My Ordination Experiences (part 3)

When we joined the Dhammakaya Temple, I was very happy to learn that they also had ordination programs. My first time ordaining, I did it alone. Since it was during the school year, not many people are willing to ordain during that time. We were unaware that there were ordination training programs during the summer, but I had a wonderful and enlightening experience ordaining alone nonetheless.

I joined the Dhammadayada Program (the name Dhammakaya gives to the youth training programs. "Dhamma" is wisdom; "Dayad" is an inheritor; therefore Dhammadayadada means the inheritor of wisdom.)

The first thing everyone does is get registered. We fill out all the necessary paperwork like who they can contact in case of an emergency, the rules and regulations, health examination conducted by nurses and doctors and lastly a short interview with a monk. The monk will usually ask a number of questions like: What made you decide to ordain this year? Do you think you can wake up early? Are you willing to work on building good habits to better yourself? 

After registration is finished, we also have a bag check. The bag check is to help the trainees take out all unnecessary items and give them to the parents to take home. Usually things like cell phones, iPods, video games, or anything else that may disrupt the training and peaceful atmosphere.

The training itself is only two weeks long. One week as a layperson learning how to be a novice, then one week living as a novice. Although some of the kids will not be happy to be away from their technology, they end up appreciating their possessions more later and some learn the valuable lesson of what is a want compared to a need.

The first days we begin with teamwork exercises and getting to know each other. It is a wonderful first day because anyone that is new gains many new friends right from the beginning. We start by having fun and beginning a special project that our year will be responsible for. The project would be something beneficial to the temple, the followers or the kids. Some examples of projects we would do could be building a small stairway, planting trees, cleaning various parts of the temple, or sometimes installing or building a basketball court that the kids can enjoy during weekends. I have found that these kind of projects would truly create a good feeling of teamwork and friendship within the young men.

Luang Por Dhammajayo that I know

There has been a lot of negative and false media about the Dhammakaya temple. Especially the leader of Dhammakaya Temple, Luang Por Dhammajayo. I personally had many great experiences with him. From his teachings through the TV to being near him and speaking to him personally, I have never had a bad experience.

Most Venerable Phrathepyanmahamuni (Luang Por Dhammajayo)

Luang Por Dhammajayo has always encouraged us to do good deeds no matter what bad decisions we may have had in the past. Rather than regret the past that we have no way of correcting, we look forward and continue to do good deeds. No matter how many times we fall down, he is always there smiling, ready to give us a hand and help lead us to what is good for us.

Almost every night, he comes out to teach people to be good on the temple's media channel DMC. He teaches on average of 2-3 hours a night. He has been teaching us in his show Dream in Dream School for more than 10 years now! To top that off, this man is over 70 years old! I see him as our loving father who watches over and wants his children to be the best they can. Always giving us encouragement that we can be great, we can achieve our goals, even if it seem like we cannot even see the light at the end of the tunnel, he carries our torch and leads the way.

With my own personal interactions with Luang Por Dhammajayo, from the stage, his smile gives off a radiant warm feel. The feel of a pure energy that when one comes near him, you cannot help but want to learn something from him. He teaches us Dhamma in a simple and practical way. We listen to him and we understand in a basic way that we can use in everyday life, rather than feeling confused or bored, the way we may feel in a classroom when we don't understand what the teacher is explaining. I had the chance to talk to him for little bits at a time while on a meditation retreat for monks, he always encouraged us to keep meditating and not to give up or stop doing the good deeds we are already doing. I am now back in the United States and I miss my "father" who helped guide us down the path of doing good. Let us share this goodness to our family, friends, and the world.

Goodness makes Life Better

Some people have asked me about why some people do so much merit or good deeds. They see that they don't seem to gain much at all from the goodness they seem to be doing. Because of that, they feel there is no need to do good, just do what you want.

I disagree with them completely. Merit or the goodness you make is always helping you. Merit is the power or pure energy that comes from the good deeds that you have done. At first it will just be a good feeling, feeling that you have helped someone or did something good for society. But it is actually much more vast than the little piece of goodness we think we are making.

