Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Dharma & our own liberation?
I have a book "The Dalai Lama's book of Daily meditations"
Today's meditation
" When receiving the teachings, it is important to have the correct attitude. It is not practising the Dharma properly to listen with the intention of gaining material advantage or reputation. Neither should our goal be higher rebirth in the next life, nor should we be wishing only for our own liberation from samsara. These are all attitudes we should regect. Instead, let us listen to the teachings with the determined wish to attain the state of omniscience for the sake of all beings"
Im just wondering how is this possible? Surely our meditation practice is with a view to improve our own position through lifetimes? Is it only through our own potential enlightment can we help other sentient beings? Or are we supposed to be altrusitic and meditate and practice for the improvement in others rebirths and therfore find a way out of samsara in return?
I suppose this is a "chicken and egg" queston!
Today's meditation
" When receiving the teachings, it is important to have the correct attitude. It is not practising the Dharma properly to listen with the intention of gaining material advantage or reputation. Neither should our goal be higher rebirth in the next life, nor should we be wishing only for our own liberation from samsara. These are all attitudes we should regect. Instead, let us listen to the teachings with the determined wish to attain the state of omniscience for the sake of all beings"
Im just wondering how is this possible? Surely our meditation practice is with a view to improve our own position through lifetimes? Is it only through our own potential enlightment can we help other sentient beings? Or are we supposed to be altrusitic and meditate and practice for the improvement in others rebirths and therfore find a way out of samsara in return?
I suppose this is a "chicken and egg" queston!
0
Comments
Answer: Both.
There has to be a RIGHT answer.
Even though ..... I know your right! :smilec:
Answer: Well, when you are helping yourself to become a better person by practicing the Dhamma don't you also help those around you? When you are helping those around you by practicing the Dhamma aren't you also helping yourself?
"33. "Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge.
"And how, Ananda, is a bhikkhu an island unto himself, a refuge unto himself, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as his island, the Dhamma as his refuge, seeking no other refuge?
34. "When he dwells contemplating the body in the body, earnestly, clearly comprehending, and mindfully, after having overcome desire and sorrow in regard to the world; when he dwells contemplating feelings in feelings, the mind in the mind, and mental objects in mental objects, earnestly, clearly comprehending, and mindfully, after having overcome desire and sorrow in regard to the world, then, truly, he is an island unto himself, a refuge unto himself, seeking no external refuge; having the Dhamma as his island, the Dhamma as his refuge, seeking no other refuge.
35. "Those bhikkhus of mine, Ananda, who now or after I am gone, abide as an island unto themselves, as a refuge unto themselves, seeking no other refuge; having the Dhamma as their island and refuge, seeking no other refuge: it is they who will become the highest, if they have the desire to learn."
~Digha Nikaya 16 Maha-parinibbana Sutta http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/digha/dn-16-sv0.html
Answer: Where? Mostly from books (the various suttas of the Tipitaka, commentaries, Dhamma talks, etc.), discussions with monks, discussions with other practitioners, and somewhere inside of myself.
Once in a while you just have to ask yourself the question and really contemplate it. After a while an insight or answer will come to you. It may not always be the 'right' one, but that is where you have to start. Once you realize that you may be wrong you work on correcting your view, or if you realize that you may be on the right track you refine it and make it part of your 'right view'. Practicing Buddhism is a lot like trial and error.
The put it simply, the Dalai Lama may be 'enlightened' as we say, but that is the Dalai Lama - not you. No matter what he says, what he writes, or what he does it will not make you any closer to Awakening. No matter how much he practices, meditates, or studies it does not directly help you in your own practice. Only you can practice for you. Only you can meditate for you. Only you can discover the profound truths the Buddha is pointing you to.
Neither the Dalai Lama nor I can do this work for you. So, although the Dalai Lama is a great man who has studied and practiced to a point of great understanding of the Dharma, he is not you. Only you can study and practice to a point of great understanding of the Dharma for yourself. He may help you by pointing out the way as the Buddha did, but he cannot do the work for you. It is up to us as followers of the Buddha to rouse our own efforts and start down the Noble Eightfold Path.
We must take the steps ourselves. We must put forth the effort towards understanding the many truths the Buddha taught. People like the Dalai Lama are like guides that help us along, pointing out the 'wrong' paths and pointing out the 'right' ones. Although they can be very helpful and supportive in our practice, they cannot do the actual work for us. Just like a farmer cannot reap the benefits of a harvest that he himself did not sow with his own hands, we cannot reap the benefits of a practice that we did not actually do.
QUOTE: "Im just wondering how is this possible? Surely our meditation practice is with a view to improve our own position through lifetimes? Is it only through our own potential enlightment can we help other sentient beings? Or are we supposed to be altrusitic and meditate and practice for the improvement in others rebirths and therfore find a way out of samsara in return?"
When you act in line with the Dhamma (your actions of body, speech, and mind being wholesome instead of unwholesome) everyone benefits. When you are helping yourself to become a better person by practicing the Dhamma you also help those around you. Not only can you help teach others what you learn, but you can also be mindful of your kamma (volitional actions of body, speech, and mind) and do things which do not cause harm or suffering to anybody else. When you are helping those around you by practicing the Dhamma you also helping yourself. By being compassionate, practicing dana (generosity), relieving the suffering of others, etc. you are also practicing the Dhamma, which is breeding the right conditions for your own understanding.
They both go hand in hand. When you help others it is helping your own practice, while you are practicing for yourself you are helping others as well. In effect, there is no difference. It is all in how you are looking at it.
I hope that this helps to clear things up as opposed to confusing you more.
* For references to the Noble Eightfold Path here is a link that may be of some help http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/wings/2h.html *
Real answer: Does it change anything knowing which came first?
Comic helps to, it is true, does it matter which comes first? Probably not, Im just a person who has difficulty with the grey area's. Something to do with my upbringing, I think.
Your both lucky living in CA .. would guess you have more access to teachers than I do living in Ireland. Lived in LA for a while and unfortunatly wasn't as aware of the Buddhist path as I am now.
Thanks for the help though!