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Lingkungan / India
« on: 03 November 2007, 04:45:10 PM »
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=27700
Islam's War Against Buddhism
By Dhammajarat
FrontPageMagazine.com | April 4, 2007
“Allahu Akbar”! begitu bunyi yg keluar dari loudspeaker, yg menghancurkan suasana sejuk & damai pada pagi subuh itu.
Saya terhentak, seakan ditabrak mobil dgn tiba2. Suara intrusif itu menyusup kemana2, bahkan ke telinga burung2 yg tadinya sedang beristirahat dlm kegelapan pagi.
Waktu itu beberapa menit sebelum pk 4 pagi. Saya duduk dibawah pohon suci Maha Bodhi di Bodh Gaya, di negara bagian Bihar di India. Waktu itu bulan Mei 2004, beberapai hari setelah Hari Raya Waisak. Ini kunjungan saya kedua di tempat yg tidak ada duanya didunia ini, tempat Sang Buddha mencapai Boddisathva sekitar 2.500 thn yg lalu. Kini, menjelang akhir hari ke 10 kunjungan saya, saya akhirnya diberi kehormatan utk menghabiskan malam itu di kompleks perumahan Sang Maha Bodhi.
Rencana saya adalah menghabiskan seluruh malam mempelajari meditasi/bertapa sambil bersila, meditasi sambil berjalan dan memutar2i Stupa Maha Bodhi. Udara cukup hangat dan meditasi saya berjalan dgn baik, tanpa merasakan lewatnya waktu.
Bulan malam itu memainkan sinar2 cantiknya pada daun2 yg berkelap kelip di pohon Maha Bodhi, bunyi daun2 yg ditiup dan keheningan yg maha agung membawa saya kembali ke jaman Buddha, saat ia sendiri sedang duduk persis ditempat saya ini.
Atau begitulah yg saya sangka…….
Tahu2 bunyi loudspeaker yg berteriak2 memanggil pengikut Islam, persis di lokasi tersuci Budhisme ini, menghentakkan saya kembali kepada Dunia modern. Saya shock berat ! Mana mungkin ! Pada tempat yg paling suci Budha ini, bukan hanya satu tapi BEBERAPA loudspeaker mengganggu kami pd pk 4 pagi, mengagetkan dan mengganggu para pertapa yg menggunakan tempat paling suci ini !
KURANG AJAR ! Kok ini diijinkan
Suara muezzin juga tidak selesai2. Sampai 20 menit lamanya suara kaset rusak itu berlangsung !!
Setelah kaset rusak Allah itu berhenti, keheninganpun pulih kembali. Tetapi konsentrasi saya sudah hancur. Bukannya mengikuti irama nafas saya, saya mulai merasakan intrusi dan paradox yg baru saya alami itu.
Pikiran saya melayang ke Mekah !
Apakah ada satu agama yg berani bertingkah spt ini di tempat tersuci Islam, spt cara Islam meng-intrusi terhdp tempat tersuci Budhisme ini ?
No way! Siapapun yg mencobanya akan dipenggal lehernya ! Jangan2 mendekati Kabah, pasang loudspeaker yg bunyinya terdengar sampai ke Mesjid Agung saja, bisa mengakibatkan seluruh keluarga saya dibantai. Munafiknya Islam ini memang tidak ada batasannya. Luar biasa !
Setelah beberapa waktu kemudian, shock saya mulai mereda dan saya mulai melihat ini sbg kelanjutan sebuah invasi menyedihkan terhdp Budhisme yg sudah berlangsung sejak jaman baheula oleh Islam.
Dlm kunjungan2 saya sebelumnya ke India, saya telah berziarah ke setiap tempat bersejarah yg dihubungkan dgn Sang Buddha. Pada setiap lokasi polanya sama : Stupa agung atau universitas Budhis dgn arsitektur menakjubkan itu hanya tinggal puing2. Bahkan tempat lahirnya dan dikuburnya Buddha juga diHANCURKAN ISLAM. Dgn penggalian dijaman modern ini, baru sebagian bisa direstorasi.
Saya belajar dari para pengantar wisata (guide) bahwa lokasi2 ini semuanya dihancurkan oleh invasi tentara2 Muslim di jaman dulu. Dimulai pada thn 900M oleh tentara Turki yg datang dari daerah yg kini dinamakan Afghanistan, dan berlanjut selama 1000 tahun sampai era Mughal. Serangan demi serangan yg memang dirancang utk menghancurkan seluruh agama, seluruh kawasan India dari muka bumi ini. Sejarah panjang Islam, yg disebarkan dgn pedang dan api ini, meninggalkan bekas yg menganga pada tempat2 Budhisme indah & damai ini.
Saya baru tahu bahwa para biarawan dan biarawati dibantai tanpa ampun dan tubuh mereka ditumpuk dan dibakar dan dimanapun angin Islam ini bertiup, rakyat yg masih bisa menyelamatkan diri terdesak utk mengungsi keluar dari India.
Saya baru tahu bgm orang2 Buddha mencapai Tibet dan Asia Tenggara. Karena melarikan diri dari Islam ! Jadi sebenarnya kepercayaan saya (Budhisme) telah diberi cap pengungsi oleh agama maha pemurah bernama Islam itu.
Saya baru tahu bahwa Islam khususnya keji dan brutal terhdp Buddhis, karena bagi Muslim, seorang Buddhis mewakili tipe manusia yg paling najis : yi sbg “atheist” yg tidak percaya pada sebuah Tuhan yg monotheistic. Kami dianggap lebih rendah dari orang Hindu dgn ribuan dewa dewi mereka. Kaum Buddhis, bagi Muslim, hanya memuja gambaran seorang lelaki, dan bukan Tuhan yg lebih tinggi.
Nampaknya mereka memang malas mempelajari filosofi Buddhisme lebih dalam. Dan begitulah cara2 Islam menyebarkan ‘kasih’nya terhdp Budhisme selama berabad2 ------sampai sekarang.
Saya jadi mengingat kembali saat patung agung Buddha di Bamiyan dihancurkan oleh Taliban. Saya masih ingat air mata saya ketika melihat patung luar biasa megahnya itu, patung2 kuno yg paling besar di dunia ini, dihancurkan menjadi debu. Saya mendengar seruan Taleban ketika itu yg terdengar lewat laporan televisi, lagi2 seruan yg sama itu : “Allahu Akbar!” Seruan yg sama yg membatalkan meditasi saya dibawah pohon Bodhi itu.
Kini saya berdoa agar saya tidak akan pernah mendengar suara panggilan ini ditempat kediaman saya di Amerika. Sebelum Islam mereformasi diri secara total , kita semua akan menjadi korban. Menurut pengalaman saya, Islam tidak berubah sedikitpun. Malah, Islam kini menjadi lebih agresif ketimbang dijaman invasi mereka di abad
9 & 13. Islam “Modern” ingin membangunkan kembali jaman gelap pembantaian dan penjarahan mereka demi Allah mereka.
Kami, Buddhis, harus sadar bahwa kami dan praktek2 ajaran kami yg kami cintai, akan diberangus habis total, kalau Islam mengambil alih dunia tempat kita hidup ini. Islam adalah satu2nya agama yg menyebarkan diri dgn pedang.
Dan Islam menunggu dgn sangat sabar.
Satu.
Islam's War Against Buddhism
By Dhammajarat
FrontPageMagazine.com | April 4, 2007
“Allahu Akbar”! begitu bunyi yg keluar dari loudspeaker, yg menghancurkan suasana sejuk & damai pada pagi subuh itu.
Saya terhentak, seakan ditabrak mobil dgn tiba2. Suara intrusif itu menyusup kemana2, bahkan ke telinga burung2 yg tadinya sedang beristirahat dlm kegelapan pagi.
Waktu itu beberapa menit sebelum pk 4 pagi. Saya duduk dibawah pohon suci Maha Bodhi di Bodh Gaya, di negara bagian Bihar di India. Waktu itu bulan Mei 2004, beberapai hari setelah Hari Raya Waisak. Ini kunjungan saya kedua di tempat yg tidak ada duanya didunia ini, tempat Sang Buddha mencapai Boddisathva sekitar 2.500 thn yg lalu. Kini, menjelang akhir hari ke 10 kunjungan saya, saya akhirnya diberi kehormatan utk menghabiskan malam itu di kompleks perumahan Sang Maha Bodhi.
Rencana saya adalah menghabiskan seluruh malam mempelajari meditasi/bertapa sambil bersila, meditasi sambil berjalan dan memutar2i Stupa Maha Bodhi. Udara cukup hangat dan meditasi saya berjalan dgn baik, tanpa merasakan lewatnya waktu.
Bulan malam itu memainkan sinar2 cantiknya pada daun2 yg berkelap kelip di pohon Maha Bodhi, bunyi daun2 yg ditiup dan keheningan yg maha agung membawa saya kembali ke jaman Buddha, saat ia sendiri sedang duduk persis ditempat saya ini.
Atau begitulah yg saya sangka…….
Tahu2 bunyi loudspeaker yg berteriak2 memanggil pengikut Islam, persis di lokasi tersuci Budhisme ini, menghentakkan saya kembali kepada Dunia modern. Saya shock berat ! Mana mungkin ! Pada tempat yg paling suci Budha ini, bukan hanya satu tapi BEBERAPA loudspeaker mengganggu kami pd pk 4 pagi, mengagetkan dan mengganggu para pertapa yg menggunakan tempat paling suci ini !
KURANG AJAR ! Kok ini diijinkan
Suara muezzin juga tidak selesai2. Sampai 20 menit lamanya suara kaset rusak itu berlangsung !!
Setelah kaset rusak Allah itu berhenti, keheninganpun pulih kembali. Tetapi konsentrasi saya sudah hancur. Bukannya mengikuti irama nafas saya, saya mulai merasakan intrusi dan paradox yg baru saya alami itu.
Pikiran saya melayang ke Mekah !
Apakah ada satu agama yg berani bertingkah spt ini di tempat tersuci Islam, spt cara Islam meng-intrusi terhdp tempat tersuci Budhisme ini ?
No way! Siapapun yg mencobanya akan dipenggal lehernya ! Jangan2 mendekati Kabah, pasang loudspeaker yg bunyinya terdengar sampai ke Mesjid Agung saja, bisa mengakibatkan seluruh keluarga saya dibantai. Munafiknya Islam ini memang tidak ada batasannya. Luar biasa !
Setelah beberapa waktu kemudian, shock saya mulai mereda dan saya mulai melihat ini sbg kelanjutan sebuah invasi menyedihkan terhdp Budhisme yg sudah berlangsung sejak jaman baheula oleh Islam.
Dlm kunjungan2 saya sebelumnya ke India, saya telah berziarah ke setiap tempat bersejarah yg dihubungkan dgn Sang Buddha. Pada setiap lokasi polanya sama : Stupa agung atau universitas Budhis dgn arsitektur menakjubkan itu hanya tinggal puing2. Bahkan tempat lahirnya dan dikuburnya Buddha juga diHANCURKAN ISLAM. Dgn penggalian dijaman modern ini, baru sebagian bisa direstorasi.
Saya belajar dari para pengantar wisata (guide) bahwa lokasi2 ini semuanya dihancurkan oleh invasi tentara2 Muslim di jaman dulu. Dimulai pada thn 900M oleh tentara Turki yg datang dari daerah yg kini dinamakan Afghanistan, dan berlanjut selama 1000 tahun sampai era Mughal. Serangan demi serangan yg memang dirancang utk menghancurkan seluruh agama, seluruh kawasan India dari muka bumi ini. Sejarah panjang Islam, yg disebarkan dgn pedang dan api ini, meninggalkan bekas yg menganga pada tempat2 Budhisme indah & damai ini.
Saya baru tahu bahwa para biarawan dan biarawati dibantai tanpa ampun dan tubuh mereka ditumpuk dan dibakar dan dimanapun angin Islam ini bertiup, rakyat yg masih bisa menyelamatkan diri terdesak utk mengungsi keluar dari India.
Saya baru tahu bgm orang2 Buddha mencapai Tibet dan Asia Tenggara. Karena melarikan diri dari Islam ! Jadi sebenarnya kepercayaan saya (Budhisme) telah diberi cap pengungsi oleh agama maha pemurah bernama Islam itu.
Saya baru tahu bahwa Islam khususnya keji dan brutal terhdp Buddhis, karena bagi Muslim, seorang Buddhis mewakili tipe manusia yg paling najis : yi sbg “atheist” yg tidak percaya pada sebuah Tuhan yg monotheistic. Kami dianggap lebih rendah dari orang Hindu dgn ribuan dewa dewi mereka. Kaum Buddhis, bagi Muslim, hanya memuja gambaran seorang lelaki, dan bukan Tuhan yg lebih tinggi.
Nampaknya mereka memang malas mempelajari filosofi Buddhisme lebih dalam. Dan begitulah cara2 Islam menyebarkan ‘kasih’nya terhdp Budhisme selama berabad2 ------sampai sekarang.
Saya jadi mengingat kembali saat patung agung Buddha di Bamiyan dihancurkan oleh Taliban. Saya masih ingat air mata saya ketika melihat patung luar biasa megahnya itu, patung2 kuno yg paling besar di dunia ini, dihancurkan menjadi debu. Saya mendengar seruan Taleban ketika itu yg terdengar lewat laporan televisi, lagi2 seruan yg sama itu : “Allahu Akbar!” Seruan yg sama yg membatalkan meditasi saya dibawah pohon Bodhi itu.
Kini saya berdoa agar saya tidak akan pernah mendengar suara panggilan ini ditempat kediaman saya di Amerika. Sebelum Islam mereformasi diri secara total , kita semua akan menjadi korban. Menurut pengalaman saya, Islam tidak berubah sedikitpun. Malah, Islam kini menjadi lebih agresif ketimbang dijaman invasi mereka di abad
9 & 13. Islam “Modern” ingin membangunkan kembali jaman gelap pembantaian dan penjarahan mereka demi Allah mereka.
Kami, Buddhis, harus sadar bahwa kami dan praktek2 ajaran kami yg kami cintai, akan diberangus habis total, kalau Islam mengambil alih dunia tempat kita hidup ini. Islam adalah satu2nya agama yg menyebarkan diri dgn pedang.
Dan Islam menunggu dgn sangat sabar.
Satu.
2
Politik, ekonomi, Sosial dan budaya Umum / Malaysia Tolak Perubahan Agama Lina Joy
« on: 29 October 2007, 01:33:34 AM »
Malaysia Tolak Perubahan Agama Lina Joy
Thursday, May. 31, 2007 Posted: 4:03:41PM PST
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) – Pengadilan tinggi Malaysia pada hari Rabu menolak permintaan seorang wanita untuk diakui sebagai seorang Kristiani, dalam kasus penting yang menguji batas kebebasan beragama di negara Islam moderat ini.
Lina Joy, yang lahir sebagai Azlina Jailani, telah mengajukan perubahan nama di kartu identitasnya. Departemen Pendaftaran Nasional menyetujui tapi menolak merubah Muslim dari kolom agama.
Ia mengajukan keputusan ke sebuah pengadilan sipil namun diberitahu dia harus ke pengadilan Syariah Islam. Joy, 43, berargumen dia tidak dapat diikat oleh hukum Syariah karena dia adalah seorang Kristiani.
Pengadilan Tinggi Federal yang terdiri atas panel tiga hakim pada hari Rabu menghasilkan keputusan 2-1 yang menyatakan hanya Pengadilan Syariah Islam yang mempunyai kuasa yang membolehkan dia mengganti kata “Islam” dari kategori agama di kartu identitasnya.
"Dia tidak bisa dengan mudah menurut tingkahnya sendiri masuk atau meninggalkan agamanya," kata Hakim Ahmad Fairuz. "Dia harus mengikuti aturan."
Hakim Richard Malanjum, satu-satunya non-Muslim di panel itu, berpihak pada Joy, mengatakan "tidak beralasan" memintanya kembali ke Pengadilan Syariah karena dia bisa menghadapi tuntutan kriminal disana. Kemurtadan dianggap sebagai kejahatan yang bisa mendapat hukuman denda dan penjara. Pelanggar juga sering dikirim ke pusat-pusat rehabilitasi seperti penjara.
Joy tidak hadir di pengadilan hari Rabu.
Sekitar 60 persen dari 26 juta penduduk Malaysia adalah Melayu Muslim, yang hak-hak sipil, perkawinan dan pribadi nya ditentukan oleh pengadilan Syariah. Minoritas – etnis Tionghoa, India, dan komunitas lain yang lebih kecil – diatur oleh pengadilan sipil.
Namun konstitusi tidak mengatakan siapa yang mempunyai keputusan akhir dalam kasus-kasus seperti kasus Joy saat Islam mengkonfrontasi Kekr****nan, Hinduisme, Buddhisme atau agama-agama lain.
Tokoh-tokoh pendiri Malaysia sengaja meninggalkan konstitusi samar-samar, tidak bersedia mengecewakan tiga kelompok etnis dominan setelah kemerdekaan dari Inggris 50 tahun yang lalu, dimana saat itu membangun bangsa multiras yang damai lebih penting.
Situasi tersebut semakin diperkeruh dengan konstitusi yang menggambarkan Maysia sebagai negara sekular tapi mengakui Islam sebagai agama resmi.
Joy, yang mulai datang ke gereja pada 1990 dan dibaptis delapan tahun kemudian, telah dikucilkan dari keluarganya dan kabarnya dipaksa untuk berhenti dari pekerjaannya sebagai sales komputer setelah para klien mengancam menarik bisnis mereka.
Dia dan pacarnya yang merupakan etnis India ka****k bersembunyi di awal 2006 karena takut menjadi target fanatik Muslim, kata pengacara Joy.
Kasus Joy menimbulkan kemarahan kelompok-kelompok Muslim di jalan-jalan dan berujung pada banyaknya surat elektronik yang berisi ancaman mati untuk seorang pengacara Muslim yang mendukung dia.
Leonard Teoh, seorang pengacara ka****k, mengekspresikan kekecewaan terhadap hasil pengadilan hari Rabu, mengatakan keputusan itu gagal melindungi hak beragama.
"Orang seperti Lina Joy tidak seharusnya dijebak dalam kurungan legal, tidak bisa keluar untuk mempraktekkan kesadaran dan agama mereka, " kata Teoh.
Presiden Gerakan Pemuda Muslim Yusri Mohammad mengatakan pada hari Rabu bahwa "kami percaya penuh keadilan telah ditegakkan."
"Kami memuji Allah untuk keputusan yang diambil pengadilan," kata Mohammad. "Hal itu harus dilihat sebagai penolakan terhadap usaha yang dilakukan individu, pihak tertentu, yang secara radikal mau merekonstruksi dan merubah formula kita mula-mula" untuk isu-isu beragama.
