Tan Hiep - Hoc Mon - Ho Chi Minh
Saturday, 04/01/2023
Specific Items of Consult
Destroying Egoism.
Update: 05/05/2015
Answers:
"Ego" is the self of each individual. Destroying\r\n"ego" does not mean self-destroying his/her own body and turning it\r\ninto ashes literally, but in a deep figurative meaning it dispels the notion\r\nthat we are better and more important than anyone else and our body is\r\npermanent and will last forever. This misconception has permeated from\r\nuncountable eons to present. Therefore, we have to recognize and consider the\r\ncultivation seriously and thoroughly in order to destroy ego\r\ncompletely.
Of the twelve causes and conditions that lead all the living\r\nto six realms of existence the first one is ignorance. It is also stupidity,\r\nunenlightenment leading us to create evil karma. We tend to see ourselves as\r\nreality or think that we are better than others, so we make mistakes and commit\r\nsins for our own benefits despite knowing that it is wrong, thereby creating\r\nnegative karma.It is the power of this karma that leads our soul to enter some\r\nfetus after our death.
Love and desire are at the top of kinds of Karmas, so when\r\nwe die, our soul is led to enter an embryo that later become a fetus at the\r\nmoment of a couple’s sexual intercourse, which is a combination\r\nmental and physical factors. The father's sperm cell combines with an egg from\r\na mother to become a new cell. Then, this cell quickly increases from 1 to\r\nmillions of cells. Gradually, the number of cells continue combining and\r\ngrowing rapidly to become a form which includes earth, water,\r\nwind, fire accompanied by a spiritual part composed of feeling,\r\nideation, reaction and consciousness in order to form a fully-constituted\r\nhuman. It is the start of numberless causes and conditions.
A paragraph in The Ullambana Sutra says: "Pregnant\r\nwomen should be careful during the first month when the fetus is the most\r\nvulnerable". At first, it was tiny and as fragile as a dewdrop which\r\neasily melts. If it is carefully protected, it gradually grows up and it is\r\nborn after almost ten months. When the baby is three or four years, it prefers\r\ntouching, handing or tasting anything, etc because this is the period of sense\r\nof touch development. At the approximate age of ten, the stage of emotional\r\ndevelopment begins. While being a child, if scolded, the baby still\r\nlaughs. However, at twelve or thirteen years old, if scolded he/she is upset\r\nand if complimented, he/she is happy. Because of emotion, the stage of Desire\r\nstarts. Due to desire for something, he/she wants to possess it, which is\r\nsupposed to be the origin of sins and evil karma. Also, the Attachment to\r\nmaterial things has been formed since\r\nthen.
Later on, in the period of old age and sickness, we lie in\r\nbed dying in unconsciousness. That is the stage of ignorance. Power of Karma\r\nkept on leading our soul to six realms of existence. Those who recite Buddha’s\r\nname regularly and single-mindedly will attain state of “peaceful mindâ€. So, by\r\nthen, despite their old age and weakness, they still maintain acute and clear awareness\r\n, and can foresee their death to the day and time. That means\r\ndestroying the ignorance and power of karma is not powerful enough to lead our\r\nsoul to be reborn, so we will not suffer and can choose where to be\r\nreborn.
So, those who want freedom in choosing forms of rebirth\r\nafter death should take advantage of time for cultivation to destroy ignorance.\r\nThe simplest way of practicing is reciting "Ami-" when breathing in\r\nand "–tabha Buddha" when breathing out wherever and whenever we can\r\ndo it. Seeing clearly that this physical body is unreal and the life span of a\r\nhuman being only lasts for a breath. Destroying the membrane of ignorance means\r\ndestroying "Egoism", defeating "the self". At that time, in\r\nspite of being insulted, we are not angry at others.
Translated into English by On Thi Ngoc Thao.