Hello from Halong Bay

We're waiting for the Paradise Cruise 1 to set a sail to the sea... the lounge own by the company www.paradisecruises.org.

This is only the 2nd day of my trip to Hanoi-Halong Bay. My trip encounter so far has been nothing less than traffic chaos, unwell body and bizarre experience. I kept thinking of sayang, if he could survive this one day driving around the Old Quarter of Hanoi together with the amazing guy Meng Hoe and his driver.

I saw a couple of brown robe monk, probably from plum village. Since I've encountered with the peace and tranquility of Thich Nhat Hant during his recent visit to Malaysia... now being in Vietnam where TNH were supposed to be in exiled from, can't help but to compare how would any Zen practitioner live calmly & meditate amidst this chaos?

If a person can still remain calm and mindful inspite of surrounded by all the traffic madness and chaotic livestyle, isn't this person practising a higher level of mindfulness meditation? As compared to the Zen followers who can naturally practise mindfulness/meditation amidst quiet and tranquil surrounding, ie. Plum Village in France.

Amidst the surrounding chaos, is the mind being trapped in the chaos struggling to break free? Or inspite of the traffic turmoil, one can still mentally be free and smile with the people scootering or steering behind the wheel?

I had the experience of sitting on a scooter without a helmet, moving around from small lanes to the freeway... seeing and experiencing the way humans, motorbikes and cars wld crisscross each other "mindfully". Vehicles wld stop or swerve / turn to avoid collision. If a bike were to kiss a car, its OK. No need to fret about it. No smile. Just move on... people are so immune.... indifferent. Its even a culture for them to consume dog meat! How bizarre is that? To them is nothing.

Sitting on a small stool by the roadside eating noodle is nothing. Eating the same noodle everyday with the same taste is nothing. Simply crossing the road without regards to oncoming cars is nothing.

Maybe its the long history of war and suffering that befallen them? I wish and try to enjoy my first Vietnam trip, but the soullessness and indifferent attitute of Vietnam, is forcing me to activate my Upekkha.

Will there be complete freedom onboard the cruise on Halong Bay?

Desperate attempt to write about Dependent Origination

It is a big challenge for me to "write" a given topic with word limitations and guidelines to follow. I can write a blog post easily without having to crack my brain too much, and knowing that I can freely write with the style that I'm at home with.

But not with an essay focusing on just one complex Buddhist concept of "Dependent Origination", I feel that it's a grey area where plagiarism and original idea is concerned. I can't write my own idea, because I'm supposed to talk about a process which is what it is. How different can I describe a process, taught by the Buddha in any other words? It is like a matter of testing my effort in using 'thesaurus' to replace one word with another word of the same meaning.

What's the point?!

So finally how did I manage to hatch the essay due in 24 hours? It's best when I write with my own style, relating to what I can remember with regards to this rare topic in my years of encounter with Buddhism. And since there's no way to run from describing the process (as what it is), copy-and-paste sets in. *appreciate technology*

This is my 900+ words essay that took me almost 5 hours to complete! >>

I first heard of the concept of Dependent Origination as student at the Buddhist Institute Sunday Dhamma School. It was literally mind-blowing to me when the teacher explained about the inter-connected links of causality which affects everything; I was visualizing atoms and molecules, and trying to relate it with the Big Bang theory.

It is this fascination about this complex Buddhist concept that inspired me to take up this course, which covers this interesting subject in the syllabus.

Thus have I heard, the heart of Buddha’s teaching is the Dependent Origination or Paticca-samuppada in Pali. As I search through the Internet, not only in Theravada school of teaching that we learn about Dependent Origination, in fact it is the core teachings in all schools of Buddhism. In Tibetan Buddhism, there is a vivid illustration of the ‘Wheel of Life’ which symbolically illustrate the ‘twelve links’.

The term ‘twelve links’ can be synonym to the term Dependent Origination, which explain the chain of cause/condition that lead to other causes/conditions. The links form a circle like the Samsara circle of life.

It is mind-opening to learn from Thich Nhat Hant, who coined the term “Interbeing” where this Dependent Origination can be rationalized as the mutual interdependence of human relationships, ie. people with people or people with nature.

The gist of the whole process is described as follows :-
With Ignorance (Avijja) as condition, Volitional Formations (Sankhara) arise.
With Volitional Formations as condition, Rebirth-Consciousness (Viññana) arises.
With Consciousness as condition, Name and Form (Nama-rupa) arise.
With Name & Form as condition, Six-Senses (Salayatana) arise.
With Six-Senses as condition, Contact (Phassa) arises
With Contact as condition, Feeling (Vedana) arises
With Feeling as condition, Craving (Tanha) arises
With Craving as condition, Clinging (Upadana) arises
With Clinging as condition, Becoming (Bhava) arises
With Becoming as a condition, Birth (Jati) arises
With Birth as condition, Aging and Dying (Jara-marana) arise.

Firstly, Ignorance clouds all right understanding. Like in corporate conscious competence theory, ignorance is like the first stage of unconscious incompetence – you don’t know that you don’t know the Noble Truths.

Dependent on ignorance, give rise to Volitional Formations, or conditioned things. An action whether good or bad rooted in ignorance which must necessarily have their due results. Dependent on volitional formations will create Rebirth-Consciousness which links the past with the present.

Simultaneous with the arising of rebirth-consciousness there come into being Mind and Body. The Six Senses are the naturally consequences of the mind and body. Contact sets in because of meeting with an object before leading to Feeling.

When feelings arise, Craving and then Clinging is produced. Ultimately, craving is the second Noble Truth - the cause of Dukkha. And more craving eventually leads to clinging or attachment. This clinging in turn, conditions future birth or Becoming. Naturally, when Birth takes place, so is the inevitable cause of Aging and Dying.

These twelve links can be expressed in reversed order.

Without birth there is no death. One conditions the other in a mutually dependent relationship. Our becoming in the world naturally is conditioned by the clinging to ideas and objects. This attachment and clinging in turn cannot exist without desire or craving as its condition. Craving comes into being because there is sensation in the body which we experience as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. When we crave something, it is the sensation induced by contact with the desired object that we crave rather than the object itself. Sensation is caused by contact with such objects of the senses. The contact or impression made upon the senses is itself dependent upon the six sense which themselves are dependent upon the psychophysical entity that a human being is.

Clearly, this natural cycle as discovered by the Buddha is just like laws of physics, they are universal and applicable everywhere. We do not just believe in the creator of the universe.

A very profound philosophy of the Dependent Origination may be read as such,
“When this is, that is.This arising, that arises.When this is not, that is not.This ceasing, that ceases.” - Samyutta Nikaya 12.61

The Four Noble Truths which is closely associated with the Dependent Origination teach us that release from the cycle of Samsara is possible. In the resolution of ignorance, volitional formations, craving and clinging there is liberation of birth, death and the attainment of Nirvana (third Noble Truth).

The purpose of learning and understanding the heart of Buddha’s teaching is meant for self awakening and not merely for knowledge sake. I have come to realize that we need to practice mindfulness in our everyday lives especially being mindful of the “feeling”, and watch if the “feeling” give rise to “craving”. This simple yet profound exercise can be practiced at work, at home or anytime especially when in contact with people. With this spiritual peaceful mindset, it is no wonder that Buddhists are found to be happy people.

With this mindfulness cultivation, I appreciate the conditions that allowed me to be in touch with the concept of Interbeing, and the science and art of the Dependent Originations.

The teacher who first taught this subject to me when I was just a wondering teenager is the same teacher who is teaching this course now -- Bro. Ananda Fong. Talk about Interbeing or metaphysic of volitions?