Spirituality, like charity, begins at home!!!
Spirituality is a personal journey of discovery. With most journeys undertaken there is not a correct path but infinite paths, that may have the same destination.
Key dates in the Buddhist evolution
1200 BCE - Vedic Religion
Animal Sacrifice
Reincarnation
Karma
Sanskrit language
At this time there evolved a highly stratified social system, the roots of a much later Hindu caste or class system, Brahmans - The priestly class - These ensured that the Gods were worshipped properly needed to sustain the bounty of the land.
Kshatriyas - The aristocratic warrior class, A person had to be born into it and was assumed to have the same level of innate purity and possess a distinct nature and capacity.
Vaishyas - The mercantile class - Specialists in crafts and agriculture - This class, inferior to the Brahmans performed tasks that members of the higher classes found defiling.
Shudras - Who performed tasks for their superiors - Untouchables - India’s most underprivileged social groupThose born into certain groups could only marry within those groups.Believed in reincarnation and karma and therefore their being born within a certain class became justification of previous good or bad karma.Brahman Priests performed animal sacrifice to appease the gods, also offerings of grain and clarified butter.
Vedic religion was marked by spiritual resonance of the sacred texts
800-300 BCE
Upanishads
600 BCE
Sanskrit grammar systemised
563 BCE
Siddhartha Gautama Born
Theories covered include:
Four Noble Truths
Karma
Reincarnation
Six realms of conditioned existence - Samsara
Nirvana
Eightfold path
Responsible for:
Sangha
Tales of the previous lives of the Buddha - Jataka
400 BCE
Siddhartha Gautama Death
250 BCE
Theravada Buddhism - The widespread use of Theravada Buddhism in India, Theravada is sometimes referred to as the Lesser Vehicle or Individual Vehicle or the Doctrine of the Elders.
274 -263 BCE
Ashoka - Governed India according to the Dharma, he had trees and roads and wells constructed and planted to aid travellers, declared certain days were animal slaughter was prohibited.He went on pilgrimages to visit the places where the Buddha lived.Considered the Dharma to be the key to a just and compassionate society.Built thousands of stupas to enshrine the relics of the Buddha.Built Buddhist shrines and monasteries and spread Buddhism far and wide.Ashoka was India’s last major emperor, his vigorous patronage of Buddhism during his reign (265 -238BC) furthered its expansion. After a bloody conquest of the Kalinga country he adopted a policy of the Dharma (Principles of right life) He both announced orally his teachings and engraved on rocks most famously the Lion, Capital of the pillar found at Sarnath - which is India’s National emblem.After his bloody conquest he renounced armed conquest and practiced:
Honesty
Truthfulness
Compassion
Mercifulness
Benevolence
Non Violence
Non Extravagance
Non Acquisitiveness
Non injury to animals
He adopted a policy of respect to all other religions and urged them to adopt a similar stance.
He went on periodic tours to preach to the rural people. He advised his administrative officers to be impartial in justice and to be aware of the joys and sorrows of the common people. Dharma ministers were designated foster Dharma work and to look at the needs of women and of various religions. He founded hospitals for both man and animals. And was instrumental in the following:
Supplying of medicines/Planting of trees/Digging of wells/Preventing of cruelty to animals/Built a number of Stupas and monasteries
50 CE
Spread of Buddhism to Asia/China
500 CE
Nagarjuna
Theories covered include:
The Two Truths/Wisdom of Emptiness/The path of the Bodhisattvas
Responsible for:
Lotus Sutra/Pure Land Sutras/Garland Sutra
Cosmic Buddhas such as Shakyamuni, Amitabha, Vairochana, ajradhara, Akshobhya etc/Increase of use of symbolism in Buddhism ie Mudras.Nagarjuna postulated the Mahayana tradition through the use of the conventional and ultimate truths, the Mahayana tradition is known as the Greater Vehicle due to its intention of the practitioner to gain liberation for all sentient beings not just for the individual.
710 -720 CE
Appearance of first Japanese Buddhist essays
730 CE
Building of Samye Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet
850 CE
Mandalas - Started off as simple line drawings, sometimes used as architectural drawings, evolved to include the four gates.The word mandala translates as circle or enclosure and is used meditational visualisation process. They are used as maps of the cosmos for the practitioner to follow which visually guide the practitioner to realisation.They generally consist of:Outer edge consists of concentric circles symbolising the succession of oceans and mountains.Inside these circles is a square with gates on each side, these face the four cardinal directions and display a characteristic colour normally white for east - red for the west - green for the north - yellow for the south.Beyond the gates is the sacred precinct often blue in colour.In the centre is a special meditation deity or some form of the Buddha, the central image is set in a lotus, and each petal contains celestial buddhas and bodhisattvas.
1050 CE
Atisha
Responsible for the introduction of:
The cult of Tara
1150 CE
Honen
Foremost practitioner of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism
Honen stated that people should abandon all hope of becoming a Buddha. His Senchakushu doctrine stated that there were no more illusions about personal sainthood in this world. Any who sought enlightenment was lowered to the status of an ordinary person, only by being a devotee of Amida would the person reach the Pure Land and then reach enlightenment from there.
1200 CE
Shinran
Shinran took the teachings a stage further, publicly taking a wife and gave up all hope of attaining the Pure Lands, His ideas advocated other power, which credit.
Buddhism has a number of basic philosophical guidelines:
The Four Noble Truths - Karma -Impermanence - Rebirth
The Four Noble Truths or Facts
Preamble:
'The Four Noble Truths are the four facts for an enlightened or selfless being. As human beings we are not naturally enlightened, so the facts are something we are striving to achieve.
The Four facts are alikened to a medical formula - Symptoms- Diagnosis-Prognosis - Cure of an unenlightened being. As human beings we are naturally unenlightened but are mentally capable of facilitating change. When an illness is experienced, a doctor would identify the diagnosis from signs and symptoms and advise the patient of the prognosis, identify tried and tested methods for 'a full and swift recovery. The Buddha acts as the doctor, human beings as the patients and the eight fold path as the road to recovery
Fact number one - Life means suffering - Symptoms
Buddhism speaks of three types of suffering:The first is called the suffering of suffering, the emotional pain of suffering, To live means to suffer, because the human nature is not perfect and neither is the world we live in. During our lifetime, we inevitably have to endure physical suffering such as pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death; and we have to endure psychological suffering like sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression.
The second type of suffering is called the suffering of change; Although there are different degrees of suffering and there are also positive experiences in life that we perceive as the opposite of suffering, such as ease, comfort and happiness. Unfortunately, because our world is subject to impermanence, these positive feelings also end and we miss them, we crave them and we desire the positive feelings.
The third type of suffering is conditional suffering, which means as human beings we are born into the realm of lust and then are destined to suffer
Fact number two: The origin of suffering is attachment.
The origin of suffering is attachment to transient things.
Transient things do not only include the physical objects that surround us, but also ideas, and -in a greater sense- all objects of our perception. Ignorance is the lack of understanding of how our mind is attached to impermanent things. The reasons for suffering are desire, passion, ardour, pursue of wealth and prestige, striving for fame and popularity, or in short: craving and clinging. Because the objects of our attachment are transient, their loss is inevitable, thus suffering will necessarily follow. Objects of attachment also include the idea of a "self" which is a delusion, because there is no abiding self. What we call "self" is just an imagined entity, and we are merely a part of the ceaseless becoming of the universe.
Fact number three: The cessation of suffering is attainable.
The cessation of suffering can be attained through unmaking of sensual craving and conceptual attachment. The third noble truth expresses the idea that suffering can be ended by attaining dispassion. This means that suffering can be overcome through human activity, simply by removing the cause of suffering. Attaining and perfecting dispassion is a process of many levels that ultimately results in the state of Nirvana. Nirvana means freedom from all worries, troubles, complexes, fabrications and ideas. Nirvana is not comprehensible for those who have not attained it.
Fact number four: The path to the cessation of suffering
There is a path to the end of suffering - a gradual path of self-improvement, which is described more detailed in the Eight fold Path. It is the middle way between the two extremes of excessive self-indulgence (hedonism) and excessive self-mortification (asceticism); and it leads to the end of the cycle of rebirth. The path to the end of suffering can extend over many lifetimes, throughout which every individual rebirth is subject to karmic conditioning. Craving, ignorance, delusions, and its effects will disappear gradually, as progress is made on the eightfold path.
