It was our privilege and good fortune to have Brother Bhante, a monk from a local Buddhist Centre visit our Sai Centre. Buddha-related sarva dharma bhajans and Swami’s video discourse was followed by a talk on Buddhism by Brother Bhante. Brother Bhante began by leading a meditation in which he asked all to focus on the space between the tip of the nose and upper lip to facilitate watching the breathing without changing its natural rhythm. A collective beautiful silence emerged due to the power of the meditation which was accompanied by the brother’s melodious chanting of positive messages and blessings, such as “May you be free from suffering, May you be happy, May you be free from anger…” The meditation prepared a graceful atmosphere for his subsequent heart-felt talk.
The Centre of Brother Bhante’s talk was the Pancha Sheel, the Five Precepts of Buddhism which he recited in Pali and translated as no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no lying and talking harshly to anyone and no intoxicants. Indulging in these creates impurities and harmful karmas the fruits of which one has to suffer in future. The emphasis of brother’s talk naturally followed the very famous topic of Buddhism, namely, the Four Noble Truths which are the truth of suffering; the truth of the cause of suffering; the truth of the cessation of suffering and the truth of the path to end suffering leading to Nirvana, a state of everlasting happiness in the self. Brother Bhante also referred to Swami’s video in which Baba discoursed on salient points from Buddhism. Buddhists follow the eight-fold path to liberate themselves from duhkha (dissatisfaction, suffering) and achieve Nirvana.
It was interesting to learn that the three cardinal events from the Buddha’s life, his birth, his enlightenment and his Mahaparinirvana (leaving his mortal body) all happened on a full-moon night. In countries like Sri Lanka special charitable actions are performed by Buddhists and this may involve giving food to the poor and freeing birds and animals from captivity. Brother reminded us to use our hard-to-achieve human birth, earned through many meritorious actions in the past to develop good thoughts, good actions leading to our ultimate spiritual freedom.
Written by Bal Vikas Group 3 Year 2 Children
