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An envoy from the empire of Alexander the Great in 303 BCE went to India, reported back on a great city called Palimbothra, ruled by the Emperor Sandrokottos, people of 2 distinct religions. Later Marco Polo described buddhism on Ceylon, and Robert Knox (1680) survived shipwreck and slavery in Ceylon and wrote a best seller about his experiences. Western interest in buddhism was later kindled by wars in Burma. Its philosophical complexities were misinterpreted for centuries as being nihilistic, but as understanding improved, it was championed by people such as Schopenhauer.
Brahmins had protected their place in their religion with sacred texts in a sacred language.
Francis Buchanan, 1794, doctor from Glasgow but more interested in botany, went to Calcutta to make his fortune. Visited Burma and Nepal, taking detailed notes. Wrote the first account of Buddhism based on actual texts, but from Burmese perspective, which traced origin to Ceylon. But texts named Buddha’s origin as India. He then found Bodhgaya in Bihar, although the Burmese knew about it, visited by Burmese King, but he had to explain to the locals its significance. Buchanan found other nearby sites. At the same time stupa in Sarnath had been demolished by local ruler, relics shown to British Resident, same inscriptions.
George Turnour, one of the first Brits to be born on Ceylon, learnt Pali and translated Mahavamsa, the Great Chronicle.
Brian Hodgson (Haileybury, the East India Company College) spent 25 yrs in Nepal. Sent 200+ Sanskrit texts to Asiatic Society (ignored), French (made him Legion d’honneur). Zoologist too.
Alexander Csoma de Koros, Hungarian, looking for origin of his minority people in Zanskar – learnt Tibetan, compiled a grammar and dictionary, lived like a monk. Corresponded with Hodgson, then moved to Calcutta.
William Jones, a prodigy at Harrow, learnt Hebrew, Persian and Arabic, did law, took job in Calcutta. Set up the Asiatic Society, learnt Sanskrit and recognized the common origin of the Indo-European languages. Identified Palimbothra as Patna, and Sandrokottos as Chandragupta, so establishing a time point in the chronology. Died 1794.
Colin Mackenzie, from Lewis, a military surveyor, just missed out on Borobodur on Java (replaced by Stamford Raffles), but dug at Sarnath, and at Amaravati before it was obliterated by locals (near Madras?). His huge collection became the basis for Indian collections of Bodleian and British Museum.
Superb carvings found at Sanchi, frescoes in Ajanta caves. War against Burma in 1824 stimulated public interest in region and religion.
Inscriptions on columns from all over the country, eg Firoz Shah’s Lat in Delhi, were found to have the same script, eventually decoded by James Prinsep (from Bristol, science enthusiast working at the Calcutta Mint and in Benares) as early Sanskrit, closer to Pali (language of the earliest buddhist texts, eg Mahavamsa in Ceylon). He identified them as the work of Ashoka, and the same script on coins allowed dating of his reign to around 250 BC. Common phrase was “Thus spake King Piyadasi”, clearly a great emperor – identified as Ashoka by Turnour in Ceylon. Other phrases referred to Ptolemy and other successors of Alexander, dating Ashoka to about 250 BCE and showing European connections.
Burmese envoys found slab at Bodhgaya describing Ashoka’s conversion, confirmed by Turnour’s work on Mahavamsa. Importance of Bodhgaya and Sarnath established by Csoma de Koros translations. Alexander Cunningham dug at Sarnath, found more inscriptions, shown to Prinsep, recognized as form of Sanskrit.
Accounts written by Chinese pilgrims allowed identification of other buddhist sacred sites, although at that time Buddhism was waning in India, although still flourishing in Afghanistan.
Became clear that Ashoka had started out as a regular murdering and war mongering brute who then discovered Buddhism, changed his ways and set out to spread the word throughout his empire. But all changed with this death - all memory of the buddhist empire had then been systematically eradicated by a succession of Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists. Early artefacts survived because the buddha forbade his depiction in art and so were ambiguous.
Csoma de Koros lived as an ascetic but never accepted the Dharma – canonised by Japanese! Hodgson’s collaboration with French led to first text on Indian Buddhism by Burnouf, 1844, the first real understanding of its uniqueness. This was Schopenhauer’s favourite book.
French published Chinese pilgrims’ account of India.Gandhara (AFghanistan) had flourishing BUddhist culture, but not India. CUnningham and Markham Kittoe tried to find towns described and latter found Burgaon but not the significance. CUnningham dug at Sanchi, found relics of many Buddhist saints, incl Buddha’s own disciples, identified it as a monastery for Ashoka’s son, who took BUddhism to Ceylon.
At Rajgir, Kittoe found Saptaparni Cave/Hall, scene of first BUddhist council. CUnningham realized Buraon was great Balanda monastery, from where Buddhism went to Tibet. Excavated later. Doorway was 12 foot high and 20 foot wide.
At Kasia, near Gorakhpur, ruins found by Buchanan, identified as Kushinagar, later huge reclining Buddha found. McKenzie’s AMaravati sculptures found in a warehouse in Madras, now in British Museum – early, so implied presence of Buddha rather than represented.
Cunningham found Pippal cave near Saptaparni Hall. NOw director of Archaeological survey of India. FOund carvings at Bharhut stupa (now where?).
Rhys Davids, magistrate in Ceylon, learnt Pali, suggested early Buddhism corrupted later into Tibeta, etc. Max Muller, Sanskrit scholar in Oxford, suggested Nirvanaa was not annihilation. This more positive approach encouraged interest, mainly helped by Edwin Arnold (Daily Telegraph editor) “Light of Asia” poem in 1879.
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (US) and Madame Blavatsky (Russian) moved to Ceylon, became BUddhists. SHe claimed to have psychic links to a Tibetan spiritual master. He was attracted to Buddhism through translation of church-Monk debates from Ceylon. He set up schools, youth groups, wrote a catechism, taught Anagarika Dharmapala, the first modern Buddhist saint. Blavatsky was denounced as a fraud. Dharmapala led a combined nationalist and Buddhist revival.
Christian story of Josaphat and Barlaam – prince turned ascetic, found peace via guidance of friend – probably adopted from Buddhism.
Also called "Eats shits sleeps" by his fellow monks! According to Pema Chodron, they felt he didn't contribute to any of the activities of the monastery, and asked him to give a talk to the whole university as a way of embarrassing him. Whereupon he delivered this, "The Way of the Bodhisattva".
There is nothing here that has not appeared in the past. I composed this to help fix it in my mind, so I would not need to depend on others.
Just as a flash of lightning briefly illuminates clouds on a dark night, likewise merit and intelligence occasionally occur.
Virtue is perpetually feeble, the great power of negativities, horrible.
Those who wish to destroy the multitudes of sufferings of existence, to dispel the unhappiness of sentient beings, to enjoy the multitudes of happiness, should never forsake the mind of enlightenment.
The sole helmsman of beings, the limitless mind, has investigated it thoroughly and seen its preciousness.
