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Buddha Nature
JaySon
Florida Veteran
We are fortunate to have Buddha nature at our core.
Living in a moral universe.
Universal compassion our natural state.
Emptiness the harmonious truth beyond delusion.
Radiant, pure minds beneath our defilements.
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Comments
Sadly, we're also unfortunate to have Mara-Nature at our core.
Living in an amoral world.
Suffering: Greed, Hatred and Ignorance our cultivated state.
Resistant to the Emptiness which is the reality of existence.
Dulled, impure minds obscure the radiant Purity.
So:
Which wolf will win?
The one we feed....
You made me think of TNH's teaching about storehouse consciousness and how there are both positive seeds and negative seeds there. You choose which ones to water.
Yes. I would say, we live in a complex Universe. It's neither moral nor immoral. It simply is. It's humans that bring their nature to it, and make the world what it is: both moral and immoral. It's human nature to try to find meaning in life. Some cultivate morality and compassion in that effort. Others cultivate greed, fame, ego. Some lost souls feel life has no meaning ("you're born, life's a ___, and then you die"), and kind of free-float through life.
We, here, are fortunate to have found the Dharma. IMHO.
I'd have to disagree in part.
This is a moral universe, meaning you reap what you sow, meaning karma.
I believe we're lucky to live in such a universe.
Also, I disagree in part about the nature of the mind.
When you expel the hindrances from your mind during single pointed meditation, you experience an uncontaminated mind beneath all the hindrances.
This is the natural mind I'm talking about.
It has been untouched by the defilements and it is bright.
store consciousness gives the names to all thoughts (sight, sound, etc.)
when we know the thought/seed (sights, sound, etc.) it is already gone/died (impermanent)
since we do not know that we choose to water them/thinking
that is what we call samsara
Karma doesn't always work in discernable ways, though. There are the cases we all hear about, and some of us encounter in life directly, in which the jerks, the con-artists, and their ilk seem to reap only rewards, and slither out of any negative consequences headed their way. In cases like that, we can only take it on faith that they'll get their come-uppance in the next lifetime, or after that. But not all Buddhists believe in rebirth. I think it wounds or frustrates our sense of justice when we see immoral people reap rewards without facing the consequences of their actions.
I think you're both right, interesting enough.
I used to think that I needed some kind of physical proof that someone reaped what they sewed (i.e. losing a good job because of theft or loosing a political career because of a scandal) but then I thought to myself that even if there is no evidence of a consequence maybe their own suffering (for whatever reason) is their sewed seeds. Just because someone has a great job or lots of money doesn't mean that they are happy so maybe some lose where we can see and some loose where we cannot (i.e. personal demons, depression, alcoholism, their children won't talk to them, drug addiction....the list goes on and on)
Personally, I have seen very few rich entitled people or people that should reap what they sewed that look truly happy (IMO)
Is there a difference between suffering because you lost your job or riches and suffering because you suffer (depression because you're a bad person or alcoholism for the same reason)
Which karmically means partial agreement
Que? Is this assumed?
Compared to not living ... maybe so ...
Our living core is empty
Our natural state has no qualities
Harmony and disharmony have no truth
Nothing beneath, nothing above, all pure mind ...
Moral><Immoral
What exactly is in between?
Imagine the opposite and you have your answer.
Are you speaking from direct experience? I am.
How could it not be when virtue brings true joy?
To ascribe a characteristic or personality to something that has no such thing is stepping into a new-agey woo-woo mentality, in my opinion.
The Universe does nothing. It has no morality, in any degree, and reaping what you sow, is not linear.
We make our own luck, but some have more than others. Whether they deserve it or not, brings us into the realm of judgement and comparison, which is futile.
Virtue may bring true joy, but it has nothing to do with living in a moral universe.
Karmic rebirth may or may not be linear but reaping what we sow is. Can't reap the corn before it's planted.
The universe has become more moral since we've come around and there could be others that have morals as well.
If the universe was without morality, I would guess that we would be too.
It's my fault for not speaking clearly enough about what I mean by it is a moral universe.
I'm not saying the universe prefers virtue.
Maybe it is too hard to explain, though emptiness, compassion, karma, virtue, the Buddha nature... It all fits together in one moral universe.
Morality is everything.
Ah. Well that's different.
Subtle, but different, nevertheless....
Am I allowed to say I don't get it?
No.
Someone once told me there is no such thing as morals, only a marriage of convenience.
Maybe, maybe not.
Today I started TNH's The Art of Power, which so far, about 20-odd pages into it, is blowing me away. It's like the third book of his I've begun (read the one on Anger and also the one on bringing peace to Israelis & Palestinians). And he spoke about George W. Bush, who was still President when he wrote this, and how he was probably the most powerful man in the world yet TNH believed he felt powerless and weak. I was very much inclined to agree with this assessment because I felt that GWB's Reign of Error was very much a product of his own personal demons and the fact that they might still be a 'dry drunk'. I don't believe Bush was a happy man, don't know if he is now but he got an awful lot of people killed so I don't know.
And yes, I know we ain't seen nuthin' yet. But it starts on Friday.