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To awaken one must only pay attention
to daily life,
the middle way.
Continually feeling gratitude and
awe
in one's present existence brings
enlightenment.
Now at that time
a certain priest had been killed by the bite of
a snake, and when they announced the matter to
The Blessed One, he
said:
"Surely now, 0 priests, that
priest never suffused the four royal families of the snakes with his
friendliness. For if, 0 priests, that priest had suffused the
four royal families of the snakes
with his friendliness, that priest, 0 priests, would not have been
killed by the bite of a
snake. And what are the four royal families of the
snakes?
The Virilpakkhas are a royal
family of snakes;
the Erapathas are a royal family of snakes;
the
Chabyaputtas are a royal family of snakes;
the Kanhagotamakas are a royal
family of snakes.
Surely,
now, 0 priests, that priest did not suffuse the four royal families of the
snakes with his friendliness. For surely, 0 priests, if that priest had
suffused the four royal families of
the snakes with his friendliness, that priest, 0 priests, would not have been
killed by the bite of a
snake. I enjoin, 0 priests, that ye suffuse these four royal families of
the snakes with your friendliness; and that ye
sing a song of defense for your
protection and safeguard. After this manner, 0 priests, shall ye
sing:"
'Creatures without feet have
my compassion,
And likewise those that have two feet,
And those that
have four feet I care about,
And those, too, that have many feet.
'May those without feet harm me
not,
And those with two feet cause no hurt;
May those with four
feet harm me not,
Nor those who
possess many feet.
'Let creatures all, all things that live,
All
beings of whatever category,
See nothing that will bode them ill!
May
naught of evil come to them!"
"Give ear, 0 priests ! The Eternal
Life has been gained !"
"I will
instruct you, and teach you the
Doctrine. If you will live according to my instructions, in no long time,
and in this present life, you shall learn to live for yourselves, and shall
realize and live in the possession of that highest bliss to which the holy life
conducts."
"Let
The Blessed One teach
the Doctrine.
There are some
human beings having but little moral
defilement, and through not hearing the Doctrine they perish.
Some will be found to understand the Doctrine and
they will not perish."
-from the CullaVagga, Buddhist sacred
text
Three Marks of
Existence
(three basic truths about the condition of
life)
Anicca (Sanskrit anitya) defined as "impermanence".
Dukkha (Sanskrit duhkha) defined as "suffering".
Anatta (Sanskrit anatman) defined as "egolessness".
"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but
it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Imagination grows by
exercise and contrary to common belief is more powerful in the mature than in
the young.
The only thing that makes life possible is
permanent, intolerable
uncertainty; not knowing what comes next." - Ursula K. LeGuin
The first mark of existence, impermanence, points to the
fact that everything, every thought, emotion, relationship, or situation,
everything that has a beginning, also has an ending.
Typically, in our search for happiness we
do not live as if impermanence were true.
"When we attracted to
something we tend to exaggerate qualities." - Dalai Lama
If we examine our motivation we find that we are always
attempting to hold onto what we adore
and get rid of what we abhor.
If our situation is
basically acceptable to us we feel secure and good.
We feel betrayed by
our relationships or life itself when our situation changes in a way we didn't
want or expect it to.
We feel circumstances
are preventing us from being happy.
Every moment brings arising
thoughts and feelings and then they fall away.
The simple truth is
that the only certainty following gain is eventual loss.
The happiness or joy we expect
to experience in life cannot depend on holding onto gain if it is to be a
true sustainable
gain.
True sustainable
gain we need to find within.
We age, we become sick, we die. Pain is
unavoidable.
When we refuse to
embrace emotional pain, we unwittingly screen out a large portion of the range
of emotional experiences that occur in the process of living.
A
person who is alive and sensitive
will feel sorrow.
This is so, not only because of
the amount of unnecessary
suffering produced by the imperfection
of our social arrangements but because of the reality of human existence.
As
living sentient beings we are aware of the gap between our
aspirations and what can be achieved.
In this light we understand
that emotional pain is inevitable.
We tend to believe
that the opposite of feeling good is not feeling bad.
To keep ourselves from not feeling bad we
condition ourselves to not feel.
The emotional pain we experience in
everyday life, the open
wound in our hearts, is where compassion
is born.
When
compassion awakens in Sanskrit it is called Boddhicitta or Awakened
Heart.
The greatest
miracle that can ever occur is to have your heart inflamed with compassion
melting away the ice of cold hard hearts.
"When we take a step on the green earth,
we
are aware that we are made of air,
sunshine,
minerals, and
water, that we are
a child of earth and sky,
linked to all other beings." - Thich Nhat Hanh
You have endured many terrible griefs
but you're
still under a veil -
because dying to
yourself
is the fundamental principle
and you haven't
adhered to it.
Your
suffering cannot end
before this death is complete:
You
cannot reach the roof
before climbing up the whole
ladder.
How could you ever experience
your boat's total
shipwreck
before you've loaded it
with the final
weight?
This final weight's essential;
it's a star that summons
night
and it shipwrecks the
boat of error.
When your boat of self-centeredness
is finally
broken and sunk,
reality
becomes like a sun
flooding a cloudless sky with light.