As spoken about in the four noble truths, there is a path that needs to be followed, this path is called the Noble Eight Fold Path
Right View is understanding that this life is impermanent and is drivenby the Law of Cauasality ie cause and effect, realistic view of relity
Right Intention or motivation- a devotion for positive aspects of body, speech and mind
Right Speech is truthfull, meaningfull and peacefull speech
Right Action (Terminal action) action that seeks an end to compulsive action
Right Livelihood is a livelihood or the way we live that reinforces the realistic view of positive actions causes positive effects.
Right Effort is enterprise towards enlightenment
Right Mindfulness is the the power of concentration on positive actions
Right Concentration is to keep the mind focused on the goal of enlightened with tools such as meditation
Right in this sense does not mean right as opposed to wrong rather than realistic to a person on the path to enlightenment. The eight aspects of the path are not to be understood as a sequence of single steps, instead they are highly interdependent principles that have to be seen in relationship with each other.
The Eight in more detail:
Realistic View
Right view is the beginning and the end of the path, it simply means to see and to understand things as they really are and to realise the Four Noble Truths. Right view is the cognitive aspect of wisdom. It means to see things through, to grasp the impermanent and imperfect nature of worldly objects and ideas, and to understand the law of karma and karmic conditioning. It begins with the intuitive insight that all beings are subject to suffering and it ends with complete understanding of the true nature of all things.
Realistic Intention
While right view refers to the cognitive aspect of wisdom, right intention refers to the volitional aspect, i.e. the kind of mental energy that controls our actions. Right intention can be described best as commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement. Buddha distinguishes three types of right intentions: 1. the intention of renunciation, which means resistance to the pull of desire, 2. the intention of good will, meaning resistance to feelings of anger and aversion, and 3. the intention of harmlessness, meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop compassion.
Realistic Speech
Right speech is the first principle of ethical conduct in the eightfold path. Ethical conduct is viewed as a guideline to moral discipline, which supports the other principles of the path. This aspect is not self-sufficient, however, essential, because mental purification can only be achieved through the cultivation of ethical conduct. The importance of speech in the context of Buddhist ethics is obvious: words can break or save lives, make enemies or friends, start war or create peace. Buddha explained right speech as follows: 1. to abstain from false speech, especially not to tell deliberate lies and not to speak deceitfully, 2. to abstain from slanderous speech and not to use words maliciously against others, 3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others, and 4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth. Positively phrased, this means to tell the truth, to speak friendly, warm, and gently and to talk only when necessary.
Realistic Action
The second ethical principle, right action, involves the body as natural means of expression, as it refers to deeds that involve bodily actions. Unwholesome actions lead to unsound states of mind, while wholesome actions lead to sound states of mind. Again, the principle is explained in terms of abstinence: right action means 1. to abstain from harming sentient beings, especially to abstain from taking life (including suicide) and doing harm intentionally or delinquently, 2. to abstain from taking what is not given, which includes stealing, robbery, fraud, deceitfulness, and dishonesty, and 3. to abstain from sexual misconduct. Positively formulated, right action means to act kindly and compassionately, to be honest, to respect the belongings of others, and to keep sexual relationships harmless to others. Further details regarding the concrete meaning of right action can be found in the Precepts.
Realistic Livelihood
Right livelihood means that one should earn one's living in a righteous way and that wealth should be gained legally and peacefully. The Buddha mentions four specific activities that harm other beings and that one should avoid for this reason: 1. dealing in weapons, 2. dealing in living beings (including raising animals for slaughter as well as slave trade and prostitution), 3. working in meat production and butchery, and 4. selling intoxicants and poisons, such as alcohol and drugs. Furthermore any other occupation that would violate the principles of right speech and right action should be avoided.
Realistic Effort
Right effort can be seen as a prerequisite for the other principles of the path. Without effort, which is in itself an act of will, nothing can be achieved, whereas misguided effort distracts the mind from its task, and confusion will be the consequence. Mental energy is the force behind right effort; it can occur in either wholesome or unwholesome states. The same type of energy that fuels desire, envy, aggression, and violence can on the other side fuel self-discipline, honesty, benevolence, and kindness. Right effort is detailed in four types of endeavours that rank in ascending order of perfection: 1. to prevent the arising of unrisen unwholesome states, 2. to abandon unwholesome states that have already arisen, 3. to arouse wholesome states that have not yet arisen, and 4. to maintain and perfect wholesome states already arisen.
Realistic Mindfulness
Right mindfulness is the controlled and perfected faculty of cognition. It is the mental ability to see things as they are, with clear consciousness. Usually, the cognitive process begins with an impression induced by perception, or by a thought, but then it does not stay with the mere impression. Instead, we almost always conceptualise sense impressions and thoughts immediately. We interpret them and set them in relation to other thoughts and experiences, which naturally go beyond the facticity of the original impression. The mind then posits concepts, joins concepts into constructs, and weaves those constructs into complex interpretative schemes. All this happens only half consciously, and as a result we often see things obscured. Right mindfulness is anchored in clear perception and it penetrates impressions without getting carried away. Right mindfulness enables us to be aware of the process of conceptualisation in a way that we actively observe and control the way our thoughts go. Buddha accounted for this as the four foundations of mindfulness: 1. contemplation of the body, 2. contemplation of feeling (repulsive, attractive, or neutral), 3. contemplation of the state of mind, and 4. contemplation of the phenomena.
Realistic Concentration
The eighth principle of the path, right concentration, refers to the development of a mental force that occurs in natural consciousness, although at a relatively low level of intensity, namely concentration. Concentration in this context is described as one-pointedness of mind, meaning a state where all mental faculties are unified and directed onto one particular object. Right concentration for the purpose of the eightfold path means wholesome concentration, i.e. concentration on wholesome thoughts and actions. The Buddhist method of choice to develop right concentration is through the practice of meditation. The meditating mind focuses on a selected object. It first directs itself onto it, then sustains concentration, and finally intensifies concentration step by step. Through this practice it becomes natural to apply elevated levels concentration also in everyday situations.
The Four Seals of Buddhism are:
All compounded things are impermanent.
All stained emotions are painful.
All phenomena are empty.
Nirvana is peace.
All Compounded things are impermanent
Anything that is assembled of other things will come apart, a toaster, a building, a mountain, a person. 10,000 years. But even 10,000 years is not "always." The fact is that the world around us, which seems solid and fixed, is in a state of perpetual flux.
Mindfulness of impermanence leads us to the teaching of interdependent origination. All the compounded things are part of a limitless web of interconnection that is constantly changing. Phenomena become because of conditions created by other phenomena. Elements assemble and dissipate and re-assemble. Nothing is separate from everything else.Finally, being mindful of the impermanence of all compounded things, including ourselves, helps us accept loss, old age and death. This may seem pessimistic, but it is realistic. There will be loss, old age and death whether we accept them or not.
All Stained Emotions Are Painful.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama translated this seal "all contaminated phenomena are of the nature of suffering." The word "stained" or "contaminated" refers to actions, emotions and thoughts conditioned by selfish attachment, or by hate, greed and ignorance.
From the Buddhist point of view, as long as there is a subject and object, as long as there is a separation between subject and object, as long as you divorce them so to speak, as long as you think they are independent and then function as subject and object, that is an emotion, which includes everything, almost every thought that we have."
It is because we see ourselves as separate from other things that we desire them, or are repulsed by them. This is the teaching of the Second Noble Truth, which teaches that the cause of suffering is craving or thirst. Because we divide the world into subject and object, me and everything else, we continually grasp for things we think are separate from ourselves to make us happy. But nothing ever satisfies us for long.
All Phenomena Are Empty.
Another way to say this is that nothing has intrinsic or inherent existence, including ourselves. This relates to the teaching of anatman.
Theravada and Mahayana Buddhists understand anatman somewhat differently.
According to the Buddha's teaching, it is as wrong to hold the opinion 'I have no self' (which is the annihilationist theory) as to hold the opinion 'I have a self' (the eternalist theory), because both are fetters, both arising out of the false idea 'I AM'. The correct position with regard to the question of Anatta is not to take hold of any opinion or views, but to try to see things objectively as they are without mental projections, to see that what we call 'I', or 'being', is only a combination of physical and mental aggregates, which are working together interdependently in a flux of momentary change within the law of cause and effect, and that there is nothing permanent, everlasting, unchanging and eternal in the whole of existence.