All other virtues are like the plantain tree, after bearing fruit they are exhausted. But the tree of the mind of enlightenment will constantly bear fruit, it is inexhaustible and flourishes more and more.
Like having a hero you can depend on, when greatly afraid, even if I have committed terrible negativities, I shall be swiftly liberated by depending on it.
Just like the fire at the end of time, in an instant it burns up the great negativities.
In brief, you should understand the mind of enlightenment to be of two types: the mind that wishes enlightenment, and the mind that engages enlightenment. As is understood by the example of desiring to go versus going.
Although great fruits will arise in cyclic existence from the mind that wishes for enlightenment, an uninterrupted flow of merit will not arise as it does with the engaging mind.
For the one who has perfectly adopted this mind, with the thought never to turn away for the sake of totally liberating the infinite realms of sentient beings, from that time onwards, even while asleep, a force of merit equal to the sky will continuously ensue.
If even the thought to relieve merely a headache possesses the attitude to benefit and possesses boundless merit, then what need is there to mention the desire to dispel the boundless unhappiness of each sentient being and to develop in each boundless good qualities?
Who has such an altruistic intention as this? Do even fathers and mothers have it? Do the gods and sages? Does even Brahma have it?
If those beings have not even dreamt before of such an attitude for their own welfare, how can they generate it for the welfare of others?
An outstanding Jewel of the mind, an unprecedented wonder is born.
If merely a benevolent intention excels venerating the Buddhas, what need to mention striving to make all beings without exception happy?
But wishing to be rid of misery, they run towards misery itself. Wishing happiness, like an enemy they ignorantly destroy it.
For those who are deprived of happiness and burdened with many sorrows, it satisfies them with all joys, dispels all suffering, and clears away confusion.
Where is there even such a friend?
The world honours as virtuous a man who on occasion provides a little food with contempt to a few people, that satisfies them for only half a day.
What need be said then of one who tirelessly bestows the unsurpassed bliss of the Sugatas upon countless sentient beings, fulfilling all their hopes?
Overwhelmed by the mistakes of ignorance I rejoiced in what was committed, but now seeing these mistakes, from my heart I confess them to the Protectors.
The unpredictable Lord of death without waiting, whether or not a task is completed, whether one is sick or otherwise, suddenly comes; do not be complacent about life.
My friends, even my foes, will become nothing. I too will become nothing. Likewise all will become nothing.
Just like an experience in a dream, whatever things I enjoy will become a memory.
Through not realising that I will suddenly be extinguished, I committed many negativities through ignorance, attachment and hatred.
This life is always slipping by and never lengthening. Although surrounded by friends and family, the feeling of love being severed will be experienced by me alone.
My merit alone shall protect me then, but upon it I have never relied.
Now upon seeing this great fear I go to you for refuge.
If I need to comply with a doctor's advice when frightened by an ordinary illness, then what need to mention that it is equally true when perpetually diseased by the hundreds of faults of attachment and so forth?
If I need to be careful near a small, ordinary precipice, then how much more so near the vast precipices that drop for thousands of yojanas?
What remains with me now from my past experiences? Leaving behind this life, and likewise my friends and family, if all alone I must go onwards, how relevant are friends and enemies?
With joy I rejoice in the ocean of virtue of generating the mind of enlightenment that causes all sentient beings happiness.
Thus by the virtue accumulated through all that I have done, may all the suffering of all sentient beings be dispelled.
May I be the doctor and the medicine and may I be the nurse for all sick wandering beings in the world until their sicknesses are healed.
During the time of famine may I myself turn into food and drink. May I become an inexhaustible treasure for those who are poor and destitute.
Without any sense of loss I shall give my body and resources, for the sake of the welfare of all sentient beings.
By giving all I shall transcend sorrow and my mind will accomplish nirvana.
When anyone encounters me may it never be meaningless for him.
May I be a protector for those without one, a helmsman for travelers, and a ship, a boat, and a bridge for all who wish to cross.
May I be an island for those who seek one and a lamp for those desiring one. May I be a bed, a vase, great medicine, a wish-fulfilling tree.
Now my life is fruitful. I have attained a good human existence, today I have been born in the Buddha lineage. I have become a child of the Buddha.
How shall I ever have happiness if in a net of attachment within my mind there dwell the guardians of the prison of cyclic existence? I shall never give up exerting myself against it.
Pompous people who become angry at any slight will surely not go to sleep until it is overcome.
If fishermen, farmers and so forth, thinking merely of their own livelihoods, endure the harms of heat and cold, why do I not endure them for the sake of the happiness of wandering [migrating] beings?
I would rather be burned and killed, and even have my head cut off, than to ever bow down to the enemy that is the afflictions.
Ordinary enemies when expelled from one country simply settle down in another, to return another day; but the way of this enemy, my afflictions, is different.
When dispelled from my mind by the eye of wisdom, where will you go? Where will you retreat to? Nonetheless, weak minded, I make no effort.
Those who wish to guard their training should very tightly guard their minds.
In this world, unsubdued and crazed elephants do not cause such harms as the unleashed elephant of my mind.
Where could I possibly find enough leather with which to cover the surface of the earth? Having leather on just the soles of my shoes is equivalent.
Likewise, it is not possible for me to counteract things externally; but should I counteract this mind of mine, what is the need for counteracting others?
Never should I look around distractedly for no purpose. To check if there is danger on the path, I should look again and again in the four directions.
Having examined both ahead and behind, I should proceed to either come or go. Being aware of this necessity I should act like this in all situations.
I should conceive of my body as a boat, a mere vessel for coming and going.
Now, while I have freedom, I should always present a smiling face and cease to frown and look grim faced. I should desist from noisily moving chairs around, as well as from violently opening doors. I should always delight in humility.
The stork, the cat, the thief, by ambushing and moving silently, are able to accomplish their goal. I should always behave in this way.
At all times I should be the pupil of everyone.
I should say "Well said" to all those who speak well, and if I see someone creating merit I should praise him and be well pleased.
Introspection is only this: to examine again and again the states of my body and mind.
Thus I shall put these into action with my body, for what can be achieved by mere words? Will sick people be healed merely by reading the medical texts?
There is no negativity like hatred, and no fortitude like patience. Thus I should cultivate patience persistently through various ways.
There is nobody who dwells comfortably with another's anger.
The enemy, anger, creates sufferings such as those. But whosoever assiduously overcomes it creates happiness in this and other lives.
Hatred, fuelled by mental unhappiness in the doing of what I do not wish for, and in the hindering of what I wish for, develops and then destroys me.
Why be unhappy about something if it can be remedied? And what is the use of being unhappy about something if it cannot be remedied?
Suffering has good qualities: through being disheartened with it, arrogance is dispelled, compassion arises for those in cyclic existence, negativities are shunned, and joy is found in virtue.
All misdeeds there are and all the various kinds of negativities arise through the force of conditions; they do not have intrinsic power.
These conditions have no intention "I shall produce", and neither does that produced by them have the intention, "I will be produced".
If the self were permanent it would obviously be devoid of activity, just like space.
