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The world is finely structured. Thus there are mandalas or hierarchies.
I have read in the Jewel Ornament of Liberation that the dharmakaya respects neither high or low. I think that means there is** not different sizes of Buddha nature**. But there can be high and low otherwise.
Again I am unsure of your question..
Are you asking whether progress, or technology, or evolution, or personal opinion have altered the fact that some people reach states of absorption ( Jnanas ) that others don't ?
I dont think so.
I have met people who I am sure through all sorts of signs, live permanently in a state of mind that most people never experience and that even experienced meditators only glimpse sporadically.
I have no problem in describing that as a 'higher' state..although my own preference if we are using spatial metaphors would be to describe it a 'deeper ' state.
If I didn't think that was the way things are I would out pleasuring myself to oblivion, rather than messing about with all this.
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
The 'deeper' you go, the 'higher' you become..... Talk about the complexities of language.... I'd settle for just floating three inches above the ground..... Actions, after all, do speak louder than words - !
Bhikkhus, there are these five mental abilities to feel (vedana). What five?
1: The ability to feel pleasure (sukha ).
2: The ability to feel pain (dukkha ).
3: The ability to feel gladness (somanassa ).
4: The ability to feel sadness (domanassa ).
5: The ability to feel equanimity (upekkha ).
Feelings are like bubbles, empty, void, without substance, quickly bursting!
What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel pleasure?
Whatever bodily pleasure there is, whatever bodily comfort, any pleasant
agreeable feeling born of body-contact: This is the ability to feel pleasure. What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel pain?
Whatever bodily pain there is, whatever bodily discomfort, painful, aching
disagreeable feeling born of body-contact: This is the ability to feel pain. What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel gladness?
Whatever mental pleasure there is, whatever mental comfort, and pleasing
agreeable feeling born of mental contact: This is the ability to feel gladness. What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel sadness?
Whatever mental frustration there is, whatever mental grief, disagreeable
feeling born of mental contact: This is the ability to feel sadness. What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel equanimity?
Whatever feeling there is, whether bodily or mental, that is neutral & thus
neither comfortable, nor uncomfortable, neither agreeable nor disagreeable:
This, Bhikkhus, is called the ability to feel equanimity. These 5, Bhikkhus, are the five abilities to feel feelings.
Noteworthy Central Implications:
If unaware & untrained then bodily pleasure and mental gladness will incite
greed, lust and derivatives such as desire, craving, wanting, urge & longing!
If unaware and untrained, then bodily pain and mental sadness will induce
aversion, hate and derivatives such as anger, wrath, irritation & opposition!
If unaware and untrained, then mental equanimity will instigate ignorance,
neglect, and derivatives such as doubt, hesitation, uncertainty & confusion!
If aware and trained then mental equanimity will activate bliss, knowing &
seeing and will through peace refine and complete all other good states!
This core causality made Buddha exclaim: All states converges on Feeling!!!
Are the five abilities mutually exclusive? On occasion, it seems that I am feeling more than one simultaneously. I am aware that the possibility exists that I am simply oscillating between feelings so quickly that I cannot notice.
A case in point, I am often aware of a feeling of equanimity despite feeling pain. I noticed that you quoted the Buddha as saying, "Whatever feeling there is, whether bodily or mental, that is neutral & thus neither comfortable, nor uncomfortable, neither agreeable nor disagreeable: This, Bhikkhus, is called the ability to feel equanimity." Is it possible to feel equanimity mentally and pain physically at the same time?
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HamsakagoosewhispererPolishing the 'just so'Veteran
This is very useful . . . I assumed aversion would be a 'primary' mental ability leading to feeling. Aversion just seems so basic. But what the Buddha is saying is that aversion is dependent upon the arising of sadness? Am I getting that correctly? Beneath aversion, as a cause of aversion, is sadness, maybe grief if that word can be used interchangeably (with sadness). Wow, that's something new to me and, it resonates as true.
Sadness and/or grief is what gives rise to aversion (??) Wow, I am really impacted by this.
Sadness rises when there is loss, and loss is constant and inevitable due to impermanence.
So why do we yearn for constancy and permanence in a world that is inherently impermanent? Why does it even occur to us to expect anything other than what it is?
@Hamsaka said:But what the Buddha is saying is that aversion is dependent upon the arising of sadness? Am I getting that correctly?
While I am just a fellow traveler trying to figure this out with you - what you propose is my understanding of both life and the passage.
Along with my own questions, your question at the end of your post goes right to the heart of the matter in my opinion. Answer that question satisfactorily and we've gotten somewhere.
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
edited April 2014
@Hamsaka said:
....
So why do we yearn for constancy and permanence in a world that is inherently impermanent? Why does it even occur to us to expect anything other than what it is?
>
Because as 'animals' we are not programmed necessarily to run from what is 'bad', but rather, we gravitate towards what we perceive as 'good'.
If you think this is skewed view, consider a woman, for example, who remains in an abusive marriage, rather than leave it; She does not leave, because there is no promise of anything better than this elsewhere;
Consider the small child engrossed in playing at something that is dangerous, and how easily and peacefully he is distracted from this danger, by being proffered a morsel of favourite food, or drink;
Consider the options of a person choosing between two jobs; they will always go for the one that seems to give them more scope, a better advantage, more money, even if the 'less good' one actually holds better prospects, although the package is not so enticing.
We are taught, conditioned, programmed, to go for the goody bag.
We always go for the 'shiny object'.
Therefore, we yearn for constancy and permanence OF WHAT WE PERCEIVE AS GOOD rather than face, remain with and deal with the thing we perceive as bad.
Impermanence, an end to things, detachment.
This is why the Monastic life, is so disciplined, so full of sacrifice; because it tears us in the opposite direction to the norm, the way we actually want to go;
Ordination forces us to face our demons.
It's not that we have expectations of it being anything other than it is: We have the DESIRE to have anything other than what it is.
@samahita: thanks for the above post. an observation for a small typing error in the title of this thread - there are not 5 feelings, rather there are 5 abilities which produce feeling, but there are 3 types of feelings.
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
edited April 2014
Yes, he goes on to call them 'abilities to feel' (ie, produce)....
@misecmisc1, Could you expand on what you consider to be the 3 types of feelings?
misecmisc1, Could you expand on what you consider to be the 3 types of feelings?
Based on my little understanding of Buddha's teachings: the 3 types of feelings are : pleasant feeling, painful feeling and neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling.
the first and third ability produce pleasant feeling.
the second and fourth ability produce painful feeling.
the fifth ability produces neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling.
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
no, these are descriptions of feelings, but they're not the feelings themselves.
feeling arises after contact. feelings are only of 3 types. in above, there are 5 abilities which produce feelings, or, 5 mechanisms which generate feelings, but there are only 3 types of feeling.
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
edited April 2014
exactly.
TYPES.