Mahayana Buddhism teaches the doctrine of shunyata, or "emptiness." Phenomena have no existence of their own and are empty of a permanent self. In shunyata, there is neither reality not not-reality; only relativity. However, shunyata also is an absolute reality that is all things and beings, unmanifested.
Nirvana Is Peace.
The fourth seal sometimes is worded "Nirvana is beyond extremes." Nirvana is beyond all terms of duality and relativity. It is therefore beyond our conceptions of good and evil, right and wrong, existence and non-existence.
In many philosophies or religions, the final goal is something that you can hold on to and keep. The final goal is the only thing that truly exists. But nirvana is not fabricated, so it is not something to be held on to. It is referred to as 'beyond extremes.'
The Four Seals reveal what is unique about Buddhism among all the world's religions. Whoever holds these four [seals], in their heart, or in their head, and contemplates them, is a Buddhist.
Dependent Origination
In the Buddha’s teachings, the second noble truth is not a theory about what happens to somebody else, but is a process which is going on over and over again in our own lives—through all our days, and countless times every single day. This process in called "dependent origination" or "co-dependent origination" or "causal interdependence."
The process of dependent origination is sometimes said to be the heart or the essence of all Buddhist teaching. What is described in the process is the way in which suffering can arise in our lives, and the way in which it can end.
Dependant Origination is said to be the heart of right view or right understanding. It is an understanding that is also the beginning of the eight-fold path, or an understanding that gives rise to a life of wisdom and freedom. The Buddha went on to say that when a noble disciple fully sees the arising and cessation of the world, he or she is said to be endowed with perfect view, with perfect vision—to have attained the true dharma, to possess the knowledge and skill, to have entered the stream of the dharma, to be a noble disciple replete with purifying understanding—one who is at the very door of the deathless. So, this is a challenge for us.
We are part of this system. We are part of this process of dependent origination—causal relationships effected by everything that happens around us and, in turn, effecting the kind of world that we all live in inwardly and outwardly.
It is also important to understand that freedom is not found separate from this process. It is not a question of transcending this process to find some other dimension; freedom is found in this very process of which we are a part. And part of that process of understanding what it means to be free depends on understanding inter-connectedness, and using this very process, this very grist of our life, for awakening.
Doctrinally, there are two ways in which this process of pañicca-samuppàda is approached. In one view it is held to be something taking place over three lifetimes, and this view goes into the issues of rebirth and karma.
It describes a process that is occurring over and over again very rapidly within our consciousness. By this time in the day, you have probably all gone throughout countless cycles of dependent origination already. Perhaps you had a moment of despair about what you had for breakfast, a mind-storm about something that happened yesterday, some sort of anticipation about what might happen today—countless moments that you have gone through where you have experienced an inner world arising: I like this; I don’t like this; the world is like this; this is how it happened; I feel this; I think that.
The basic principle of dependent origination is simplicity itself.
The Buddha described it by saying:
When there is this, that is.
With the arising of this, that arises.
When this is not, neither is that.
With the cessation of this, that ceases.
When all of these cycles of feeling, thought, bodily sensation, all of these cycles of mind and body, action, and movement, are taking place upon a foundation of ignorance—that’s called samsara. That sense of wandering in confusion or blindly from one state of experience to another, one state of reaction to another, one state of contraction to another, without knowing what’s going on, is called samsara
It’s also helpful, to see that this process of dependent origination happens not only within our individual consciousness, but also on a much bigger scale and on more collective levels—social, political, cultural. Through shared opinions, shared views, shared perceptions or reactions, groups or communities of people can spin the same wheel over extended periods of time. Examples of collective wheel spinning are racism or sexism, or the hierarchy between humans and nature, political systems that conflict, wars—the whole thing where communities or groups of people share in the same delusions. So understanding dependent origination can be transforming not only at an individual level, but it’s an understanding about inter-connectedness that can be truly transforming on a global or universal level. It helps to undo delusion, and it helps to undo the sense of contractedness and the sense of separateness.
In classical presentations, this process of dependent origination is comprised of twelve links. It is important to understand that this is not a linear, progressive, or sequential presentation. It’s a process always in motion and not static at all. It’s also not deterministic. I also don’t think that one link determines the arising of the next link. But rather that the presence of certain factors or certain of these links together provide the conditions in which the other links can manifest, and this is going to become clearer as we use some analogies to describe how this interaction works.
It’s a little bit like a snowstorm—the coming together of a certain temperature, a certain amount of precipitation, a certain amount of wind co-creating a snow storm. Or it’s like the writing of a book: one needs an idea, one needs pen, one needs paper, one needs the ability to write. It’s not necessarily true that first I must have this and then I must have this in a certain sequential order, but rather that the coming together of certain causes and conditions allows this particular phenomena or this particular experience to be born.
It is also helpful to consider some of the effects of understanding pañicca-samuppàda. One of the effects is that it helps us to understand that neither our inner world, nor our outer world is a series of aimless accidents. Things don’t just happen. There is a combination of causes and conditions that is necessary for things to happen. This is really important in terms of our inner experience. It is not unusual to have the experience of ending up somewhere, and not knowing how we got there. And feeling quite powerless because of the confusion present in that situation. Understanding how things come together, how they interact, actually removes that sense of powerlessness or that sense of being a victim of life or helplessness. Because if we understand how things come together, we can also begin to understand the way out, how to find another way of being, and realize that life is not random chaos.
Another effect of understanding causes and conditions means accepting the possibility of change. And with acceptance comes another understanding—that with wisdom, we have the capacity to create beneficial and wholesome conditions for beneficial and wholesome results. And that’s the path—an understanding that we have the capacity to make choices in our lives that lead toward happiness, that lead toward freedom and well being, rather than feeling we’re just pushed by the power of confusion or by the power of our own misunderstanding. This understanding helps to ease a sense of separateness and isolation, and it reduces delusion.
A convenient place to start in order to gain some familiarity with the process of dependent origination is often with the first link of ignorance. This is not necessarily to say that ignorance is the first cause of everything but it’s a convenient starting place:
With ignorance as a causal condition,
There are formations of volitional impulses or form.
With the formations as a causal condition, there is the arising of consciousness.
With consciousness as a condition, there is the arising of body and mind (nàma-rupa).
With body and mind as a condition, there is the arising of the six sense doors. (In Buddhist teaching, the mind is also one of the sense doors as well as seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching.)
With the six sense doors as a condition, there is the arising of contact.
With contact as a condition, there is the arising of feeling.
With feeling as a condition, there is the arising of craving.
With craving as a condition, there’s the arising of clinging.
With clinging as a condition, there’s the arising of becoming
Birth
Aging and Death.
This process, when reversed, is also described as a process of release or freedom. With the abandonment of ignorance, there is the cessation of karmic formations. With the cessation of karmic formations, there is the falling away of consciousness, and so on.
Ignorance
Ignorance is used in Buddhist teachings in a very different way than it is used in our culture. It’s not an insult, or an absence of knowledge—it doesn’t mean we’re dumb. Nonetheless ignorance can be deeply rooted in the consciousness. It may be very invisible to us, and yet it can be exerting its influence in all the ways we think, perceive, and respond. Ignorance is often described as a kind of blindness, of not being conscious in our lives of what is moving us on a moment-to-moment level. Sometimes it is described as perceiving the unsatisfactory to be satisfactory, or as believing the impermanent to be permanent—this is not an unusual experience. Ignorance is sometimes taking that which is not beautiful to be beautiful, as a cause of attachment. Sometimes it is defined as believing in an idea of self to be an enduring and solid entity in our lives when there is no such thing to be found. Or as not seeing things as they actually are, but seeing life, seeing ourselves, seeing other people through a veil of beliefs, opinions, likes, dislikes, projections, clinging, attachments, et cetera, et cetera. Ignorance flavours what kind of speech, thoughts, or actions we actually engage in.
Formations
Ignorance is the causal condition or climate which allows for the arising of certain kinds of sankhàras— volitional impulses or karmic formations. In a general sense we’re all formations; we’re all sankhàras. Everything that is born and created out of conditions is a formation. Dependent origination gets a little more specific: it talks about intentional actions as body formations, intentional speech as both body and mind formations, and thoughts or states of mind as mental formations. As such it is describing the organization or shaping of our thinking process in accordance with accumulated habits, preferences, opinions. Sankhàras lend a certain fuel to the spinning of the wheel. Within a given cycle, they interact and form more and more of themselves. There is also a constant interaction of the inner and outer, through which the whole cycle keeps getting perpetuated. Some of the formations arise spontaneously in the moment, and some are ways of seeing or ways of reacting that have been built up throughout our whole life. Due to their repetitive use, these sankhàras become somewhat locked or invested in our personality structures, and stay close to the surface as more automatic or habitual ways of response. However, it is important to understand that each sankhàra is actually new in every moment. They arise through contact, through certain kinds of stimulation. We tend to think of them as habitual or ever-present because of how we grasp them as something solid. But in our encounter with them in the present moment, they are not presented to us as history or as something that is there forever.