All are governed by others, and through the power of that, they have no power. Having understood in this way, I shall not become angry at all things that as like emanations.
So when seeing an enemy or even a friend doing something incorrect, by thinking, "it arises from such and such conditions," I shall remain in a happy frame of mind.
Even if it were the nature of the childish to cause harm to other beings, it would be inappropriate to be angry with them, for this would be like begrudging fire for having the nature to burn.
Even if the fault was incidental, it would be inappropriate to be angry, for this would be like begrudging space for allowing smoke to rise in it.
Since contempt, harsh speech and unpleasant words do not cause harm to my body, why, mind, do you become so angry?
With patience I should undertake joyous effort; enlightenment will dwell in those who strive. Merit does not occur without joyous effort.
The obstructions to enthusiasm should be explained - they are laziness, adherence to the negative, and despising oneself out of despondency.
Laziness grows strong because of the pleasurable taste of indolence, craving sleep, from not being disillusioned with the suffering of cyclic existence.
Mounting the horse of the mind of enlightenment dispels all disheartenment and weariness, and proceeds from happiness to happiness. Who then knowing this would lapse into despondency?
The arms for accomplishing the welfare of sentient beings are interest, steadfastness, joy, and relinquishment. Interest is developed through fear of suffering and contemplating its benefits.
I shall destroy the boundless misdeeds of others and myself. But if within myself I do not perceive even a fraction of the endeavour for exhausting these misdeeds, then I have become an abode for boundless suffering; why does my heart not burst?
How strange it is to make without purpose this birth I have somehow found. All I have given rise to are the agonies in my mother's womb and suffering.
People work in order to be happy, it is uncertain whether or not they will be happy; but how can those whose work is itself happiness find it without doing the work?
In order to have strength for all I should recall before undertaking any action the advice on conscientiousness thus, and then rise with lightness.
Just as the wind blows back and forth a piece of cotton, so shall I be mastered by enthusiasm, and in this way I will accomplish all.
Having developed joyous effort in this way, I should place my mind in meditative stability. The man whose mind is distracted dwells between the fangs of afflictions.
First of all I should search for calm abiding.
Through being attached to sentient beings I will be completely obscured from the perfect reality. My mind of disillusionment will also be destroyed. In the end I will be tormented by sorrow. One moment they are friends, and in a while they become enemies.
They are envious of their superiors, competitive with equals, and proud towards inferiors. They are conceited when praised, and if anything unpleasant is said they get angry.
Having in this way developed disillusion to objects of desire, I should generate joy for solitude. Within peaceful forests devoid of disputes and afflictions.
The fortunate ones dwell as long as they wish in joyful mansions of vast flat stones cooled by the sandalwood moonlight and by the stirring peaceful forest breeze free from noise, think of what is if benefit for others and stroll there.
I should completely pacify conceptualisations and meditate on bodhicitta.
First of all I should make an effort to meditate upon the equality between self and others: I should protect all as I do myself because of equal happiness and suffering.
Whatever joy there is in this world all comes from desiring others to be happy, and whatever suffering there is in this world all comes from desiring myself to be happy.
If desires are unable to be filled even by everything upon this earth, what else will do?
Being unable to fulfill them, afflictions and degeneration of attitude will arise. One will not know the utter success of not depending on anything.
Therefore I shall never allow an opportunity for the desires of this body to increase. Not holding to the attractive is a good possession.
In the end the body turns to dust. Of what use is this machine to me? How is it different from a cold of earth and the like? Alas, why do I not dispel this pride.
Having accumulated suffering for no purpose, because of honouring this body, of what use is attachment and anger for this thing so like a piece of wood?
If it has no attachment or hatred itself, why then am I so attached to it?
If it knows no anger when derided and no pleasure when praised, for what purpose am I wearing myself out like this?
Anyone who desires my body is immediately my friend. Since all desire their own bodies, why do I not find joy in theirs?
Therefore, in order to benefit migrating beings, I shall give away this body without any attachment. Although it has many faults I should uphold it, like a worker his tools.
I shall turn away sleep and lethargy. I shall bear the rigours of what is necessary, just like the compassionate Sons of the victor.
If I do not make a constant effort, day and night, when will my suffering ever come to an end?
Therefore, in order to dispel the obscurations I shall withdraw my mind from wrong paths and constantly place it in equipoise upon the correct object of observation.
If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the cart follows the foot of the ox.
If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like your own shadow that never leaves you.
For hatred never ceases by hatred; hatred ceases by love, this is an old law.
The world does not know that we must all come to an end here, but those who know it, their quarrels cease at once.
As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind.
As a solid rock is not shaken by wind, wise people falter not amidst blame and praise.
Wise people, after they have listened to the laws, become serene, like a deep, smooth, still lake.
Few are there among men who arrive at the other shore. The other people here run up and down the shore.
There is no suffering for him who has finished his journey, and abandoned grief, who has freed himself on all sides and thrown off all fetters.
They depart with their thoughts well-collected, they are not happy in their abode (?). Like swans who have left their lake, they leave their house and home.
His thought is quiet, quiet are his word and deed, when he has obtained freedom by true knowledge, when he has thus become a quiet man.
In a hamlet or in a forest, in the deep water or on the dry land, wherever venerable people (Arhanta) dwell, that place is delightful.
Forests are delightful; where the world finds no delight, there the passionless find delight, for they look not for pleasures.
Even though a speech be a thousand words, but made up of senseless words, one word of sense is better, which if a man hears he becomes quiet.
If a man conquers a thousand times a thousand in battle, and if another conquers himself, he is the greatest of conquerors.
He who lives a hundred years, vicious and unrestrained, a life of one day is better if a man is virtuous and reflecting.
He who lives a hundred years, idle and weak, a life of one day is better if a man has attained firm strength.
He who lives a hundred years, not seeing beginning and end, a life of one day is better if a man sees beginning and end.
A fool does not know when he commits evil deeds. But he wicked man burns by his own deeds, as if burnt by fire.
Fletchers bend the arrow, carpenters bend the log. Good people fashion themselves.
Let each man direct himself first to what is right behaviour, then let him teach others; else even a wise man will suffer.
Self rules self, who else could? With self well ruled, a man finds a ruler such as few can find.
Bad deeds, and things hurtful to oneself, are easy to do. What is beneficial and good, that is difficult to do.
By oneself evil is done, by oneself one suffers. By oneself evil is left undone, by oneself is one purified.
Rouse thyself! Do not be idle. Follow the law of virtue. The virtuous rest in bliss in this world and in the next.
Come, look at this glittering world as unto a royal chariot. The foolish are immersed in it, the wise do not touch it.
He who formerly was reckless and afterwards became sober brightens up this world, like the moon when freed from clouds.
He whose evil deeds are covered by good deeds, brightens up this world, like the moon when freed from clouds.
Better than sovereignty over the earth, better than going to heaven, better than lordship over all worlds, is the reward of the first step in holiness.
The awakened call patience the highest penance, long-suffering the highest Nirvana.