But they are NOT THE feelings as you implied in your post, above.
Samahita gives the 5 feelings felt.
These 5 feelings fall into the three categories. so he is correct. (I think we are discussing semantics here....)
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HamsakagoosewhispererPolishing the 'just so'Veteran
Samahita is referring to the 5 MENTAL ABILITIES, not 'feelings'. I know for @misemisc1 English is not the primary language but even if it were, this is a tough one to grasp because pleasant, unpleasant, sadness etc refer to what we understand as feeling states. It's a teensy shift across a semantic chasm LOL, and when I first read his post last night I had to repeat over and over to myself "he's talking MENTAL ABILITIES. These are MENTAL ABILITIES' and then 'feelings' are subroutines of mental abilities.
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HamsakagoosewhispererPolishing the 'just so'Veteran
edited April 2014
@federica said:
It's not that we have expectations of it being anything other than it is: We have the DESIRE to have anything other than what it is.
It didn't quote your whole post, tho I meant it to if anything just to say YES, what you say makes sense and it's backed up by decades psychological experiments and testing. Still it's a subtle thing . . . we don't emphasize running from the 'bad' quite the same way we emphasize clinging to the 'good'. It's a huge distinction when the rubber hits the road!
Now as to the question I put at the end of my first post, there's still something about that which sticks out unaccounted for.
Interesting thought: if we were different as a species, for instance; if we did emphasize retreat from the bad over clinging to the good, 'impermanence' would be something to celebrate, what do you think? You know, 'this too shall pass' we'd be worshipping Impermanence as a God rather than resisting it.
Which (maybe? might?) lead me back to that bit that still isn't resting for me.
In an obviously, blatantly impermanent universe of 'form', what propels us humans to go counter to the grain of reality? In most if not all other ways, there is an adaptation and accommodation to our environment, but not when it comes to our emphasis on seeking and clinging to the 'good'. If anything, this is an error, it shouldn't have happened . . . yet it did, it persists, and it is we call it dukkha.
My PERSONAL and probably wrong idea is that I myself sense that SOMETHING out there/in there/all around there is as completely 'good' -- otherwise, why in the hell do we orient toward it like true north? I hope I'm making sense, it's not easy to put in words.
It makes sense to me that if this 'good' didn't exist AT ALL, it would never occur to us humans to seek, want and cling to it when it clearly isn't there. "It exerts an EFFECT on us, therefore it exists" is a good way to state what I'm thinking.
@yagr said:
samahita (or anyone who would like to help)
Are the five abilities mutually exclusive? On occasion, it seems that I am feeling more than one simultaneously. I am aware that the possibility exists that I am simply oscillating between feelings so quickly that I cannot notice.
A case in point, I am often aware of a feeling of equanimity despite feeling pain. I noticed that you quoted the Buddha as saying, "Whatever feeling there is, whether bodily or mental, that is neutral & thus neither comfortable, nor uncomfortable, neither agreeable nor disagreeable: This, Bhikkhus, is called the ability to feel equanimity." Is it possible to feel equanimity mentally and pain physically at the same time?
The 3 types of (mental) feelings are exclusive. You cannot have pleasant and painful (mental) vedana at the same time.
But physical pain does not have to give rise to mental pain. A masochist enjoys physical "pain" interpreted as an agreeable sensation. So one can be detached from physical "pain" which is really just a sensation.
Bhikkhus and friends, there are these three feelings... What three?
1: Pleasant feeling,
2: Painful feeling,
3: Neutral, neither-painful-nor-pleasant, feeling.
"A pleasant feeling is inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to vanishing, fading, ceasing. A painful feeling is also inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to vanishing, fading, ceasing. A neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling is also inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to vanishing, fading, ceasing.
"Seeing this, an instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with pleasant feeling, disenchanted with painful feeling, disenchanted with neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling. Disenchanted, he grows dispassionate. From dispassion, he is released. With release, there is the knowledge, 'Released.'
As Ven. Sariputta was reflecting thus, his mind was released from fermentations through not-clinging.
@federica said:
exactly.
TYPES.
But they are NOT THE feelings as you implied in your post, above.
Samahita gives the 5 feelings felt.
These 5 feelings fall into the three categories. so he is correct. (I think we are discussing semantics here....)
there is a subtle point here - let us take an example to clarify. suppose a teacher hits a boy with a stick - now from a layman perspective, it may be ok to say that the boy is feeling the stick on his body - but this is not what is actually happening - what is happening is a contact is arising with the stick, boy's body and boy's body consciousness coming together - this contact raises a tactile sensation, which then raises a painful feeling in mind. so when we see it from DO perspective, we will say the contact of stick with boy's body is raising a painful feeling - the boy experiences the tactile sensation of stick touching his body and due to it, a painful feeling arising in his mind.
so what @samahita gives are 5 things which lead to feeling, but they are not 5 feelings. there are only 3 feelings - pleasant feeling, painful feeling and neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling.
@federica said:
exactly.
TYPES.
But they are NOT THE feelings as you implied in your post, above.
Samahita gives the 5 feelings felt.
These 5 feelings fall into the three categories. so he is correct. (I think we are discussing semantics here....)
What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel pleasure? Whatever bodily pleasure there is, whatever bodily comfort, any pleasant agreeable feeling born of body-contact: This is the ability to feel pleasure. What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel pain? Whatever bodily pain there is, whatever bodily discomfort, painful, aching disagreeable feeling born of body-contact: This is the ability to feel pain. What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel gladness? Whatever mental pleasure there is, whatever mental comfort, and pleasing agreeable feeling born of mental contact: This is the ability to feel gladness. What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel sadness? Whatever mental frustration there is, whatever mental grief, disagreeable feeling born of mental contact: This is the ability to feel sadness. What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel equanimity? Whatever feeling there is, whether bodily or mental, that is neutral & thus neither comfortable, nor uncomfortable, neither agreeable nor disagreeable: This, Bhikkhus, is called the ability to feel equanimity. These 5, Bhikkhus, are the five abilities to feel feelings.
The classification is a bit odd:
Body pain
Body pleasure
Mental pain
Mental pleasure
5/6. Bodily and mental neutral
which should be six types. Basically it is how the **mind **interprets the body sensations as pleasant, unpleasant and neutral.
Dukkha is in the mind, not body.
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
The Blessed Buddha once said:
Bhikkhus and Friends: Once the mental release by infinite Friendliness
has been developed, frequently practised, firmly established, expanded,
made a vehicle, foundation, and brought to full perfection, then it will
be impossible for ill-will to take possession of and obsess the mind, for
the mental release by infinite Friendliness is the release from all ill-will!
Once the mental release by compassionate Pity & tender understanding
has been developed, frequently practised, firmly established, expanded,
made a vehicle, foundation, and brought to full perfection, then it will
be impossible for violence to take possession of and obsess the mind, for
the mental release by compassionate Pity is the release from all violence!
