| Mar 4 @ 5:24 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning
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BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
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Glimpse of the Day for....
March 4
Buddha sat in serene and humble dignity on the ground, with the sky above him and around him, as if to show us that in meditation you sit with open, skylike attitude of mind, yet remain present, earthed, and grounded. The sky is our absolute nature, which has no barriers and is boundless, and the ground is our reality, our relative, ordinary condition.
The posture we take when we meditate signifies that we are linking absolute and relative, sky and ground, heaven and earth, like two wings of a bird, integrating the skylike deathless nature of mind and the ground of our transient, mortal nature.
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| Mar 5 @ 10:07 AM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning |
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yashaenka
Posts: 4,639
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Martin, the answer to your question is no, absolutely not! To me you are more of a historical scholar than New Age.
But Buddhism has gone through a metamorphosis and institutionalized interpretations by various sects that is far beyond the abilities of the average person to understand. Which is right, which wrong?
I would like your thoughts [and others} about what is found here:
http://www.buddhanet.dk/zenorienteng.htm
I found that article to be worrisome because it follows in the aberrations the monotheists went through. It is informative with a lot of names, dates and sources so I am still trying to get my mind around it!
It is my personal thoughts that KISS is appropriate when it comes to foreign words being used as most of the viewers get lost by those words.
The Buddha laid out something that was graspable as a conceptual ideal to the average lay man. The sects made his teachings a lot more complex with their in depth teachings...but thats just IMHO
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| Mar 5 @ 7:36 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning
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BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
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Yash, your URL didn't work.
March 5
Anyone looking honestly at life will see that we live in a constant state of suspense and ambiguity. Our minds are perpetually shifting in and out of confusion and clarity. If we could be confused all the time, that would at least make for some kind of clarity. What is really baffling about life is that sometimes, despite all our confusion, we can also be really wise!
This constant uncertainty may make everything seem bleak and almost hopeless; but if you look more deeply at it, you will see that its very nature creates “gaps,” spaces in which profound chances and opportunities for transformation are continuously flowering—if, that is, they can be seen and seized.
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| Mar 5 @ 9:35 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning |
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BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
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In reading Awakening the Buddha Heart by Lama Das, I came across this quote:
Difficulties are like the ornament
of a good practitioner.
Dharma is not practiced perfectly
amidst pleasant circumstances.
---Dilgo Khyentse Rinchope
Awesome!
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| Mar 6 @ 8:48 AM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning
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12knots
Posts: 6,400
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Excellent mom. Thank you.
These past days I have been reflected on various issues in life. Then a dharma friend came up with "Samsara Attacks".
In response to another friend who seemed to think when practicing dharma, their lives altered drastically. Thinking they were being negatively attacked by circumstances. I too thought this was profound and had some basis.
Some of the things that have happened to me just in the past three years alone would make a good James Bond novel and I kid you not!
So, Samsara attack is recognized and there are references to this happenings.
HHDL:
'It may be that due to your Dharma practice some aspect of your negative karma may have ripened earlier than it otherwise would have done. When this occurs you can view it as a form of purification.'
From a Dharma Friend:
Rinpoche has often said something to the effect that one can't get clean without seeing the dirt come off. The experience you are describing is the "dirt" beginning to come off. The negative inclinations are actually your karma that is being revealed to you. This means that ignorance is beginning to be being dissolved.
If you catch an inclination, emotion, or thought, before you act, that is great. This is the gap between rising and action that we are trying to cultivate and deepen. If you catch it after you have acted, this is still a step forward, because you are aware. Next time, try to catch it earlier.
One way to know this is karma at work is to make a mental note of the type of situation that gave rise to this inclination. Next time you find yourself in a situation of this type, watch for the inclination to rise. When it does, you will be ready for it.
There is no need for self loathing, after all Rinpoche reminds us that "you are not your thoughts."
Back to me:
I guess when our aspirations are to attain Awakening and in the now and not some some time later, we can expect some drastic alterations. Of course, I guess, most people take it easy, a nice steady pace. Nothing wrong with that. I for one person rather recognizing the nature of phenomena rather not stay around and try to attain awaking now for the benefit of myself and all Beings.
The Aspiration to attain Awakening now is a good practice. One of my favourites from one of the aspirations of Samantabhadra.
"The Aspiration of Samantabhadra - Penetrating Wisdom"
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| Mar 6 @ 9:22 AM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning |
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yashaenka
Posts: 4,639
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Mom, I guess the server is down as it worked yesterday.
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| Mar 6 @ 5:29 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning
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BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
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Great post, Knotty.
So when bad things happen, especially in clusters, it could mean we are closer to our own Awakening. Realizing this can get us through the bad times. 
Yash, Buddhanet.com comes up fine, but it says my server cannot find www.buddhanet.dk.......
