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.
.
:: Class READING Outlines are here ::
...Basic to intermediate
:: Meditation Sitting Instructions
...are a scroll about 1/3 way down
.
.
"A PATH WITH HEART" by Jack Kornfield
.
"A PATH WITH HEART" is a teaching-book mostly about
actual meditation practice and it's emotional integration
with 'Dharma wisdom-concepts' to make a fully whole spiritual
'potential' for you, a book as a word-guide that may lead
to a clear 'experience' of a new, shifted understanding
into a True Reality. The meditative-mind loses it's blind
tendency for mindless-turmoil.
As mis-conceptions obsolete - suffering ceases !.
Use this book as an 'Operating Manual' ( not just as a straight read-thru )
...so you get really familiar as to WHERE EXACTLY IN THE BOOK
the specific 'guidance' is - that particularly speaks to your precise
meditation issues & sitting experiences of this very moment -
as well as specific instruction you can easily refer to ... and any
other aspects of the backup "Buddhist Psychology of Realization" -
and the deeper application of everyday practices of Compassion.
Again, this book is not just a onetime read-thru. Actually USE this book
right along with your meditation practice. Make-believe for awhile that
it's the only book you'll ever have or read - like you're on a desert
island somewhere ( also just 'pretend' the guidance in it is
'True' for awhile ! ) Yet you always do keep on questioning !
Always Question !
All the chapters in the book are important - they support each other.
Read deep and also nourish yourself on your own at home.
Bring in to class hopefully, your observations, comments
and many, many, many questions...
Read only what you can read slow enough
to REALLY Comprehend It ! -
Make many, many scribbled notes & questions in the book's margins.
These study-type books are to be used vigorously and marked up!
We want to do everything in our lives to raise the level of questions -
so that leaves the 'indefinable' moment of Now questionless & open.
True Transparency !
These READINGS Point out 'mind-experiences'
for your growing mindfulness of attention
to now 'recognize' on it's way along to
intuitive 'realization' and wisdom-insight....
.
Remember,
don't make studying & reading all so daunting....
just take it easy, relaxed, slow & enjoyable !
First-timers & Newcomers: for you new guys,
simply start to read the outlined Catch-up material:
it compassionately talks about difficult 'conditionings'
that 'intrude' on our meditations and on our life..
.
As a Newcomer, your motivation & main intent is:
Number One: is actually Sitting the MEDITATION.
Sitting the meditation is much more important than reading !
"Time On The Cushion" it's called... Or chair.
Best daily, or even sitting every-other day or so -
in 15-20-30 minute-periods of silent sitting at Home.
Shorter sittings, yet much more frequently is better
at the very beginning, inching your way up in time.
.
."A PATH WITH HEART" chapters outlined below.
Do Not Be Intimidated by pages n' stuff -
just read and just come to class steadily !
You'll catch up easy, no problemo !
You'll do quite fine ! You'll get 'There'.
( There is no 'There', there is only "Here" )
.
.What Are You Experiencing
While You're Just Sitting There Meditating?
.
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NEWCOMERS: Ongoing Readings
Catch-Up Outline ::
"A PATH WITH HEART" by Jack Kornfield
+ Newest Students: start at Chapter 7 ~
.
This is the very important material to digest and
to let 'intergrate' into your own 'meditation sitting-mind'...
..
as antidotes to anything from Pesky, to Disturbing,
.
to Discomforting INTRUSIVE VISITORS that will
.
come to visit you during your meditation sitting practice.
.
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Then read chapters backwards & forwards:
a particular style of reading we use... starting in the middle...
+ NAMING THE DEMONS - Chapter 7 - pgs. 83-101
This #7 Chapter is very Important for your Meditation Sittings !
JUST READ THIS CHAPTER FIRST ~
then go on to 5, 6 & 8.
Start here please.