Once the mental release by mutual Joy rejoicing in other being's success
has been developed, frequently practised, firmly established, expanded,
made a vehicle, foundation, and brought to full perfection, then it will be impossible for discontent to take possession of & obsess the mind, for
the mental release by mutual Joy is the release from all discontent!
Once the mental release by serene, still and imperturbable Equanimity
has been developed, frequently practised, firmly established, expanded,
made a vehicle, foundation, and brought to full perfection, then it will be impossible for greed & lust to take possession of & obsess the mind, for
release by imperturbable Equanimity is the deliverance from all greed!
Sila and sangha are 'transmission by enactment', in other words the jewel of 'symbolic' or fake morality/virtue that leads to, shows and eventually ideally is genuine.
The raft that carries us to the real transported realm.
This is why sangha and good company is so important for us slackers.
Each of us practices this false, behaviour modification to the best of our circumstances . . . Not to impress the Mahayanists, Mr Cushion, ourselves or to pretend we are ever more than hypocrites.
It is because the 'real' jewel is like this. Oh and as for the 'all perfect already' crowd . . . another story for another time . . .
BBC Video series on the Life of Buddha:
The Life of Buddha Part 1:
The Life of Buddha Part 2:
The Life of Buddha Part 3:
The Life of Buddha Part 4:
The Life of Buddha Part 5:
Is there any single way of telling the story of a spiritual/religious figure that will assure agreement in all quarters? I doubt it. Such stories -- and I love stories and the positive impact they can have -- are like buying a Christmas tree: Everyone takes it home and then adorns it with the trinkets of choice. If the historical record were a real yardstick in such stories, imagine the effect -- Jesus, for example, was almost assuredly a brown man and yet almost every western depiction portrays a gentle-faced white male. Historically, it's almost ludicrous and yet in terms of story-telling ... well, whose Christmas tree is it?
One of the trinkets I like to put on the Gautama tree is this: After the four sights, the prince left the palace in which he had lived. He was distressed by disease, old age and death. He had, perhaps, some hope of stilling that distress after seeing a monk who appeared serene. So ... he left his literal and mental home behind and for six years practiced hard with teachers who had a reputation for knowing their stuff. In one sense, during those six years, he was looking for a new home -- some place that was at peace and not driven by a false sense of security. But the six years did not provide the home he was looking for.
Only on his own, with great determination, did he finally realize that looking for a new home was traveling in the wrong direction. Trading in a worldly view for an ethereal one was not the point. And when at last he saw into the nature of things, he was said to have said that at last he had 'broken the roofbeam.' No house or home can stand without a roofbeam. Roofbeams were pivotal to the problem, not central to the solution. Leaving one home in order to find another simply did not compute. The delusion of the palace and the delusion of spiritual bliss ... no more roofbeams!
Sorry ... just the trinkets on my Christmas tree.
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
This is cool. I never heard the bit about deliberately poisoning himself, in the accounts I've read. Or the spiritual maidens..lovely that! This account also seems to minimize the traveling and teaching aspect of Gotama's later life.
@federica said:
Colourful, I'll give it that...... )
Colorful? Nice. It is colorful and it's meant to be. Stories like that of the Buddha aren't meant to depict history in some factual way. The fact of history, in a story such as this, is irrelevant.
If we're looking for facts, there are, sadly, none. The Buddha's life, as it's been handed down to us has ben so clouded by myth as to make any attempt at discerning fact impossible. For all we can know, Siddartha left home, checked into a Holiday Inn Express and drank heavily for a few years. Just as plausible as the common version, but not as revealing, or as important.
Did all those things happen to Siddartha? Who knows, one way or the other? Did goids appear to the Buddha? Well a god has never appeared to me or anyone I know, but that doesn't mean that gods don't appear. Did a Naga come to protect the Buddha? Do Nagas even exist? I don't know that, either; I've never seen a Naga, but my lack of experience is no proof of anything. Happily, it doesn't matter, really. The stories still have truths and wisdom to impart. I'll look for that.
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federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Oh I see nothing wrong with it, and I agree with you; my Sunday School books, relating the story of Jesus were depicted and presented in a similar fashion; it's a teaching tool, a pre-cursor to the 'serious heavy stuff' we may encounter along the way.
As you say, they may be fanciful, contrived, and not factually accurate. but they convey a message nevertheless.... and as such, serve a good purpose.
I see nothing wrong with it either, although I have talked to many Buddhists in Thailand who fully believe this is the way it all happened. And that bothers me.
@vinlyn said:
I see nothing wrong with it either, although I have talked to many Buddhists in Thailand who fully believe this is the way it all happened. And that bothers me.
Why would it bother you?
It's what they believe, isn't it? From you're posts you seem to expect a ceertain respect for your beliefs, can't you extend that to others?
And besides, who's to say it didn't happen that way? Were you there?
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Toraldris -`-,-{@ Zen Nud... Buddhist @}-,-`- East Coast, USAVeteran
House's first rule: people lie. Or was it? Don't take my word for it...
Just after enlightenment the Blessed Buddha stayed under a great Banyan
tree at Uruvela on the bank of the river Neranjara. There he reflected:
There is this single, one and only direct way for the purification of beings,
for the relief from all sorrow and grief, for the fading away of all pain and
frustration, for achieving the right method, for the realization of Nibbana,
that is, these Four Foundations of Awareness! What four? When a Bhikkhu
lives & dwells, aware & clearly comprehending, while always contemplating &
reflecting upon:
1: The Body merely as a disgusting and fragile accumulation..
2: The Feelings just as instantly passing conditioned reactions..
3: The Mind only as a set of recurring, banal and habituated moods..
4: Phenomena only as mentally manifested, fake & artificial appearances..
The 4 Great Frames of Reference!
He thereby removes any lust, urge, envy & frustration rooted in this world..
This is verily the one and only direct way for the purification of all beings,
for the relief from all sorrow and grief, for the fading away of all pain and
frustration, for achieving the right method, for the realization of Nibbana,
that is, these Four Foundations of Awareness... Then the Brahma Samapatti,
knowing this, instantly appeared before the Blessed One & having arranged
his upper robe over one shoulder, he raised his joined palms towards the
Blessed One, and said to him: So is it! Blessed One. So be it! Well-Gone One.
Venerable sir, this is the one & only direct way for purification of beings...
The Great Seer of the Silencing of all Becoming,
Compassionate, understands this unique One Way:
By which they all in the past crossed the flood,
By which they all cross now in the present, and
By which they all will cross over in any future...
Comment: The 'Flood' (Ogha) here means:
The Flood of sense-desire (kama-ogha)
The Flood of wanting to (re-)become (bhava-ogha)
The Flood of wrong views (dittha-ogha)
The Flood of ignorance (avijja-ogha)
These floods overwhelm and destroy all beings in Samsara! Ever again and again!
Source of reference (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya.
Book [V: 167-8] 47 The Foundations of Awareness: 18 Brahma...
At the moment of penetrating the four noble truths, then the 4 truths are
penetrated to collectively as a single true reality in these sixteen aspects: 1: The 1st Truth: Suffering means painful oppression, affliction, & torment!
2: Suffering also means consequence of being constructed and conditioned..
3: Suffering has the meaning of burning, consuming, stabbing & excruciating!
4: Suffering has the inevitable effect of change, inconstancy & transience..
as its meaning of trueness by actual and factual reality... 5: The 2nd Truth: Craving as the cause has the meaning of being accumulated .
6: Craving has the meaning of source, origin, seed, cause and root of all pain!
7: Craving has the meaning of bondage, addiction, slavery and imprisonment...
8: Craving has impediment, obsession, limitation and obstructing hindrance,
as its meaning of trueness by actual and factual reality... 9: The 3rd Truth: Ceasing of pain by ending craving has the meaning of escape,
10: Ceasing has the meaning of seclusion, protection, and only ultimate safety...
11: Ceasing has the meaning of being unformed, unconstructed & unconditioned!
12: Ceasing has Nibbana, an absolute peace by deathlessness, highest happiness
as its meaning of trueness by actual and factual reality... 13: The 4th Truth: The Way to end suffering has the meaning of outlet & exit...
14: The Way has the meaning of cause, of method, of means, and of approach!
15: The Way has the meaning of seeing, of understanding, and of developing..
16: The Way has dominance, uniqueness & absolutely indispensable necessity,
as its meaning of trueness by actual and factual reality...
These 4 truths in these sixteen ways are included in one unified truthfulness.
What is included as one is unity. Unity is penetrated by 1 single understanding.
Therefore have these four truths only a single and same penetration moment! Ps II 107, Vism 691
If friendship between animal beings can cross even remote species borders,
so can and should we humans also make our kind friendship extend beyond
any national, religious, cultural, gender, educational, job, and age border!
Only in this very good way, can we establish a society, where we can sleep
with the doors open, and dance with the children in our arms. So be it :-)
May all creatures, all breathing things,
all beings one and all, without exception,
experience good fortune only.
May they not fall into any harm. Anguttara Nikaya II, 72
With good will for the entire cosmos,
cultivate a limitless heart & mind:
Beaming above, below, & all around,
unobstructed, without trace of hostility. Sutta Nipata I, 8
For one who deliberately & aware
develops Universal Friendliness
Seeing the fading away of clinging,
All chains are worn down & broken. Itivuttaka 27
Let no one deceive another
or despise anyone anywhere,
or through anger or irritation
wish for another to suffer. Sutta Nipata I, 8
I am a friend of the footless,
I am a friend of all bipeds;
I am a friend of those with four feet,
I am a friend of the many-footed! Anguttara Nikaya 4.67
As I am, so are others...
As others are, so am I...
Having thus identified self and others,
Never Harm anyone, nor have any abused. Sutta Nipata 3.710
Among tigers, lions, leopards & bears I lived in the jungle.
No one was frightened of me, nor did I fear anyone.
Uplifted by such universal friendliness, I enjoyed the forest.
Finding great solace in such sweetly silenced solitude… Suvanna-sama Jataka 540
Train yourself in doing good
that lasts and brings happiness.
Cultivate generosity, the life of peace,
and a mind of infinite universal love. Itivuttaka 22
The 9th mental Perfection is Friendliness (Metta):
Just as water refreshes and cleanses both just and unjust persons without
discrimination, so does the perfection of friendliness include both friends
and foes alike, and doesn't enact any distinction, favouritism, or partiality.
I find quite the opposite. People are much more likely to be kinder to animals than their fellow humans. Not that animals are less deserving by any means, just an observation.
@karasti said:
I find quite the opposite. People are much more likely to be kinder to animals than their fellow humans. Not that animals are less deserving by any means, just an observation.
Hmmm, I take it you haven't observed any of the countless slaughter houses across the globe?
Friendship can cross any border .... immigration stamp required, though.
Seriously, this is only a feel-good post. Truth is, we can't even be kind to each other. So to conclude there is some sort of universal brotherhood is silly. We are yet to get there.
Comments
And currently.
Or trust in Allah, but tie your camels up just in case.
How many you got? I have this cute daughter you may like to meet......
The world is finely structured. Thus there are mandalas or hierarchies.
I have read in the Jewel Ornament of Liberation that the dharmakaya respects neither high or low. I think that means there is** not different sizes of Buddha nature**. But there can be high and low otherwise.
@citta -- And hence is immutable ... is that your view?
Again I am unsure of your question..
Are you asking whether progress, or technology, or evolution, or personal opinion have altered the fact that some people reach states of absorption ( Jnanas ) that others don't ?
I dont think so.
I have met people who I am sure through all sorts of signs, live permanently in a state of mind that most people never experience and that even experienced meditators only glimpse sporadically.
I have no problem in describing that as a 'higher' state..although my own preference if we are using spatial metaphors would be to describe it a 'deeper ' state.
If I didn't think that was the way things are I would out pleasuring myself to oblivion, rather than messing about with all this.
The 'deeper' you go, the 'higher' you become..... Talk about the complexities of language.... I'd settle for just floating three inches above the ground..... Actions, after all, do speak louder than words - !
Friends:
The 5 Abilities producing Feeling!
The Blessed Buddha once said:
Bhikkhus, there are these five mental abilities to feel (vedana). What five?
1: The ability to feel pleasure (sukha ).
2: The ability to feel pain (dukkha ).
3: The ability to feel gladness (somanassa ).
4: The ability to feel sadness (domanassa ).
5: The ability to feel equanimity (upekkha ).
Feelings are like bubbles, empty, void, without substance, quickly bursting!
What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel pleasure?
Whatever bodily pleasure there is, whatever bodily comfort, any pleasant
agreeable feeling born of body-contact: This is the ability to feel pleasure.
What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel pain?
Whatever bodily pain there is, whatever bodily discomfort, painful, aching
disagreeable feeling born of body-contact: This is the ability to feel pain.
What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel gladness?
Whatever mental pleasure there is, whatever mental comfort, and pleasing
agreeable feeling born of mental contact: This is the ability to feel gladness.
What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel sadness?
Whatever mental frustration there is, whatever mental grief, disagreeable
feeling born of mental contact: This is the ability to feel sadness.
What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel equanimity?
Whatever feeling there is, whether bodily or mental, that is neutral & thus
neither comfortable, nor uncomfortable, neither agreeable nor disagreeable:
This, Bhikkhus, is called the ability to feel equanimity.
These 5, Bhikkhus, are the five abilities to feel feelings.
Noteworthy Central Implications:
If unaware & untrained then bodily pleasure and mental gladness will incite
greed, lust and derivatives such as desire, craving, wanting, urge & longing!
If unaware and untrained, then bodily pain and mental sadness will induce
aversion, hate and derivatives such as anger, wrath, irritation & opposition!
If unaware and untrained, then mental equanimity will instigate ignorance,
neglect, and derivatives such as doubt, hesitation, uncertainty & confusion!
If aware and trained then mental equanimity will activate bliss, knowing &
seeing and will through peace refine and complete all other good states!
This core causality made Buddha exclaim: All states converges on Feeling!!!
More on Feeling:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Three_Basic_Kinds_of_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_8_Aspects_of_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Bodily_and_Mental_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Detached_from_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Dependent_on_Contact.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Focusing_on_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Analysis_of_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_108_Feelings.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Emotional_Storm.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Latent_Feeling.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Five_Feelings.htm
Source (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya.
Book [V:209] section 48: The Abilities. 36: Definitions ...
Watch the Feeling arise and cease!
The 5 Feelings...
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Five_Feelings.htm
@samahita (or anyone who would like to help)
Are the five abilities mutually exclusive? On occasion, it seems that I am feeling more than one simultaneously. I am aware that the possibility exists that I am simply oscillating between feelings so quickly that I cannot notice.
A case in point, I am often aware of a feeling of equanimity despite feeling pain. I noticed that you quoted the Buddha as saying, "Whatever feeling there is, whether bodily or mental, that is neutral & thus neither comfortable, nor uncomfortable, neither agreeable nor disagreeable: This, Bhikkhus, is called the ability to feel equanimity." Is it possible to feel equanimity mentally and pain physically at the same time?
This is very useful . . . I assumed aversion would be a 'primary' mental ability leading to feeling. Aversion just seems so basic. But what the Buddha is saying is that aversion is dependent upon the arising of sadness? Am I getting that correctly? Beneath aversion, as a cause of aversion, is sadness, maybe grief if that word can be used interchangeably (with sadness). Wow, that's something new to me and, it resonates as true.
Sadness and/or grief is what gives rise to aversion (??) Wow, I am really impacted by this.
Sadness rises when there is loss, and loss is constant and inevitable due to impermanence.
So why do we yearn for constancy and permanence in a world that is inherently impermanent? Why does it even occur to us to expect anything other than what it is?
While I am just a fellow traveler trying to figure this out with you - what you propose is my understanding of both life and the passage.
Along with my own questions, your question at the end of your post goes right to the heart of the matter in my opinion. Answer that question satisfactorily and we've gotten somewhere.
>
Because as 'animals' we are not programmed necessarily to run from what is 'bad', but rather, we gravitate towards what we perceive as 'good'.
If you think this is skewed view, consider a woman, for example, who remains in an abusive marriage, rather than leave it; She does not leave, because there is no promise of anything better than this elsewhere;
Consider the small child engrossed in playing at something that is dangerous, and how easily and peacefully he is distracted from this danger, by being proffered a morsel of favourite food, or drink;
Consider the options of a person choosing between two jobs; they will always go for the one that seems to give them more scope, a better advantage, more money, even if the 'less good' one actually holds better prospects, although the package is not so enticing.
We are taught, conditioned, programmed, to go for the goody bag.
We always go for the 'shiny object'.
Therefore, we yearn for constancy and permanence OF WHAT WE PERCEIVE AS GOOD rather than face, remain with and deal with the thing we perceive as bad.
Impermanence, an end to things, detachment.
This is why the Monastic life, is so disciplined, so full of sacrifice; because it tears us in the opposite direction to the norm, the way we actually want to go;
Ordination forces us to face our demons.
It's not that we have expectations of it being anything other than it is: We have the DESIRE to have anything other than what it is.
@samahita: thanks for the above post. an observation for a small typing error in the title of this thread - there are not 5 feelings, rather there are 5 abilities which produce feeling, but there are 3 types of feelings.
Yes, he goes on to call them 'abilities to feel' (ie, produce)....
@misecmisc1, Could you expand on what you consider to be the 3 types of feelings?
Based on my little understanding of Buddha's teachings: the 3 types of feelings are : pleasant feeling, painful feeling and neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling.
the first and third ability produce pleasant feeling.
the second and fourth ability produce painful feeling.
the fifth ability produces neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling.
no, these are descriptions of feelings, but they're not the feelings themselves.
feeling arises after contact. feelings are only of 3 types. in above, there are 5 abilities which produce feelings, or, 5 mechanisms which generate feelings, but there are only 3 types of feeling.
exactly.
TYPES.
But they are NOT THE feelings as you implied in your post, above.
Samahita gives the 5 feelings felt.
These 5 feelings fall into the three categories. so he is correct. (I think we are discussing semantics here....)
Samahita is referring to the 5 MENTAL ABILITIES, not 'feelings'. I know for @misemisc1 English is not the primary language but even if it were, this is a tough one to grasp
because pleasant, unpleasant, sadness etc refer to what we understand as feeling states. It's a teensy shift across a semantic chasm LOL, and when I first read his post last night I had to repeat over and over to myself "he's talking MENTAL ABILITIES. These are MENTAL ABILITIES' and then 'feelings' are subroutines of mental abilities.
It didn't quote your whole post, tho I meant it to if anything just to say YES, what you say makes sense and it's backed up by decades psychological experiments and testing. Still it's a subtle thing . . . we don't emphasize running from the 'bad' quite the same way we emphasize clinging to the 'good'. It's a huge distinction when the rubber hits the road!
Now as to the question I put at the end of my first post, there's still something about that which sticks out unaccounted for.
Interesting thought: if we were different as a species, for instance; if we did emphasize retreat from the bad over clinging to the good, 'impermanence' would be something to celebrate, what do you think? You know, 'this too shall pass'
we'd be worshipping Impermanence as a God rather than resisting it.
Which (maybe? might?) lead me back to that bit that still isn't resting for me.
In an obviously, blatantly impermanent universe of 'form', what propels us humans to go counter to the grain of reality? In most if not all other ways, there is an adaptation and accommodation to our environment, but not when it comes to our emphasis on seeking and clinging to the 'good'. If anything, this is an error, it shouldn't have happened . . . yet it did, it persists, and it is we call it dukkha.
My PERSONAL and probably wrong idea is that I myself sense that SOMETHING out there/in there/all around there is as completely 'good' -- otherwise, why in the hell do we orient toward it like true north? I hope I'm making sense, it's not easy to put in words.
It makes sense to me that if this 'good' didn't exist AT ALL, it would never occur to us humans to seek, want and cling to it when it clearly isn't there. "It exerts an EFFECT on us, therefore it exists" is a good way to state what I'm thinking.
The 3 types of (mental) feelings are exclusive. You cannot have pleasant and painful (mental) vedana at the same time.
