MJ03 - Expressing Respect To The Deserving (04 Of 39)

Last time you saw me we looked at blessing number two,

Associating with the wise.

With the dharma talk today we will continue our series on enlightened living with blessing number three,

Expressing respect to those worthy of respect.

As seen in previous blessings,

The brightness of a person's future relies on their ability to judge the differences between good and bad habits.

If their judgment is faulty,

It is hard to make a success of one's life.

Even though people may look superficially similar,

Their standards of judgment can be very different.

Healthy people are born with two hands and ten fingers,

But some people use their hands to help people,

While others bore their hands into fists to threaten other people.

In this blessing we look at the third of three major influences on our development of sound discretion.

Having the right sort of role model in our hearts.

It is similar to associating with the wise,

But could be considered as admiration from a distance.

This blessing doesn't require that we model ourselves on anyone or anything at all,

But if we are going to model ourselves on someone or something,

We need to make sure the model is worthy of respect,

If we want to develop sound discretion.

Such terms as homage,

Respect and fealty might sound rather like anachronisms,

But if we update the context to something like,

Who's your hero?

Or which celebrity do you hit the like button for?

Or whose post do you retweet?

Then you'll see the influence of others hasn't gone out of date.

As children,

The horizons of our experience do not extend far beyond the walls of our house.

Our parents or guardians might represent all that we want to achieve in our lives.

We might even try to play at being grown up like our parents to imitate them.

If we are exposed to a good parental example,

Our idea of ethical norms will develop quite wholesomely from an early age.

However,

When parents break promises to their children often,

Or inflict angry punishments,

This will come to be what the child perceives to be the standard of justice in life.

When one's teen years,

When one's horizons extend beyond the home,

The influence of constructive or destructive role models becomes more unpredictable.

The effects of role models on teenagers is more than just the influence of good or bad friends,

As studied in the previous two blessings.

If you take a look at some of the examples celebrities set for the youth of today,

You can imagine some of the problems facing our impressionable youngsters.

If you unquestioningly accept the examples of Vincent Van Gogh,

Kurt Cobain,

Marilyn Monroe,

Janis Joplin,

Dylan Thomas,

Jimi Hendrix,

Elvis Presley,

Jim Morrison,

Keith Moon,

F.

Scott's Fitzgerald,

Ernest Hemingway,

Or Brian Jones,

All of whom took their own lives at an early age,

You might come to the conclusion that truly creative people are too beautiful for this world.

You might come to the conclusion that creative writers drink because of the pressure of fame,

Or that suicide is a good way to ensure fame.

Such conclusions will blinker us to the insecure,

Grotesquely boring reality of these people's lives.

We'll end up rationalizing away the brutal and banal nature of their addictions.

When we forgive our heroes their demons,

And we'll end up being excessively lenient on ourselves as well.

It gives us an instant excuse to be irresponsible and indecent.

We can say that we are too beautiful for this world too.

We can act like drugged children,

Crash our lives and drop out.

The truth about someone like Vincent Van Gogh is that when he painted he was beautiful,

But in other matters he was not.

He was always encouraging his emotions to work their dark magic.

It's true that he ought to be admired while he had a paintbrush in his hand,

But to admire his sorrowful life and to make a legend out of it is to get the wrong end of the stick.

The problem for us as beginners on the initial steps of the blessings of life,

With only a germ of an idea of what is going to be good for our spiritual development,

Is to calibrate our own sense of normal habits.

If you can choose a reliable role model for yourself,

You will make it easier to acquire positive worldview,

Or what is known technically in Buddhism as Right View.

So just as a sidebar,

Because I haven't seen it explained anywhere else in the 38 Blessings,

I should explain that Right View in Buddhism specifically means valuing generosity and welfare work,

Honoring those worthy of respect,

Acknowledging the karmic retribution of action,

The reality of this world and the next,

Repaying a debt of gratitude to one's parents,

Acknowledging the existence of spontaneously arising beings,

And acknowledging that enlightenment can be achieved by those who practice well.

Furthermore,

If you have a role model with Right View,

Basically it will help you to develop Right View as well.

It will prevent you from becoming self-centered or complacent about your own level of virtue,

And it will facilitate your enthusiasm for spiritual transformation.

If you ask yourself what having a hero in your heart does for you,

You find that you allocate more bandwidth to them in your heart and your mind.

