forummers,pls read all the articles i've posted and give advice
all the readings,paradigms,stages of awakening,.......confusion!
and i dont even wanna do any practice meditation now!!!
do i need a map or not??!!!
ignorance is bliss ........
practice is not unlike building a building
the basic foundation have to be built step by step. meditation becomes the scaffoldings by which we slowly climb to build the building brick by brick.
this confusion can be the best platform for u to work with.
when the content or dualistic tendencies get too overwhelming i usually just ignore everything ( meaning thoughts but life still goes on yeah) and go back to the basic breath meditation whenever time permits.
Hi a seeker,
My sincere advice is that at this moment, it is best to stop practice for a while. Forget about whatever is said and discussed, don't try to understand logically.
Relax and re-visit after a few weeks. It is good to start from awareness of your breathing after you come back.
Originally posted by geis:practice is not unlike building a building
the basic foundation have to be built step by step. meditation becomes the scaffoldings by which we slowly climb to build the building brick by brick.
this confusion can be the best platform for u to work with.
when the content or dualistic tendencies get too overwhelming i usually just ignore everything ( meaning thoughts but life still goes on yeah) and go back to the basic breath meditation whenever time permits.
great advice... same advice too :P
Originally posted by a seeker:forummers,pls read all the articles i've posted and give advice
all the readings,paradigms,stages of awakening,.......confusion!
and i dont even wanna do any practice meditation now!!!
do i need a map or not??!!!
ignorance is bliss ........
I am no expert. I have been reading your postings faithfully and honestly I know you are confused. In fact, Buddhism is not as profound as what you thought. As what Master Chin Kong said, practice honestly without any attachments, not even dharma attachments and that is achievements.
Why not try being like those honest uneducated old Buddhists whom I used to see them in the temples. They practice Buddhism sincerely without asking much about enlightenment. Meditation with dharma attachment (法执）is not encouraged in Buddhism.
Don't think of what you will achieve by meditating， 万法皆空。
Originally posted by a seeker:forummers,pls read all the articles i've posted and give advice
all the readings,paradigms,stages of awakening,.......confusion!
and i dont even wanna do any practice meditation now!!!
do i need a map or not??!!!
ignorance is bliss ........
It's not always a good thing to read too much, especially when it makes you confused instead of making sense to you, and helping you. If something is meant to make sense to you, it'll automatically start a spark in you effortlessly, and the fire will then burn with a life on its own.
Personally, I feel that there must be a meaning and purpose to everything including Life, be it to learn something, help yourself or help others. Walking for the sake of walking, and worse still, walking in circles endlessly without meaning or purpose, because it's said that walking is good for you, is pointless and waste of a lifetime's learning opportunity. That's why people can take hundreds or even thousands of lifetimes to learn just 1 lesson, if they can't see/understand the connections of what they're doing to the lessons they need to learn.
Rainbow Jigsaw of Life
dear seeker,
It's ok, i think it is quite information overload and understandable to be confused. I have been practising a while and i dun bother to or can't understand everything in many of those forums,books or what others say. I mean, do we need to? i think the best is for you to stop trying to figure out the map.
Your mind is very speedy and in a very comparing mood now. You are always trying to find out, 'is this better, or faster, who is right etc." By doing this to the many dharma theories and methods out there, you will find yourself lost easily simply because you are not able to relate to many things that is being said in the dharma teachings to your own experience.
i can only suggest that you start by trying to relate dharma to your own life. How is putting into use any part of dharma helping you in your own life, whether it be meditation or whatever? If any practice or piece of wisdom from the dharma makes you happier, more peaceful, then go on from there. Be satisfied with small results and continue practising. This will build up your faith and diligence and most importantly, it is a self-map, it will point you in the next direction to go quite automatically.
Without relating to dharma, just trying to reach a far-off goal called "enlightenment", "ultimate truth" etc. I think that will make u lose steam very fast. I have seen many people drop out, retreat and go into deviant paths. They were very intense at first. It's better that you go slow but steady. At some point, a teacher will be useful, but at any rate, teachers dun just drop from the sky, so you could just start from where you are, reading but without so much ambition.
Hope my comments help, if they dun, then ignore.
Originally posted by Dawnfirstlight:I am no expert. I have been reading your postings faithfully and honestly I know you are confused. In fact, Buddhism is not as profound as what you thought. As what Master Chin Kong said, practice honestly without any attachments, not even dharma attachments and that is achievements.
Why not try being like those honest uneducated old Buddhists whom I used to see them in the temples. They practice Buddhism sincerely without asking much about enlightenment. Meditation with dharma attachment (法执）is not encouraged in Buddhism.
Don't think of what you will achieve by meditating， 万法皆空。
Hi Dawnfirstlight,
I see it otherwise. Dharma is deep and profound.
Even if we were to search the entire globe, still it is hard to find one that can be completely detached. Try as we may, ‘attachment’ continues to arise. The reason being detachment is not a matter of ‘will’, it is a matter of prajna wisdom and only in Buddhism this is pointed out and for this I am grateful to Buddha.
Although it is not right to spout high views, it is also important not to over simplify matters. In my view, if our mind is filled with ‘dualistic and inherent thoughts’, even with utmost sincerity and honesty in practice, there is still no true ‘detachment’.
To seeker,
As we are so attached to our ‘dualistic and inherent views’, confusions are inevitable and the journey will not be a smooth one. For now, take AEN advice. Be strong! :)
Originally posted by Thusness:Hi Dawnfirstlight,
I see it otherwise. Dharma is deep and profound.
Even if we were to search the entire globe, still it is hard to find one that can be completely detached. Try as we may, ‘attachment’ continues to arise. The reason being detachment is not a matter of ‘will’, it is a matter of prajna wisdom and only in Buddhism this is pointed out and for this I am grateful to Buddha.