But physical pain does not have to give rise to mental pain. A masochist enjoys physical "pain" interpreted as an agreeable sensation. So one can be detached from physical "pain" which is really just a sensation.
"A pleasant feeling is inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to vanishing, fading, ceasing. A painful feeling is also inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to vanishing, fading, ceasing. A neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling is also inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to vanishing, fading, ceasing.
"Seeing this, an instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with pleasant feeling, disenchanted with painful feeling, disenchanted with neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling. Disenchanted, he grows dispassionate. From dispassion, he is released. With release, there is the knowledge, 'Released.'
As Ven. Sariputta was reflecting thus, his mind was released from fermentations through not-clinging.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.074.than.html
there is a subtle point here - let us take an example to clarify. suppose a teacher hits a boy with a stick - now from a layman perspective, it may be ok to say that the boy is feeling the stick on his body - but this is not what is actually happening - what is happening is a contact is arising with the stick, boy's body and boy's body consciousness coming together - this contact raises a tactile sensation, which then raises a painful feeling in mind. so when we see it from DO perspective, we will say the contact of stick with boy's body is raising a painful feeling - the boy experiences the tactile sensation of stick touching his body and due to it, a painful feeling arising in his mind.
so what @samahita gives are 5 things which lead to feeling, but they are not 5 feelings. there are only 3 feelings - pleasant feeling, painful feeling and neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling.
What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel pleasure? Whatever bodily pleasure there is, whatever bodily comfort, any pleasant agreeable feeling born of body-contact: This is the ability to feel pleasure. What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel pain? Whatever bodily pain there is, whatever bodily discomfort, painful, aching disagreeable feeling born of body-contact: This is the ability to feel pain. What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel gladness? Whatever mental pleasure there is, whatever mental comfort, and pleasing agreeable feeling born of mental contact: This is the ability to feel gladness. What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel sadness? Whatever mental frustration there is, whatever mental grief, disagreeable feeling born of mental contact: This is the ability to feel sadness. What, Bhikkhus, is the ability to feel equanimity? Whatever feeling there is, whether bodily or mental, that is neutral & thus neither comfortable, nor uncomfortable, neither agreeable nor disagreeable: This, Bhikkhus, is called the ability to feel equanimity. These 5, Bhikkhus, are the five abilities to feel feelings.
The classification is a bit odd:
5/6. Bodily and mental neutral
which should be six types. Basically it is how the **mind **interprets the body sensations as pleasant, unpleasant and neutral.
Dukkha is in the mind, not body.
My head hurts.....:p
Friends:
The Evaporator of all Evil States of Mind!
The Blessed Buddha once said:
Bhikkhus and Friends: Once the mental release by infinite Friendliness
has been developed, frequently practised, firmly established, expanded,
made a vehicle, foundation, and brought to full perfection, then it will
be impossible for ill-will to take possession of and obsess the mind, for
the mental release by infinite Friendliness is the release from all ill-will!
Once the mental release by compassionate Pity & tender understanding
has been developed, frequently practised, firmly established, expanded,
made a vehicle, foundation, and brought to full perfection, then it will
be impossible for violence to take possession of and obsess the mind, for
the mental release by compassionate Pity is the release from all violence!
Once the mental release by mutual Joy rejoicing in other being's success
has been developed, frequently practised, firmly established, expanded,
made a vehicle, foundation, and brought to full perfection, then it will be
impossible for discontent to take possession of & obsess the mind, for
the mental release by mutual Joy is the release from all discontent!
Once the mental release by serene, still and imperturbable Equanimity
has been developed, frequently practised, firmly established, expanded,
made a vehicle, foundation, and brought to full perfection, then it will be
impossible for greed & lust to take possession of & obsess the mind, for
release by imperturbable Equanimity is the deliverance from all greed!
The 4 supreme mental attitudes (Brahmavihara) are thus:
Friendliness, Pity, Mutual Joy and Equanimity!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmavihara
More on this effective medicine of the 4 infinite and divine states:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/The_Buddha_on_Noble_Frienship.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Harmlessness_and_Tolerance.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/All_Embracing_Kindness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/All-Embracing_Kindness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Rejoicing_Bliss_is_Mudita.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Blazing_Friendliness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Blazing_&_Bright.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Friendliness_Frees.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Goodwill_Encore.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Good_Friendship.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Metta.htm
The Evaporator ...
Infinite are the 4 Divine States!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Safe_Medicine.htm
͡° ͜ʖ ͡°
Sila and sangha are 'transmission by enactment', in other words the jewel of 'symbolic' or fake morality/virtue that leads to, shows and eventually ideally is genuine.
The raft that carries us to the real transported realm.
This is why sangha and good company is so important for us slackers.
Each of us practices this false, behaviour modification to the best of our circumstances . . . Not to impress the Mahayanists, Mr Cushion, ourselves or to pretend we are ever more than hypocrites.
It is because the 'real' jewel is like this. Oh and as for the 'all perfect already' crowd . . . another story for another time . . .
:clap:
Friends:
The illustrated life of the Lord Buddha!
The Devas request the Bodhisatta in Tusita Heaven to descend and become a Buddha.
Queen Mahamaya dreams a white elephant enters her side during the conception.
King Suddhodana and the Brahmin soothsayers examines the newborn Bodhisatta.
The Seer Kaladevala also called Asita explains that the Bodhisatta will become Buddha.
The Bodhisatta meditates during his father's plowing festival.
The Bodhisatta uses his arching skills to win his future wife Yasodhara Rahulamata.
The Bodhisatta sees the 4 signs: An old, sick & dead man and a calm wandering recluse.
The Bodhisatta observes his dancing girls & realizes the vanity and depravity of luxury.
He decides to leave his wife and newborn son Rahula and become a wandering recluse.
He leaves his palace at night on his horse Kanthaka followed by his driver Channa.
He crosses the river Anoma, cuts his topknot, throws it up, where Sakka catches it.
Gotama then strives and starves himself for six years without result. The 5 leaves him.
The maiden Sujata offers the last milk-rice meal on the morning of his Enlightenment.
The Buddha throws the plate into the river Nerañjara, where Naga Mahakala hears it.
Gaining the 6 higher powers he sees the rebirth of beings and recalls all his prior lives.
He is indifferent to the temptations of Mara's 3 daughters: Raga, Tanha and Arati.
Under the Ajapala-nigrodha banyan tree Buddha spent a week cross-legged in Jhana.
The Mahabrahma Sahampati requests the Buddha to open the doors to Deathlessness...
The Naga King Mucalinda protects the fasting Buddha in 3rd week after enlightenment.
Descending in Sankassa after having spoken the Abhidhamma to the assembled Devas.
The Buddha explains the true Dhamma to the many beings for their long-term welfare.
The Buddha compassionately attends to the sick and dying to guide them through it.