Consciousness
Formations condition the arising of consciousness. Consciousness is used in the sense of the awareness of all the sensations that enter through the sense doors. So there is the consciousness of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking. At any given time, one or the other of these sense door consciousnesses dominates our experience. Consciousness also describes the basic climate of the mind at any particular moment—the way it is actually shaped or flavoured. So any particular moment might be aversive or dull or greedy, for example, though without interest or intention some of these flavourings of consciousness may not be noticed. Consciousness is also interactive: not only is it shaped by formations and by ignorance, it is also shaping everything going on around us—regardless of whether we pay attention to it or not.
Name and Form
Consciousness gives rise to nàma-rupa, which is sometimes translated as mind and body, but that’s a little too simplistic. Rupa, or body, describes not only our own body but all other bodies and all forms of materiality. Nàma, or mind, describes the feelings, the perceptions, the intentions, the contact, and the kind of attention we give to what appears in the field of our awareness. So nàma describes the whole movement of mind in all its components in relationship to materiality. This is how it works: there’s an arising of rupa, and then nàma creates concepts or attitudes about it. The kind of relationship we have with any material form, including our own body, is shaped by what’s going on in the mind, whether we are consciously aware of it or not. So the shape of the mind and our body, this nàma-rupa, is always changing, always moving, never staying the same. Consciousness, body, and mind are always interdependent, with consciousness leading the body and the mind to function in a certain way. If a consciousness has arisen flavoured by anger or by greed, by depression, by anxiety—or whatever—it provides the conditions for the body and mind to organize itself in a particular way.
All of the events that have taken place so far in these links of ignorance, karma formations, consciousness, and mind/body—these are actually the most important steps in the generation of karma. These volitional impulses—what is happening in the body and the mind—are actually the generation of karma.
Six-Senses
We go on from body and mind to the six sense doors or the six sense spheres, for it is the psychophysical organism that provides us the capacity to see, hear, smell, taste touch and think. One of the deeper understandings we can have is to acknowledge that the mind is one of the sense-spheres. The thoughts, images and perceptions that arise and pass away in the mind are not so essentially different from the sounds or bodily sensations that come and go in the realm of the senses. We may sometimes have the impression that mind is constant or always "on duty," but a little bit of a deeper exploration of what happens within the mind actually shatters that perception.
Contact
When the sense doors are functioning, contact arises. Contact is this meeting between the sense door and the sense information—I ring the bell, hearing arises. You smell something cooking in the kitchen, the smell arises through the nose sense door. The arising always involves the coming together of the sense door, the sense object and consciousness—the three elements together constitute contact. The Buddha once said that with contact the world arises, and with the cessation of contact there is the cessation of the world. This statement acknowledges the extent to which we create our world of experience by selectively highlighting the data of the senses. Each moment of contact involves isolating an impression out of the vast stream of impressions that are present for us in every moment as we sit here. Contact is what happens when something jumps out of that background and becomes the foreground. When we are paying attention to it, there’s a meeting of the sense object and consciousness and the sense door. That is contact.
Feeling
Contact is the foundation or the condition for the arising of feeling. In speaking about feeling here we are not speaking about the more complex emotions such as anger or jealousy or fear or anxiety, but the very fundamental level of feeling impact that is the basis not only of all emotions but of all mind states and responses. We are speaking about the pleasant feeling that arises in connection with what is coming through any of the sense doors; or the unpleasant feeling, or those feelings that are neither pleasant nor unpleasant. This doesn’t mean they are "neutral," in the sense of a kind of nothingness. Some feelings are certainly there, but they don’t really make a strong enough impression to evoke a pleasant or painful feeling response in us. Actually the impressions and sensations and experiences that are neither pleasant nor unpleasant are some of the more interesting data received by our system.
It is important to acknowledge that the links of contact, of sense doors and feeling that we have been talking about are neither wholesome nor unwholesome in and of themselves; but they become the catalyst of what happens next. The sense doors, the feelings and the contact are the forerunners of how we actually react or respond and how we begin to weave a personal story out of events or impressions that all of us experience at all times. Therefore contact, feeling and sense doors are pretty important places to pay attention.
Craving
Where does craving come from? From our relationship to feeling; feeling is the condition for craving. This craving is sometimes translated as "unquenchable thirst," or a kind of appetite that can never be satisfied. Craving begins to be that movement of desire to seek out and sustain the pleasurable contacts with sense objects and to avoid the unpleasant or to make them end. It’s the craving of having and getting, the craving to be or to become someone or something, and the craving to get rid of or to make something end.
Pleasant feelings or impressions are hijacked by the underlying tendency for craving; and unpleasant feelings are hijacked by aversion. And when a feeling is felt as neither pleasant nor unpleasant, it is also hijacked, in this case by the deluded tendency to dismiss it from our consciousness and say it doesn’t matter. Our sense of self finds it very hard to have an identity with any impression or sensation which is neither pleasant nor unpleasant.
It is at the point where craving arises in response to pleasant or unpleasant feeling that our responses become very complex, and we run into a world of struggle. When we crave for something, we in a way delegate authority to an object or to an experience or to a person, and at the same time we are depriving ourselves of that authority. As a result, our sense of well being, our sense of contentment or freedom, comes to be dependent upon what we get or don’t get. You all know that kind of restlessness of appetite—there’s never enough; just one more thing is needed; one more experience, one more mind state, one more object, one more emotion, and then I’ll be happy.
What we don’t always see through when we are in the midst of ignorance is that the way such promise is projected, externalised, or objectified, is actually something which always leaves us with a sense of frustration. We are dealing here with a very basic hunger, and we allow our world to be organized according to this hunger by projecting the power to please or threaten onto other things. But the important thing to remember is that craving is also a kind of moment-to-moment experience; it arises and it passes.
Clinging
Craving and clinging (also called grasping), are very close together. Craving has a certain momentum, a certain one-way direction, and when it become intense, it becomes clinging. Now, one way that craving becomes clinging is that very fixed positions are taken; things become good or bad; they become worthy or unworthy; they become valuable or valueless. And the world is organized into friends and enemies, into opponents and allies according to what we are attached to or what we grasp or get hold of. That sense of becoming fixed reinforces and solidifies the values that we project onto experience or objects. But it also reinforces belief systems and opinions, and the faculty of grasping holds on to of images of self. "I am like this." "I need this." "I need to get rid of this," and so on. And, often, many things in this world are evaluated according to their perceived potential to satisfy our desires. What all this does is actually make us very busy. Think about the situations when you really want something, how much activity starts to be generated in terms of thinking and plotting and planning and strategizing: you know, the fastest route to get there from here, the most direct route to make this happen.
Traditionally, clinging is often broken down into four different ways in which we can make ourselves suffer. There is the clinging to sensuality or sense objects. The other side of clinging to sense objects is clinging to views, theories, opinions, beliefs, philosophies—they become part of ourselves. Another form that grasping takes is clinging to certain rules—the belief that if I do this, I get this. Or one says, "this is my path. This is going to take me from here to there." The last of the forms of clinging Buddha talked about was clinging to the notion of "I am"— the craving to be someone, and the craving not to be someone, dependent on clinging to an idea and an ideal of self. This notion of self is perhaps the most delusionary force in our lives.
Becoming
Clinging is followed by becoming or arising—the entire process of fixing or positioning the sense of self in a particular state of experience. Any time we think in self-referential terms, "I am," "I am angry," "I am loving," "I am greedy," " I know," "I’m this kind of person," and so on, an entire complex of behaviour is generated to serve craving and clinging. I see something over there that I’ve projected as "this is going to make me really happy if I get this," and I organize my behaviour, my actions, my attention in order to find union with that. This is the process of becoming—becoming someone or something other than what is.
Birth
Birth, the next link in the chain of dependent origination, is the moment of arrival. We think "I think I got it!" "I found it (the union with this image or role or identity or sensation or object)," "I am now this"—the emergence of an identity, a sense of self that rests upon identifying with a state of experience or mode of conduct, the doer, the thinker, the seer, the knower, the experiencer, the sufferer—this is what birth is. And there is a resulting sense of that birth, of one who enjoys, one who suffers, one who occupies, one who has all the responsibility of that birth.
Aging and Death
Birth is followed by death in which there is the sense of loss, change, the passing away of that state of experience. "I used to be happy;" "I used to be successful;" "I was content in the last moment," and so on. The passing away of that state of experience, the feeling of being deprived or separated from the identity, "I used to be…" is the moment of death. In that moment of death, we sense a loss of good meditation experience, the good emotional experience. We say it’s gone. And associated with that sense is the pain and the grief, the despair of our loss.
These different factors interact to create certain kinds of experiences in our lives. What is important to remember is that none of this is predetermined. Just like the climate for snow, the presence of certain of these links is going to allow other experiences to happen. Not that they must happen, or definitely will happen, but they allow for certain experiences to happen. This may sound like bad news in the beginning, but we get to the good news later.
The second noble truth of dependent origination describes a process that happens every single moment of our lives. But clearly there is a distinction between a process and a path, and it is an absolutely critical distinction. One doesn’t actually want to continue in life just as a spectator, watching the same process happening over and over and over again—a spectator of our own disasters. Awareness is actually something a bit more than simply seeing a process take place. In choosing to be aware, we make a leap which is really about an application of a path in our lives, otherwise mere seeing of the process becomes circular and we continue to circle around. The path is what actually takes us out into a different process.
Now, the third noble truth [the cessation of suffering] is not a value judgment in itself; it is simply a portrayal of the way in which it is possible to step off a sense of being bound to this wheel of samsara or to the links of dependent origination. It is significant to remember that it doesn’t have to be any one link that we step off or that there is only one place where we can get out of this maze. In fact, we can step out of the maze and into something else at any of the links.
The well-known Thai meditation master Buddhadàsa Bhikkhu describes the path out of suffering as "the radiant wheel." It is also called the wheel of understanding or the wheel of awakening, in which the fuel of greed, anger, and delusion which give us the feeling of being bound to the wheel of samsara, is replaced by the fuel of wise reflection, ethics, and faith.
One portrayal of the alternate wheel is that wise reflection, ethics, and faith lead to gladness of heart and mind, the absence of dwelling in contractedness and proliferation. The gladness is in itself a condition for rapture, a falling in love with awareness. The rapture is a condition for calmness and calmness is a condition for happiness. Happiness is a condition for concentration; concentration is a condition for insight; insight is a condition for disenchantment or letting go, and letting go is a condition for equanimity, the capacity to separate the sense of self from states of experience so that an experience can be just an experience rather than be flavored by an "I am"-ness of a self. And equanimity in itself is a condition for liberation and the end of suffering.
Ignorance for human beings is the desire driven evolutionary instinct, the misknowledge or not understanding of the true nature of reality. This misknowledge is the seat of all negative aspects of body speech and mind. This desire driven ignorance has propelled the consciousness to be reborn in the human being realm.
Ignorance is the climate which enables the rising of volitional impulses to form and therefore to create formations, everything born out of conditions is a formation.
Formations react to surrounding conditions to produce consciousness, consciousness is the base for all the senses, it react to and with the senses to create perceptions.
Consciousness reacts with conditions to produce mind and body or name and form, the mind using the five senses produces feelings, perceptions and intentions. Body or name can be anything material. The formations created by the interconnectedness of the five senses, consciousness with ignorance as its instinctual evolutionary drive produces karma.
The six senses which include - seeing, smelling, hearing, touching, taste and mind. We class mind as a sense as thoughts images and perceptions of the mind are similar in process to smell and see to the senses.
Contact is the meeting between the five senses and the sense information produced by the mind with consciousness as its base. With so much sense information the contact is required to isolate specific useful information.
With all this information being gathered and diluted, feeling is the either pleasant , unpleasant or neutral perception attached to the sense object and sense mind.
Once we have sense object and sense information and perceptions added to the base of consciousness driven by our misknowledge of the true nature of reality reacting with surrounding conditions this can produce craving, The craving is the wanting to produce pleasant rather than unpleasant feelings over and over again
When these pleasant feelings do no get produce over and over again then we start to cling to them when they are produce, clinging is therefore intense craving
Becoming is when, through the individual’s habit of clinging, he/she starts to become the clinging, it takes over. The clinging which was once a small and irregular negative action starts to become the normality.
Birth is when the clinging gives rise to the clinging person, I is used more regularly as opposed to we as the initial desire for the pleasant feeling becomes total. The individuals need for personal desire becoming the only desire. Other’s needs become incidental. The “I’ is born.
The feeling of being happy in the moment, happy with the sense of the true nature of reality, happy with other gratifying, happy with love and compassion, joy and equanimity, happy with the sense of dependence and interconnectedness ages and eventually dies.
Reincarnation
One day=One Life
Looking at rebirth or reincarnation as westerners would say, I wanted to link rebirth or evolutionary continuum to the analogy of sleep and the waking. To link the process from Death to Rebirth to the process of awake - sleep to awake.
Through this process I hoped to find links between the law of causality of life to life and the law of causality within a more manageable process ie day to day.
It is important to look at the Law of cause and effect as a starting point and use the twelve links of dependant arising.
Reincarnation can be believed or not, Christians and Catholics would dispute this chain that links 1000’s of lifetimes, they would argue that life, as we know it, ends at death and our soul is deposited in another world, depending on virtue, foe eternity.
Reincarnation however suggests that the mind/consciousness/soul/awareness of an individual is infinite. It changes and reacts to the conditions that it faces and experiences, it moulds itself to surrounding effects and conditions but in its natural states remains free from stain. In its primordial state it is pure light/energy/awareness and neutral.
This reincarnated consciousness is alikened to a rope that has many knots, the knots are the separate lifetimes, the knots react to all that is around the ropes, the conditions ie time in history born, parenting, upbringing, experiences, friends etc. The true self or thread is the rope, changing but only over many thousands of lifetimes.
Reincarnation has its critics but is not illogical, Looking around the planet there is nothing that dies completely, as everything is made up of other things, it never dies in the sense of not existing, it changes its form and await’s the correct conditions and then changes again.
The first point then in the discussion regarding reincarnation is the wisdom of emptiness.
All compounded things do not have an inherent or findable quality or existence.
This has been proved in science as atoms have been stripped and sub atoms identified. A tree as an example can move through many different metamorphosis ie seed, root , stem, flower, tree, broken wood, mulch, soils, seed etc. Only one of the above is the “tree” the others are effects of surrounding conditions, all different stages of the same tree nucleus and life. Once again the life of the tree changes, appears different yet, the tree nucleus is always evident.
So reincarnation of the consciousness is not illogical.
Once this has been established as a sound argument the next step is to look at the following:
All sentient beings have had potentially millions of lives.
If all sentient beings have had millions of lives then we have all lived together millions of times before, as Human Beings have been in the universe for a relatively short time.
It is therefore not preposterous to think that we have all been different types of sentient beings ie Animals/Insects/Fish and even plants and trees. It is not also preposterous to suggest that we have been related too each other before as Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, Brothers and Sons etc. The Buddhist practice of seeing all sentient beings as your mothers stems from this theoretical process.
Having established that reincarnation of the consciousness/mind is logical, it frees ones mind from the restraints of one life syndrome. This is the overwhelming pressure and responsibility a person can feel to achieve “great’ things within a relatively short period of time, 60-80 years.
allows more flexibility and relieves the pressure and intensity, Of course, arma, the law of cause of effect, keeps the individual continual and allows the thread that holds lives together to be consistent.
Karma which means action basically suggests that all actions of body speech and mind leaves an imprint on the consciousness of the individual, the imprint reacts with the individuals self and surrounding conditions and causes an effect. This, of course, is not doom and gloom, the actions of body speech and mind or either positive negative or neutral. The impetus is to act positively to produce positive karma.
If all sentient beings have had millions of lives, then animal/insect lives are a possibility, it could be argued that there are a finite amount of consciousnesses and as the animal world number decrease then the human being numbers increase stabilising at all times the consciousness numbers.
