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What Buddha Actually Did
Greetings,
After perusing newbuddhist.com for a while I decided to post an old posting expressing my understanding of what Siddhartha Gautama actually accomplished. I had been posting on Zen Forums as part of my practice to deepen my understanding of the BuddhaDharma and releasing the sentient beings that prop up my ego. Just knowing that other sincere followers of the BuddhaDharma or seekers of Truth might read my posts seems to empower my mind to go deeper into itself in search of authentic self expression. My practice is more experiential than intellectual/scholastic and posting the insights that come to mind has been an enlightening process.
Twenty-five hundred years ago Siddhartha Gautama made the astonishing discovery that the ego is a "virtual reality" conditioned in the mind by acquired opinions, beliefs, attitudes, etc.. The English term for these empty emotional components of ego is sentient beings. Through deep meditation and the power of prajna (perspicacity) he penetrated and released these empty emotional cofactors of his own conditioned personality and realized Enlightenment – the end of suffering.
Sentient Being is one of the most misunderstood and misused concepts in "Buddhism" and should be thoroughly penetrated and understood or you will completely miss the point of the BuddhaDharma and the ending of mental anguish by the release of all sentient beings.
Sentient beings are mental entities such as perceptions, beliefs, opinions, attitudes, desires, moods, values, prejudices, convictions, assumptions, preconceptions, biases, habit patterns, dispositions, sentiments, judgments, addictions, impulses, compulsions, compunctions, obsessions, scruples, delusions, views, concepts, thoughts, ideas, etc., encapsulated in an ego and emotionally identified with and mentally felt to be valid and real to ego. "I am what I feel/experience" is the hallmark of the ego, the artificial sense of self construction.
These karmic habit patterns conditioned into the mind by the body growing up the way it did are a fait accompli (an accomplished fact). The mind is ignorant of the fact that it constructs an emotionally fortified self image (ego) in relationship to the world surrounding the body in which it finds itself. Ego is a psychosomatic protective coating unconsciously designed by the mind in which it dwells.
It is only a matter of time when the limitations of the artificial ego generate suffering in the mind. When the suffering get too intense the mind seeks a way out. Most minds get absorbed in traditions, families, self complacency, careers, causes, religions, mental illnesses, drugs, and other distracting delusions/illusions.
A self selected few come upon the Truth of Suffering and enter the path/process of the BuddhaDharma seeking an end to their ego inflicted suffering.
the Mind you are before such illusions as fathers and mothers existed
After perusing newbuddhist.com for a while I decided to post an old posting expressing my understanding of what Siddhartha Gautama actually accomplished. I had been posting on Zen Forums as part of my practice to deepen my understanding of the BuddhaDharma and releasing the sentient beings that prop up my ego. Just knowing that other sincere followers of the BuddhaDharma or seekers of Truth might read my posts seems to empower my mind to go deeper into itself in search of authentic self expression. My practice is more experiential than intellectual/scholastic and posting the insights that come to mind has been an enlightening process.
What Buddha Actually Did
Twenty-five hundred years ago Siddhartha Gautama made the astonishing discovery that the ego is a "virtual reality" conditioned in the mind by acquired opinions, beliefs, attitudes, etc.. The English term for these empty emotional components of ego is sentient beings. Through deep meditation and the power of prajna (perspicacity) he penetrated and released these empty emotional cofactors of his own conditioned personality and realized Enlightenment – the end of suffering.
Buddha: I teach one thing and one thing only, the end of [egotistical] suffering.
Sentient Being is one of the most misunderstood and misused concepts in "Buddhism" and should be thoroughly penetrated and understood or you will completely miss the point of the BuddhaDharma and the ending of mental anguish by the release of all sentient beings.
Sentient beings are mental entities such as perceptions, beliefs, opinions, attitudes, desires, moods, values, prejudices, convictions, assumptions, preconceptions, biases, habit patterns, dispositions, sentiments, judgments, addictions, impulses, compulsions, compunctions, obsessions, scruples, delusions, views, concepts, thoughts, ideas, etc., encapsulated in an ego and emotionally identified with and mentally felt to be valid and real to ego. "I am what I feel/experience" is the hallmark of the ego, the artificial sense of self construction.
