More Balance….

This post is intended to be a continuation of sorts, of a previous post; “Balance”.  and… perhaps it is.

In the previous post, I explored my perceptions of the universe from a strictly humanistic side, from what can be observed with the eye and the analytical thought processes.

However, that is the yang of it.  There IS, of course,  a yin side to things also.  There is a yin side to everything!  That’s the duality of our universe.

One of the greatest, and ultimately insurmountable, challenges facing anyone who embarks on the path to understanding, is the indisputable fact that there will ALWAYS be more to know than we CAN know!

In counterpoint to the yang side of human reasoning, (or logic) is the fact there is a spiritual side (yin) that cannot be accessed by logic.  Commonly referred to as “faith”, it is usually much harder for us to accept, for several reasons.

1. People today tend to rely heavily on “science”, “logic”, and the evidence of the five senses, whereas 500 years or more ago, the world relied heavily on faith.
2. We are creatures of this physical universe, this conditional reality, and therefore tend to rely almost exclusively on phenomena existing in this reality, forgetting the little circle of yin which is our connection to the world of spirit, or Ultimate reality.  (see yin/yang diagram)
3. We, and conditional reality, are only one half of an indivisible and mutually complimentary whole, the other half being Ultimate reality.  (see explanation in “Does True Enlightenment Preclude the existence of God?” )

The above explanation should make clear why I believe in two apparently contradictory things,  God and Enlightenment.  Also I hope it helps to explain (at least in a very rudimentary fashion) why I feel that true enlightenment would at least include the understanding that all the questions we so earnestly meditate upon concerning our reality must take into account the spiritual side, Eternity, or Ultimate Reality.

If none of this is making sense to you, bear in mind that words are a poor conveyance sometimes.  Lao Tzu said: “…words may be used to speak of it, but they cannot contain it.”

The Yin/Yang of Ignorance and Understanding

It was a simple thing really…

For years I have been frustrated with my own ignorance, but as unenlightened as I am, it has always been relatively easy to notice others who understood even less than myself.  It seemed so sad.  So pitiful.  Here am I, reaching for understanding and wisdom, and daily I would encounter numerous persons, from all walks of life, who were seemingly unaware that there was even a need to seek wisdom!

These same people are usually quick to tell you all that is wrong in their life, all the challenges they are facing, and how nothing ever works out the way they want it to….

Then like the dawning of a new day, I began to understand.  Yin/Yang, the duality of the universe, demands the exsistence of such!  Just as there could be no day if there were no night, enlightenment cannot exsist without it’s opposite: ignorance!

When I understood this, I began to be grateful for ignorance, and especially for the journey from ignorance to enlightenment, for is that not really what it’s all about?  The journey, not the destination?

Balance

Oftentimes the true significance of my pursuits are obscure even to me.  But it is clearer than ever that the calling that comes so strongly from my pursuit of Eastern Philosophy is the attraction of Balance.  Balance that is only possible if it comes first from within!

Everything comes from within!  From within the deepest recesses of our thought patterns, our motivations, and our desires.  circumstances of our birth were beyond our control, but nearly everything that comes after is determined,  in large part, by us.

The thoughts and understandings of the great Buddhist, and Taoist, masters seems to confirm this phenomena.  If you want change, be it as profound as the cessation of suffering, or as mundane as a few more dollars in cash flow, the answer is always found within ourselves.  No wonder those who understand, when they meditate, contemplate their own navel!  What we find at our core, our center,determines the circumstances of our external world, and our interaction with it.

Consider the example of someone minding their own business, meditating perhaps, being struck from behind by someone to whom they had done no wrong, no harm.  The mundane or conventional (i.e. normal) person would react very strongly, perhaps even with violence.

“Who is this person, and why are they striking me?”

But the person of superior understanding would immediately realize the offender struck out of underlying ignorance, which in turn generated hatred, having no understanding of the hegative Karma they had just created.  The enlightened person would view the incident as a wonderful oportunity to apply one of the fundamental principles of Dharma practice: Patience.  This philosophy is exemplified in the meditation “Be Like Water”.

Just because the sensations of want and desire arise within our point of view or experience, does not mean we have to act upon them.  We are not required to “be” that emotion.  Acknowledge and observe the emotion, take note of it, and remain centered, serene, balanced!

Remember: Events and conditions arise, continue briefly, and then pass away, constantlyand continually, without interruption.  They do this because all conventional exsistence is in motion.  Motion changes each phenomena in relation to the other phenomena around it.  This in turn creates new conditions which then create new phenomena.

The chicken or the egg?

Even our very atoms vibrate, nothing stands still, or can remain motionless in this conventional, conditional  reality.

The only way we can remove ourselves from the suffering of change is to detach ourselves from the events, emotions, and other phenomena that surround us.

How do we become so attached to various people, places, events, and other things around us?

It all begins when we enter reality, soon after conception.  But it really takes hold after birth as we begin to explore the world around us with our newly aqquired senses.  Like all new observers, we become obsessed with the five sense factors to the point where we become convinced of our own reality.

