æ–°åŠ å�¡å…‰æ˜Žå±±æ™®è§‰ç¦…寺广声大和尚
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4afec8030100084f.html
Ajahn Brahmavamso Mahathera (lovingly known to most as Ajahn Brahm)
http://www.ajahnbrahm.org/about.html
净界法师
http://www.ynwr.com/viewthread.php?tid=1346
梦��和尚
http://www.chandao.com/fojiaojingtuzong/6/3261.htm
慧律法師
http://www.wenshu.org.tw/
净空�和尚
http://www.fodizi.com/fofa/list/810.htm
not only is past and future ungraspable
the present moment too is ungraspable
there is no such thing as things existing or transforming "in" time, as time and existence are one and the same and therefore there is no such thing as an experience or a thing or a me coming and going in linear time, reaching somewhere in time, transforming into something in time.
summer does not turn into autumn, firewood does not turn into ash. firewood abides in the phenomenal expression of firewood complete as it is. ashes abide in the phenomenal expression of ash complete as it is... disjoint, distinct, yet containing the past, present, future and the entire universe in that manifestation
so we are going nowhere, for everywhere we go, it is an entirely new and complete reality.
each moment is a distinct and complete reality that is luminously whole yet insubstantial and self-releasing
so the point is not to get somewhere, but to see that our deeply held notions of a self, coming and going, a getting somewhere, and existence and non-existence, all such notions simply dont apply to reality that is luminous and empty
words and meanings ultimately dont apply to reality and reality only reveals its nature when we drop our dualistic conceptions.
yet, words are needed to point out the various view of duality and inherency in order that we drop them. it goes far more subtle than most see. therefore there is this thing called right view which buddha always stress, which is nevertheless just a raft that we let go in the end.
Sri Chinmoy's answers to...
What is consciousness?
Consciousness is the inner spark or inner link in us, the golden link within us that connects our highest and most illumined part with our lowest and most unillumined part. Consciousness is the connecting link between Heaven and earth. Now, where is Heaven? It is not upstairs or somewhere far away. Heaven is in our consciousness. But it is the divine consciousness that connects earth with Heaven. The ordinary human consciousness will only connect us with something very, very limited and, at the same time, very fleeting. For one second we will be able to focus our consciousness on another person, and then our concentration disappears. But when we deal with the inner consciousness, which is the boundless, illumined, transformed consciousness, then our focus of concentration can go on, go on, go on.
Consciousness is only one. It houses silence and it houses power. When it houses silence, at that time it houses its own true form. When it houses power, at that time it manifests its inner reality.
What is the difference between human consciousness and divine consciousness?
Human consciousness is made up primarily of limitation, imperfection, bondage and ignorance. This consciousness wants to remain here on earth. It gets joy in the finite: in family, in society, in earthly affairs. Divine consciousness is made up of peace, bliss, divine power and so forth. Its nature is to expand constantly. Human consciousness feels there is nothing more important than earthly pleasure. Divine consciousness feels there is nothing more important and significant than heavenly joy and bliss on earth. Human consciousness tries to convince us that we are nowhere near Truth or fulfillment. It tries to make us feel that God is somewhere else, millions of miles away from us. But divine consciousness makes us feel that God is right here, inside each life-breath, inside each heartbeat, inside everyone and everything around us.
Could you please speak briefly about the different states of consciousness?
There are three main states of consciousness: jagriti, swapna and sushupti. Jagriti is the waking state, swapna is the dream state and sushupti is the state of deep sleep. When we are in the waking state, our consciousness is focused outward; when we are in the dream state, our consciousness is turned inward; when we are in the state of deep sleep, our consciousness is roaming in the Beyond.
There is also a fourth state, turiya, which means the transcendental consciousness. This consciousness is neither outward nor inward; at the same time, it is both outward and inward.
Experience, Realization, and View
Our paradigm, view, insights, experiences, affect our every moment perception of life, self, the universe. Speaking from experience, this is what a seeker might go through:
Duality
Generally every normal non-spiritual person sees himself as a subject, self, perceiver, doer, which is a psychic entity conceived as locating inside the body - be it inside the head behind the eyes or in the heart or some other locations.
This conceived psychic entity causes a sense of alienation as 'I' am inside my body, looking outwards at the world through my eyes, ears, etc. I am self-contracted, separated from the world out there, and so experience is divided into 'inner' and 'outer'. Reality consists of three components: I, the seer, sees the world out there. (Seer, seeing, seen) I, the doer, does the deed (Doer, doing, done). All these actions, and perceptions, are felt to have occured by virtue of this psychic entity residing inside my body, which I call Me.
This mentally conceived sense of alienation from a separate objective world resulting from the perceived existence of a separate self and psychic entity residing within this body-mind results in all manners of passionate feelings such as fear, anger, craving, malice, sorrow, and all forms of destructive undertakings endemic in our world: war, murder, torture, rape, domestic violence, corruption and so on.
Basically it comes down to this: craving (craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, and craving for extermination), which arises due to the view of there being an inherently existing self alienated from the world, whereby the self must always get away from unpleasant experiences and chase after pleasant experiences, in search for happiness and the attenuation of suffering, not knowing this process of craving is precisely what causes suffering.
