Learning Dharma

Life is short. Time is fleeting. Uncover the True Nature.

Life Doesn’t Stand Still
For Even A Moment;
Live to Learn, Not Learn to Live

Life is all about lifelong learning.
It’s about learning the skills, knowledge, values and mindset to happiness, well-being and inner peace. Everyone wants to be happy. Nobody wants to suffer.
[中文]

The Buddha had expounded on numerous texts of the 32 kinds of benefits and merit of listening to teachings on wisdom, compassion and on the true nature of life. These teachings, or what Buddhists called the Buddha-Dharma, help open one’s heart and mind. Studies have proven that Buddhist practices bring immense benefits to a person’s well-being.
To attain complete awakening, bodhisattvas, or noble beings who strives for Buddhahood in order to be of utmost benefit to all, aspire to learn all Buddha-Dharma and cultivate all wisdom.

• Stories:The Visible Teaching
  Once a wandering ascetic, Moliya Sīvaka, addressed the Blessed One as follows:
  “It is said, venerable sir, ’The Dhamma is directly visible.’ In what way, venerable sir, is the Dhamma directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, worthy of application, to be personally experienced by the wise?”
  “Well, Sīvaka, I shall in return question you about this. You may answer as you see fit.
  “What do you think, Sīvaka: when there is greed in you, will you know, ’There is greed in me’? And when there is no greed in you, will you know, ’There is no greed in me’?”—”Yes, venerable sir, I shall know.”
  “If you thus know of the greed present in you that it is there; and when greed is absent that it is absent—that is a way the Dhamma is directly visible.
  “What do you think, Sīvaka: when there is hatred or delusion in you, will you know, ’There is hatred … There is delusion in me’? And when there is no hatred … no delusion in you, will you know, ’There is no hatred … no delusion in me’?”—”Yes, venerable sir, I shall know.”
  “If you thus know of the hatred or delusion present in you that they are there; and when hatred or delusion are absent that they are absent—that is a way the Dhamma is directly visible.
  “In this way, Sīvaka, the Dhamma is directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, worthy of application, to be personally experienced by the wise”
  Source: Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (The Chapter of the Sixes) by Bhikkhu Bodhi
  
• Great Learning
  The Buddha’s teaching is profound and difficult to understand properly, let alone to practise and realise for oneself. We are very fortunate to have excellent translations of the Buddha’s teachings in English, and many other books by eminent meditation masters. We should study the Dhamma whenever possible to deepen and broaden our knowledge. Study, practice, and realisation are all necessary unless we live with an enlightened teacher. In that case, if we practice hard, realisation will follow without study. Recommended Readings
  

  CLASSICS
  In the Buddha's Words An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon By Bhikkhu Bodhi	Numerical Discourses of the Buddha A Complete Translation of the Anguttara Nikaya By Bhikkhu Bodhi	The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation By Thich Nhat Hanh	The Way to Buddhahood: Instructions from a Modern Chinese Master By Ven. Yin-shun
  CONTEMPORARY
  What the Buddha Taught: By Rahula Walpola	What Makes You Not a Buddhist By Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse	Open Heart, Clear Mind By Thubten Chodron	Buddhism Plain and Simple By Steve Hagen
  More Free Distribution Books and Media Resources at media.kmspks.org

• Benefits of Listening Dharma
  The Saddharama Smriti Upasthana Sutra mentions the benefits that can be gained from listening to the Dhamma. It says:

  1. “What are these thirty two? When a master preaches the Dharma, he is like a parent to his audience, and he is like a bridge across the river of birth and death.
  2. When one hears what one has never heard before, one attains new realizations. Once one has knowledge, one can begin to think about what one has learned.
  3. Once one has begun to think about what one has learned, one has truly begun to practice self-cultivation.
  4. Once one has begun to practice self-cultivation, one will abide in peace. Once one has begun to abide in peace, one can begin to benefit others; and then a mutually beneficial interaction can begin.
  5. If one is able to abide in peace, then even hardship will not seem disturbing.
  6. If one listens to the Dharma, then roots of goodness will begin to grow where formerly they did not grow.
  7. If one contemplates what one has learned, then one will become prepared for liberation.
  8. Listening to the Dharma can lead people with perverse views to change their views to right ones and listening to the Dharma can help people destroy unwholesome thoughts whenever they arise.
  9. Listening to the Dharma increases goodness of mind and rids one of evil mental causes and conditions.
  10. Listening to the Dharma keeps one from being scattered and disorganised in one’s activities.
  11. Listening to the Dharma leads one toward the company of good people and leads one away from selfishness and falseness.
  12. Listening to the Dharma encourages one to care for one’s parents and believe in karma; it also shows one how to live a long life.
  13. Listening to the Dharma leads one to be raised by others and protected by heavenly beings, and it causes one’s deepest wishes to be fulfilled.
  14. Listening to the Dharma brings one all the joys of the Dharma and keeps one from sloth and laziness.
  15. Listening to the Dharma causes one to progress quickly, to understand gratitude and to think often on the meaning of death.
  16. If one has listened often to the Dharma, at the time of one’s death, one will not cling to life or feel remorse for what one has done.
  17. Ultimately, listening to the Dharma will lead one to Nirvana.”