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.”

Filed under: bhuddist philosophy, cessation of ignorance, enlightenment, spiritual discoveries, Uncategorized, understanding, wisdom

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.

Filed under: bhuddist philosophy, cessation of ignorance, enlightenment, ignorance, serenity, spiritual discoveries, suffering, Uncategorized, understanding, wisdom, enlightenment ideals, enlightenment ideas, enlightenment philosophes, enlightenment thinking, enlightenment thought, 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!

Filed under: buddhist philosophy, cessation of ignorance, cessation of suffering, enlightenment, enlightment, ignorance, new age buddhist philosophy, serenity, spiritual discoveries, suffering, understanding, wisdom, zen, buddhist philosophy, enlightenment, ignorance, new age buddhist philosophy, wisdom

Perceptions

Our world is determined by our perception.

In another post, in another blog, I wrote that a person suffering from depression believes his negative state of mind to be ‘Reality’ based on his negative perceptions.  This is because everything we see is filtered through the lens of our perceptions.

Merriam – Webster defines ‘perception’ thus:

• 1 a: a result of perceiving : observation b: a mental image : concept
• 2obsolete : consciousness
• 3 a: awareness of the elements of environment through physical sensation <color perception> b: physical sensation interpreted in the light of experience
• 4 a: quick, acute, and intuitive cognition : appreciation b: a capacity for comprehension

Nowhere in this description do you find the phrase: ‘absolute reality’.  Yet we commonly accept our observations to be reality.  We observe, construct a concept based on our  incomplete data, form an assumption, and call it reality!  When this observation is made a second time with the same conclusions, (which is likely, seeing it now has a ‘history’ in our consciousness), it is well on it’s way to becoming a ‘core belief’.

I imagine that it’s the “quick, intuitve, cognition” that gets us in trouble most of the time.  ‘Snap’ judgements, without thinking things through, will only further separate us from reality.  How many times have we found ourselves in an argument, only to discover we misunderstood the person we are arguing with?

We have a built in tendacy to think everyone percieves things the same way we do!  For instance, I used to answer direct questions very literally.  My first wife was very Indirect.  She would ask: “Do you want to take out the trash?” (meaning, of course, ”please take out the trash.”)  Unfortunately, my mind percieved the question literally, which was: “do you want to take out the trash?”  My answer would always be No!  You can imagine where that led us!

When I finally realized what was going on, I explained it only to hear: “Oh you know what I mean!”  Actually I hadn’t.  I had been trying to figure out why anyone would want to take out the trash!

That automatic assumption that everyone percieves reality the same as ourself, just reinforces our belief that what we see is reality.  Therefore we begin, deep down, to resent those who attempt to ‘persuade us’ differently.

• Your perceptions are just an impression of reality, not reality itself.
• You can choose how you wish to percieve any experience.
• Because every part and particle of the Universe (ie. ‘reality) is in constant motion, the reality of what we perceive changes moment by moment.

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