The Buddha visits his home and his former wife Yasodhara in the city of Kapilavatthu.
He meets his father the Sakiyan King Suddhodana.
There he brings his son Rahula to the Sangha, who ordains him. Rahula later awakens.
He shows his half brother Nanda the beauty of the divine nymphs & ordains him as monk.
The Buddha dispels the manifold doubts of many of the elder Brahmin chiefs.
The Buddha explains Breathing Meditation Anapana-sati on the full-moon of November
He realizes that his long prepared mission has finally been completed & renounces life.
He deliberately accepts some accidentally poisoned food from Cunda & gets very sick.
Soon after the Lord Buddha dies and attains Parinibbana in the small town of Kusinara.
See also:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/g/gotama.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/b/buddha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/b/bodhisatta.htm
BBC Video series on the Life of Buddha:
The Life of Buddha Part 1:
The Life of Buddha Part 2:
The Life of Buddha Part 3:
The Life of Buddha Part 4:
The Life of Buddha Part 5:
More on the Buddha:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Well_Gone.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Master_Presence.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/The_Blessed_One.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/Metteyya/arimet00.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Sumedhas_Similes.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/me_mu/metteyya.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Buddha_Contemplation.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/The_10_Future_Buddhas.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/s_t/sammaa_sambodhi.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/How-2-Meet_Buddha_Metteyya.htm
The 2 Best Book sources on the life of the Buddha are:
1: The story of Gotama Buddha. Tr. by N.A. Jayawickrama, Pali Text Society 1990.
http://www.pariyatti.org/Bookstore/productdetails.cfm?sku=132935
2: Life of the Buddha according to the Pali Canon. Translated by: Bhikkhu Nanamoli
http://www.pariyatti.org/Bookstore/productdetails.cfm?PC=555
Thanx for the nice pictures kindly forwarded by our friend Rohitha Samarakoon.
Have a nice & noble day!
Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samahita _/_
http://What-Buddha-Said.net
The Life of the Lord Buddha!
The magic version.
Colourful, I'll give it that......
)
I hope I don't dream of a white elephant tonight!
I hope you do.
Is there any single way of telling the story of a spiritual/religious figure that will assure agreement in all quarters? I doubt it. Such stories -- and I love stories and the positive impact they can have -- are like buying a Christmas tree: Everyone takes it home and then adorns it with the trinkets of choice. If the historical record were a real yardstick in such stories, imagine the effect -- Jesus, for example, was almost assuredly a brown man and yet almost every western depiction portrays a gentle-faced white male. Historically, it's almost ludicrous and yet in terms of story-telling ... well, whose Christmas tree is it?
One of the trinkets I like to put on the Gautama tree is this: After the four sights, the prince left the palace in which he had lived. He was distressed by disease, old age and death. He had, perhaps, some hope of stilling that distress after seeing a monk who appeared serene. So ... he left his literal and mental home behind and for six years practiced hard with teachers who had a reputation for knowing their stuff. In one sense, during those six years, he was looking for a new home -- some place that was at peace and not driven by a false sense of security. But the six years did not provide the home he was looking for.
Only on his own, with great determination, did he finally realize that looking for a new home was traveling in the wrong direction. Trading in a worldly view for an ethereal one was not the point. And when at last he saw into the nature of things, he was said to have said that at last he had 'broken the roofbeam.' No house or home can stand without a roofbeam. Roofbeams were pivotal to the problem, not central to the solution. Leaving one home in order to find another simply did not compute. The delusion of the palace and the delusion of spiritual bliss ... no more roofbeams!
Sorry ... just the trinkets on my Christmas tree.
Deck the halls with boughs of Hiri......
This is cool. I never heard the bit about deliberately poisoning himself, in the accounts I've read. Or the spiritual maidens..lovely that! This account also seems to minimize the traveling and teaching aspect of Gotama's later life.
Colorful? Nice. It is colorful and it's meant to be. Stories like that of the Buddha aren't meant to depict history in some factual way. The fact of history, in a story such as this, is irrelevant.
If we're looking for facts, there are, sadly, none. The Buddha's life, as it's been handed down to us has ben so clouded by myth as to make any attempt at discerning fact impossible. For all we can know, Siddartha left home, checked into a Holiday Inn Express and drank heavily for a few years. Just as plausible as the common version, but not as revealing, or as important.
Did all those things happen to Siddartha? Who knows, one way or the other? Did goids appear to the Buddha? Well a god has never appeared to me or anyone I know, but that doesn't mean that gods don't appear. Did a Naga come to protect the Buddha? Do Nagas even exist? I don't know that, either; I've never seen a Naga, but my lack of experience is no proof of anything. Happily, it doesn't matter, really. The stories still have truths and wisdom to impart. I'll look for that.
Oh I see nothing wrong with it, and I agree with you; my Sunday School books, relating the story of Jesus were depicted and presented in a similar fashion; it's a teaching tool, a pre-cursor to the 'serious heavy stuff' we may encounter along the way.
As you say, they may be fanciful, contrived, and not factually accurate. but they convey a message nevertheless.... and as such, serve a good purpose.
I see nothing wrong with it either, although I have talked to many Buddhists in Thailand who fully believe this is the way it all happened. And that bothers me.
Why would it bother you?
It's what they believe, isn't it? From you're posts you seem to expect a ceertain respect for your beliefs, can't you extend that to others?
And besides, who's to say it didn't happen that way? Were you there?
House's first rule: people lie. Or was it? Don't take my word for it...
Great to read about Superman (true story). Just have some faith . . . wot ya mean done that, no thank you . . .
Tsk, tsk . . .
oh ye of little faith . . . keep up the good work . . .
Friends:
The One and Only Way to Purification of Beings!
Just after enlightenment the Blessed Buddha stayed under a great Banyan
tree at Uruvela on the bank of the river Neranjara. There he reflected:
There is this single, one and only direct way for the purification of beings,
for the relief from all sorrow and grief, for the fading away of all pain and
frustration, for achieving the right method, for the realization of Nibbana,
that is, these Four Foundations of Awareness! What four? When a Bhikkhu
lives & dwells, aware & clearly comprehending, while always contemplating &
reflecting upon:
1: The Body merely as a disgusting and fragile accumulation..
2: The Feelings just as instantly passing conditioned reactions..
3: The Mind only as a set of recurring, banal and habituated moods..
4: Phenomena only as mentally manifested, fake & artificial appearances..
The 4 Great Frames of Reference!
He thereby removes any lust, urge, envy & frustration rooted in this world..
This is verily the one and only direct way for the purification of all beings,
for the relief from all sorrow and grief, for the fading away of all pain and
frustration, for achieving the right method, for the realization of Nibbana,
that is, these Four Foundations of Awareness... Then the Brahma Samapatti,
knowing this, instantly appeared before the Blessed One & having arranged
his upper robe over one shoulder, he raised his joined palms towards the
Blessed One, and said to him: So is it! Blessed One. So be it! Well-Gone One.
