I'm writing about the Dhammadessana I heard from Bhante Pannaloka in the last praying service (8 Aug 09).

Bhante talked about the things needed for the spiritual development for the Buddhist.

It is said, when we listen or hear about Dhamma, we should practice it, not just learn/read without practicing.

Dhamma is like a mirror. We look at ourselves in mirror to correct what's not appropriate/wrong to make us look better and nicer. Hence, Dhamma is like a mirror. We need to practice/use Dhamma to correct ourselves so we can be a better, nicer and wise person.

So, the pre-requisite for this spiritual development is Sadha, which means faith.

Why do we need faith? Well...faith/sadha is needed to make that person/ourselves to act more properly. Simple eg, we have faith in our family to take care of them, so we would do our best to protect, care and love them as much as we could.

If we don't have faith in something (be it life, religion, family, partner, etc), we wont' be doing all those wholeheartedly. Thus, Sadha is the most important thing in the path of development of Dhamma. It is the first step for everyone to develop.

Now, we are not saying you need to bow & worship to Buddha statue to have the faith or show the faith in Buddha/Buddhism. We are merely respecting, worship and value the Compassion and Wisdom of the Buddha himself (the quality).

For the Buddhist, we always chant Buddhanussati sutta. Do you really know what it means?

Iti pi so Bhagavā Arahaṃ Sammā-sambuddho,
Vijjā-caraṇa-sampanno Sugato Lokavidū,
Anuttaro purisa-damma-sārathi satthā deva-manussānaṃ
Buddho Bhagavā’ti

Translation:
Demikianlah Sang Bhagava, yang maha suci, yang telah mencapai penerangan sempurna. Sempurna pengetahuan serta tindak-tandukNya, sempurna menempuh Jalan (ke Nibbana). Pengenal segenap alam, pembimbing manusia yang tiada taranya, guru para dewa dan manusia yang sadar (bangun), yang patut dimuliakan.

So, you see...we are chanting the Buddhanusatti sutta to show we do worship the compassion, wisdom and value of the Buddha, which are the noble quality of the Buddha. Why do we need to do so? Coz a Buddha is a person who has reached the highest level of compassion and wisdom.

The word Arahaṃ means "one who never do anything wrong, even in secret". A Buddha never do anything wrong, in front or behind its people. Thus, a Boddhisatta & Arahat will never create anymore Karma when they have reached that level, but their past Karma still come to them.

The word Bhagava means "the blessed one".
The word Sammā-sambuddho means "the fully enlightened one, who has realized everything in this world. Thus, the highest level of mind".

The word Vijjā means "knowledge (that comes under Wisdom)".
The word caraṇa means "behaviour".
The word Sugato means "who reach to nibbana/nirvana".
The word Lokavidū means "who nail the world (Wisdom)".

So again, we are chanting the sutta to worship and value the Buddha's quality, which are the wisdom and compassion. Not the person, the statue, the name or etc.

Buddha himself said "Don't trust external value/force to help you, but rely and depend entirely on yourself, your own mind". Practice it, make effort. Don't expect things will just "come" on to you.

Devotion to Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha will give you courage and determination in practicing Dhamma and spiritual development.

We, also, shouldn't just have blind faith/sadha to the Sangha. We should have faith to the Sangha to those who practice the Dhamma, the value, the good and correct (rightful) monk; those who can give guide, not those who don't even practice Dhamma.

My rule of thumb "if you feel something is wrong with that one particular monk, then you should start look elsewhere. Don't just because they're wearing a robe, you should trust them 1001%. Because a monk still a person, they still can do wrong and have emotion".

So the 3 steps of this spiritual development are:

1) Dana
Dana basically means giving away to other people something that you like and own. Why we need to do this? Well, this is to practice letting go.

Why practice that? It's to prepare ourselves from "attachment", coz the Buddha said "everything is impermanence". If we always practice giving away something we like, hopefully, when we are losing something, we won't feel too sad about it.

Giving my own example. We were robed in Macau during our trip in Jan 09. We lost lots of money from that stupid taxi driver. Of coz I felt so sad and devastated over that event. Thankfully, Hub and I were strong about it. Although we are sad, but we realised that nothing is permanent. Eventually, we will also 'finish' that money by spending it. It is okay. We lost it now (although in bad way), but we will gain it back again one day. I told hub "I could cry non stop about it, but what good would it do? The money won't come back to me just like that. I have to just accept it's gone and live with it. And move on. We just need to find money again then". Thankfully, Hubs are strong too and patient with it. I'd say, good thing we practice Dhamma and meditation, so we are, even in little way, have strong mind

2) Sila
Sila basically means the precepts, virtue, morality, or discipline. It is to control our body (speaks & actions) and words. When we practice pancasila (the 5 sila) and chant pancasila sutta, it doesn't mean we promise to Buddha or the monk about those 5 sila, but it means we are promising ourselves not to violate those sila. We are practicing sila to be a good and wiser person, not so because we can go to heaven/hell.

What are the 5 sila?
Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhā-padaṃ samādiyāmi.
Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhā-padaṃ samādiyāmi.
Kāmesu micchācārā veramaṇī sikkhā-padaṃ samādiyāmi.
Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhā-padaṃ samādiyāmi.
Surā-meraya-majja-pamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhā-padaṃ samādiyāmi.

Translation:
I undertake to observe the precept to abstain from destroying living beings.
... taking things not given.
... sexual misconduct.
... false speech.
... taking liquor causing intoxication and heedlessness.
I undertake to observe the Five Precepts to the best of my ability.(3x)

So you see, without Sila, a person tend to be more wild and lose. If we practice Sila, for e.g., when someone make us soooooo angry until we wanna punch/kill him, we will think again of the Sila we've promised and realised why we get angry in first place and abstain from doing so (to punch/kill).
Without Sila, it is very difficult to develop into the spiritual path.

3) Bhavana
Bhavana means meditation. Meditation is useful to help us purify our mind from all our senses (eye, nose, ear, etc). Why purify it? Coz our senses, most of the time, are impure from hate, desire, anger, emotion, etc.

Oh ya....the monk said "when you meditating, doesn't mean you should sleep, but concentrate". Concentrate is the most difficult thing for me to do

Now, the 5 hindrances of practicing and developing of the spiritual path:
1) Desire for sexual pleasure (aside from your own partner)
2) Anger (if we practice meditation, we can control our emotion easier/better).
3) Laziness (always lazy to practice Dhamma, keep on postponing).
4) Restless & wrong (about everything)
5) Doubt (or confusion)

.....................

There you have it. The Buddhist Spiritual Path.

I hope this will give you some guidance and help in your own spiritual development.

May the Tri-Ratna always be with you.

Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu