Why did Buddha continue to meditate, even AFTER
he accomplished full enlightenment?
Why didn’t he stand up and proclaim,
“I’m going to Disneyworld!”?
To answer that we first have to answer, this…
"What is the difference between a Buddha and a Bodhisattva?"
They both practice the mental yogas of:
• devotion,
• awareness,
• love and
• letting-go.
So then what’s the difference?
Do the Buddha’s know a secret technique, or
maybe a secret handshake
{ya know, like the Shriners or like the members of my Collage Fraternity }?
Nope, the only difference is mastery.
A Buddha is simply a Bodhisattva who has
learned to practice Buddha’s four yogas:
• spontaneously,
• habitually,
• easily and
• effectively.
Hey, did ya notice the “H” word?
It’s all about habituating the practices.
It’s been said that although it can take 21 days {in a row} to
install a good habit, into our mind, heart, and body, it
could only take as little as 3 consecutive days to undermine it.
So, why did Buddha persist in meditation, even after
he accomplished full enlightenment?
Because in his wisdom he could see the benefits of
continuing to nurture the profoundly constructive spiritual habits that
he had manifested… couldn’t you?
That is exactly why I insist that you are only my student when
you enthusiastically apply my instructions.
And the core of my instructions is to practice no less
then 9 minutes, twice a day, every day.
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When we come across the phrase “The Three Times” while
reading contemporary translations of
ancient Buddhist texts,
what are they talking about?
The three times are:
#1 Past,
#2 Present and
#3 Future.
In the ancient Madhyamaka Shastras of Nagarjuna we
read that one really can not occupy either the past or
the future but only the present moment.
Of course we have the capacity to recall or
even confabulate the past that
we might learn, and
like wise, we have the ability to
imagine the future of either our dreams or nightmares, that
we may plan accordingly.
Are these necessarily bad things?
Of course not; it
depends on how they’re used.
Our resistance to move forward can
be directly proportional to both our lust for the past and
our dread of the future.
In the movie “Strange Days” the
leading lady explains to the protagonist who’s
squandering his present,
by obsessing about the past, that,
“…memories were meant to fade…”
Our greatest fulfillment is NOT found in
the past’s glories or tragedies, nor
in our future’s pleasures or torments, but
in what we do with THIS present moment.
Can you remain centered, in this moment, even
when memories assail you?
Can you be resourceful, in the here and now, even
while planning for your future.
Nope, Buddha is not the fiend Hannibal Lector, who
wishes to remove the top Ray Liotta’s skull that
he may feed upon his brains.
Come, let us not confuse Shakyamuni or Gautama with
Hannibal Buddha who
wishes to dine upon our
recall or anticipation.
Buddha does NOT invite us to perform a home lobotomy, so
put down the running power drill, and
no one will get hurt.
What then are we to do with our natural capacity to
recall and plan?
Are they our foes?
Must we arm ourselves against them as
Homer J. Simpson would fend off his common sense?
No, not so much.
Come let us simply notice when they assert themselves.
Rather than fight or indulge them, let’s
bring them into the paths of:
• Devotion,
• Awareness,
• Compassion and
• Letting-go.
Come let us consider this process:
#1) – First, the spears of recall or anticipation pierce the
sphere of our perception {awareness}.
#2a) – if the memories or fantasies are painful then we
apply our teachers instructions and
invoke the Buddha of Compassion {devotion} to
take away other’s similar sufferings {compassion}.
For instance, if our memory fills us with anger then we
metaphysically take away other’s anger and it’s causes.
#2b) – if the memories or fantasies are pleasurable, we can
use the teachings and invocations to
give that pleasure to others {love}.
If our fantasies bring us joy then we
can use Buddhas mental-yoga to
lavish all others with vast amounts of
joy and it’s causes.
#3 we can then use Buddha’s wisdom practices to
deconstruct the memories or fantasies and truly let-go of them {wisdom}.
And that, my friends, is how we coexist with the past and future with out
allowing them to pull us off our center;
that is how we can actually use the past and future to
reinforce our present moment application of Buddha’s yoga of mind.
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Have you registered for the live, on-line, Webinar, Meditation class?
If you're curious about the Paleo, Vegetarian or Vegan life styles or weight-loss is an issue in your life then you could benefit from these FREE videos.
Have you registered for the live, on-line, Webinar, Meditation class?
If you're curious about the Paleo, Vegetarian or Vegan life styles or weight-loss is an issue in your life then you could benefit from these FREE videos.
There are MANY Buddhists
who sincerely hope that
if they just believe hard enough that
they have NO “self” then
they’ll instantly become a Buddha.
But they’re mistaken!
Folks, you can’t believe yourself into Nirvana, but
belief {and the neurotic energies generated from
indulging the controlling tendencies that try to wrestle with the
greased pigs that are our thoughts and emotions} could
dig us even even deeper into Samsara.
This, of course, begs the question; "What is Sam-sa-ra?"
No, it’s not a place, but a state of being,
that is to say, whenever we are a slave to
the tyranny of sufferings,
whenever sufferings control our
• choices,
• words and
• actions,
then we’re in Samsara.
Well that sucks, doesn’t it?
Who wants that?
Boy talk about adding insult to injury,
first sufferings hurt,
but then they make us do stupid stuff,
which {yes, you guessed it}
aggravates our present suffering
and creates even more suffering… yuck!
I don’t want sufferings to control me.
And neither do you, that’s
why you're reading my blogs and considering coming to my webinar classes so
that the moment suffering appears in your life, you
could apply Buddha’s techniques:
• spontaneously,
• habitually,
• easily and
• effectively.
When you have accomplished that degree of mastery,
you are then free,
NOT from suffering’s Presence,
BUT from it’s Tyranny and
that cessation of tyranny
is called Nir-va-na.
Folks, Nirvana is accomplished NOT through belief, BUT
through conditioning.
And using Buddha’s mental yogas to
explore our sense of “me” AND then let-go of it, can
be a useful exercise that can
contribute to the spiritual conditioning…
that habit of both being aware AND letting-go while
also choosing to be the loving individual, that
we were born to be.
Come, let us be the people,
that our dogs already think we are.
There is only 1 week until this year's Thursday-night series of weekly webinars begins!
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