It should be observed here that this is a reality only in the sense that we can observe it, yet at the same time, it is a dependent reality in that whatever “reality” we are observing, it is dependent on other conditions and states of being that are changing moment by moment.  And as conditions change, so does this conditional reality we are observing.

…. to be continued.

Be Like Water

Be like water.

Water conforms itself to whatever vessel or circumstance surrounds it, without being disturbed in any way.

Water is yielding and pliable, yet it brings down mountains.

Nothing can withstand it.

Water can travel anywhere, even ride the wind!

Be like water.

The Way

The Tao is beyond words, beyond understanding.
Words can be used to speak of it, but they cannot contain it.

The Tao came before words and names,
before Heaven and Earth,
before the “Ten Thousand Things”.
Tao is the Ultimate source of all conventional things.

Therefore, to see beyond boundaries to the true reality of things,
dispense with words and names, with concepts,
with ambitions, and expectations, and differences, and desires.

The Tao and it’s many manifestations arise from the same source:
Subtle wonder within Mysterious darkness.

This is the beginning of all understanding.

(paraphrase of translation by Bryan Browne Walker)

Does True Enlightenment Preclude the Existence of God?

Enlightenment has often been likened to the rising of the Sun.

It begins with a minuscule increase in the available, ambient light, so discrete as to be almost imperceptible, and continues until the radiant orb is at it’s zenith.

During the process of enlightenment there are many bright flares of sudden insight, many “AHA!” moments when we are illuminated by a sudden brief flash of insight, but these can be likened to the beams of the rising sun, flashing through an opening in the leaves, or peering momentarily through a gap in the clouds.

True Enlightenment is when the sun is at it’s Zenith.

There are many on the path to enlightenment, who do not acknowledge the existence of God, of a Creator.  And for many, that is because Buddhism historically has always been intended to alleviate the problems of this present physical existence, rather than deal with the ‘unknowable’.  This is understandable, as Siddhartha Gautama himself is reported to have instructed his followers: “…do not make a religion of this.”  Instructions, which sadly enough, have not been followed.

Taoism on the other hand teaches that there is nothing in existence without an opposite, and describes it in the concept of yin/yang.  Two complementary halves of one whole.

• Day / Night
• Good / Evil
• Male / Female
• Sun / Moon
• Earth / Heavens
• Arrogance / Meekness
• Strong / Weak
• Fast / Slow

The list goes on and on.  For everything in existence, there is an opposite.

The key to this understanding is that it takes both halves together, in order for either half to exist.

Since we are not required to just take the concept of yin/yang merely on faith, but can instead see it for ourselves, we therefore know it exists.  Having perceived it thus, we can then begin to apply it to the areas in which we are still ignorant.  Not everything can be seen with our eyes, or proven with scientific observation.  Not that long ago Science was totally unaware of the ‘Quark’ particle, but with the advent of particle accelerators, quark particles were ‘discovered’.  Ironically the Universe had been operating for billions of years with these particles built right into it’s very fabric.  Our inability to fathom, let alone conceive of this particle, in no way denied it existence.

Therefore: rather than preclude, True Enlightenment would have to include the existence of God.

I have no intention of trying to convince you here that it is so, but rather to remind you to consider this: that everything that exists, only exists in conjunction with it’s mutually complementary opposite.  Inability to see it does not preclude it’s existence!

save

Mindfulness

“….You, who are inclined to escape from the states of mundane existence, hold fast to the jewel of the spirit of awakening.”  Shantideva

Mindfulness is perhaps the single most difficult task we face.

To keep ourselves always aware and focused on the now, unhindered by the myriad events and complexities of our daily lives, our past, or an imaginary future, is a state of mind that is absolutely vital if we want to escape the normal suffering of our everyday lives.  S.O.E.

Forgetting the Moon

For a long time, I wrestled with what I perceived to be, a dilemma:

How can someone who professes to be a Christian be so deeply involved in Eastern philosophy and thought?  Am I not being untrue to my belief?  And how can the things I am studying resonate so profoundly with me if I have a different religion?

The answer, when it became clear, was quite startling.

One of the things that probably everyone struggles with at some point in there lives is the question; “How can there be so many religions?”  ”They can’t all be right!”

My position is this, and it has been a hard-won realization:

Forget “ianity” and “isms” and study the real.  In other words, forget Christianity and study Christ.  Forget Buddhism and study the enlightenment.  Forget Taoism and study The Way.

More and more I understand that the suffix “ism” really does mean: “a system of beliefs, ( or beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school” as my Word Web dictionary so aptly describes it.  The key word here is “system”. At some point, some individual has put together his/her interpretation of the religion, or philosophy, and begun to promote it to the masses.

Looking deeply into the life and words of Jesus Christ, you will find that the true intent of all that he lived and taught, as well as died for, was that man would be brought into more intimate contact with the Creator of the Universe. Since that time however, his words and teachings have been first; recorded, then interpreted, ( by individuals, some well meaning, and some self-serving ) Then great temples have been built in his name.  And along the way, all sorts of “trappings” have been accumulated.

