Awakening The Buddha Within - Lama Surya Das
-
i go for refuge in the Sangha
taking refuge in the Sangha represents our commitment to living harmoniously with others and working to bring all sentient beings further along on the path to enlightenment.
it is positive energy and support we need.
Sangha is translated as "virtuous community" representing the spiritual community, our fellow seekers, kindred spirits, soulful friends we rely on and trust. historically, it is referred to the ordained, monastic community of monks and nuns.
in an immediate sense, the Sangha also represents the people to whom you are close or intimately connected - the people you live and hang out with. these friends, colleagues, partners, relatives often help create the situations that make up your path. Buddhists recognises that the quality of spiritual practice is greatly influenced by one's associates. monks and nuns separate themselves from the world is to avoid worldly people and distracting influences.
spiritual energy is healing energy; when any group gathers with a dedication to something greater than one's finite, individual self, the accumulated energy is almost palpable.
in larger sense, Sangha refers to a great deal more than a particular group of people who wear yellow orange or red robes. the Sangha signifies cooperation, collaboration, inclusiveness and interbeing - being connected with others.
this includes the entire community of all beings, seen and unseen, human and otherwise - the entire boundless circle.
internal Sangha is your own personal practice and the internal energies and experience practice evokes that of receiving positive energy from spiritual experiences in an esoteric way with personified energies that are archtypical representations of Dharma Protectors. -
knowing truth is Buddha
expressing truth is Dharma
embodying truth and living truly is Sangha
leave everything as it is in fundamental simplicity,
and clarity will arise by itself.
only by doing nothing will you do all there is to be done....... -
walking the eight-fold path to enlightenment - The Heroic Journey
how joyful to look upon the Awakened
and to keep company with the wise.
follow then the shining ones,
the wise, the awakened, the loving,
for they know how to work and forbear.
but if you cannot find
friend or master to go with you,
travel on alone -
like a king who has given away his kingdom,
like an elephant in the forest.
- From The Dhammapada (Sayings Of The Buddha)
the Eight-Fold Path is also known as the Middle Path or Middle Way. -
(personally i also agree with what Buddha taught as shown in the next paragraphs conveyed by Lama Surya Das)
the Buddha taught that the spiritual seeker could expect to be confronted with some classic hindrances on his way. as you walk the inner path of awakening, recognise that it is most definitely a heroic and mythic journey. like all heroic journeys, yours will be filled with awe-inspiring mysteries, fearful difficulties, outstanding adventures.
but you must be prepared to meet and overcome obstacles; you must be prepared for roadblocks; you must be prepared to go places at first seem frightening and incomprehensible. you must be prepared to make sacrifices and be prepared to change.....
just as the caterpillar must shed its familiar cocoon in order to become a butterfly and fly, we must be willing to change and shed the cocoon or hard armor of self-centered egotism.
as compelling as the inner journey is, it can be difficult because it brings you face to face with reality; it brings you face to face with who and what you really are. trying to embody the Dharma and live truly must have its perilous moments because there will always be challenges to meet, leaps and stretches to be made and obstacles to overcome.
a spiritual journey inevitably includes low valleys as well as high mountains, dense forests as well as seemingly barren deserts, plateaus and plains. this is the landscape and territory of your own being. it is all-revealing and it all needs exploration.
everything you experience along the way can be a way of helping you awaken the Buddha within. -
how do you know that you are confronting a classic hindrance on your spiritual path? just ask yourself: am i losing my sense of balance, my sense of priorities, my sense of what's really important?
am i being carried away by temporary reactions, by destructive emotions? that's what challenges do: they obstruct your insight and prevent you from seeing things as they really are. they stand between you and the calm clear awareness of the enlightened mind.
the Buddha listed 5 primary hindrances or challenges:
craving
ill will
sloth and torpor (spiritual laziness)
restlessness
doubt
the Buddha personally confronted each of these challenges: he had firsthand experience of how these challenges confuse the spiritual seeker. at one time or another, you can expect to confront all of these on the spiritual path. each of us will be facing different situations: we each have our own karma to work with.