We put their picture on the wall.

When we speak about them,

We only speak praise of them.

We take out free opportunity to learn their opinions and share them.

Given the opportunity,

We would try to meet with them and imitate what they do in their lives.

Some people even go to the lengths of dressing like their heroes.

All these are outward aspects of a quality we call respect,

Behaviours we could refer to as paying respect or expressing respect.

Respect when unexpressed means the attitude of looking for the positive aspects of a person or an object,

And the effort to instill oneself with those same virtues.

Such respect,

In the context of the blessings of life,

Has the aim of furthering one's spiritual development.

It should not have any ulterior motive.

It wouldn't mean flattering your boss so that you can cut corners at work more easily,

Because such an expression of respect betrays deceitful and exploitative intentions not befitting spiritual transformation,

At least in a positive direction.

True respect arises in response to someone's good points.

The imitation of respect comes in the form of flattery before calling in a favour,

Love that turns out to be nothing more than lust.

The official definition of expressing respect would mean any polite and intentional action towards someone or something,

Both in their presence or behind their back.

It demonstrates that you are really recollecting the virtues of that person or thing.

It demonstrates the intention to develop accurate discretion in that person's footsteps and to overcome one's blind spots to the good and valuable things in the world around us.

There's an inbuilt weakness we all seem to have that makes it particularly easy to forget things that are good for us.

We all know that meditation is good for us,

So having been reminded of this,

On the first day we sit for meditation for exactly half an hour,

No more no less.

On the second day you sit for only 15 minutes,

Because we consider this better than nothing.

On the third day we reflect that sitting quietly is about the same as meditating,

So five minutes of actual meditation ought to be enough.

On the fourth day,

Because the weather is so cold,

It would be understandable to take the day off,

After all thousands of other people don't meditate and they seem to be none the worse for it.

On the fifth day we can't even remember how we managed to meditate for an entire 30 minutes,

Because the effort to do good deeds is so easy to forget.

Expressions of respect serve as a way to rekindle the inspiration.

For all the devious behaviors in our past,

I think you'll agree that it takes no effort for all those memories to come flooding back in full technicolor.

Expressing respect helps us establish a firm connection with the virtues of an exemplar.

Expressions of respect are like a placeholder that allows us to return to a later time when a real appreciation of the virtues of that person start to take root.

Even though our expression of respect may not do full justice to the depth of that other person's virtue,

It will allow our appreciation of that virtue gradually to take root.

Parents taking their five-year-olds to the temple make sure they pay respect to the Buddha statues.

The child cannot see beyond the clay or the brass of the statue and may wonder what all the fuss is about.

They are too young to appreciate what is so outstanding about the Buddha.

If the child is dragged along to the home of an aging relative and told to speak politely to them,

They are only polite to the old folks because their parents insist.

At school,

The child is told to treat their teachers respectfully.

The child is too young to really tell whether the teacher will make a difference to their future or not.

However,

Sometime in the future when they are used to behaving respectfully,

The thought will eventually occur to them to look for the reason they are paying respect,

Whether it be to the Buddha,

To the elders,

Or to the teachers.

Sometimes people confuse respect with expressing respect.

However,

If you express respect when your attitude is wrong,

It will do nothing for your spiritual progress.

Some people pay respect out of obsequiousness,

Which in modern-day parlance means sucking up to someone.

Such people only show respect in order to manipulate the person they pay respect to so they can ask favours from that person,

Often for a thing which they are not entirely honest or noble about.

Secondly,

There is respect expressed because of peer pressure.

Some people pay respect just because everyone else does.

This happens a lot with so-called celebrities.

The attitude of respect may not actually pass through their mind.

All they know is that they are forwarding posts,

Putting up the poster,

Or buying the merch.

Therefore,

All they get for their efforts is a lot of paraphernalia in their life.

The third approach is respect expressed in search of wisdom.

This refers to those who have an attitude of respect,

Who also express their respect with the determination to practice themselves all the virtues exemplified by the object of their respect.

All the varieties of genuine respect can be summarized under just two headings.

The first is homage through gifts or A-Mitsapuja,

Which refers to all material forms of paying homage,

Whether it be putting your palms together in a gesture of respect,

Bowing,

Or even words of praise about a person.

