Buddhism

[Tom]

One of the most basic practices of Buddhism is to be aware of what you are doing, thinking, and feeling at the time of doing, thinking, and feeling. Posture is also important. If you are sitting, it is good to know that you are sitting. The same for standing, walking, and reclining. Most people only know their own actions, thoughts, and emotions when they observe the effects. It is the same with speech. There are people who not only not know what they are about to say but are surprised to have heard it. It is possible to develop this awareness to the point that even tendencies are clear. Intent to move precedes movement. A few years ago I tended to acquire small cuts, bruises, and burns on my hands without usually knowing how. This cultivation of awareness helped me to avoid these injuries. This is one half of what is needed.

The other half of what is needed is to stabilize the mind. Discontent leads the mind to seek after objects. Its opposite is to seek to avoid them. When trying to meditate either in formal sessions or in daily activity it is best to be able to acknowledge these objects and leave them alone. Another pair is dullness with agitation. Either the mind lacks the energy to hold on to its object or it is too energetic to hold on to a single object. Then there is by itself doubt as to why it should be a good idea to train the mind at all or whether it can be done. Stability is a balancing exercise for the mind.

In Buddhism we are not as we ordinarily perceive ourselves. It is the same with the world around us and with other people. The texts suggest directions to look in, but it declares nothing to be so without suggesting that it be tested. That is why I chose it.

[Adam]

I've had an on-and-off interest in Buddhism over the last year or so. What I want to know is...where does the heart fit in? Love? God?

My spiritual direction got a sudden change of direction last year. I was seriously thinking of meditating non-stop for a while, and going on a retreat...delving into my mind...etc. I started going to a group towards the end of last year, where the focus is on love and the heart. About speaking the Truth. About knowing - from the heart. Now my outlook has totally changed because of the learning I have received and shared at this group...and I didn't expect ANYTHING like this to happen.

I don't know a lot about Buddhism, except that it puts forwards some fantastic points of living a healthy life, and a spiritual one. So if someone knows about this topic, I would love it if you could answer the questions raised above

Thanks
Adam

[Tom]

Buddhism has what it calls the four immeasurables: immeasurable love, immeasurable compassion, immeasurable joy, and immeasurable equanimity. They are all called immeasurable because they are to have all sentient beings equally as objects. This means no distinctions between self, neutral people, friends, and enemies. These four start out individually, but then they are brought together to form Bodhichitta, which is wanting to help all sentient beings and understanding that to really help anyone totally it is necessary to become a perfect Buddha first. Bodhichitta is the entrance to Mahayana Buddhism. At the Vajrayana level, Bodhichitta is said to power spiritual disciplines in the way that electricity is needed to power a computer.

As for God, I think you may be disappointed with Buddhism. There is nothing to say. I personally do not believe in God. I personally do not believe anyone else really believes in God, regardless of what is said.

As for the relevence of Buddhism in today's world, I believe it clearly applies more so now than it did when it started.

[distant bell]

What about the first principal about suffering?
All is suffering... that is quite a negaitve wiev on life..
I don´t consider all to be suffering. That´s my main objective
against buddhism.

-- Love is the Law - Love under Will --

[muzza]

The first noble truth seems to be a little weird on first impressions. From what I gather with my readings it means that to eliminate suffering you must first understand suffering. I think it means that even the positive sides of life, i.e. happiness, are based in the physical world and therefore impermanent. Compared to where we can be even the good points of this physical life are intimately tied with suffering.

Does that make any sense? http://www.astralpulse.com/forums/images/icon_Smile_big.gif" border=0>

I am fairly new to reading and learning about Buddhism so I might be way off the mark, but that is my understanding at the moment!



-- Muzza

[Tom]

The Four Noble Truths are based on the medical theory of Buddha's time. The first step is to identify the disease or condition or injury. The second step is to find its causes. The third is to identify the healthy condition and the last step is to describe how to go from the problem to the solution. The first Noble Truth is to identify suffering. That all life is suffering is only one way to translate "dukkha". Another is "dissatisfaction". Actually, when we say that life is suffering or that life is dissatisfaction we really mean that all of life has the potential for suffering or dissatisfaction. Being Buddhist is not about being miserable all the time. Most people have at least one or two things they would like to change about their life. The ones who do not want to change a thing might be just bored by it, another form of dissatisfaction. The cause of suffering is in the second Noble Truth, which is wanting things to be other than the way that they are. The third Noble Truth says that there is an alternative to suffering, a condition without birth, death, suffering, old age, or disease. The fourth Noble Truth is a description of how to obtain that happy condition (Sukkha, pleasure, is the opposite of dukkha).

[ralphm]

the tibetian buddhists are way cool. i took a dream yoga retreat with chagdud  rinpoche. the only thing is they want you to go slow- you must do 100,000 prostrations, and other practices before you can do anything advanced. which is probably really good but us people nowadays want to get to the advanced stuff right out of kindergarden.

[Tom]

Vajrayana Buddhism actually starts before the ngöndro, which you have mentioned. It goes all the way back to Hinayana Buddhism to build a proper foundation. This is the development of awareness and mental stability I described. Then the scope is expanded to include wanting to become a Buddha for the purpose of bringing all sentient beings to this condition (Bodhichitta) in the Mahayana Buddhism. Vajrayana then says that the usual Mahayana is too slow and that it is possible to become a Buddha in this lifetime or immediately after it instead of countless lives from now. Dzogchen came along and said that Vajrayana is nice but it could be faster still. Everything starts with the Hinayana and builds on it. "Yana" means "vehicle". The Hinayana is like a cart being pulled along by a horse. If your cart tips over or crashes this is not good. There is still usually a chance to try again. The Vajrayana is more like a jet plane. It is a lot faster, but the consequences of crashing are more serious. This is especially so because when jet planes crash other people are usually affected. Some people are crazy enough to crash a jet plane intentionally (9/11/2001) and it is best to keep powerful practices like the Vajrayana away from them.

