Welcome! Be happy. You have reached The Real Janna Weiss.
Wisdom Heart promotes healthy minds based on science, secular ethics, generosity, kindness, compassion and universal responsibility so that we may all contribute to and help create a kind, peaceful, ethical and compassionate world together.
May all beings be happy.
All the videos of 17 children's books listed in the pre-K-K Kindness Curriculum, so generously provided to us by The Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin, are posted in this Kindness Curriculum playlist.
My name is Thupten Phelgye. People call me Geshe-lak Phelgye here. I am a Tibetan Buddhist monk and I come from Serge Monastery in south India.
And I've been working on promoting vegetarianism and veganism, beginning from my monastery, through Tibetan society and worldwide.
The idea of universal compassion is that compassion is not something that belongs to the humans only. Compassion is universal.
All sentient beings, animals, bugs, those millions of types of those living in the ocean, in the water, are all included in the family of sentient beings.
They all deserve compassionate treatment.
So, it is to promote universal compassion to all sentient beings.
Buddhists realize that all lives are equal in terms of wanting peace and happiness, not wanting pain and suffering.
We are all the same sentient beings.
Just we have a different form of life, but in terms of living the life, it's the same, humans and all the animals, the same desire and right to live in peace and happiness.
So, we do not particularly say 'I love this and I do not love that.'
Love and compassion are for all equally, like ourselves, because our experiences are the same.
We humans, and animals, the birds, whatever life, we all experience the same.
When we have good time, we enjoy. When we have pain and suffering, we suffer. The same thing. Even from the insects, we all have the same desire of peace and happiness and we all have the same sense of not wanting pain and suffering, trying to protect ourselves from all kinds of harms from around.
It's quite clear, the way we all love peace and happiness. They deserve the same treatment and we are supposed to treat all with love and compassion.
There are many different quotes of the [inaudible] Buddha talking about different lives and not eating meat.
One of the very strong statements that Buddha had is, "I condemn meat eating in all means. I have never approved of meat eating. I will never approve of meat eating and I do not approve of meat eating for my followers, for all sentient beings are equal to me like my only son."
As Buddhists, we should have been vegetarians, but unfortunately, in our culture, in Tibet, because of the situation, altitude and all that, we ate meat. Without thinking, all monasteries and lay alike, people just lived on mainly meat, because the majority of Tibet, up in the northern and eastern side were nomads and all they had was animals, so their life was all about animals. So that was the unfortunate part about our culture.
As a child, I grew up with the same lifestyle, and then when I got into the monastery, we still had the same lifestyle. I had questions in my head, but, the whole culture, you know, lived in that lifestyle. I didn't have a clue of otherwise, but it was in 1984, I was taking some sick monks to the hospital. On the way, some of my friends asked me if I could buy some meat for him, because he was also sick, and I said, "Of course, I will." And then he said, "If you could go to the slaughterhouse early in the morning you will get fresh meat, the best meat." I said, "Of course, I'll do that."
So the next morning, I went to the slaughterhouse, the local Indian slaughterhouse and I was a little too early getting there, and this little slaughterhouse was just opened, and they were actually starting to slaughter the animals. Each little animal, the butchers and animals were actually wrestling back and forth and that's like the first time for me to see how animals are slaughtered. I realized the meat, the dishes that we eat without thinking, how painful and suffering to these voiceless animals, and I felt very helpless, very painful, seeing the reality behind our lifestyle.
I was crying. At the same time, I made a vow for the dying animals, "Okay, I have to do something for this. I will be your voice. I will speak for you."
So I came home. I went to the monastery library. I actually. one by one, pulled down, the original Buddhist teachings, the canons that we have translated from Sanskrit and Pali and I looked into [them] and I found how the Buddha had strongly condemned meat eating, obviously.
Normally, people have no idea what animals go through. It will only be realized when you get to see what actually happens in the slaughterhouses. Until then, you wouldn't realize. And when you see that, actually, you will feel if is really appropriate to eat them. It's really horrifying. Certain slaughterhouses have, like, the entire animals that they are supposed to slaughter for the day are standing in a corner out there and one by another being slaughtered in front, by the rest of the animals, and you can imagine how terrifying that experience would be. Just imagine yourself being out there and all your friends and colleagues are being slaughtered and you are in the line, just, you know, a step away from that terrifying thing.
According to most religions, talk about Hell, the most horrifying realm. But I can't imagine there is something more horrifying and painful than so-called Hell than those horrifying experiences when you are lined up in the slaughterhouse. It's just heartbreaking. So we need to actually see those things so that how we humans are actually causing so much trouble to other fellow sentient beings.