The second is homage through practice or Patipatipuja.

This means paying homage by doing as one is taught,

For example,

Paying respect to the Buddha by doing as he taught.

As is usually the case in Buddhist lists,

The item that comes at the end of the list is generally the most important or the superior one.

This is why when we pay respect to the Buddha,

We should emphasize homage through practice,

While homage through gifts should play only a supporting role.

By contrast,

When paying respect to exemplars who are still concerned with worldly matters,

In other words,

Rulers,

Parents,

Teachers,

Elders,

And betterers,

Homage through gifts might have more of a role,

With homage through practice playing only a supporting role.

To give an example,

If we are to meet up with our teacher and when we meet up with them all we have for them is the words,

I have put into practice everything you've taught me.

It might not have the same effect as bringing an apple for them,

Which would be considered a skillful way of expressing respect,

Or a bottle of wine from abroad,

Which would be considered an unskillful way of expressing respect.

A person worthy of respect in its simplest terms would be the wise one,

As we defined them in the previous blessing.

The wise one,

In this context,

Is someone who,

By their habits or lifestyle,

Is beyond what we could appropriately associate with as peers on an equal level.

Examples of such people might include the Buddha,

Monks,

Virtuous monarchs,

Parents,

Teachers,

Or employers.

Especially in the Western world,

With statues of the Buddha as no more than a manufactured product,

Sold alongside garden gnomes and home decorations in supermarkets and garden centers,

It is easy to disconnect the historical figure from the expressions of respect.

The sort of virtues exemplified by the Buddha are normally summarized as the three aspects of wisdom,

Compassion,

And purity.

The Buddha exemplifies wisdom so great that he could single-handedly attain enlightenment,

Exemplifies compassion so great that he sacrificed the remainder of his life after enlightenment to teach the way for others to reach transcendental attainments,

Exemplified purity through the excellent practice of self-discipline,

Primarily through keeping the monastic precepts,

And for these three reasons,

Buddhists hold the Buddha in the highest of respect.

In our meditation centers,

Mostly we are invited to bow to the Buddha at the beginning and the end of the sessions.

If we bow without any aspect of respect in our mind,

It will benefit us no more than a yoga exercise to increase suppleness.

It would be much more effective in our spiritual transformation if we reflect on the three virtues of the Buddha as we are bowing.

When we bow the first time,

We should reflect on the supreme wisdom of the Buddha,

Which allowed him to see the existence of suffering,

Know the origin and the cessation of suffering,

And find a path to the cessation of suffering,

Wisdom arising from the Buddha,

Having meditated until his mind had become sufficiently clear and bright to eradicate all defilements from the mind.

Following this example,

We should also meditate determinedly until we can achieve the same wisdom as that of the Buddha.

When we bow the second time,

We should reflect on the supreme compassion of the Buddha,

That instead of just keeping his teaching to himself,

He spent all his life teaching Dharma to others so that they could become enlightened in his footsteps.

Following his example,

We should always try to find ways of being generous as our way of expressing our compassion to others.

When we bow the third time,

We should reflect on the supreme purity of the body,

Speech and mind of the Buddha,

Which he cultivated through his practice of self-discipline.

Following his example,

We should become more resolute in upholding the purity of our own precepts.

This will bring us more benefit from all the Buddha statues in all the garden centers of the world.

And as the community are also singled out for expressions of respect,

Whether or not they have reached transcendental attainments,

Although some monks may not yet have purged themselves of all defilements,

Owing to the dedication of their chosen way of life,

It would be inappropriate for laypeople to treat them as equals.

Laypeople should always treat monks and clergy in general with respect.

At all times,

Especially those who exemplify,

Teach and discern virtue for us by fulfilling the following six duties.

Firstly,

They caution others against unwholesome behavior.

Secondly,

They encourage others to establish themselves in virtue,

Although these two responsibilities are also the domain of parents and teachers.

Thirdly,

They minister to others in kindness,

Which means extending loving kindness for the happiness of their congregation without exception.

They might also visit their supporters together with their monastic fellows in order to give those congregation members the chance to hear Dharma teachings and have the opportunity to practice generosity.

Fourthly,

They teach us new or beneficial things,

Not just repeat the same teaching each time.

One of the most important functions of the clergy is to encourage the study of spiritual teachings amongst their congregation.

