Category: General

Why Bodhidharma Still Matters…

bodhidharma

Bodhidharma was the 28th successor of the Buddha in the Ch’an tradition.

He traveled from India to China in the sixth century. When he arrived he saw that the people he encountered had a very shallow understanding of Buddhism.

When he came to understand Chinese philosophy, he developed the teachings that we now call Ch’an (and Zen). He taught two primary methods of Awakening.

He taught students that there was really no line separating them from the Buddha. The only difference is that the Buddha understood he was Enlightened and the rest of us don’t realize that yet. If we are motivated in the quest to understand our true nature, then we will attain Enlightenment too.

Meditation is a powerful tool for delivering us to Awakening. Bodhidharma called his main teaching wall-gazing. It is simply silent meditation while facing a wall. In this, no thought is given to goals or the path. There is only us and the wall. In this teaching Bodhidharma doesn’t really show us anything, he just instructs us to seek the truth ourselves. We just sit there and stare at a wall until we realize that we don’t need to be shown anything. The truth is within us.

Bodhidharma suggested four methods for walking the path. They are:

1) The practice of repaying wrongs.
2) The practice of adjusting to circumstance.
3) The practice of non-seeking or asking for anything.
4) The practice of upholding the Dharma.

These are the main ideas of Bodhidharma’s teaching.

Bodhidharma suggested wall gazing, but he never said we had to do it all the time. We are also supposed to get on with our lives. When we understand many of our problems come from our own minds, we can get out of our own way. When we control our minds, we control our lives. This is my understanding of the central teachings of Bodhidharma.

– Daniel Scharpenburg

Source: http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/01/why-bodhidharma-still-matters/

I do not know…

“I do not know.” This is indeed an answer. This answer satisfies the sincere seeker in us, for the sincere seeker does not stoop to insincerity. But we have to know how far this answer can lead us. Can it lead us to our destined Goal? No, never! We have to be able to say, “I know.”

In order to find the answer, first we look around us. But the outside world laughs at us, ridicules us and sometimes looks down upon us. It considers us to be the worst possible fools. Then we dive deep within in order to get the answer. At that time something deep within tells us that what we think of ourselves is what we truly are. What we feel ourselves to be is what we truly are. What we shall ultimately become consciously is what we truly are.

What do we think we are? We think that we are devoted instruments and thoughtful seekers. What do we feel ourselves to be? We feel ourselves to be soulful lovers. And what shall we ultimately become? We shall become fruitful servers. Devoted instruments, thoughtful seekers, soulful lovers and fruitful servers of the Supreme: If we can think of ourselves in this way, if we can feel that we are all these things, then there can be no other answer for us either here on earth or there in Heaven.

This is the answer: we are the devoted instruments, the thoughtful seekers, the soulful lovers and the fruitful servers of the Supreme. “I do not know” is now transformed into “I do know.” What do I know? I know that I have all along been seeking for the birthless Vision and the ever-transcending Reality of my experience-realisation, my realisation-revelation and my revelation-manifestation.

– Sri Chinmoy, Everest-Aspiration

Five Reasons to Develop and Grow Your Spirituality

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By Joe Wilner

walking-the-path

“The spiritual quest is not some added benefit to our life, something you embark on if you have the time and inclination. We are spiritual beings on an earthly journey. Our spirituality makes up our beingness.” – John Bradshaw

When it comes to self-care and being at our best, dedicating time to spirituality is equally important, if not more important, as other areas of life.

Spirituality has a different meaning to different people, but from a positive psychology perspective it can be defined as, “a deep sense of belonging, of wholeness, of connectedness, and of openness to the infinite (Easvaradoss, 2013).”

Developing our spirituality can help us deal with life’s challenges and grow into a better, more whole and happy person.

So, here are five benefits to developing your spiritual nature.

1. Hopefulness

If there is one thing that spirituality can add to our life it is a sense of hope and optimism. Spirituality strengthens our outlook for a better future.

We will always encounter challenges in life, but if we stay hopeful during these trying times we will persevere. Spiritual growth enhances our ability to deal with life’s ups and downs and bounce back from those difficult experiences.

2. Compassion and Understanding

It is easy to look at others with judgment and criticism, but when we start to grow spiritually we realize how much healthier it is to cultivate compassion and understanding for others instead.

“Spirituality is meant to take us beyond our tribal identity into a domain of awareness that is more universal.” – Deepak Chopra

It not only provides us the wherewithal to serve and help others but also improves our personal well-being. When look at life through a compassionate lens we can grow a sense of connection to others and begin to recognize the positive impact we can have.

