Tao Te Ching

When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.

When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and Low Depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other...

By Lao Tzu (Translated by Stephen Mitchell)

တခ်ိဳ႕ကို လွတယ္ ဆိုရင္
က်န္တာေတြက မလွဘူးေပါ့။

တခ်ိဳ႕ကို ေကာင္းတယ္ ဆိုရင္
က်န္တာေတြက မေကာင္းဘူးေပါ့။

ျဖစ္တည္ျခင္း နဲ႕ မတည္ရွိျခင္း
အလြယ္ နဲ႕  အခက္
ရွည္ျခင္း နဲ႕ တိုျခင္း
အျမင့္ နဲ႕ အနိမ့္
အရင္ နဲ႕ ေနာက္
တစ္ခု မရွိဘဲ တစ္ခု ျဖစ္ႏိုင္မလား။

(Translated by TLA)

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Shwe Paul

The following poem was composed for my beloved friend. I would like to apologize to you for my broken words, broken rhythm and broken meaning… but I believe you will surely forgive me if you know my real intention… to cheer up broken hearts…

Shwe Paul

There is a friend with five names
And, these are gained without pain
My aim is just friendly love
Altogether five is fairly enough

The first comes with mother’s gift
God may bless you, ‘long-lived’
I hope, this name can live forever
Yet, I wonder if it’s true or never

I wonder why you get another name
While you are not being insane
Because of fried beans, I thought
Your second name has been got

The third one is the worst, you say
But it means you can’t be gay
All I know is that my friend
You gaze all the girls in front!

Don’t shame because of color and height
One day, you can be tall and white
It’s just kidding, yet, my friend
Forget, and move to the end.

It’s the final name you get
Yes, every one will never forget
I beg you not forget me all
Now, the whole world will call
‘Shwe Paul’, ‘Shwe Paul’!

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Scientific Development

"The science have developed in an order the reverse of what might have been expected. What was the most remote from ourselves was first brought under the domain of law, and then gradually, what was nearer: first the heavens, next the earth, then animal and vegetable life, the human body, and last of all (as yet very imperfectly) the human mind."

- Bertrand Russel, 1935

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နာတယ္ဗ်ိဳး

လေလးရယ္သာ
ႏွင္းေတြကခဲ
ပ်ိဳဒို႕ေမာင္
အေမွာင္ထဲဝယ္
ထိုးေမွာက္ရက္လဲ
ဒူးၾကီးကျပဲ
ျဗဲ။

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I believe I can fly

A gust of wind swiped away the pile of reddish yellow maple leaves. I was sitting on a bench near the lake ‘Placida’, looking through the ripples on the surface of water. The surrounding was so peaceful and serene. Well, a little too peaceful for me, I thought to myself. Suddenly, the blurry shadow of my face on the water surface became totally different from what I looked like. It appeared as a small, smiling, young and innocent face. It, actually, was the face I used to be familiar with. It was me when I was 8.

A thought came to my mind. Man! I am too old to be like that. I have been through many things in my life; ups and downs. I came to know many important things in life at the expense of many precious things. In all these years, my grandfather passed away, my family moved to the Netherlands and I am now studying in America, alone. I, again, looked at the image on the surface of water. I smiled at the boy smiling at me through the water.

I was told that when I was born it had been raining the whole day. Quite the opposite to the weather outside, I was delivered peacefully. I was so quiet that I even surprised and worried my parents. I didn’t cry for most of the time. My parents thought that I was too passive at first. But I was never hesitant to surprise anyone. When I turned five and started my primary school, I turned out to be a monkey. (It has been assumed that humans are decedents of monkey, so I thought it was not very wrong for me to show off my primitive human nature.) I climbed almost all trees around my house. I played all sorts of play ever known to us at that time. There was no internet; there was no play-station; there was no computer game. But I was pretty sure it was so much fun. I still remember playing with tops and flying kites. I still think flying kites is the most fascinating and interesting of all games.