These karmic habit patterns conditioned into the mind by the body growing up the way it did are a fait accompli (an accomplished fact). The mind is ignorant of the fact that it constructs an emotionally fortified self image (ego) in relationship to the world surrounding the body in which it finds itself. Ego is a psychosomatic protective coating unconsciously designed by the mind in which it dwells.
It is only a matter of time when the limitations of the artificial ego generate suffering in the mind. When the suffering get too intense the mind seeks a way out. Most minds get absorbed in traditions, families, self complacency, careers, causes, religions, mental illnesses, drugs, and other distracting delusions/illusions.
A self selected few come upon the Truth of Suffering and enter the path/process of the BuddhaDharma seeking an end to their ego inflicted suffering.
Suffering is an alarm telling mind it is time to wake up, pay attention, and return to
Original Mindthe Mind you are before such illusions as fathers and mothers existed
If you can't read the yellow words just Select/Highlight them.
pudgala2
pudgala2
0
Comments
Question then. Are animals, babies, the elderly with certain err conditions, those with brain damage and comas, buddhas... not sentient? :wtf: We ourselves are not sentient? :wtf:
Where did the Buddha used the term 'sentient'?
In the dependent origination, the Buddha used the word 'birth' to describe the manifestion of being.
Do Buddhas not have perception, opinions, convictions, views, concepts & thoughts?
You appear to be saying there is a pre-existing ego that identifies, feels and regards things to be real.
Is ego ignorant or is ego born from ignorance?
Does ego feel or is ego born from feeling?
Does ego crave or is ego born from craving?
Does ego perceive or is ego born from perception?
If ego disappears, cannot there still be feeling & perception?
For example, if ego disappears, will fire cease to cause painful feeling to the body?
If ego disappears, will the mind stop perceiving blue, green, red,yellow, etc?
When you are eating, eat. When you are walking, walk. When you are sitting sit.
Another way to look at is: Let the eating do it's thing, the walking do it's thing, and the sitting do it's thing.
I have noticed animals eating grass, munching away all day, sitting & walking.
But I have more to do than eat.
I have a job. I must use thought to solve complex matters. There are people I must talk to.
When a child cries, I must comfort it. When adults cry, I must comfort them.
:-/
"When this was said, Ajita Kesakambalin said to me, 'Great king, there is nothing given, nothing offered, nothing sacrificed. There is no fruit or result of good or bad actions. There is no this world, no next world, no mother, no father, no spontaneously reborn beings; no priests or contemplatives who, faring rightly and practicing rightly, proclaim this world and the next after having directly known and realized it for themselves. A person is a composite of four primary elements. At death, the earth (in the body) returns to and merges with the (external) earth-substance. The fire returns to and merges with the external fire-substance. The liquid returns to and merges with the external liquid-substance. The wind returns to and merges with the external wind-substance. The sense-faculties scatter into space. Four men, with the bier as the fifth, carry the corpse. Its eulogies are sounded only as far as the charnel ground. The bones turn pigeon-colored. The offerings end in ashes. Generosity is taught by idiots. The words of those who speak of existence after death are false, empty chatter. With the break-up of the body, the wise and the foolish alike are annihilated, destroyed. They do not exist after death.'
"Thus, when asked about a fruit of the contemplative life, visible here and now, Ajita Kesakambalin answered with annihilation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajita_Kesakambali
Not how it's generally used, but a critically important usage, in my understanding. It really doesn't change the relationship to "external" phenomena, it just broadens the Bodhisattva commitment to include "internal" ones. In this commentary on "Thirty seven practices of a Bodhisattva" the question repeatedly comes up, "How do you relate to the parts of you which steal from you?" "How you relate to the parts of you which undermine your attention?" etc.
And when I came upon this passage from the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch my understanding of the BuddhaDharma deepened and my mind opened to the Way:
"We have now vowed to deliver [release] an infinite number of sentient beings; but what does that mean? It does not mean that I, Hui-neng is going to deliver [release] them. And who are these sentient beings, potential within our minds? They are the delusive mind, the deceitful mind, the evil mind, and such like--all these are sentient beings. Each of them has to be delivered [released] by oneself by means of his own Essence of Mind; only by his own deliverance, is it genuine." p.260 end
Seekers must develop their own reliable subjective basis—a kind of wisdom seeking Truth. If my posting is difficult for you to read simply state your own understanding of what Gautama actually did alone in the forest in your own words. He wasn't studying Buddhism.