Jesus lived a simple life.  He was a carpenter from Galilee.  His teachings, or ’services’ if you will, were held either in a home, or in an outdoors setting where he taught the people of his day.  The same was true of his Disciples, as they followed his teachings.  Somewhere along the way  in the last  twenty centuries however, We have diverted into the “Christianity” we know today.  We still have his teachings tho, and whether or not they have been accurately preserved, we can still use them to draw nearer to our creator.

Buddha, (the name is Sanskrit for “enlightened one”) was born Siddhartha Gautama to a wealthy king in Northern India, in what at present day is known as Nepal.  At an early age, he began to understand the emptiness of wealth and priviliege and renounced his position in order to learn more about the causes of suffering.  His teaching was about how to avoid suffering in this life.  He did not claim to be divine, or to teach of any afterlife, re-incarnation, Gods or Devils.  Only of how to be “Awake” to the reality of the present.  According to one account, before his death he instructed his followers: “…do not make a religion of this.”  Yet today, we have Buddh”ism”, with all sorts of gaudy temples, robes, beads, incense, statues, etc.!

Beginning to sound familiar?

One More:

Taoism is another religion founded around the teachings of one man, Lao Tzu, although there is some controversy about whether he was a man, or a group of men, and today we have “Taoist” temples, statues, architecture, etc..

It becomes obvious.  Over the centuries, too many people have lost sight of the moon, and see only the finger pointing at the moon.  But because it is an elegant finger, it looks so classic, and it gives one an air of great mystique to be able to talk about it, most people have forgotten the moon!  I suppose in part, this is because of our natural tendency to think we “know” something if we can talk about it.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  If we cannot “do” in reality we know nothing!

We must be able to “apply” in order to say we “know”!

So forget labels, seek out the real.  This is enlightenment, and the eradication of ignorance.

Nothing Special

I began this blog with a strong feeling of purpose, knowing that I wanted to share what I have learned with the world, whether anyone read it or not.  The joy was in the writing.

Then after a couple of posts I began to lose forward momentum.  ”What is wrong?” I asked myself.

Finally I have begun to understand.  Reality doesn’t lend itself well to words.  Words are generally used to describe concepts and perceptions.   Ultimate Reality lies outside the boundaries of concepts and perceptions.  What I mean is, we can learn to perceive true reality, but it is very hard to put into words in a way that will accurately describe it.

OK, impossible!

So, I struggled with my dilemma for days, unable to write, until I finally went back to the beginning. “Zen  is like a finger pointing the way to the moon.  Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all the heavenly glory!” (Paraphrase of Bruce Lee in ‘Enter the Dragon’.)

I began to understand.  I can only point to things I have learned.  This is the purpose of the famous Zen “koans” (stories) that make you think.  It’s not the story that is important, merely the thing it is pointing toward.  Reality!

Imperturbability

What is it, and how do you get it?

One of the thoughts that has been slowly formulating in the back of my conciousness, and brought to awareness in recent years, is simply this: We ALL have our own beliefs, dogma’s, and reasonings.  But in the end, what is the ultimate reality of things?

After 50 years, I have finally reached the serenity that allows me to accept the thoughts of others without feeling an impulse to change their minds. It is so liberating to be in a place where I can accept that others are what they are, and nothing is required of me, because ultimately we all bear final responsibility for what we have chosen to be.

For so many years of my life I was haunted by feelings of inadequacy, guided by fears, and blinded by ignorance.  And then there was the anger!  Anger at the way things are.  Anger at the way I am.  Anger at life in general.

A life filled with such things is hardly a life at all.

But all these things are a direct result of ignorance.

So is the desire to change others.

Ignorance can be defined in many ways, but if you observe the word carefully, along with it’s attendant synonyms and antonyms, you will find that it is closely related to the word ignore! It is the opposite of the word enlightenment.  A good definition of ignorance is: “The failure to see reality as it really is.”

How could you see reality as it really is?  You are ignoring it!

There is,  however, a direct antidote for the condition of ignorance.  That is to see! However in order to ’see’, we have to be able to re-examine all our preconceived ideas, concepts and beliefs.

That would explain why there are so few enlightened people in the world!  Very, very few people are willing to let go of all the beliefs and conceptions they have nurtured and developed over a lifetime, even if these conceptions and beliefs are wrong, and are the source of their suffering!

Understand, I am NOT here to tell you what to think!  I am NOT here to tell you that reality is the way I see it!  I am NOT telling you that all your ideas, concepts, and beliefs are wrong!  What I am telling you is that you must examine them very, very carefully to be certain they are in line with reality.  It is the automatic assumption of their correctness that you must drop.

For example, their is an ongoing movement today generally known as “New Age Enlightenment.”  Full of wonderful dogma, brilliant ‘feel-good’ concepts, and strange new points of view, it promises to solve all mankind’s problems.

To me it sounds sort of like the last ‘new’ thing to come along.

Think about it.  Reality has been around for a long, long, time.  If “New Age” were the answer, wouldn’t it have been discovered before now?  This is just my thought on the subject, but I am pretty sure that Ultimate reality hasn’t changed much since the ‘beginingless beginning’.

Seeing reality as it really is, is an ongoing process that takes you to deeper, and deeper truths as you progress.  Remember the finger pointing at the moon?  I am here to point.  It is the moon you want to see!