[bitsmart]

Buddhism is my favorite new friend. I also read Lama Surya Das' "Awakening..." book. I had a moment of enlightenment at one point, very powerful, and it felt incredible. Now I practice present-moment awareness and the other teachings as much as I can.

Suffering is like the toughening of the soul. Maybe your dad used to say, "Go mow the lawn, it builds character." Sort of like that. Suffering humbles everyone, even the strongest, meanest, most egostistical. Don't interpret 'All is suffering' literally. It's more about suffering as being a fact of life on this plane.

BTW, the Gyuto and Gyume Tibetan monks do this AWESOME chanting with vocal harmonics, or 'overtones'. If you've never heard it, go find some; it's far out. I was given a copy of the book "Healing Sounds" by Jonathan Goldman and I've been practicing vocal harmonics for about 4 months now, with good results.

bitsmart -
information illumination -
bitsmart@bitsmart.org -

[Adam]

You don't believe in God? Why?
Discard that word God, and maybe call this 'force' Spirit, or Infinity....the Divine....whatever label suits it best

I feel that God/Spirit is right in front of us. So obvious, that we've looked elsewhere and failed to see it's presence. Don't you feel the love that has created you? That has guided you lovingly through each life? The loving father that cares for you....the loving mother that knows how you feel and feels your pain, your love....

I feel we are all here to love and be loved. Nothing more, nothing less.


Why believe in God....when you can simply be God.

Adam

[goku22]

Hi

I just spent a month at a place called the Shambala Mountain Center, formally known as the Rocky Mountain Shambala Center. It was started by Chogyum Trungpa Rinpoche (sp?). It's sort of half tibetan buddism and half non-secular teachings of shambala. From what I heard of the buddhist teachings, I was impressed by them, though more so by the shambala ones. I'll not become a buddist for one reason. It didn't seem to live up to what it can be in real life. There were people there who have been hardcore buddists for a long time, they did all the seminaries and beyond, and had taken refuge vows at least 20 years ago. My observation of them was that some of them just weren't in the slightest bit friendly. Obviously alot of them were nice, but there were enough just plain grouchy/mean people there to make me shy away from buddism. Also, at this place, most of the volunteers (that's what I was) were quite friendly and open and non-buddist. It was the people who had been buddhist for a while that were the mean ones. Also, I think I heard while I was there that Chogyum died from years of being an alcoholic. Shambala felt nice, buddism kind of gave me the creeps while I there. But I can't generalize like that, I'm sure there are some wonderful people who are buddist and are the way they are because of it, just not so much where I was.  Ben

[Tom]

You know, I am a Buddhist and I have had the same reaction. The more serious the practitioner the more depressing, usually. Lots of emotional problems, too, like strong anger. It doesn't even seem to matter what branch of Buddhism, except that I did find a zen group that was unusually friendly. It seems like many Buddhists end up more neurotic than ever before and yet they claim to be happier?

[Grenade01]

I like alan watts
even though he was a big alchoholic or whatever
I still think he is a genious

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[reclining orb]

Earlier Tom (i think?), mentioned that one of the great appeals of Buddhism is that it doesn't require you to believe in something as a starting point.  It just gives you some observations that you are expected to work through and test for yourself.  

A second appeal is that it doesn't claim to be the absolute truth.  From the very beginning of Buddhism, students have been taught at their level.  That means that the spiritual kindergarden-types get nice easy stuff like "All life is suffering."  For a person in spiritual kindergarden this remark is rather accurate.  As the student develops, so does the sophistication of the teaching, but no one text/phrase/word is considered to be absolutely true.  At least not by me, heh heh.  Some people take their buddhas very seriously.

I have a friend from China who was initially interested in Christianity because he saw how rigidly and dogmatically some people take Buddhism there.  I'm from America, and I was initially interested in Buddhism because I saw how rigidly and dogmatically people take Christianity here.  Want my best advice?

In every culture, you can probably do well  by meeting with the most unorthodox spritual seekers in that country.  They may be Buddhists in America, Christians in China, or Muslims in Ireland.  Even better, ignore the superficial labels and learn what you can from those people who are balanced, humorous, warm,  giving, and spiritual, regardless of their religious affiliation.  I've found such people in every major religion on the globe, which leads me to think that God won't be too picky about which religion helped them to become that way.  


Best wishes!

[muzza]

Hi All,

Buddhism seems to be something I have slowly been drawn too in more of a way to live life rather than as a formal spiritual/religious practise. There seems to be a whole lot of truth to what is said/taught and it seems to me that I am being guided towards learning more. There are more and more books around bringing the teachings with a more western influence which I am grateful for! Like, Awakening The Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das. If anyone is interested in Buddhism and how relevant it is to todays world I suggest giving this book a read.

Now, my question is what are the thoughts of you people about the relevance of Buddhism in todays world as well as Buddhism in general. And, if any of you are Buddhists how do you go about integrating your practises within the context of modern life?



-- Muzza