Following the BuddhaDharma is 99.9999999999% practice and .0000000001% understanding what you're practicing. Understanding keeps you on the Path and persistent practice dissipates the sentient clouds of ignorance.
It really is all about you and you alone are the only one who can do it. Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and one of the founding fathers of modern depth psychology, was once asked at a meeting of therapists how long therapy should last. Jung's reply was that therapy ends when one of two things happens—the patient runs out of money or he cures himself.
leads to self awakening
which leads to self
Liberation
Vernon Howard
Its great that you have figured out what the Buddha really meant. Get in line. I know maybe 50 very smart people who have very different yet equally effective understandings of was the Buddha really meant. I have my own understanding too. The shear weight of all these smart and conscious people having different perspectives than me, along with a basic intellectual honesty, forces me to aknowledge that my understanding is not privileged. The thing I love about this site is that I can put forward my honest view for debate, and in so doing learn from others. It is wonderful.
Right view is a very important part of the 8 fold path for a VERY good reason.
If you dont understand what you are doing then your practice is as valuable as slapping yourself in the face with a wet ham all day long.
As I said above, this does not necessarily mean your experience accords to actuality. What is written in the books may be more accurate than your insight.
For example, ego does not hold beliefs and attitudes. It is the mind that holds beliefs and attitudes. Some beliefs and attitudes lead to suffering and others do not. In brief, ignorance & wisdom hold the respective beliefs and attitudes rather than ego. You are equating ego with mental activities which is not the truth.
But what is stated here is not the same as your post. The Platform Sutra states 'delusive mind', 'deceitful mind' and 'evil mind'. But your post is saying all mind. Your post is stating all mental activities apart from pure awareness is suffering.
It appears what you have called 'truth' is not truth. However, it certainly is subjective.
What the Buddha actually did alone in the forest is what is written in the scriptures and is what comprises of the scriptures.
But what you have written is what you did but not what the Buddha did.
Your post is declaring what you did is the same as what the Buddha did.
No. Understanding what you are practising is inseparable from practise. The clarity of one's understanding is a measure of their insight.
Can you be more specific? I do my best to understand, I give advice when I think I have something worth saying, I debate my points in order to see more sides of each argument and learn. I adjust my understanding as my views grow. What more should we do? What less?
It great to express an opinion and even be provocative (respectfully). I wouldnt learn anything we all agreed.
Just noticing.:)
May Pudgala2 not be parted from their good fortune.
:smilec:
I hope you will answer Dhamma's questions. You don't have to just justify your words with "My practice is more experiential than intellectual/scholastic" - you tried to share your experience in words and we're interested in understanding. I agree entirely with mouthfullofclay.
For example, I'm curious about this too:
The only time I really hear this term is in the first precept. Like I said, I understand where you're going with this line of thought, and to a degree it makes sense, but what are examples of it being "a commonly misused term"?
I'm confused about your opinion here as well. It seems you're saying that, but on the other hand, in another Thread, it came across the opposite way.
It's distracting, and unnecessary.
Stick to the discussion, by all means, but I'm sure you're sufficiently eloquent to put your point across without kaleidoscopic assistance.
If you can't help it, I'll be happy to assist and modify for you.....;)
Thank you.
My future is an imaginary state generated in the present by my memorized experiences that my mind thought at the time were important to itself.
My mental life kept replicating itself over and over and over again because of its inherited sense of self importance.
It all started out as a rehearsal for a play and I got the parts I created in other actor's lives and after uncountable performances I grew weary of all the repetitious acting and so I moved on to writing, directing, producing, and acting in my own plays.
While putting on a performance as a Zen Buddhist I rehearsed a few lines and came to the part where I had to practice sitting still in the middle of the stage and a very odd thing happened. I became acutely aware of the spotlight in the theater that I spent all of my life in and thought was focused on me. It wasn't a spotlight at all but an opening in the theater of my mind.