+ TRAINING THE PUPPY - Chapter 5 - pgs. 56-65
+ TURNING STRAW INTO GOLD - Chapter 6 - pgs. 71-82
+ DIFFICULT PROBLEMS and INSISTENT VISITORS -
Chapter 8 - pgs. 102-118 ...
and in-between 'assigned' chapters; read anywhere else you wish
Come up with some specific questions on what you read
and about your own sittings - Add your own comments on your
growing understanding & experiences while actually sitting.
Yet never discount the value of a strong 'Intellectual' Ground
in the Dharma Philosophy - alongside frequent meditation
sittings that can open you to a truly 'informed-intuition'.
Optional - yet very Important ~
in A PATH with HEART ~ in Jack's book
- chapters 16,17,18 on "Students" & "Teachers"
.
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"Experience a truly liberated
Present Moment of an Infinite Now !"
~ Alan Watts.
.
"Full 'Awakening' itself is the only ultimate purpose of human life ~
then all other 'purposes' will be so obvious, clear, potentially possible,
and artfully filled with 'meaning' & 'grace'. It'll just be there for you !
A natural, skillful compassion will effortlessly radiate. You'll wake up !
Even having 'Lesser Awakenings' more & more - are still priceless.
Everything else you do in between epiphanies is lovingly,
wisely,patiently a 'temp' job." ~ Bhante Akasa-Maitreya
.
.
Instead of 'trying' to become something other than we are,
we realize fully what is already here. Pure 'Is-ness'...
"Don't seek 'Answers' ~
Live the 'Questions' themselves instead.." ~ Rilke
.
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What Are You Experiencing While You're Just Sitting There Meditating?
________________________________________________________.
continue to SIT at home regularly . continue to SIT at home regularly
. continue to SIT at home regularly . continue to SIT at home regularly
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Meditation Instruction
Points to Remind you . . .
reminders for those who have
attended at least a first class
.... and if you didn't sit meditation for
what you think is 'often enough', that's OK too ...
Heck, all your meditation & non-meditation experiences alike:
irritation, doubt in the value of it, or your ability to do or not do it,
'guilting' about not doing it - are ALL a part of the overall 'practice'...
Developing a merely "Just Good Enough Meditation Practice"
that for right now - that is quite fine work indeed !
The fact that you 'searched' & were innately-interested
in the first place and that you sought this blog-site out...
does say something very positive about you...
.
"Sitting meditation is simply just sitting quietly,
calmly waiting for enlightenment to simply be.
It's the restless 'waiting' and the 'wanting' that's the problem"
~ Bhante Akasa-Maitreya
.
.
"Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance
of the present experience as it is.
'Realization' isn't more complicated than that !
It is opening to, or receiving the present moment,
pleasant or unpleasant – just as it is –
–– non-judgmentally ––
without either clinging to it - or rejecting it."
~ Sylvia Boorstein.
"Remember...
the 'illusion' has merely ‘the appearance’
of existing from its own side.Take it to your side -
you're caught."~ Lama Thubten Yeshe.
"It's not You that wakes up ~
It is Reality that wakes up.
The Truth itself wakes up.
'You' are not enlightened –
'Enlightenment' is enlightened."
~ Adyashanti
.
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Reminders and Pointers
on HOW to MEDITATE ~
using The Power of Mindfulness
My 'Will' Power of ATTENTION itself ::
Do Nothing:
Your Natural 'Attention-state' will seek its own level by itself -
by the power of its own built-in 'will' drive -
if you just leave it alone - and merely
sit still & silent and passively watch.
You'll be alert, wide-awake in a meditative-state -
and a Bare Awareness will be simply there after awhile on its own...
Simply getting used to sitting very still.
Simply getting used to being with closed eyes.
Simply getting used to shuttling between breath & thoughts.
.
My Direction of Attention:
Do I notice if my Attention is 'Going Out' or 'Going In' ?
Does it seem to Abide Outside of me, or abide Inside of me ?
Is my Attention Accepting, Embracing -or- Rejecting, Withdrawing ?
.
What Are You Experiencing While You're Just Sitting There Meditating?