Monks should have a large repertoire of teachings to give to their congregation teaching without repeating themselves so that the congregation can have a broad knowledge of the Dharma,

Reinforcing their right view and power of conscience.

Fifth,

They should clarify things which the congregation already know.

If monks are talking on subjects the congregation are already familiar with,

Then they should enlarge on the subject in more detail than before,

Giving additional examples of how these teachings can be applied for problem solving in everyday life.

Lastly,

The monks or clergy need to show others the way toward heaven.

This monastic duty particularly is special in the system of the six directions because apart from the clergy there is no other social sector dedicated to this form of welfare.

A good afterlife destination can also be expected by those who have lived their lives in accordance with the precepts.

These six duties are ideally fulfilled by clergy and spiritual mentors of all religions,

Whether they be monks,

Priests,

Pastors or ministers.

Accordingly,

They should be held in high respect because they set the ethical standards for the society to follow.

Ultimately,

Clergy are responsible for training the laity to become wise ones or virtuous people.

Monks,

Who are able to practice all six of these duties to their completion,

Are of inestimable value to society and the world,

And therefore they deserve respect.

Next on the list of people deserving respect are monarchs or maybe rulers and those in governance generally,

All of whom presumably make great personal sacrifices for the benefit of the public.

Such people can qualify as worthy of respect if they exemplify the so-called tenfold virtues of a monarch,

Something which we will look at in more detail in Blessing No.

16.

Also deserving of respect are any members of society whose duties involve a lot of personal sacrifices such as the majority of parents,

Who through the nature of their duties,

Are likely to be deserving of respect.

Teachers and spiritual mentors should be worthy of respect too,

As long as they are established in the sorts of right view I elaborated on earlier,

And they're also likely to be deserving of respect.

Teachers particularly deserve their students' respect if they ideally fulfill two duties in reference to their subject matter.

Firstly,

To explain the subject in theory,

And secondly,

To exemplify their subject,

Especially the ethical application of the subject they teach.

If they are hypocritical,

Making frequent use of the apologetic,

Do as I say,

But not what I do,

It is likely that they are in teaching for the money and not out of love.

If you think back to your own school days and your own favourite teacher,

You will recognize that the teachers you liked tend to be the ones that matched up with the subjects that you were good at.

Buddhism would say that you didn't just like subjects because you were good at them,

But because you became good at the subjects because you liked and had respect for the teacher teaching the subject.

Finally,

On our list of those potentially worthy of respect,

Bosses and employers generally can also be worthy of respect if they set the tone of industriousness and ethical wealth generation for their employees.

As we spend so much of our lives in the workplace,

Having such an employer will contribute significantly to keeping us on the straight and narrow,

Until such a time that we have reliable discretion for ourselves.

So in summary,

We have identified the sorts of people worthy of respect,

Namely,

The Buddha,

The monastic community,

Rulers,

Parents,

Teachers and employers.

You may be surprised to learn that in addition to worthy people,

There are also certain classes of inanimate objects that are worthy of respect,

Namely,

Pagodas and sources of spiritual teachings and of learning in general.

There are four types of monuments that qualify as pagodas worthy of respect in Buddhism,

And perhaps I should explain that pagodas are also known as chetiyas,

Stupas and dagobas,

Depending on the Buddhist country you are talking about.

So there are four categories of pagoda,

Relic pagodas,

Pagodas at the Buddhist holy sites,

Pagodas filled with scriptures and pagodas filled with Buddha statues.

The first of these,

A relic pagoda,

Is a pagoda containing the relics of a Buddha,

A Bhajagavada,

A Narahant or a universal monarch.

After the cremation of a truly virtuous person,

There are pearl-like relics left behind in the ashes.

In keeping with the teachings of the Buddha,

These are collected by the faithful and are paid homage to by Buddhists,

Not only with candles and incense,

But by enshrining them in small pagodas.

The second type of pagoda,

Known as the Ariy-bhoka chetiya,

Includes those located at the four holy sites connected with the life of the Buddha,

The places where he was born,

Enlightened,

Where he gave his first sermon and where he passed away into Parinirvana.

The Buddha advocated that the faithful coming after him should visit holy sites if they had the chance,

Because it would awaken in them the sense of urgency to get down to practice.

It would remind them that the Buddha was just a man.

