empowering ourselves in the buddhist studies

8/14/2019 Empowering Ourselves in the Buddhist Studies

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EMPOWERING OURSELVES IN THE BUDDHIST STUDIES

Milan ShakyaMA in Buddhist Studies

General Trends in Nepal

It is depressing to note that even if there is a vast ocean of Buddhist literatures and

philosophy we are ignorant of them, still we pretend to be a great Buddhist scholar anddeceive those innocent listeners but in fact we don't know much about Buddhism. This is

an indisputable truth. Why so? Because of lack of Buddhist studies, research or three

forms ofpraj (rutamay, cintmayand bhvanmay). Two trends are rampant in our

society during these days. 1. One group of people say all the studies and reflections are

just the luxury of the intellect (Buddhivilsa) and all devotional worships, pjas and

rituals are just meaningless activities (karmaka). So on the basis of this mistaken idea,

they blindly focuss only on the meditation while ignoring the listening and study

(rutamay) and reflection and discussion (cintmay) aspect. Even if the followers of this

trend believe this is only the way, but, this, according to Buddhism, is a fallacious andwrong notion and leads to the luxury of the mind(manavilsa) andselfishness of the mind

(svrthdhyna). As for the another trend, focussing only on the rutamaypraj, people

just study few Buddhist books and they claim themselves to be the greatest Buddhist

scholars while not applying what has been learnt from Buddhist studies to practice. They

are jealous of others success and always try to show others how superior they are to

others. Even if they teach Buddhism, because they never practice much of it, they are

always striken by rga, dvea and moha and consequently their minds are restless and

deluded. The uneducated and simple people also blindly follow them as if they are the

realizedpaita. So they don't know they are being deceived by that false guru. The false

guru may again be the person who declares himself to be the realized one and causes

others to spread the good news about him, develops a cult while himself still being

subject to the Eight Worldly Concerns (aalokadharma: 1. Fame [yaa], 2. Disfame

[apayaa], 3. Happiness [sukha], 4. Sorrow [dukha], 5. Profit [lbha], 6. Loss [albha],

7. Praise [praas], 8. Humuliation [nind]). This is opposed to the Buddhavacana or


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the Buddhist text. So we need to integrate all three of them, rutamay, cintmay and

bhvanmaypraj.

Let's wake up before it is too late.

So these are two extreme hypocrisies prevalent now in our society. We don't need any

one of them. This is the issue of the so called learned and the so called practicing person

who are doing things in distorted way just beguiling the commoners like ourselves.

OK leave them now, look at ourselves, what are we doing now? As for we the

commoners, all the time we just preoccupy ourselves with our monotonous work or job

and we boast that we are the busiest persons in the world. Everybody down to the tiny

insect work for their survival, there is nothing unique or special about that. Do we live

just for that, i.e earning our livelihood or earning money. Is this our sole objective in our

life? In the Buddhist text, it is said that human lives are very precious, then are not we

spending it in solely earning money? Do we not have to do anything creative in our lives.

Even if some of us do come out of a closed box, we end up in the mesh of either of the

above two distortions because of lack of proper Buddhist education. Now is it not the

time to wake up and see through the their deception? We are now being led by others

while we like a servant succumb to them and their ideas without analysing it. Why so?

because we don't study ourselves, and let alone practice what we have learnt but make

earning livelihood the sole end of our lives, don't we? With all these questions in mind,

we have come up with new empowering program for all of us so that we can move aheadin the society in the field of Buddhism, we can do something for the society through

Buddhism and we don't just listen to others lecture about Buddhism, instead we can also

stage our presentation and let others listen to what we say about Buddhism and there is a

golden opportunity to learn as much about Buddhism (any field of Buddhism) as possible

and put it to practice.

Solution: Study Buddhism as much as possible and let others know about our

learning

The main part of the program is preparing of a schalarly writeup or article. For that we

give several topics to everybody interested about Buddhist philosophy, Buddhist

Literature, Buddhist Art and Architecture, Culture and so on from the original sources

Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese and the secondary English, Nepali, Newari sources

and so on. A person who wants to carry out academic research about one of the topics in


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the above genre may study as much books as possible in the 15 days alloted and may take

interviews with the scholars or may acquire information from the Internet as well. Then

he or she may prepare an academic article or writeup on the topic and give a lecture or

presentation about that in the classroom in front of many listeners or participants using

Whiteboard and Boardmarker (In other words, then he becomes a teachers while the

listeners become students.)

