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Nourishing our true self
Sile
Veteran
A nice thought for the day from today's Facebook wall:
"Above all else, we need to nourish our true self—what we can call our buddha nature—for so often we make the fatal mistake of identifying with our confusion, and then using it to judge and condemn ourselves, which feeds the lack of self-love that so many of us suffer from today." (Sogyal Rinpoche)
"Above all else, we need to nourish our true self—what we can call our buddha nature—for so often we make the fatal mistake of identifying with our confusion, and then using it to judge and condemn ourselves, which feeds the lack of self-love that so many of us suffer from today." (Sogyal Rinpoche)
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Comments
Now let me see ... do I have any honest reason to believe that I actually know what this "true nature" or "Buddha nature" is?
I guess that's what practice is for.
I read it as "assume that your truest nature is the good one, not the deluded one. Don't get hung up believing that you are your "bad stuff.""
You could also look at it as clearing away that bad stuff that is obscuring your true nature; you are not the grime, but the thing that is left when the grime is cleaned away.
There is no need for self-improvement.
All these trips that we lay on ourselves — the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good, the identities that we so dearly cling to, the rage, the jealousy and the addictions of all kinds — never touch our basic wealth. They are like clouds that temporarily block the sun. But all the time our warmth and brilliance are right here. This is who we really are. We are one blink of an eye away from being fully awake.”
- Pema Chodron
If we already have everything we need, why would we read or listen to Buddha's teachings? Why are we here on this forum?
Saying we need to refine and improve ourselves does not say that we are "bad". It's just saying we are not all we can be and that we do not understand all that we can comprehend.
Also Pema Chodron has many teachings that are not feel-good. In my tape she says 'meditation is not about feeling good'... and 'that (previous sentence) must be sending shockwaves around the hallway.
Additionally the tradition is yogacara where it is viewed (the path) as clearing away clouds from primordial awakened heart rather than madyamaka view of nurturing non-view or non-self.
I think I prefer the removing obstructions view, though I probably identify with my negative stuff and seek to improve myself.
Path advisory notice.
Shouting "shotgun" when stepping onto the raft to the other shore may result in an aimless swim.
The idea isn't that we don't have confusion, just that ultimately that confusion isn't us. We're like a mirror with dirt on it--we can be dirty, but we aren't the dirt.
Saying we need to refine and improve ourselves does not say that we are "bad". It's just saying we are not all we can be and that we do not understand all that we can comprehend.
:eek: This struck me. It made me think of my Buddha nature very hard.
In one way, I agreed that I was not born 'bad', but can you clarify something for
me? If we are not all we can be and do not understand/comprehend....would
you say it is still viewed in a negative manner?
Im not bad, but im not all I can be either.
Im on the forum, because I definetly have a hard time comprehending
suffering.
Thats the point.
Some work their whole lives. Some don't. Whatever works for you.
1. Is this lesson the best it can be (even when it was very successful)?;
2. Should I delete and it look for a new/different lesson on that topic;
3. Should I revise (to some degree) this lesson.
I think we could all benefit from that when we tackle something significant. Doctors and surgeons ought to do that. Chefs ought to do that. ... We, in our spiritual life ought to do that. Doesn't mean we didn't do good to begin with, but maybe we can do better.
nuture it, I AGREE !!!!!
:thumbsup:
As opposed to what? Feel-bad Buddhism? lololololol
"Each year, as I would complete a particular lesson, I would take a few minutes to think:
So see? We agree. Feeling good about WANTING to improve on your
skills, whatever they might be, makes one HAPPY ! That drive for the devine :om:
An interesting post!
I wonder if Buddha nature has as many different discriptions as describers.
At this moment I think that
Buddha nature can be an experience or an intellectualization. As a meditative experience it's both etherial and imutable. Etherial for how much conditioning obscures our sight of it and imutable as a constant presense that always rivals our own.
As a concept or an intellectualization it's just a compass pointing the lost, home.
None of this says that it's overtly positive or negative, just reality. For those wishing to bridge the gap between Christianity and Buddhism and in light of Sile's opening post and can stand a minimilist's take.
The choice has always been such grace or suffering.
Whatever obscures our Buddha nature creates suffering. Suffering has many definitions in Buddhism about whatever we pull towards us or push away because that is just what obscures the experience of our own innate adequacy.
connected the Buddha Nature was the True self terminology, so ok, I can
see where I might have had a suitcase full of views there.
Then the 'discussion' had turned to whether believing your true self
was golden, and fabulous was somehow a negative vibe. So....thats
where I was going with that....haha
The rest of your post...well, you'll have to give me a min. to
marinate on that. I have
enjoyed many of your insights on this forum.
EDIT: The suffering remark was my ego being sarcastic.
Meditation/life/practise can be experienced as a sliding scale where one opens to ones buddha nature (original face) (grace) (innate completeness) or obscures it through attachment and thereby suffers.
It connected all the things we were referring to!
Buddha nature, suffering, true nature, attachments, etc.
The truth is, to me anyway, is that Buddhism is a way to experience very deep emotions, including both intense joy and profound sadness, and everything in between, but always recognizing the truth about all of our emotions and realizing the true nature of emptiness.
I see living fully and being engaged with all aspects of our experiences is part of that process.
That is going in my Buddha Bag! Simple and concise!
It depends on ones definition of meditation, I think.
However she also says that you should evaluate your goals in meditation and measure if they are met. And perhaps ask for a different method.
I know these two sound contradictory and I am not sure.
What's to meet? Dam that sticky zen!
I don't think what your teacher says is contradictory at all. Different meditations yield different results but that doesn't make one right and the another wrong.
So IMO clarity is important.
:hair: