How can we hit the right target,
if we’re aiming for the wrong target?
That is exactly why it’s crucial that we have a correct
understanding of what enlightenment is.
What is the liberation that Buddha offers us?
Is it liberation from the Presence of suffering or
liberation from the Tyranny of suffering?
If we act with the mistaken goal of trying
to stamp out the capacity to suffer,
there is a good chance we’ll squander our life, sitting cross legged and
quietly getting stoned off of our own neural chemistry.
That type of escapism is NOT what Buddha taught.
He explained that he experienced sufferings both
before AND after enlightenment.
If Buddha does not offer us liberation from the Presence of sufferings then
what does he offer us?
Buddha offers us liberation from the Tyranny of sufferings.
Buddha teaches us how to cut the puppet strings that certain
circumstances, physical-states, emotions, memories and thoughts could
have over our decisions, words and actions.
Just as the alchemists of legend turned lead into gold, likewise we
could learn how to use every adversity to progress even further upon
Buddha’s path of devotion, awareness, love and letting-go.
Let’s pretend there are three kinds of beings:
Boobs, Bodhisattvas and Buddhas.
A Boob, like Homer Simpson, lives at the mercy of every suffering,
and is pitched to an fro like a cork, in a stormy sea.
A Bodhisattva, like one of my 1st quarter students, learns the
actual techniques {or mental yogas} to tame the tyranny of suffering, and
actually use them as spiritual power packs.
What is the difference between a Bodhisattva and a Buddha?
The same techniques that a Bodhisattva applies, with great effort,
a Buddha applies: spontaneously, habitually, easily and effectively.
The journey toward enlightenment
need not take dozens of lifetimes.
In the Satipatana Sutta Buddha explained that full enlightenment could
be accomplished in 7 years, or 7 months, or 7 weeks or 7 days.
What if you could become a Buddha in just
10 months of twice daily practice,
without ever abandoning work, spouse, children, home or pets?
What could be the test of our spiritual path?
Simple! Can it enable you to be a saint,
wherever you go and whatever you do?
May you and yours be
happy and healthy!
Om Mani Padme Hum,
.
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