the Buddha said, "each one has to practice and strive for himself, the Perfect Ones have only pointed the way." -
the Eight-Fold Path - the Middle Way is the way of balance, sanity, inner strength, purity and restraint, steadfastness and moderation. the Middle Way points the seeker in the direction of an impeccable and integrated life.
to remain whole as well as to become whole, requires a complete inward arc or full circle, rather than just a linear achievement-oriented race to grace.
in life, each of us is capable of developing qualities of the heart in equal measure with the qualities of the head: compassion with wisdom; love with truth. we need to awaken the mind as well as open the heart to let reality in, to let others in, to realise for ourselves the natural great perfection that is our birthright - the Buddha's legacy for us today.
3 essential values of Buddhism as symbolised by 8-spoked wheel with interconnected links: wisdom, ethics, meditative awareness
wisdom training:
1) right view
2) right intentions
ethics training:
3) right speech
4) right action
5) right livelihood
meditation training:
6) right effort
7) right mindfulness
8 ) right concentration
wisdom, ethics and meditative awareness are known as the Three Higher or Enlightenment Trainings. they support each other inseparably, like a three facets of a single luminous jewel. -
seeing things as they are - The Wisdom of Clear Vision
the Radiant Buddha said:
regard this fleeting world like this:
like stars fading and vanishing at dawn,
like bubbles on a fast moving stream,
like morning dewdrops evaporating on blades of grass,
like a candle flickering in a strong wind,
echos, mirages, and phantoms, hallucinations,
and like a dream.
- The Eight Similes of Illusion, From The Prajna Paramita Sutras
Plumping Your Wise Buddha-Nature.......
the thought manifests as the word;
the word manifests as the deed;
the deed develops into habits;
and habit hardens into character;
so watch the thought and its way with care,
and let it spring from love
born out of concern for all beings......
as the shadow follows the body,
as we think, so we become.
- From The Dhammapada (Sayings Of The Buddha) -
outwardly, we find wisdom functioning in life very practically as sagacity and even as uncommon common sense. wise people are usually discerning about many things not just about one narrow specialised field. people who are wise seem to be able to deal with life, and the reality of death.
inwardly, wisdom shows up as sanity and equanimity. people who are wise seem fulfilled and radiate a sense of inner peace - at home with self and others.
with wisdom, comes joy, warmth, kindness, compassion, connectedness, integrity and love.
innately, another form of wisdom - gnosis, transcendence and wise unselfishness is within us all. the ultimate form of wisdom is not something we do; it is our true nature and being. it is luminous pure authentic inner being.
the awareness is transcendental wisdom.
in Dzogchen tradition, it is called Primordial being. authentic Primordial being is Pure Presence or Rigpa. Buddha-mind. Dharmakaya, the invisible body of truth. this is true wisdom.
Right View or Authentic Vision comes 1st on the Dharma path of wisdom and enlightenment, because your worldview determines the direction your life will take. Right Intentions, the 2nd step that helps us direct our sights to that goal. -
can you see the world as it really is?
are you ready to see yourself as you really are?
"clueless" is a workable colorful word that on some level can be applied to most of us, at least for some parts of our lives.
"without a clue", "out of it", "not in touch with the real world", "controlled by fantasies", "spaced out" - all these words and terms reach the same conclusions.
aren't we all somewhat unrealistic and even fantasy driven? don't we all spend too much time in foggy mental states? don't we mess up our lives because we don't process reality as it is objectively taking place? we tell ourselves stories about our lives; we tell ourselves what we want to hear and in doing so, we create and perpetuate fantasies.
the 1st step on the Noble Eight-Fold Path tells us to wipe the dust off your eyes, open them inner wisdom eyes and discover clear vision. it tells us that the time has come to "get real". or at least as real as we get in this saha world. -
samsara: the cycle of conditioned existence
conditioned existence is a technical way of describing this flawed world.