Awareness dissolves the acting and leaves the theater for "parts" unknown to actors. In the present light of day there are no parts, no actors—just karma playing with itself.
Color me gone.
pudgala2
if not, finding one should be your first priority.
if so, you should run some of these ideas by her/him.
Come on, you -know- that the majority of the people in this Thread do share a "similar" view. There're some subtle differences though that may just be attributed to a poor choice in words...
i wouldnt say they are closely related to his view at all.
more like vaguely resemble.
not1not2 's post points in the right direction but doesn't elaborate:
In the....(continued at Zen Postings of pudgala2)
After reading this (and squinting very hard to sharpen the red text
Here's what I'm getting from your latest post (please correct me if I'm still misunderstanding):
A sentient being is traditionally defined as "a being capable of feeling and perceiving subjectively." Therefore "sentient being" ultimately refers to nothing more than the elements which fabricate the overall self-concept. Perception is inherently tainted by this self-concept. Once this illusion is shed, once there is no more grasping to things as "me" or "I," and we no longer subjectively perceive but directly know ("In the seen - only the seen," "there is thinking, but no thinker," etc.), dukkha is quenched.
However, I'm still not sure this statement is true:
This reads to me as if the ego is some ever-present entity that feels, that percieves, that believes etc. I still agree with Dhamma's post in this regard:
Is this what you're suggesting? If not, could you clarify? Thanks.
Don't forget the meaning of birth/becoming/being in the moment-to-moment version of dependent origination. That's what <center><blink>pugdala2</blink></center> is referring to, here.
(Lincoln, if you're going to strip color markups out of comment text, it would be polite to remove the color-setting component of the entry gui. Silently failing to honor something promised by the interface is really bad UI design.) (Though, I suppose in this case, it's not going to lead to any nukular reactors melting down or anything.)
But the term "sentient being" is used in DO?
But the question of whether it's standard usage or not seems unimportant to me. I learned it from my teacher, and it's an extremely useful perspective. (Came up in meditation five hours ago, actually.)
When federica asked me to "...refrain from multi-color emphasis" or my postings would be modified—I did. I thought federica meant future postings would be modified. And now someone has gone back and significantly altered my earlier postings without indicating they were edited, who edited them, and why.
The fair thing to have done would have been to notify me and give me an opportunity to edit or delete my earlier postings.
Since my understanding of the BuddhaDharma as expressed in my postings is also at odds with the majority of other posters a fair and reasonable resolution would be to delete this thread and also the altered "Language is Tongue-Tied" posting/thread.
Thank you.
pudgala2
http://newbuddhist.com/forum/showpost.php?p=70883&postcount=35
You can still edit/delete your earlier posts, but I hope you don't, and don't see why that would be necessary. The formatting was removed because it makes your posts very difficult to read... people are more likely to read them this way and that's a good thing.
Your expression of your understanding may be at odds with a lot of people here. But personally, I'm trying to take the time to understand your view and believe it's actually not so different from my own... it's just expressed in a different way. Learning new ways to interpret certain terms to understand a single concept is beneficial to anyone. There are those few points that I'm still uncertain about, and just as before, I hope you'll take the time to explain further and clarify.
I could not delete my earlier posts because the "Edit" button is gone from them. These threads will eventually fade into obscurity anyway—along with everything else that is transitory.
Sincere followers of the BuddhaDharma are on the path of ever present Truth which is only obscured by the nonexistent sentient dust of the self seeking ego. Don't waste your time trying to understand other views—attend to the Truth within until it starts expressing itself through you.
Sit comfortably still and be fully present and just watch the sentient beings passing through your mind trying to capture your attention—you are not these thoughts. Watch your belly breathing until the thoughts cease, the moods weaken, and your karmic identities fade away.
Be as persistent in your practice as the monk who accosted the Buddha for a teaching and you too will realized Peace of Mind—if you really want it more than anything you can think of.
I exist as I am–that is enough; if no other in the world be aware, I sit content.
—Walt Witman, Song of Myself
I leave you now with another old posting of Mind—The Only Way Out For You
Take care of yourself,
pudgala2
If you won't be posting here anymore, I'll add your Blog to my Favourites. Thank you for sharing the link.
Is this permanent or temporary, Lincoln?