A Buddhist Practitioner's Podcast

This series of children's stories was translated and adapted from a classical Chinese children's book series entitled 'The Must Knows of the Eight Virtues 八德須知 (i.e., filial respect and love孝, sibling respect悌, wholeheartedness忠, trustworthiness信, moral and ethical standards禮, rightness義, cleanness廉 and a sense of shame恥)', compiled by Cai Zhenkun蔡振坤 in 1930. These real-life stories will assist you to understand traditional Chinese culture, the culture that plays the key role in sustaining the ancient civilisation.

This series of children's stories was translated and adapted from a classical Chinese children's book series entitled 'The Must Knows of the Eight Virtues 八德須知 (i.e., filial respect and love孝, sibling respect悌, wholeheartedness忠, trustworthiness信, moral and ethical standards禮, rightness義, cleanness廉 and a sense of shame恥)', compiled by Cai Zhenkun蔡振坤 in 1930. These real-life stories will assist you to understand traditional Chinese culture, the culture that plays the key role in sustaining the ancient civilisation.

This series of children's stories was translated and adapted from a classical Chinese children's book series entitled 'The Must Knows of the Eight Virtues 八德須知 (i.e., filial respect and love孝, sibling respect悌, wholeheartedness忠, trustworthiness信, moral and ethical standards禮, rightness義, cleanness廉 and a sense of shame恥)', compiled by Cai Zhenkun蔡振坤 in 1930. These real-life stories will assist you to understand traditional Chinese culture, the culture that plays the key role in sustaining the ancient civilisation.

This series of children's stories was translated and adapted from a classical Chinese children's book series entitled 'The Must Knows of the Eight Virtues 八德須知 (i.e., filial respect and love孝, sibling respect悌, wholeheartedness忠, trustworthiness信, moral and ethical standards禮, rightness義, cleanness廉 and a sense of shame恥)', compiled by Cai Zhenkun蔡振坤 in 1930. These real-life stories will assist you to understand traditional Chinese culture, the culture that plays the key role in sustaining the ancient civilisation.

This series of children's stories was translated and adapted from a classical Chinese children's book series entitled 'The Must Knows of the Eight Virtues 八德須知 (i.e., filial respect and love孝, sibling respect悌, wholeheartedness忠, trustworthiness信, moral and ethical standards禮, rightness義, cleanness廉 and a sense of shame恥)', compiled by Cai Zhenkun蔡振坤 in 1930. These real-life stories will assist you to understand traditional Chinese culture, the culture that plays the key role in sustaining the ancient civilisation.

This series of children's stories was translated and adapted from a classical Chinese children's book series entitled 'The Must Knows of the Eight Virtues 八德須知 (i.e., filial respect and love孝, sibling respect悌, wholeheartedness忠, trustworthiness信, moral and ethical standards禮, rightness義, cleanness廉 and a sense of shame恥)', compiled by Cai Zhenkun蔡振坤 in 1930. These real-life stories will assist you to understand traditional Chinese culture, the culture that plays the key role in sustaining the ancient civilisation.

This series of children's stories was translated and adapted from a classical Chinese children's book series entitled 'The Must Knows of the Eight Virtues 八德須知 (i.e., filial respect and love孝, sibling respect悌, wholeheartedness忠, trustworthiness信, moral and ethical standards禮, rightness義, cleanness廉 and a sense of shame恥)', compiled by Cai Zhenkun蔡振坤 in 1930. These real-life stories will assist you to understand traditional Chinese culture, the culture that plays the key role in sustaining the ancient civilisation.

This series of children's stories was translated and adapted from a classical Chinese children's book series entitled 'The Must Knows of the Eight Virtues 八德須知 (i.e., filial respect and love孝, sibling respect悌, wholeheartedness忠, trustworthiness信, moral and ethical standards禮, rightness義, cleanness廉 and a sense of shame恥)', compiled by Cai Zhenkun蔡振坤 in 1930. These real-life stories will assist you to understand traditional Chinese culture, the culture that plays the key role in sustaining the ancient civilisation.

Hello. In this programme, we'll look at a few more aspects of the truth of the universe and life:What brings people together? There are four root causes. Why was your child born into your family?Why were you born into your parents' family? 

Hello. In this programme we'll look at the following questions and more...What are the root causes of wealth, poverty, wisdom, intelligence, good or bad health?

I made a recording of the Infinite Life Sutra 無量壽經 in Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua, mainland China). For the original Chinese text, please visit the page below.https://www.amtb.tw/pdf/02wlsg_word.pdf 

Many of us want to do our bit and make a better world. But how? Start with correcting ourselves. But how can we tell right from wrong?  Here's a useful checklist. Once we know what is right and what is wrong, the next step is to correct our bad habits and promote the good ones. Buddhism is about practising. If we don't practise Sakyamuni Buddha's teachings, we miss the point of learning / studying Buddhism. Happy listening! Happy practising!