Not to blame, not to strike, to live within the restraints of the law, to be moderate in eating, to sleep and sit alone, and to dwell on the highest thoughts - this is the teaching of the awakened.
Let us live happily then, not hating those who hate us!
Victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is unhappy. He who has given up both victory and defeat, he, the contented, is happy.
There is no fire like passion, there is no losing throw like hatred, there is no pain like this body, there is no happiness higher than rest.
Hunger is the worst of diseases, the body the greatest of pains. If one knows this truly, that is Nirvana, the highest happiness.
Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the greatest riches; trust is the best of relationships, nirvana the highest happiness.
He who has tasted the sweetness of solitude and tranquility, is free from fear and free from sin.
He who walks in the company of fools suffers a long way. Company with fools, as with an enemy, is always painful. Company with the wise is a pleasure, like meeting with kinsfolk.
One ought to follow a good and wise man, as the moon fillows the path of the stars.
From pleasure comes grief, from pleasure comes fear.
From affection comes grief, from affection comes fear.
From lust comes grief, from lust comes fear.
From love comes grief, from love comes fear.
From greed comes grief, from greed comes fear.
Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let him overcome all bondage! No sufferings befall the man who is not attached to name or form, and who calls nothing his own.
He who holds back anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real driver; other people are but holding the reins.
Let a man overcome anger by love; let him overcome evil by good; let him overcome the greedy by generosity, the liar by truth!
Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if you are asked for little. By these 3 steps you will be near the gods.
This is an old saying - they blame him who sits silent, they blame him who speaks much, they also blame him who says little; there is no one on earth who is not blamed.
There never was, there never will be, nor is there now a man who is always blamed, or a man who is always praised.
Make thyself an island, work hard, be wise! When thy impurities are blown away, and thou art free from guilt, thou wilt not enter again into birth and decay.
But life is hard to live for a modest man, who always looks for what is pure, who is disinterested, quiet, spotless and intelligent.
There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.
If a man looks always at the faults of others, and is incline always to be offended, his own passions will grow, and he is far from the destruction of passion.
There is no path through the air, a man is not a Samana by outward acts.
A man is not just if he deals with a matter by violence. No, he who distinguishes both right and wrong, who is learned and leads others, not by violence, but by law and equity, he is called just.
A man is not learned because he talks much: he who is patient, free from hatred and fear, he is called learned.
The best of ways is the eightfold, the best of truths the four, the best of virtues passion-less, the best of men he who has eyes to see.
"All created things perish" - he who knows and sees this becomes accepting of pain. This is the way to purity.
"All created things are grief and pain" - he who knows and sees this becomes accepting of pain. This is the way to purity.
"All forms are unreal" - he who knows and sees this becomes accepting of pain. This is the way to purity.
He who does not rouse himself when it is time to rise, who, though young and strong, is full of sloth, whose will and thought are weak, that lazy and idle man will never find the way to knowledge.
Through zeal knowledge is gotten, through lack of zeal knowledge is lost. Let a man who knows this double path of gain and loss thus place himself that knowledge may grow.
The disciples of Gotama are always well awake and their thoughts day and night are always set on Buddha.
The disciples of Gotama are always well awake and their thoughts day and night are always set on the law.
The disciples of Gotama are always well awake and their thoughts day and night are always set on the sangha.
The disciples of Gotama are always well awake and their thoughts day and night are always set on their body.
The disciples of Gotama are always well awake and their mind day and night delights always in compassion.
Good people shine from afar, like the snowy mountains. Bad people are not seen, like arrows shot by night.
Silently shall I endure abuse, as the elephant in battle endures the arrow sent from the bow; for the world is ill-natured.
Mules are good if tamed, and noble horses, and elephants with large tusks. But he who tames himself is better still.
This mind of mine went formerly wandering about as it liked, as it pleased, but I shall now hold it in thoroughly, as the rider who holds in the furious elephant.
Be not thoughtless, watch your thoughts! Draw yourself out of the evil way, like an elephant stuck in the mud.
The thirst of a thoughtless man grows like a creeper, he runs from life to life like a monkey seeking fruit in the forest.
He who overcomes this fierce thirst, difficult to be conquered in this world, sufferings fall off from him like water-drops from a lotus leaf.
If a man delights in quieting doubts, and, always reflecting, dwells on what is not delightful (the impurity of the body, etc) he will certainly remove, nay, he will cut the fetter of Mara.
He who has reached the consummation, who does not tremble, who is without thirst and without sin, he has broken all the thorns of life; this will be his last body.
I have conquered all, I know all, in all conditions of life I am free of taint; I have left all, and through the destruction of thirst I am free; having learnt this myself, whom shall I teach?
The gift of the law exceeds all gifts; the sweetness of the law exceeds all sweetness; the delight in the law exceeds all delights; the extinction of thirst overcomes all pain.
Pleasures destroy the foolish, if they look not for the other shore; the foolish by his thirst for pleasures destroys himself, as if he were his own enemy.
Restraint in the eye is good, good is restraint in the ear, restraint in the nose is good, good is restraint in the tongue.
Oh Bhikshu, empty this boat! If emptied it will go quickly. For self is the Lord of self, self is the refuge of self.
He who even as a Young Bhikshu, applies himself to the doctrine of Buddha, brightens up this world, like the moon when free from clouds.
When you have understood the destruction of all that was made, then you will understand that which was not made.
If the Brahmana has reached the other shore in both laws (in restraint and contemplation), all bonds vanish from him who has obtained knowledge.
He for whom there is neither this nor that shore, nor both, him, the fearless and unshackled, I call indeed a Brahmana.
One of most detailed descriptions of meditation practice. Buddha called a special meeting to give this teaching. Direct link between mindfulness of breathing and nirvana expounded.
4 lots of 4 verses, each begins with exhortation to train yourself. Not easy, brief moments of clarity pass. Like trying to steer an elephant (Dhammapada).
Awareness in itself is already healing. Ryokan - let me tell you a secret: everything is impermanent.
Sangarakshita - there are no higher teachings, only deeper understanding. Jonathan Height - you have probably already heard the thing that will change your worldview.
Piti is pleasure: the sense of well-being that comes with letting feelings be felt. Sukka is ?
Abi dharma: the space between experience and reaction is 1/64th of a finger snap. Why is this happening to me? Whose fault is it?!
Impermanence is true of universes, mental states, pizza (Nagabodi). But contemplating it now, in touch with body and breath, is to experience the truth of it.
Mahanidana sutra - (Nidana chain) -
Insight - beyond hearing, knowing a teaching, there is active sceptical enquiry. "There is no distinct, unique self" - so why do you quietly feel smug about being fit? Those pleasant moments of absorption, whether in meditation or watching a Shakespeare play. Aesthetic world is good for producing these experiences - equally, reflection and learning should feel like that. Not as a goal in itself, which could just lead to more clinging and aversion. Last stage of metta bhavana is an insight practice: no longer an "I" that wishes well, metta just flows through this space where I am!
Love is no flabby sentiment, but the vigorous expression of an imaginative identification with other living beings - Sangarakshita
Second stage of Metta is to see living beings as being no different, all striving. Spot the ways in which you distinguish yourself from others. All should appear beautiful, as all things that change and are transient are beautiful.
Third stage is abiding in metta, with no sense of self and other.
Brahmaviharas- "dwelling of the most excellent". Metta is the root of all. Carina is metta tinged with shadow, When it confronts pain and suffering. Mudinya (?) is metta delighting in the joy of others. Upekya is equanimity- not detachment however, actually the most developed.
Anitya - impermanence. Buddha said more misguided to identify self with the mind than with the body, so changeable and unpredictable it is. [Sangarakshita]
Sangsara as bewilderment. Wandering about, lost, confused. Because we create the illusion of permanence, a permanent self, a permanent world. Shantideva - blundering along on the roads of existence. Sangsara is ultimately emptiness, shunyata, no fixed permanent self or substance, just a flow of ever changing conditions. Nirvana is the end and dispersion of bewilderment. The state of complete freedom from illusion. Like sangsara, its ultimate nature is emptiness, not blank, but so rich and profound that words, ideas and concepts cannot contain it. As beauty can be so striking that it takes all words away. Gampopa, the Tibetan doctor who lost his wife and children to disease. [Padmavajra]
Compassion and wisdom are 2 wings of a bird.
Prapancha= proliferation. The tendency to allow one thought to explode into a multitude of other thoughts, complicating and confusing the picture.
With prajna, one is able to sort out the qualities of the compounded from the uncompounded, distinguishing clearly between that which is impermanent, insubstantial, painful and unlovely from that which is permanent, substantial, blissful and beautiful. [Sangarakshita]
5 cardinal virtues - faith (devotion) and intellect, balanced; busy energy and tranquillity, balanced (restlessness vs inertia); mindfulness (of own spiritual journey). External (actions) and internal (meditation) no different spiritually. [Sangarakshita]
Perfection of wisdom sutras are attempt to avoid spiritual ideas becoming just more things that we cling to, but useful for teaching.
6 perfectons (paramitas) - dana (generosity), pranja (wisdom), shila (ethics), virya (joyful endeavour), dyana (meditation), kshanti (patience). Dana is foremost, because it attenuates ego, and involves the least skill.
5 ethical principles (precepts) - not killing, not stealing, not lying, not intoxicated, no sexual misconduct.
Sanga is one of the 3 jewels. Means that it is something precious, even magical, that is an ideal to be contemplated. Not just a group of Buddhists. Also different in that groups generally suppress individuality for collective ends, not least the continued existence of the group. But in a Sanga, there is commitment to individual loving kindness that manifests within the group. [Padmavajra]
The Buddhist ideals are radical! Not easy! To choose contentment, loving kindness and wisdom above craving, hate and ignorance. In the Dammapada, after the initial verses about everything being a manifestation of mind, the very next verses concern relationships with others, how blaming others only leads to suffering, and the malignant nature of hate. See at 40mins. [Vajradarshini]
8 fold noble path - right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. The first 2 are about seeing conditionality and consequences, the difference between skillful and unskillful actions, and then deciding to do something about it. The middle 3 are about traditional morals/virtues. The last 3 are about mental work. Right effort is about moving on from "resolve" and doing something about, resisting set backs, to let go of unskillful actions and adopt skillful practices. Right concentration is about abiding in the feelings of that mindfulness, which then leads to knowledge and wisdom.
The 3 fetters - attachment to self; doubt in the spiritual path; self delusion, that you go through the motions but do not allow yourself to move on.
Stream entry - when your insight is such that it is inevitable that you will achieve enlightenment. Not because it is a trophy or reward, just that being aware of the nature of things means you can no longer go fully back to what you were.
The 3 lakshanas - insubstantiality, impermanence, painfulness. These are the "wake up" experiences we have in daily life, that make us stop and wonder what it's all for, why we bother.
The 3 vimoksha mukkas - are gateways to different sorts of liberation. The signless gateway, takes us to a place free from labelling and fixity, where we can experience reality in all its natural vividness. The Openness gateway, takes us to a place without limitations or divisions, where we can experience the mystery that is in all things. The Wishless gateway, takes us to a place where we no longer wish that things be different from how they actually are.
Wabisabi - Love of life, balanced against a serene sense of its passing, distilled into form (Andrew Juniper). A kind of beauty, that is increased by needing care and attention!
Settle, be present Be aware fo what you bring - not critical, no right state to bring, discipline Check posture: seat, legs, torso, hands, eyes, mouth (repeat as necessary) Begin decisively - intention to stabilize the mind Shamita - placing mind on object, calm (ly) abiding Noting when mind wanders Awareness of breath - not concentration! Allow? Be one with? Find own words!
Bodhicitta - In the midst of the most profound misery, we can think of others just like ourselves and wish that we could all be free of suffering and the root of suffering. When we tune into any of our feelings, become aware any of our feelings, they have the capacity to soften us and to dissolve the barriers we put up between ourselves and others.
I work on melting that hardness by generating more warmth, more open heart. A good way for any of us to do this is to think of a person toward whom we feel appreciation or love or gratitude. In other words, we connect with the warmth that we already have. If we can't think of a person, we can think of a pet, or even a plant. Sometimes we have to search a bit. But as Trungpa Rinpoche used to say, "Everybody loves something. Even if it's just tortillas." The point is to touch in to the good heart that we already have and nurture it.
He will often bring his fingertips together to form a mountain, and softly sing "I am solid as the mountain, I am firm as the earth, I am free." Thich Nhat Hanh talked about recognising the qualities of a mountain in oneself: inner strength, stability, the ability to weather the inevitable ups and downs of life. Mountains are sacred symbols of abiding presence and stillness, he said. The sun moves and the seasons change, the light and colour on the side of the mountain continually shift, but the mountain itself never moves. He tells young people to make good use of the mountain within so they are not as affected by what other people say and do to them, and they can be more true to themselves.
In his book, Teachings On Love, he uses the image of a mountain to illustrate the fourth of the foundations of true love: equanimity or upeksha. "Upa means 'over', and iksh means 'to look'. You climb the mountain to be able to look over the whole situation, not bound by one side or the other. If your love has attachment, discrimination, prejudice, or clinging in it, it is not true love."
Yet the Buddhism that interests him most is what he calls "the living Dharma". This is, as he puts it, "the Dharma that lives within a person's actual experience. When you practise mindful breathing," he says, "you are generating the living Dharma, the Dharma that does not need words. When you practise mindfulness of breathing or walking, you become yourself the living Dharma."
Thus, according to Thây, true teachers of the Dharma do not teach with their mouths, but with their body, their breath, and their steps. "The living Dharma", he adds, "is not something abstract. It's very real and available. You can have it anytime you want, twenty-four hours a day!" He goes on to explain that mountains are themselves temples of living Dharma.
"We are at the summit of a lotus with a thousand rock petals."
You can distinguish the real teachers from the others fairly easily," he went on. "You don't see any joy... the happiness born of real practice is missing from their faces."
