Wealth or Happiness, which is more important?

After hearing from friends, relatives or even successful people, we tend to get the idea that wealth is the major part in life. Some even go as far as to say Wealth, Status and Money is the reason for them to exist of live.

Yes, it is true that without any money, one cannot survive. In fact, everything in this world has a cost for it, we need money to buy things, food, clothing etc in order to survive. Wealth is just a word to describe, a person's Worldly Happiness (External Happiness). The more one's wealth is, there's a higher chance he/she is able to own more worldly things (things that are unable to be brought together with us when we leave this world - after death).

From a Buddhist Dharma talk, I got to know that, to attain True Happiness (Inner Happiness) which most probably we can bring along with us even after death; we need to follow and practice certain steps.

The following are just a Buddhist Guidelines to True Happiness:

• Be Content with what you have and who you are: People in this modern society often chase after latest fashion, technologies, and other trends. They place importance when it comes to outer appearances. They feel inferior when they do not have worldly things that their friends, relatives, or even other people around them have. These people often wont feel contented, resulting them to feel pressured, stressed and in some cases depressed when they fail to obtain what they wanted. This condition worsen, if the people were to do anything (even using wrong methods) to obtain things they wanted.

• Keep yourself away from as many Mental Suffering as possible: Mental Suffering consist of Sensual Desires, Anger/Hate, Worries, Sloth/Laziness, and Doubtfulness/Suspicion.

• Follow the Basic Precepts of Buddhism : Don't Kill, Don't Lie, Don't Commit Adultery, Don't Steal, and Don't take intoxicants. Precepts can be said to be rules or guidelines in Buddhism. For monks and nuns the amount of precepts are increased.
  

• Do more Good Deeds instead of Bad ones.

• Practice Meditation whenever possible. There's many benefits from meditation, such as we get to rejuvenate ourselves, our mind get to be more focused etc.
  

• Practice the Noble Eight Fold Path:

1. Right Understanding
   
2. Right Thoughts
   
3. Right Speech
4. Right Actions
   
5. Right Live hood
   
6. Right Effort
   
7. Right Meditation
   
8. Right Concentration
   

Sadu, Sadu, Sadu.

Origins of Surangama Mantra

The Surangama Mantra, also known as the White Umbrella Dharani, is the sacred mantra mentioned in the Surangama Sutra. It has 427 phrases, the last eight of which constitute the Heart Mantra. According to the Surangama Sutra, the Surangama Mantra was chanted by the Buddha to save Ananda. It was long a part of the morning incantations performed in the rural monasteries of China. *Reference

As I know, this mantra originated to save Ananda (Buddha's most trusted disciple). The story began, as Ananda was traveling through India alone (because Buddha had to attend an event somewhere else); he passed by a prostitution house. Upon passing this place, one of the prostitutes happened to be looking out the window. She fell in love with Ananda at first sight.

Knowing that Ananda is a monk, and surely wont accept her. She went to seek help from a witch, who then placed a spell upon Ananda. Though Ananda still had a clear mind, that spell made Ananda lost control of his body which brought him to that prostitute. It made him suffered, as he knew that what he was doing was against his precepts as a monk; just that his body was controlled by the witch's spell.

At this moment, Buddha who is far from Ananda felt Ananda's sufferings. The Awaken One then assigned Manjusri Bodhisattva, to aid Ananda by delivering the Surangama Mantra to him. As Ananda started to practice this mantra, the witch's spell weaken each day, and finally Ananda was freed from the grip of that prostitute.

In turn, that prostitute was convinced by Buddha and repent for her sins (at later stage she too became Buddha's disciple). As the teachings go on, it's was later brought into China and now worldwide.

Sadu, Sadu, Sadu.

Branches of Buddhism

As my first post, I'll just post some introductory in the 2 major types of Buddhism which I know.

Let's see the 2 types are Theravada and Mahayana.

Theravada Buddhism, the "Doctrine of the Elders," (Pali: thera "elders" + vada "word, doctrine") is the school of Buddhism that draws its scriptural inspiration from the Tipitaka, or Pali canon, which scholars generally agree contains the earliest surviving record of the Buddha's teachings. *Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction (fifth edition) by R.H. Robinson, W.L. Johnson, and Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 2005), p. 46.

What we call Theravada today is the sole survivor of those early non-Mahayana schools. Because Theravada historically dominated southern Asia, it is sometimes called "Southern" Buddhism, while Mahayana, which migrated northwards from India into China, Tibet, Japan, and Korea, is known as "Northern" Buddhism. *A third major branch of Buddhism emerged much later (ca. 8th century CE) in India:Vajrayana, the "Diamond Vehicle." Vajrayana's elaborate system of esoteric initiations, tantric rituals, and mantra recitations eventually spread north into central and east Asia, leaving a particularly strong imprint on Tibetan Buddhism. See Buddhist Religions, pp. 124ff. and chapter 11.

For many centuries, Theravada has been the predominant religion of continental Southeast Asia (Thailand, Myanmar/Burma, Cambodia, and Laos) and Sri Lanka. Today Theravada Buddhists number well over 100 million worldwide.

Key Teachings of Theravada
Shortly after his Awakening, the Buddha ("the Awakened One") delivered his first sermon, in which he laid out the essential framework upon which all his later teachings were based. This framework consists of the Four Noble Truths, four fundamental principles of nature (Dhamma) that emerged from the Buddha's honest and penetrating assessment of the human condition and that serve to define the entire scope of Buddhist practice. These truths are not statements of belief. Rather, they are categories by which we can frame our direct experience in a way that is conducive to Awakening: Life Contains Suffering, Suffering is Caused by desire ( Particularly selfish desire), there is an end to suffering, The end is the 8 fold Noble Path.


Mahayana Buddhism, Sanskrit for "Greater Vehicle," along with Theravada Buddhism, are the two principal branches of Buddhist belief. Mahayana originated in India and subsequently spread throughout China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Central Asia, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Followers of Mahayana have traditionally regarded their doctrine as the full revelation of the nature and teachings of the Buddha, in opposition to the earlier Theravada tradition, which they characterize as the Lesser Vehicle (Hinayana).

In contrast to the relative conservatism of earlier Buddhist schools, which adhered closely to the recognized teachings of the historical Buddha, Mahayana embraces a wider variety of practices, has a more mythological view of what a Buddha is, and addresses broader philosophical issues.

Two major Mahayana schools arose in India: Madhyamika (Middle Path) and Vijñanavada (Consciousness Only; also known as Yogachara). With the spread of Mahayana Buddhism beyond India, other indigenous schools appeared, such as Pure Land Buddhism and Zen.

*Information in this post consists references to data from other sites and text.