Introduction

Less than 500 days from the millennium, we are in the midst of problems which spring out from all directions from domestic to religious, political, economical, environmental and so on. People’s minds are in great turmoil. The evidence of humanities suffering is everywhere in the world. It is ironic as well as difficult to comprehend that with all the experts in different fields of knowledge we have in the world, we cannot seem to find a solution for anything especially a long lasting peace among mankind. We are plunging deeper into all kinds of problems. What makes the situation worse nowadays is that we don’t have anyone to turn to for sound advice. Our parents, teachers and politicians are not always the people we can turn to anymore. The crumbling of various religious institutions makes people feel reluctant to turn to their monks and priests who are supposed to be the tower of strength while society is in turmoil. I really feel envious of those lucky people during the Buddha’s and Christ’s time, who had the privilege of turning to their saints and asking for sound advice whenever they had problems. What man needs right now is definitely not clever people who are ready to pitch out their intellectual advice, which turns out to be useless. Indeed, we simply need trustworthy people who are virtuous; honest and most importantly know “what is what.” This is indeed the unique quality that our saints had in the past. But how can we find such people who know the crucial answer about life nowadays? It isn’t easy but it isn’t at all impossible. I am one of the lucky people who had the privilege to meet and learn from a few quality teachers who led me to know one of the greatest saints of the world, the Buddha. As a Buddhist, it is our moral duty to stand up, confirm what our saint taught us, and possibly pass this on to others. This subsequently resulted in this book as well as my previous one.

I have no doubt in the slightest that the knowledge of the Buddha is the answer for all the troubles we are facing right now. The middle way or the Noble eightfold path is not merely about moderation but is about “knowing what and knowing how”. Alternatively, the middle path can be regrouped into the three main pillars-sila (morality), panna (wisdom) and bhavana (meditation). The enlightenment of the Buddha meant that he had found an ultimate state in nature or Nibbana. This is also the final exit for all sentient beings. Therefore, Nibbana is the ultimate purpose of our lives. I toned this term down to a mere mental tranquillity (harmony) for my students so that they don’t feel that it is too remote from them and therefore easier to identify with. Having found the ultimate state in nature, it enabled the Buddha to establish a distinctive means to reach that particular goal.

This is the triangle which I introduce to my students so that they can see a clear picture of what they do in my Tai chi class.

Nibbana, ultimate truth, knowing oneself, peace of mind.

Tai chi

morality wisdom meditation

The top part of the triangle is the ultimate purpose of life, Nibbana. I toned it down by using the modern terms ie: knowing oneself, mental tranquility which students can easily identify with. The means is the foundation of the triangle. Wisdom leads to knowing what the purpose of life is whilst morality and meditation lead to knowing how to reach that ultimate goal of life. Tai chi is the meditation culture. These three pillars of morality, wisdom and bhavana have resulted in the Eastern way of life, especially the culture of developing a high level of inner-self awareness or vipassana-bhavana. I have to focus on the inner-self awareness because there are so many misconceptions about meditation in the West. This is the reason why I chose to go back to use the Pali term-bhavana.

Meditation in Western society is merely for the purpose of physical and mental relaxation. Meditation in general terms is a technique for training our mental state so that we can have better concentration. In fact, lots of people in different professions have been using meditation techniques (maybe in a way that they don't know) to enable them to have good focus or concentration such as the guards at Buckingham Palace, sportsmen who train for their most important competitions, doctors, artists, writers and so on. They all had to find their way to make their mind fully focus so that they could achieve what they wish to. However, this kind of meditation has nothing to do with the Buddhist practice as vipassana-bhavana at all. That is because this level of meditation does nothing to eradicate the roots of our mental turmoil. That is why we hear of people in prominent professions engaged in scandals, having breakdowns and feeling suicidal at times. That kind of meditation does not prepare people to know themselves better. The core of Buddhist practice is in fact vipassana-bhavana, which is something that did not exist before the enlightenment of the Buddha and this is the precise knowledge which can help us to know ourselves and uproot our mental turmoil.