A line from a poem by another major Chinese poet in the T'ang Dynasty, Li Po (701-762), came to mind: "We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains."
Give up Regret! How limitless is the pure wind circling the earth (Setcho)Buddhists through zazen endeavour to reach the bottom of things and there to grasp with their own hands the very life of the universe, which makes the sun rise in the morning, makes the bird cheerfully sing in the balmy spring breeze, and also makes man hunger for love, righteousness, liberty, truth and goodness.
All are nothing but flowers in a flowering universe (Soen)
No snowflake falls in an inappropriate place.
When you are climbing a steep hill, do you analyze your climbing condition? No! You climb!
When faith in yourself is lacking you find yourself hunted by others in every possible way. At every encounter, you are no longer your own master (Rinzai Roku)
You are the light, you are the refuge, there is no place to take shelter but yourself. (inscribed on the box of Buddha's ashes)
The stink of spiritual dignity...
Tibetan culture is the last citadel of all that present day humanity is longing for, either because it has been lost or not yet been realized or because it is in danger of disappearing from human sight: the stability of a tradition which has its roots not only in a historical or cultural past, but within the innermost being of man (Lama Angarika Govinda)
Prajna - transcendent knowing
Om mani padme hum - the diamond in the heart of the lotus. Indestructible, pure essence, nestled within the layers of samsara, or perceived reality, gradually peeling back.
It is just at the moment of seeming fulfilment that we sense irrevocable betrayal, like a great wave rising silently behind us.
Even when I hope to see it again in autumn, How, this evening, can I go to sleep while there is such a moon? (Dogon's final verse, 13th century)
Mental calmness. I go for refuge to the dharma. Recognition of suffering, recollection of kindness leads to altruistic mind. Love - recognize others as your mother. Compassion. Equanimity - equalize self with others - all suffer, all seek happiness, all deserve. Joy - rarity of existence. Impermanence and death, cherish knowledge of the chains that bind you. Enemies are kind - negative fruits ripen noble ideas. (Delusions are the enemy, not the ignorant!) Delusions and samsara - alertness.
Human potential - the extraordinary attitude=intention to act.
Nectar descends through head into heart. Karma - not all will benefit from you. Review of the day - confession, regret, dedication.
A personal account about his own journey, mixed in with background about Buddhism, as well as conversations he had with Iris Murdoch (whose biography he has also written).
The millions born into Buddhism in the East outside the caste of monks and priests, can be as incurious about what they inherit as the average Anglican. Christopher Isherwood in "A Single Man" celebrated the fact that a materially rich culture has a unique hunger for the spiritual. Poor monks in Asia might worry first about filling their stomachs and then acquiring Rolex watches. Unlearning self-preoccupation has a very different resonance in a pre-modern society where ties of kinship, by contrast, are strong and sustaining. Here in the atomized and lonely societies of the west, unlearning self-preoccupation is possibly all the more important.
Traditional Tibetan teaching as it still exists in many places is authoritarian; the student a vessel waiting to be filled with ancient wisdom. Trungpa Rinpoche was the first Asian Buddhist teacher to plunge into the existential plight of a Western culture and to articulate a way out of that dilemma in the language of those undergoing it.
Various scandals involving teachers in the West. Transference, as happens in psychotherapy? Or inevitable where blind obedience, devotion and acceptance on the part of a student spoils the teacher [as the Dalai Lama has explained it]?
Reincarnate lamas known only in Tibet and only since the 12th century, when religious controversy got mixed up with dynastic dispute. A convenient way of keeping precious teachings alive, but open to manipulation.
It is sometimes argues that in its Asian habitat Buddhism lacked in comparison to the 3 great monotheisms, a socially engaged dimension. Inner purification matters at least as much if not more than public charity? Thich Nhat Hanh and Dalai Lama both affirm importance of inner peace yet both have had to deal with unimaginable suffering (former exiled from Vietnam after political activity and an attempt on his life). Monks in Cambodia and Sri Lanka have done much for the ecological movement.
Buddhist organisations work with AIDS and homelessness in NYC, in mediation for international disputes, hospice work, prison work. Precisely what forms of social/political change are being recommended can be hard to elicit. Trungpa Rinpoches "Shambala training" talks about "basic human wisdom", a "tradition of human warriorship", aims to cultivate fearlessness and gentleness, to realise the ideals of an "Enlightened Society".
Once you start to relax in meditation, fear can arise. Not knowing who/what one is can feel hostile. Emptiness is a familiar idea in Judaeo-Christian tradition eg Vanity (in Ecclesiastes, All is vanity ), "We are such stuff as dreams are made on" (Prospero in the Tempest), "Everything exists, nothing has value" (EM Forster, in the Marabar Caves in Passage to India). When Buddhism reached China, the Emperor is said to have asked "What is the first principle of Buddhism?" and been answered, "Vast emptiness." Tibetan Buddhists place great emphasis on the "view" or backdrop against which meditation takes place. A meditator without a view [of metaphysics] is said to resemble a man without eyes or limbs attempting to scale a cliff. The teachings on emptiness seem designed to make space within a busy mind for genuine compassion, to refine that otherwise crudely do-gooding urge.
Theravada Buddhism (Sri Lanka, Indochina) split from Mahayana (China, Japan, Bhutan, Tibet). The former is vegetarian, abstinent (Tibetans drink beer), older. Tibet claims to have produced many more enlightened practitioners over the last 500yrs (Theravada could be accused of not having produced any at all). Theravada criticized for being overly focussed on the 4 noble truths; Mahayana build on those to bring in compassion and a more radical view of emptiness. The latter stems from about 150AD, time of the philosopher Nagarjuna There is no suffering, no end of suffering, no path, no wisdom.
More recent teaching (the Third Turning) emphasizes that Emptiness is not about cold nihilism. They focus on the inexpressibly wonderful and luminous nature of non-conceptual reality. Life is not an illusion ("Maya" in Hinduism) but resembles one. "Shunyata" in Sanskrit carries the connotation of being "pregnant with possibilities". Thus the encounter with emptiness is not throwing everything out to be left with a blank kind of nothing, but rather an experience of openness that is rich, unbounded, creative. Liberating thoughts through recognizing their emptiness, they are said to undo themselves as a snake might untie a knot in its own body. Later, you master this liberation, so that thoughts, like thieves in an empty house, can do no harm.
The Tibetans write little of goodness per se but rather advocate an increase in compassion and, above all, of skilful means ie learning to work appropriately with whatever is happening right now. More practical than absolutist.
Going Buddhist is not a quick fix. Some believe it takes many lifetimes to perfect oneself. In the meantime, a willingness both to see through your stories and to meet repeated disappointment is sometimes said to be the best way to proceed. The meditator can split into 2 contradictory people. One, the impatient jaded materialist, a cynic (ie a disappointed romantic). The other, a childs capacity to lost itself in a condition of extreme wakefulness. There is no final victor meditation is one site where they repeatedly meet each other. The mystic however does not see more than the cynic: he sees less. What is subtracted is what is self-involved. The world becomes vivid and marvellous and moving.