Any people who have been on pilgrimage to visit these holy sites have discovered that their inspiration to practice has been strengthened by the feeling of going back to a time when they were in the presence of the Buddha himself.

The third sort of pagoda is known as the Dhamma Chetiya,

Which is a pagoda that contains Dhamma teachings such as books of the Tipitaka or other scriptures.

Lastly,

An Utesika Chetiya is a pagoda that contains Buddha statues or statues of enlightened disciples.

The way to be respectful of a pagoda is to circumambulate clockwise with your hands in a gesture of prayer and behave mindfully and with decorum in the pagoda area.

Depending on the country,

It is also customary out of respect to remove one's shoes in the pagoda compound and in some places even to avoid standing on the shadow of the pagoda.

While on the subject,

I should mention that the requisites belonging to monks,

Whether it be robes or bowls,

Are often treated with respect even though they are inanimate objects.

Another sort of inanimate object worthy of respect are the sources of spiritual teachings,

Which may include the teachings of the Buddha,

Of members of the monastic community,

Of kings,

Of parents and elders,

Of teachers and masters,

Of our boss,

Or the teachings of the wise more generally with whom we associate.

Teachings of all six categories of people worthy of respect should not be mocked or taken in vain in case such disrespect undermines people's inspiration to put them into practice.

Once the appreciation of the sources is lost,

All that remains is ignorance and false view.

Same principle goes for photographs or pictures of the Buddha,

Of monks,

The king,

Of our parents or teachers.

Such photographs should not be left lying around or used without reverence.

They should be covered or turned to the wall if not in use.

Similarly,

Chanting books shouldn't be left lying about either or folded up and shoved in the back pocket of one's trousers.

They shouldn't be handled with dirty hands or put down on a dusty surface and other objects should not be placed on top of them.

They shouldn't be crumpled,

Have pages torn out or be marked with a pen.

Perhaps to make the category of things and people worthy of respect clearer,

I should perhaps point out some of the things which are not worthy of respect.

Things or people which by prizing them or publicizing them or even forwarding them on social media will bring damage to the value system.

For this reason,

We need to be careful not to pay respect to things not worthy of respect.

In brief,

There are four categories of things we should avoid idolizing or paying respect to.

In terms of people,

People who would be no-platformed would include those in the category of fools or those espousing or inciting others with foolish ideas.

For such people,

We should avoid supporting them,

Praising them or publicizing them,

No matter how important they may claim to be.

By the same token,

We should avoid giving attention or publicity to objects that are not worthy of respect,

Whether it be posters,

Statues,

Books or airtime for fools.

Even when the objects don't direct attention to a particular foolish personality but are in the category of roads to ruin,

Such as alcohol or gambling,

We shouldn't even use these sort of things to decorate our homes.

Finally,

Even the sort of curios which promote superstition and magic,

Let's say Ouija boards rather than Harry Potter books,

Should not be kept in our home,

Publicized or spread about.

So,

We have time for a quick story to illustrate the power of paying respect to those deserving of respect for our destiny.

And this time it comes from the commentary to illustrate Dhammapada verse 68 concerning good deeds causing no regret at a later time.

In the time of the Buddha in King Bimbisara's palace,

There was a group of courtiers specialized in flower arranging.

The head of the flower arrangers was called Sumana and his duty was to arrange flowers to decorate the palace,

To decorate the throne and even decorate the king's bedchamber,

To give all these places a delightful fragrance.

Sumana fulfilled his duty to the king's satisfaction every day,

Year in,

Year out,

Without fail.

One day,

In the season where flowers were scarce,

Sumana searched every part of the city and wherever there were flowers to be bought,

He would buy them all.

In fact,

Every last flower in the city was requisitioned for the decoration of the palace.

Even though Sumana had exclusive rights to all the flowers in the city,

Because the dry season had caused a drought,

He could hardly find any flower to buy at any price.

That day,

The flowers were so scarce that in the whole city,

All Sumana could obtain were eight handfuls of jasmine flowers.

Really,

This wasn't enough to decorate the palace,

But it was better than nothing.

That day,

As Sumana was bringing the eight handfuls of jasmine flowers to the palace,

He met the Buddha along the way.

The Buddha was on arms round.

Sumana regularly attended the Buddha's sermons,

But he had never really had the chance to make a decent offering to the Buddha,

Partly because of his poverty,

And partly because his faith was not very profound.