Last Remark

I hope you understand our mission and this is just a beginning. This has an inconceivable

benefit which we need not stress here. Some of the benefits may be: 1. We will be able to

have a writing habit. 2. We will be able to speak in the mass with confidence. 3. We can

come out of the closed box or boundary of inferiority complex and our status quo (like

Oh, I am very busy, I don't have time today. or These are not my fields, what to do, we

have to earn our living, and don't have time for all this.). 4. We can visit the foreign

countries to participate in the conference about Buddhism there. 5. It also helps to write

our thesis or Phd thesis. These are just a few benefits. Now it is a ripe time to analyse

ourselves, motivate ourselves. We don't need to impose on you, you have to see for

yourself whether this approach is suitable for you or all of us or not. Only then we can

leap forward. But we have to keep in our mind this powerful message of kyamuni

Buddha, our root teacher who says that this life is very transient and rare. If we don't do

something now and spend it as we have been from the previous lives, then there will not

be any opportunity to even repent or regret. So let us not waste our lives idly saying weare busy now. All are busy now. Ven. Chkyi Nyima Rinpoche says this sentence "we

are busy" is just a lame excuse to keep ourselves away from the dharma and study.

Everybody has enough time but because they are not interested, they say, they are busy.

We have time for the picnic, get together, feasting and everything, but for the dharma

practice and study which make us self-sufficient in the society and free from any kind of

suffering in this life and another, finally up to attaining Buddhahood, sadly we don't have

time. How foolish we are and how unaware we are? ntideva in his Bodhicaryvatra

says: "The Lord of Death (yamarja) doesn't wait for whether we have finished our

project or not, he just snatches away our lifeforce anytime." So it is a time to be awake

from our sleep and learn about Buddhism and put it to practice. I hope everybody

understands what I am saying. So we have established Dharmacakra Academic Center to

conduct the extensive Buddhist studies. Given below are some of the topics (quite a many

indeed) that we can choose for our Buddhist study. You can also come up with a new

topics on your own and carry out an academic research on it then give a nice presentation

in the classroom.


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PROVISIONAL TOPICS FOR THE BUDDHIST STUDY:

(Following are just some of the topics. You can choose any Buddhist topic you like and

do academic study on it.)

1. The Life of the Buddha : A Study on the twelve principle deeds of SakyamuniBuddha.

2. The Life of Ananda or Bhiksuni Sangha and Ananda's role in establishing it.3. The Life of Sariputra4. The Life of Maudgalyana5. A Study on Theragatha and Therigatha6. A Study on the Buddhist Nuns from the Buddha's period.7. Major disciples of the Buddha8. King Asoka and Expansion of Buddhism9. King Milind and His contribution to the promotion and spread of Buddhism in

India and abroad

10.King Harsavardhan and His contribution to the spread of Buddhism11.Contribution of Pala rulers to the promotion and spread of Buddhism in India and

abroad.

12.The Buddhist Councils13.Four Noble Truths14.Four Noble Truths and Pratityasamutpada: A Study on the interconnection

between these two.

15.A study on the Arhat and Bodhisattva Ideal.16.A Study on the three vehicles of Buddhism: Sravaka, Pratyeka, Mahayana

(paramita and Vajrayana)

17.Twelvefold Link of Dependent Origination in the wheel of life.18.A study on Three Universal Characteristics of Buddhism: 1. Impermanence, 2.

Suffering and 3. Egolessness.

19.A Brief Study on Five Aggregates (Pancaskandha)20.A Critical study on Karma and its effects21.A study on 10 perfections from Sanskrit Mahayana and Pali Sources.22.A study on Six Perfection as the Prasthana Bodhicitta.23.Four Mind Changing Practice: A study24.A study on the role of monasticism in Buddhism.25.Nibbana and Buddhahood: A study26.A Study on the Bodhisattva Path or Mahayana.27.A Study on Skillful means of Bodhisattva28.Samatha and Vipasyana Meditation29.A study on the four philosophical schools


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30.A Vaibhasika Philosophy31.Sautrantika Philosophy32.Yogacara Philosophy33.Madhyamika Philosophy34.Three Dharmacakra Pravartana by Sakyamuni Buddha35.A critical study on the Eight Heavy Dharma (Astagarudharma) for Bhiksuni

Sangha: its pros and cons

36.The rise of Mahayana and Vajrayana.37.The teaching of Buddhanature38.Three Bodies of Buddha, Nirmanakaya, Dharmakaya and Sambhogakaya39.Generation of Bodhicitta40.A Critical Study on Lojong (Mind Training Practices) as taught by Atisa

Dipankarasrijnana

41.A Critical Study of Lamrim (Stages of the Path) as taught by AtisaDipankarasrijnana and Tsongkhapa