Kasus Joy adalah yang paling menonjol dalam benang merah beberapa perselisihan agama baru-baru ini, diantaranya termasuk hak asuh anak yang lahir dari orangtua yang berbeda iman, dan satu kasus melibatkan seorang pria Hindu yang meninggal dan masuk Islam tanpa sepengetahuan keluarganya dan diperintahkan pihak berwenang Islam untuk dikuburkan sebagai Muslim.
===============================================
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070530/D8PEPDH00.html
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia's top civil court Wednesday rejected a woman's appeal to be recognized as a Christian, in a landmark case that tested the limits of religious freedom in this moderate Islamic country.
Lina Joy, who was born Azlina Jailani, had applied for a name change on her government identity card. The National Registration Department obliged but refused to drop Muslim from the religion column.
She appealed the decision to a civil court but was told she must take it to Islamic Shariah courts. Joy, 43, argued that she should not be bound by Shariah law because she is a Christian.
A three-judge Federal Court panel ruled by a 2-1 majority that only the Islamic Shariah Court has the power to allow her to remove the word "Islam" from the religion category on her government identity card.
(AP) While waiting for the verdict on Lina Joy's court case, a Muslim woman prays together for a denial...
Full Image
"She cannot simply at her own whims enter or leave her religion," Judge Ahmad Fairuz said. "She must follow rules."
Judge Richard Malanjum, the only non-Muslim on the panel, sided with Joy, saying it was "unreasonable" to ask her to turn to the Shariah Court because she could face criminal prosecution there. Apostasy is a crime punishable by fines and jail sentences. Offenders are often sent to prison-like rehabilitation centers.
Joy was not present at the hearing.
Her lawyer, Benjamin Dawson, said Joy is "extremely disappointed" with the verdict.
"That to Lina, is a denial of her constitutional right to decide the religion of her choice," Dawson told The Associated Press.
(AP) While waiting for the verdict on Lina Joy's court case, a Muslim woman prays together for a denial...
Full Image
She has not decided on the next course of action, as her options are limited, he said. Joy can choose to remain a Muslim, appear before the Shariah court, or emigrate.
About 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people are Malay Muslims, whose civil, family, marriage and personal rights are decided by Shariah courts. The minorities - the ethnic Chinese, Indians and other smaller communities - are governed by civil courts.
But the constitution does not say who has the final say in cases such as Joy's when Islam confronts Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism or other religions.
The founding fathers of Malaysia left the constitution deliberately vague, unwilling to upset any of the three ethnic groups dominant at the time of independence from Britain 50 years ago, when building a peaceful multiracial nation was more important.
The situation was muddied further with the constitution describing Malaysia as a secular state but recognizing Islam as the official religion.
Joy, who began going to church in 1990 and was baptized eight years later, has been disowned by her family and has said she was forced to quit her computer sales job after clients threatened to withdraw their business.
She and her ethnic Indian Catholic boyfriend went into hiding in early 2006 amid fears they could be targeted by Muslim zealots, Joy's lawyer has said.
Joy's case sparked angry street protests by Muslim groups and led to e-mail death threats against a Muslim lawyer supporting her.
Leonard Teoh, a Malaysian Catholic lawyer, expressed disappointment at the ruling, saying the verdict failed to protect religious rights.
"People like Lina Joy shouldn't be trapped in a legal cage, not being able to come out to practice their true conscience and religion," Teoh said.
Muslim Youth Movement President Yusri Mohammad said that "we fully believe justice has been served."
"We praise Allah for the decision taken by the court," Mohammad said. "It should be seen as a rejection of attempts by certain individuals, certain parties, to deconstruct and radically revamp our current formula" for religious issues.
Joy's case is the most prominent in a string of recent religious disputes, some involving custody of children born to parents of different faiths, and one involving a deceased Hindu man who converted to Islam without his family's knowledge and whom Islamic authorities ordered to be buried as a Muslim.
_________________
Thursday, May. 31, 2007 Posted: 4:03:41PM PST
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) – Pengadilan tinggi Malaysia pada hari Rabu menolak permintaan seorang wanita untuk diakui sebagai seorang Kristiani, dalam kasus penting yang menguji batas kebebasan beragama di negara Islam moderat ini.
Lina Joy, yang lahir sebagai Azlina Jailani, telah mengajukan perubahan nama di kartu identitasnya. Departemen Pendaftaran Nasional menyetujui tapi menolak merubah Muslim dari kolom agama.
Ia mengajukan keputusan ke sebuah pengadilan sipil namun diberitahu dia harus ke pengadilan Syariah Islam. Joy, 43, berargumen dia tidak dapat diikat oleh hukum Syariah karena dia adalah seorang Kristiani.
Pengadilan Tinggi Federal yang terdiri atas panel tiga hakim pada hari Rabu menghasilkan keputusan 2-1 yang menyatakan hanya Pengadilan Syariah Islam yang mempunyai kuasa yang membolehkan dia mengganti kata “Islam” dari kategori agama di kartu identitasnya.
"Dia tidak bisa dengan mudah menurut tingkahnya sendiri masuk atau meninggalkan agamanya," kata Hakim Ahmad Fairuz. "Dia harus mengikuti aturan."
Hakim Richard Malanjum, satu-satunya non-Muslim di panel itu, berpihak pada Joy, mengatakan "tidak beralasan" memintanya kembali ke Pengadilan Syariah karena dia bisa menghadapi tuntutan kriminal disana. Kemurtadan dianggap sebagai kejahatan yang bisa mendapat hukuman denda dan penjara. Pelanggar juga sering dikirim ke pusat-pusat rehabilitasi seperti penjara.
Joy tidak hadir di pengadilan hari Rabu.
Sekitar 60 persen dari 26 juta penduduk Malaysia adalah Melayu Muslim, yang hak-hak sipil, perkawinan dan pribadi nya ditentukan oleh pengadilan Syariah. Minoritas – etnis Tionghoa, India, dan komunitas lain yang lebih kecil – diatur oleh pengadilan sipil.
Namun konstitusi tidak mengatakan siapa yang mempunyai keputusan akhir dalam kasus-kasus seperti kasus Joy saat Islam mengkonfrontasi Kekr****nan, Hinduisme, Buddhisme atau agama-agama lain.
Tokoh-tokoh pendiri Malaysia sengaja meninggalkan konstitusi samar-samar, tidak bersedia mengecewakan tiga kelompok etnis dominan setelah kemerdekaan dari Inggris 50 tahun yang lalu, dimana saat itu membangun bangsa multiras yang damai lebih penting.
Situasi tersebut semakin diperkeruh dengan konstitusi yang menggambarkan Maysia sebagai negara sekular tapi mengakui Islam sebagai agama resmi.
Joy, yang mulai datang ke gereja pada 1990 dan dibaptis delapan tahun kemudian, telah dikucilkan dari keluarganya dan kabarnya dipaksa untuk berhenti dari pekerjaannya sebagai sales komputer setelah para klien mengancam menarik bisnis mereka.
Dia dan pacarnya yang merupakan etnis India ka****k bersembunyi di awal 2006 karena takut menjadi target fanatik Muslim, kata pengacara Joy.
Kasus Joy menimbulkan kemarahan kelompok-kelompok Muslim di jalan-jalan dan berujung pada banyaknya surat elektronik yang berisi ancaman mati untuk seorang pengacara Muslim yang mendukung dia.
Leonard Teoh, seorang pengacara ka****k, mengekspresikan kekecewaan terhadap hasil pengadilan hari Rabu, mengatakan keputusan itu gagal melindungi hak beragama.
"Orang seperti Lina Joy tidak seharusnya dijebak dalam kurungan legal, tidak bisa keluar untuk mempraktekkan kesadaran dan agama mereka, " kata Teoh.
Presiden Gerakan Pemuda Muslim Yusri Mohammad mengatakan pada hari Rabu bahwa "kami percaya penuh keadilan telah ditegakkan."
"Kami memuji Allah untuk keputusan yang diambil pengadilan," kata Mohammad. "Hal itu harus dilihat sebagai penolakan terhadap usaha yang dilakukan individu, pihak tertentu, yang secara radikal mau merekonstruksi dan merubah formula kita mula-mula" untuk isu-isu beragama.
Kasus Joy adalah yang paling menonjol dalam benang merah beberapa perselisihan agama baru-baru ini, diantaranya termasuk hak asuh anak yang lahir dari orangtua yang berbeda iman, dan satu kasus melibatkan seorang pria Hindu yang meninggal dan masuk Islam tanpa sepengetahuan keluarganya dan diperintahkan pihak berwenang Islam untuk dikuburkan sebagai Muslim.
===============================================
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070530/D8PEPDH00.html
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia's top civil court Wednesday rejected a woman's appeal to be recognized as a Christian, in a landmark case that tested the limits of religious freedom in this moderate Islamic country.
Lina Joy, who was born Azlina Jailani, had applied for a name change on her government identity card. The National Registration Department obliged but refused to drop Muslim from the religion column.
She appealed the decision to a civil court but was told she must take it to Islamic Shariah courts. Joy, 43, argued that she should not be bound by Shariah law because she is a Christian.
A three-judge Federal Court panel ruled by a 2-1 majority that only the Islamic Shariah Court has the power to allow her to remove the word "Islam" from the religion category on her government identity card.
(AP) While waiting for the verdict on Lina Joy's court case, a Muslim woman prays together for a denial...
Full Image
"She cannot simply at her own whims enter or leave her religion," Judge Ahmad Fairuz said. "She must follow rules."
Judge Richard Malanjum, the only non-Muslim on the panel, sided with Joy, saying it was "unreasonable" to ask her to turn to the Shariah Court because she could face criminal prosecution there. Apostasy is a crime punishable by fines and jail sentences. Offenders are often sent to prison-like rehabilitation centers.
Joy was not present at the hearing.
Her lawyer, Benjamin Dawson, said Joy is "extremely disappointed" with the verdict.
"That to Lina, is a denial of her constitutional right to decide the religion of her choice," Dawson told The Associated Press.
(AP) While waiting for the verdict on Lina Joy's court case, a Muslim woman prays together for a denial...
Full Image
She has not decided on the next course of action, as her options are limited, he said. Joy can choose to remain a Muslim, appear before the Shariah court, or emigrate.
About 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people are Malay Muslims, whose civil, family, marriage and personal rights are decided by Shariah courts. The minorities - the ethnic Chinese, Indians and other smaller communities - are governed by civil courts.
But the constitution does not say who has the final say in cases such as Joy's when Islam confronts Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism or other religions.
The founding fathers of Malaysia left the constitution deliberately vague, unwilling to upset any of the three ethnic groups dominant at the time of independence from Britain 50 years ago, when building a peaceful multiracial nation was more important.
The situation was muddied further with the constitution describing Malaysia as a secular state but recognizing Islam as the official religion.
Joy, who began going to church in 1990 and was baptized eight years later, has been disowned by her family and has said she was forced to quit her computer sales job after clients threatened to withdraw their business.
She and her ethnic Indian Catholic boyfriend went into hiding in early 2006 amid fears they could be targeted by Muslim zealots, Joy's lawyer has said.
Joy's case sparked angry street protests by Muslim groups and led to e-mail death threats against a Muslim lawyer supporting her.
Leonard Teoh, a Malaysian Catholic lawyer, expressed disappointment at the ruling, saying the verdict failed to protect religious rights.
"People like Lina Joy shouldn't be trapped in a legal cage, not being able to come out to practice their true conscience and religion," Teoh said.
Muslim Youth Movement President Yusri Mohammad said that "we fully believe justice has been served."
"We praise Allah for the decision taken by the court," Mohammad said. "It should be seen as a rejection of attempts by certain individuals, certain parties, to deconstruct and radically revamp our current formula" for religious issues.
Joy's case is the most prominent in a string of recent religious disputes, some involving custody of children born to parents of different faiths, and one involving a deceased Hindu man who converted to Islam without his family's knowledge and whom Islamic authorities ordered to be buried as a Muslim.
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Politik, ekonomi, Sosial dan budaya Umum / Apa yg diinginkan Islam: Mari dengar dari Pemimpin Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, Mau
« on: 28 October 2007, 11:53:04 PM »
http://www.islam-watch.org/JihadiUmmah/What-Islam-Wants-Nabiullah-Khan .htm
Apa yg diinginkan Islam: Mari dengar dari Pemimpin Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, Maulana Nabiullah Khan
Ini sebenarnya adadeh yg bikin topic, saya cuma nerjemahkan, tapi ga ketemu topik dia, jadi saya buat yg baru aja.
04 May, 2007
"Jamhooria Islamia", sebuah majalah Baluchi bulanan dari Panj-gar, mempublikasikan wawancara dg Maulana Nawabzadaa Nabiullah Khan, orang kepercayaan dan penasihat dari Amir Partai Islamik Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami, Maulana Qazi Ahmed, yg diselenggarakan oleh Jalil Amir. Berikut adalah kutipan percakapan yg mengungkapkan ideologi dan rencana fundamental dari organisasi serta pemimpinnya.
KESETARAAN DERAJAT ANTARA LAKI-LAKI DAN WANITA ADALAH SEBUAH KEBODOHAN
Tanya (T): Isu wanita saat2 ini sangat kontroversial. Taliban dan organisasi2 fundamentalis melarang kebebasan wanita sementara beberapa intelektual muslim progresif berkeras bahwa wanita sederajat dg laki-laki dalam segala bidang. Apa pandangan Qazi tentang wanita?
Jawaban (J): Seperti yg saya katakan sebelumnya, pandangan nabi Muhammad (saw) akan wanita adalah persis merupakan pandangan dari Qazi Ahmed dan Jamaat. Kesetaraan derajat lelaki dan wanita adalah kebodohan. Apa yg laki2 dapat lakukan, wanita tidak dapat lakukan. Wanita lembah secara fisik dan mental dibandingkan laki2. Laki2 harus mengurus wanita sepanjang waktu.
WANITA HARUS TINGGAL DIRUMAH
Wanita tidak seharusnya punya kehidupan diluar dari keluarga. Pendidikan dapat diberikan pada mereka, tapi tidak untuk berkompetisi dg laki2 di publik.
TIDAK ADA HAK MEMILIH BAGI WANITA DIBAWAH HUKUM SYARIAT
Qazi pernah berkata bahwa jika JI berkuasa diPakistan, dia akan melarang hak memilih bagi wanita dan kaum minoritas. Hanya para lelaki muslim yg dapat ikut memilih atau dipilih dalam sebuah pemilihan. Ketika diminta bukti dari hadis, dia mengutip banyak hadits yg mendukung itu. Saya tanya kenapa hal ini tidak pernah dikatakan secara terbuka dimuka umum oleh Jamaat? Qazi bilang bahwa petunjuk2nya ada dimana-mana. Tapi JI tidak membuatnya menjadi isu yg besar karena para wanita saat ini punya hak memilih yg mungkin akan mereka gunakan untuk melawan JI dalam pemilihan jika hal tsb dikatakan secara terbuka.
NON MUSLIM DINEGARA MUSLIM HARUS MEMBAYAR JIZYA
T: Ini membawa kita pada pertanyaan mengenai kaum minoritas. Akankah mereka harus membayar pajak Jizya?
J: Ya. Mereka harus membayar pajak. Seperti yg dijelaskan oleh Qazi Ahmed, ide akan jizyah bukanlah sebuah uang perlindungan. Tapi sebuah kekuatan dibidang keuangan yg diterapkan pada non muslim agar berpindah jadi memeluk Islam. Setelah Jamaat berkuasa, kaum minoritas akan dipaksa utk menjadi muslim baik itu dg cara faktor keuangan atau faktor psikologi.
SEMUA ORANG INDIAN YG BERAGAMA HINDU AKAN DIBUAT MASUK ISLAM
JI sudah menyamakan India dg Hindu jadi orang2 Hindu di Pakistan akan dipaksa utk menjadi muslim. Ini adalah sebuah strategi yg sukses selama kerusuhan di Mesjid Babri. JI secara aktif terlibat dalam penghancuran kuil2 Hindu di Punjab dan Sindh. Kami memerintahkan penghancuran barang2 keluarga hindu juga. Tapi tujuan utama kita adalah menghancurkan kuil Hindu. Kami menulis dalam pamflet JI bahwa menghancurkan kuil berhala akan membuat seorang muslim jadi lebih dekat kesurganya Allah. Shocked Kami menggunakan hadis2 dalam semua pamflet tsb. Babar menghancurkan kuil Ram di Ayodhya karena dia adalah seorang muslim sejati. Hal yg sama juga, setiap Muslim harus menjadikan dirinya penghancur kuil2 hindu di Pakistan. Ide kami adalah utk mendorong para muslim di India juga agar menghancurkan kuil2 Hindu di India. Tapi ini tidak berhasil karena polisi Hindu di India mulai menyerang para muslim yg melakukan kewajiban bagi Allahnya.
T: Jenis pemerintahan yg bagaimana yg dibayangkan JI bagi Pakistan?
J: Sebuah pemerintahan Syariat. Syariat akan dijadikan konstitusi kami agar para pelajar muslim yg telah lulus Madrasah akan ditunjuk sebagai Hakim pada tiap2 pengadilan. Qazi ingin membuat sebuah presidium dg model yg sama seperti Kekalifahan. Saat ini ide kita adalah bahwa kepemimpinan tertinggi dari JI beserta ketiga Jendral Militar akan menjadi bagian dari presidium dimana Qazi akan menjadi Kalifah.
MOTTO KAMI ADALAH JIHAD TERUS MENERUS
Motto kami adalah jihad terus menerus. Idenya adalah utk mempertahankan Pakistan dalam sebuah keadaan Jihad sepanjang waktu. Visi Qazi adalah bahwa Pakistan akan jadi pusat dari kekaisaran Islamik yg baru yg terentang dari Burma hingga Afghanistan dan dari Srilanka hingga Tajikistan termasuk Kashmir.
Dan pada akhirnya, Jamaat akan menggunakan semua takti dari Terorisme pada daerah2 yg dikontrol kafir sampai negosiasi didaerah yg dikontrol muslim. Para pemimpin Bangladesh dan Jamaat di India sudah menerima keunggulan kepemimpinan Pakistan dalam hal ini.
SRI LANKA DAN BURMA AKAN DIPAKSA MASUK ISLAM
T: Bagaimana dg Srilanka dan Burma?
J: Keduanya adalah bangsa beragama Buddha. Bahkan Balukhistan dan Afghanistan dulunya juga Buddhis lalu Sindh dan Punjab dulunya Hindu. Buddhis umumnya lemah dalam keimanan. Dg begitu kami berharap mereka akan menjadi Muslim dg sedikit saja tekanan. Tapi itu akan terjadi hanya setelah Jamaat menaklukkan Pakistan lebih dulu dan lalu India.
T: Apa rencana utk India? Kelihatannya seluruh kebijakan Jamaat tentang India hanya seputar Kashmir.