For example, I had conducted a little experiment in my youth to see if "doing good" actually makes "good things" come to you. As we know this as the Law of Kamma. When I was a teenager, I just started to understand in a deeper level of what Buddhism is, especially in the topic of making merit or doing good deeds. I ordained a few times by then and had many Dhamma discourses that would touch upon this subject often so I felt that I understood this topic quite well. Only thing left to do was to practice it and see if the results were as they taught us. I started to become very helpful to all my friends, teachers, parents, elders, and even strangers if I felt it was safe to help. I never asked for anything in return but every time I see those people I helped, they always want to give me something. They would have a small snack or gift to give me for helping them. Sometimes I will feel like the gift they were giving me was worth much more than what I did to help them. But putting the little gifts aside, I noticed that even without the gifts, I personally had a happier life. I felt such a wonderful feeling from helping everyone that I ended up feeling the need to help if I could. My heart had expanded and felt that everyone deserved a space there.

My outlook on life became beautiful. This doesn't mean that I ignored the bad things that may happen, instead I realize it, find a solution, and then be happy as it is being solved.

From my own experiment, I was lucky that I could see how making merit affected my siblings as well. We were all raised to be helpful so I could see that the same things that happened to me, also happened to my brother and sister. So this meant that it is not that I am lucky and gain these little things or that I am getting paid for my service, but we are all seeing the benefits of our good deeds.

Bean Sprouts

I learned from the monks that merit is similar to farming. Whatever we plant, we can benefit from or eat later.

-If we plant bean sprouts, they can sprout and grow within a few weeks. We can eat them but the flavor is very plain.

Strawberries

-If we plant strawberries, they will be ripe within a few months. When we eat them, they taste pretty good
(better than bean sprouts)

Mangoes

   -If we plant mangoes, it takes at least 5 years before you get the first fruit. But when we can eat them, the taste is so much better than strawberries.

   With this analogy, we can see that the merit we gain will differ depending on how you make merit and how often. The bean sprouts are like the little things we do everyday for your family or people in general. The strawberries are like the larger favors or donations you do for family or friends. The mangoes are like the big donations or services you do for your church, temple, or charity.

Doing good deeds and making merit always has a benefit for you. It has changed my life for the better, and I encourage you to try it yourself. Believing your life will be better by reading is different than doing good to better both your life and others.

Sources:
-Quote image from pinterest.com
-Beansprouts image from turnericsaffron.blogspot.com
-Strawberries image from orschelnfarmhome.com
-Mangoes image from pinterest.com

My Ordination Experiences (part 2)

Image from Yelp.com (Wat Padhammachart)

Before going to Dhammakaya, the temple I went to gave me a good basic foundation of Buddhism. Before going to the temple, my understanding of Buddhism was very little.

          (Understanding of Buddhism as a child before age 10)
                    1. Bow 3 times to Buddha
                    2. Bow 3 times to monks (people wearing orange)

Funny story in my childhood. Our family went to Thailand and it was during the monsoon season. It was raining very hard outside as we drove somewhere. I saw a monk out in the rain directing traffic so I bowed to him.

     Mom: Why are you bowing?
     Me: There is a monk outside
              (Mom looks out the car window and sees a police officer in a bright orange raincoat)
     Mom: That's not a monk.


From that first ordination, my basic Buddhism has increased to:

          1. Pay respect to the Triple Gems (Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha)
          2. Keep 5 precepts
                   -No killing
                   -No stealing
                   -No Sexual misconduct (adultery)
                   -No lying
                   -No drugs or alcohol
          3. Make more merit by giving, keeping precepts, and meditation.

From ordination, no matter what temple you join or go to, ordination has benefits to help you have some knowledge in how to live life more successfully and to have a guide in how to live your life morally and be loved by everyone you meet.