42.A critical study on Alayavijnana, Klistamanovijnana and Pravrritivijnana43.A Critical study on Three Natures, Parikalpita, Paratantra and Parinispanna.44.A brief study on Digha Nikaya.45.A textual study of Milindapanna.46.A textual study of Mulamadhyamakakarika47.A textual study of Visuddhimagga48.A textual study of Buddhavamsa49.A textual study of Mahavagga50.A textual study of Majjima nikaya51.A textual study of Dhammapada52.A study on Paritrana and its efficacies53.A textual study of Visvanatarajataka from Jatakamala54.A textual study of Abhidharmakosa55.A textual study of Vijnaptimatratasiddhi56.A Study of Lankavatara Sutra57.A Study of Saddharmapundarika Sutra58.A Study of Gandavyuha Sutra59.A Study of Samadhiraja Sutra60.A Study of Lalitavistara Sutra61.A Study of Suvarnaprabhasa Sutra62.A Study of Prajnaparamita Sutra63.A Study of Dasabhumika Sutra64.A Study of Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra65.A Study of Aparimitayu Sutra


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66.A Study of Gunakarandavyuha Sutra67.A Study of Arya anityata nama Mahayana Sutra68.A Study of Arya Pratityasamutpada Nama Manayana Sutra69.A Study of Bhaisajyaguruvaiduryaprabharaja Sutra70.A Study of Sukhavativyuha Sutra71.A Study of Arthaviniscaya Sutra72.A Study of Madhyamakavatara73.A Study of Samdhinirmocanasutra74.A Study of Mahaparinirvana Sutra75.A Study of Prasannapada76.A Study of Bodhicaryavatara77.A Study of Five Texts of Maitreya :

a. Abhisamayalankarab. Dharmadharmatavibhangac. Madhyantavibhagad. Uttaratantrae. Mahayanasutralankara

78.A study on the origin of Buddhist Art and its style.79.Introduction to Nepalese Buddhist Sculptures: 1. Stone images, 2. Metal images,

3. Wood crafts

80.A study on the Paubha painting81.A study on the Vihara architecture with reference to Hiranyavarna Mahavihara

and others if any.

82.A study on the Stupa architecture with reference to Baudhastupa and others if any.83.A study on the temple architecture with reference to the Pagoda type temples of

Sankhu and others if any.

84.A study on the origin and evolutionary history of Buddhist iconography85.The Iconographic description of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and others.86.Concept of Triratna in Buddhism of Nepal Mandala87.A study on the Vihara and Bahi and the Sangha tradition of Nepal Mandala88.A study on the Acaluiyegu of the Kathmandu valley.89.A study on the Buddhist Religious Practices of Nepal Mandala90.A study on the Buddhist Life Cycle Rituals of the Nepal Mandala91.A study on the Prominent Buddhist Masters and scholars of Nepal Mandala.92.A study on the Pre-Buddhist cultural religion of Tibet93.Introduction to Buddhism in Tibet. 1) Srong btsan Gampo, 2. Bhrikuti, Wenchen

Kongjo and Sila manju.

94.Early Transmission of Buddhism in Tibet95.The Nyingma tradition


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96.Later Transmission of Buddhism in Tibet: A role of Atisa Dipankara srijnana97.Kadampa Tradition98.Kagyupa Tradition99.Sakyapa Tradition100. Gelugpa Tradition101. A life of Padmasambhava102. Thonmi sambhota and the Tibetan Script103. Three Dharmarajas: Songtsen Gampo, Thisong Deutsen and Ralpacan104. Life of Milarepa105. Life of Tsongkhapa106. Life of Nagarjuna107. Life of Aryadeva108. Life of Asanga109. Life of Vasubandhu110. Life of Dignana111. Life of Dharmakirti112. Life of Santideva and Bodhicaryavatara113. Chandrakirti and Madhyamakavatara114. Vasubandhu and Abhidharmakosa115. A brief introduction to Nine Vaipulya Sutras of Nepal116. A Textual study on Svayambhu Purana117. Life of Sakyapandita118. Five Patriarches of Sakyapa tradition119. Paltrul Rinpoche and a textual study on Kunsang Lamey shelung120. A Critical study on Madhyamaka philosophy: its branches, and Tibetan way of

understanding it : Rangtong, Shentong

121. A study on Shedra, Dubdra, Lama, tulku, Dapa (Gelong and Getsul), ani,ngagpa

122. A study on the history of Sangha and its later development123. A study on the Buddhism in Srilanka124. A Study on the Buddhism in Thailand125. A study on the Buddhism in Myanmar126. A study on the Buddhism in Vietnam127. A study on Buddhism in China128. A study on Buddhism in Tibet129. A study on Buddhism in Mongolia130. A study on Buddhism in Korea131. A study on Buddhism in Japan132. A study on Buddhism in Laos


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133. A study on Buddhism in Indonesia134. A Study on Buddhism in Cambodia135. A study on Buddhism in America136. A study on Buddhism in England.

empowering ourselves in the buddhist studies

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