J: Ya itu benar. Tapi itu ada alasannya. Kashmir adalah seperti batu utama (keystone) yg berada dipuncak lengkungan gerbang masuk. Benar bahwa gerbang tsb menahan seluruh beban dari batu utama tsb. Tapi jika anda mengambil batu tsb, seluruh lengkungan gerbang akan runtuh. Itu sebabnya dinamakan batu utama (keystone). Kashmir adalah keystone untuk India. Sesudah anda mengambilnya, maka India tidak akan menjadi negara sekuler lagi dan tidak akan menjadi sebuah negara yg bersatu juga. Sesudah Kashmir diambil, gerakan militan akan mematahkan india dg meminta kebebasan yg sama bagi Nagaland, Kerala, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Assam, Jharkand, Tamil Nadu, West bengal dan Khalistan.
INDIA AKAN DIJADIKAN BANGSA MUSLIM 100%
T: Kembali ke point yg sama, jika India akan menjadi negara2 terpisah, bagaimana anda berurusan dg negara2 Hindu? Negara2 itu bahkan akan menjadi musuh besar Pakistan. Atau mereka mungkin akan bergabung utk menantang Pakistan.
J: Melihat dari perbedaan kebangsaan di India, pilihan bagi Pakistan banyak sekali. Visi Qazi adalah utk membuat seluruh India jadi muslim 100%. Sebuah India bersatu, dimana hindu menjadi mayoritas adalah rintangan bagi hal itu. Seperti nabi Muhammad (pbuh) yg membuat kaum pagan Arab menjadi muslim, Qazi juga ingin menjadikan kaum pagan India menjadi muslim.
T: Ini adalah visi besar karena hal ini pun tidak mungkin bagi dinasti2 muslim dan Para Mogul yg memerintah India pada 700 tahun terakhir ini.
J: Benar. Ini karena mereka tidak pernah sungguh2 mendirikan kekaisaran muslim. Meski rajanya muslim, mereka menjadikan kaum Hindu berada dalam posisi kekuasaan. Ketika anda membuat pernyataan tegas bahwa hanya para muslim yg boleh memilih dan mengumumkan bahwa India adalah sebuah republik Islam, maka secara otomatis orang2 akan menjadi muslim. Sedikit teror harus diterapkan dihati para Hindu dan kr****n. Saya akan beri contoh yg bagus. Bagian yg sekarang merupakan Pakistan tadinya adalah 25% populasi Hindu sebelum Kemerdekaan.
TEROR ADALAH ALAT PERUBAHAN TERBAIK
Setelah kemerdekaan, banyak orang hindu pindah ke India. Tapi setelah pindah, populasi Hindu Pakistan adalah 15%. Tahukah anda berapa persentasenya sekarang? Kurang dari 1%. Bagaimana bisa begini? Bagaimana orang2 Hindu berpindah ke Islam dalam jangka waktu hanya 20 tahun dimana selama 700 tahun sebelumnya mereka tidak pernah berubah jadi islam? Ini murni karena teror dari orang2 muslim.
Teror itu dipaksakan pada orang2 hindu yg tetap tinggal di Pakistan agar menjadi orang muslim. Sangat sederhana. JI menggunakan teknik yg sama di Punjab dan Sindh. Tiap kali kerusuhan terjadi di India, kami menggunakan alasan itu utk melancarkan teror diantara orang hindu, kr****n dan Ahmadiya. Teror yg sama akan ada dihati tiap non muslim, baik hindu maupun kr****n, ditahun2 berikutnya diseluruh India. NABI BERHASIL MEMAKAI TEROR JADI KAMIPUN BISA. Qazi adalah seorang jenius analytis yg tahu setiap strategy yg pernah digunakan oleh nabi Muhammad (saw) dan yg akan dan harus digunakan di india utk mencapat penaklukan total pada Allah.
T: Apa anda memimpikan kemungkinan bahwa jika Kashmir menjadi bagian dari Pakistan, akan ada kerusuhan skala besar di India melawan muslim india? Karenanya Kashmir tanpa disadari akan berujung pada banyak lagi kematian muslim india dan merusak Ummat Islam.
MUSLIM MANA SAJA YG BERHUBUNGAN DG SEORANG POLITEIS MENJADI SEORANG POLITEIS
J: Ya itu sebuah kemungkinan.Tapi ideologi kami berdasarkan pada Quran dan Hadits. Nabi Muhammad (pbuh) dalam banyak Hadits dan Allah dalam Quran berkata bahwa muslim mana saja yg berhubungan dg seorang politeis adalah seorang politeis. Muslim tidak boleh berteman dg seorang non muslim. Ini termasuk kr****n, yahudi dan hindu. Juga Muhammad (saw) bilang bahwa bahkan jika pemimpin muslim tidak baik, para muslim harus bertahan dg pemimpin tsb jangan keluar kenegara non muslim. Hadits dan Quran sangat jelas mengenai ini. Semua muslim yg tidak berpindah ke Pakistan selama pemisahan pada intinya adalah orang Hindu. Mereka mungkin berpikir mereka adalah muslim. Tapi tidak dihadapan Allah.
Mereka menipu diri sendiri seperti Ahmadiah yg berpikir mereka adalah muslim ketika tiap orang tahu bahwa mereka bukan muslim. Karenanya muslim India yg memutuskan tinggal di India selama pemisahan bukanlah orang muslim dan keturunan mereka juga bukan muslim (karena mereka tidak pindah ke tanah muslim).
Hal lain yg saya perhatikan dalam perjalanan saya di India adalah bahwa para petani Hindu umumnya menawarkan seluruh hasil panen mereka ke dewa2 dipenghujung musim panen. Ini membuat seluruh hasil panen tsb haram bagi para muslim. Tapi masih saja yg mengaku muslim India makan makanan ini, makanan yg telah ditawarkan ketuhan lain selain Allah. Ini jelas2 dilarang dalam Quran.
Apa yg diinginkan Islam: Mari dengar dari Pemimpin Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, Maulana Nabiullah Khan
Ini sebenarnya adadeh yg bikin topic, saya cuma nerjemahkan, tapi ga ketemu topik dia, jadi saya buat yg baru aja.
04 May, 2007
"Jamhooria Islamia", sebuah majalah Baluchi bulanan dari Panj-gar, mempublikasikan wawancara dg Maulana Nawabzadaa Nabiullah Khan, orang kepercayaan dan penasihat dari Amir Partai Islamik Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami, Maulana Qazi Ahmed, yg diselenggarakan oleh Jalil Amir. Berikut adalah kutipan percakapan yg mengungkapkan ideologi dan rencana fundamental dari organisasi serta pemimpinnya.
KESETARAAN DERAJAT ANTARA LAKI-LAKI DAN WANITA ADALAH SEBUAH KEBODOHAN
Tanya (T): Isu wanita saat2 ini sangat kontroversial. Taliban dan organisasi2 fundamentalis melarang kebebasan wanita sementara beberapa intelektual muslim progresif berkeras bahwa wanita sederajat dg laki-laki dalam segala bidang. Apa pandangan Qazi tentang wanita?
Jawaban (J): Seperti yg saya katakan sebelumnya, pandangan nabi Muhammad (saw) akan wanita adalah persis merupakan pandangan dari Qazi Ahmed dan Jamaat. Kesetaraan derajat lelaki dan wanita adalah kebodohan. Apa yg laki2 dapat lakukan, wanita tidak dapat lakukan. Wanita lembah secara fisik dan mental dibandingkan laki2. Laki2 harus mengurus wanita sepanjang waktu.
WANITA HARUS TINGGAL DIRUMAH
Wanita tidak seharusnya punya kehidupan diluar dari keluarga. Pendidikan dapat diberikan pada mereka, tapi tidak untuk berkompetisi dg laki2 di publik.
TIDAK ADA HAK MEMILIH BAGI WANITA DIBAWAH HUKUM SYARIAT
Qazi pernah berkata bahwa jika JI berkuasa diPakistan, dia akan melarang hak memilih bagi wanita dan kaum minoritas. Hanya para lelaki muslim yg dapat ikut memilih atau dipilih dalam sebuah pemilihan. Ketika diminta bukti dari hadis, dia mengutip banyak hadits yg mendukung itu. Saya tanya kenapa hal ini tidak pernah dikatakan secara terbuka dimuka umum oleh Jamaat? Qazi bilang bahwa petunjuk2nya ada dimana-mana. Tapi JI tidak membuatnya menjadi isu yg besar karena para wanita saat ini punya hak memilih yg mungkin akan mereka gunakan untuk melawan JI dalam pemilihan jika hal tsb dikatakan secara terbuka.
NON MUSLIM DINEGARA MUSLIM HARUS MEMBAYAR JIZYA
T: Ini membawa kita pada pertanyaan mengenai kaum minoritas. Akankah mereka harus membayar pajak Jizya?
J: Ya. Mereka harus membayar pajak. Seperti yg dijelaskan oleh Qazi Ahmed, ide akan jizyah bukanlah sebuah uang perlindungan. Tapi sebuah kekuatan dibidang keuangan yg diterapkan pada non muslim agar berpindah jadi memeluk Islam. Setelah Jamaat berkuasa, kaum minoritas akan dipaksa utk menjadi muslim baik itu dg cara faktor keuangan atau faktor psikologi.
SEMUA ORANG INDIAN YG BERAGAMA HINDU AKAN DIBUAT MASUK ISLAM
JI sudah menyamakan India dg Hindu jadi orang2 Hindu di Pakistan akan dipaksa utk menjadi muslim. Ini adalah sebuah strategi yg sukses selama kerusuhan di Mesjid Babri. JI secara aktif terlibat dalam penghancuran kuil2 Hindu di Punjab dan Sindh. Kami memerintahkan penghancuran barang2 keluarga hindu juga. Tapi tujuan utama kita adalah menghancurkan kuil Hindu. Kami menulis dalam pamflet JI bahwa menghancurkan kuil berhala akan membuat seorang muslim jadi lebih dekat kesurganya Allah. Shocked Kami menggunakan hadis2 dalam semua pamflet tsb. Babar menghancurkan kuil Ram di Ayodhya karena dia adalah seorang muslim sejati. Hal yg sama juga, setiap Muslim harus menjadikan dirinya penghancur kuil2 hindu di Pakistan. Ide kami adalah utk mendorong para muslim di India juga agar menghancurkan kuil2 Hindu di India. Tapi ini tidak berhasil karena polisi Hindu di India mulai menyerang para muslim yg melakukan kewajiban bagi Allahnya.
T: Jenis pemerintahan yg bagaimana yg dibayangkan JI bagi Pakistan?
J: Sebuah pemerintahan Syariat. Syariat akan dijadikan konstitusi kami agar para pelajar muslim yg telah lulus Madrasah akan ditunjuk sebagai Hakim pada tiap2 pengadilan. Qazi ingin membuat sebuah presidium dg model yg sama seperti Kekalifahan. Saat ini ide kita adalah bahwa kepemimpinan tertinggi dari JI beserta ketiga Jendral Militar akan menjadi bagian dari presidium dimana Qazi akan menjadi Kalifah.
MOTTO KAMI ADALAH JIHAD TERUS MENERUS
Motto kami adalah jihad terus menerus. Idenya adalah utk mempertahankan Pakistan dalam sebuah keadaan Jihad sepanjang waktu. Visi Qazi adalah bahwa Pakistan akan jadi pusat dari kekaisaran Islamik yg baru yg terentang dari Burma hingga Afghanistan dan dari Srilanka hingga Tajikistan termasuk Kashmir.
Dan pada akhirnya, Jamaat akan menggunakan semua takti dari Terorisme pada daerah2 yg dikontrol kafir sampai negosiasi didaerah yg dikontrol muslim. Para pemimpin Bangladesh dan Jamaat di India sudah menerima keunggulan kepemimpinan Pakistan dalam hal ini.
SRI LANKA DAN BURMA AKAN DIPAKSA MASUK ISLAM
T: Bagaimana dg Srilanka dan Burma?
J: Keduanya adalah bangsa beragama Buddha. Bahkan Balukhistan dan Afghanistan dulunya juga Buddhis lalu Sindh dan Punjab dulunya Hindu. Buddhis umumnya lemah dalam keimanan. Dg begitu kami berharap mereka akan menjadi Muslim dg sedikit saja tekanan. Tapi itu akan terjadi hanya setelah Jamaat menaklukkan Pakistan lebih dulu dan lalu India.
T: Apa rencana utk India? Kelihatannya seluruh kebijakan Jamaat tentang India hanya seputar Kashmir.
J: Ya itu benar. Tapi itu ada alasannya. Kashmir adalah seperti batu utama (keystone) yg berada dipuncak lengkungan gerbang masuk. Benar bahwa gerbang tsb menahan seluruh beban dari batu utama tsb. Tapi jika anda mengambil batu tsb, seluruh lengkungan gerbang akan runtuh. Itu sebabnya dinamakan batu utama (keystone). Kashmir adalah keystone untuk India. Sesudah anda mengambilnya, maka India tidak akan menjadi negara sekuler lagi dan tidak akan menjadi sebuah negara yg bersatu juga. Sesudah Kashmir diambil, gerakan militan akan mematahkan india dg meminta kebebasan yg sama bagi Nagaland, Kerala, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Assam, Jharkand, Tamil Nadu, West bengal dan Khalistan.
INDIA AKAN DIJADIKAN BANGSA MUSLIM 100%
T: Kembali ke point yg sama, jika India akan menjadi negara2 terpisah, bagaimana anda berurusan dg negara2 Hindu? Negara2 itu bahkan akan menjadi musuh besar Pakistan. Atau mereka mungkin akan bergabung utk menantang Pakistan.
J: Melihat dari perbedaan kebangsaan di India, pilihan bagi Pakistan banyak sekali. Visi Qazi adalah utk membuat seluruh India jadi muslim 100%. Sebuah India bersatu, dimana hindu menjadi mayoritas adalah rintangan bagi hal itu. Seperti nabi Muhammad (pbuh) yg membuat kaum pagan Arab menjadi muslim, Qazi juga ingin menjadikan kaum pagan India menjadi muslim.
T: Ini adalah visi besar karena hal ini pun tidak mungkin bagi dinasti2 muslim dan Para Mogul yg memerintah India pada 700 tahun terakhir ini.
J: Benar. Ini karena mereka tidak pernah sungguh2 mendirikan kekaisaran muslim. Meski rajanya muslim, mereka menjadikan kaum Hindu berada dalam posisi kekuasaan. Ketika anda membuat pernyataan tegas bahwa hanya para muslim yg boleh memilih dan mengumumkan bahwa India adalah sebuah republik Islam, maka secara otomatis orang2 akan menjadi muslim. Sedikit teror harus diterapkan dihati para Hindu dan kr****n. Saya akan beri contoh yg bagus. Bagian yg sekarang merupakan Pakistan tadinya adalah 25% populasi Hindu sebelum Kemerdekaan.
TEROR ADALAH ALAT PERUBAHAN TERBAIK
Setelah kemerdekaan, banyak orang hindu pindah ke India. Tapi setelah pindah, populasi Hindu Pakistan adalah 15%. Tahukah anda berapa persentasenya sekarang? Kurang dari 1%. Bagaimana bisa begini? Bagaimana orang2 Hindu berpindah ke Islam dalam jangka waktu hanya 20 tahun dimana selama 700 tahun sebelumnya mereka tidak pernah berubah jadi islam? Ini murni karena teror dari orang2 muslim.
Teror itu dipaksakan pada orang2 hindu yg tetap tinggal di Pakistan agar menjadi orang muslim. Sangat sederhana. JI menggunakan teknik yg sama di Punjab dan Sindh. Tiap kali kerusuhan terjadi di India, kami menggunakan alasan itu utk melancarkan teror diantara orang hindu, kr****n dan Ahmadiya. Teror yg sama akan ada dihati tiap non muslim, baik hindu maupun kr****n, ditahun2 berikutnya diseluruh India. NABI BERHASIL MEMAKAI TEROR JADI KAMIPUN BISA. Qazi adalah seorang jenius analytis yg tahu setiap strategy yg pernah digunakan oleh nabi Muhammad (saw) dan yg akan dan harus digunakan di india utk mencapat penaklukan total pada Allah.
T: Apa anda memimpikan kemungkinan bahwa jika Kashmir menjadi bagian dari Pakistan, akan ada kerusuhan skala besar di India melawan muslim india? Karenanya Kashmir tanpa disadari akan berujung pada banyak lagi kematian muslim india dan merusak Ummat Islam.
MUSLIM MANA SAJA YG BERHUBUNGAN DG SEORANG POLITEIS MENJADI SEORANG POLITEIS
J: Ya itu sebuah kemungkinan.Tapi ideologi kami berdasarkan pada Quran dan Hadits. Nabi Muhammad (pbuh) dalam banyak Hadits dan Allah dalam Quran berkata bahwa muslim mana saja yg berhubungan dg seorang politeis adalah seorang politeis. Muslim tidak boleh berteman dg seorang non muslim. Ini termasuk kr****n, yahudi dan hindu. Juga Muhammad (saw) bilang bahwa bahkan jika pemimpin muslim tidak baik, para muslim harus bertahan dg pemimpin tsb jangan keluar kenegara non muslim. Hadits dan Quran sangat jelas mengenai ini. Semua muslim yg tidak berpindah ke Pakistan selama pemisahan pada intinya adalah orang Hindu. Mereka mungkin berpikir mereka adalah muslim. Tapi tidak dihadapan Allah.
Mereka menipu diri sendiri seperti Ahmadiah yg berpikir mereka adalah muslim ketika tiap orang tahu bahwa mereka bukan muslim. Karenanya muslim India yg memutuskan tinggal di India selama pemisahan bukanlah orang muslim dan keturunan mereka juga bukan muslim (karena mereka tidak pindah ke tanah muslim).
Hal lain yg saya perhatikan dalam perjalanan saya di India adalah bahwa para petani Hindu umumnya menawarkan seluruh hasil panen mereka ke dewa2 dipenghujung musim panen. Ini membuat seluruh hasil panen tsb haram bagi para muslim. Tapi masih saja yg mengaku muslim India makan makanan ini, makanan yg telah ditawarkan ketuhan lain selain Allah. Ini jelas2 dilarang dalam Quran.
4
Lingkungan / AKSI SEJUTA UMAT BERSAMA HIZBUT TAHRIR INDONESIA
« on: 15 October 2007, 02:41:56 AM »
http://www.indonesiawatch.org/berita.php?news_id=240
Khilafah, yaitu Kerajaan Islam, mau dibangun kembali!!
“Gerakan mendirikan “Khilafah” adalah suatu gerakan untuk memusnahkan NKRI dan menggantikannya dengan “Negara Islam”. Satu bagian inti rencana ini adalah memperkenalkan “Piagam Medina” sebagai landasan hukum di Indonesia menggantikan UUD ’45 dan Pancasila. Kita harus belajar dari sejarah! Dalam waktu tiga tahun saja setelah Muhammad memperkenalkan Piagam Medina, semua orang Yahudi dan kr****n di Medina, yang tadinya mayoritas penduduknya, sudah dibunuh atau lari dan sejak waktu itu, orang Yahudi dan orang kr****n tidak pernah lagi diizinkan tinggal di Medina – sampai hari ini!!!