I begin to sit meditation with my environment...
My Awareness of the whole 'Landscape of Sound':
Hearing what I hear in the landscape of the surround
it's all out there - just sit very still and simply listen -
a long few minutes - just listen, not for anything -
just the act of simple conscious, active yet passive listening.
Like sitting down very quiet in a forest - until the animals & birds
then come back out again, and get back to their ordinary forest lives
without feeling intruded on. Life certainly goes on without you.
I then would go on to ...
My Awareness of My Body, then My Breath, then My Mind:
My Body-Balance:
Front to Back, Side to Side, Symmetrical, Sitting Erect Relaxed
( a brief relaxation of tensions & contractions begin each sitting )..
Meditation: Medius: Latin "To be in the middle of..."
Yet, to be of neither this nor that. To be Impartial.
To be 'sitting' meditation in impartiality.
.
.
Instructions: Here we go . . . .
.
Just Sit Quietly & Observe . . . .
Just Observe. Just Watch. Just Witness. Do Nothing.
Simply getting used to sitting very still.
Simply getting used to being with closed eyes.
Simply getting used to shuttling between breath & thoughts.
.
Getting yourself smoothed-out, simply be simplified,
Sitting is a total no-brainer ~ truly be a 'simpleton'.
For now - sit at home regularly daily or every-other day -
in 20 minute to 1/2 hour 'work-out' sits using a timer.
Use a very straight back chair or floor cushion.
Sit down and quietly wait for some stillness. Invite silence.
( brief 'guided' words into 'breath-sensations' may begin each sitting )
Allow Breath to be naturally itself. The breath will subtly change.
Place your full attention to hover in a small area around the nose.
Feel the touch-feeling-sensation of the breath at the nostrils:
Inhale: cool, clean, sharp & fresh ~
Exhale: warm, heavy, thick & moist.
Notice these sensations ~ and know they are simply sensations.
Do the 'Doing of Doing Nothing'. Non-Doing. Learn to Be Quiet.
Simply training yourself to merely just sit there.
Really that's All.
Experience whatever you 'experience'. And continue to sit there.
Sit softly, gently still. Be a Non-Achiever - and - just sit there.
Use sounds in the surround
or sensations in the body to signal you,
that you are no longer at the breath-point.
You've lost attentiveness to the breath,
and attention went somwhere else ...like "Thinking".
.
"Who would you be without your Story ?" ~ Byron Katie
Use those sounds in the surround or body sensations
to 'CUE' you BACK again to the nostril touch-sensation
of your Breath again -and- again -and- again ... Gently !
Continuously Re-Awaken-yourself from being
lost in memory, reverie, fantasy, inventory or
thought-runs or space-out trips or stories: Be patient.
Learning again how to wake-up in a whole new way.
Waking-up from what you think is being awake now...
Gently Wake up - come back appreciatively to the breath.
Allow Breath to be naturally itself. The breath will subtly change.
Place your full attention to hover in a small area around the nose.
Again: Feel the touch-feeling-sensation of the breath at the nostrils:
Inhale: cool, sharp & fresh ~ Exhale: warm, thick & moist.
Notice these sensations ~ and know they are simply sensations.
Do Nothing.
Please let-go of any 'ideas' that this will achieve something awesome.
Breath is just a 'home-page', a place to re-focus/refresh your screen.
Simply start again with being attentive to breath again, gentle and easy...
no contests.. no achievements.. no evaluating the sitting or self.. nothing.
But IF you do you do - and that's quite OK too. Everything is a candidate.
The 'meditation' is really everything you experience while you are sitting there.
Everything. Again. Keep repeatedly coming back to nose or belly rise & fall.
Simply getting used to sitting very still.
Simply getting used to being with closed eyes.
Simply getting used to shuttling between breath & thoughts.
Use 'sounds' & 'sensations' to CUE YOU Back to the breath.
