..續本文上一頁 are also some sublime methods on abandoning distracting thoughts and maintaining inner peace. For example a while ago, I gave a teaching on Finding Comfort and Ease in Meditation to some intellectuals at the Larung Gar Serthar Buddhist Institute. Through practicing and maintaining certain meditation, the mind can find complete rest.

　　Living amidst a bustling city, you are busy day and night, the mind can never be peaceful. So to take seven days or 14 days to practice meditation somewhere particularly quiet in the mountains, and re-experience inner serenity is very necessary. Psychologists today believe that a person”s physical and mental health is strongly related to the mind. If one regularly practices meditation, have a calm mind after rising in the morning, or before resting at night, it would be very beneficial to health.

　　Particularly when you enter society in the future, you will face much pressure, much suffering. If you swirl with these, no matter how much money you make, how high a status you attain, your whole life will still be full of suffering. But if you have the skill of meditation, then no matter what happens externally, you will remain peaceful and calmly face everything.

　　So as intellectuals, if you can cultivate this habit and bring meditative practice into all aspects of your daily life, it would greatly benefit your life, your physical and mental health.

　　Question: Whether Buddhism, Christianity, or Islam; these have all been introduced from the outside to China. This is also the case with contemporary ideas such as freedom, democracy, and equality. Chinese local culture does not appear to have a strong penetrability, and has not led the world in any direction. Dear master, how do you view this phenomenon

　　Answer: Chinese culture is not that unwelcomed abroad. For example in countries like South Korea, Singapore, Canada, many take great delight in the ideas of Confucius and Mencius, and adopt their teachings. In contrast, these ideas do not have much of a market in China today.

　　Just like Buddhism in India, after it spread to other countries, it vanished within India. When I visited India in 1990, I saw that most of the monasteries there were built by Tibetan masters who went to India in the 1950s. Buddhism has also leaned on their force to be flourishing again.

　　Similarly, China also likes to adopt outside thinking, but often abandons its own fine traditions. The roots of Confucian teachings were cut off during the “Criticize Ling Biao, Criticize Confucius” days. Nowadays, classics like the Standards for Being a Good Student and Child are not valued in many schools in the Han region. On the contrary, among other ethnicities, other countries, these teachings are in the full flush of success and held in high esteem.

　　Of course, I am not saying that we cannot accept outside culture. After all, each living being”s causes and conditions, prior cultivations are different. But at the same time as acceptance, we should not throw out everything we originally had!

　　(4) Question by Professor Wang Dexin: Thank you very much teacher Khenpo Sodargye for guiding me onto the right path of life. I would like to ask: it is taught that if one can complete chanting the Vajrasattva heart mantra 400,000 times, and the name of Amitabha in Tibetan 1,000,000 times or Namo Amitabha 6,000,000 times, then one can be reborn in the Western Pure Land. Most of the time, I chant when I am walking, or sitting in a vehicle, or editing writings online. Does this comply with the requirements

　　 Or should I be chanting when I am in sitting meditation

　　Answer: While we are not necessarily very focused when we chant Vajrasattva, chant Amitabha in a car or walking, it is important to fulfill the quantitative completion. To make up for the lack of f…

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