear of disgrace, wish for praise nor fear of blame, wish for success nor fear of failure, wish for pleasure nor fear of pain, wish for association nor fear of separation, etc.

Seeing Anatta or non-self is supposed to be a positive view if one has the Right View. Developing a sense of disenchantment with everything in the world, thus abandoning any clinging associated with them, leads to liberation and freedom. The body is not the self, and the self is not inside the body. Thus, the body and everything tangible/intangible associated with this body and name cease to be burdens of the real self, i.e. these things are all dispensable or can be let go. Knowing one has nothing to lose means knowing one can never lose, i.e. undefeatable. He will have no fear of doing anything, or not doing anything; it is just a matter of deciding to do or not to do, but never motivated by obligation or guilt. Knowing one has nothing to gain means one will have no greed (because the empty self cannot take whatever gain in this lifetime or into the next). He will do things for the benefits of manifold selflessly but not with excessive ambition.

One who has a self, or regards the self as inside the body, cannot possibly be selfless. Consciously or unconsciously, he will protect the “self” (including “I”, “Mine”, “Myself”, “My Family”, “My Religion”, “My Race”, “My Country”), for selfish reasons.

Imagine assembling a number of electrical and mechanical parts to make a robot possessing extremely advanced Artificial Intelligent. This robot can move and think like a human. Does he have a “self” or “soul”? So, it is possible to move and think like a human although one doesn’t have a “soul”. If the robot is disassembled, he will cease to move and think like a human. Are we not like robots? We may think we are different, but we may be wrong. We are probably like robots with no “soul”. Everyone is just an Avatar.

Life is worth living if you make it into a good life. It is possible to have a good life being single forever, and it is also possible to have a good life being married to a good spouse and having children who bring a lot of joys.

Life is not worth living if one makes it into a bad life. One can have a bad life being single forever, and one can also have a bad life being married to a bad spouse and having children who cause countless troubles.

Some people are always unhappy, some of them are single while others are married. Unhappy people often blame their misfortune on others. They sometimes blame their parents. The fact is, no one and nothing can hurt your feelings unless you allow it to happen; this is true because you are the only one who has access to your mind to create happiness or unhappiness. If you choose to be unhappy, no one and nothing can make you happy. If you choose to be happy, no one and nothing can make you unhappy; which is only possible if you cultivate yourself spiritually to have perfect virtue, equanimity and wisdom. If one is unhappy, he only has himself to blame. He raced with other sperms and penetrated the ovum in his mother’s body; he shouldn’t blame his parents for giving birth to him. His parents didn’t choose to give birth to him; they may be happier if another sperm won the race. He should blame himself for making his life into a bad one. Unhappy people cause problems to themselves and their parents; they owe their parents many apologies instead of the other way round.

A person who has perfect virtue, equanimity and wisdom can be happy under any circumstances. Birds of the same feather flock together. Only a good person deserved to have a good spouse and friends. A good person can be happy staying single forever if that is his choice. A good person can also find good companions (spouse and friends) to supercharge his happiness. Conversely, a bad person only deserved to have a bad spouse and bad “friends” (who are actually enemies harmful to his well-being). A bad person will be unhappy either being single or being married.

The key to happiness is really to cultivate perfection of virtue, equanimity and wisdom. Life is only worth living if one is happy, regardless of whether he is single or married.

The Buddha taught us the path to cessation of suffering. That means a life free from fear, anger, grief, lamentations, anxiety, depression and despair. This is not difficult once you have learnt the skills. One must learn to have no self (i.e. selfless), no attachment, no greed, hatred and delusion.

What should be a Buddhist’s response to derogatory depictions of Buddhism (the Buddha, statue, Buddhism)? Learned Buddhists will not be angered but instead have a lot of pity for the perpetrator. He is so pitiful to be burnt by the fires of greed, hatred and delusion in his heart. He must be suffering immensely to start doing crazy things that cause him to be censured by wise people. Buddhists will forgive him, for the happiness of Buddhists themselves, because anger and hatred are like holding a burning coal intending to throw at the enemy but only hurt oneself. Out of loving kindness and compassion, Buddhists only wish the best for the perpetrator, which is for him to recognize his mental illness and seek help. Buddhists will response by telling him to stop doing that for his own benefit; he will be punished by himself (his fires of greed, hatred and delusion, and his karma) if he doesn’t take heed of the advice.

One can suffer simply because he has a self. When insulted, he says “It’s ME they are talking about! It’s MY RELIGION AND MY PROPHETS they are talking about!” He will not react the same way if it’s about someone else or other religions/prophets. One will be selfish (i.e. cannot be selfless) if he has a self, or sees the body as the self, or assumes the self is inside the body. He will see things as MINE or YOURS; he feels happy to gain but feels sad to lose. If you don’t have a self (i.e. selfless), then nothing can attach to you; you can neither gain nor lose. We are incapable to lose anything, because nothing really belongs to us. Whatever we “gain” cannot go with us after we die. If we see this reality as it is, instead of what we want reality to be, we will not suffer any loss. Buddhism is not MY or YOUR religion; it is just a religion (or a philosophy). It is not ME and not MY religion which is insulted. Buddhism cannot be insulted; the perpetrator only insults himself. Buddhism is invincible when it has no self, not requiring any protection from the laws or the followers.