Toggle this back-button 'cue'. Again, breath is just a 'home-page', a place
to re-focus/refresh your screen. Getting very used to observing the Mind
Simply start with being attentive to breath again, gentle and easy...
Getting used to yourself in 'attentive stillness' - on the deep-inside.
Gradually willing to 'release' any & all 'expectations' about meditation!
Under-developed til now - building a meditation-region in the brain.
.
Noticing What I'm Experiencing While I'm Simply Sitting Here
Gradually being in an 'observation-mode' of all of this...
...a NEW 'observation-mode' that stands aside from thought,
instead of a 'reactive-mode' that gets caught up in thought..
A Gentle Attentiveness: Easy, Mindful Attention to body & back posture,
belly-breath-sensation & all other subtle minutiae & chaotic happenings.
The whole point is NOT to shut the mind down - but to consciously cultivate
a mindful, calm 'non-reactivity' - to simply 'know' that there is 'thinking' there -
thought-happenings without getting involved into the 'thought-drama',
or then you become the 'thought' - reactive - and then you're caught.
When you do 'wake up' again & notice that you are in 'thought-land' -
you simply unapologetically go back to gently being with sensation of breath
at the nostril or belly again. It's not about just staying with the breath.
Allowing 'Attentive-Awareness' to clarify & strengthen you...
By itself !
Nothing to 'Do' - Nothing to hurry here - Nowhere to go.
Just Learing to Observe.
Just sit & just witness. Repeated regular sittings
will build a 'meditation region' in the brain by itself.
You get to get something for Nothing !
Just sit there.
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"Noticing & Naming"
.
'NAMING' the "Mind / Perception Experience States" ~
Keep the 'Naming' & 'Labeling' Very, Very Simple...
Naming will sophisticate on it's own learning curve on its own....
."The Demon Named, is The Demon Destroyed" ~
is a very old ancient formula. The Name reveals the Demon's truely insecure,
unstable & fragile character-core. And there's also the innocent,
tempting Angelic-states - that can also slowly lead to addictive
indulgent
attachments. A worthy personal goal of Buddhist practice is to become
a non-reactive and non-seduceable person. Non-attachable to,
like water off a duck's back - and yet available & eminently lovable...
.
.
The Buddhist absence of 'Attachment' -
is not necessarily at all, in any way,
the absence of profound loving." ~ Ananda Maitreya
'Knowing' What You Are 'Experiencing' While Just Sitting There
.
:: Feelings/Sensations in the Body-Mind or Emotional centers
:: Images/Pictures in the Inner-Sights & Image-Mind -or- Outer Sights
:: Talk/Conversations in the Inner Narrative-Mind -or- Outer Sounds
THINKING :: HEARING :: TOUCHING :: FEELING :: SEEING
EMOTING :: GOOD :: BAD :: MAD :: SAD :: GLAD :: SCARED
JUDGING :: JOY :: PLANNING :: WANTING :: REJECTING :: NOW
ACCEPTING :: GRASPING :: CLINGING :: PAST :: FUTURE :: HERE
HOT :: COLD :: TIGHT :: LOOSE :: TENSE :: RELAXED :: CLEAR
CONFUSED :: DULL :: ALERT :: NUMB ::RESISTING :: EMBRACING
DREAMING :: SCHEMING :: LUSTING :: ANNOYING :: NAGGING
CONDEMING :: ADORING :: DISPAIRING etc etc endlessly etc
Beginning to know a bit more about
the Simple 'Naming' or Labeling
of Mind-Experiences - craving,
angry or delightful - catch a glimpse
of 'Their Basic Generic Names'
as they come thru to you - arrive at
your Mind's Observation Door as they are
in this Present Moment - like watching
your dreams. ...don't go searching for 'definitions'
of what 'that' was ...and don't psychologize !
Allow sitting-time to be as non-cognitive as possible.
Or the mind will disguise itself with your conceptions.
And then that's just more doing 'intellect' - let it rest.
Sitting is not the time to try n' figure stuff out. Wait til after sitting !
Wake yourself up, non-responsively, non-reactively just witness,
observe and Let It Go...
Go Back to Breath and start experiencing breath again.....
Sigmund Freud simply sat there and Observed, often not 'analyzing'.
"Sometimes a cigar is just that, a cigar."
.
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MIND-STATES.. & ..DUALITY
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"Yes, this 1000 year-old wisdom-quote below
has enlightened many student yogis down
through the centuries upon it's realization.".
♦ "If you don't clearly understand
that ‘Whatever’ appears IS meditation -
Then what can you achieve by applying
a divine or spiritual ‘antidote’?
’Ideas’ & ‘conceptions’
are not abandoned
by just discarding them –
but are spontaneously freed
by themselves when they 'recognize'
and 'realize' themselves
as simply only an illusion."
~ The Dakini Niguma 1025 AD
..
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' H I N D R A N C E S ' to meditation practice
.
~ Suffering the INTRUSIVE Visitors to your meditation sitting.
( Hindrances: well, they're not really, they ARE 'the meditation' ! ) Be with them.
There are all sorts of levels of the Buddhist version of The Seven Dealy Sins !
"The HINDRANCES TO CLARITY"
that's what they're called -
Sorry, You will have to sit them out !
You will have to sit through them !
The distractions, difficulties & intrusive visitors that prevent a 'sublime'
meditation. Eventually ALL 'Hindrances' will find a true Embrace within you -
an Authentic Resolve - a place more towards Unconditional Acceptance or
a Wisdom-based Planned Obsolescence - as your developing 'observation'-style
of Buddhist meditation practice continues... just getting better all the time...
.
HOW ?
By widening, deepening & strengthening the field of Awareness ITSELF.
Creating more tranquil internal 'observation' space - thru a deep 'comprehending' -
leading to a number of Zen-Empty 'experiential' epiphanies - as obstacles lose their
seeming 'reality' ( un-reality ) to a much deeper, 'owned realization-understanding'
that naturally integrates itself with what the Dharma-teachings really have to say:
"Not taking the 'impermanent' as permanent"
( including one's own ego-self ) and give that 'understanding'
plenty of seasoning-time.. to develop it's own natural, intuitive 'confirmation'....
with nothing external or internal to buy into, and nowhere else to go.
There is nowhere else but Here. You're Free !
In Buddhism, the traditional "Hindrances" are toxic negative mental states
that impede success with meditation-clarity & lead away from enlightenment.
Every 'spiritual practice on the planet has them. Eventually discovering and
continually refining a personal balance between a too-strict ascetism and
a too over the top indulgence.
. .
What Are You Experiencing While You're Just Sitting There Meditating?.
.
The Buddhist Pali Canon identifies these basic categories
of core limiting mind-obstacle-states, limiting 'bindings' or fetters
( here in no particular order ).
• Basic Ignorance - just Not Knowing that there is a 'Not-Knowing' in the mind.
• Basic Wrong View / Belief - "Taking the Impermanent for being Permanent"
....A Belief in 'Belief' / an 'individual self' idea & wanting to be dualistically-correct.
• Doubt, Confusion, Uncertainty: lack of conviction, value or trust, even about
....the teachings or doing the 'practice' - yet will not inquire / 'safety' in ambivelance.
• Dullness: Sloth, Torpor or Boredom, Indifference, half-hearted action with
....no attentiveness.
• Attachment to Rites and Rituals, magical-thinking or quick faith-based fixes.
• Sensual Desire: Craving for excessive addictive pleasure to the senses.
• Anger, Aversion: resentful feelings of unforgiving malice or ill-will toward others.
• Lust for material existence, craving material rebirth or reincarnation,
....craving for immaterial Heaven-existence as a super-star God or Goddess.
• Pride in Self - Arrogance & The Self-involved Conceits: better, worse, same as.
• Restlessness: Fear, Anxiety, Angst, Worry, dread & distraction and the inability
....to calm the mind / A.D.D .