So, then it totally makes sense that as a Buddhist, when you take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, one of the principles by taking refuge in Dharma, is not harming other beings, not causing harm to other beings. That is the number one key principle that you are taking, by taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. But people are not really very serious about those things, kind of ignore it, in a way, and just eat, meat, and all that kind of thing.
So I started to bring awareness, writing in local newspapers and magazines and whatever way I could approach through, I tried to bring awareness about the pain and suffering of animals, and teachings of Buddha and good things about being vegetarian, and all this kind of thing. I've been working for and ever since.
And, obviously, I ran into many problems, because, when talking about vegetarianism, meaning that you are kind of going against your culture, 99% of people in your culture are meat eaters, and nobody really likes what I have to say, even though what I'm saying is the truth.
People have no argument to deny the truth, but then they don't like it. You know, they feel guilty about their lifestyle. I've run into many problems but I did not give up, I kept going whatever way I could, trying not too much to offend people but trying to get the message out.
Until 1996, I guess it was 1996, when I thought it is time for me, actually, to bring this issue up to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and I asked for a private audience with His Holiness for this, for my work, for my movement. And His Holiness the Dalai Lama was so very pleased about my work and he really appreciated, and he encouraged me to carry on. And he said, "Of course, I'm with you. My blessings are with you."
And that's when I got really encouraged and I felt more determined to openly come and speak forth. And then, yes, you will notice from there on, His Holiness has been speaking about vegetarianism or compassion to animals, more openly, more often in his speeches and teachings in the public. And that's like the biggest move that took place in our culture. People started to take it seriously when His Holiness spoke about it.
For the Buddhist community, my brothers and sisters, my appeal for you is that since we took refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and we took the basic principles of not killing, not stealing, not engaging in sexual misconduct, including [no] alcohol, not lying obviously. From among them, Number One is not killing. In terms of not killing, it does not necessarily mean that you go kill, but there's also causing the killing. Which means, when you eat other animals, you are the cause of that killing.
So, my appeal to you is try to learn about a vegetarian lifestyle. Try to learn about a vegan lifestyle, which is a very healthier more compassionate lifestyle. So, please try that because we have taken some certain principles, before the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and if we don't follow our principles, then we are just a name, 'Buddhist.' So try to live your belief, try to live your faith, and try to put Dharma into your practice. Thank you.
Venerable Geshe Thupten Phelgye
Directed by Keegan Kuhn
Music by xTrue Naturex
Filmed at Animal Place, a sanctuary for farmed animals
Educating the heart, also called Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), or even better: Social Emotional Ethical Learning (SEE Learning), is "in." Everyone, without exception, wants to be happy. No one wants suffering. That's a universal truth. What does it take to be happy? What are the causes of suffering we need to abandon? What are the causes of happiness we can adopt?
Happiness is a mental state, hence any solution to the conundrum of happiness will be internal, related to the mind, rather than external - "more stuff." "More stuff" doesn't lead to lasting happiness. Acquiring more stuff is like drinking salt water. The more you drink, the thirstier you get. The more stuff you acquire, the more you feel you lack. There's always more and more and more you can get. One ends up chronically dissatisfied. What's the solution?
Getting off the hamster wheel...
There are three essential conditions or necessary elements for cultivating lasting happiness, a profound sense of well-being, of inner contentment, of inner peace: single-pointed concentration, compassion and wisdom.
COMPASSION is a strong wish that all beings be free of suffering, a deep and sincere concern for others' well-being. The foundation for developing compassion is the practice of universal ethics. In this context, 'universal' means: applied to all without exception, a non-biased ethics. We abandon harming others and gradually adopt a loving and compassionate altruistic outlook, extending our concern beyond the familiar, those who are near to us, to include neutral people, strangers, people we have difficulty with, even our so-called "enemies." Love is the strong wish that all beings be happy, and is a prerequisite and counterpart to compassion, the strong wish that all beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
WISDOM is the profound understanding of selflessness, of the emptiness of inherent existence of self. In Thich Nhat Hanhs's words: interbeing. We exist interdependently and co-evolve. We ourselves and all compounded phenomena exist in this interdependent, impermanent, continual changing, selfless way.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou
hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt
thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
~ Matthew 7:3-5 King James Version (KJV)
The more our view of reality is in accord with reality, the less anxiety and the more happiness and well-being we experience. It is said that the ordinary mind perceives: suffering as happiness, impermanence as permanence, and selflessness as self. The wisdom mind perceives: suffering as suffering, impermanence as impermanence, and selflessness as selflessness. Wisdom mind has no confusion, no mistake, no exaggeration of positive or negative projection tacked onto the perceived object - the perception of reality accords with reality. Our mistaken perception of self, of "I," is the "speck in the eye" that gets in the way of clearly perceiving self and others.