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| Mar 6 @ 5:43 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning |
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BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
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March 6
The nature of mind is the background to the whole of life and death like the sky, which enfolds the whole universe in its embrace
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| Mar 8 @ 2:00 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning
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BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
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I forgot to post this yesterday and I ddn't get one today. 
Glimpse of the Day
March 7
When we die we leave everything behind, especially this body we have cherished so much and relied upon so blindly and tried so hard to keep alive. But our minds are no more dependable than our bodies. Just look at your mind for a few minutes.
You will see that it is like a flea, constantly hopping to and fro. You will see that thoughts arise without any reason, without any connection. Swept along by the chaos of every moment, we are the victims of the fickleness of our minds. If this is the only state of consciousness we are familiar with, then to rely on our minds at the moment of death is an absurd gamble.
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| Mar 8 @ 3:34 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning |
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Martin666
Posts: 2,142
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Hi Yash---
Comments interspersed with yours:
"But Buddhism has gone through a metamorphosis and institutionalized interpretations by various sects that is far beyond the abilities of the average person to understand. Which is right, which wrong?"
It is hard for people to sort it out. But that's ok. It's not the conflicting doctrines that keep people from penetrating the teachings: it's the practitioners kamma. It's their inherited ability to understand dhamma. If a person is ready, they will see the truth no matter what form it comes in. If they aren't, they would not recognize the truth if it bit them on the ass.
"I would like your thoughts [and others} about what is found here:
http://www.buddhanet.dk/zenorienteng.html"
Wow! Lot's a ideas in that piece. I read it through once but am not able to get my mind around everything in it, either.
I've always thought that buddhism is the most widely misunderstood understood belief system going. By that I mean that nearly everyone has some kind of visceral understanding of what buddhism is "about:" "It's about that thar' Enlightenment, right?" They may not be able to point to the essence if Islam, Hinduism, or even Christianity, but everybody knows "enlightenment" is the goal of Buddhism. That's wrong, of course: enlightenment isn't the goal of Buddhism. But at least everyone thinks they know what it it's all about.
Part of that "perception" is framed in your article, about the different ways that Buddhism has been introduced to the West. I look at it as a series of "waves" coming in, each one modifying what was here before and what comes after. The article ties these "waves" to this scholar or that, but that's what scholars do, isn't it? Overestimate their contributions? More of the influence, especially in it's earlier forms, has come from the grass roots up.
For example,look at the thousands of imported chinese laborors who worked on the Transcontinental Railroad. They certainly brought their own brand of daoism and mystical Mahayana superstitions with them when they came. What most people don't know is that throughout all the decades of the late 1800's there were also hundreds of thousands of other imported chinese laborors working the west coast farm fields and mines. These people settled throughout california, and their belief systems certainly would have influenced the larger culture around them.
Compare that to the "scholars" brand of Buddhism in the late 1800's which was largely an East Coast, urban, intellectual movement centering on NYC.
And look at the wave of immigration from SE Asia that has gone on for the last 40 years, and how that has influenced buddhist practice in this country.
Lot's of avenues of introduction for buddhism into the west. There are many trends, some gnerated by scholars, but most, I think, by immigration among the masses.
"It is my personal thoughts that KISS is appropriate when it comes to foreign words being used as most of the viewers get lost by those words."
It's a question of specificity. Here's an example: dukkha. This is commonly translated as "suffering." BUT, if you use the western definition of "suffering" as the key to understanding the very subtle, complex, far-ranging, and multi-aspected concept of "dukkha," then you'll never understand what's going on in the Four Noble Truths in the same sense that the Buddha meant. If someone uses the word "suffering" in the western sense, and I use the word "dukkha," then we are talking about two different things. Period! We may think we are on the same page, but we are talking past each other.
The whole idea that a western word with it's own meaning is preferable to the actual foreign word and the actual meaning is crude western cultural paternalism at its best. If people are too lazy to understand the actual concepts in play in the conversation, then what can you do about that? Nothing. That is and must remain their problem. They will come to the need for a more specific understanding in their own time.
Yes, a person can go overboard with "foreign" words. But the idea of a fully westernized lexicography is a ticket to disaster. If people get "lost" in that, then so be it.
"The Buddha laid out something that was graspable as a conceptual ideal to the average lay man. The sects made his teachings a lot more complex with their in depth teachings...but thats just IMHO"
The buddha did lay out graspable teachings. That is the whole thing of Suttanta. Graspable stories. And for those who are too dull to "get" suttanta, there is Dhammapadda. But he taught more complex things as well, and he taught them at the same time and they were recorded at the same time. Everyone wants to grab ahold of suttanta as being "the" teachings of the buddha. But he taught abhidhamma as well. We here in the west don't make good abhidhammika's because it's too much work to understand the buddhas teachings on that level. We want to sit on the beach at sunset and drink tea and feel "one" with the universe. We don't want to make the effort to find the balance point between the simple parables and the more complex teachings.