That day,

As Sumana saw the Buddha,

He felt that the Buddha looked particularly resplendent and worthy of faith.

The deportment of the Buddha seemed so perfect in every respect that he felt it was only fitting to bow down before him.

Sumana's next thought was that all he had to give was eight handfuls of flowers.

If he used them to honor the king,

All the king could give him was wealth to see him through the present lifetime.

However,

That day,

By paying respect to the Buddha,

It would be his chance at positive karma that would bring him benefits not just in this lifetime,

But for many lifetimes to come.

Even if the king were to chop off his head in a punishment,

It wouldn't affect the good results of these deeds.

Sumana raised the flowers to his forehead,

And having made his resolution,

Sprinkled the jasmine flowers in the path ahead of the Buddha,

With the intention that the Buddha would walk upon his fragrant offering.

The Buddha saw the strength of Sumana's faith to the degree that he was prepared to lay down his life in order to make this offering.

Accordingly,

The Buddha created a miracle in order to bring Sumana real joy,

To allow him to gain the full merit of his generous deed and lead him to attain enlightenment in the future.

Therefore,

As soon as the flowers were released from Sumana's hand,

The Buddha caused the flowers to float up as a cloud of flowers above where the Buddha stood,

And then followed the Buddha wherever he went.

At both sides of the Buddha's path,

All the householders came out of their houses to see the miraculous sight,

And were inspired by the sight of the flowers,

Which seemed to have a life of their own,

In honor of the Buddha.

Through Sumana's faith,

Together with the power of the perfections of the Buddha,

The jasmine flowers sent their scent throughout the whole of the city,

The scent for the Buddha wherever he went.

And this attracted everyone out of their houses to see the sight of the Buddha.

Many of the householders had seen the Buddha before,

But they had never been particularly inspired by him.

But that day,

The sight of the Buddha was so impressive that many of the householders were inspired to faith.

Those who were only slightly faithful put their hands together in a gesture of prayer.

Those who were more inspired raised their hands in a gesture of prayer and offered words of praise to the Buddha.

Those whose faith was even greater prepared food to offer into the Buddha's bowl,

And followed him around to see what would happen to the flowers.

The Buddha's alms round took him all over the city and eventually brought him to the front of the palace.

The king heard the news and came to give alms himself,

Inviting the Buddha to take breakfast in the palace.

As the Buddha was taking his meal,

And while he gave his blessing,

When he returned to Jetavana temple,

The flowers remained above him.

But,

When he entered the temple,

The flowers fell in a heap at the temple gate,

Which only added to the faith of the followers.

Even Sumana thought,

If the king is to execute me now for failing in my duty,

It has certainly been worth it.

By contrast,

Sumana's wife,

Worried about how her husband could have been so incredibly stupid.

If he had given the flowers to the king,

At least he would have got paid.

For giving the flowers to the Buddha,

He got nothing in return but faith,

And how is that going to feed his hungry children?

What if the king got angry about the lack of flowers and decided to execute her husband and his wife and children as well?

They'd all suffer because of this stupidity.

And if the king seized Sumana's belongings,

He would just take Sumana's possessions,

He would take the whole possessions of everyone in the family.

She didn't want this to happen,

So she went straight to the king and disowned her husband.

She demanded divorce on the spot.

Instead of feeling angry with Sumana,

The king felt intrigued and inspired by the flower man's example,

And decided to give Sumana a prize for his courage.

In the end,

Sumana received his prize alone because his ex had already gone into hiding.

When the story reached the ears of the Buddha,

The Venerable Ananda,

Who is the Buddha's secretary,

Asked the Buddha about the fruits of Sumana's faith on that occasion.

And the Buddha replied that with the strength of faith that someone is prepared to lay down their life such as that of Sumana,

Faith is very deep-rooted in that person's mind.

Sumana's mind had been very radiant,

And accordingly,

He predicted that for at least 100,

000 aeons henceforth,

However many rebirths Sumana took,

He would be born in only the human and the heaven realms.

After the appropriate length of time,

Sumana would become enlightened as a Pacheka Buddha.

This is why the resulting brightness and clarity of mind will stay with a person expressing homage to the Buddha through the course of many lifetimes.