I still remember the set of rules to play with tops. Children used to drew a circle, with a radius of about 2 feet, on the ground. Then, children tried to rotate the tops as quickly as they could. The last one had to put his/her top in the middle of the circle. The others tried to push it away from the circle without getting their tops stuck in the circle. Once the tops are in the circle, no one is allowed to touch his/her top. This is the most important rule, I guess. Anyone who can get the top out of the circle, without getting it stuck in the circle is the winner of the game. He is the hero! I still remember I wanted to be a hero so much that I practiced day and night rotating the top.

Later, my interest changed from the ground to the sky. It was because of my grandfather. One day, he brought me a book about air-planes. Although I couldn’t read well, I was fascinated by the photos and pictures inside the books. Yes, the sky captured my imagination, and I really wanted to fly. But how? I was looking at the birds, and thought to myself. If I had wings, I would be able to fly. So I made wings with plastic bags and glued them to my arms. I was very happy for getting such a marvelous pair of wings on my arms. Then I tried to flip the wings like birds. Well, I couldn’t lift myself a single inch, however hard I flipped. However hard I visualized myself flying, I was still on the ground. So, finally I changed my strategy. Instead of flipping the wings, I tried to glide from the table. I tried to climb up the high table and jump. Finally, I was able to be in the air. I still remember the joy I felt for my accomplishments. But my gliding was not long-lived. The table was pretty high for my age, and my legs started to hurt after a several glides. So, I stopped jumping, and looked for new solutions. I went outside of the house and looking at the sky, and thinking how I could fly. Suddenly, I saw colorful flying things in the sky. The kites! Yes, that’s it, I told to myself. Finally, even though I could not fly myself, I could fly something with my hand.

In fact, flying a kite has never been so easy; there were times that I could fly it without much difficulty, but there were times that I couldn’t even lift it. In fact, flying a kite follows the laws of aerodynamics. Well, at that time, I was too young to know all this stuff. However, flying a kite taught me an important lesson; one has to go against the wind to go up. Without wind, one cannot fly a kite. In face of obstacles, this important lesson always reminds me not to give up, and to go against the wind.

Suddenly, a gentle touch of a maple leaf on my back woke me up and sent me back to the present. I looked around the college campus, and sighed. I was going to leave this place soon too. I was graduating. I was not still sure what lies ahead of me. But one thing is for sure, I thought. There will be the wind, and I have to go against the wind to go up. Looking up the sky, I stood up slowly, saying to myself, ‘I believe I can fly.’

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Nāgārjuna

The central teaching of Nagarjuna is the philosophical (anti-philosophical) doctrine of the emptiness (sunyata) in light of Buddha’s central teachings: impermanence, suffering, and soullessness (non-substantial).

Nagarjuna emphasized on the intuitive understanding of nature of impermanence and soullessness, rather than the intellectual or philosophical understanding. He taught that the absolute truth is beyond the concepts of conventional truth, which operates with duality and independence and substantial, such as the observer vs. the observant, the subject vs. the object, cause vs. effect, before vs. after, becoming vs. cessation. The ultimate nature, in fact, is empty. He taught that all conventional ideas and concepts, as well as all conditioned things or elements, are relative and dependent and conditioned, and therefore, they are not absolute. For example, the concept, “before”, exits only with respect to “now” or “after”. Similarly, the “cause” exists only with respect to “the effect”. Since nothing can exist alone without referring to any other thing, Nagarjuna taught that the existence or non-existence, self or non-self, permanence or impermanence does not mean anything, but emptiness.

The ideas of emptiness, to some extent, can be illustrated by the following example. When we write down a letter on a blank piece of paper, we could see the existence of letter with respect to the paper, and if we erase the letter after sometime, we could see the non-existence of letter with respect to the paper. However, if someone asks where the letter was before it appeared on the paper or if someone asks where the letter goes after its disappearance or if someone asks if a letter exists without the paper, or writing or erasing or the writer or the reader, how can we answer? Since paper, letter, writing, erasing, and reading are all conditioned, dependent and non-substantial, we cannot say anything about their ultimate nature. All we can say is they just come and go and they are just empty.

