Wave
lobster
Crusty Veteran
When we start, we require support and questions answered. We need to consolidate our exploration of the teaching, our relationship and potential means of progress. The pointing out of faulty understanding, if we are fortunate comes from a viable teacher. A centre, an internet connection, books, every resource must be made use of. Wishy washy efforts will result in watered down development. We have to educate ourself in order to understand and become familiar with the teachings.
Does a realized person using another system of development become a Buddha, arahat or saint? Are the realised, saintly or developed different in their knowing? Are we convinced we have 'the one way'/only way,/superior way/top to a different mountain etc?
Does the atheistic Buddhist sometimes much to their potential consternation become aware of a presence that equates with God? There is a conundrum to experience.
The theistic mystic may develop an apprehension of a god that disappears into a void or absence of God. The conditioned expressions and modes of thought become meaningless distinctions. So for other people a Hindu mystic may be revered by Sufi mystics or visited by Buddhists.
Should we stay within our own system? Largely yes. Confusion is bad enough within any spiritual path, as the doubts and uncertainties become eradicated in the light of experience. Maturity is the recognition of ones own inaptitude. We are the beginner. Everyone else is the teacher. This is the value of companions.
After some small awakening or realisation it is not uncommon for those without a stable backdrop, to consider themselves independent and sufficiently realized. This state is very common and the stabilising effect of a sangha, fellow travellers and peers will challenge and help evaluate and make us aware of this situation.
There are different models of advancement. There is the development of attributes system. This is very much a behavioural way of working. It often forms its basis from the eight fold path or similar progressive mappings. There is the introspective model, which is meditation based and often forms the predominant aspect of western lay peoples practice.
We may know people who have been born into the dharma, who have practised for decades, who are enlightened or who practice diligently. What denotes advancement? Do we seek out virtuous behaviour, so beloved of hypocrites and shallow rote observers? Can we observe qualities of peace and equanimity? Do we assume advanced practitioners are open to assessment? Perhaps they have the ability to project the requirements we need? Can we over a period of time, notice change in their behaviour and more importantly our own.
We have a path. We walk. We wave at fellow travellers.
:wave: .
Comments
Things can be so subtle, that we fool ourselves. Not knowing our own motivations because it can be cloaked in righteousness, happens far more often than we care to admit or even consider. At least in my case it does.
Sometimes as I pursue being a "hero", or wise, or enlightened, I can ignore the underlying desire. I am speaking of grand-standing. I can miss the faint yet distinct hint of ego. Riding into the rescue when there is nothing to be rescued from is an empty pursuit and quite phony. Before long, we are exaggerating and over-emphasizing problems when none exists. In other words, running a con but none is near as conned as I am myself.
Who has the answer? Who is the arahat? Part of being an arahat I would think, would require one to be oblivious to the fact they were. Otherwise, I don't know that it is possible.
So many different ways to describe a practice.
I think that to the degree that we enter each moment with a wide heart and open mind is the degree to which such assessments become yesterday's news.
And when you find yourself mired in yesterdays news, a simple dip into the next passing moment offers a new existence for your heart and mind to fill.
@AllbuddhaBound. Thanks so much for your honorable and open post. No one does have an ultimate answer. Nonetheless we keep looking. One of my mentors one time gave me a sharp correction. He said he gave no notice to big talk only big practice.
Excellent post. Excellent 'advice' though it is more like an eloquent common sense reminder than advice
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On a less serious note, I have yet to for one nanosecond even wonder if I might be awakened or enlightened. Apparently people really do, and rather than jeer at them if I can I'm going to ask them some questions. Not to 'prove' they aren't or are, but what is the difference between now and 'before'.
The proof is in the taste not the menu. The difference is in knowing that before the now was present but now the before is gone.
In other words we know it by its presence which has never been absent.
One of the purposes of meditation is to exhaust the possibilities of presence, until the faceless/unconditioned/eternal enters the stream.
:wave: .
In other words, "We haz plan"
@ Federica is so going to kill me...
I hope for a good rebirth.
So do I...... ~rolls sleeves up~.....
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Our friend @genkaku commented on an old thread called "Spiritual Tripstones" some interesting things about the way we get entrapped by our own mirages on the spiritual path.