Venerable sir, this is the one & only direct way for purification of beings...
The Great Seer of the Silencing of all Becoming,
Compassionate, understands this unique One Way:
By which they all in the past crossed the flood,
By which they all cross now in the present, and
By which they all will cross over in any future...
Comment: The 'Flood' (Ogha) here means:
The Flood of sense-desire (kama-ogha)
The Flood of wanting to (re-)become (bhava-ogha)
The Flood of wrong views (dittha-ogha)
The Flood of ignorance (avijja-ogha)
These floods overwhelm and destroy all beings in Samsara!
Ever again and again!
Details on the 4 Foundations of Awareness (Sati):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Sati_Studies.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Causes_of_sati.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Sati_Summary.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Sati_in_Solitude.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Awareness_Sati.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Clear_Comprehension.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Noble_Awareness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/One_and_only_Way.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Feeding_Awareness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Awareness_Analysis.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Sati_a_la_Anuruddha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/What_is_Right_Awareness.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/Careful_and_Rational_Attention.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Clear_and_Aware_Comprehension.htm
Source of reference (edited extract):
The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya.
Book [V: 167-8] 47 The Foundations of Awareness: 18 Brahma...
The One and Only Way!
Present Awareness is the Crucial First Step!
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/III/One_and_only_Way.htm
Friends:
Penetrating the 4 Noble Truths in 16 Aspects:
At the moment of penetrating the four noble truths, then the 4 truths are
penetrated to collectively as a single true reality in these sixteen aspects:
1: The 1st Truth: Suffering means painful oppression, affliction, & torment!
2: Suffering also means consequence of being constructed and conditioned..
3: Suffering has the meaning of burning, consuming, stabbing & excruciating!
4: Suffering has the inevitable effect of change, inconstancy & transience..
as its meaning of trueness by actual and factual reality...
5: The 2nd Truth: Craving as the cause has the meaning of being accumulated .
6: Craving has the meaning of source, origin, seed, cause and root of all pain!
7: Craving has the meaning of bondage, addiction, slavery and imprisonment...
8: Craving has impediment, obsession, limitation and obstructing hindrance,
as its meaning of trueness by actual and factual reality...
9: The 3rd Truth: Ceasing of pain by ending craving has the meaning of escape,
10: Ceasing has the meaning of seclusion, protection, and only ultimate safety...
11: Ceasing has the meaning of being unformed, unconstructed & unconditioned!
12: Ceasing has Nibbana, an absolute peace by deathlessness, highest happiness
as its meaning of trueness by actual and factual reality...
13: The 4th Truth: The Way to end suffering has the meaning of outlet & exit...
14: The Way has the meaning of cause, of method, of means, and of approach!
15: The Way has the meaning of seeing, of understanding, and of developing..
16: The Way has dominance, uniqueness & absolutely indispensable necessity,
as its meaning of trueness by actual and factual reality...
These 4 truths in these sixteen ways are included in one unified truthfulness.
What is included as one is unity. Unity is penetrated by 1 single understanding.
Therefore have these four truths only a single and same penetration moment!
Ps II 107, Vism 691
More on these Buddhist Core Four Noble Truths (Ariya-Sacca):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Indeed_True.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/wtb/s_t/sacca.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Ultimate_Fact.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_4_Noble_Truths.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/Whenever_and_Wherever.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_1st_Noble_Truth_on_Suffering.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_2nd_Noble_Truth_on_The_Cause_of_Suffering.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_3rd_Noble_Truth_on_The_Ceasing_of_Suffering.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/II/The_4th_Noble_Truth_on_The_Way_to_Cease_Suffering.htm
The 16 Aspects!
Noble are the 4 Truths....
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/The_16_Aspects.htm
YES BUT NO BUT YES BUT NO BUT YES BUT
Friends:
Friendliness can cross any Border!
If friendship between animal beings can cross even remote species borders,
so can and should we humans also make our kind friendship extend beyond
any national, religious, cultural, gender, educational, job, and age border!
Only in this very good way, can we establish a society, where we can sleep
with the doors open, and dance with the children in our arms. So be it :-)
May all creatures, all breathing things,
all beings one and all, without exception,
experience good fortune only.
May they not fall into any harm.
Anguttara Nikaya II, 72
With good will for the entire cosmos,
cultivate a limitless heart & mind:
Beaming above, below, & all around,
unobstructed, without trace of hostility.
Sutta Nipata I, 8
For one who deliberately & aware
develops Universal Friendliness
Seeing the fading away of clinging,
All chains are worn down & broken.
Itivuttaka 27
Let no one deceive another
or despise anyone anywhere,
or through anger or irritation
wish for another to suffer.
Sutta Nipata I, 8
I am a friend of the footless,
I am a friend of all bipeds;
I am a friend of those with four feet,
I am a friend of the many-footed!
Anguttara Nikaya 4.67
As I am, so are others...
As others are, so am I...
Having thus identified self and others,
Never Harm anyone, nor have any abused.
Sutta Nipata 3.710
Among tigers, lions, leopards & bears I lived in the jungle.
No one was frightened of me, nor did I fear anyone.
Uplifted by such universal friendliness, I enjoyed the forest.
Finding great solace in such sweetly silenced solitude…
Suvanna-sama Jataka 540
Train yourself in doing good
that lasts and brings happiness.
Cultivate generosity, the life of peace,
and a mind of infinite universal love.
Itivuttaka 22
The 9th mental Perfection is Friendliness (Metta):
Just as water refreshes and cleanses both just and unjust persons without
discrimination, so does the perfection of friendliness include both friends
and foes alike, and doesn't enact any distinction, favouritism, or partiality.
More on this fabulously fine Friendliness (Metta):
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Symbiotic_Sympathy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The-Effective_Saw.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/The_11_Advantages.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Evaporated_Enemy.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Genuine_Goodwill.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Blazing_Goodwill.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Cosmic_Goodness.htm
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Unbounded_Mind.htm
http://what-buddha-said.net/drops/V/Goodness_Galore.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Loving-Kindness.htm
Goodwill Blazes Beyond... :-)
Friendship can cross any Border!
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Across_Borders.htm
It's a nice thought of course, but religious groups especially tend to be quite intolerant of anything outside their species.
I find quite the opposite. People are much more likely to be kinder to animals than their fellow humans. Not that animals are less deserving by any means, just an observation.
The number 1 cause of the death of pet birds is cats.
So much for this tripe.
Hmmm, I take it you haven't observed any of the countless slaughter houses across the globe?
Unbelievable pix! Thanx, Samahita! :om:
Friendship can cross any border .... immigration stamp required, though.
Seriously, this is only a feel-good post. Truth is, we can't even be kind to each other. So to conclude there is some sort of universal brotherhood is silly. We are yet to get there.