So to continue with our subject matter today on how to express respect to those worthy of respect,

We can start to examine what constitutes the Buddhist definition of expressing respect.

It is said that respect can be expressed through the channels of body,

Speech,

Or mind.

Physically,

Paying respect means the various polite manners demonstrated towards someone in their presence,

Such as standing up when they come into the room,

Or sitting politely when in front of them.

Even away from their presence,

Physical respect can still be shown towards those who are worthy of virtue,

Perhaps towards their photograph or their likeness,

Such as a Buddha statue or a photograph of a spiritual mentor.

It is considered respectful to avoid pointing one's feet towards a respected image and even lying down to sleep to point our head towards the image instead of our feet.

Homage to the channel of speech includes the speaking,

Chanting,

Or singing of praise of one worthy of homage rather than gossiping maliciously about them.

Homage to the channel of the mind means recollecting the teachings of one worthy of homage to the point it becomes inspiration,

Perhaps by bringing to mind the good deeds that person has taught or the good character and virtues exemplified rather than explicitly taught by that person.

Both of these are homage to the channel of the mind.

Some Old Testament sort of people misunderstand paying respect as meaning a burnt offering on an altar.

Paying respect in this way is not incorrect,

But it's not the whole story.

Paying respect that is complete,

In the Buddhist perspective at least,

Has four components.

The first component is the physical token of respect or satkhara.

This refers to a gift which is an expression of respect.

It is something which is prepared in advance to be presented during the act of paying respect.

Such a token of respect differs for different situations and categories of persons worthy of respect.

For example,

Flowers,

Incense,

And candles might be worthy tokens of respect for paying respect to the Buddha,

Monks,

Or teachers.

A care package might be more worthy tokens of respect for,

Let's say,

Your parents.

Neither of these tokens of respect would be suitable for the sort of gift you might take with you when visiting a distinguished person of social standing.

Nor would they be suitable as the sort of gift you bring back with you for your friends when you've been away on holiday.

Even money can sometimes be suitable as a token of respect.

If a teacher has been putting in extra hours out of the kindness of their heart,

Giving up their time to give you tutorials at home,

Giving them money or at least a gift voucher would not be out of place,

And in this respect would be considered a token of respect,

Not a payment.

Another consideration for tokens of respect is that some thought or care should be put into preparing that object in advance.

To leave a bucket of cut flowers on someone's doorstep would hardly be considered an act of respect.

Any token of respect should be prepared with care and finesse,

And be both clean and well organized.

The second component is the gesture of respect or Vantana.

This refers to gestures which express humility.

Buddhist chanting can be counted as Vantana.

Even a recollection of what one has been taught by the wise or one's teacher can be counted as Vantana.

The third component is the attitude of respect or Manana.

Since the word respect consists of the stems Prui,

Which means again,

And spect,

Which like the word spectacles,

Means to look at.

In this case,

The word respect literally means to re-examine a person for their good points.

Given that all people except the Buddha are made up of a mixture of both good and bad,

A special effort needs to be made to look for the good points in people.

Apart from noticing these good points,

Part of respect is to praise them for these good points and use them as a good example to model ourselves upon.

The fourth and last component is the concern for the object of respect or Garukara,

Which refers to an attitude of concern for the well-being of the person who is worthy of respect and recollection of the good deeds and virtues of that person.

So,

In conclusion,

A complete act of paying respect will have all four components,

A token of respect,

A gesture of respect,

An attitude of respect and a concern for the object of respect.

To look at the issue of expressing respect from a different perspective,

If the worthy are not respected and celebrated,

They will not live up to their name and may become undisciplined.

In many cases,

For Buddhist monks who are not treated with respect,

They may become less motivated to cherish their congregation,

Meaning that the congregation start to lose their sense of responsibility for their own human dignity,

Turning their back on the five precepts.

The monkhood will be unable to attract those of high caliber into its ranks,

Further undermining the faith of the lay congregation until eventually the whole religion will end up on the rocks.

Because of this,

Transcendental attainment becomes increasingly inaccessible to monks and lay people alike,

Or will become increasingly entrenched in false view,

With no accurate knowledge of the Dharma teachings.

Lack of respect will deteriorate into slander of the clergy and monks,

Leading to a loss of financial support for clergy and monks.

Further down the line,

There will be desecration of religious property and establishments,

And embezzlement of religious donations.

Some people claim to have a lost interest in doing good deeds,

Because they see so many examples of hypocrisy in the clergy.

When such attitudes abound,

Even the clergy,

Who are well behaved,

Become unable to pass on their knowledge to others,

Because the public are not interested to listen to the clergy anymore.

All they want are the material trappings of spirituality,

Such as holy water and amulets,

Instead of thinking to transform themselves spiritually for the better.

Since religions such as Buddhism can only survive through the voluntary support of the congregation,

Eventually there will be no one left to perpetuate the religion,

Leaving the congregation with no one to turn to for spiritual guidance,

Leaving people mired in superstition or animism.

As I don't want to end on a depressing note,

Let me finish with the story of a woman whose life was transformed by an act of paying respect to those worthy of respect.

The story takes place 2,

500 years ago,

At a time the Buddha had just recently passed away in Tipari,

Nirvana.

After the Buddha's funeral,

The newly reformed King Ajatashatru,

Who you will remember from the Devadatta story in the previous blessing,

Enshrined the relics of the Buddha in a pagoda.

And when the ceremony was over,

There was a festival to celebrate the completion of the pagoda.

At that time there was a woman who was pitifully poor,

But whose strong faith in the Buddha had not diminished since the time when he had been alive.

This woman wanted to join in the celebration by honoring the pagoda with flowers.

The woman wasn't discerning enough to buy beautiful flowers like the rest of the people.

She went and collected four gourds from the edge of the forest,

Golden yellow in color.

In fact,

The woman became known as Kosataki,

Because she is named after the type of gourds that she found.

There are many species of gourd,

Some can be eaten,

Some are inedible,

And some have to be thrown away.

But the type of gourd that Kosataki found were priceless,

Because no one would pay good money for them.

She picked four of these gourds and set off in the direction of the pagoda with the full intention to offer them in homage to the Buddha.

But she was in such a rush that she didn't look where she was going.

So fixed was her mind on making the offerings at the pagoda.

In her path were a cow and a calf.

The cow saw the determination of the woman and thought she meant to harm her calf.

So the cow went on the attack and gored the woman to death before she could even reach the pagoda.

Although Kosataki never made it to the pagoda,

Her mind had such a determination to accomplish her good deed that this was the last thing on her mind as she died,

And after death she was reborn immediately as an angel in the second level of heaven.

Her clothes became immediately refined as angelic raiment in the same golden color as the gourd,

And the angelic mansion that arose as the result of her merit was also the color of the gourd.

Indra,

The king of heaven,

Noticed the new arrival in heaven and asked what merit she had performed to cause the arising of a golden-colored mansion.

The angel smiled shyly and replied that she had only done something very insignificant,

Just taking four humble gourds to pay respect to the pagoda containing the relics of the Buddha,

But she had been gored to death by a cow on the way and regretted not having reached her goal,

Otherwise the golden color of her raiment and the mansion would surely have been even more striking than this.

When hearing this,

Indra proclaimed,

Paying respect to the Buddha with a mind of faith,

Even though the Buddha has already passed away,

In no way diminishes the fruits of the good karma,

Whether the Buddha is alive or passed away gives fruits of merits equally.

For this reason,

Even though now is a time that the Buddha has already passed away,

It should in no way diminish the advice about the transformative effect on our future of paying respect to the Buddha.

I hope this story helps to illustrate that the bandwidth taken up in our hearts and minds by the wholesome exemplars towards whom we express respect,

Or whom we have as the heroes in our hearts,

Whether it may be the Buddha or wise ones amongst the ranks of monks,

Monastics,

Teachers,

Elders and betters,

Will help us to turn our back on any remaining unwholesomeness in our past,

Paving the way towards the acquisition of new good habits as we move on to the second group of blessings next time round.

So,

This session I have introduced blessing number three,

Paying respect to those worthy of respect.

For my next session I'll move on to the fourth blessing on the subject of Buddhist Feng Shui,

Which explains the important influence of an amenable environment on our journey of spiritual cultivation.

Hopefully,

As a result of today's session,

You will be equipped to recognize those worthy of respect and know how to express genuine respect for them.

So,

For today,

This is me,

Pratt Nicholas,

Thaynish Roy,

Signing off for this session.

So long,

Folks,

And stay safe.