IMHO, of course..........:)
[Edited on 3/8/2008 5:04 PM]
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| Mar 8 @ 9:10 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning
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BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
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http://www.buddhanet.dk/zenorienteng.html
I STILL can't get that site to load. (Server not found)
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| Mar 8 @ 9:42 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning |
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Martin666
Posts: 2,142
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2---"of continuously interacting phenomena..."
If we want to look at the concept of "continuously interacting phenomena" within an instant of consciousness, then we need at least one example. As a rule of thumb, I don't cut-n-paste on posts, but in this case I have to copy an extract from an abhidhammic text. It shows the constituents of consciousness found in a single instant of citta, in particular, an instant of citta characterized by contact with a conditioned object that includes joy and wisdom. Composing such an instant of consciousness are the following constituents:
Sense impression (phassa)
Feeling
Perception
Volition
Consciousness (citta)
Thought conception (vitakka)
Discurssive thinking
Interest
Pleasure
One-Pointedness
The faculty of faith
The faculty of energy
The faculty of mindfullness
The faculty of concentration
The faculty of wisdom
The faculty of Mind
The faculty of joy
The faculty of vitality
Right understanding
Right thought
Right effort
Right mindfulness
Right concentration
The power of faith
The power of energy
The power of mindfulness
The power of concentration
The power of wisdom
The power of moral shame
The power of moral dread
Non-greed
Non-hatred
Non-delusion
Non-covetousness
Non-illwill
Right understanding
Moral shame (hiri)
Dread (ottapa)
Tranquility of mental constituents
Tranquility of consciousness
Agility of mental constituents
Agility of consciousness
Pliancy of mental constituents
Pliancy of consciousness
Workableness of mental constituents
Workableness of consciousness
Proficiency of mental constituents
Proficiency of consciousness
Uprightness of mental constituents
Uprightness of consciousness
Mindfulness
Mental clarity
Calm
Insight
Exertion
Undistractedness
Attention
Decision
Intention
mental Equipose
Compassion
Sympathetic joy
Abstinence from wrong bodily action
Abstinence from wrong speech
Abstinence from wrong livlihood
In the single instant of consciousness like this, all of these factors are present. All of these factors arise simultaneously with the instant of consciousness (citta) and then fall away very quickly. A billion citta may rise and fall in the blink of an eye. Depending on the nature of the consciousness, each citta may rise with a different aggregation (list or collection) of constituents from the list above.
This is what HHDL meant when he wrote "of continuously interacting phenomena..."
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| Mar 8 @ 9:57 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning
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12knots
Posts: 6,400
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Yes, but he doesnt go into complications and neither do tantric practitioners.
This is the problem. Sutra seekers spend all their time reading and learning and forget the practice. I say this with respect.
Of course it is fine if persons wish to get "technical" and academic about it all. But it isnt necessary. Similar to an accountant or shop keeper doesnt need to know all the mathematics to solve the problems of their professions.
What it actually does is scare people away from dharma teachings. They probably think... OMG all that! Its too tiring and hence we have given them a different direction and even retarded their progression. Heaps big karma.
Teach the basics and if and when deeper questions crop up then is the time to answer.
I totally agree that some terms need to be understood because of the different meanings. However, this again comes with deeper understanding. Always keep the level of understanding to the level that can be heard.
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| Mar 8 @ 10:05 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning |
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BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
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When I am not sure what a word means (either English or Sanskrit), I look it up from several sources until I come to a conclusion what the word means.
I am thankful everyday that I looked up the meaning of the word "ignorance".
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| Mar 8 @ 10:06 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning
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12knots
Posts: 6,400
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Again this is what was said by the HHDL:
The Dalai Lama:
"One of the most important philosophical insights in Buddhism comes from what is known as the theory of emptiness. At its heart is the deep recognition that there is a fundamental disparity between the way we perceive the world, including our own experience in it, and the way things actually are. In our day-to-day experience, we tend to relate to the world and to ourselves as if these entities possessed self-enclosed, definable, discrete and enduring reality.
For instance, if we examine our own conception of selfhood, we will find that we tend to believe in the presence of an essential core to our being, which characterises our individuality and identity as a discrete ego, independent of the physical and mental elements that constitute our existence.
The philosophy of emptiness reveals that this is not only a fundamental error but also the basis for attachment, clinging and the development of our numerous prejudices. According to the theory of emptiness, any belief in an objective reality grounded in the assumption of intrinsic, independent existence is simply untenable.