My Ordination Experiences (part 1)

Ordination is a word that means to become a monk, priest, clerical or religious figure. In Buddhist culture, all boys and men are encouraged to ordain as a novice or monk at least once in their lives. The analogy is that by ordaining as a monk, the merit or goodness you accumulate during your time as a monk will close the gates of hell and open the gates of heaven for your parents. It is considered the absolute greatest way to show your appreciation and respect to your parents who have sacrificed much to help raise you to become the person you are today. Being from a Buddhist family

My first time ordaining as a novice monk was when I was ten years old. My family hadn't heard of Dhammkaya temple yet. At the time we went to another temple near our home. I ordained alone during the school year. It was planned for only three days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) but I ended up extending it to the following weekend (from 3 days to 10 days). I never knew what monks did or what the life of a monk was like, but I knew one thing, I liked it. Something about the life of a monk just felt right to me. I realized at that young age that I wanted to become a monk someday.

Me at 10 years old

During that time as a novice, the schedule wasn't easy as many people think. Most people think monks just sit around and don't do anything. Not true at all. The schedule was roughly like this: wake up 4am, morning chanting meditation, have breakfast, clean the temple, have lunch, clean other parts of the temple, fix and maintenance of the temple (I was a small boy, I did whatever I could help with) and then evening chanting and meditation, then go to sleep. They spent a lot of time meditating. Some days I was asked to help teach the monks English. But you can only learn so much from a 10 year old.

Overall the monks were very kind and took care of me like a older brothers. They would point out what I should do and what I shouldn't and always taught in a kind way and helped me understand by using stories. My first experience ordaining was from a different temple and the year after that, my family found Dhammakaya Temple.

                                                           (To be continued...)

Dhammakaya Meditation

I have mentioned many times how Dhammakaya will teach us a wonderful tool of meditation, but I never talked about it much in these blogs.

Meditation is a wonderful tool that can used by anyone no matter what race, religion, or social status. Truly anyone in the world can benefit from practicing meditation.

The Dhammakaya Technique is very simple to practice. There are two main rudimentary steps: relax the body and then focus the mind at your center. The center of you body is a point in the middle of your abdomen. Two finger widths above naval level. I recommend going to learn with an instructor as it is easier to understand when trying it out yourself.

From my experience, meditation alone has made me a very calm and happy person. Throughout school, my friends have always seen me very happy and calm. I never realized how calm and happy I was compared to my friends until one of them pointed it out. She said she had never seen me mad before. When most of my friends were stressing over tests or finals, I would be calm and cheerful. I realized that the tool I have been using was meditation. From learning how to do meditate, you can meditate anywhere and anytime while doing anything. You could be meditating while you eat, work, and even drive (just don't close your eyes). Meditation is not limited to a seated position either. You could be walking, running, exercising, painting, skating, and the list goes on and on. Once you know how to do meditate, you can easily integrate the simple points of being calm, focused, and relaxed to every aspect of your life.

One example closer to the present. Not long ago, I was taking a Calculus course (high level math). Before going to class, I had a some extra time so I decided to meditate for a few minutes. My professor came and started explaining how to do some equations on the board. After he finished his explanation and asked everyone if they understood, he decided to quiz us. Pop quiz had one question. It turned out to be the exact question he wrote on the board. I finished answering the question very quickly and walked up to hand in my quiz. The professor looked at me and asked if I had a question. I said no, I'm done. I think he was pleasantly surprised how well I absorbed his teaching. This is my example of how even a short amount of meditation can help you in studying.

Overall, I thank Dhammkaya Temple and its branches around the world (DIMC) for teaching meditation to the people. It is truly an invaluable tool that can help us all in our lives to have success in all things we intend to pursue.

DIMC Summer Programs

Throughout the school year, we kids had the Kids Camp as our weekend refreshment of goodness to our lives. It was also the time we could come to hang out and make new friends and gain knowledge and wisdom that can help us throughout out lives.

