Discussed on Sunday, August 14, 2005

Some of the topics discussed:

What does Sutra (or Sutta) mean?

In Buddhist literature it refers to the collection of sayings of the Buddha and his disciples. The word probably has its root in putting a thread through a collection of objects, such as flowers to make a garland. Ancient sayings were passed down orally. Over a period of time they were organized into collections of texts. The earliest and most essential sutras are the five Nikayas (in Pali), or their equivalent, the four Agamas (in Chinese). These texts captured the earliest recorded teachings of the Buddha. There are other Sutras that emerged in later time with various degrees of authenticity.

It is important to understand that the Buddha instructed his disciples to treat the words as a tool of understanding only, and never to hold the words as ultimate authority. In the Kalama Sutra the Buddha advised the Kalama people not to trust ancient sacred text as the final authority. In other texts the Buddha compared his sayings to a raft. Just like a raft that serves to take the passengers across turbulent waters, upon reaching the other shore the raft has served its purpose and should not be dragged along. For this reason, Buddhists do not take a fundamentalist view of sacred scriptures.

What are Embryonic Stem Cells? What is Life?

Embryonic stem cells have the ability to develop into any type of cells and thus hold great promises in medicine, such as regenerating tissues. Stem cell line is a cell colony of identical stem cells maintained at their undifferentiated state, which is a laborious and expensive undertaking. There are less than 200 known stem cell lines in the world.

Why should Buddhists take an interest in stem cell research? It will help to understand why politicians and religious people are making such a fuss about this scientific research. This will deepen one’s understanding of the life process and to avoid seeing reality with emotional baggage.

One cannot speak of life without understanding life force and the consciousness. It is also necessary to differentiate between potentials (or conditions) for life versus life (a living organism) itself, living tissues versus living organisms.

For example, does the living stem cells in a petri dish represent life? Or for that matter, does a sperm cell or an egg cell represent life? Is a 5-day-old embryo sitting in a test tube life?

One cannot properly understand this without returning to the fundamental law of nature that the Buddha taught: Conditioned Origination (or Dependent Co-arising). All existence and occurrence are the result of multitudes of converging factors (conditions). For something to happen, all the contributing factors must be present to satisfy the requirements. An embryo sitting in a tank of liquid nitrogen will never evolve into life because of the frigid condition. It only represents a potential for life, a contributing piece of condition.

Ignorance, Self-Delusion, Irrationality, the Lizard Mind

Human are by nature self-deluded. Such is the Buddha’s observation. Until a person remove the self-delusion and can see reality for what it is, there is doubt, perplexity and unrest, i.e. not a happy camper. Human beings also all suffer from the scattered mind syndrome to various degrees (the name in vogue is attention deficit hyperactive disorder –ADD/ADHD). Human beings find it hard to control themselves from craving, aversion and confusion. They have no self-restraint. Neuroscientists attributed such lack of self-control as a remnant of the “lizard brain”. Professor Terry Burnham wrote that humans behave irrationally under the influence of their ancient brain structure. In the documentary “Why dogs smile and chimpanzee cry”, animal behaviorists observed that all animals species evolved emotional responses such as love, kindness, compassion, joy and sorrow, which allow the animal to act more like human than lizards. Unfortunately, some human beings are acting more like animals with their killing rampages, spreading violence and hatred across the world. The same people who proclaim their reverence to life (in a petri dish, no less) then shock and awe innocent citizens berserk. Curious isn’t it?

Sila, Samadhi, Panna

The Buddha’s instructions are therapeutic, a three-prong attack on these morbid human conditions, the unwholesome emotions of lust, hatred and delusion. He told his followers to practice:
(1) ethics self-restraint
(2) concentration mind control
(3) insight mental transformation.

In the Anguttara Nikaya, VI-13, the Buddha also mentioned the cultivation of loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy, equanimity, “signless mind” and discarding the notion of “I am”. These serve to overcome ill-will, cruelty, discontent, attachment, running after “signs” and self-obsession, respectively.