D.E.W reminds of Importance of Good Karma and our Teachers’ Greatness

“You can’t constantly be mindful of your thoughts, you will need to sleep and rest your mind. When you are asleep, don’t tell me you continue to know what you are thinking of? It is impossible! Proposition, we disagree to your motion!”

“Yes, we can! Shifu showed us that even in his sleep, he continues to chant and keep his thoughts on the virtuous because our thoughts can go on in our dreams so if we are not mindful in the day, then how can we ensure good dreams night after night? Opposition is wrong!”

A heated debate on the fourth floor shrine hall of BW Monastery went on amidst much cheer and laughter on a Saturday afternoon as a group of 100-plus Lamrim students watched on with much delight as their fellow virtuous friends argued their hearts out on two opposing teams during BW Monastery’s Bilingual Dharma Enrichment Workshop (D.E.W) held on 23rd November. For the first time ever, debate was introduced as one segment in D.E.W, a quarterly English workshop organised by the Bilingual Division in BW Monastery to enhance students’ learning of key Dharma concepts through interactive participation. The question and answer debate tool, which was commonly used by the Sangha in Tibet as a means to clarify and throw out doubts, revolves around the motion statement of “We should constantly be mindful of our arising thoughts”. The robust and lively exchange among all students proved the debating tool to be highly effective and entertaining as well as a great experience for all to be engaged in a Dharma debate for the first time.

In its final run for the year, D.E.W’s main focus this time round was on the concepts of Karma, the greatness of our Teachers and their Teachings and how cultivating good Karma will enable us to follow our Teachers and their great Teachings life after life.

Much to the joy of all D.E.W participants, Abbot Jing Yuan made it online despite his busy schedule to give an opening booster to the group. Abbot set the motivation and reminded that Dharma learning in English was especially important in Singapore and Malaysia where a large majority of the population conversed mostly in English. It was more so given the younger generation’s preference in the language in this day and age. Therefore, BW Monastery’s Bilingual Division shouldered an especially heavy responsibility in the future to help to propagate the Dharma in English such as through offering more English classes and activities. To drive home his point, Abbot ended his speech heartily in English even though he was not comfortable speaking the language. Seeing his determination, the many Bilingual Lamrim students present were moved to also aspire to do more for English Dharma propagation in the future.

After Abbot’s opener, Venerable Bensi took centrestage to guide the group through discussions and study of Teacher’s Global Lamrim Discourse 152. The discourse explained that Buddha’s Teachings came in all forms to cater to the capacities of all living beings. No one approach is superior to another and as they all encompass Buddha’s sacrifices of his physical form, they are of immeasurable value. To think that one particular Dharma approach is inferior, one is actually rejecting or slandering Buddha’s Teachings and the severity of that will only result in obstacles faced in one’s Dharma learning journey. Hence, we need to be very careful never to end up in such dire consequences.

Venerable also likened Master and Teacher to the Buddha, as they had only one pointed faith and that was to benefit all sentient beings. They did this out of great compassion and altruism, wishing to alleviate all beings’ sufferings. This was indeed akin to behaviours of the Buddha and proved how great they were as our Teachers. Therefore, all students should plant the right causes and work towards creating good Karma for ourselves so that we will be able to follow after our great Teachers in our infinite lifetimes.

D.E.W then carried on with the main enrichment topic of the day, where Lecturers Patrick and Siew Chin expounded again on concepts of Karma and why it is very important to cultivate good Karma if we all wish to be reborn with higher statuses in each lifetime and be able to learn the Lamrim from the same organisation and from the same great Teachers.

In the session that followed in the late afternoon, Lecturer Tan Tong En shared personal anecdotes of his third daughter, currently a nun of the Sangha community learning from Teacher, who already indicated her wish to be a Buddha at the age of five and automatically showed her respect for Master and the Lamrim text even though no one taught this to her when she was a very young child. These true accounts were proof of causally concordant effect and behavioural effect from having good weighty Karma cultivated in learning the Dharma from our great Teachers in the past lifetime. Together with Lecturer Soen, Lecturer Tan also recounted their many past trips to Prince Edward Island in Canada. It was through these trips that they witnessed how Teacher build up the Gebis Monastery and the entire Sangha community over the years. It was no mean feat for a female layperson to be able to do so, so the very least we can all do on our part, is to learn the Lamrim well and practise the Teachings well.

On a lighter note, D.E.W also invited Venerable Zu Sheng to speak about Dharma instruments and Dharma etiquette. Participants had a great time trying their hands on the instruments which they rarely had a chance to.

In closing, Venerable Bensi asked the group how to fathom our Master’s kindness to us. In his answer, Venerable brought out Teacher’s explanation, that Master had definitely done a lot more for us then we can comprehend given our limited perceptions of things. So to repay his kindness of giving us the Teachings unreservedly and wholeheartedly, we can only strive to study hard, to contemplate hard and to practice hard the Dharma in the manner he wants us to do so.

And with this parting note, D.E.W concludes with a strong resolution left deeply imprinted in the minds of all participants.