Team work activity (lift bottles using a rope tied to waist)

During the summer where we kids had too much time on our hands, we were lucky that the Dhammakaya Temple had summer programs. There was the Dhammadayada program, one for boys and one for girls. Dhammadayada programs are team building, meditation oriented, Buddhist based programs. There were team building games and Dhamma lessons appropriate for the youth. I say appropriate because there is a lot of knowledge in the world, but just knowing it doesn't enrich your life unless it is knowledge that you can use in daily life. That is the kind of knowledge we learned at DIMC. An example is how to differentiate between good and bad friends, and also learn how to become a better friend to ourselves. This knowledge will not only benefit the kids learning, but also the ones who are in contact with these kids. Each person is a little candle to help brighten the world, lighting one candle at a time.

Meditation is another big part of the program. Since Dhammakaya's motto is "World Peace Through Inner Peace," you can't go through a program that doesn't teach you how to meditate. This in itself is a valuable tool that anyone can benefit from.

Candle Light Meditation

For the boys, they get an extra special part in their training. They get the chance to see what it is like to be a novice monk. They would get to experience the life of a monk starting with shaving their heads, learning special blessing chants, and learning how to wear the monk's robe.  This is the main difference between the boys and girls programs. Most teenage boys will not like the idea of shaving their head, but most will tell you that the experience of being a monk for a short time was well worth it.

Kids Camp (part 2)

The Kids Camp is very memorable because that was the beginning of my wonderful journey toward building great friendships and fond memories. There were many great lessons learned during the Kids Camp also. One in particular I mentioned in the last post was how to do chores or to really help out around the house. By doing these activities, not only did we learn a new skill, but we were also building a foundation for success. You might say how that can be. By learning to do simple household chores can be a foundation for success.

When children learn to clean and continue to practice it, they will eventually create a habit of keeping clean. When you children are keeping clean, there is less cleaning that is needed to do by both the child and the parents and the child will have a sense of responsibility. Responsibility in helping take care of your parents and the house you all live in together. When their responsibility is increased, they then become confident. At first they are confident in how they can help out around the house, then it becomes confident in what they do and how they think. With the guidance of the parents and good friends (Kalayanamitra) to help encourage them towards what is right and to explain why in both cases the idea or action was right or wrong, their child will then become a good decision maker and have a more clean understanding of morally good and bad.

As you can see from the picture below, we had plenty of children in the categories of young, youth, and teens. There were also many volunteer staff and the teens themselves would be like a big brother or sister to the youngsters and help guide them.


(Sunday School which replaced Kids Camp later on, please continue to follow me to learn more)

Another wonderful lesson we learned was how to meditate. Meditation is a wonderful tool that can help anyone no matter what sex, race, religion, or social status. When we learned to calm our mind, we didn't realize it at the time, but we became more focused and able to absorb and sustain knowledge much longer than before. Meditation is a wonderful tool to have for anyone who would like to experience inner happiness and peace.

Kids Camp

When we started to come to DIMC, they had a program for the kids every week.  It was something they called Kids Camp.  It was a short weekend camp at the temple.  Since DIMC Azusa has many bedrooms, a good amount of children and volunteers to chaperon, this was possible for them to do each weekend.

The parents would come and drop off their kids at the temple on either Friday or Saturday and they would have lots of activities to build friendship, teamwork, and understanding of Buddhism.  From the moment we wake up, they made sure we brushed out teeth, made our beds, and then gather to do morning chanting and meditation together.  Morning chanting would be lenient to those who were still new because they don't want to force anything on anyone, but we kids would all help each other get up and go together.

We would get the chance to offer food to the monks in the morning the traditional way, where the monks would walk barefoot and carry an alms bowl.  We would all put dry foods into the alms bowl and make a wish or resolution that the good deeds we have done bring us happiness, good health, prosperity and all good things our way.

Throughout the day, activities would consist of fun team building games or activities to learn how to help the temple like the simple small jobs we can all help with: sweeping, mopping, wash dishes, vacuuming, setting up meditation mats or chairs, etc.  Right now it may sound like hard labor, but actually because we did it as a team, anything we did finished in about fifteen to twenty minutes. The most wonderful thing about learning how to do these activities which most people would call chores is that after learning how to do it at the temple, we can do these activities in our own home.  So we are learning to keep our own home clean, neat and tidy to help our parents with taking care of our home.