Hello. This is A Buddhist Practitioner’s Podcasts. In the previous programme we learned that respecting and loving our parents is the roots of all virtues and the foundation of Confucian and Buddhist teachings. But then, how do we respect and love our parents? Children of different cultures have different ways of expressing respect and love to their parents. In this programme we’ll learn how children in traditional China showed respect and love to their parents as well as others. What you’re going to hear is a translation of a Chinese textbook for young children written over 300 years ago. The title of the book is ‘Guidelines for Being a Good Person弟子規’. What’s detailed in the book is still relevant to us today. And before learning to become a Buddha, we must learn to be a good human being first.

All thoughts are illusory. Mind is the original self of all things in the universe. In the Buddhist Sutra 法句經 The Dhamapada Sutra, it says, ‘Mind is the origin of all things. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-made 心為法本，心尊心使.’ So without mind, all things disappear. The mind is the original self of all things. There is only one True mind, but not two.  In the Buddhist sutra The Avatamsaka Sutra 華嚴經, it says, ‘All Buddhas share one Dharma body一切诸佛身，唯是一法身.’ The Dharma body is the self-nature. The dharma body is the True Mind. The mind that all Buddhas talk about is this one mind. Sakyamuni Buddha likened the True Mind to the ocean. The minds of all beings (including our own) are like bubbles in the ocean. The ocean is one, but there are infinite bubbles in the ocean.  

Hello, in this programme we’ll briefly talk about the types of Buddhism that we see on this planet. Sakyamuni Buddha 釋迦牟尼佛 founded Buddhism 3,000 years ago. But what exactly is Buddhism? Some of us might immediately reply, ‘Aha, Buddhism is a religion.’ Well, is it really a religion? Let’s look at the definition of the English word ‘religion’. In the definition given in the Oxford Dictionary, religion involves a superhuman controlling power.      However, Sakyamuni Buddha taught us that Buddhas and bodhisattvas 菩薩 do not and cannot control our destinies, and we are the makers and masters of our own destinies. He also taught us that every being, including human beings, has Buddha-nature 一切眾生皆有佛性, and each one of us can become a Buddha. That’s why there are an infinite number of Buddhas in the universe. So Buddhism is not a religion, but it’s now turned into a religion and we can’t deny it. It’s important that we can identify different types of Buddhism and wisely decide which one to follow.      The first type is Sakyamuni Buddha’s Buddhism which is education. It’s Sakyamuni Buddha’s teachings, but we can hardly see it now. Sakyamuni Buddha taught throughout his life, and this is something we must understand. It’s clearly recorded in Buddhist sutras. Before becoming a Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha was a crown prince 太子.        At the age of 19, he left his splendid palace and a life of luxury, and became a monk in the hope of finding out why people have to go through the cycle of birth, old age, illness and death, and how to stop old age, illness and death, and how to get out of the cycle of birth and death, and ultimately obtain happiness and peace. At the age of 30, he attained the Enlightenment and became a Buddha, the Enlightened One 覺者.       He started teaching, immediately after attaining the Enlightenment. He delivered his first lecture to the five bhikkhus 比丘 at a grove called the ‘Deer Park’ 鹿野苑. The five bhikkhus understood what he taught and requested to study further under his tutelage. At the age of 80 he passed into Nibbana 入涅槃(圓寂). In total, he taught 49 years. So in every respect, he was an educator. He was neither a god nor an immortal but a human being, a fully enlightened human being         Some of us might have heard the three Buddhist terms, that is, Buddha 佛陀, bodhisattva 菩薩 and arhat (in Sanskrit) or arahant (in Pali) 阿羅漢. All of these are the names of levels of attainment in Buddhism, similar to the academic degrees we receive. For the convenience of understanding, Buddha is equivalent to a doctorate degree . Bodhisattva is equivalent to a Master’s degree . And arhat is equivalent to a bachelor’s degree .                       In ancient times the Chinese also had academic degrees. The first one was jinshi 進士 or ‘presented scholar’ which was equivalent to a doctorate degree. The second one was juren 舉人 or ‘recommended man’ which was equivalent to a Master’s degree. The third one was xiucai 秀才 or ‘flowering talent’ which was equivalent to a bachelor’s degree. Be it jinshi進士 ‘presented scholar’, juren舉人 ‘recommended man’, or xiucai秀才 ‘flowering talent’, all of them are the names of academic degrees. We study hard and take exams. The degrees are the results of our own efforts and indicate the level of our academic attainments. They are recognised by the public.       So in Buddhism all beings can become Buddhas 眾生皆可成佛. This is different from religion. In a religion no beings can become God. God is unique and one. But in Buddhism all beings can become Buddhas. This is something we should be clear about. Once we clearly understand what Buddhism is, we’ll no longer be deluded.