I understand it is difficult to comprehend the theory of reincarnation, even with immense scientific advances, there still seems a question over, ‘where do we come from” with extreme theories such as God created and big bang and evolutionary theories abound. The reincarnation theory does not seem too far fetched when you relate it to the wake-sleep-wake process.When falling asleep, you remember the time you are awake and the next second you are awake again, sleep revitalises the body but the mind, I believe remains in an alert state. Dreams occur through mental images of past events matched with personality traits and instincts. Consciousness again remains the ever present thread reacting to surrounding conditions.
Past lives like dreams are rarely remembered.
Reincarnation or rebirth matched with the notion of the sacredness of human existence propels the individuals to achieve as much as possible within the present with the more long term notion that this life is only a small step with the evolutionary continuum of infinite lives. Achievements within this lifetime become stepping stones for future existence.
If one looks then at the sacredness of human life, it would be close to impossible to not want/desire/require to purposefully utilise every second that you are here. Every second brings a new chance to change, if required or pursue positive greatness. The positive greatness comes from the fact that you will be living with everyone infinitely and therefore why would you not want to treat them well and be treated well infinitely.
Maybe even one life feels like eternity to some!!! Breaking that life down into the smaller steps of decades, years, months, weeks and then days, one can use the analogy of 1 day = 1 life.
There are many similarities between a persons day and a persons life, Your daily activities may relate to your lifetime activities, How much you work as a percentage of the day, how much time spent with your family etc. Also your motivations and desires, your likes and dislikes, your aspirations and intentions that would be the thread of your lifetime activities would be generated on a daily basis.
The thread that is consistent from life to life is more directly apparent on a day to day basis. Each day when you awake, your body and mind are slightly different, older, greyer, more or less tired, bigger and smaller etc. The thread of self remains relatively more constant.
The thrust and motivation each day when you awake should be that this is a brand new day parallel to a brand new life. Of course, as an adult, when you awake each day, you carry through a lifetime of instinct and knowledge to help you through.
Of course you may have physical and mental ailments which slow your progress down. These should be viewed just like a child that is born with physical and mental ailments who knows no other way. He accepts the ailments adjusts and applies gained knowledge and lives to the best of his abilities.
A general problem with people who get old and their body and mind tires is they know’ what it was like before” the 1 day - 1 life theory takes that out of the mental sphere. Combining this with the I day only impetus focuses the person and alleviates laziness.
The SIX Transcendental virtues
Wisdom Mind
Wisdom here is the wisdom of emptiness, the true nature of reality, or the realisation of the true nature of reality. The Four noble truths state that life is suffering to the unenlightened being. The unenlightened are sentient beings who do not understand the concept of voidness. The cessation of suffering is through that realisation and The practical ways of incorporating this theory through the eight fold path. The theory states that all compounded things are void or empty of intrinsic or findable reality. If this is the case then this applies to sentient beings and therefore the grip on the ’I” should relax. The knowledge that the ‘I’ is important but only as important as all the ‘you’ and ‘others’ frees the mind from negative aspects such as anger, hatred and desire through self and other exchange practices. Selfishness becomes altruism and selflessness, egocentric becomes other centric ness. If therefore all compounded things are void of intrinsic reality then Nirvana, impermanence, suffering and even voidness are void of intrinsic reality. It is the realisation of the false nature of the self. All compounded are relational, the theory of the Two Truths posit the ‘I’ as existing only in relation to other things and people, Conventional Reality which suggest interconnectedness and the Ultimate Reality which suggest nothing exists from its own side.The excerpt below highlights a sutra dealing specifically with the dharma, the dharma means literally reality and the intrinsic voidness of reality. Generosity Generosity keeps you open through deed, making you aware of others needs, it seals your insight into selflessness by allowing you to let go of all possessions, including your body, speech and mind, and even your good deeds, in order to find true contentment in helping other beings.Generosity epitomises the move from selfishness to selflessness, the ability to be generous and not regretting, missing or even noticing the thing given. When you give you should not require anything in return but subsequently receive through karmic merit. Giving away personal possessions releases the giving individual from the worry of owning the item. The Indian saying” If you own an elephant, you’re worries are the size of an elephant and if you only own a mouse, you’re worries are only the size of a mouse” highlights the worry, stress and concern attached to personal possessions above the basic needs. There are three main types of generosity :
The generosity of giving material goods
The generosity of giving protection to the defenceless
The generosity of giving the teachings of the Dharma to individual so that they can experience true freedom. All of these should be motivated by love.
Justice
Justice in this sense is the action of an individual following moral and ethical guidelines. The type of action that prevents harm, that does good and accomplishes the aims of the individual and the collective. This justice uses the wisdom of emptiness as its base, Justice means action through negating the ten aspects of body , speech and mind
And replacing them with the following;
Justice living is associated with mindful living, mindfulness or awareness of yourself and your life and your effect that your life has on all the sentient beings that you meet. Mindful of the karma that all your actions of body speech and mind have on your and others future.
Justice allows and encourages you to make your relationships with others as fruitfully harmonious as they can be. Its positive resonance with others reinforces within you a personal ethical system that leads you away from conflict and anxiety and toward peace and happiness.
Patience
Patience is classed as the opposite of anger induced states. Patience and tolerance the antidote to anger, anger can include: hate, fury, wrath, malice, spite, vindictiveness, resentment and revenge. Remember that all actions driven by anger and hatred have negative consequences. Patience literally means to flow with an event that would normally cause anger until peace reigns.
One pointed meditation helps to place a space between the action done to you and the angry reaction that you give out.
The law of karma would suggest that if injustice is done to you it is because you did an injustice previously.
Seeing all people as your previous mother should also help patience and tolerance.
All actions done to you are also conditioned and therefore a product of cause and effect and therefore impermanent.
Love and Compassion towards other sentient beings knowing they are trapped in conditioned existence also should help.
Patience armours you against any negativity that might be caused by others purposefully or inadvertently inflicting injuries upon you, wearing your shield of patience, whatever harm you experience, you will never lose your freedom through explosions of anger.
Creativity
Your Creativity must be used to solve the negative aspects of laziness, addiction, self loathing and despair, of yourself and other sentient beings. These four are connected, if a person self loathes even subliminally this can lead to a masking of feelings through addiction to alcohol, sex, shopping etc. A feeling of despair at the task in hand ie liberation, transcendental thinking and other centric motivation can lead to laziness or at least a feeling of “why should I change, its not too bad” Using creativity though effort, striving, vigour, diligence and energy which leads to joy in doing good, enthusiasm, unshakeable self confidence and positive inspiration, meditating on your own greatness builds up genuine and beneficial self confidence. Balancing self confidence with the feeling of the sacredness of human life with the inevitability of death gives you the impetus and focus to enthuse about this life and be creative to utilise every moment. Personal and universal responsibility are key.
Creativity empowers you with limitless, joyful energy that frees you from the bonds of self loathing and despair, it enables you to progress energetically toward Buddha hood and toward turning this world into a Buddha verse for all beings.
Contemplation
Contemplation provides the central strength that empowers you to achieve a new level of focus and serenity. With it, you gain the full benefit of the wondrous mind, your compassionate spirit, which encodes your subtle most soul, the core nexus of your infinite relationships with all sensitive beings and the creator of your developing Buddha verse.
There is alot of information to take in, si Ive diluted the main topics in
Buddhism by Numbers:
The TWO Truths
Conventional or relational truth
Ultimate truth
The THREE Jewels
Buddha Teacher Doctor
Dharma Teaching Medicine
Sangha Community Nurses/Helpers
The THREE Vajras represent the essence of Body, speech and mind.
Om Represents the Body
Ah Represents the Speech
Hum Represents the Mind
The THREE Educations
Moral
Meditatitional
Intellectual
The THREE sufferings
Suffering of change Happiness that turns into suffering.
Suffering of suffering Ordinary suffering
Suffering of creation Inherent in egocentric existence in any state due to the inevitable dissolution of that state.
The Three Vehicles of Buddhism
Theravada Hinayana Lesser Vehicle
Mahayana Greater Vehicle
Tantrayana Mantrayana Diamond/Esoteric Vehicle
The Three Conditions for something to exist
The object must be well known through conventional perception
It must not be possible for the object to be contradicted by another valid conventional perception
Because a valid conventional understanding cannot refute inherent existence, the object should also not be able to be contradicted by reasoning that analysis ultimate truth
The Three Trainings
Discipline
Concentration
Discrimination
The Three forms of action
Mental
Verbal
Physical
The Three Bodies of a Buddha
Nirmanakaya - Emanation body
Sambhogakaya - Celestial body
Dharmakaya - The unmanifested body
Trikaya - i.e., modes of being) of the Buddha are rooted in Hinayana teachings concerning the physical body, the mental body, and the body of the law. The theory of the three bodies was a subject of major discussion for the Mahayana, becoming part of the salvation process and assuming central significance in doctrine.