Although it is not right to spout high views, it is also important not to over simplify matters. In my view, if our mind is filled with ‘dualistic and inherent thoughts’, even with utmost sincerity and honesty in practice, there is still no true ‘detachment’.
To seeker,
As we are so attached to our ‘dualistic and inherent views’, confusions are inevitable and the journey will not be a smooth one. For now, take AEN advice. Be strong! :)
I have not attended any Dharma lessons as I do not have the time. My understanding of Buddhism is mainly by reading Buddhist books and listening to Dharma talks by monks either in the temple or via VCD/DVD.
My realisation is all Dharma is talking about emptiness. I have friends who are beginners told me the more they listen or read about Buddhism, the more they found Buddhism is profound and hard to understand.
I always told them in fact it is nothing profound, the bottom line of Buddhism in emptiness. This is my own relisation. In fact, I have heard many Buddhists saying the same thing.
I would like to know whether am I saying it correctly? If not, next time when someone told me Buddhism is profound and hard to understand, how should I reply ?
Totality is the foundation of being free - be total - eg, if are confused allow it and it is evaporate in no time, the same goes for the seeking/searching. The seeking/searching has to be ''temporary'' or dropped along the way otherwsie it is merely one's mind playing games.
dear dawnfirstlight,
Buddhism is about the 4 seals of dharma, please read more by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche here
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1814
He has a book "What makes you NOT a Buddhist" which is a longer and more indepth explanation of this.
The 4 seals are:
All compounded things are impermanent.
All emotions are painful.
All phenomena are empty
Nirvana is beyond extremes
A second way of explaining Buddhism is by talking about the 2 truths. First, relative truth: topics like karma, impermanence, compassion and then about absolute truth like emptiness.
There are many ways to explain to people, i think it is good if we learnt a bit on how to present dharma to the new-comers. This is a very important part of practising the giving of dharma and carrying out Bodhisattva activity. Total blank newcomers are easiest, those with other religious backgrounds or preconceptions are the hardest to explain cos u need a good understanding of Buddhism and even of their religion to do that.
Important is that the presentation should be clear and relevant to their own life. We can explain emptiness in a simple way, like things are not what they seem or as an expansion of the idea of impermanence. But to go in depth, it is said that one should not teach the profound teachings to those who are not-ready as it may lead to wrong understanding.
Explaining the dharma carries a big responsibility. There is equally heavy karma or merit to doing it wrong or right. So one should try one's best. Don't feel intimidated by the possibility of being wrong as long you explain within your limits and understanding. Just be careful and accurate as possible.
Originally posted by Dawnfirstlight:I have not attended any Dharma lessons as I do not have the time. My understanding of Buddhism is mainly by reading Buddhist books and listening to Dharma talks by monks either in the temple or via VCD/DVD.
My realisation is all Dharma is talking about emptiness. I have friends who are beginners told me the more they listen or read about Buddhism, the more they found Buddhism is profound and hard to understand.
I always told them in fact it is nothing profound, the bottom line of Buddhism in emptiness. This is my own relisation. In fact, I have heard many Buddhists saying the same thing.
I would like to know whether am I saying it correctly? If not, next time when someone told me Buddhism is profound and hard to understand, how should I reply ?
Although many people try to make Buddhism accessible for others by claiming it is easy: I will just tell the straight truth, Buddhism is indeed deep and profound and not understandable by beginners. Not understandable even by me since I am not yet enlightened. Only enlightened persons can understand the Dharma. It is not accessible by intellect and logic. In fact the most basic truths about Anatta and Emptiness in Buddhism alone will take decades to fully realise and penetrate the truth. It is not easy as it might sound.
As Thusness said to me recently, "when we say 'seeing' the non-dual luminosity and empty nature, it is true seeing, like the experience and realization of "I AMness", that unshakable confidence, that vivid clarity. It is not a form of knowledge."
So far I do not experience such certainty about Emptiness even though I may be able to intellectually understand it somewhat. Yet to understand it by intellect and logic is a completely different thing from having a pure conviction and certainty arising out of seeing/insight. The certainty like what I wrote in Certainty of Being concerning the 'I AMness'. If you become an intellectual scholar on Madhyamika and is able to explain emptiness in all kinds of ways, I would not say you have necessarily known emptiness.
In fact the Buddha plainly stated: "This dhamma which I know is very profound. It is hard to understand; it is so sublime and so conducive to inner peace. It is not accessible to intellect and logic (atakkavacaro). It is subtle and it is to be realized only by the wise."
That doesn't mean we can do nothing to approach or understand it. Start as a beginner, learn the basics, practice hard and one day we too will 'realize the profound'.
They will need to have a good teacher who can guide them step by step.
The more you grasp, the more perception of reality slips away from! Ground yourself in stillness of sitting practice again, start from square one once more again. Allow the the cloudiness of your thoughts, emotion and conceptual thoughts to precipitate into different sedimentational layers. Allow clarity of mind to emerge first. Everything is lumped together so is hard to tell where and how to start!
Start with non conceptional practice and start with the "awareness of" to ground yourself as a reference point.
When you read of experiences, you won't be able relate if you have never fully experienced. Experiences that are related from different points of perception.They are not from same person, same experience path.
How do you relate an experience to one who have never experienced the same experience? Take something as ordinary as milk. Can you describe how taste of milk is to one who have never drunk milk before. Those who have drunk milk and know what milk is upon hearing "milk" will know what milk is without any verbalising whatsoever.
Is seeing the same as seen? Hearing the same as heard? Sensing same as felt? What is their relationship and why are they different? What is "I"?
Dear Seeker,
Don't think too much. Buddhism is about breaking down of concept and barriers.