"The Buddhist Precepts" of Ethical, Emotional & Social Concern
counsel that
:: Harming, Destroying Life :: Stealing, Taking
:: Adultery :: False speech, Lying, Slandering
:: Mindless Intoxication :: Indulgence in Food
:: Indulgence in Entertainment :: Coveting & Greed
:: Openly Flaunting Luxury & Money
:: Aversion, Anger, Malice :: Excessive Pride, Conceit
all translate as really bad karma.
Are you Aware of their beginning stages...??
Aware that you are unconsciously slipping into these toxic mind-states...??
Anguish, Anxiety, Struggle, Seductive Distractions,
Curious Sensations, Dispair, Desire, Longings, Wishing,
Wanting, Grasping, Clinging, Attachment, False Security,
Flash Impulses, Temptations, Appetites, Fear, Anger, Judgment,
Resentment, Denial, Confusion, Boredom, Dullness, Sleepiness,
Restlessness, Doubt, Ambivalence, Rejecting, a Talking-Mind
about almost anything etc ~ plus the seemingly Amazing 'Spiritual'
Distractions, Notions & Fascinations of all kinds...
( seems almost the same as the Demon-list.
With any of this going on, arising in the mind -
can there be Inner Peace? )
Remember, it's all in the Mind. 'Your' Mind.
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.
.:: BUDDHIST LIBERATION, Happines & Joy ! ! !
....in the original traditional language
"The Buddhist path offers Benevolence, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy,
and Equanimity that is Liberation [Nirvana/Moksha]. Liberation is Nirvana,
and Nirvana is Benevolence, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, and Equanimity.
They feed each other Royally. You will be so Happy. Everyone Benefits !”
Metta / Maitri: Loving-Kindness towards all; the hope that a person
will be well; loving kindness is "the wish that all sentient* beings, without
any exception, be happy." ( *sentient: conscious, feeling, emotive being )
Karuna: Compassion - the hope that a person's sufferings will diminish.
Compassion is the "wish for all sentient beings to be free from suffering."
Mudita: Altruistic Joy in the accomplishments of another person or oneself Sympathetic joy "is the wholesome attitude of rejoicing in the happiness and
virtues of all sentient beings in the world."
Upekkha/Upeksha - Equanimity, or learning to accept both loss and gain,
praise and blame, success and failure with detachment, equally, for oneself and
for others; Equanimity means "not to distinguish between friend, enemy or stranger,
but regard every sentient being as equal."
"The Brahma'Vihara ( Pali and Sanskrit ) called The Four Immeasurables ~
The Four Divine Abodes - Four Divine Emotions - Four Sublime Attitudes.
Heaven in the Mind on Earth !
They are also called the "The Four Boundless Celestial Attitudes"
( loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity )
and are Buddhist Virtues that followers can cultivate endlessly, that is without limits,
as good qualities for any Buddhist to possess in good measure. They form a
circular sequence of Buddhist Ethical Virtues recommended in the Brahma-vihara Sutta.
When developed to a high degree in a life with meditation, they are said
to make the mind "immeasurable" and like the mind of the Loving Brahma-gods."
~ Naṇamoli & Bodhi
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The 8-Fold PATH Segments of an Overlaping Circle -
and that you can Practice anywhere on The Path at any time
Clarity of View
Clarity of Aspiration
Clarity of Speech
Clarity of Action
Clarity of Livlihood
Clarity of Endeavor
Clarity of Mindfulness
Clarity of Concentration
and wiil be the topic of many class-teachings & discussion.
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.
On the "SELF" - that Buddhists call
"The SELF-Idea" ..
that is just an 'Idea'
Getting us familiar with this New 'Idea'
of even questioning the existence of a 'Self' -
Why are you so unhappy?
Because 99.9 per cent
Of everything you think,
And of everything you do,
Is for yourSelf –
And there isn't one.
~ Wei Wu Wei
.
.