This simple lesson of how to do chores is what helps people have warm families.  You may read this and think this is a bunch of bologna, but it isn't.  I encourage you to try this Universal activity of cleaning your home with family or helping loved ones clean, I am very sure sooner rather than later, your family will have a closer bond.

Kalayanamitra: Good or Moral Friend

(Continuing from previous post)

I gained many new friends at DIMC Azusa, a branch of Dhammakaya Temple in the USA.  After feeling such a warm welcome and gaining lots of friends, I hoped we would come back again.

My parents had a very short discussion about whether they would come back to this center/temple again in the future (technically it is a meditation center, but the Buddhists that come use it as a temple, so from this point on I will just refer to DIMC as the temple).  The discussion was something like this:

     Mom:   Honey, lets come here from now on.

     Dad:     Okay.

Since then, we would come to the temple almost every week if we didn't have any other plans.  We became regular followers and continued to learn Dhamma from the monks and staff.  They were always happy to answer our questions and increase our knowledge in what the Dhammakaya Temple is doing.  From our experience, we can see honest people, doing an honest job, guiding people towards a path of goodness.  The Pali word is Kalayanamitra, a moral or good friend.  They were there to help us to do good and show us a way to do good deeds.  We never felt forced to donate money, food or energy to help them, but they in return never stopped helping us learn to meditate and understand Dhamma.

Heart Warming Environment

From this point on, I would like to tell you my story of all the experiences I can remember from the first time I walked into the a Dhammakaya Temple branch in Azusa, California to visiting the Dhammakaya Temple in Thailand and present day interactions with Dhammakaya monks, staff, and laypeople.

So let us go take a nice trip into the past where I was still a young boy.  It was March 1998 if I remember correctly, the first time my family walked into the Dhammakaya International Meditation Center (DIMC) in Azusa, California.  That year, there was a lot of bad news media in Thailand about this temple, but from our first contact, it was nothing like the media said.  My mother raised us to not believe everything you hear, rather to think about what they say, contemplate and rationalize in your mind, then make a decision.  If while rationalizing this information and it doesn't seem to add up or make sense, then go and find out for yourself.  So that is exactly what my parents did, they decided we should go in and take a look.

The news in Thailand said that only wealthy people would go to this temple, so we dressed up in a fairly nice semi-formal, casual attire (we wanted to look presentable).  As soon as we walked in, we saw all the laypeople wearing humble clean white clothes and a heart warming smile on their faces. We felt like we just came to a family reunion.  Everyone welcomed us and even took time to show us around.  We came in right before lunch so we could offer food to the monks.

We were pleasantly surprised to see children at the temple.  I was eleven years old at the time and having more friends outside of school made the temple that much more appealing to myself and to my family.  Increasingly surprised that they had a short meditation and Dhamma sermon for the kids so we could have a good foundation in meditation and morality.  That day I learned how wonderful it is to be with people who want to do good deeds together.

My first impression at Dhammakaya Temple

Dhammakaya Temple has been around bad media for a very long time. But what I found odd is that when I went to see for myself as a kid with my family, it was nothing like they say in the news.

The media would say that you are forced to donate or tricked into doing it, I rarely donated money and I was treated no different than those who did. I enjoyed volunteering and learning many new life lessons that can help me in the future to come.

I especially loved that the monks and staff would help point me to do good things and encouraged me to continue doing what is right and to stay away from things that will cause harm to myself or others.

From all this positive reinforcement and good teachings to continue to do good kept me on a path to be a good role model to my friends. Being American born and raised, my friends would always invite me to go drinking, but they could never get me to do it and I have gained respect from my friends seeing that I am true to my word in keeping precepts and pursuing goodness.

I thank Dhammakaya Temple for helping me become the man I am today.