Baca visi “Khilafah” ini dalam buku-buku yang dalam Menu Buku-buku Jihad & Visi Islam dan Anda akan melihat bahayanya gerakan ini bagi kestabilan dan integritas NKRI.” IW
AKSI SEJUTA UMAT BERSAMA HIZBUT TAHRIR INDONESIA
Ahad, 5 Maret 2006 - 82 Tahun Dunia Tanpa Khilafah
Di seluruh dunia: 1,214 miliar orang miskin, 78% anak-anak balita kekurangan gizi, 11 ribu anak/hari mati kelaparan di seluruh dunia; 200 juta anak/hari menderita kekurangan gizi, protein dan kalori. Lebih dari 800 juta orang kelaparan di seluruh dunia dan 70% di antara mereka adalah wanita dan anak-anak. [Shukor Rahman, World Food Program, New Staits of Malaysia Times, 2001]. Di dunia Islam (Irak): 120,000 jiwa mati (2003-2005), 5 juta jiwa tewas karena embargo, 5000 balita meninggal/bulan, 100,000 meninggal akibat radiasi nuklir, 3 juta anak-anak dan ibu-ibu sekarat (sumber: Perang Iraq-AS, COMES: 2003); (Palestina): 650,000 orang Palestina ditahan Israel (1967-2005); 1467 rumah dihancurkan (2000-2005).
1400 Tahun Di Bawah Naungan Khilafah:
Para Khalifah telah memberikan keamanan kepada manusia hingga batas yang luar biasa bagi kehidupan dan usaha mereka… Islam telah menguasai hati ratusan bangsa di negeri-negeri yang terbentang mulai dari Cina, Indonesia, India hingga Persia, Syam, Jazirah Arab, Mesir bahkan hingga Maroko dan Spanyol… Islam telah menjamin seluruh dunia dengan rumah sakit yang layak dan memenuhi kebutuhan mereka.. merawat orang-orang sakit tanpa bayaran dan menyediakan obat-obatan gratis. Para sejarahwan berkata bahwa cahayanya tetap bersinar tidak pernah padam selama 267 tahun. [Will Durant - The Story of Civilization].
Saatnya Khilafah Memimpin Dunia dengan Syariah
03 Maret 1924, Daulah Khilafah (Khilafah) yang berpusat di Turki diruntuhkan oleh Mustafa Kamal Attaturk. Sejak saat itu, kaum muslimin tidak lagi memiliki pemimpin dan juga negara yang menerapkan totalitas ajaran Islam. Padahal tanpa Khilafah kaum muslimin tidak akan dapat menerapkan ajaran Islam secara menyeluruh, tidak ada yang melindungi, terpecah belah dan juga tidak memiliki kekuatan yang dapat bersaing dengan negara adi daya.
Telah terjadi berbagai peristiwa tragis yang menimpa kaum muslimin diseluruh negeri-negeri islam akibat kebiadaban kafir imperialisme, antara lain:
Terhinanya kaum muslimin ketika ingin melepaskan diri dari cengkraman kafir komunis antara lain : pembantaian Checnya, Bosnia dan Uzbekistan.
Tipu daya War On Terorism melalui peristiwa 11 September, serangan Iraq, Afghanistan dan Palestina.
Dendam barat terhadap islam yang amat besar telah nampak melalui penghinaan terhadap Rasullah, yakni kartun Demark yang dipublikasikan oleh koran Jylland Postend, majalah Franscis, Italia, Jerman, dll.
Indonesia juga menjadi lumbung perampokan kafir imperialisme melalui BBM naik, PLN naik, swastanisasi Air, Legalisasi UU Aborsi, 60.000 agen asing mencabik-cabik aceh, ambon, papua, dll.
Akhirnya hanya ada satu kata jawaban "Saatnya Khilafah Memimpin Dunia dengan Syariah" tekad ini kita kobarkan seantero dunia untuk menggugah pemimpin negeri-negeri islam rela melepaskan diri dari cengkraman kafir imperiliasme. Militer mengalihkan dukungannya kepada ummat untuk menegakan khilafah. Ulama siap menjadi tameng dan garda dari depan untuk mengambil alih kekuasaan. Dan kaum muslimin seantero dunia telah bersatu mengobarkan perlawanan terhadap amerika dan sekutunya.
Ikutilah Aksi Sejuta ummat bersama Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, yang insya Allah akan dilaksanakan pada:
Hari/tanggal: Ahad, 5 Maret 2006
Waktu: Pukul 08.00 s/d 12.00 WIB
Tempat: Depan Kedubes Amerika, Jl. Merdeka Selatan Jakarta Pusat
Pembicara:
Prof. Dr. H.Amien Rais, Adyaksa Dault,SH (Menpora), Letkol (Purn) Juanda (Pengamat Politik), KH. Mashadi (Ketua FUI), KH Abdur Rasyid (PP As-Syafiyyah), KH Cholil Ridwan (Ketua MUI Pusat), KH Wahyudin (PP al-Mukmin Ngruki), KH Mudzakkir (PP al-Islam Solo), H Rhoma Irama (Ketua PAMI), KH Muhammad al-Khatthath (Ketua HTI), KH Amrullah Ahmad (Syarikat Islam), KH Amien Noer (Ketua BKSPPI), H Hari Moekti, Iskandar Zulkarnain (Pengusaha Muslim), Munarman, SH (Ketua YLBHI), Ust. Dicky Candra (Sekjen Arimatea), DR. Fadli Zon (Direktur IPS).
Dilaksanakan serentak di 100 kota besar di seluruh Indonesia
Contact Person: Jakarta: Gus Juned (0856-1113233), Abu Hamzah (0816-842819), M. Sayyis (021-68072143); Bogor: Arif Yunus (0818-966760), Gus Wik (0251-7157707); Tangerang: M. Fakkar (0812-8571617).
Dengan semangat optimisme dan kerja aktif, mari kita tegakkan kembali Negara Khilafah di atas puing-puing keruntuhan peradaban kapitalis. BERSATU-BERGERAK-TEGAKKAN KHILAFAH.
"Para pendukung kapitalisme berusaha keras mencegah tegaknya kembali Negara Khilafah. Tetapi langkah mereka kandas ditengah semakin bersatu dan bersemangatnya umat berjuang menegakkan kembali Negara Khilafah dengan syariahnya yang indah....".
Insya Allah HTI akan menyelenggarakan sejumlah acara kolosal:
1 - 31 Maret 2006 : Tabligh Akbar di berbagai daerah.
3&5 Maret: Peradaban Islam On Air di Radio Dakta FM (wawancara dan talk show), Radio Elshinta 4&5 Maret, RAS FM 3&5 Maret, Trijaya FM 3&5 Maret, TVRI 6 Maret 2006.
2-5 Maret 2006 : Parade spanduk dan iklan media cetak tentang testimoni tokoh. (Republika-tabloid Dialog Jum'at, kolom Hikmah, kolom Opini, Resensi Buku, iklan banner testimoni tokoh).
4 - 12 Maret 2006 : Islamic Heritage (pameran, dialog tokoh, bedah buku) di arena Islamic Book Fair Istora Senayan, stand B151-B152
5 Maret 2006 : Aksi Sejuta Umat bersama HTI serentak di seluruh Indonesia.
Jakarta: Masiroh Akbar mengelilingi Monas, start di pintu timur laut (Gambir) menuju panggung orasi di depan kedubes AS. Insya Allah akan diikuti puluhan ribu peserta dari Jakarta, Bekasi, Banten, dan Bogor.
Jawa Barat: Bandung, Sukabumi, Cirebon, Tasikmalaya, Garut, Inderamayu, Majalengka, Banjar, Sumedang.
Jawa Tengah: Semarang, Solo, Sragen, Purwokerto, Cilacap, Kudus, Majenang, Purworejo, Boyolali..
DIY: Yogjakarta, Sleman, Bantur.
Jawa Timur: Surabaya, Sidoarjo, Mojosari, Probolinggo, Malang, Jember, Gebang, Banyuwangi, Bondowoso, Gresik, Lamongan/Tuban
Sumatera: Banda Aceh, Meulaboh, Medan, Padang, Palembang, Lampung, Batam, Maninjau, Pangkalpinang, Pekanbaru, Batam
Kalimantan: Samarinda, Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, Palangkaraya.
Sulawesi: Makasar, Maros, Pangkep, Soppeng, Luwu, Soppeng, Kendari, Lambusa, Unaaha, Bau-Bau..
Format Acara 5 Maret 2006:
Orasi oleh tokoh-tokoh nasional
Pembacaan Piagam Ummat
Pembacaan Pernyataan Sikap HTI
Pengibaran bendera raksasa (al-Liwaa), dan panji umat Islam ar-Rayaa
Pemancangan giant banner: Khilafah di masa lalu, kondisi sekarang, dan rencana masa depan.
Pelepasan balon Khilafah
Parade testimoni tokoh masyarakat
Nasyid Khilafah oleh tim nasyid HTI
Teatrikal Khilafah "Umat mencari Khalifah" (Sambas Entertainment)
Khilafah, yaitu Kerajaan Islam, mau dibangun kembali!!
“Gerakan mendirikan “Khilafah” adalah suatu gerakan untuk memusnahkan NKRI dan menggantikannya dengan “Negara Islam”. Satu bagian inti rencana ini adalah memperkenalkan “Piagam Medina” sebagai landasan hukum di Indonesia menggantikan UUD ’45 dan Pancasila. Kita harus belajar dari sejarah! Dalam waktu tiga tahun saja setelah Muhammad memperkenalkan Piagam Medina, semua orang Yahudi dan kr****n di Medina, yang tadinya mayoritas penduduknya, sudah dibunuh atau lari dan sejak waktu itu, orang Yahudi dan orang kr****n tidak pernah lagi diizinkan tinggal di Medina – sampai hari ini!!!
Baca visi “Khilafah” ini dalam buku-buku yang dalam Menu Buku-buku Jihad & Visi Islam dan Anda akan melihat bahayanya gerakan ini bagi kestabilan dan integritas NKRI.” IW
AKSI SEJUTA UMAT BERSAMA HIZBUT TAHRIR INDONESIA
Ahad, 5 Maret 2006 - 82 Tahun Dunia Tanpa Khilafah
Di seluruh dunia: 1,214 miliar orang miskin, 78% anak-anak balita kekurangan gizi, 11 ribu anak/hari mati kelaparan di seluruh dunia; 200 juta anak/hari menderita kekurangan gizi, protein dan kalori. Lebih dari 800 juta orang kelaparan di seluruh dunia dan 70% di antara mereka adalah wanita dan anak-anak. [Shukor Rahman, World Food Program, New Staits of Malaysia Times, 2001]. Di dunia Islam (Irak): 120,000 jiwa mati (2003-2005), 5 juta jiwa tewas karena embargo, 5000 balita meninggal/bulan, 100,000 meninggal akibat radiasi nuklir, 3 juta anak-anak dan ibu-ibu sekarat (sumber: Perang Iraq-AS, COMES: 2003); (Palestina): 650,000 orang Palestina ditahan Israel (1967-2005); 1467 rumah dihancurkan (2000-2005).
1400 Tahun Di Bawah Naungan Khilafah:
Para Khalifah telah memberikan keamanan kepada manusia hingga batas yang luar biasa bagi kehidupan dan usaha mereka… Islam telah menguasai hati ratusan bangsa di negeri-negeri yang terbentang mulai dari Cina, Indonesia, India hingga Persia, Syam, Jazirah Arab, Mesir bahkan hingga Maroko dan Spanyol… Islam telah menjamin seluruh dunia dengan rumah sakit yang layak dan memenuhi kebutuhan mereka.. merawat orang-orang sakit tanpa bayaran dan menyediakan obat-obatan gratis. Para sejarahwan berkata bahwa cahayanya tetap bersinar tidak pernah padam selama 267 tahun. [Will Durant - The Story of Civilization].
Saatnya Khilafah Memimpin Dunia dengan Syariah
03 Maret 1924, Daulah Khilafah (Khilafah) yang berpusat di Turki diruntuhkan oleh Mustafa Kamal Attaturk. Sejak saat itu, kaum muslimin tidak lagi memiliki pemimpin dan juga negara yang menerapkan totalitas ajaran Islam. Padahal tanpa Khilafah kaum muslimin tidak akan dapat menerapkan ajaran Islam secara menyeluruh, tidak ada yang melindungi, terpecah belah dan juga tidak memiliki kekuatan yang dapat bersaing dengan negara adi daya.
Telah terjadi berbagai peristiwa tragis yang menimpa kaum muslimin diseluruh negeri-negeri islam akibat kebiadaban kafir imperialisme, antara lain:
Terhinanya kaum muslimin ketika ingin melepaskan diri dari cengkraman kafir komunis antara lain : pembantaian Checnya, Bosnia dan Uzbekistan.
Tipu daya War On Terorism melalui peristiwa 11 September, serangan Iraq, Afghanistan dan Palestina.
Dendam barat terhadap islam yang amat besar telah nampak melalui penghinaan terhadap Rasullah, yakni kartun Demark yang dipublikasikan oleh koran Jylland Postend, majalah Franscis, Italia, Jerman, dll.
Indonesia juga menjadi lumbung perampokan kafir imperialisme melalui BBM naik, PLN naik, swastanisasi Air, Legalisasi UU Aborsi, 60.000 agen asing mencabik-cabik aceh, ambon, papua, dll.
Akhirnya hanya ada satu kata jawaban "Saatnya Khilafah Memimpin Dunia dengan Syariah" tekad ini kita kobarkan seantero dunia untuk menggugah pemimpin negeri-negeri islam rela melepaskan diri dari cengkraman kafir imperiliasme. Militer mengalihkan dukungannya kepada ummat untuk menegakan khilafah. Ulama siap menjadi tameng dan garda dari depan untuk mengambil alih kekuasaan. Dan kaum muslimin seantero dunia telah bersatu mengobarkan perlawanan terhadap amerika dan sekutunya.
Ikutilah Aksi Sejuta ummat bersama Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, yang insya Allah akan dilaksanakan pada:
Hari/tanggal: Ahad, 5 Maret 2006
Waktu: Pukul 08.00 s/d 12.00 WIB
Tempat: Depan Kedubes Amerika, Jl. Merdeka Selatan Jakarta Pusat
Pembicara:
Prof. Dr. H.Amien Rais, Adyaksa Dault,SH (Menpora), Letkol (Purn) Juanda (Pengamat Politik), KH. Mashadi (Ketua FUI), KH Abdur Rasyid (PP As-Syafiyyah), KH Cholil Ridwan (Ketua MUI Pusat), KH Wahyudin (PP al-Mukmin Ngruki), KH Mudzakkir (PP al-Islam Solo), H Rhoma Irama (Ketua PAMI), KH Muhammad al-Khatthath (Ketua HTI), KH Amrullah Ahmad (Syarikat Islam), KH Amien Noer (Ketua BKSPPI), H Hari Moekti, Iskandar Zulkarnain (Pengusaha Muslim), Munarman, SH (Ketua YLBHI), Ust. Dicky Candra (Sekjen Arimatea), DR. Fadli Zon (Direktur IPS).
Dilaksanakan serentak di 100 kota besar di seluruh Indonesia
Contact Person: Jakarta: Gus Juned (0856-1113233), Abu Hamzah (0816-842819), M. Sayyis (021-68072143); Bogor: Arif Yunus (0818-966760), Gus Wik (0251-7157707); Tangerang: M. Fakkar (0812-8571617).
Dengan semangat optimisme dan kerja aktif, mari kita tegakkan kembali Negara Khilafah di atas puing-puing keruntuhan peradaban kapitalis. BERSATU-BERGERAK-TEGAKKAN KHILAFAH.
"Para pendukung kapitalisme berusaha keras mencegah tegaknya kembali Negara Khilafah. Tetapi langkah mereka kandas ditengah semakin bersatu dan bersemangatnya umat berjuang menegakkan kembali Negara Khilafah dengan syariahnya yang indah....".
Insya Allah HTI akan menyelenggarakan sejumlah acara kolosal:
1 - 31 Maret 2006 : Tabligh Akbar di berbagai daerah.
3&5 Maret: Peradaban Islam On Air di Radio Dakta FM (wawancara dan talk show), Radio Elshinta 4&5 Maret, RAS FM 3&5 Maret, Trijaya FM 3&5 Maret, TVRI 6 Maret 2006.
2-5 Maret 2006 : Parade spanduk dan iklan media cetak tentang testimoni tokoh. (Republika-tabloid Dialog Jum'at, kolom Hikmah, kolom Opini, Resensi Buku, iklan banner testimoni tokoh).
4 - 12 Maret 2006 : Islamic Heritage (pameran, dialog tokoh, bedah buku) di arena Islamic Book Fair Istora Senayan, stand B151-B152
5 Maret 2006 : Aksi Sejuta Umat bersama HTI serentak di seluruh Indonesia.
Jakarta: Masiroh Akbar mengelilingi Monas, start di pintu timur laut (Gambir) menuju panggung orasi di depan kedubes AS. Insya Allah akan diikuti puluhan ribu peserta dari Jakarta, Bekasi, Banten, dan Bogor.
Jawa Barat: Bandung, Sukabumi, Cirebon, Tasikmalaya, Garut, Inderamayu, Majalengka, Banjar, Sumedang.
Jawa Tengah: Semarang, Solo, Sragen, Purwokerto, Cilacap, Kudus, Majenang, Purworejo, Boyolali..
DIY: Yogjakarta, Sleman, Bantur.
Jawa Timur: Surabaya, Sidoarjo, Mojosari, Probolinggo, Malang, Jember, Gebang, Banyuwangi, Bondowoso, Gresik, Lamongan/Tuban
Sumatera: Banda Aceh, Meulaboh, Medan, Padang, Palembang, Lampung, Batam, Maninjau, Pangkalpinang, Pekanbaru, Batam
Kalimantan: Samarinda, Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, Palangkaraya.
Sulawesi: Makasar, Maros, Pangkep, Soppeng, Luwu, Soppeng, Kendari, Lambusa, Unaaha, Bau-Bau..
Format Acara 5 Maret 2006:
Orasi oleh tokoh-tokoh nasional
Pembacaan Piagam Ummat
Pembacaan Pernyataan Sikap HTI
Pengibaran bendera raksasa (al-Liwaa), dan panji umat Islam ar-Rayaa
Pemancangan giant banner: Khilafah di masa lalu, kondisi sekarang, dan rencana masa depan.