Self-Realization, Partial Duality
By the practice of contemplating on the Source of experiencing ("Who am I?", "Who is the Source?"), we trace the radiance back to the essence of mind-consciousness. At the moment where the seeker reaches the pinnacle of his self-inquiry, one has a non-dual, non-conceptual, direct, immediate perception of the self-luminosity of mind's Presence. The self-felt certainty arising from the non-dual, non-conceptual, direct, immediate mode of perception (NDNCDIMOP) of mind's luminosity leads to a self-felt certainty that results in utter conviction of having touched the essence of being and existence. As all doubts pertaining to the nature of one's identity can no longer linger, one's self-inquiry into 'Who am I' comes to a closing conclusion. Being absolutely intimate as a sheer sense of Presence, Beingness, and Existence, shining in plain view prior to conceptual sullying, it is nevertheless immediately reified due to the paradigm and view of duality and inherency, even though in itself it is a non-dual perception.
What it is reified into is a grander entity than the psychic entity conceived as locating in the body as previously conceived. Though the psychic entity located inside the body, aka. the ego, is now being released through seeing the falsity of a personal self, the Identity remains intact at large, now expanding to become a Metaphysical entity transcending space and time, the grand, impersonal, and universal Self that is birthless and deathless. Due to the view of duality still largely being intact - Presence and Awareness is also seen as the Eternal Witness, an impartial and unchanging watcher of all phenomena that passes. 'I' am God, the ground of being, the source of all animate and inanimate objects, the universal consciousness underlying all my manifestations which comes and goes like waves in the ocean of Being.
All along not knowing that what they have realized is simply an aspect of luminosity pertaining to non-conceptual thought, a manifestation of mind-cognizance, and is as such nothing ultimate or special (as compared to any other manifestations).
Non-Duality
Via the contemplation into the absence of a separate self or the seamlessness of awareness and its contents, a direct and experiential realization that the subject-object separation and dichotomy is illusory arises. Everything is experienced at zero-distance in the absence of the bond of dualistic psychic construct.
Nevertheless at the beginning, as the insight of non-duality arises but not the insight into no-inherency, one ends up falling into:
Substantial Non-duality
- Subject-object dichotomy collapses, and is subsumed, into inherent oneness
- Due to the view of inherency (that reality must have 'existence' located somewhere and somewhen, even if it is Here and Now), the vivid 'realness' of non-dual luminosity is being treated as something Absolute, as having inherent, independent and unchanging existence, and is being reified into Noumenon (in contrast to illusory phenomenon), and as being the ultimate non-dual Self
- the intimacy experienced via the collapse of subject-object dichotomy is being referenced to a grandiose all-pervasive Self ("I am Everywhere and I am Everything")
- all phenomena are seen to be illusory projections of a single underlying source, such that all phenomena are self-expressions of the single nature of Awareness, as depicted by the analogy of the mirror and its reflections - reflections as such do not have an objective, independent existence outside the mirror - and in fact only the Mirror is seen to have absolute, independent, inherent existence - only the Mirror is Real, and the appearances are only Real as the Mirror
- appearances are inseparable from the Source, and yet the Source is independent of appearances
Insubstantial Non-duality
- Also known as the arising insight into anatta, it is seen that seeing, cognizing, awareness is precisely and only what is seen, heard, tasted, touched, manifesting
- The intimacy experienced via the lack of separation has no frame of reference due to the lack of something inherent - in the seeing is just the seen, in the hearing is just the heard, there is no True Self of any sorts - the world only references itself without an agent
-There is no grandiose, universal consciousness, only individual bodies and mindstreams interacting with each other due to interdependent origination, without any conceived 'underlying oneness behind multiplicity' - absolutely no identity remains, even the notion that "I am you and you are me" is seen as absurd
- There is no such thing as 'seamlessness of awareness and contents' or 'inseperability of awareness and its contents' - for awareness IS the process and activities of cognizance only, there is no such thing as 'awareness + its contents'
- seeing, cognizing, awaring never exists as nouns pointing to a noumenon but as verbs collating various activities of cognizance - what is seen, heard, taste, touch, are activities manifesting on its own accord with the presence of requisite conditions and factors via interdependent origination, without an agent, perceiver, controller, doer
- further penetration into anatta reveals that all phenomena are disjoint, unsupported, unlinked, bubble-like, insubstantial, dream-like, and self-releasing - there is absolutely nothing, not even an Awareness that underlies two thoughts, two manifestations - in fact there is not even two thoughts as such, just this thought, which spontaneously self-releases upon inception leaving absolutely no traces
- There is absolutely no collapsing of subject-object dichotomy into a base existing somewhere, even as a Here/Now - there is no linking base or source at all, only the experience of dispersed-out and de-linked multiplicity
- All manifestations are intrinstically luminous and vivid yet insubstantial and vanishes without a trace upon inception like drawing pictures on water manifests vivid appearances that does not leave trace - no existence of any sorts can leave traces when reality is a dream-like process with no inherent existence, like an illusion but not an illusion.
written by An Eternal Now
One thing to note nowadays is many buddhists like to say this teacher is enlightened that fa shi is a pusa. that practitioner is an arhat.