Retreat-practice resembles being invited outside your life to understand the principles that secretly govern it. Gradually you let go into the disciplined routine, you move like Alice through the looking glass into a world of unexpected space and detail. Life slows down; the volume is turned up. In between is claustrophobia, physical tension.
Temporary elated states should be worked with and let go. Presumably different from the bliss of enlightenment. In these joyous states you belong to yourself as if for the first time. You are in love and broken-hearted but without any blind need, the exact opposite of depressed. You need nothing and nobody and have discovered how to be quiet and still. You are in love with the world and see how fragile and painfully moving that world is like a cosmonaut witnessing for the first time the little globe journeying nakedly, bravely through open space, with its infinitely precious cargo.
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep" [Prospero]
Live without the trappings of discursive thought. Train yourself to understand the unified nature of your mind. Come to know how it encompasses all this mundane world and the life of enlightenment, complete.
It is the intrinsic awareness of your own mind that yields nakedness. It is knowing it that brings freedom. Is is all we are, yet many do not recognize it. It is present everywhere, illumined, clear, yet many do not see its face. Thus their own mind in its depths is lost to them. This intrinsic awareness is like the sunlight falling through a cloudless sky, unobstructed. Yet many pass it by without comprehension.
Should you wish to know yourself, you must understand it, in fact, not understanding means you know nothing! When we understand nothing then our actions draw down on our lives all the sufferings possible in this world. Through our ignorance we yield ourselves up to bright and shining pain, drugged by delusion, lost in the vast wheel of the centuries.
You must ask yourself, have I ever been satisfied? if so, for how long? When I look into myself with naked awareness, all that has come before I have left behind, all that will come, comes, unencumbered by any divisive views of mine. i look and know that my mind is unified and clear and yet quite ordinary; settled, stable, completely pure.
All of a person's life, its momentums of wishes and desires, can flow morning, noon and night like a great tide, so that everywhere people swim for their lives in terror of its rush, in the grip of its foam, from one moment tot he next they go in fear of drowning.
Who am I who flees from one moment to the next, who fears death, yet sits bemused by life? Bewildered, puzzled, grave? Think of how behind your dance, behind your song, the meeting of bright eyes, do you not stand alone? Stop and realize, grant your own wish for rest, draw comfort from you own mind. Trust the waters!
All the Buddhas have compassion for living beings - they understand what it's like to feel like you have to swim for your life.
Don't be like the fool who loses his identity in a crowd, then begins a search among them for himself, not knowing his own mind, everywhere he finds his absence in the face of others, in their embrace he remains empty without fulfilment.
Each wish, each desire, makes of itself a cliff from which we hang.
The fountain of our desires sparkles, as in a winter sun. It rises, it falls, a place of gravity and shadows. But all appearances come from your own mind. The fountain of your own desires casts this lasting tragedy. There could be joy instead. You could love, not cling. Not making creatures of other people for your wishes; you could know them in their depths instead. Why not direct your mind towards unity?
Awakening rather than enlightenment - because we are as if lost in a dream, or a deep sleep. "Bodhi" in Sanskrit. What can seem vivid and terrifying (eg a nightmare) becomes imaginary.
The path to awakening is like a raft across the river. Use any means necessary, then leave it behind once you have arrived!
Buddhist practices are means fo transforming our irrational, unconscious, emotional selves. May not be rational, but have rationale!
Scientific materialism is the pervasive philosophy of our world; not science as such, but the belief that nothing matters or is real that cannot be explained scientifically.
Every human is a potential Buddha, has the potential to awaken. The 3 jewels are:
Seeing through appearances eg a magic trick, or a deceiful person, is something we can all do - but it can also be disillusioning. Buddhist insight sees through all things, including oneself - and this liberation from delusion gives relief, bliss.
After his awakening Buddha remained for some weeks in the vicinity of the Bodhi tree. He needed to find the words to fit his experience, and he felt acutely the need to relieve the suffering of others.
The first followers were 5 ascetics. Buddha is said to have given a sermon but more likely is that he spent time talking and meditating with them. Kondanna was the first to achieve enlightenment, presumably Buddha gave a sigh of relief that it was possible for others to achieve the same state as his own, albeit with some direction (and years of mental and physical training).
The Four Noble Truths are the first part of the teaching. Life is not consistently painful or unsatisfactory. But there is always the potential for it to quickly become so, and we act in ways that make it inevitable.
Our suffering arises from "self-view", the belief that we exist as an entity at the heart of our experience of the universe. Suffering occurs because this view does not accurately explain our experience of life (fate, or the actions of other people). We respond with craving, aversion, ignorance or indifference.
The end of suffering is not as simple as just not caring any more. Forcing oneself not to care is doomed to failure. One must awaken tot he delusion of feeling/being a permanent self at the centre of one's being. This sense of self is unnecessary, as well as unsatisfactory, and discarding it prevents it from influencing/informing the way we behave.
Nirvana is the "going out" of a fire when its fuel is exhausted - it is meant to describe the freedom and inner peace that arises when delusion is fully comprehended.
Without delusion, insight leads to wisdom (knowing things as they really are) and compassion (seeing suffering without fear). One would no longer feel separate from others.
Buddha continued teaching in N India for 45 years. His son became a novice and attained awakening in his early 20s. Buddha could make mistakes, however - after teaching contemplation of loathsomeness (esp towards the human body) as a means of developing non-attachment, some students committed suicide. He realised that such a practice must only be used by those already advanced in their learning.
One of his most succint teachings was to Bahiya the Bark Clad, an insistent ascetic whom he tried to fend off but who won him over by saying "One never knows how long life will last - yours or mine." "Train yourself like this,"he said. "In the seen, there is only the seen. In the heard, only the heard. In the apprehended, only the apprehended." (Bahiya was promptly killed by a rampaging bullock).
Kisa Gotami was a grief stricken mother who took her dead child's corpse round the houses of her town, asking for medicine to bring her back to life. Buddha told her to fetch mustard seed from a house where nobody had ever died. She went round the town, hearing the stories of death and bereavement in every family, before taking her child to the burial ground.
Less well known than the 8-fold path is the 5 stage path (from the Meghiya Sutta - leading to the "heart's release"):
Mahayana also has 6 perfections. All have in common the 3 fold path - skilful (ethical) action, meditation, wisdom. One leads to the other, although we need to proceed through all stages more than once.
Skilful=clever, expert, right, beautiful! Arises from generosity, kindness, wisdom; not craving, aversion, delusion. Harder in society/social interaction than in meditation! But developing skilful responses to our own mental events will then find expression in our actions, and skilful actions prepare us for meditation.
Wisdom allows us to sustain skilful mental states in the face of challenges. Comes from insight, into any situation, be it meditation or other.
Buddhist ethics do not depend on divine laws, but on the principle thatskilful actions, by their nature, lead to happier, brighter states. So motives for "right" actions are important, as for refraining from "wrong" actions eg fear of retribution.