Similarly, Nagarjuna argued that the Buddha used the conventional truths, especially five aggregates and interdependent arising to teach his true teachings, the nature of impermanence and non-substantial. Without the conventional truth, it would be impossible to communicate or teach. However, the teachings of Buddha themselves, which are also conditioned, dependent and non-substantial, are not the absolute truth. When it comes to the absolute truth, there is no way to explain or describe about it, by using any conventional method or terminology. One has to use insightful wisdom.

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Non-self Doctrine

According to the Buddhist tradition, especially Theravada tradition, there is no such thing as self or soul, which is permanent in nature. Our existence is just because of the interdependent arising, being and cessation of five aggregates (skandas), namely: the aggregate of matter (rupa), the aggregate of sensation (vedana), the aggregate of perception, the aggregate of formations (samskras), and the aggregate of consciousness. The aggregate of matter is the only aggregate of material activities, while the others are mental phenomena. The aggregate of sensation is the faculty to feel. The aggregate of perception is the faculty to perceive and to memorize. The aggregate of formation is the faculty to form habitual patterns and formations, and finally the aggregate of consciousness is to know or to be aware of. Actually, all of these five aggregates are impermanent; they vanish as soon as they appear.

However, the impermanent nature of the five aggregates and the non-self raise a very important question. If there is no self, then who is the one who is suffering, who is the one who is doing good or bad karma, and who is the one who can attain the Nirvana (the Enlightenment)? Actually, the answer lies in the continual interdependent causality. Although the five aggregates are impermanent in nature, they won’t merely vanish. They left an effect (Karma) on the arising of another 5 aggregates, which in turn give birth to another five aggregates and so on. Also, the effect depends on the intensity of the attachment and the frequency of the aggregate of formation (samskras). For example, when we read a book for the first time, we won’t be able to memorize the whole book; however, if we read the book over and over again, we will be able to memorize it, and we will be able understand the book more. In fact, the memorizing process depends on not only the frequency but also how much we are interested in the book. We won’t be able to memorize the book well if we are not interested in it. Also, what we learnt from the book will also change our attitudes and actions. So, generally speaking, the Karma effect of the past five aggregates has laid the foundations for the arising of the future five aggregates. In fact, according to the Buddhist tradition, this is how Karma effects are carried over time naturally, and there is no such thing as soul or self, which is the permanent carrier of Karma effects. Since nothing is impermanent in Buddhism, even the Karma effects will pass away over time, unless we try to do them again. However, the passing away of Karma effect does not necessarily mean the end of the continual interdependent causality, since we are forming the Karma effects all the time through the aggregate of formation. However, through mindfulness, (in other words, the aggregate of consciousness), we will be able to analyze and understand how the continual interdependent causality works, and once we fully understand them, we will be able to reach the Nirvana, the cessation of the continual interdependent causality.

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My Reflections on Buddhim

The journey between our birth and our death is generally known as our life. While going through that journey, all of us, I believe, want to go through it as happily as we can. However, we inexorably stumble upon difficulties as none of us knows what lies ahead of us. Because of these very hardships of life, all of us suffer from depression, stress, misery and unhappiness. We all know very well that we cannot avoid hardships of life, including death, nor escape from them. Therefore, how to overcome the hardships of life has been the continual quest for the humans, the intelligent beings. In a deep sense, it can be said that human history is the history of humans in pursuit of solutions to life problems. In quest of answers to life problems, humans have inevitably encountered the more fundamental questions: Where did we come from? Where are we going? Who we are? What is the meaning of our life? What is our purpose of life? What is right? What is wrong?

At first, the questions seem irrational and absurd. However, after some thought, I think, they are as important and serious as they are difficult to be answered. In truth, all branches of knowledge, such as philosophy, theology, psychology, sociology and science, have come into existence in attempting to answer those questions. Personally, I was lucky enough to have a chance to take Philosophy, Psychology, Buddhism and Artificial Intelligence in the same semester, and this rare opportunity allowed me to look at those questions from different perspectives, normatively and descriptively.