-
Rumi
There is a moment to
moment recognition of ego caused by the struggle to stay happy by holding onto
what we adore and attempting to
prevent what we abhor.
We perpetuate our emotional suffering by
believing that we are a fixed entity who needs to be saved, protected, and
freed from emotional suffering.
Emotional suffering will persist as long as we
avoid at all costs the fear that is the heart of it -
that we may not be saved or protected and may
suffer emotionally.
Rather than experience the fear directly,
we attempt to dismantle the fear by
con-vincing ourselves that the fear is unjustified -
that we will be saved,
protected, and freed from emotional suffering.
People are terrified that
they may be unable to tolerate a reality
that they have so very little control over
- the culture, nature and the course of events.
"No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of
true understanding except he be detached from all that is in heaven and on
earth. The flame of utter
detachment consumest veils of idle learning, that
are current amongst men, canst thou behold the resplendent sunrise of
true knowledge." -
Bahá'u'lláh
The first stage of
egolessness is
characterized by the recognition of "the Observer" signified by
a sense of emotional detachment
from passing thoughts and feelings.
In the second stage of
egolessness the notion
of "the Observer" is dropped and there
is no longer any effort to detach from
our impotence in the face of
the awesome power of what is.
We experience life "vividly" by
direct immersion in the process of living.
We cultivate
a practice of living based on direct and
immediate feeling.
We can tolerate a tremendous range
of emotion, and ultimately we must.
This understanding marks
the transition from using
spiritual
knowledge as
a remedy or cure
for emotional suffering to developing
the courage to experience life as
it is.
"The experience of
psychospiritual
death and rebirth reallows the conscious connection with positive memories
of living life which reduces irrational drives and ambitions.
Psychospiritual
death and rebirth causes a shift of focus from the past and future to the
present moment thus enhancing élan vital and joi de vivre – the
ability to enjoy and draw satisfaction from simple circumstances of life,
such as everyday activities,
food, love-making, nature, music while supporting the emergence of authentic
spirituality of a universal and mystical nature based on the deeply personal
experience of living life fully in the present." - adapted from Stanislav
Grof
"The way the
Eternal Soul goes forth from
itself is comparable to what happens when a fire is burning and flaming as it
becomes a forceful blaze. The flame shoots very high in this
divine union." -
Teresa Sanchez de Cepeda y
Ahumada
"When we think about what real silence is, we have
to look at it from two angles; the first is to
see silence through human eyes and
the second is to see silence through Buddha's eyes or the universal eye. The
opportunity to experience real silence occurs when we have been driven into a
corner and simply cannot move an inch. This seems like a situation of complete
despair, but this silence is quite different from despair, because in the area
of despair, the conscious flame of human
desire is still burning. But real silence is the state of human existence
that passes through this despair. How can we experience this silence?
Without everyday life it is
impossible to experience this silence." - Katagiri Roshi
When we
imagine what spiritual awakening must be like we tend to imagine a dramatically
relieving experience.
Sometimes
this occurs but more often what usually occurs is a humbling, a wearing down of
the ego.
When we acknowledge that we are in
emotional pain and
simultaneously acknowledge that we are whole, we become available to others and
are able to meet them
compassionately.
Great emotional pain creates great
tenderness that leaves our ego peeled raw and reminds us to let go of an
attempt to control things which are beyond our control.
Great emotional pain is not
punishment for being bad.
It is an extremely potent opportunity to have our
hearts
break open and burn with fire.
Finding that we can tolerate more
emotional pain than we
imagined possible we find a
previously unrealized depth and breadth of being.
"When compassion beckons to you follow him,
Though his ways
are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And
when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your
dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as compassion
crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is
he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses
your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to
your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of millet he gathers you unto
himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to
free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads
you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his Sacred Fire,
that you may become sacred bread
for the Creator and Sustainer's sacred feast.
All these things
shall compassion do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's Heart." - Khalil
Gibran
four noble truths of
suffering
1
Birth is suffering;
illness is suffering;
aging is suffering;
death is suffering;
desire thwarted is suffering;
union with what is displeasing is suffering;
in brief, these are seven amalgamates of
tenacious suffering.
2
the origin of suffering
desiring renewed existence
seeking delight in sensual pleasure
3
the cessation of suffering
relinquish desire
cessation of desire
freedom from desire
nonreliance on desire
4
moral action
altruistic intention
respectful speech
conscientious opinion
virtuous effort
laudable mindfulness
meritorious concentration
Right understanding: Understanding that the Four Noble
Truths are noble and true.
Right thought: Determining and resolving to
practice Buddhist faith.
Right speech: Avoiding slander, gossip, lying,
and all forms of untrue and abusive speech.
Right conduct: Adherence to
nonviolence (ahimsa), refraining from any form of theft or sexual impropriety.
Right livelihood: Not engaging in sustenance activity that forces you
to violate life.
Right mental attitude: Avoiding negative thoughts and
emotions, such as anger and jealousy.
Right mindfulness: Having a clear
sense of one's mental state and bodily health and feelings.
Right
concentration: Using meditation to reach the highest level of
enlightenment. |
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