Pelepasan balon Khilafah
Parade testimoni tokoh masyarakat
Nasyid Khilafah oleh tim nasyid HTI
Teatrikal Khilafah "Umat mencari Khalifah" (Sambas Entertainment)
6
Lingkungan / HELP BANGLADESH
« on: 08 October 2007, 05:38:13 PM »
mumpung lagi panas-panasnya issue di Burma, gw masukin juga negara tetangga Burma yang juga sedang menderita...
8
Diskusi Umum / polygami di agama Buddha
« on: 20 August 2007, 03:50:00 PM »
mohon petunjuk para sesepuh , bagaimana tentang poligami di agama Buddha? dilarang-kah? melanggar sila-kah? 
9
Informasi dan Pengumuman Kegiatan Buddhis / w****a.com/forum cool forum budhist
« on: 12 August 2007, 02:27:45 AM »
w****a.com/forum banyak artikel-artikel keren, menambah wawasan dalam agama Buddha.
heheh... habis baca2 dr thread d w****a.com kyknya ada mantan member di sono lalu join di sini nih.. heheheh..
siapa ya orangnya..? ssstttt.. kalau udah tau jangan omong kenceng-kenceng..
heheh... habis baca2 dr thread d w****a.com kyknya ada mantan member di sono lalu join di sini nih.. heheheh..
siapa ya orangnya..? ssstttt.. kalau udah tau jangan omong kenceng-kenceng.. 10
Mahayana / Basic of Yogacara
« on: 09 August 2007, 02:43:06 PM »1) THE MIND OF ENLIGHTENMENT
The purpose and goal of human life is to reach enlightenment. Yogagcara considers enlightenment a state of True Suchness, or Thusness, meaning that it is the ultimate nature of all things. In reality enlightenment is the only truly existent state. In the perfect clarity of enlightenment there is total awareness and complete understanding. There is no discrimination between inside and outside, or internal and external. In enlightenment there is only the singular total truth of unity, which subsumes the "I" of the ego-differentiated self. After enlightenment the mind's process of seeking outside itself ceases, as does the process of sending energy out (in the form of attachments to the external conditional world). Rather, the mind is now contemplative absorbing energy for the benefit of itself and humanity, like a flower absorbing the rays of the sun.
2) ENLIGHTENED WISDOM
Although the enlightened mind is one, it is useful to classify its activities into four types of enlightened wisdom which are the functions of the Buddhic mind. These reflect the transformation of the eight consciousnesses into fundamental wisdom:
i. The five perceptual consciousnesses become the wisdom of Successful Performance. "This wisdom is characterized by pure and unimpeded functioning (no attachment or distortion) in its relation to the (sense) organs and their objects."
ii. The sixth consciousness becomes the wisdom of Wonderful Contemplation which "has two aspects corresponding to understanding of the emptiness of self and of the emptiness of dharmas." With this wisdom the Buddha knows all dharmas, without distortion or obstruction, and, in that way knowing the mental and physical condition of all beings,...[can] teach them most effectively."
iii) The seventh consciousness becomes the wisdom of Equality which "understands the nature of the equality of self and other and of all beings."
iv) The eighth consciousness becomes the Great Mirror wisdom. This wisdom reflects the entire universe without distortion. Although the four wisdoms do not manifest completely until enlightenment, aspects of Wonderful Contemplation and Great Mirror wisdom begin to function in a lesser degree before enlightenment.
3) THREE BUDDHIC BODIES
The Buddha is said to have three bodies. Only the third, the Dharma body, is real. The Transformation and Enjoyment bodies are emanations of the Dharma body, and are relative expedient bodies corresponding to unenlightened consciousness.
i. The Transformation body, also called the Body of Self Mastery, refers to a physical body in the phenomenal world. This body is necessary for the Buddha to teach humanity the path to enlightenment. The Wisdom of Successful Performance is employed in this body so the Buddha can "function perceptually within that body."
ii. The Enjoyment body is a luminescent, subtle, limitless form that the Buddha uses to teach Bodhisattvas, the beings at the final stage prior to enlightenment. There are many Enjoyment bodies, each having a heaven, or Pure Land, outside the normal world system, where "it is easy to hear and practice the dharma." The wisdom of Equality corresponds to this body.
iii. The Dharma body has two aspects:
a ) The knowledge body, which is the inner nature shared by all Buddhas, manifests as omniscient knowledge, perfect wisdom, and the highest spiritual qualities.
b ) The self-existent body representing the ultimate nature of reality, thusness and emptiness. It is the transformed storehouse-consciousness and is the body that is realized on attaining enlightenment. This body is equated with Great Mirror wisdom.
4) THREE WISDOMS
i) Before enlightenment there is only applied wisdom which is discursive and is used in the everyday world. Once this knowledge is focused towards enlightenment, it becomes a preparation for acquiring fundamental wisdom. In the state of enlightenment there is only pure wisdom which has two aspects; fundamental wisdom and subsequently-attained wisdom.
ii) Fundamental wisdom is the foundation. It is insight without distinction-making and is non-discriminative, so it is knowledge without subject/object duality. This is wisdom that is beyond words and concepts; it is pure contemplation that knows True Suchness is the basis of reality. Fundamental wisdom brings forth [subsequently-attained wisdom].
3) Subsequently-attained wisdom is a pure form of knowledge that flows out of non-distinction making, so it is "purified mundane knowledge." This is an expedient wisdom that can analyze dharmas without becoming attached, so it can "eliminate confusion about phenomena..." Although this discriminative knowledge is at a lower level than fundamental wisdom, it is used by the Buddha for the purpose of benefiting others; all the Buddha's teaching is attained wisdom. This kind of wisdom explains how, in enlightenment, a person can still deal with relative appearances in the everyday world.
5) CONSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness is awareness of a "self". The fundamental doctrine of the Yogacara school is "that all phenomenal existence is fabricated by consciousness." Consciousness is the basis of all activities from birth to attaining enlightenment; "...all is based upon the coming into being and the ceasing to be of consciousness, i.e., of distinctions in the mind." Consciousness is the distinction making activity of the mind, both in making and having distinctions, including the states we consider the conscious as well as the unconscious. Consciousness, in making distinctions between self and other, becomes the subject which treats everything else as object. Consciousness itself is real. It exists as a series, or stream, of successive momentary awareness of events, each immediately replaced by consciousness in the next moment. Consciousness "has no substantiality ...and is dependent on the consciousnessof the preceding instant."
Since everything, until the attainment of wisdom in enlightenment, is consciousness, all objects in the external world are just "representations" in our consciousness. Since everything is just an aspect of consciousness, all phenomenal existence is without intrinsic nature. Therefore, the "I" is illusory and there is no "self" to be found; everything is just a phenomenon of consciousness. Eventually, consciousness that is attached to these representations and makes distinctions has to be clarified into wisdom which is free of all attachments.
There is nothing separate or independent from consciousness. The world is our perceptual construct and an analysis of the unenlightened mind will show different levels of perception which are based in a storehouse consciousness containing the karmic seeds of former actions.
6) KARMA
The result of our intentional actions is karma. The consequences of these actions remain as traces or seeds planted in the storehouse consciousness. These seeds germinate over time and generate more seeds. Therefore, our lives, are driven by past actions which compel us to decisions about future actions. The theory of karma accounts for the "continuity of personality through death, or unconsciousness..." Once a seed produces its fruit, it is used up. However, new seeds come to fruition in each moment. Until the time of enlightenment, while we continue to believe in the reality of our perceptual framework, this process "...creates seeds that will ripen into further delusion."
Because of the similarity of karmic seeds, and the corresponding delusions they produce, our perception of the world matches that of other people. Consequently, in our samsara (the cycle of existence and rebirth that is the cause of suffering), we are usually in agreement with others about the external sensible world. We also experience interaction via our streams of mental phenomena, since one person's mental representations can effect those of another.
The karmic process has three stages:
i) Giving rise to delusion has one root in the sixth consciousness, whose actions lead to activity and therefore karma.
ii) Creating karma involves planting seeds in the eighth consciousness. The ongoing cycle of life, death, and rebirth draws the eighth consciousness back into the six levels of existence.
iii) Finally, undergoing retribution is the germination of karmic seeds; we reap what we have sown.
7) DHARMAS
"Dharmas are the ultimate factors that support 'existence'...." They are basic interdependent patterns within the overall nature of reality. Each dharma is a mental-construct with a specific process that consists of a stream of momentary events. Dharmas are attachments to an illusory reality. In terms of process and events dharmas interact with all eight consciousnesses.
Yogacara posits one hundred dharmas, which can be categorized according to the three natures, since dharmas lack any real self-existence. There are five categories of dharmas (in descending order):
First; the eight mind dharmas are supreme and manifest as the eight consciousnesses.
Second; the fifty-one dharmas interactive with the mind supplement the mind dharmas and are subdivided into six categories:
1) five universally interactive (attention, conceptualization, etc.),
2) five particular states (desire, concentration, etc.),
3) eleven wholesome (faith, shame, renunciation, etc.),
4) six fundamental afflictions (greed, anger, etc.),
5) twenty derivative afflictions (deceit, jealousy, torpor, lack of shame, etc.), and
6) four unfixed (sleep, regret, etc.). The afflictions and wholesome dharmas represent further categorizations of distinctions in the sixth consciousness.
Third; the eleven form dharmas (sounds, flavors, objects of touch, etc.) are shadows of the first and second categories.
Fourth; the twenty-four dharmas not interactive with the mind (time, birth, distinction, etc.) are positions not found in the first, second, or third categories.
Fifth; the six unconditioned dharmas (empty space, extinction of feeling, thinking, etc.) are dharmas revealed by the first four categories.
The realization that all dharmas are nothing but mental-constructs is an essential step on the path to enlightenment. In that final state the wisdom of Wonderful Contemplation "understands without distortion the individual and universal dharmas...."
EIGHTH CONSCIOUSNESSIn Yogacara theory everything is "mind only" and this consciousness is divided into eight sections. The principal part of consciousness is the alaya or "storehouse consciousness" which is the basis of the seven other consciousnesses. All eight comprise the mind dharmas and the fifty dharmas that interact with the mind.
The alaya consciousness is also known as the "repository of impressions." From the alaya arise all of our ideas of self, ego, and their respective functions in the external world. If the alaya is imagined as a vast ocean, then the seven other consciousness are waves on its surface. The seven are not separate from the eighth, nor do they disturb the stillness of its depths; all eight are essentially one.
The eighth consciousness is "beyond the dualisms of subject and object, or existence and non-existence," so it does not have any purposive activity and is unaware of objects. Since it does not make distinctions, and is neither good or bad, the eighth consciousness is said to have the state of equanimity.
The alaya consciousness is the "karmic" storehouse which contains seeds generated by our unenlightened actions. Although it does not create karma, the alaya functions as the subject of retribution for past intentional activities. The process of ripening of seeds, thinking, and perception of objects is all subjective and "neither the process nor its results have any real existence." Because of the "...karmic activity of the seven consciousnesses" the alaya continues developing karmic seeds which, in their fruition, influence future attachments and activities via the three realms and the nine grounds.
Final freedom from the samsaric process occurs when all "the defiled seeds are replaced by pure seeds created by pure deeds." The alaya also contains "intrinsically pure seeds" which are the source of our motivation towards enlightenment. Upon enlightenment the eighth consciousness becomes empty of ripening seeds and is transformed into the Great Mirror wisdom.
The alaya has two divisions; the perceiving (the subject) and the perceived (the object). The former is linked to the seventh consciousness, while the latter is linked to the sixth consciousness and the five perceptual consciousnesses. When the perceived division is transformed during enlightenment it becomes subsequently-attained wisdom.
9) SEVENTH CONSCIOUSNESS
The seventh consciousness obscures a person's true nature with the ego concept of "I". It is also known as the "defiling/transmitter consciousness" because it is the home of the illusory "...ego individuality with which it defiles the first six consciousnesses..." by obscuring them with its concepts of self. The seventh consciousness also defiles the eighth consciousness by attributing to it characteristics of a real "self" that exists in space and time.
The seventh's mode of knowledge is fallacy caused by its innate attachments. Since the seventh consciousness bases its decisions on relative, defiled knowledge from the dharma of judgment, it is built on false assumptions which give it four types of delusion; pride of self, self-love, self-delusion, and self-conceit. It also supports the eight major-grade derivative afflictions (laziness, distraction, lack of faith, etc.).
10) SIXTH CONSCIOUSNESS
Cognition and perception take place in the sixth consciousness. The sixth, along with the five perceptual consciousnesses, perceives worldly phenomena. The sixth takes "manifestations of the five aggregates (the five "heaps" of dharmas) as object...[and] generates various non-continuous concepts of self." This process also includes its interaction with the fifty-one dharmas interactive with the mind.
The sixth consciousness distinguishes between good and evil and makes moral determinations about the input of the five perceptual consciousnesses. It also uses the dharmas of the basic and subsidiary afflictions along with the three natures and the three modes of knowledge which pervade the three states. In these processes the sixth consciousness creates karma by its examination and decisions which then lead to physical activity.
In the eighth ground "the sixth's...attachment to the perceiver division of the eighth...consciousness...is abandoned, so there is no longer attachment to self, only dharmas."
11
Diskusi Umum / Faith in Budhism
« on: 09 August 2007, 01:32:05 PM »
faith in Budhism, gue comot mentah-mentah dari forum international....
Diamond-Cutter Sutra (chapter 6) said:
Subhuti addressed the Buddha, "World Honored One, in the future, will there be living beings who will have true faith upon hearing such phrases?"
The Buddha told Subhuti, "Subhuti, do not say this! Even in the last five-hundred-year period after the passing of the Thus Come One, there will be those who, upholding the moral precepts and cultivating blessings, will hear such phrases and be inspired with pure faith. You should know that such people have not planted good roots with just one or two Buddhas, and not with three, four, or five Buddhas, but rather they have planted good roots with immeasurable tens of millions of Buddhas. Subhuti, the Thus Come One knows and sees all those people who will hear these phrases, even for a single recitation, and will give rise to the pure faith. Such living beings will thus obtain immeasurable merit. Why? Because such living beings will not fall back to clinging to the idea of a self, a personality, a being, or a separated individuality. They will not fall back to clinging to dharmas and they will not fall back to clinging to non-dharmas. Why? If those living beings' minds were to cling to dharmas, then they would be attached to the notion of a self, a personality, a being, and a separated individuality. Likewise, if they were to cling to non-dharmas, they would be attached to the notion of a self, a personality, a being, and a separated individuality. Therefore, one should not cling to dharmas, nor should one cling to non-dharmas. Because of this principle the Thus Come One always says, ‘my teaching of the Dharma is to be likened to a bamboo raft. The honored Dharma must be relinquished, and how much more so of that which is not the Dharma?'"
Point 1) "They will not fall back to clinging to dharmas and they will not fall back to clinging to non-dharmas." The reason they do not cling to dharmas and they do not cling to non-dharmas is not because they do not wish to have a literal take on them, but rather because even "The honored Dharma must be relinquished, and how much more so of that which is not the Dharma?'" Basically by dwelling in neither the dharmas or the non-dharmas, the Mind of Incomparable Enlightenment (Annutara-Samyak-Sambodhi) can be realized. It is true that when meditating and when living your life it is great to neither dwell in the dharma or in the non-dharma, but again that doesn't mean don't interpret the dharma literally.
Point 2) Faith is a good thing in Buddhism!
http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/Budd.../BDF.html#faith
QUOTE
Faith is one of the Eleven Wholesome Dharmas of the One Hundred Dharmas (see entry for latter); it is also one of the Five Faculties (faith, vigor, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom).
"Faith is necessary in whatever it is one does. One needs to have a sense of belief, an attitude of faith. First, one needs to have faith in oneself. What kind of faith? One needs to have faith that one certainly can become a Buddha. One has to believe that there is no difference between the Buddha and oneself. Yet that lack of difference is in one's Buddha-nature. Cultivation is still required in order to actually become a Buddha. If one cultivates, one will become a Buddha. In order to do so, one must have an initial belief in this principle.
"Second, not only is it necessary to believe that one can become a Buddha oneself, but also to believe that all people can become Buddhas. Moreover, not only can all people become Buddhas, one should believe that all living beings have the Buddha-nature and are capable of becoming Buddhas. If one has that kind of faith, then one should begin by following the rules oneself. To follow the rules means to hold the moral precepts. First one holds the precepts, and then one can become a Buddha. One does it oneself and also encourages others to do so as well.
"Faith must be solid, like a rock, firm and sturdy. Faith shouldn't be like a pile of ashes which seems to have some substance to it but which crumbles at the slightest disturbance. Don't be too soft. One's faith must be strong and solid." (HD 44 45)
THE IMPORTANCE OF FAITH
"Faith is the foundation of cultivation of the Way and the mother of merit and virtue, because it is capable of nourishing wholesome roots. The Buddhadharma is like a vast sea; only by faith can it be entered. Therefore, the single word 'faith' is the essence of escape from birth and death and is the wonderful means for returning to the source. It is a precious raft on the stream of affliction, a torch in the dark cave of ignorance, and a guide who leads us out of the path of confusion. It is a compass for those floundering in the waves on the sea of suffering, and a sagely teacher for those in the Three Paths (Arhat, Pratyekabuddha, and Bodhisattva) and Eight Difficulties ( ). It is the origin of awakening for the Four Kinds of Creatures born (from wombs, eggs, moisture, and transformation) within the Six Paths (see entry). Faith cannot be ignored. An author of ancient times said, 'If a man has no faith, I do not know what can be made of him.'
"Once two bhikshus were travelling to see Shakyamuni Buddha, the World-Honored One. As they travelled they became extremely thirsty but could not find any water. As they walked they happened upon a human skull containing water in which some small bugs were swimming, enjoying themselves tremendously. One of the bhikshus picked up the water and offered some to his companion. The companion replied, 'This water contains bugs, and the moral precepts do not permit drinking such water. I would rather die of thirst than to violate the precepts in order to stay alive.' After this incident he died of thirst.
"When the bhikshu who had drunk the water reached the place where the Buddha was residing, he bowed and said to the Lord, 'Your disciple was travelling in the company of another bhikshu who perished of thirst on the road. I hope the Buddha will be compassionate and rescue him.'
"The Buddha said to the bhikshu who had drunk the water, 'Because he stringently maintained the moral precepts and was so firm in his faith that he would not violate them even in the face of death, he received the awesome power of the Buddhas and arrived here before you. He has already seen the Buddha and heard the Dharma before you. He is a bhikshu who has true faith in the precepts." (WM 53-54; also S42 75-76)
Hymn of Faith
Faith is the source of the Way;
Faith is the mother of merit and virtue.
As they arise by faith,
All wholesome dharmas must by faith be nurtured.
Faith cuts the tangled web of doubt,
Escaping loves delusive flow,
And opens wide to reveal the true and unsurpassed Nirvana's road.