Or who and who have wisdom, who and who have attained enlightenment.
Is It wise saying this kind of thing as only enlightened ppl know who are enlightened?
Once a student came to a spiritual master and told him that he was very upset with people from different paths trying to promote their own gurus as being the best in the world. It's like a competition to see who can promote whose master to the top.
To this, the spiritual master said to this student that it is very good for people to promote their own gurus to be of the highest because for those who follow these gurus, they will be thinking of the highest divine in their own gurus all the time. Which means that people will be spending more time thinking of the highest divine and they will benefit for doing so. The more time people think of the divine, the faster they make spiritual progress, even if their master may not be as great as they think, it does not matter. What matters is that their own faith in their gurus will help them make great progress in their own spirtuality.
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Precisely almond, only the wise and enlightened is able to ascertain whether another person has attained enlightenment and to what stage. That said if you are still unenlightened you can probably make a guesswork if you have a good map of enlightenment.
Of course.
But those people who spread who n who is pusa and who andwho is arhat might get bad karma.
Originally posted by Almond Cookies:
Of course.But those people who spread who n who is pusa and who andwho is arhat might get bad karma.
Nowadays there is a trend of saying who n who is enlightened,arhat or pusa.
I think better not make such statement.
Originally posted by Almond Cookies:Nowadays there is a trend of saying who n who is enlightened,arhat or pusa.
I think better not make such statement.
In a sense, that's true. But it isn't saying 'who n who is enlightened' per se that is harmful, but it is the lack of understanding what enlightenment and its stages really entail and making false conclusions based on false/incomplete information and understanding of enlightenment and its stages, that is harmful, imo.
If you have the correct knowledge of what enlightenment is and its stages, then no problem...
As for other people's enlightenment, usually you can tell if there is a very clear experiential description from that person... you can often tell his states from what he describes. There is a difference between sprouting words from knowledge and speaking from experience though, those that have experiential realization are able to provide experiential accounts.
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:In a sense, that's true. But it isn't saying 'who n who is enlightened' per se that is harmful, but it is the lack of understanding what enlightenment and its stages really entail and making false conclusions based on false/incomplete information and understanding of enlightenment and its stages, that is harmful, imo.
If you have the correct knowledge of what enlightenment is and its stages, then no problem...
As for other people's enlightenment, usually you can tell if there is a very clear experiential description from that person... you can often tell his states from what he describes. There is a difference between sprouting words from knowledge and speaking from experience though, those that have experiential realization experiential accounts.
For someone to understand a doctor's writing, the person has to be at least a nurse. Not everyone can recognise a true master, just as not everyone can recognise a real gem from all the colorful stones in the market. Those with some spiritual knowledge from previous lifetimes can feel whether a teacher is realised or not. It also has to do with one's affinity with one's destined master. The amount of spritual development within a person and the sincere cry in wanting to make further progress will show him / her where their Master is.
Originally posted by Almond Cookies:Nowadays there is a trend of saying who n who is enlightened,arhat or pusa.
I think better not make such statement.
Well, there is really not much you can do about that.
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Originally posted by seeker8:My Dear Devotees,
The one should strife for enlightenment, should be yourself.
Come find out in our Vesak Day Celebration.Date : 15th to 17th May 2011
Venue : Block 283, Bukit Batok East Ave 3http://www.vesak-singapore.com/brochure.pdf
There are Meditation course available, All are Welcome.
I hope they display Buddha’s Relic, this time.Please help to Circulate the Good News. Many Thanks.
Sorry, this forum does not recognise the organisation of Wat Dhammakaya and its teachings.
Dhammakaya teaches visualisation and mistaken certain accomplishment of their visualization with true realization and liberation.
note of special situation in Shurangama Sutra (or Lotus sutra) where Ananda while only a stream entry understood what the Buddha is saying, while those 4th stage arahats cannot understand.
In Shurangama sutra, Ananda reached 1st stage stream entry, but He study Mahayana. When Buddha preached Shurangama sutra about half way, Ananda was already Understand what the Buddha is talking about, so He praised the Buddha. Purnamaitreyaniputra, a 4th stage Arahat, saw Ananda's reaction, and was confused, how a stream entry could understand what Buddha said, but an arahat couldn't. Buddha explained, sentient being have 2 kind of obstruction. namely obstruction based on affliction (烦脑障 fan nao zhang/jian si è§�æ€�) and obstruction based on doubt (所知障suo zhi zhang). Ananda was heavy on affliction, so He did not reached 4th stage arahat. However Ananda was light on doubt, ie He can see things as they really are(Kan poçœ‹ç ´). So Ananda had difficulty renoucing(fang xia放下) than Purna. Purna is directly opposite. Purna was light on affliction and heavy on doubt obstruction. So Purna could let go easily.
note also enlightenment is like onion peeling. got layers by layers of deepening. from intial enlightenment to Full enlightenment. there are different situation between æ£æ‚Ÿ(True Enlightenment) and 解悟(understanding form of enlightenment).
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