Nirmanakaya - The emanation body is the form of the Buddha that appears in the world to teach people the path to liberation.
Sambhogakaya - The enjoyment (or bliss) body is the celestial body of the Buddha to which contemplation can ascend. In the heavenly regions, or Pure Lands, the enjoyment body teaches the bodhisattva doctrines that are unintelligible to those who are unenlightened.
Dharmakaya - The unmanifested body of the law already appears in the Saddharmapundarika, or Lotus Sutra, a transitional text of great importance to Mahayana devotional schools. In many Mahayana texts buddhas are infinite and share an identical nature—the dharma-kaya.
The THREE Ethics
Ethic of self restraint from harmful actions of body, speech and mind
Ethic of positive action to help others
Ethic of accomplishing beings aims by the attainment of perfect Buddhahood
The FOUR Noble Truths
All conditioned existence is suffering
The causes of suffering arise from the afflictive emotions in our minds - attachment, anger, and ignorance
There is a state in which all suffering has ceased
The way to cease all suffering is to follow the Eightfold Path
The FOUR Immeasurable thoughts
Immeasurable equanimity - being free of the bias of liking some and disliking others, so remaining tranquil and unattached
Immeasurable compassion, wishing that all being are freed from suffering
Immeasurable joy in the highest happiness and liberation for all beings
Immeasurable loving kindness - wishing for the happiness of all living beings
The Four Sights of the Buddha
An Old person
A sick person
A dead person
A renunciant
The Four Seals of Buddhism
All composite things are impermanent
The essence of samsaric existence is suffering
All phenomena are empty and nonsubstantial
Nirvana is peace
The Four Reliances
We must not rely on the person of the master, but on what he teaches
Concerning the teachings: We must not rely on the beauty or the sweetness of the words but on their meaning
Regarding the meanings of the teachings: We must not rely on those that must be interpreted. Interpretation is necessary in three cases: to explain an esoteric teaching; to give a teaching in a manner appropriate to the listener; and in the refutation of an exoteric teaching. We must therefore rely on the direct meaning that does not need to be interpreted.
Regarding the definitive meaning: We must not rely on dualistic understanding but on no conceptual wisdom, the realisation of emptiness
The Four Activities
Pacifying
Growing
Magnetizing
Protective
The Four Meditations that lead to the mind of transcendence
Appreciating our human embodiment endowed with liberty and opportunity
Immediacy of Death
Karma - The infinite causality of all things
Inadequacy of all egocentric life states - Samsara
The FIVE Paths of evolution to Buddha hood
Accumulation
Application
Insight
Meditation
Mastery
The Five Precepts
No Killing
No Stealing
No Sexual Misconduct
No Lying
No Intoxicants that cloud the mind
The Five Hindrances
Sensual Desire - Craving for pleasure to the senses
Anger - Feelings of malice directed towards others
Sloth - Half hearted action with little or no concentration
Restlessness and worry - The inability to calm the mind
Doubt
The Five Qualities of Enjoyment
are also used as offerings, as when they come into contact with our senses, they give rise to the negative consequences of attachment and craving:
The Mirror is a symbol for visual form.
The Lute symbolises sound.
The Incense Burner represents smell.
The Fruit refers to for taste.
The Silk relates to touch
The SIX ways to purify negative karma
Reading the Sutra texts - The Diamond Cutter or the Perfection of Wisdom
Meditating on emptiness
Reciting special powerful mantras
Making holy objects, such as miniature Buddha images, stupas or paintings
Making offerings to holy objects
Reciting the names of powerful buddhas
The SIX Realms of Existence
The Hell realm - The realms of greatest suffering
The Hungry Ghost realm - The realm of intense suffering of hunger and thirst
The Animal realm - The realm of extensive suffering of ignorance
The Demi-God realm - The realm of material pleasures
The God realm - The realm of exclusive enjoyment
The Human realm - The realm of most precious rebirth
The SEVEN limbed prayer
Reverently, I prostrate with my body, speech and mind
And present clouds of every type of offering, actual and imagined
I confess all negative actions accumulated during beginning less times
And rejoice in the virtues of all holly and ordinary beings
Please remain until samsara ends
And turn the wheel of Dharma for all sentient beings
I dedicate all the virtues of myself and others to the great enlightenment
The SEVEN point mind reform (some of the points)
Be consistent, carefully mindful and impartial
Use force to abandon addictions and develop virtues
Overcome excuses for self preoccupation
Consciously prepare for difficulties
Don’t rely on extraneous coincidences
Change your attitudes but remain natural in behaviour
Don’t criticise the fault of others
Don’t meddle in other businesses
Don’t expect rewards
Avoid toxic food
Don’t spoil practices with selfish motivations
Be critical of yourself and do not stubbornly hold grudges
Do not tease people maliciously
Do not wait in ambush
Do not go for the jugular
Do not overload or jeopardise others
Do not always try and get ahead
Do not exploit the Dharma teachings
Do not turn God into a demon by being spiritually self preoccupied
Do not seek happiness through others suffering
The SEVEN Treasures of a noble person
Faith
Justice
Learning
Generosity
Conscience
Consideration
Wisdom
The Eight Auspicious Symbols
A Conch Shell
A Lotus
A Wheel
A Parasol
An Endless Knot
A pair of Golden Fishes
A Banner proclaiming Victory
A Treasure Vase
The Eight Worldly Dharmas
Wanting to be praised.
Not wanting to be criticized.
Wanting to gain.
Not wanting to lose.
Wanting to be happy.
Not wanting to be unhappy.
Wanting to be famous
Not wanting to be infamous, or ignored
The EIGHT Fold path
Having the right understanding/View Mind
Having the right aspiration/thought Mind
Having the right speech Speech
Having the right conduct/Action Body
Having the right livelihood Body
Making the right effort Body
Developing mindfulness Mind
Developing concentration Mind
The EIGHT Worldly concerns
Profit
Loss
Fame
Notoriety
Praise
Blame
Pleasure
Discomfort
The Eight Freedoms
Freedom from being born in a hell realm
Freedom from being born as a hungry ghost
Freedom from being born as an animal
Freedom from being born as a life long god
Freedom from being born as a barbarian
Freedom from holding wrong views
Freedom from being born in a dark age where no Buddha has descended
Freedom from being born with defective mental or physical faculties
The NINE stages of Transcendent Meditation
Focus
Compensating focus
Intermittent Focus
Solid Focus
Mindfully disciplined focus
Serene focus
Serenity
One-Pointedness
Stable absorption
The Ten negative aspects of Body Speech and Mind
Minimise physically the taking of life -No Killing Body
The taking of others property No Stealing Body
Harmful sexual conduct No Sexual Misconduct Body
Verbally lying No Lying Speech
Speaking divisively Speech
Speaking harshly Speech
Speaking meaninglessly Speech
Mentally nurturing greed Mind
Harbouring malice Mind
Entertaining unrealistic worldviews Mind
The Ten Perfections
Generosity
Morality
Patience
Vigour
Meditation
Wisdom
Skill in Means
Conviction
Strength
Knowledge
The Ten stages of Attainment
Joy
Purity
Brightness
Radiance
Difficult to conquer
Facing Nirvana
Far going
Immovable
Spiritual intelligence
Dharma cloud
The Eleven Steps to Compassion, Love and Happiness
This compassion which is known as bodhichitta, the spirit of enlightenment.
The following verses reveal the soul of Tibet, it friendliness and charm:
As I think how these sorry beings were all my mothers
How over and over they kindly cared for me,
Bless me to conceive the genuine compassion
That a loving mother feels for her precious babe.
Not accepting even their slightest suffering
Never being satisfied with whatever happiness,
I make no distinction between self and other
Bless me to find joy in others’ happiness.
As I see my chronic disease of cherishing myself
As the cause that brings me unwanted suffering,
I resent it and hold it responsible
Bless me to conquer this great devil of self-addiction
As I see that cherishing my mothers makes the blissful mind
And opens the door for developing infinite abilities,
Though all beings should rise up as bitter enemies
Bless me to hold them dearer than life.
In short, the fool works only in self interest
The Buddha works only to realise other’s aims,
As I keep in mind these costs and benefits
Bless me to equally exchange self and other.