From my teaching experience, I realise that the greatest barrier among intellectuals nowadays is doubt. According to the Buddha, doubt is one of the five hindrances which weakens the further development of the mind. It can be very damgaing. It is not surprising that students even doubt the existence of the historical Buddha let alone his enlightenment. The survival of Buddhism is undoubtedly due to its being logical, scientific and able to be proven. The only way we can find out whether the Buddha along with his teaching was real or not is by proving it for ourselves. We can prove whether the Buddha’s teaching is real or not is by putting it into practice and this is the most difficult part of all. That is because we have to use our body–mind as the test tube to reach the findings. There is no other way to do it as far as the Buddhist practice is concerned. It means that we have to put all the books behind and earnestly and patiently look into our hearts without hoping for any glory but mere mental and spiritual freedom as the Buddha guided us to do. The Buddha’s way is most significant especially nowadays because he did not tell us to go on our knees and pray to a particular supernatural being so that he could grant us what we wish for. Maybe we have interpreted the meaning of God wrongly altogether. Could it be that God is simply the law of nature and praying to God is simply a way to reach harmony between man and nature? According to Mahatma Ghandi, to find God is to find ourselves. If it is so, this is exactly the knowledge the Buddha taught us. The middle path is about finding our true selves. The Buddha told us not to wait for miracles but to have belief in our own actions and work hard on our own salvation. So did God. “ God helps those who help themselves.” This is the reason why I waste no time in my class in steering the students into the actual practice.

I have no doubt either that engaging in the vipassana-bhavana is one of the right way to create real quality people-the one who know what and know how. The world urgently needs real quality people, not merely clever people. We must know that a great number of people are not the real problem as long as we have real quality people as leaders. The Buddha, Christ and many more saints in the past were high quality people whom we are still closely linked to nowadays. Some one hundred thousand British ruled over four hundred million Indian people. Then, came along Mahatma Ghandi, one real quality person who could lead the whole of the Indian nation to freedom. Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot and many more tyrants were also quality people who were able to cause a massive scale of human suffering beyond comprehension. This is all about quality people who had the ability to either create or destroy. Therefore, I must focus on real quality people, the ones who know the real purpose of life and know how to achieve it.

Having scientifically proved the teachings of the Buddha by putting them into practice, just like any other of the Buddha’s real followers, I come forward and confirm the truth he proclaimed 2586 years ago. I can only say that the Four Noble Truths- suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering and the noble eightfold path which lead to the cessation of all suffering-contains all the answers we need in the world today. The noble eightfold path (Middle Way) which results in the vipassana-bhavana is the essential answer, which could lead us to find our real self (inner-self) and subsequently find the beginning of all problems from domestic to environmental. Human’s minds are the root of all problems and it is a crucial variable factor, which can be changed to either extremely positive or negative. It is this mind, which makes a person become either a saint or a Satan. The Buddha changed a serial killer like Angulimala to a Pra-Arahant-the perfect human-being, not by giving him a new make over of his body but indeed, the new make over of the mind. The human mind is the first and only domino we have to deal with and everything else will resolve on its own.

The purpose of this book is to help my students and the reader to understand vipassana-bhavana so that they can be real quality people and become real assets to the world. Having understood the situation I am in, I know that I cannot make my teaching too Buddhist and too religious. Therefore, I have tried my best to share this important knowledge to others by using Tai chi as a non-religious means for these young people to understand the eastern concept and engage in the crucial practice (samadha-vipssana bhavana) in a way that they don’t feel too awkward and too reluctant to be part of. This is the reason why I have to use modern terms, language and metaphors to explain all these ancient concepts for their better understanding.

I sincerely hope that this book can be a stepping stone for you to know and to find yourself.

May all sentient beings be at peace .

Supawan

11 September 1998