Allowing this New 'Dharma-language' to speak to/with you,
and then to begin to seriously Doubt 'yourself' as a 'Self' ~
( I certainly hope no therapists hear me say this, it's so 'spiritually incorrect' ) -
Doubt yourself ? What kinda healing-value is that?
Well, yes. You'll survive! 'Stronger the Wind Stronger the Trees'
With much less of a self-defeating Self ( and less of a reliance on self )
A underdeveloped "Self" that has been limiting you anyway for a long time.
To actually survive & master this Self - is truly a Nirvanic Discovery !With confidence, courage & trust, that's where we're going in this meditation.
We've all had a 'Self' ( and been 'had' by a Self ) for such a long time -
it's really about time that we bravely Inquire & Question into it's actual existence !
This 'thing' Buddhists call: The 'Self-Idea'. It's really about how we DO 'belief'.
Buddhists don't do 'Belief' - there's Nothing in it.
"Self" is just the 'story' of 'me' -an ongoing, endless, tedious,
with lots of distortions - either way, it's still just a 'story'.
.
.
.The Tedious Story of a "Self" ~
The self-published version, the vanity press version,
the movie version, the made for TV version, the CNN
or Fox news version, the straight to video version,
the YouTube version, the N.Y.Times bestseller version,
the cable pay per view or the Larry King version, the
poor pity me version, the in-development version, the
ready to pitch script in the trunk of my car Indie version,
my profile version, my victim version, my grandious-self
version, my blog version, MySpace version,
my Face-book version, my Mother's version...
I'm just so entranced, entertained and entangled,
just Tweeting my Self along !
So imagine a time, in the not too distant future,
not in a galaxy far far away - but right Here & Now -
Imagine a time when you tell your 'Story'
for the very last time !
( even you don't want to hear it anymore )
You'll see thru it, you'll finally fully understand it
as un-real and empty of any 'substance',
you'll let it finally go, you'll be almost free
of the limiting "Story of Self" at last !
What a relief ! ( you can do this ! )
Whew !
"Experience a truly liberated present moment of an infinite Now !"
"The Desire For Awakening is The Only Allowable Desire"
~ Buddha (500 BC)
.
"Full 'Awakening' itself is the only ultimate purpose of human life ~
then all other 'purposes' will be obvious, clear, potentially possible
and artfully filled with 'meaning' & 'grace'. ~ Bhante Anada Maitreya.
Traditional Buddhist Understanding says:
That a 'Belief' in an "individual self"
or a cosmic-self or any 'belief-idea'
or, more basic: simply, holding an unconscious yet functional
"self-view" refers to a "Belief" that - in one or another
of the senses there is a permanent entity, an Atman.
( I try so hard to try and find MY-Self - or My-Soul ~
'cause we all believe a Self is in there somewhere )
.
Buddha describes this unconscious speculation
as "a Chaos of Views" in the following way:
"This is how a person of wrong view
attends the question inappropriately:
Was I in the past ? .. Shall I be in the future ? ..
Am I ? .. Am I not ? .. What am I ?
"As he thinks inappropriately in this way,
one of six kinds of view arises in him:
'I have a self ' .. 'I have no self '
'It is precisely by means of self that I perceive self '
'It is precisely by means of self that I perceive a not-self '
'It is precisely by means of a not-self that I perceive self '
'This very self of mine - is the self of mine that is constant '
"This is called a thicket of views, a wilderness of views,
a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views.
Bound by a fetter of views, the uninstructed is not freed
from suffering and stress."
~ Buddha DN 2 (Thanissaro, 1997; Walshe, 1995, pp. 91-109).2.
DN-a (Nāṇamoli & Bodhi, 1995, pp. 1258-59, n. 585).
Isn't this what we all do ?
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Taking up a Meditation Practice
and sticking with it ~ is Work !
The short-term and long range results are
relieving, peacefully, quietly, really worth it.
Please continue to read more here at our Buddha-blog ~
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Siddhartha Gautama The Buddha - 500 BC
Siddhartha Gautama The Buddha - 500 BC India