Faith has no stain or mar,
Bringing the turbid mind purification,
Eradicating pride,
Of all respect and reverence the foundation.
Within the Dharma Treasury
faith's jewel outshines the fairest gold;
Hence every conduct our hands by faith made pure receive and surely hold.
Faith is the healing source
By which our faculties are cleansed and quickened. Nothing can turn its force,
The solid power of faith cannot be broken.
And when by faith forever
From all affliction we depart,
The Buddha's merit will thus become the sole devotion of our hearts.
With faith the mind's unmoved,
Free from attachment to conditioned arising;
Disasters far removed,
In the tranquility of faith abiding.
The bliss of faith victorious!
Among the conducts of all worlds,
This faith alone is the one most rare and precious wish-fulfilling pearl.
Profoundly we believe:
Trusting the Buddhas and the Buddhas' Dharma,
Treading the Bodhi-Path,
Forever followed by all true disciples.
And to the Great Enlightenment
Our thoughts are joyfully inclined:
The Bodhisattvas with this deep heart of faith produce the Bodhi-Mind!
In short, brother, it wasn't faith or even literalism that brought down the WTC. It was a band of loonies who hijacked several planes and smashed them into the WTC. If one was being a Muslim literalist, there are certainly hundreds upon hundreds of passages which go against this type of an act. But even if that wasn't the case, if we are to be a Buddhist literalist, that means we would disavow any killing of any sentient being. So if you wish to have any further discussions with me on this subject, please retract the implication that by me believing the Buddha literally spoke the Mahayana sutras that I am the same as a terrorist. It is embarassing and inciteful. If you apologize for this, I will continue to try to have a beneficial conversation with you.
Diamond-Cutter Sutra (chapter 6) said:
Subhuti addressed the Buddha, "World Honored One, in the future, will there be living beings who will have true faith upon hearing such phrases?"
The Buddha told Subhuti, "Subhuti, do not say this! Even in the last five-hundred-year period after the passing of the Thus Come One, there will be those who, upholding the moral precepts and cultivating blessings, will hear such phrases and be inspired with pure faith. You should know that such people have not planted good roots with just one or two Buddhas, and not with three, four, or five Buddhas, but rather they have planted good roots with immeasurable tens of millions of Buddhas. Subhuti, the Thus Come One knows and sees all those people who will hear these phrases, even for a single recitation, and will give rise to the pure faith. Such living beings will thus obtain immeasurable merit. Why? Because such living beings will not fall back to clinging to the idea of a self, a personality, a being, or a separated individuality. They will not fall back to clinging to dharmas and they will not fall back to clinging to non-dharmas. Why? If those living beings' minds were to cling to dharmas, then they would be attached to the notion of a self, a personality, a being, and a separated individuality. Likewise, if they were to cling to non-dharmas, they would be attached to the notion of a self, a personality, a being, and a separated individuality. Therefore, one should not cling to dharmas, nor should one cling to non-dharmas. Because of this principle the Thus Come One always says, ‘my teaching of the Dharma is to be likened to a bamboo raft. The honored Dharma must be relinquished, and how much more so of that which is not the Dharma?'"
Point 1) "They will not fall back to clinging to dharmas and they will not fall back to clinging to non-dharmas." The reason they do not cling to dharmas and they do not cling to non-dharmas is not because they do not wish to have a literal take on them, but rather because even "The honored Dharma must be relinquished, and how much more so of that which is not the Dharma?'" Basically by dwelling in neither the dharmas or the non-dharmas, the Mind of Incomparable Enlightenment (Annutara-Samyak-Sambodhi) can be realized. It is true that when meditating and when living your life it is great to neither dwell in the dharma or in the non-dharma, but again that doesn't mean don't interpret the dharma literally.
Point 2) Faith is a good thing in Buddhism!
http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/Budd.../BDF.html#faith
QUOTE
Faith is one of the Eleven Wholesome Dharmas of the One Hundred Dharmas (see entry for latter); it is also one of the Five Faculties (faith, vigor, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom).
"Faith is necessary in whatever it is one does. One needs to have a sense of belief, an attitude of faith. First, one needs to have faith in oneself. What kind of faith? One needs to have faith that one certainly can become a Buddha. One has to believe that there is no difference between the Buddha and oneself. Yet that lack of difference is in one's Buddha-nature. Cultivation is still required in order to actually become a Buddha. If one cultivates, one will become a Buddha. In order to do so, one must have an initial belief in this principle.
"Second, not only is it necessary to believe that one can become a Buddha oneself, but also to believe that all people can become Buddhas. Moreover, not only can all people become Buddhas, one should believe that all living beings have the Buddha-nature and are capable of becoming Buddhas. If one has that kind of faith, then one should begin by following the rules oneself. To follow the rules means to hold the moral precepts. First one holds the precepts, and then one can become a Buddha. One does it oneself and also encourages others to do so as well.
"Faith must be solid, like a rock, firm and sturdy. Faith shouldn't be like a pile of ashes which seems to have some substance to it but which crumbles at the slightest disturbance. Don't be too soft. One's faith must be strong and solid." (HD 44 45)
THE IMPORTANCE OF FAITH
"Faith is the foundation of cultivation of the Way and the mother of merit and virtue, because it is capable of nourishing wholesome roots. The Buddhadharma is like a vast sea; only by faith can it be entered. Therefore, the single word 'faith' is the essence of escape from birth and death and is the wonderful means for returning to the source. It is a precious raft on the stream of affliction, a torch in the dark cave of ignorance, and a guide who leads us out of the path of confusion. It is a compass for those floundering in the waves on the sea of suffering, and a sagely teacher for those in the Three Paths (Arhat, Pratyekabuddha, and Bodhisattva) and Eight Difficulties ( ). It is the origin of awakening for the Four Kinds of Creatures born (from wombs, eggs, moisture, and transformation) within the Six Paths (see entry). Faith cannot be ignored. An author of ancient times said, 'If a man has no faith, I do not know what can be made of him.'
"Once two bhikshus were travelling to see Shakyamuni Buddha, the World-Honored One. As they travelled they became extremely thirsty but could not find any water. As they walked they happened upon a human skull containing water in which some small bugs were swimming, enjoying themselves tremendously. One of the bhikshus picked up the water and offered some to his companion. The companion replied, 'This water contains bugs, and the moral precepts do not permit drinking such water. I would rather die of thirst than to violate the precepts in order to stay alive.' After this incident he died of thirst.
"When the bhikshu who had drunk the water reached the place where the Buddha was residing, he bowed and said to the Lord, 'Your disciple was travelling in the company of another bhikshu who perished of thirst on the road. I hope the Buddha will be compassionate and rescue him.'
"The Buddha said to the bhikshu who had drunk the water, 'Because he stringently maintained the moral precepts and was so firm in his faith that he would not violate them even in the face of death, he received the awesome power of the Buddhas and arrived here before you. He has already seen the Buddha and heard the Dharma before you. He is a bhikshu who has true faith in the precepts." (WM 53-54; also S42 75-76)
Hymn of Faith
Faith is the source of the Way;
Faith is the mother of merit and virtue.
As they arise by faith,
All wholesome dharmas must by faith be nurtured.
Faith cuts the tangled web of doubt,
Escaping loves delusive flow,
And opens wide to reveal the true and unsurpassed Nirvana's road.
Faith has no stain or mar,
Bringing the turbid mind purification,
Eradicating pride,
Of all respect and reverence the foundation.
Within the Dharma Treasury
faith's jewel outshines the fairest gold;
Hence every conduct our hands by faith made pure receive and surely hold.
Faith is the healing source
By which our faculties are cleansed and quickened. Nothing can turn its force,
The solid power of faith cannot be broken.
And when by faith forever
From all affliction we depart,
The Buddha's merit will thus become the sole devotion of our hearts.
With faith the mind's unmoved,
Free from attachment to conditioned arising;
Disasters far removed,
In the tranquility of faith abiding.
The bliss of faith victorious!
Among the conducts of all worlds,
This faith alone is the one most rare and precious wish-fulfilling pearl.
Profoundly we believe:
Trusting the Buddhas and the Buddhas' Dharma,
Treading the Bodhi-Path,
Forever followed by all true disciples.
And to the Great Enlightenment
Our thoughts are joyfully inclined:
The Bodhisattvas with this deep heart of faith produce the Bodhi-Mind!
In short, brother, it wasn't faith or even literalism that brought down the WTC. It was a band of loonies who hijacked several planes and smashed them into the WTC. If one was being a Muslim literalist, there are certainly hundreds upon hundreds of passages which go against this type of an act. But even if that wasn't the case, if we are to be a Buddhist literalist, that means we would disavow any killing of any sentient being. So if you wish to have any further discussions with me on this subject, please retract the implication that by me believing the Buddha literally spoke the Mahayana sutras that I am the same as a terrorist. It is embarassing and inciteful. If you apologize for this, I will continue to try to have a beneficial conversation with you.
12
Buddhisme untuk Pemula / penyembuhan mistik
« on: 03 August 2007, 12:30:19 PM »
sumber:http://www.friendster.com/group-discussion/index.php?t=msg&th=724035&start=0&
Namo Buddhaya,
Dalam agama Buddha tidak diperkenankan meminta pertolongan berupa hal mistis / kepercayaan ?
Saudara Kevin, dari mana anda mendengarnya, Sang Buddha Gotama tidak pernah mengatakan demikian.
Yang Sang Buddha Gotama ajarkan adalah semua makhluk memiliki karmanya sendiri, hidup sebagai manusia adalah tidak kekal, dan tentu saja selain membabarkan 84000 pintu Dharma lainnya.
oleh karena itu apabila seseorang sedang menderita sakit, seharusnya adalah wajar, entah karena tua atau menderita penyakit.
Ketika seseorang sakit Sang Buddha tidak pernah melarang untuk mencari pertolongan kepada orang yang memang dapat menolong, walaupun pertolongan yang diberikan berupa hal2 yang ajaib.
Di dunia ini saya percaya banyak orang2 yang dapat berkomunikasi dengan Dewa, Hantu bahkan Bodhisattva.
Tapi memang ada hal2 ajaib yang tidak baik, misal seseorang di obati sembuh tapi mengorbankan kambing, sapi, dll.
Intinya mengobati seseorang tapi merugikan makhluk lain.
Tapi ada juga orang2 yang baik di dunia ini, dipilih oleh para Dewa, Bodhisattva, dan juga hantu yang baik.
Dipilih untuk apa ?
Untuk membantu mengurangi penderitaan manusia. Mis : ketika sakit yang tak dapat diobati secara medis.
Mereka menyembuhkan penyakit dengan petunjuk dari Dewa, Bodhisattva, bahkan hantu tapi dengan niat yang sangat mulia tanpa merugikan makhluk lain.
Ini menurut saya nga salah ama sekali.
Waktu kecil kuping sebelah kanan saya pernah terluka dan terus2an bernanah, ke dokter sana-sini nga ada yang dapat menyembuhkan.
Lalu saya diajak ortu ke sebuah kelenteng di Tanggerang, disana saya dikasih Phu ( kertas dengan tulisan2 ) untuk di bakar dan diminum dengan air. Orang yang dapat berkomunikasi dengan makhluk lain tersebut sangat baik hati, tidak mempunyai tarif, hanya ada kotak sumbangan sukarela untuk altar.
Lalu saya sembuh, dan saya sangat berterima kasih atas kebajikan tersebut.
Terlepas dari kekuatan welas asih siapa yang menyembuhkan saya, apakah keajaiban yang di berikan oleh Dewa, Bodhisattva, atau hantu sekalipun.
Mengapa saya sebut hantu sekalipun ?
Dalam Buddha Dharma tidak ada makhluk yang mulia atau tidak mulia karena wujudnya.
Suatu Makhluk di sebut mulia karena kebajikannya, bukan karena wujudnya.
Jadi walau berwujud hantu tapi kalau hatinya penuh kebajikan karena telah sadar ia menjadi hantu karena karma buruknya dan berusaha berbuat kebajikan sebanyak2nya memang tetap kita hina ?
Banyak umat Buddha lupa pada keajaiban yang berasal dari Sang Buddha Gotama kepada Maha Pajapati Gotami.
Ketika Sang Buddha Gotama kembali ke Kapilavastu, Maha Pajapati Gotami dalam keadaan buta, ketika Sang Buddha Gotama melakukan keajaiban dengan terbang di udara, bagian sebelah tubuh memancarkan api, sebelahnya lagi memancarkan air.
Air tersebut di ambil oleh Yasodhara, lalu digunakan untuk membilas mata Maha Pajapati Gotami, keajaiban terjadi dan Maha Pajapati kemudian dapat melihat setelah buta sejak Pangeran Siddharta meninggalkan istana.
Hal yang dapat saya sampaikan meminta pertolongan berupa keajaiban, ketika memang sangat menderita karena sakit yang tidak bisa disembuhkan secara medis dan juga tidak merugikan makhluk lain.
Menurut saya nga pa pa, asal tidak merugikan makhluk lain sebagai akibat pertolongan tersebut.
Kalau di sembuhkan tapi mengorbankan / merugikan makhluk lain tentu saja akan mengakibatkan karma buruk bagi yang memperkenalkan dan yang disembuhkan.
Apapun di dunia ini kalau memang mulia karena kebajikannya, sangat perlu kita hormati.
Semoga Semua Makhluk Hidup Berbahagia
Namo Buddhaya,
Dalam agama Buddha tidak diperkenankan meminta pertolongan berupa hal mistis / kepercayaan ?
Saudara Kevin, dari mana anda mendengarnya, Sang Buddha Gotama tidak pernah mengatakan demikian.
Yang Sang Buddha Gotama ajarkan adalah semua makhluk memiliki karmanya sendiri, hidup sebagai manusia adalah tidak kekal, dan tentu saja selain membabarkan 84000 pintu Dharma lainnya.
oleh karena itu apabila seseorang sedang menderita sakit, seharusnya adalah wajar, entah karena tua atau menderita penyakit.
Ketika seseorang sakit Sang Buddha tidak pernah melarang untuk mencari pertolongan kepada orang yang memang dapat menolong, walaupun pertolongan yang diberikan berupa hal2 yang ajaib.
Di dunia ini saya percaya banyak orang2 yang dapat berkomunikasi dengan Dewa, Hantu bahkan Bodhisattva.
Tapi memang ada hal2 ajaib yang tidak baik, misal seseorang di obati sembuh tapi mengorbankan kambing, sapi, dll.
Intinya mengobati seseorang tapi merugikan makhluk lain.
Tapi ada juga orang2 yang baik di dunia ini, dipilih oleh para Dewa, Bodhisattva, dan juga hantu yang baik.
Dipilih untuk apa ?
Untuk membantu mengurangi penderitaan manusia. Mis : ketika sakit yang tak dapat diobati secara medis.
Mereka menyembuhkan penyakit dengan petunjuk dari Dewa, Bodhisattva, bahkan hantu tapi dengan niat yang sangat mulia tanpa merugikan makhluk lain.
Ini menurut saya nga salah ama sekali.
Waktu kecil kuping sebelah kanan saya pernah terluka dan terus2an bernanah, ke dokter sana-sini nga ada yang dapat menyembuhkan.
Lalu saya diajak ortu ke sebuah kelenteng di Tanggerang, disana saya dikasih Phu ( kertas dengan tulisan2 ) untuk di bakar dan diminum dengan air. Orang yang dapat berkomunikasi dengan makhluk lain tersebut sangat baik hati, tidak mempunyai tarif, hanya ada kotak sumbangan sukarela untuk altar.
Lalu saya sembuh, dan saya sangat berterima kasih atas kebajikan tersebut.
Terlepas dari kekuatan welas asih siapa yang menyembuhkan saya, apakah keajaiban yang di berikan oleh Dewa, Bodhisattva, atau hantu sekalipun.
Mengapa saya sebut hantu sekalipun ?
Dalam Buddha Dharma tidak ada makhluk yang mulia atau tidak mulia karena wujudnya.
Suatu Makhluk di sebut mulia karena kebajikannya, bukan karena wujudnya.
Jadi walau berwujud hantu tapi kalau hatinya penuh kebajikan karena telah sadar ia menjadi hantu karena karma buruknya dan berusaha berbuat kebajikan sebanyak2nya memang tetap kita hina ?
Banyak umat Buddha lupa pada keajaiban yang berasal dari Sang Buddha Gotama kepada Maha Pajapati Gotami.
Ketika Sang Buddha Gotama kembali ke Kapilavastu, Maha Pajapati Gotami dalam keadaan buta, ketika Sang Buddha Gotama melakukan keajaiban dengan terbang di udara, bagian sebelah tubuh memancarkan api, sebelahnya lagi memancarkan air.
Air tersebut di ambil oleh Yasodhara, lalu digunakan untuk membilas mata Maha Pajapati Gotami, keajaiban terjadi dan Maha Pajapati kemudian dapat melihat setelah buta sejak Pangeran Siddharta meninggalkan istana.
Hal yang dapat saya sampaikan meminta pertolongan berupa keajaiban, ketika memang sangat menderita karena sakit yang tidak bisa disembuhkan secara medis dan juga tidak merugikan makhluk lain.
Menurut saya nga pa pa, asal tidak merugikan makhluk lain sebagai akibat pertolongan tersebut.
Kalau di sembuhkan tapi mengorbankan / merugikan makhluk lain tentu saja akan mengakibatkan karma buruk bagi yang memperkenalkan dan yang disembuhkan.
Apapun di dunia ini kalau memang mulia karena kebajikannya, sangat perlu kita hormati.
Semoga Semua Makhluk Hidup Berbahagia
13
Kesempatan Berbuat Baik / help
« on: 30 July 2007, 04:05:16 PM »
Kalau kenal atau mengetahui ada anak miskin atau dari golongan kurang mampu, lulus SD (berijasah) tetapi tidak dapat meneruskan ke SMP, umur max 18 tahun, tinggal di Jakarta Selatan, dapat menghubungi Ibu Ade, Pancoran Timur VIII no. 4B Jakarta 12770 telp. 7990412 HP. 085691500258, untuk selanjutnya akan disurvei, Insya Allah tahun ini akan dibuka sekolah rakyat (SMP terbuka) gratis di Jakarta Selatan khusus untuk anak miskin dan dari golongan tidak mampu ..silahkan forwrd seikhlas nya
14
Vegetarian / [ask] Vegetarian vs Sutra tentang Sop Kepiting
« on: 26 July 2007, 11:47:33 PM »
Istana Pemberi Sup Kepiting ( Kakkatakarasadayakavimana )
petikan dari Vimanavatthu
Yang Terberkahi sedang berdiam di Rajagaha, di Hutan Bambu. Pada waktu itu, seorang bhikku yang mempraktekkan pandangan terang terpaksa meninggalkan praktek itu karena sakit telinga yang parah. Obat tabib sama sekali tidak membantu. Dia memberitahukan hal ini kepada Yang Terberkahi. Sang Buddha - yang mengetahui obatnya adalah sup kepiting, menyuruhnya mencari dana makanan di daerah Magadha.