As I don't know how to lead you to the thread, I pasted the list that opened the discussion:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mariana-caplan-phd/spiritual-living-10-spiri_b_609248.html
The following 10 categorizations are not intended to be definitive but are offered as a tool for becoming aware of some of the most common spiritually transmitted diseases.
Fast-Food Spirituality: Mix spirituality with a culture that celebrates speed, multitasking and instant gratification and the result is likely to be fast-food spirituality. Fast-food spirituality is a product of the common and understandable fantasy that relief from the suffering of our human condition can be quick and easy. One thing is clear, however: spiritual transformation cannot be had in a quick fix.
Faux Spirituality: Faux spirituality is the tendency to talk, dress and act as we imagine a spiritual person would. It is a kind of imitation spirituality that mimics spiritual realization in the way that leopard-skin fabric imitates the genuine skin of a leopard.
Confused Motivations: Although our desire to grow is genuine and pure, it often gets mixed with lesser motivations, including the wish to be loved, the desire to belong, the need to fill our internal emptiness, the belief that the spiritual path will remove our suffering and spiritual ambition, the wish to be special, to be better than, to be "the one."
Identifying with Spiritual Experiences: In this disease, the ego identifies with our spiritual experience and takes it as its own, and we begin to believe that we are embodying insights that have arisen within us at certain times. In most cases, it does not last indefinitely, although it tends to endure for longer periods of time in those who believe themselves to be enlightened and/or who function as spiritual teachers.
The Spiritualized Ego: This disease occurs when the very structure of the egoic personality becomes deeply embedded with spiritual concepts and ideas. The result is an egoic structure that is "bullet-proof." When the ego becomes spiritualized, we are invulnerable to help, new input, or constructive feedback. We become impenetrable human beings and are stunted in our spiritual growth, all in the name of spirituality.
Mass Production of Spiritual Teachers: There are a number of current trendy spiritual traditions that produce people who believe themselves to be at a level of spiritual enlightenment, or mastery, that is far beyond their actual level. This disease functions like a spiritual conveyor belt: put on this glow, get that insight, and -- bam! -- you're enlightened and ready to enlighten others in similar fashion. The problem is not that such teachers instruct but that they represent themselves as having achieved spiritual mastery.
Spiritual Pride: Spiritual pride arises when the practitioner, through years of labored effort, has actually attained a certain level of wisdom and uses that attainment to justify shutting down to further experience. A feeling of "spiritual superiority" is another symptom of this spiritually transmitted disease. It manifests as a subtle feeling that "I am better, more wise and above others because I am spiritual."
Group Mind: Also described as groupthink, cultic mentality or ashram disease, group mind is an insidious virus that contains many elements of traditional co-dependence. A spiritual group makes subtle and unconscious agreements regarding the correct ways to think, talk, dress, and act. Individuals and groups infected with "group mind" reject individuals, attitudes, and circumstances that do not conform to the often unwritten rules of the group.
The Chosen-People Complex: The chosen people complex is not limited to Jews. It is the belief that "Our group is more spiritually evolved, powerful, enlightened and, simply put, better than any other group." There is an important distinction between the recognition that one has found the right path, teacher or community for themselves, and having found The One.
The Deadly Virus: "I Have Arrived": This disease is so potent that it has the capacity to be terminal and deadly to our spiritual evolution. This is the belief that "I have arrived" at the final goal of the spiritual path. Our spiritual progress ends at the point where this belief becomes crystallized in our psyche, for the moment we begin to believe that we have reached the end of the path, further growth ceases.
Edit: I have corrected the format
Like with reading medical books this kind of thing just turns me into a hypochondriac.
The 'training program' available at all the Insight Meditation Society comes to mind here
. You TOO can be a highly evolved spiritual teacher like Jack Kornfield or Howard Cohn!!
All the other pitfalls are important. This last one has humility as an antidote. Much better to think in terms of 'I have departed', or 'I have arrived, tomorrow new destination'. The idea of continual evolution/realisation/refinement is far more helpful for the 'perfected'. How can we ever perfect?
Good post. Many thanks
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