'
the Buddha gave conditioned existence a name: Samsara.
samsara is the Sanskrit word that describes the wheel of suffering that we perpetuate by doing the same thing time and time again. the literal definition of samsara is "perpetual wandering".
samsara describes deeply entrenched conditioning and beings who are looking for fulfillment and satisfaction in all the wrong places. more often than not, even though they are avidly seeking happiness, they are creating a certain amount of miseries in the process.
just take a look at others around you........ including yourself. -
(edited, back to topic)
-
phsychology and Buddhism are two different traditions with a shared truth: as long as you stay unconscious, asleep at the switch of your own life, true happiness will prove elusive.
-
becoming enlightened means an end to samsara. it means spiritual renewal to our own original, naturally clear and whole minds and hearts. we travel the spiritual path in order to gain freedom from compulsion, from unfulfilling frozen patterns of behavior and to rediscover our authentic lives.
-
"develop a mind that clings to nothing" is a meditative maxim that comes from the Diamond Sutra, one of the wisdom scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism.
the original Sanskrit name for this sutra refers to the diamond that can cut anything but cannot itself be cut. the word "diamond" refers to the keen discriminating edge of penetrating wisdom.
a large part of clear vision and diamond-like wisdom is seeing everything exactly as it is. the wise mind understands the limits in hanging on to that which is transient and dreamlike. the awakened mind is free flowing, natural and well rounded. it is like Teflon, nothing sticks.
the unawakened mind, ordinary mind is rigid, limited and sticky like flypaper. the ordinary mind has corners and sharp jagged edges on which ideas get caught, hanging us up. dualistic thinking is like Velcro, it takes two to tangle.
unitary vision is more like crystal through which all forms of light can pass unimpeded. -
if you cling to nothing, you can handle anything. this is wisdom.
let your mind flow, free from attachment to your belongings, ideas, agendas, schedule, passions, your very self identity - and develop the wisdom, self-detachment and equanimity that realises that all things are essentially equal.
each of us is equal but we are not especially special; we are all interconnected notes in the same cosmic symphony. we may be differently shaped clay pots but we are all made from the same mortal clay. develop a clear diamond's eye view and appreciate the wisdom of clear vision. -
if i had my life over again i should form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of death. i would practice, as it were, the remembrance of death. there is no other practice which so intensifies life. death, when it approaches, ought not to take one by surprise. it should be part of the full expectancy of life. without an ever-present sense of death life is insipid. you might as well live on the whites of eggs.
- Muriel Spark -
Enlightenment is the Goal;
Meditation is the Way.
you are the Buddha. you are the truth. then why do you not feel it? why don't you know it through and through? because there is a veil in the way, which is attachment to appearances, such as the belief that you are not Buddha, that you are a separate individual, an ego. if you cannot remove this veil all at once, then it must be dissolved gradually.
if you have seen through it totally, even one glimpse, then you can see through it at any time. wherever you are, whatever presents itself, however things seem to be; simply refer to that ever-present, spacious openness and clarity.
- Kalu Rinpoche -
Hi Paperflower, thanks for sharing with us much valuable and wonderful teachings
-
Padmasambhava is 8th century, not 18th..Originally posted by paperflower:"when the iron bird flies, and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the World, and the Dharma will come to the land of red-faced people. - Padma Sambhava, 18th Century Indian Guru and Founder of the first Tibetan Monastery" -
oops sorry.....Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Padmasambhava is 8th century, not 18th..
ok i'll amend it. -
Thanks. Enlightening and great effort.
-
Profund it is
-
as long as the teachings from any good masters can be reached out to anyone willing to hear and receive, i'd be most delighted glad to share.
-
using a mantra to find your own voice
mantras are sacred words of great power and blessings. the word "mantra" is literally translated as "something to lean the mind (manas) upon". and that's what a mantra can do.
mantra practice can be relied upon as a quick, effective, powerful way of focussing, stabilising and freeing the mind. mantra practice can help inculcate constructive states of mind; reinforce mind-training. it enhances our basic intelligence, wakefulness, concentration and present awareness. -
there are different kinds of mantras: healing, wisdom, compassion, awareness, purification, wrathful (used to dispel obstacles).
we sometimes hear short one-syllable mantras such as "Om" or "Ah". these are known as seed syllable mantras. like the seed of a beautiful plant, the single syllable carries within it all the teachings, mysteries, wisdom and realisations of the final fruit or flower of awakened enlightenment.