Question asked by Chai Heng
Dear Pastor(s),
I have many questions on Buddhism which I would like to understand more on. May be it's the inquisitive nature for me to question until I'm satisfied before I believe in anything, and at the same time I do understand the factor of "faith", so here goes:
1. I find it difficult to reconcile complacency/happily satisfied vs development/continuous striving.
2. Can merits be transferred; if so how about receiving (eg if I would like to "receive" the bad karma that my parents have)?
3. Can positive actions really "nullify" bad karma?
4. Do I need to believe to be "subjected" to the universal law? Eg will Buddhist only see Buddhist gods/demons, so will Christians, Muslims etc. who will only be subject to their own spiritual "rules/laws"
5. According to my understanding, nothing is permanent, and thus we should not get too hung up on any ideas, things, etc.. But I find that when the happiness/sufferings happen DURING the brief existence (it could be many many years), then "self" do matter. It may be pointless afterwards, but that's the whole point of making it worthwhile while it exists, no?
Many thanks in advance for your time.
CH
It’s good to have an inquisitive mind if we also have the wisdom to know how to best benefit from it, else, the inquisitive mind is similar to a monkey mind, jumps here and there and play the fool and before we know it, life pass us by. If any one of us were to fully now and understand, we would be considered all knowing and enlightened and therefore, we do not need to believe anymore. It is a chicken and egg scenario here. Something for you to consider in hopes that you will harness the strength of your inquisitive mind.
1. Why the need to reconcile complacency/happily satisfied vs development/continuous striving when you have already associated in your statement happily satisfied with a negative connotation of complacency? I think you have answered that in your statement and the choice is clear if these are the options to pick, then development is the choice. However, that does not mean that development is absent of the feeling of happily satisfied.
2. Highly attained lamas can absorb karma from other because they completely live their lives free of selfishness but only to benefit others. therefore, their existence can bring benefit. For us, we start by cultivating the thoughts to take on the sufferings of others including sufferings of our loved ones and all sentient beings. this is the beginning of developing a compassionate mind.
3. Ones karma is created, it cannot be nullified. When we do purification practices and engage in extensive creation of merits, what we are doing is similar to “diluting” the negative karma in such a way that the ripening effects is delayed or minimized due to the immense merits. Example, if we have created the karma to fall deathly ill, perhaps the ripening of the karma for us to be ill will also have an exceptionally good doctor and hospital nearby for us to receive treatment.
4. for it to be universal law or truths, it will mean that the law applies to all irregardless of faith, believe, age, culture… example, the law of gravity applies to all, the law of birth and death applies to all. I am using these examples instead of using the seeing god/demons analogy because your inquisitive mind may not believe at this point, I am using observable examples for you.
5. Our experiences is as permanent in our mind and we may repeat the experience a thousand times (happy or sad) even though it only happened ones. We cannot just wipe our memories and for most of us, we do not have control of our thoughts (which one will see this happening especially during meditation) Nothing wrong with making the happy moment “worthwhile” but buddhism teaches us to recognize the good that comes our way and not to stop there but to understand karma so that we can eventually have not just momentary happiness which we put so much effort to make it worthwhile but rather lasting happiness.