Hence the 5 precepts below are training principles, rather than rules - they facilitate greater awareness:
Pacificism is not an absolute viz Tibetan monks vs Chinese occupation. Stealing= taking that which is not given. Exploitation of anything, eg patience, goodwill. Generosity is not without limit, if demands are unreasonable. Sexual misconduct refers to violence, exploitation, infidelity. Overinvestment in sexual experience leads to under development of other areas of our life and encourages infidelity and manipulativeness. Contentment may be a positive experience of open, spacious, enjoyable mental states. Celibacy or retreat offers the best circumstances to identify how driven we are by sexual impurlses, to sublimate sexual desire into a sense of inner wholeness accomapnied by joy, bliss.
Similarly, other craving behaviours. Truthfulness acknowledges the place of skilful speech - kind, helpful, harmonious; not just about bald truth vs dishonesty. Intoxicants impair mindfulness. Their use suggests lack of self respect/acceptance.
Skilful action must precede, else unskilful mental states are inevitable. Once we begin, we may discover that aspects of our lifestyle hamper our practice.
Be realistic! Heightened awareness may reveal suppressed anger - not enjoyable, but enables us to change. A teacher is important, as individual responses unpredictable (and vary, even within a single session!) The art of meditation is in knowing how to deal skilfully with our mental and emotional states, whatever they may be. Samatha=abiding in calm ie maintaining continuously cf metta. Overlap. Mindfulness is of direction and purpose, not just of perceptions. cf Distraction, 1 of our attempts at satisfaction, or induced by habit. We can lose self awareness completely if distracted sufficiently - yet operate at a reflex level - ?responsibility.
Concentration, in meditation, is not a forced, headache inducing effort - rather, engrossed absorption eg playing music, climbing. Natural! Mindfulness of breathing - some traditions have it that this is how the Buddha achieved awakening. Alternatives to breathing may suit different temperaments: colour, sound, visualization. Breath reflects/enhances mental state - and is always available!
Various versions:
Various methods of dealing with sleepiness, doubt, irritation etc. Balance between vigour/relaxation, depth/breadth, concentration/awareness. Different levels of meditative absorption. Fascination, satisfaction, pleasure. Unwavering concentration does not necessarily produce skilful mental states - cf samurai swordsman, ready for anything. Intention is also essential. At initial levels, directed thinking is possible, but deeper we lose all perception of the external world: consciousness itself, refined, brilliant, becomes the entire content of our experience.
Retreat allows for periods of intensive practice. Bhavana-cultivation, development. Metta=loving-kindness. Not craving or contingent. Unlike breath not always present. Initially to yourselves - including negative, unskilful parts. Nurture spark of positive intention into a glowing ember, then the effulgent glow of Metta. Challenge numbness (protection from pain). "May I be happy, may I be well" repeat as if dropping pebbles in water to see reipples. Recollect positive experiences. Imagine light radiating from heart. Consider love one/neutral/enemy. Appreciate them. Then bring together all in our minds, and cultivate equal metta towards all, to all living beings. Metta manifests according to context - compassion, shared joy, equanimity ("vibrant peacefulness").>
The development of wisdom is both the destination, and the path of Buddhism; the snow capped peak and the journey there. The relization of wisdom at the highest level is awakening itself - but we can cultivate wisdom at all stages of the Buddhist path, starting with rational understanding, progressing through insight to a state of wisdom. Trauma is often the trigger to reappraise life and values - but however profound the experience usually fades, old habits reassert themselves. All genuine insight experiences are by nature ego-threatening - and conversely, most ego-threatening experiences can provoke insight. Hence Buddhism provides a way to understand such experiences, and realize its implications in a permanent way.
Prajna = wisdom. We can understand by learning, but reflection and action in our lives develops it further. Meditating on it and transforming our lives through stabilized insight meditation and the arising of insight itself is the final level.
Getting truly to know another human being is like exploring a new continent, or a new world. One plunges into abysses, wanders among lofty mountains, is lost in the depths of mysterious forests, rests in bowers of roses with brooks sparkling beside one and the birds singing in the branches overhead and stands on lonely shores gazing over the limitless expanse of sunlit waters.
How much more with a Buddha?
Akshobya the name means the immovable, unshakeable, imperturbable.He is the first buddha that you meet as you enter the mandala.
He is seated on a vast blue lotus throne that is supported by 4 enormous elephants. His body is made of deep blue light, the colour of the night sky in the tropics, deep, mysterious and yet somehow quite luminous. He sits in full lotus posture and is adorned with silk robes, and the robes are of the same mysterious blue as his body. The difference is that the robes are covered in gold embroidery. He has dark hair, actually blue black, jet black and it's in a top knot. His smile is said to be incredibly beautiful.
Once you see his smile, really see it, you completely understand everything. Nothing can ever be the same again, once you have seen his smile. He has various forms of jewellery, a golden crown with 5 crests, a gold necklace, and gold ornaments on his hands and feet.
His right hand reaches down, palm inwards and gently touches the earth. He is seated on a white moon mat and his left hand rests in his lap. Upright on his palm is a golden vajra (thunderbolt). There is a halo around his head, a luminous green, and another around his body, a soft red. The syllable Om is seen in his heart, emitting a soft pale blue light. This is said to represent the integration of the individual and the universal.
He emanates a mantra. Om vajra Akshobya om. When the mantra is emanated, each syllable is like an elephant stepping. This slow, steady rhythm spread everywhere, like the beating of a drum.
A story where Mara, the evil one, approaches the Buddha, tries to distract him, to terrify him. But this fails. So he questions the Buddha's right to sit there in the Vadrasana, like the Buddhas before you? Siddharta replies, I have practised generosity, ethical discipline and other practices for aeons. I have earned my place here. Where is your witness, Mara replies? The buddha says nothing, but touches the earth gently. The earth goddess appears, rises up, and states to Mara, I will be his witness, I have seen him purifying himself through his spiritual practice. Mara is repelled.
"The blossom is out in full now, it's plum tree but it looks like apple blossom but it's white. It's the whitest, frothiest, blossomest blossom that ever could be and I can see it."
"Things are both more trivial than they ever were and more important than they ever were, and the difference between the trivial and the important doesn't seem to matter."
"But the now-ness of everything is absolutely wondrous."
No, not the kama sutra.
If one longing for sensual pleasure achieves it, yes, he is enraptured at heart. But if for that person, longing, desiring, the pleasures diminish - he grieves, as though pierced by a barb. Whoever avoids sensual pleasures, it is as if avoiding the head of a snake with his foot. He who is mindful goes beyond this attachment to the world.
A man who is greedy for fields, land, gold, cattle, horses, servants. employees, women, relatives, many sensual pleasures... is overpowered with weakness and crushed by dangers. Then misery enters into him like water into a broken boat.
So one always mindful should avoid sensual pleasures: letting them go, he crosses over the flood like one who having bailed out the boat has reached the far shore.
Quotes from Series 1 of the 1970s TV show starring David Carradine.
All that we are is the result of what we have thought.