In order to properly cultivate and internalize compassion and wisdom at the most subtle levels of mind, we must cultivate single-pointed concentration. Single-pointed concentration prepares the mind to be "serviceable and pliant." We can exercise our "mental muscle" in a way that is analogous to exercising our physical muscles. By continually bringing our wandering attention back to a consistent object of concentration - the breath, the body, the mind, or a mental image - we can train and tame our wild and unruly monkey mind, our wild horse mind, our wild elephant mind.
ETHICAL MINDFULNESS, mind training, taming the mind, is essential for happiness. Our mind colors every moment of our experience. In order to have a stable unwavering mind that perceives reality compassionately, yet without exaggeration, we must train our minds.
Excerpt by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on inner peace as our top priority.
His Holiness ranks 1. inner peace, 2. health, 3. friendship, 4. money, in that order.
Imagine All the People: A Conversation with the Dalai Lama on Money, Politics, and Life as It Could Be His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Fabien Ouaki Boston: Wisdom Publications, pp. 5-6. 1999.
Dalai Lama: Let me say this: money is good. It is important. Without money, daily survival - not to mention further development - is impossible. So we are not even questioning its importance. At the same time, it is wrong to consider money a god or a substance endowed with some power of its own. To think that money is everything, and that just by having lots of it all our problems will be solved is a serious mistake.
In the Buddhist approach, worldly happiness is based on what we call the four excellences: the Dharma, wealth, nirvana, and satisfaction. Nirvana, or freedom from suffering, is the ultimate goal. The satisfaction achieved from a successful temporal life is just a transient goal. The teachings are the means to achieve ultimate inner freedom, whereas money and wealth facilitate worldly happiness, temporary satisfaction. One strives to achieve that which is positive for all beings. To do so, one must attend to both ultimate and temporary goals. Well-being and money belong to the latter category. In fact, Buddhist texts mention the fruition of eight qualities, including wealth, health, and fame that define a 'fortunate" human existence.
To enjoy even temporary happiness, however, one must first have peace of mind. Next comes health, then good companions, and then money, in that order, though of course all four aspects are connected. For example, when we had to escape from Tibet, our first priority was to save our lives. Being penniless was secondary. If one is alive, it is always possible to make friends and earn money. Peace of mind must come first. Peace of mind generally attracts prosperity. Certainly someone who has a peaceful mind will use his or her money judiciously.
The mind is key. If anything should be considered a god, so to speak, it is the mind, not money. A healthy, positive mind is the utmost priority. But if we were to reverse the order of these priorities, what would happen? I find it hard to imagine how a person with great wealth, bad health, no friends, and no peace of mind could feel even slightly happy.
Fabien: But many people live that way.
Dalai Lama: Yes, especially rich people like you! And then alcohol becomes their best friend, doesn't it? In the end, their fortune is exhausted and their health is spoiled. That is why someone who grasps peace of mind but not the other three elements can still survive and be happy, even in poor health. Inner peace alone can be enough to define happiness. Following the same logic, if you are in peace, healthy and surrounded by trusted friends, surely you can survive without money. But reverse the situation and observe what happens. If someone has only money and not the other three elements, then they have nothing but problems. That is how I see it.
Analytical meditation on the selflessness of self - His Holiness the Dalai Lama
An Experiment in Single-Pointed Concentrative Meditation
Today's Adventure:
What is meditation? Why meditate?
How to meditate on the breath?
What did we learn experience or discover?
1. What is meditation?
Meditation is also called mind training, mindfulness or awareness. Meditation = Ethics (not harming others) + Single-pointed concentration We will learn concentrative single-pointed meditation on the breath.
Why meditate?
Meditation helps develop a calm and peaceful mind. By counting 10 or 20 breaths instead of reacting immediately when we're angry, we can deal better with our anger and the situation.
2. How to meditate on the breath?
Sit comfortably. Listen carefully and please follow my instructions....
5-10 minutes every morning upon waking, and every evening before going to sleep. Sit 1. cross legged, or in a chair, feet on floor, 2. straight back is most important, 3. hands on knees, 4. shoulders relaxed, 5. head straight and slightly bent forward, 6. eyes very slightly open, letting in a sliver of light, 7. tongue touches the upper palate. Bring attention to the tip of your nose, where the air comes in and goes out. Notice if you can feel the cooler air coming in and the warmer air going out. Count ten breaths, then repeat. Gradually bring the attention back to the body to end the meditation.
3. Please share aloud (and/or write down), in one or two words or a short sentence, what you learned, experienced or discovered about meditation?
Nurturing Mindfulness in Families, Schools and Youth - Mark Greenberg 45 min
Janna Weiss' cautionary note: Creativity is only useful if coupled with compassion, with a pure motivation to benefit others. The A bomb was also a creative endeavor.
