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Don't Even Think About It
Shorter Sukhavativyuha Sutra
Maha-Karunika-Citta-Dharani
The Great Compassion Mantra
Shorter Sukhavativyuha Sutra

WHO AM I? Have you ever asked it? This is a wrongly formed question. A little of reflection should make it very clear that this question already implies an asumption that I am someone. It already implies an answer. It's not open enough. Instead, one needs to rephrase the question from, "Who am I?" or even, "What am I?" to, "What do I take myself to be?" or, "What do I assume this thing called 'I' is?" Such questions dig very deep into one's avijja (delusion). Only then can one start to really look at what is it that one takes one's 'self' to be.

Consider the human body. Do you consider the body to be yours? It's very easy to say, "The body is not self" when one is young, healthy and fit. The test comes when one is sick, especially when that sickness is very deep and lasting, or can even be life threatening. That's when one can really see at a deeper level whether one is taking the body to be 'me' or 'mine'. Why does this fear arise? The fear is always because of attachment. One is afraid that something which one cherishes is being threatened or taken away. If ever a fear of death comes up at any time, that will show with ninety nine percent certainty, that in that moment one is seeing or thinking that this body is 'me', or is 'mine'. Contemplate this body. Contemplate the death of this body, contemplate the contents of this body, and take it apart. See that with whatever parts of this body, that it's just flesh and blood and bones. It's just the four great elements (earth, water, heat and air), just atoms and molecules and chemicals, that's all. Continually contemplating the body in this way, one will eventually break down the delusion that this body is substantial, beautiful, delightful, and one's 'own'.Similarly, Contemplate the Doer is Not Self, even the Knower is Not Self.

One must understand that the 'doer' cannot let go of doing. To do is to suffer. Even deeper than 'the doer' is 'the knower'. Once there is a 'knower' it will react to what it knows, and it will create 'doing'. From the body into the mind, from the mind into 'the doer', from 'the doer' into 'the knower', one can then see that one is not 'the knower'. It's just causes and conditions. That's all it is, just a process.

The process that one has taken to be a self for all these lifetimes is just an empty process. Cause effect, cause effect, cause effect - just a process. "When there is this, this comes into being. With the cessation of that, that ceases." That is the heart of the Buddha's teaching. Everything is subject to that law. If one can see everything as being subject to that law, then one has seen fully into the nature of anatta. Samsara has been mortally wounded; and one will soon make an end of all birth, old age, death and suffering. If, however, there is just a tiny bit left, which one hasn't seen, just a tiny bit - that can keep one stuck in Samsara for aeons. Sabbe-dhamma-anatta'ti. The whole bloody lot!

Shorter Sukhavativyuha Sutra
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I BELIEVE AND VOW earnestly to be mindful of and chant the name of the Buddha Amitabha as taught by the Buddha Shakyamuni in his Discourse on the Sukhavativyuha Sutra. I have taken the Three Refuges in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha under Venerable Master Miao Lian of the Ling Yen Mountain Temple (Canada) in Richmond and received the Five Precepts from Venerable Po Yih of the Fu Hui Buddhist Temple in Vancouver. I shall use the rest of this lifetime to cease and desist from killing, stealing, lust, false speech, drinking, and denouce greed, anger, delusion, thereby and do my best to achieve the ten good merits and virtues as the Buddha has instructed.
MY MEMORABLE BEINGS are the Buddhas, my parents, and my teachers and Lucky, whose names are shown in the marquee below. If you don't see yours, please sign my Guestbook and I'll add you to my list. I love to hear from you all!

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Nama Amitabha Buddhaya ♠ Nama Shakyamuni Buddhaya ♠ Nama Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva ♠ Nama Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva ♠ Nama Manjusri Bodhisattva ♠ Nama Samantabhadra Bodhisattva ♠
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