Question asked by E
Dear Sir,
I was born and raised as a buddhist but lost my faith over the course of life after witnessing much injustice and suffering. I work as a doctor and while I have helped colleagues and patients tirelessly, the politics of my workplace go beyond unfair and intolerable. I am never political minded and many others had easier time by doing less work but focus on the politics.
I returned to Buddhism Vihara in UK only disappointed when told that there is nothing I can do except worshiping all monks as the ear and mouth of Buddha. This is followed experience of temples in Singapore and New Zealand explicitly coerce monetary contribution for sanghara release without nourishment to my suffering soul.
The only good advice I receive is to meditate and focus on cleansing my mind so that I have the mental resilience to face superiors at work who can stop at nothing to end my career or at least my my professional life a misery.
Can you tell me is Buddha showing a way into Nirvana and therefore could not help individually or does he has Compassion and Enlightenment to the extent he can hear me in meditation and can stay with through this difficult journey in life?
Thank you.
Dear E,
Thank you for your question. I’m sorry that you have not had good experiences with Buddhism in the past, and that the methods of practice within the organisations you visited did not resonate with you.
The Buddhist path does involve the veneration of the monastic community, as they are the upholders of the Buddhist doctrine. This creates a lot of merit for our spiritual journey, as they are considered to be the third of the Three Jewels – the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
However the practice of Buddhism involves a lot more. It is about bettering oneself, one’s situation in life, and one’s mental states through various practices. These practices are for the transformation of the self, and include the development of wisdom and compassion. Such practices include meditation, daily prayers, engaging in actions that benefit other sentient beings, etc.
That being said, the Buddhas and enlightened beings do not abandon any sentient being, therefore when we do pray to them or call upon them, they hear us. One of the definitions of a Buddha is that they have enlightened compassion. This is a compassion without agenda, is pure and all-encompassing. Therefore even just thinking about the Buddhas invokes upon their enlightened energies. They really can help us in our individual life situations, and do hear our prayers, and stay with us throughout our lives, because they operate from compassion. Though they do hear us, one aspect may block them from being able to help us in various situations, and this is our own negative karma. That is the reason why purification practices are so important. The more negative karma that we purify, the more the enlightened beings are able to help us throughout our lives. Such purification practices include Vajrasattva practice (https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/prayers-and-sadhanas/an-important-purification-practice.html), prostration practice (https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/vajrasattva-and-prostrations-transcript.html) or the 35 Confessional Buddhas (https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/the-35-confessional-buddhas.html). Such practices help us a lot along our spiritual journeys.
Coupled with this or in its place, is Dharma protector practices. One such practice which is very beneficial is the practice of Dorje Shugden. Such practices have the specific ability to remove obstacles we may be facing in life, overcoming tough situations, etc. This is best engaged in on a daily basis, to create a strong connection. You can find the daily prayers here: http://www.dorjeshugden.org/practice/diamond-path-a-daily-sadhana-of-dorje-shugden.
You do not have to engage in all these practices, but choosing one which you practice strongly will definitely help you along your own path, and through the practice you will be able to experience the enlightened energies of compassion yourself. The Buddhas are compassionate, they not only show you the way to nirvana, but also help you along the way. I hope this helps.
Thank you