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Noetic Science. Was the Buddha an early exemplar?

lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
in Buddhism Today

What it is …
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/consciousness-matters/201105/what-are-noetic-sciences-0

As we know subjective revelation of our experience of being is the Middle Way.
I find the Buddha dharma can be verified. Dharma works logically and in a variety of other ways.

Iz we Mind Scientists? I think that is better than regional religion and philosophy?
https://dharmasun.org/courses/buddhistscience/

Shoshin1

Comments

  • Shoshin1Shoshin1 Sentient Being Oceania Veteran

    I'm a student of Applied Inner Science AKA Buddhism....

    Applied science is the use of the scientific method and knowledge obtained via conclusions from the method to attain practical goals.

    According to Bodhidharma

    If someone is determined to reach enlightenment, what is the most essential method one can practice?

    The most essential method, which includes all methods, is beholding the mind.

    But how can one method include all others?

    The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included. It's like a tree. All of its fruit and flowers, its branches and leaves, depend on its root. If you nourish its root, a tree multiplies. If you cut its root, it dies. Those who understand the mind reach enlightenment with minimal effort. Those who don't understand the mind practice in vain. Everything good and bad comes from your own mind. To find something beyond the mind is impossible.

    But how can beholding the mind be called understanding?

    When a great bodhisattva delves deeply into perfect wisdom, he realizes that the four elements and five shades are devoid of a personal self. And he realizes that the activity of his mind has two aspects: pure and impure. By their very nature, these two mental states are always present. They alternate as cause or effect depending on conditions, the pure mind delighting in good deeds, the impure mind thinking of evil.

    Those who are not affected by impurity are sages. They transcend suffering and experience the bliss of nirvana. All others, trapped by the impure mind and entangled by their own karma, are mortals. They drift through the three realms and suffer countless afflictions. And all because this impure mind obscures their real self.

    The Sutra of the Ten Stages says, "In the body of mortals is the indestructible buddha-nature. Like the sun, its light fills endless space. But once veiled by the dark clouds of the five shades, it's like a light inside a jar hidden from view." And the Nirvana Sutra says, all mortals have the buddha-nature. But it is covered by darkness from which they can not escape. Our buddha-nature is awareness: to be aware and to make others aware. >To realize awareness is liberation." Everything good has awareness for its root. From this root of awareness grows the tree of all virtues and the fruit of nirvana. Beholding the mind like this is understanding.

    The mind is the source of all virtues. And this mind is the chief of all powers. The eternal bliss of nirvana comes from the mind at rest. Rebirth in the three realms also comes from the mind. The mind is the door to every world. And the mind is the ford to the other shore.

    Those who know where the door is do not worry about reaching it. Those who know where the ford is don't worry about crossing it. The people I meet nowadays are superficial. They think of merit as something that has form. They foolishly concern themselves with erecting statues and stupas, telling people to pile up lumber and bricks, to paint this blue and that green. They strain body and mind, injure themselves and mislead others. How will they ever become enlightened? They see something tangible and instantly become attached. If you talk to them about formlessness, they sit there dumb and confused. Such disciples wear themselves out in vain.

    If you can simply concentrate your mind's inner light and behold its outer illumination, you'll dispel the three poisons and drive away the six thieves once and for all. And without effort you will gain possession of an infinite number of virtues, perfections and doors to the truth. Seeing through the mundane and witnessing the sublime is less than an eye-blink away. Realization is now. Why worry about grey hair? The true door is hidden and can't be revealed. I have only touched upon beholding the mind.

    Bodhidharma (440-528)

    Excerpted from The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma trans by Red Pine

    Kotishkalobster
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    May I just add that there is absolutely no written or recorded evidence to corroborate that Albert Einstein actually ever said what the above image seems to quote he did?

  • FosdickFosdick in its eye are mirrored far off mountains Alaska, USA Veteran
    edited October 2021

    Apparently there are a lot of spurious Einstein quotes out there. Some say thousands - but that is likely spurious as well - I doubt if anyone has ever counted them, or could, but my opinion on the matter is also spurious.

    Better to examine a statement on the merits you can find in it, not on who supposedly said it - including Gautama.

    Seems to me there is some merit in the above attribution, but I might alter it to read - If there is any religion that aligns with the requirements of modern scientific practice, it would be Buddhism.

    I'll let @lobster's commentary stand, although I think that the "revelation of our experience of being" through the Middle Way is both subjective and objective - or maybe neither. Not sure.

    Sorry, just gassing off.

    lobster
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran

    I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who said "Don't believe everything you read on the internet."

    WalkerlobsterKotishkaShoshin1
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    edited October 2021

    @Fosdick said:
    … although I think that the "revelation of our experience of being" through the Middle Way is both subjective and objective - or maybe neither. Not sure.

    Uncertainty, though uncomfortable compared to certainty is a furtherance of the extremes that balance in The Middle Way. For example a lie may be The Truth when it illustrates an empowering escape from ignorance. The Truth is never a lie except when stated as true.

    So in this sense, subjective and objective are certainly neither. Of this we can surely be unsure …

    Flux!

    FosdickShoshin1
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    @person said:
    I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who said "Don't believe everything you read on the internet."

    I think you'll find it was Aristotle...

    FosdickWalker
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    @federica said:
    May I just add that there is absolutely no written or recorded evidence to corroborate that Albert Einstein actually ever said what the above image seems to quote he did?

    Perhaps …
    http://wonderwheels.blogspot.com/2011/01/dharma-currents-1-introduction-to.html

    Fosdick
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    Yes, it's a bit of a stretch though, isn't it?

  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    Can we clarify our buttery/slippery mind/emotions/sense gates/being? My experience is settling works well.

    Inner science in Western Rasayana …
    https://www.theoracleslibrary.com/2018/11/06/the-alchemists-magnum-opus-explained-by-jung-and-the-tarot/

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