buddhistgroup

All that Buddha taught comes down to one single thing: Mind.



Nature of the Mind is simple, it is here and now, it is already with us...

What is Samsara?
It is a complex system which is in a state of a dynamic non-linear flux of matter, energy and information.
Matter, energy and information are but human concepts used to describe the different aspects of an underlying reality, a reality for which we have no concept and no definition.
Matter, energy and information are recycled in this system, at the same time obeying the Second Law of Thermodynamics and riding the increase of Entropy towards the build-up of an even increasing complexity.
We don't know whether Samsara is a thermodynamically closed system, or if this system is an open one.
Thus we cannot conclude if the Entropy in this system will one day prevail on a global scale.
Who is Buddha then?
Buddha is any sentient being which deeply understands the dynamic properties of this system, understands them to a point where he/she is a complete state of harmony with the underlying reality, this very reality which manifests itself as matter, energy and information, this very reality which transforms itself by itself through the simultaneous creation of complex ordered structures and the generation of Entropy.
What is Nirvana then?
It is the underlying reality itself in a state of transcending immanence (no this is not an oxymoron, this paradox is the closest manner to describe the properties of the reality: always here, but impossible to grasp and ever reaching beyond).
What is Mara?
The personification of this aspect of reality which is blindly recycling all the structures, which this reality itself emanates from itself...

From a Japanese apocryphal sutra:

The World-Honored-One again said, "The original Buddha of no mind and no thought is by nature beyond conceptual understanding. Both the conceptually understood natures of the threefold body and sentient beings in the ten destinies, and the nature of that which is without a nature, arise from the nature that is beyond conceptual understanding."

Manjushri again spoke to the Buddha, saying, "If this is so, then is there no Buddha who teaches at the beginning?"

The World-Honored-One again said, "There is nothing that teaches or receives above and beyond the original Buddha of no mind and no thought. Moreover, this is a single Buddha, and there are not two Buddhas. You all should shut your eyes and contemplate the original Buddha that is without beginning and without end."

Manjushri spoke to the Buddha, saying, "That which the World-Honored-One preaches is exceedingly profound. It is true yet beyond our power to comprehend. It is good; it is good. I gladly preach this sutra."

Congrats to (formerly) Jeff who ordained today, his username was ocha_no_hanashi. Although I don't know the exact details or if he's still active in LJ, I'm happy to see him take this big step, and I'm sure that others here who know him would be happy to hear this news too. I aspire towards his decision, I hope it inspires other LJ/internet Buddhists also, and I hope that he spreads dharma in the near future.

It always highlights the limitations in my progress as a "baby" Buddhist when these horrendous things like Newtown and the Boston Marathon bombing occur.  I feel so much anger towards the people that are capable of inflicting so much senseless harm and suffering on others: children, people they don't even know.  It is almost impossible sometimes for me to find any compassion in my heart for the instigators.  I do not like holding that kind of hate in my heart for anyone: I know it's very toxic, and it accomplishes nothing but to poison me.. (It's not helping me that today is the anniversary of the VA Tech shootings, an incident that was particularly close to home for me..)  I think to a certain extent, the emotional impact of all of these kind of violent events on our psyches can be cumulative:  as these things keep happening, we either get a little more angry each time, or we get a little more burned-out and numb inside, neither of which is healthy.

Lodro Rinzler, who if you don't already know, is the author of a wonderful book (one of my favorites) titled  "The Buddha Walks into a Bar - A Guide to Life for a New Generation," as well as a great blog on Huffington Post,  where he often poses theoretical "What Would Sid (as in Siddhartha) Do?" speculations about issues that arise for Buddhists living in the modern world - often dealing with things like sex, drinking, dating (all of which, I might add, he is in favor of, within moderation, unless you are a monk or an addict.)  He has a great sense of humor, a fine grounding in and grasp of Buddhist canon, and a great way of making it much less esoteric and more accessible to those of us (like me) that are not quite ready to dive headfirst into the more mind-twisting, heavier aspects of Buddhism.

Anyway, he posted a great article on his HuffPo blog today, titled "A Buddhist Meditation Practice for the Boston Marathon Tragedy." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lodro-rinzler/a-buddhist-meditation-practice-for-the-boston-marathon-tragedy_b_3088724.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications It's well worth taking a look at, I think, especially if (like me) you are having a hard time processing the whole thing.  It's also basically an excellent sort of "boilerplate" for how to meditate in the face of all such senseless tragedies, and it certainly seems like there's a never-ending stream of them in the last ten or fifteen years. I think his ideas are very useful, even if you are not a practitioner of Buddhist meditation, to help face these kinds of events and get through them, and hopefully head off some of that ever-increasing anger or creeping numbness.  I'm going to give it a try, at any rate. As my dad used to say, "it couldn't hurt!"

I wish you all equanimity, peace, and healing, to both everyone here on our LJ community, and to all those affected by the events in Boston.

(cross-posted to my LJ journal and buddhists community)

Buddhism turns violent in Myanmar
By Matthew J Walton

Recent violence in Myanmar between Buddhists and Muslims in the central town of Meikhtila (also spelt Meiktila) and areas beyond, which has left a reported 43 people dead, as many as 12,000 displaced, and more than 1,000 homes and building destroyed, has raised concerns over the stability of the country's current democratic transition and the imposition of martial law in the troubled area has raised the specter of a return to direct military rule.

The communal riots of the past year in Myanmar's western Rakhine State between Buddhist Rakhines and Muslim Rohingyas have now expanded into a broader Buddhist versus Muslim framing that has spread dangerously across the country.

Buddhist campaigns against Muslims, such as the increasingly visible Buddhist nationalist ''969'' movement, seem to have inflamed tensions in Meikhtila and prompted outside observers to worry about the role of monks in encouraging discrimination and even violence against Myanmar's minority Muslim population. [1] While Buddhist nationalism has long had the potential to be turned against non-Buddhist groups, Buddhism's influence on politics and public opinion requires careful analysis in Myanmar's contemporary context.

To read more: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-020413.html

Stories can entertain you, stories can inspire you, but stories cannot deliver you:

A short and honest talk by a great yogi...

"The mind sent outside is the origination of suffering.
The result of the mind sent outside is suffering.
The mind seeing the mind is the path.
The result of the mind seeing the mind is the cessation of suffering."

Ajaan Dune Atulo (Luang Pu)

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/dune/giftsheleft.html

"Your mind is the Buddha"

Bodhidharma

http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/C%20-%20Zen/Ancestors/The%20Zen%20Teachings%20of%20Bodhidharma/The%20Zen%20Teachings%20of%20Bodhidharma/THE%20ZEN%20TEACHINGS%20OF%20BODHIDHARMA.htm

In Gassho

Mike

The Dhammapada is universally accepted by Buddhists around the world as a spiritual jewel, a word of truth, a clear guidance towards happiness.

Along the Rhinoceros Sutra, the Dhammapada is probably one of the oldest extant Buddhist scriptures and it is supposedly composed by Siddharta Gautama Buddha himself.

The importance of the Mind is emphasized in this Scripture, it is indeed paramount.

The awakening is described as a straightening and a liberation of the Mind.

In this post I would like to remind us all of how the Mind is described in the Dhammapada.


Mind precedes all mental states.
Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought.
If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts
suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.

Mind precedes all mental states.
Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought.
If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts
happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.

Just as a fletcher straightens an arrow shaft,
even so the discerning man straightens his mind —
so fickle and unsteady,
so difficult to guard.

As a fish when pulled out of water
and cast on land throbs and quivers,
even so is this mind agitated.
Hence should one abandon the realm of Mara.

Wonderful, indeed, it is to subdue the mind,
so difficult to subdue,
ever swift, and seizing whatever it desires.
A tamed mind brings happiness.

Let the discerning man guard the mind,
so difficult to detect and extremely subtle,
seizing whatever it desires.
A guarded mind brings happiness.

Dwelling in the cave (of the heart),
the mind, without form, wanders far and alone.
Those who subdue this mind
are liberated from the bonds of Mara.

Wisdom never becomes perfect
in one whose mind is not steadfast,
who knows not the Good Teaching
and whose faith wavers.

There is no fear for an awakened one,
whose mind is not sodden (by lust)
nor afflicted (by hate),
and who has gone beyond both merit and demerit.

Realizing that this body is as fragile as a clay pot,
and fortifying this mind like a well-fortified city,
fight out Mara with the sword of wisdom.
Then, guarding the conquest, remain unattached.

Ere long, alas!
this body will lie upon the earth,
unheeded and lifeless,
like a useless log.

Whatever harm an enemy may do to an enemy,
or a hater to a hater,
an ill-directed mind
inflicts on oneself a greater harm.

Neither mother, father,
nor any other relative
can do one greater good
than one's own well-directed mind.

Recently I went through what may have been the most difficult situation of my life. I was the victim of sudden and severe panic attacks.

I had never really had panic attacks before. I had suffered from depression many times in my life, and I'd had moments of sobering panic in the past, when I deeply thought about my own death, but I'd never had panic attacks of this magnitude before. I went completely dizzy, my heart racing, and my awareness frighteningly sharp. I was petrified at what I was experiencing.

Somehow I got it into my head that this might be a spiritual experience of some kind, like I was going to lose myself and my mind would stretch out into space or nothingness. I didn't even want to look at my reflection, worried that it might "enlighten" me, or some nonsense. My fear was extremely heightened, and completely absurd. I suddenly became afraid to even have a shower, or use the toilet, as even the normal sensations of my body seemed frightening and bizarre. I even became afraid of my own awareness, that something bad might happen if I was mindful or meditated.

It was completely irrational, but convincing. I was overwhelmed by panic, and it was projecting onto everything, so all sorts of things become things to be afraid of. The worst of all being my own awareness, as how can you escape your own consciousness?

I felt sick to my stomach, and I could barely eat anything. This situation of intense panic lasted for days.

I called a Theravadin Ajahn monk, and he advised me to practice body contemplation / awareness of the body meditation, as he said the practice was very grounding. He also said to bring awareness to where fear is located in the heart center, and try to be allowing of it.

I was afraid of this practice itself, though I clung to the idea that the monk knew what he was talking about. I practiced the body contemplation, and it helped and took the edge off. The panic was still very strong, but this practice granted me a bit of relief. I also remembered what another senior monk had once told me, that "it is very difficult to be afraid when you are relaxed." So I practiced consciously relaxing my body, and trying to let go off the tension. That also helped a little, but the fear was still strong.

During my call to the Ajahn, I had told him I was afraid of Anatta, not-self. He told me that not-self is actually a relief. So during a strong wave of panic, when I had exhausted every other option, I remembered his words, that not-self is a relief, and in my desperation I looked at the fear and said to my self, "I am not this fear, this fear is not me. It is not-self." And in that moment, a weight dropped from my heart, and it felt light a cool, soothing white flame burned there brightly, and my body became light as a feather. My awareness was bright and vividly clear. My mind empty of thoughts. My back and standing posture went perfectly straight it seemed, and I seemed to stand upon the ground beneath me more firmly than I ever had before, as if rooted there. I laughed, and my grin was wide and great, and seemed like the way the Buddha would laugh.

This experience did not last, and the fear came again, but this time not as strong. I kept going back to my body contemplation practice, and reminding myself that the fear was not-self. The practice felt like a refuge in a brutal storm. It helped me greatly, though did not remove the panic completely.

In my desperation, it became vital to gain a foothold in reason. With the panic somewhat diminished, I had been left with a new life where everything was a potential trigger to another panic attack. So I had to look deeply into fear itself, I had to get to know it better, and I had to consider deeply the things I was now afraid of. I had to think it out carefully, to check if there was really any danger in these things.

I realized that throughout the many days of panic, no matter how afraid I got, nothing bad ever actually happened. Nothing had ever really changed. All my sense still functioned normally, as they had done before. I had not lost my mind, or become "enlightened", or floating off into space. Nothing had really happened. The only thing that had happened was fear.

The only bad experience was the experience of fear, and none of the things that fear had told me would happen had happened. I realized that fear was an absolute liar. When it arose, it would make me believe, it would feel very convincing, but I had to remind myself that no matter what fear said, it was all a load of shit.

Now, it has been about 2 months since the attacks first began. My anxiety has not gone completely, but since the start it has been gradually diminishing. Now, it still comes a few times a day, but in a fairly weak and manageable form, but as soon as it arises I remind myself that no matter what the fear says, it is a lie, and the fear doesn't have anywhere to dig in, and so it fades away. I also use the practice of acceptance/allowance/welcoming experiences, which is something I've focused on for many years, so fear has difficulty making me afraid of that practice, as I have done it for so long, so it's difficult for fear to convince me it is bad.

I asked myself yesterday why I still had this lingering anxiety, and somehow it dawned on me, and I realized it was the fear of my eventual death. So I turned my reasoning power, that I had been developing during the panic attacks, towards my own death. I saw that I wasn't afraid of death itself, but rather I was afraid of being reborn. Looking closer still, I realized I wasn't afraid of being reborn, I was actually afraid of losing my memories of this life, that somehow it would no longer be me in the next life.

Then I considered time, and realized I'd been thinking of time incorrectly. I realized that this moment now would not become lost to future moments, because this moment is the only moment. Time is simply a measurement of change. Consciousness is only one moment; this one right now. And within this eternal moment, things arise and cease. Right now, I have memories, but if those memories cease it does not mean that I will cease. This eternal moment will prevail. The memories are not that important. Sometimes in meditation, all my thoughts have stopped, and my mind doesn't wander to memories, and that is very pleasant. At that time, I don't miss the memories at all.

So there is nothing to fear in death. Of course! Fear is a liar, after all!

This is my story of my battle with fear. I was the winner! :D

Hope you enjoyed it!

Just remember, fear is a lieing scumbag! No matter what it says, don't believe it! Unless there's a pack of vicious dogs running towards you! ;D