Self cherishing is the door of all frustration
Other cherishing, the ground of all excellence
Bless me to put into essential practice
The yoga of exchange of self and other.
Meditation of Equanimity
Mother recognition
Remember the kindness of your mother
Repayment of kindness - Gratitude
The equal exchange of self and other
Universal Love
Universal Compassion
Think of the disadvantages of self cherishing
Think of the advantages of other cherishing
Messianic resolution
Recognition that it takes a Buddha to help other beings become free and enlightened.
The Thirty Seven parts on The Path of the Bodhisattva
The possession of this human base, this precious vessel so difficult to obtain, in order to liberate others and ourselves from the ocean of samsara, allows us to hear, reflect and meditate day and night without distraction. This is a practice of a bodhisattva.
Toward our friends and those we love run the waters of attachment, towards our enemies burns the fire of aversion; in the obscurity of ignorance, we lose sight of what should be abandoned and what should be practiced. Therefore, renunciation of ones country and home is a practice of the bodhisattva.
When we abandon our harmful surroundings, our illusions diminish, and because we have no distractions our practice of virtue develops spontaneously, leaving us with a clear mind. Our trust in the Dharma grows. To live in solitude is a practice of bodhisattva.
One day old and dear friends will separate, goods and riches obtained by great effort will be left behind. Consciousness a guest of the body, this temporary dwelling, will depart. From this moment on, to renounce all attachment to this life is a practice of the bodhisattva.
If we have harmful companions, the three poisons are increased, our reflection and meditation becomes degraded; love and compassion are destroyed. To abandon dangerous company is a practice of the bodhisattva.
To rely on a spiritual friend who has eliminated all illusions, whose competence in the teachings and practice is complete and whose qualities increase like the crescent moon; to cherish this perfect guru more than one’s own body is a practice of the bodhisattva.
How could the gods of this world possibly liberate us, being themselves tied to the prison of samsara? Instead let us take refuge in that on which we can rely. To take refuge in the Three Jewels is a practice of the bodhisattva.
The Intolerable suffering of the lower realms is said by the Buddha to be the fruit of karma; therefore, to never commit unwise deeds is a practice of the bodhisattva.
The happiness of the three worlds is like the dew on the tip of a blade of grass, disappearing in an instant. To aspire to supreme, immutable liberation is a practice of the bodhisattva.
Since beginning less time, our mothers took care of us with tenderness. What use is their happiness when they still suffer? To generate bodhichitta in order to liberate infinite beings is a practice of the bodhisattva.
All suffering, without exception, comes from the desire for happiness for oneself, while perfect Buddha hood is born from the desire to make others happy. This is why completely exchanging one’s happiness for that of others is a practice of the bodhisattva.
If in the grip of violent desire or cruel necessity, an unfortunate person steals our possessions or incites someone else to steal them, to be full of compassion, to dedicate to this person our body, possessions and past, present and future merit, is a practice of the bodhisattva.
Even if we are beaten or tortured, we must not allow any aversion to arise within us. To have great compassion for those poor beings who out of ignorance mistreat us is a practice of the bodhisattva.
If, without reason, certain people slander us to the point where the entire world is filled with their malicious gossip, to lovingly praise their virtues is a practice of the bodhisattva.
If in the company of several people, one among them reveals a fault that we would have liked hidden, to not become irritated with the one who treats us in this manner but to consider him as a supreme guru is a practice of the bodhisattva.
If someone who we have helped and protected as our own child shows us only ingratitude and dislike in return, to have toward this person the tender pity of a mother has for her sick child is a practice of a bodhisattva.
If someone who is your equal or someone who is obviously your inferior despises you or out of arrogance attempts to debase you, to respect him as your master is a practice of a bodhisattva.
When we are abandoned, overcome with sickness and worry, to not become discouraged but to think of taking on all wrongful actions committed by others and suffering their consequences is a practice of the bodhisattva.
When we enjoy a good reputation and the respect of everyone, the wealth of Vaishravana, to see that the fruits of karma are without substance and to not take pride in this observation is a practice of the bodhisattva.
Unless the aggression of our inner adversaries ceases, the more we fight them the more they multiply. Similarly, until we have mastered our own mind, negative forces will invade us. To discipline the mind through love and compassion is a practice of the bodhisattva.
The nature of sense pleasures is like that of salt water, the more we drink the more our thirst increases. To abandon the objects to which desire arises is a practice of the bodhisattva.
All that appears comes from an illusion of the mind and the mind itself is from beginning less time without inherent existence, free from the two extremes of manifestation( eternalism and nihilsm) and beyond all elaboration. To understand this nature (Tathata) and to not conceive of subjects and objects as really existing is a practice of the bodhisattva.
When we encounter an attractive object or something that pleases our mind, we see it as beautiful and real, but actually it as empty as a summer rainbow. To abandon attachment toward it is a practice of the bodhisattva.
Various sufferings are like that experienced from the death of an only child in a dream. To take as truth that which is only a false appearance is to uselessly exhaust the body and mind. When we meet with unfavourable circumstances, to approach them thinking they are only an illusion is a practice of the bodhisattva.
If he who desires awakening must sacrifice his own body, his precious human life, what need is there to mention external objects to abandon? This is why practicing generosity without hoping for a reward or a karmic fruit is a practice of the bodhisattva.
If, lacking ethical discipline, we cannot realise our own intentions, to want to fulfil the vows of other beings is simply a joke. To keep rules and vows, not for temporal or samsaric goal but in order to help all sentient beings, is a practice of a bodhisattva.
For a Son or Daughter of the Buddha who desires the rewards of virtuous merit, all adverse circumstances are a precious treasure for they require the practice of Kshanti (patience). To be perfectly patient without irritation or resentment toward anyone, is a practice of the bodhisattva.
Even the pratyekabuddhas and the shravakas who are concerned only with their own liberation make great efforts to obtain virya (energy). To perfectly practice energy the source of all qualities for the benefit of all beings, is a practice of the bodhisattva.
In understanding that vipashyana in union with shamatha completely destroys kleshas (desires, obstacles). To meditate on the dhyanas which are beyond the four realms is a practice of the bodhisattva.
Without prajna (wisdom), the five preceding virtues cannot be called paramita (perfections) and are incapable of leading us to Buddha hood. To have the right view which perceives that the one who acts, the act, and the one for whom we act completely lack inherent existence is a practice of the bodhisattva.
To not analyse our actions and feelings allows desire to arise. To examine our errors and faults in order to separate ourselves from them completely is a practice of a bodhisattva.
To never criticise others or speak of the errors that those who are on the path of the Mahayana way may have committed is a practice of the bodhisattva.
In order to receive offerings and be surrounded by respect, we fight among ourselves in a spirit of competition to the detriment of our attention toward study; our meditation slackens. To abandon all attachment to the gifts of those who care for us is a practice of the bodhisattva.
Harsh speech disturbs the mind of others, and our practice feels the effect of this. To abandon all coarse and vulgar language, all harsh speech, and all idle chatter is a practice of the bodhisattva.
As we are accustomed to acting under the rule of our passions, destroying them demands great effort. Mindfulness of these (opposing forces) is the weapon that allows us to repel them immediately. In short: whatever we do, in whatever circumstances or conditions, to be always attentive to the situation that present itself and to the reaction that it awakens in our mind; this, with the motivation of amending our behaviour for the well being of all sentient beings, is a practice of the bodhisattva.
To dedicate the merit that results from our efforts to obtain Buddha hood, toward illumination through the wisdom of the view of emptiness of the three realms of action in order to overcome the sufferings of infinite beings, is a practice of the bodhisattva.
Basing myself in the teachings of the Sutra the Tantra and the Shastra, I have grouped these THIRTY SEVEN practices of the Sons of the Buddha for usage and for the benefit of those who would like to follow the path. Because of my limited understanding and my inadequate knowledge, this composition lacks the poetry and elegance of the language that the scholars revived, but as these teachings depend strictly on the Sutra of the Supreme, I think that they reveal the practices of the bodhisattva free of errors.
However, the immense course of action of the bodhisattvas is difficult for someone of my level of ignorance to understand and realise; I ask also of the Supremes one to practice patience toward me and to pardon my imprecision and whatever contradictions and inconsistencies may have crept into this text.
By the merit I have obtained through this effort, as well as through the power of the two bodhichitta, the relative and the ultimate, may all sentient beings, without remaining within the limits of samsara and nirvana, become Avalokiteshvara.