Maka dia pergi ke sana dan berdiri untuk menerima dana makanan di pintu gubuk seorang penjaga ladang. Penjaga yang telah masak sup-kepiting ini meminta beliau untuk duduk dan memberinya sup-kepiting. Baru saja bhikku itu mencicipinya, dia segera merasa sehat kembali seolah-olah dimandikan dengan air seratus bejana. Karena ketenangannya kembali pulih berkat makanan yang sesuai, dia mengarahkan pikirannya (lagi) menuju pandangan terang dan mencapai tingkat Arahat bahkan sebelum ia selesai makan. Kepada penjaga ladang itu beliau berkata: "O. umat awam, lewat buah dari tindakan jasa ini engkau tidak akan menderita sakit - baik tubuh maupun pikiran."
Setelah memberikan pemberkahan, beliau pun pergi. Ketika kemudian penjaga ladang itu meninggal, dia terlahir di alam Tiga-puluh-tiga dewa di suatu ruangan yang terbuat dari batu permata hijau-laut, di suatu Istana keemasan duabelas yojana dengan pilar-pilar batu permata dan dihiasi tujuh ratus aula berpinakel. Di pintunya terdapat kepiting emas yang digantung dengan untaian mutiara. Y.M. Maha-Moggallana yang pergi kesana melihatnya dan bertanya:
1." Sungguh tinggi Istana ini dengan tugu-tugu yang berhias permata, selusin yojana kelilingnya, ada tujuh ratus aula berpinakel yang elok dan pilar-pilar batu permata hijau-lau indah yang dilapisi logam-logam berkilau.
2. Di sana engkau berdiam dan minum serta makansementara kecapi-kecapi surgawi melantunkan melodi. Di sini terdapat citarasa surgawi, lima jenis kesenangan indera, dan perempuan-perempuan yang berhias emas menari-nari.
3. Karena apakah maka keelokanmu sedemikian rupa? Karena apakah maka engkau sejahtera di sini, dan di sana muncul apa pun yang merupakan kesenangan sesuai dengan hatimu?
4. Saya bertanya kepadamu, dewa dengan keagungan besar, tindakan jasa apakah yang telah engkau lakukan ketika terlahir sebagai manusia? Karena apakah maka keagunganmu cemerlang sedemikian rupa dan keelokanmu menyinari segala penjuru?"
Dewa muda itu gembira karena ditanya oleh Y.M. Maha-Moggallana; ketika pertanyaan itu diajukan dia menjelaskan tindakan apa yang menghasilkan buah ini.
"Di sana, di pintu terdapat seekor kepiting berlapis emas yang befungsi sebagai pengingat, dan kepiting itu bersinar dengan sepuluh capitnya."
Karena inilah maka keelokanku sedemikian rupa.. dan keelokanku menyinari segala penjuru....
petikan dari Vimanavatthu
Yang Terberkahi sedang berdiam di Rajagaha, di Hutan Bambu. Pada waktu itu, seorang bhikku yang mempraktekkan pandangan terang terpaksa meninggalkan praktek itu karena sakit telinga yang parah. Obat tabib sama sekali tidak membantu. Dia memberitahukan hal ini kepada Yang Terberkahi. Sang Buddha - yang mengetahui obatnya adalah sup kepiting, menyuruhnya mencari dana makanan di daerah Magadha.
Maka dia pergi ke sana dan berdiri untuk menerima dana makanan di pintu gubuk seorang penjaga ladang. Penjaga yang telah masak sup-kepiting ini meminta beliau untuk duduk dan memberinya sup-kepiting. Baru saja bhikku itu mencicipinya, dia segera merasa sehat kembali seolah-olah dimandikan dengan air seratus bejana. Karena ketenangannya kembali pulih berkat makanan yang sesuai, dia mengarahkan pikirannya (lagi) menuju pandangan terang dan mencapai tingkat Arahat bahkan sebelum ia selesai makan. Kepada penjaga ladang itu beliau berkata: "O. umat awam, lewat buah dari tindakan jasa ini engkau tidak akan menderita sakit - baik tubuh maupun pikiran."
Setelah memberikan pemberkahan, beliau pun pergi. Ketika kemudian penjaga ladang itu meninggal, dia terlahir di alam Tiga-puluh-tiga dewa di suatu ruangan yang terbuat dari batu permata hijau-laut, di suatu Istana keemasan duabelas yojana dengan pilar-pilar batu permata dan dihiasi tujuh ratus aula berpinakel. Di pintunya terdapat kepiting emas yang digantung dengan untaian mutiara. Y.M. Maha-Moggallana yang pergi kesana melihatnya dan bertanya:
1." Sungguh tinggi Istana ini dengan tugu-tugu yang berhias permata, selusin yojana kelilingnya, ada tujuh ratus aula berpinakel yang elok dan pilar-pilar batu permata hijau-lau indah yang dilapisi logam-logam berkilau.
2. Di sana engkau berdiam dan minum serta makansementara kecapi-kecapi surgawi melantunkan melodi. Di sini terdapat citarasa surgawi, lima jenis kesenangan indera, dan perempuan-perempuan yang berhias emas menari-nari.
3. Karena apakah maka keelokanmu sedemikian rupa? Karena apakah maka engkau sejahtera di sini, dan di sana muncul apa pun yang merupakan kesenangan sesuai dengan hatimu?
4. Saya bertanya kepadamu, dewa dengan keagungan besar, tindakan jasa apakah yang telah engkau lakukan ketika terlahir sebagai manusia? Karena apakah maka keagunganmu cemerlang sedemikian rupa dan keelokanmu menyinari segala penjuru?"
Dewa muda itu gembira karena ditanya oleh Y.M. Maha-Moggallana; ketika pertanyaan itu diajukan dia menjelaskan tindakan apa yang menghasilkan buah ini.
"Di sana, di pintu terdapat seekor kepiting berlapis emas yang befungsi sebagai pengingat, dan kepiting itu bersinar dengan sepuluh capitnya."
Karena inilah maka keelokanku sedemikian rupa.. dan keelokanku menyinari segala penjuru....
15
Pure Land / Tanah Suci / The Bodhi Mind
« on: 26 July 2007, 02:07:07 PM »
The Bodhi Mind
by Dharma Master Thich Thien Tam
(excerpted from Buddhism of Wisdom and Faith (Horizontal Escape)
Essay on the Bodhi Mind
1) Meaning of the Bodhi Mind (Bodhicitta)
Exchanging the virtues of Buddha Recitation for the petty merits and blessings of this world is certainly not consonant with the intentions of the Buddhas. Therefore, practitioners should recite the name of Amitabha Buddha for the purpose of escaping the cycle of Birth and Death. However, if we were to practice Buddha Recitation for the sake of our own salvation alone, we would only fulfill a small part of the Buddhas' intentions.
What, then, is the ultimate intention of the Buddhas? The ultimate intention of the Buddhas is for all sentient beings to escape the cycle of Birth and Death and to become enlightened, as they are. Thus, those who recite Amitabha Buddha's name should develop the Bodhi Mind (aspiration for Supreme Enlightenment).
The word "Bodhi" means "enlightened." There are three main stages of Enlightenment: the Enlightenment of the Sravakas (Hearers); the Enlightenment of the Pratyeka (Self-Awakened) Buddhas; the Enlightenment of the Buddhas. What Pure Land practitioners who develop the Bodhi Mind are seeking is precisely the Enlightenment of the Buddhas. This stage of Buddhahood is the highest, transcending those of the Sravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas, and is therefore called Supreme Enlightenment or Supreme Bodhi. This Supreme Bodhi Mind contains two principal seeds, Compassion and Wisdom, from which emanates the great undertaking of rescuing oneself and all other sentient beings.
To reiterate, the Bodhi Mind I am referring to here is the supreme, perfect Bodhi Mind of the Buddhas, not the Bodhi Mind of the Sravakas or Pratyeka Buddhas.
***
The Mahavairocana (Dai Nichi) Sutra says:
The Bodhi Mind is the cause
Great Compassion is the root (foundation)
Skillful means are the ultimate.
For example, if a person is to travel far, he should first determine the goal of the trip, then understand its purpose, and lastly, choose such expedient means of locomotion as automobiles, ships, or planes to set out on his journey. It is the same for the cultivator. He should first take Supreme Enlightenment (Buddhahood) as his ultimate goal, and the compassionate mind which benefits himself and others as the purpose of his cultivation, and then, depending on his preferences and capacities, choose a method, Zen, Pure Land or Esotericism, as an expedient for practice. Expedients, or skillful means, refer, in a broader sense, to flexible wisdom adapted to circumstances -- the application of all actions and practices, whether favorable or unfavorable, to the practice of the Bodhisattva Way. For this reason, the Bodhi Mind is the goal that the cultivator should clearly understand before he sets out to practice.
Thus, while the previous chapter dealt with the importance of the Pure Land method and its immediate purpose of escaping Birth and Death, this chapter goes into the Supreme Bodhi Mind (Buddhahood) as the ultimate goal of the cultivator.
When Buddha Sakyamuni preached the Four Noble Truths, we might expect that he would have explained the "cause" of suffering first. Instead, He began with the Truth of Suffering, precisely because he wanted to expose sentient beings to the concept of universal suffering. Upon realizing this truth, they would become concerned and look for the cause and source of suffering. Likewise, this author, following the intent of the Great Sage, first brought up the Pure Land method of escaping Birth and Death as a most urgent matter, and will proceed next to discuss the Bodhi Mind.
The Avatamsaka states:
To neglect the Bodhi Mind when practicing good deeds is the action of demons.
This teaching is very true indeed. For example, if someone begins walking without knowing the destination or goal of his journey, isn't his trip bound to be circuitous, tiring and useless? It is the same for the cultivator. If he expends a great deal of effort but forgets the goal of attaining Buddhahood to benefit himself and others, all his efforts will merely bring merits in the human and celestial realms. In the end he will still be deluded and revolve in the cycle of Birth and Death, undergoing immense suffering. If this is not the action of demons, what, then, is it? For this reason, developing the supreme Bodhi Mind to benefit oneself and others should be recognized as a crucial step.
2) The Bodhi Mind and the Pure Land Method
The Dharma, adapting to the times and the capacities of the people, consists of two traditions, the Northern and the Southern. The Southern tradition (Theravada) emphasizes everyday practical realities and swift self-emancipation, leading to the fruits of the Arhats or Pratyeka Buddhas. The Northern tradition (Mahayana, or Great Vehicle) teaches all-encompassing truths and stresses the goal of liberating all sentient beings, leading to the complete Enlightenment of the Tathagatas. Pure Land is a Mahayana teaching and therefore is not only directed toward the goal of self-enlightenment, but stresses the enlightenment of others at the same time.
When Buddhism spread to China [around the first century A.D.], it evolved, through the teachings of the Patriarchs, into ten schools. Among them are two schools which belong to the Southern (Theravada) tradition, the Satysiddhi School and the Abhidharma School. However, the faculties and temperament of the Chinese people did not correspond to the Southern tradition, and, therefore, within a short period of time it faded away. The other eight schools, are all Mahayana: the T'ien T'ai (Tendai) School, the Avatamsaka School, the Madyamika (Three Treatises) School, the Mind-Only (Yogacara) School, the Vinaya (Discipline) School, the Zen School, the Esoteric School and the Pure Land School. The vehicle for popularizing the Pure Land School is the Buddha Recitation method.
Pure Land being a Mahayana teaching, if the practitioner, in addition, develops the Supreme Bodhi Mind, mind and method will be perfect. This leads to Buddhahood, which encompasses both "self-benefit" and "other benefit." If he recites the Buddha's name seeking rebirth in the celestial or human realms, Buddha Recitation becomes a celestial or human method. A practitioner who develops such a mind will receive only the blessings of the celestial or human realms. When such blessings are exhausted, he will sink into a lower realm. If the practitioner is interested first and foremost in self-enlightenment, he will receive only the less exalted, incomplete fruits of the Sravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas.
Therefore, when reciting the Buddha's name, we should develop the supreme Bodhi Mind. There is a saying, "if you are off by a thousandth of an inch, you are off by a thousand miles." This being the case, Pure Land practitioners should pay particular attention to developing a proper Bodhi Mind.
The Practices of the Bodhi Mind
3) How to Develop the Bodhi Mind
Awakening the Bodhi Mind, as indicated earlier, can be summarized in the four Bodhisattva vows:
Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them all;
Afflictions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them all;
Dharma doors are boundless, I vow to master them all;
Buddhahood is unsurpassable, I vow to attain it.
However, it is not enough simply to say "I have developed the Bodhi Mind," or to recite the above verses every day. To really develop the Bodhi Mind, the practitioner should, in his cultivation, meditate on and act in accordance with the essence of the vows. There are cultivators, clergy and lay people alike, who, each day, after reciting the sutras and the Buddha's name, kneel down to read the transference verses: "I wish to rid myself of the three obstructions and sever afflictions ..." However, their actual behavior is different: today they are greedy, tomorrow they become angry and bear grudges, the day after tomorrow it is delusion and laziness, the day after that it is belittling, criticizing and slandering others. The next day they are involved in arguments and disputes, leading to sadness and resentment on both sides. Under these circumstances, how can they rid themselves of the three obstructions and sever afflictions?
In general, most of us merely engage in external forms of cultivation, while paying lip service to "opening the mind." Thus, the fires of greed, anger and delusion continue to flare up, preventing us from tasting the pure and cool flavor of emancipation as taught by the Buddhas. Therefore, we have to pose the question, "How can we awaken the Bodhi Mind?"
In order to develop a true Bodhi Mind, we should ponder and meditate on the following six critical points:
Point 1: the Enlightened Mind
Sentient beings are used to grasping at this body as "me," at this discriminating mind-consciousness which is subject to sadness and anger, love and happiness, as "me." However, this flesh-and-blood body is illusory; tomorrow, when it dies, it will return to dust. Therefore, this body -- a composite of the four elements (earth, water, fire and air) -- is not "me." The same is true of our mind-consciousness, which is merely the synthesis of our perception of the six "Dusts" (form, sound, fragrance, taste, touch and dharmas).
Take the case of a person who formerly could not read or write, but is now studying English or German. When his studies are completed, he will have knowledge of English or German. Another example is a person who had not known Paris but who later on had the opportunity to visit France and absorb the sights and sounds of that city. Upon his return, if someone were to mention Paris, the sights of that metropolis would appear clearly in his mind. That knowledge formerly did not exist; when the sights and sounds entered his subconscious, they "existed." If these memories were not rekindled from time to time, they would gradually fade away and disappear, returning to the void.
This knowledge of ours, sometimes existing, sometimes not existing, some images disappearing, other images arising, always changing following the outside world, is illusory, not real. Therefore, the mind-consciousness is not "me." The ancients have said:
The body is like a bubble, the mind is like the wind; they are illusions, without origin or True Nature.
If we truly realize that body and mind are illusory, and do not cling to them, we will gradually enter the realm of "no self" -- escaping the mark of self. The self of our self being thus void, the self of "others" is also void, and therefore, there is no mark of others. Our self and the selves of others being void, the selves of countless sentient beings are also void, and therefore, there is no mark of sentient beings. The self being void, there is no lasting ego; there is really no one who has "attained Enlightenment." This is also true of Nirvana, ever-dwelling, everlasting. Therefore, there is no mark of lifespan.
Here we should clearly understand: it is not that the eternally dwelling "True Thusness" has no real nature or true self; it is because the sages have no attachment to that nature that it becomes void.
Sentient beings being void, objects (dharmas) are also void, because objects always change, are born and die away, with no self-nature. We should clearly realize that this is not because objects, upon disintegration, become void and non-existent; but, rather, because, being illusory, their True Nature is empty and void. Sentient beings, too, are like that. Therefore, the ancients have said:
Why wait until the flowers fall to understand that form is emptiness?
The practitioner, having clearly understood that beings and dharmas are empty, can proceed to recite the Buddha's name with a pure, clear and bright mind, free from all attachments. Only when he cultivates in such an enlightened frame of mind can he be said to have "developed the Bodhi Mind."
Point 2: the Mind of Equanimity
In the sutras, Buddha Sakyamuni stated:
All sentient beings possess the Buddha Nature; they are our fathers and mothers of the past and the Buddhas of the future.
The Buddhas view sentient beings as Buddhas and therefore attempt, with equanimity and great compassion, to rescue them. Sentient beings view Buddhas as sentient beings, engendering afflictions, discrimination, hatred and scorn. The faculty of vision is the same; the difference lies in whether we are enlightened or not. As disciples of the Buddhas, we should follow their teachings and develop a mind of equanimity and respect towards sentient beings; they are the Buddhas of the future and are all endowed with the same Buddha Nature. When we cultivate with a mind of equanimity and respect, we rid ourselves of the afflictions of discrimination and scorn, and engender virtues. To cultivate with such a mind is called "developing the Bodhi Mind."
Point 3: The Mind of Compassion
We ourselves and all sentient beings already possess the virtues, embellishments and wisdom of the Buddhas. However, because we are deluded as to our True Nature and commit evil deeds, we revolve in Birth and Death, to our immense suffering. Once we have understood this, we should rid ourselves of the mind of love-attachment, hate and discrimination, and develop the mind of repentance and compassion. We should seek expedient means to save ourselves and others, so that all are peaceful, happy and free of suffering. Let us be clear that compassion is different from love-attachment, that is, the mind of affection, attached to forms, which binds us with the ties of passion. Compassion is the mind of benevolence, rescuing and liberating, detached from forms, without discrimination or attachment. This mind manifests itself in every respect, with the result that we are peaceful, happy and liberated, and possess increased merit and wisdom.
If we wish to expand the compassionate mind, we should, taking our own suffering as a starting point, sympathize with the even more unbearable misery of others. A benevolent mind, eager to rescue and liberate, naturally develops; the compassionate thought of the Bodhi Mind arises from there. For instance, in a situation of war and famine, the young, who should be cared for by their parents, grow up orphans, helpless and forsaken. Likewise, the old, ideally, are supported by their children. However, their children having been killed prematurely, they are left to grieve and suffer alone. Witnessing these examples, our hearts are moved and we wish to come to their rescue. The compassionate thought of the Bodhi Mind, which up to that time had not developed, will spontaneously arise.
Other examples: there are young men, endowed with intelligence and full of health, with a bright future, who are suddenly cut down by bullets and bombs. There are also young women in their prime who suddenly lose the parents and family members upon whom they depend for support and therefore go astray, or they become orphans, their future livelihood and survival under a dark cloud. Witnessing these occurrences, our hearts are deeply moved and we wish to come to their rescue. The compassionate thought of the Bodhi Mind, which up to that time had not developed, will spontaneously arise.
