MAKE THE SOUND OF THE LION 响一样吼
ShanJieshi2
bahia blanca Veteran
This page is dedicated to the essence of Buddha Dharma that transcends words. Its intention is not to simply regurgitate a million and one pretty phrases; it is to strip stained and contaminated aspects of Modern Buddhism away from the teachings of the great masters in every Buddha Dharma path. It is to shed Shantideva light upon Bodhisattvayana, the path of compassion and benevolence, and upon Dharmayana, the path for the release from individual suffering and Identity.
What is stained Modern Buddhism? It is a Buddhism which is generating a religious approach to compassion and benevolence (clearly without a supreme being or soul). This “popular Buddhism” teaches without any meaningful reference to the richness of the profound teachings that lead through Dharmayana to the dissolving of Suffering and Identity, and to Bodhi Dharmayana, which is the Dharma of Awakening leading to the direct experience of no-mind and the elimination of Duality within conscious thought.
What is stained Modern Buddhism? It is a Buddhism that permits the constant reinforcement of conscious thinking and generates in those with developed cognitive intelligence an analytical and cold Buddhism that is only at best academic. The danger is that those captured by the worship of their own academic mind believe that they are on the path when they are actually wandering, immersed in the bogs of Mara.
What is stained Modern Buddhism? It is a Buddhism which is at the elementary level in all disciplines from Theravada to Tantra teachings and is applied at a superficial level, capturing adepts at one extreme by the academic and simple beauty of the teachings and the other by ritual, rites and ceremony. These, contrary to their own Great Masters of the past, do not in any way teach the subtlety and profundity of even the first steps of Refuge. They evolve parrot rendition of mantras and sadhanas and simplistic understanding of the Noble Truths without the profound understanding which is necessary.
What is stained Modern Buddhism? It is a collection of closed systems which has lost the richness of mutual understanding at the higher levels and has developed into a competitive arena in which the number of followers is counted as the measure of success and the building of stupas and temples is more relevant than the pledge to truly eliminate Ignorance from all human creatures and free all creatures from the destruction of the human stained mind. It is a Buddhism built and dependent upon names and labels, not upon the essence of the Dharma truth.
What is stained Modern Buddhism? It is the modern impetus that believes that the teachings of the great realized Masters of the past (from Buddha to Atisha, Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa and Milarepa in the Tibetan teachings; Huineng, Yunmen, Fayan, Dongshan, Caoshan, Linji, Guishan, Yangshan and Zongmi and others of the Golden Age, in the Chinese teachings; and all that truly followed in their footsteps keeping true at all times to the natural Dharma) can be modified to suit our times and even melded with eternalist ideas and the consumer world.
What is stained Modern Buddhism? It is the application of patches to Suffering in a thousand different forms which trap those treated in a round of samsara. It is the proliferation of false compassion and false benevolence founded on the intellectual application of the Dharma, melded with a natural and correct concern for social injustice. It is the great trap of Mara that permits pity, empathy and Identity to masquerade as compassion.
The use of the word Buddhism itself is a reflection of the disease and, as all “isms,” is best forgotten. While there have been many forms to divide Buddha Dharma into coherent groups, here we do not use the traditional triple division of Buddha Dharma into three vehicles (Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana). Instead we use the designation of three paths which more correctly represent the flowing relationship in which it can be seen that the apparently separate vehicles actually meld into one. These are the paths of the true Bodhisattva pledge (Bodhisattvayana), which leads and continues into the path of the Natural Way (Dharmayana) and the Dharma of Awakening to the No-Mind, the Primordial State (Bodhi Dharmayana).
These may best be considered not as three vehicles leading to separate destinations, but as a single train in which passengers can alight and enter and in which the conductor may change. Beyond that there is the long walk within samsara with the constant presence of the No-Mind that leads to final Enlightenment.
Comments
As a full time strain/stain, I will be joining the New Age Hordes, The Jains or the nearest Buddhist Theme Park.
Wonder where the nearest Train Station is …
It seems to me that the division of what we today call buddhism into streams by teacher is a fairly natural consequence of non-coherence of the tradition, which is ok. By seeing these different teaching methods and emphases we all learn new things and are attracted to what resonates with us.
The whole idea of a ‘modern stain’ is interesting, because it presumes a ‘right’ way to do things which is different. That certainly bears investigating, although it seems to me to be yet another movement, a stream in its own right.
@Jeroen
Is it possible to establish a culture of peace through the Bodhisattva way of life?
Yes, but there is no road to peace, other than for one to become "peace", and this is not accomplished by adapting the Bodhisattva spirit in the attempt to accommodate one's particular practice, but only through embracing the Bodhisattva Dharma in it's entirety and then adapting one's particular practice so it's in complete harmony with such a spirit --- otherwise, one will quickly fall into the error of sectarianism and never possess the equanimity of the Bodhisattva spirit.
The equanimity of the Bodhisattva spirit means that one does not forsake the Mahayana or the Theravada for one or the other, nor should one be considered to be "greater" than the other, for such distinctions do not exist with proper practice of Bodhisattva Dharma (also known as Bodhisattvayana or Paramitayana), which is an inclusive path complete in its expression.
But what is the origin of the Bodhisattva Dharma? When testing it, how are we to know that it leads to that which is beneficial and wholesome?
All knowledge from books and holy texts is suspect, having been copied, translated, and edited many times. Traditions as such tend to rely on knowledge that is repeated by rote, and so are essentially dead. In the end the presence of a living enlightened master is what one should search for, if that fails then a modern dead master whose words and image are preserved on video and tape.
In the end all words are fingers pointing to the moon, and the presence is infinitely more valuable.
@Jeroen You hit the nail on the head.
The forums are very attractive and in this case quite useful. But at some point study and practice will have to be a bit more intense to understand this.
I can help anyone who needs it, but it is certainly a matter that needs dedication and perseverance.
The forums are great, don't get me wrong. But they are in a way still the slow lane of dharma development. Making progress via the written word - books and forums - is a question of slowly educating yourself, it's a process of ripening, but spending time with an enlightened master is far superior. Unfortunately finding one is a difficult task.
We can make progress on this and other issues step by step.
Nothing to worry about
“The idea lies NOT in inducing a person to do what otherwise he would not have done, but in instructing him in what otherwise he would not have known.”
The transmission of Buddha Dharma to the west will no doubt be filled with missteps and improper additions and subtractions. So its important to maintain a certain level of critical attitude and skepticism towards new interpretations.
But the transmission of Buddhism from one culture to another has always changed the way it is presented and practiced. So its important to stay open to the possibility of culturally adapted change and positive development.
This was a good podcast episode by the author of "Why I'm Not a Buddhist", with some valid criticisms of modern, western Buddhism.
https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/evan-thompson-417