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Throw out the teachings of the Buddha
JaySon
Florida Veteran
in Philosophy
Dear Friend,
Throw out all the teachings of the Buddha, all concepts, ideas, signs, and notions.
The teaching are just tools. They aren't ultimate truth. Use them to build the door to ultimate reality then put them back in the toolbox.
Sincerely,
Your pal, The Diamond Sutra
3
Comments
The Raft
"A man traveling along a path came to a great expanse of water. As he stood on the shore, he realized there were dangers and discomforts all about. But the other shore appeared safe and inviting.
The man looked for a boat or a bridge and found neither. But with great effort he gathered grass, twigs and branches and tied them all together to make a simple raft. Relying on the raft to keep himself afloat, the man paddled with his hands and feet and reached the safety of the other shore. He could continue his journey on dry land.
Now, what would he do with his makeshift raft? Would he drag it along with him or leave it behind? He would leave it, the Buddha said. Then the Buddha explained that the dharma is like a raft. It is useful for crossing over but not for holding onto,"
Hmm...think of the Buddha as a little dinghy.
Well said.
Sometimes we need to support, reavuluate, affirm but most of all find what is useful. I am reminded of someone in a raft to the far shore, killing the Buddha, abandoning the three jewels prematurely and jumping into the water and drowning. They forgot to learn to swim ... tsk tsk ...
The path, the door, the way, the tools are not ultimately used to build. Ultimate Reality is for Cods, God expanders and the ego pushers. The Buddha is dismantling doors, or building a hovel and finding even that crumbles ... and we are the broken building ...
You are the dharma now?
LOL ... Perhaps, perhaps not ...
http://diamond-sutra.com
You're asking me to poop before I'm done digesting.
It takes a while to suck all the nutrients out.
@lobster In the end, you have to throw it all out, not just the teachings of the Buddha, but even your witty banter.
@David Release the poop.
Throw it out once you've crossed to the other shore, not before.
The raft of conceptuality can't take you all the way to the shore of suchness. At some point you have to abandon the raft of conceptuality and swim in the waters of Emptiness.
One method of breath meditation is like the tools used to build a door or the raft used to cross a river or like tools used to build rafts to cross an ocean one island at a time. The first tool is counting. It's used to occupy the mind while attention tethers to the breath. When it settles and mindfulness arises, counting distracts and should be returned to the toolbox. Like reaching a small island, this place replenishes, but the island is vulnerable to rising waters in a storm, so one shouldn't stay.
Retrieving another tool, building another raft, the mind moves with the breath, while attention narrows to the tip of the nose. Like the eyes of a carpenter sawing a board don't follow the saw but watch the point where it cuts, attention doesn't follow the breath but watches the point of contact. Another tool, another raft, another island. When attention settles on the touch sensation and the perception of air arises, the tool is returned, another retrieved, another raft constructed.
Having used the tool of counting to remove uncertainty and construct a raft to an island of certainty, having used the tool of connecting to remove discursive thoughts and construct a raft to an island of unbroken mindfulness, having used the tool of contacting to remove distraction and construct a raft to an island of steady perception, one retrieves an even more delicate tool for the last leg of this stretch.
As the mind and air merge into singleness, one constructs a raft of joy and happiness. It carriers one away to a new island, secluded and sublime. Still, though, a long ways from safety. So, this tool is also returned, another retrieved, another raft constructed. Island by island, the ocean is crossed, tools used and returned, rafts built and abandoned. Finally, with the last raft, the whole toolbox is set adrift; when the first foot falls on the far shore, unburdened, weightless and free, who would want such things?
We should start a raft business.
Do let's.....I'd have a punt at that.... (Geddit? 'Punt'...? See what I did there...? Oh, please yourselves....!)
The Dharma> @JaySon said:
Its a combination. The raft, you have the person (buddha), the ores (dharma), and sangha (neighbors floating around you). To push the raft, you need owes. To have the map (instructions for practice), you need the sangha (a teacher). But these things wont help unless you pick up and use the ores and read the map yourself. No dictations. No "training ores" just you. Just you.
Three jewels rather than one. Its a balance without attachment.
"Before enlightenment rivers are rivers and mountains are mountains. During enlightenment rivers are no longer rivers and mountains are no longer mountains. After enlightenment rivers can once again be rivers and mountains can once again be mountains."
Conceptuality is a pretty handy tool as is the illusory self. I won't be throwing them away even as I work on not clinging.
Drag it along for at least three months after reaching enlightenment, for sheer obstinacy value.
Well, a lady's got to have somewhere to put her cosmetic touch-up bag....
I think your spell checker may be on to something:
The three jewels are ores/oars that are mined and rowed over until we start moving in the right direction ...
... and now back to the far shore for sure ...
You mean the river has to be crossed more than once? Rowing back and forth so to speak, each time heading back to a new ‘far shore’?
The grass is always greener...
I'll be happy to be ever more alert to the present moment and let the far shores fall where they may.
Get to the far shore first.
Then it get's interesting. For example becoming un-enlightened as part of a deepening realisation that samsara is nirvana. Emptying, including the 'emptying of attainment' may seem strange but the far shore has new ores, no mines needed - jewels everywhere.
Picnics in hell realms? No problem. Ferry service. Of course. River swimming for stream entrants, indeed ...
https://cundi.weebly.com/enlightenment.html