Wednesday, July 27, 2016

My questions to Thay (Right View and Right Thinking)

Read deeply the following Thay's Dharma talk summary on Right View and Right Thinking.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_vcianSBGpHOVV0eXU3b1VNWnM/view
The followings are excerpts.

Quote:
< Right View: The Path to Well-Being >
One time a monk came to the Buddha. He asked, “Dear Buddha, you have spoken many times about Right View. What is Right View exactly?

The Buddha said, “Right View is the view that is free of notions of being and nonbeing. Most people in the world are caught either in the notion of being or in the notion of nonbeing. But the ultimate reality transcends both these notions.

In Buddhism, being and nonbeing are just notions. The ultimate reality is free of these notions. ...

Modern science confirms this. The first law of thermodynamics, conservation of energy, says matter cannot be created or destroyed. Matter may transform into energy; energy may transform into matter. But there is no true birth; there is no true death. That’s why the Buddha said, “Insight, Right View, is the view that transcends the ideas of being and nonbeing.” ...

But nonbeing and being are only notions, and if you can touch the truth of no birth and no death, no being and no nonbeing, then you are free. And when you touch that truth, you touch nirvana. Nirvana is the extinction, the absence of all these notions, including being and nonbeing.

If you touch the nature of no birth and no death, of no being and no nonbeing, you are free of discrimination. So Right View is a view that is free of all discrimination. Discrimination is the cause of so much pain. ...

With Right View there is no more discrimination, there’s no more dualism, no more fear and hatred. And then happiness is possible. When we look deeply into things, we can touch the true nature of reality, which is the nature of no birth and no death. And we can remove from our minds these notions of nonbeing and of being.

Right View is the foundation of nondiscrimination, mutual
cooperation, and compassion. ...

< Right Thinking: Nourishing and Healing >
With this insight called Right View, the thoughts that we produce are right thoughts that carry nondiscrimination, understanding, and compassion. Every time we have this kind of thought, it can nourish and heal ourselves and the world. We need to teach our children Right Thinkingthinking permeated by love, understanding, and nondiscrimination.

A good practitioner can always produce Right Thinking
to nourish and heal himself, and to nourish and heal the world. ...
:Unquote

(My questions to Thay)
1) Why did Thay explain Right View through the extinction of all notions, or nirvana? The Four Noble Truths and The Noble Eightfold Path are in the realm of the conventional truth in the historical dimension. But nirvana is the ultimate dimension. Thay taught that we should not mix up these two dimensions according to the Buddhist principle of separate investigation between these two.

2) What are the thoughts based on the insight called Right View? Is such Right Thinking possible? I understand that all thoughts cause separation, discrimination, or the duality. That's why non-thinking must be the Right Thinking. We attain the insight by stopping thinking through mindfulness and concentration. So, I understand that we will not be mindful and concentrated, and be able to attain insights if we start to think again.

(Cf.) http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2016/07/the-noble-eightfold-path.html

Thích Nhất Hạnh