Regarding the questions human beings are eager to know, it is quite interesting and fascinating to see how the Buddhism deals with them. Before delving into how the Buddhism answers those questions, it is important for us to see the world view offered by the Buddhism. The central ideas of the Buddhism are the ideas of impermanence, suffering and non-self (insubstantiality) [1]. In this sense, the Buddhism sees the world as the continuous flux of change, which has no beginning and no end. And it is the unstoppable and insubstantial flux of change that brings us suffering, which we see as the problems of life, such as misery, aging, death etc. In view of the continuous flux of change, the Buddhism avoids to answer the questions as to where we came from and where we are going. From the Buddhism perspective, neither the past nor the future is as important as the present. The present is the only reality, which defines who we are. “Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment,” the Buddha once taught us.

Who are we, actually? This is the primary question which the Buddhism tries to answer with great effort. Non-self doctrine denies the existence of self, which seems so apparent and so real to us. Interdependent origination explains that our existence is relative, thereby rejecting the ideas of absolute existence. In effect, the Buddhism suggests that we are not who we think we are. On the other hand, unfortunately, the Buddhism never suggests who we are actually. However, instead of giving us an explicit answer to the question of who we are, the Buddhism leaves us a path, to figure it out by ourselves, and points out that it is our responsibility to realize our true nature. The Buddha once said in the Parinibbana Sutta: "Be ye islands unto yourselves, be ye a refuge unto yourselves, seek not for refuge in others."

From the Buddhism perspective, our meaning of life depends on how we answer the question of who we are. Unless we know our true nature, our life is not as meaningful as it should be. It is due to our ignorance that we suffer. It is due to our ignorance that we do not know the reality. It is due to our ignorance that we are bounded in the wheel of existence (Samsara). However, it will be due to our wisdom that we will be free from suffering; it will be due to our wisdom that we will realize the reality; it will be due to our wisdom that we will be free from the bondage of life. The purpose of life, as the Buddhism believes, is to achieve the wisdom which will let us know our true nature, thereby allowing us to be free from suffering. Pursing the meaning of life is seeking the true nature of reality.

What is right? What is wrong? The question of what is right or wrong is more than an ethical question. It is, in fact, the question of our destiny.

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

The Buddhism suggests that the ideas of right or wrong come from within, thereby rejecting that the answer of right or wrong comes from the outside world [3]. From the Buddhism perspective, the world is defined by the concepts of conventional truth, which operates with duality and dependence and substantiality. All conventional concepts and ideas are all relative, dependent and conditioned, and therefore they will not lead us to the true nature of right or wrong. As long as we are bounded by the conventional truth [2], we cannot see what is right or wrong. In fact, the absolute truth is beyond the concepts of conventional truth, and it can be only realized through self-cultivation and intuitive understanding, in other words, through the eight-fold noble path.

It can be said that the source of knowledge is the question. In truth, human beings have extended their horizon of knowledge in attempting to answer the questions. The more we ask, the more we know about ourselves and the world around us. Some questions have definite answers, but the others do not have. Particularly, the questions about life are the most difficult to answer and the most important to human beings, since they are related to the well-being of humanity. In pursuit of the answers to the questions of life, we have come across different answers. Science gives us the scientific method, which leads us to the material achievement. Philosophy gives us reasoning and critical thinking, which allows us to question more. Theology lends us faith, to believe in and to appreciate the harmony. Likewise, the Buddhism offers us the answers to the questions of life, from its own perspective. Since the questions of life are open to everyone, I sincerely believe that different people will have their own answers to the questions of life.

References

1. "Buddhism." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 16 Dec 2009, 07:49 UTC. 18 Dec 2009 .

2. "Emptiness." The big view. 16 Dec 2009, 07:49 UTC. 18 Dec 2009 .

3. "The World - Dhamapada." The big view. 16 Dec 2009, 07:49 UTC. 18 Dec 2009 .

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