All things and events, whether ‘material’, mental or even abstract concepts like time, are devoid of objective, independent existence. To intrinsically possess such independent existence would imply that all things and events are somehow complete unto themselves and are therefore entirely self-contained. This would mean that nothing has the capacity to interact with or exert influence on any other phenomena.
But we know that there is cause and effect – turn a key in a car, the starter motor turns the engine over, spark plugs ignite and fuel begins to burn… Yet in a universe of self-contained, inherently existing things, these events could never occur! So effectively, the notion of intrinsic existence is incompatible with causation; this is because causation implies contingency and dependence, while anything that inherently existed would be immutable and self-enclosed.
In the theory of emptiness, everything is argued as merely being composed of dependently related events; of continuously interacting phenomena with no fixed, immutable essence, which are themselves in dynamic and constantly changing relations. Thus, things and events are 'empty' in that they can never possess any immutable essence, intrinsic reality or absolute ‘being’ that affords independence."
He is quite clear as to what he meant in relation to "Emptiness" no intrinsic reality or of absolute 'being', not what you suggest Martin.
You could get away to suggest that conditions of mind are empty because of what you have listed but this is not inclusive of body and speech, the other two 'doorways'.
He primarily spoke of phenomena in all its appearances both physical and mental.
[Edited on 3/8/2008 10:12 PM]
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| Mar 8 @ 10:55 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning |
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Martin666
Posts: 2,142
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At first glance, it may appear that the above list violates the very thing that it is trying to show: that any given instant of consciousness (citta) is “empty.”
After all, aren’t those 70 or so things on the list "things" occurring in an instant of consciousness? How could an instant of consciousness be “empty” if it contains all of those “things”?
One thing to keep in mind is that there is no claim that an instant of consciousness is empty. That doesn’t appear anywhere that I know of. You can see that for yourself just by sitting there and thinking for a minute or feeling different bodily sensations: obviously, consciousness is composed of "things." What HHDL and other abhidhammikas teach is that an instant of consciousness is in fact composed of “events,” but that those “events” themselves have “no fixed, immutable essence.” So the issue isn’t that an instant of consciousness is empty (lacking in “things” or “events”) but rather that those “events” ( which absolutely do exist) have “no fixed, immutable essence.”
An instant of consciousness is teeming with hundreds of “events” and interactions, all of which we can directly perceive. This includes anything that comes through the five sense doors or through the mind door. It also includes “rupa” or physical matter, but that is a separate and somewhat more complicated issue so I’ve left it alone.
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| Mar 9 @ 1:11 AM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning
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ceecee1952
Posts: 126
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I spent some time trying to translate older Chinese character sets.(non phonetic language) Just remember with languages that there are not always translations. A single character can mean an entire concept without the wordsets in the other language to translate it. Not only is it non-phonetic...but many times poetically metaphoric instead of direct.
appreciate peeking in on these blogs to learn from all of you,
cc
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| Mar 9 @ 10:19 AM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning |
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BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
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Today's Glimpse of the Day
March 9
Sometimes we have fleeting glimpses of the nature of mind. These can be inspired by an exalting piece of music, by the serene happiness we sometimes feel in nature, or by the most ordinary everyday situation. They can arise simply while watching snow slowly drifting down, or seeing the sun rising behind a mountain, or watching a shaft of light falling into a room in a mysteriously moving way. Such moments of illumination, peace, and bliss happen to us all and stay strangely with us.
I think we do, sometimes, half understand these glimpses. But then, modern culture gives us no context or framework in which to comprehend them. Worse still, rather than encouraging us to explore them more deeply and discover where they spring from, we are told in both obvious and subtle ways to shut them out. We know that no one will take us seriously if we try to share them. So we ignore what could be really the most revealing experiences of our lives, if only we understood them. This is perhaps the darkest and most disturbing aspect of modern civilization—its ignorance and repression of who we really are .
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| Mar 10 @ 9:28 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning
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BandTMom
Posts: 28,448
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March 10
Know all things to be like this:
A mirage, a cloud castle,
A dream, an apparition,
Without essence, but with qualities that can be seen.
Know all things to be like this:
As the moon in a bright sky
In some clear lake reflected,
Though to that lake the moon has never moved.
Know all things to be like this:
As an echo that derives
From music, sounds, and weeping,
Yet in that echo is no melody.
Know all things to be like this:
As a magician makes illusions
Of horses, oxen, carts and other things,
Nothing is as it appears.
BUDDHA
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| Mar 10 @ 10:16 PM |
Buddhism - A New Beginning |
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12knots
Posts: 6,400
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Marting, with respect I think you are far too much wraped up in Therevadan teachings. It is all well and good knowing all these things but it isnt the purpose.
It should be about not getting caught up with all these illusions of what is and what is not. When meditating one should let go of all, even the practice. All of it, even what you say is empty phenomena.
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