There are people who are sick but cannot afford the high cost of treatment and must therefore suffer needlessly for months or years, to the point where some even commit suicide. There are the poor and unemployed, whose wives and children are undernourished and sick, their clothing in rags; they wander aimlessly, pursued by creditors, enduring hunger and cold, day in and day out. They can neither live decently nor die in peace. There are people who face difficult mental problems, without family or friends to turn to for advice and solace. There are those who are deluded and create bad karma, not knowing that in the future they will suffer retribution, unaware of the Dharma and thus ignorant of the way to emancipation. Witnessing these occurrences, our hearts are deeply moved and we wish to come to their rescue. The compassionate thought of the Bodhi Mind, which up to that time had not developed, will spontaneously arise.
In broader terms, as the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra taught in the Avatamsaka Sutra:
Great [Bodhisattvas develop] great compassion by ten kinds of observations of sentient beings: they see sentient beings have nothing to rely on for support; they see sentient beings are unruly; they see sentient beings lack virtues; they see sentient beings are asleep in ignorance; they see sentient beings do bad things; they see sentient beings are bound by desires; they see sentient beings drowning in the sea of Birth and Death; they see sentient beings chronically suffer from illness; they see sentient beings have no desire for goodness; they see sentient beings have lost the way to enlightenment. [Bodhisattvas] always observe sentient beings with these awarenesses. (Thomas Cleary, tr. The Flower Ornament Scripture [Avatamsaka Sutra]. Vol. II. p. 343.)
Having developed the great compassionate mind, we should naturally develop the great Bodhi Mind and vow to rescue and liberate. Thus the great compassionate mind and the great Bodhi Mind interpenetrate freely. That is why to develop the compassionate mind is to develop the Bodhi Mind. Only when we cultivate with such great compassion can we be said to have "developed the Bodhi Mind."
Point 4: The Mind of Joy
Having a benevolent mind, we should express it through a mind of joy. This mind is of two kinds: a rejoicing mind and a mind of "forgive and forget." A rejoicing mind means that we are glad to witness meritorious and virtuous acts, however insignificant, performed by anyone, from the Buddhas and saints to all the various sentient beings. Also, whenever we see anyone receiving gain or merit, or prosperous, successful and at peace, we are happy as well, and rejoice with them.
A "forgive and forget" mind means that even if sentient beings commit nefarious deeds, show ingratitude, hold us in contempt and denigrate us, are wicked, causing harm to others or to ourselves, we calmly forbear, gladly forgiving and forgetting their transgressions.
This mind of joy and forbearance, if one dwells deeply on it, does not really exist, because there is in truth no mark of self, no mark of others, no mark of annoyance or harm. As stated in the Diamond Sutra:
The Tathagata teaches likewise that the Perfection of Patience is not the Perfection of Patience; such is merely a name. (A.F. Price, tr., "The Diamond Sutra," p. 44. In The Diamond Sutra & The Sutra of Hui Neng.)
The rejoicing mind can destroy the affliction of mean jealousy. The "forgive and forget" mind can put an end to hatred, resentment, and revenge. Because the mind of joy cannot manifest itself in the absence of Enlightenment, it is that very Bodhi Mind. Only when we practice with such a mind, can we be said to have "developed the Bodhi Mind."
by Dharma Master Thich Thien Tam
(excerpted from Buddhism of Wisdom and Faith (Horizontal Escape)
Essay on the Bodhi Mind
1) Meaning of the Bodhi Mind (Bodhicitta)
Exchanging the virtues of Buddha Recitation for the petty merits and blessings of this world is certainly not consonant with the intentions of the Buddhas. Therefore, practitioners should recite the name of Amitabha Buddha for the purpose of escaping the cycle of Birth and Death. However, if we were to practice Buddha Recitation for the sake of our own salvation alone, we would only fulfill a small part of the Buddhas' intentions.
What, then, is the ultimate intention of the Buddhas? The ultimate intention of the Buddhas is for all sentient beings to escape the cycle of Birth and Death and to become enlightened, as they are. Thus, those who recite Amitabha Buddha's name should develop the Bodhi Mind (aspiration for Supreme Enlightenment).
The word "Bodhi" means "enlightened." There are three main stages of Enlightenment: the Enlightenment of the Sravakas (Hearers); the Enlightenment of the Pratyeka (Self-Awakened) Buddhas; the Enlightenment of the Buddhas. What Pure Land practitioners who develop the Bodhi Mind are seeking is precisely the Enlightenment of the Buddhas. This stage of Buddhahood is the highest, transcending those of the Sravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas, and is therefore called Supreme Enlightenment or Supreme Bodhi. This Supreme Bodhi Mind contains two principal seeds, Compassion and Wisdom, from which emanates the great undertaking of rescuing oneself and all other sentient beings.
To reiterate, the Bodhi Mind I am referring to here is the supreme, perfect Bodhi Mind of the Buddhas, not the Bodhi Mind of the Sravakas or Pratyeka Buddhas.
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The Mahavairocana (Dai Nichi) Sutra says:
The Bodhi Mind is the cause
Great Compassion is the root (foundation)
Skillful means are the ultimate.
For example, if a person is to travel far, he should first determine the goal of the trip, then understand its purpose, and lastly, choose such expedient means of locomotion as automobiles, ships, or planes to set out on his journey. It is the same for the cultivator. He should first take Supreme Enlightenment (Buddhahood) as his ultimate goal, and the compassionate mind which benefits himself and others as the purpose of his cultivation, and then, depending on his preferences and capacities, choose a method, Zen, Pure Land or Esotericism, as an expedient for practice. Expedients, or skillful means, refer, in a broader sense, to flexible wisdom adapted to circumstances -- the application of all actions and practices, whether favorable or unfavorable, to the practice of the Bodhisattva Way. For this reason, the Bodhi Mind is the goal that the cultivator should clearly understand before he sets out to practice.
Thus, while the previous chapter dealt with the importance of the Pure Land method and its immediate purpose of escaping Birth and Death, this chapter goes into the Supreme Bodhi Mind (Buddhahood) as the ultimate goal of the cultivator.
When Buddha Sakyamuni preached the Four Noble Truths, we might expect that he would have explained the "cause" of suffering first. Instead, He began with the Truth of Suffering, precisely because he wanted to expose sentient beings to the concept of universal suffering. Upon realizing this truth, they would become concerned and look for the cause and source of suffering. Likewise, this author, following the intent of the Great Sage, first brought up the Pure Land method of escaping Birth and Death as a most urgent matter, and will proceed next to discuss the Bodhi Mind.
The Avatamsaka states:
To neglect the Bodhi Mind when practicing good deeds is the action of demons.
This teaching is very true indeed. For example, if someone begins walking without knowing the destination or goal of his journey, isn't his trip bound to be circuitous, tiring and useless? It is the same for the cultivator. If he expends a great deal of effort but forgets the goal of attaining Buddhahood to benefit himself and others, all his efforts will merely bring merits in the human and celestial realms. In the end he will still be deluded and revolve in the cycle of Birth and Death, undergoing immense suffering. If this is not the action of demons, what, then, is it? For this reason, developing the supreme Bodhi Mind to benefit oneself and others should be recognized as a crucial step.
2) The Bodhi Mind and the Pure Land Method
The Dharma, adapting to the times and the capacities of the people, consists of two traditions, the Northern and the Southern. The Southern tradition (Theravada) emphasizes everyday practical realities and swift self-emancipation, leading to the fruits of the Arhats or Pratyeka Buddhas. The Northern tradition (Mahayana, or Great Vehicle) teaches all-encompassing truths and stresses the goal of liberating all sentient beings, leading to the complete Enlightenment of the Tathagatas. Pure Land is a Mahayana teaching and therefore is not only directed toward the goal of self-enlightenment, but stresses the enlightenment of others at the same time.
When Buddhism spread to China [around the first century A.D.], it evolved, through the teachings of the Patriarchs, into ten schools. Among them are two schools which belong to the Southern (Theravada) tradition, the Satysiddhi School and the Abhidharma School. However, the faculties and temperament of the Chinese people did not correspond to the Southern tradition, and, therefore, within a short period of time it faded away. The other eight schools, are all Mahayana: the T'ien T'ai (Tendai) School, the Avatamsaka School, the Madyamika (Three Treatises) School, the Mind-Only (Yogacara) School, the Vinaya (Discipline) School, the Zen School, the Esoteric School and the Pure Land School. The vehicle for popularizing the Pure Land School is the Buddha Recitation method.
Pure Land being a Mahayana teaching, if the practitioner, in addition, develops the Supreme Bodhi Mind, mind and method will be perfect. This leads to Buddhahood, which encompasses both "self-benefit" and "other benefit." If he recites the Buddha's name seeking rebirth in the celestial or human realms, Buddha Recitation becomes a celestial or human method. A practitioner who develops such a mind will receive only the blessings of the celestial or human realms. When such blessings are exhausted, he will sink into a lower realm. If the practitioner is interested first and foremost in self-enlightenment, he will receive only the less exalted, incomplete fruits of the Sravakas and Pratyeka Buddhas.
Therefore, when reciting the Buddha's name, we should develop the supreme Bodhi Mind. There is a saying, "if you are off by a thousandth of an inch, you are off by a thousand miles." This being the case, Pure Land practitioners should pay particular attention to developing a proper Bodhi Mind.
The Practices of the Bodhi Mind
3) How to Develop the Bodhi Mind
Awakening the Bodhi Mind, as indicated earlier, can be summarized in the four Bodhisattva vows:
Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them all;
Afflictions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them all;
Dharma doors are boundless, I vow to master them all;
Buddhahood is unsurpassable, I vow to attain it.
However, it is not enough simply to say "I have developed the Bodhi Mind," or to recite the above verses every day. To really develop the Bodhi Mind, the practitioner should, in his cultivation, meditate on and act in accordance with the essence of the vows. There are cultivators, clergy and lay people alike, who, each day, after reciting the sutras and the Buddha's name, kneel down to read the transference verses: "I wish to rid myself of the three obstructions and sever afflictions ..." However, their actual behavior is different: today they are greedy, tomorrow they become angry and bear grudges, the day after tomorrow it is delusion and laziness, the day after that it is belittling, criticizing and slandering others. The next day they are involved in arguments and disputes, leading to sadness and resentment on both sides. Under these circumstances, how can they rid themselves of the three obstructions and sever afflictions?
In general, most of us merely engage in external forms of cultivation, while paying lip service to "opening the mind." Thus, the fires of greed, anger and delusion continue to flare up, preventing us from tasting the pure and cool flavor of emancipation as taught by the Buddhas. Therefore, we have to pose the question, "How can we awaken the Bodhi Mind?"
In order to develop a true Bodhi Mind, we should ponder and meditate on the following six critical points:
Point 1: the Enlightened Mind
Sentient beings are used to grasping at this body as "me," at this discriminating mind-consciousness which is subject to sadness and anger, love and happiness, as "me." However, this flesh-and-blood body is illusory; tomorrow, when it dies, it will return to dust. Therefore, this body -- a composite of the four elements (earth, water, fire and air) -- is not "me." The same is true of our mind-consciousness, which is merely the synthesis of our perception of the six "Dusts" (form, sound, fragrance, taste, touch and dharmas).
Take the case of a person who formerly could not read or write, but is now studying English or German. When his studies are completed, he will have knowledge of English or German. Another example is a person who had not known Paris but who later on had the opportunity to visit France and absorb the sights and sounds of that city. Upon his return, if someone were to mention Paris, the sights of that metropolis would appear clearly in his mind. That knowledge formerly did not exist; when the sights and sounds entered his subconscious, they "existed." If these memories were not rekindled from time to time, they would gradually fade away and disappear, returning to the void.
This knowledge of ours, sometimes existing, sometimes not existing, some images disappearing, other images arising, always changing following the outside world, is illusory, not real. Therefore, the mind-consciousness is not "me." The ancients have said:
The body is like a bubble, the mind is like the wind; they are illusions, without origin or True Nature.
If we truly realize that body and mind are illusory, and do not cling to them, we will gradually enter the realm of "no self" -- escaping the mark of self. The self of our self being thus void, the self of "others" is also void, and therefore, there is no mark of others. Our self and the selves of others being void, the selves of countless sentient beings are also void, and therefore, there is no mark of sentient beings. The self being void, there is no lasting ego; there is really no one who has "attained Enlightenment." This is also true of Nirvana, ever-dwelling, everlasting. Therefore, there is no mark of lifespan.
Here we should clearly understand: it is not that the eternally dwelling "True Thusness" has no real nature or true self; it is because the sages have no attachment to that nature that it becomes void.
Sentient beings being void, objects (dharmas) are also void, because objects always change, are born and die away, with no self-nature. We should clearly realize that this is not because objects, upon disintegration, become void and non-existent; but, rather, because, being illusory, their True Nature is empty and void. Sentient beings, too, are like that. Therefore, the ancients have said:
Why wait until the flowers fall to understand that form is emptiness?
The practitioner, having clearly understood that beings and dharmas are empty, can proceed to recite the Buddha's name with a pure, clear and bright mind, free from all attachments. Only when he cultivates in such an enlightened frame of mind can he be said to have "developed the Bodhi Mind."
Point 2: the Mind of Equanimity
In the sutras, Buddha Sakyamuni stated:
All sentient beings possess the Buddha Nature; they are our fathers and mothers of the past and the Buddhas of the future.
The Buddhas view sentient beings as Buddhas and therefore attempt, with equanimity and great compassion, to rescue them. Sentient beings view Buddhas as sentient beings, engendering afflictions, discrimination, hatred and scorn. The faculty of vision is the same; the difference lies in whether we are enlightened or not. As disciples of the Buddhas, we should follow their teachings and develop a mind of equanimity and respect towards sentient beings; they are the Buddhas of the future and are all endowed with the same Buddha Nature. When we cultivate with a mind of equanimity and respect, we rid ourselves of the afflictions of discrimination and scorn, and engender virtues. To cultivate with such a mind is called "developing the Bodhi Mind."
Point 3: The Mind of Compassion
We ourselves and all sentient beings already possess the virtues, embellishments and wisdom of the Buddhas. However, because we are deluded as to our True Nature and commit evil deeds, we revolve in Birth and Death, to our immense suffering. Once we have understood this, we should rid ourselves of the mind of love-attachment, hate and discrimination, and develop the mind of repentance and compassion. We should seek expedient means to save ourselves and others, so that all are peaceful, happy and free of suffering. Let us be clear that compassion is different from love-attachment, that is, the mind of affection, attached to forms, which binds us with the ties of passion. Compassion is the mind of benevolence, rescuing and liberating, detached from forms, without discrimination or attachment. This mind manifests itself in every respect, with the result that we are peaceful, happy and liberated, and possess increased merit and wisdom.
If we wish to expand the compassionate mind, we should, taking our own suffering as a starting point, sympathize with the even more unbearable misery of others. A benevolent mind, eager to rescue and liberate, naturally develops; the compassionate thought of the Bodhi Mind arises from there. For instance, in a situation of war and famine, the young, who should be cared for by their parents, grow up orphans, helpless and forsaken. Likewise, the old, ideally, are supported by their children. However, their children having been killed prematurely, they are left to grieve and suffer alone. Witnessing these examples, our hearts are moved and we wish to come to their rescue. The compassionate thought of the Bodhi Mind, which up to that time had not developed, will spontaneously arise.
Other examples: there are young men, endowed with intelligence and full of health, with a bright future, who are suddenly cut down by bullets and bombs. There are also young women in their prime who suddenly lose the parents and family members upon whom they depend for support and therefore go astray, or they become orphans, their future livelihood and survival under a dark cloud. Witnessing these occurrences, our hearts are deeply moved and we wish to come to their rescue. The compassionate thought of the Bodhi Mind, which up to that time had not developed, will spontaneously arise.
There are people who are sick but cannot afford the high cost of treatment and must therefore suffer needlessly for months or years, to the point where some even commit suicide. There are the poor and unemployed, whose wives and children are undernourished and sick, their clothing in rags; they wander aimlessly, pursued by creditors, enduring hunger and cold, day in and day out. They can neither live decently nor die in peace. There are people who face difficult mental problems, without family or friends to turn to for advice and solace. There are those who are deluded and create bad karma, not knowing that in the future they will suffer retribution, unaware of the Dharma and thus ignorant of the way to emancipation. Witnessing these occurrences, our hearts are deeply moved and we wish to come to their rescue. The compassionate thought of the Bodhi Mind, which up to that time had not developed, will spontaneously arise.
In broader terms, as the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra taught in the Avatamsaka Sutra:
Great [Bodhisattvas develop] great compassion by ten kinds of observations of sentient beings: they see sentient beings have nothing to rely on for support; they see sentient beings are unruly; they see sentient beings lack virtues; they see sentient beings are asleep in ignorance; they see sentient beings do bad things; they see sentient beings are bound by desires; they see sentient beings drowning in the sea of Birth and Death; they see sentient beings chronically suffer from illness; they see sentient beings have no desire for goodness; they see sentient beings have lost the way to enlightenment. [Bodhisattvas] always observe sentient beings with these awarenesses. (Thomas Cleary, tr. The Flower Ornament Scripture [Avatamsaka Sutra]. Vol. II. p. 343.)
Having developed the great compassionate mind, we should naturally develop the great Bodhi Mind and vow to rescue and liberate. Thus the great compassionate mind and the great Bodhi Mind interpenetrate freely. That is why to develop the compassionate mind is to develop the Bodhi Mind. Only when we cultivate with such great compassion can we be said to have "developed the Bodhi Mind."
Point 4: The Mind of Joy
Having a benevolent mind, we should express it through a mind of joy. This mind is of two kinds: a rejoicing mind and a mind of "forgive and forget." A rejoicing mind means that we are glad to witness meritorious and virtuous acts, however insignificant, performed by anyone, from the Buddhas and saints to all the various sentient beings. Also, whenever we see anyone receiving gain or merit, or prosperous, successful and at peace, we are happy as well, and rejoice with them.
A "forgive and forget" mind means that even if sentient beings commit nefarious deeds, show ingratitude, hold us in contempt and denigrate us, are wicked, causing harm to others or to ourselves, we calmly forbear, gladly forgiving and forgetting their transgressions.
This mind of joy and forbearance, if one dwells deeply on it, does not really exist, because there is in truth no mark of self, no mark of others, no mark of annoyance or harm. As stated in the Diamond Sutra:
The Tathagata teaches likewise that the Perfection of Patience is not the Perfection of Patience; such is merely a name. (A.F. Price, tr., "The Diamond Sutra," p. 44. In The Diamond Sutra & The Sutra of Hui Neng.)
The rejoicing mind can destroy the affliction of mean jealousy. The "forgive and forget" mind can put an end to hatred, resentment, and revenge. Because the mind of joy cannot manifest itself in the absence of Enlightenment, it is that very Bodhi Mind. Only when we practice with such a mind, can we be said to have "developed the Bodhi Mind."
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