3. Sense of purpose and meaning

A feeling that our life is worthwhile and that we aren’t just here by some random mistake can make a major difference in the trajectory of our life. We are alive for a reason and are meant to contribute something to the world.

According to an editorial in the International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, “In a modern world that is consumed with materialism, which moves at a frantic pace, and which is frayed by cultural, racial and religious divisiveness, the yearning of the human spirit to connect and find meaning is sometimes overlooked.”

Without a sense of spirituality we can lose sight of what is really most important and meaningful.

“Most importantly, the meaning of spirituality lays the seeds for our destiny and the path we must follow.” -Dennis Banks

4. Inspiration and appreciation

Life is full of inspiration when we are looking for it. There is also much to be grateful for despite the struggles and challenges we face.

Through spiritual growth we can learn to see the beauty and wonder in our day to day life. The things we often take from granted can start to offer us greater inspiration and joy.

5. Peace of mind

Part of spirituality is connecting to a higher power. Whatever name or label we give to this spiritual source is irrelevant in my opinion.

The important thing is the sense that there is something greater than ourselves, and that we don’t have to carry the entire burden alone. When we learn how to “let go” of the emotional baggage we carry it really adds to peace of mind.

These are just a few benefits of spiritual growth. What would you add to this list?

Work Cited

  • Easvaradoss, V. & RajanIndian, R. (2013). Positive psychology spirituality and well-being: An overview. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(2), 321-325.
  • Souza, M. (2009). Editorial. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 14(2), 181–184.

Source: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/best-self/2014/11/five-reasons-to-develop-and-grow-your-spirituality

our path…

Our path is basically the path of the heart and not the path of the mind. This does not mean that we are criticising the path of the mind. Far from it. We just feel that the path of the heart leads us faster towards our goal. Suppose I want to go to a place 500 miles away. I can reach my destination either by walking or by flying.

Undoubtedly, I shall reach my destination considerably faster if I fly in a jet plane. Similarly, if we use the aspiring heart and not the doubting mind, we shall reach our goal much faster. The heart is all love. The mind is quite often all confusion. When we say the heart, we mean the spiritual heart, which is flooded with divine love.

The heart is strikingly significant because inside it is the living presence of the soul. True, the consciousness of the soul permeates the entire body, but the actual location of the soul is inside the heart. The soul has everything: Peace, Light and Bliss in infinite measure. We get these divine qualities inside the heart directly from the soul. And from the heart, we can bring them to the mind, to the vital and to the physical proper.

God is extremely simple. It is we who think of Him as someone complicated. God speaks the simplest language, only we don’t understand Him. We are all deaf. We have been deaf for millennia. Poor God, He has been talking constantly, tirelessly, but we do not have time to listen to Him.

Our path is the path of simplicity. A child is simple; he loves his mother. He does not have to love anybody else: his mother is his whole world. He devotes himself to his mother. If his mother asks him to do something, he listens to his mother. A child is so simple that he tries to do everything to please his mother; and in pleasing his mother, he is doing the right thing and reaching his highest goal.

In the ordinary life, if someone loves another individual, then he spends most of his time with that particular person. He devotes his precious time to that person. If it is real human love-not divine love, but human love-then he sometimes surrenders to the other’s whims even if they are absurd. He surrenders because the two of them have formed an inner and outer bond on the strength of their love. So if one loves another person, then one is ready even to sacrifice one’s precious wisdom.

In the spiritual life it is totally different. Divine love never binds us. On the contrary, it expands us and liberates us. When we see and feel that we are being liberated, we feel inwardly a divine obligation to do something for our Inner Pilot. How can we remain aloof from the One who has given us everything, who has brought us the message of divine Love and Compassion? Will it be possible for us not to offer Him something in return? If we remain in the outer life, we only try to grab and possess everything, even what belongs to others. But if we live in the soul, we try to constantly give all that we have and all that we are to the Inner Pilot. Divine love means self giving.

– Sri Chinmoy, Our Path

a never ending grace….

Silence is never-ending speech. Vocal speech obstructs the other speech of silence. In silence one is in intimate contact with the surroundings. For vocal speech, organs of speech are necessary and they precede speech. But the other speech lies even beyond thought. It is in short transcendent speech or unspoken words.

Language is only a medium for communicating one’s thoughts to another. It is called in only after thoughts arise. Other thoughts arise after the ‘I’-thought rises and so the ‘I’-thought is the root of all conversation. When one remains without thinking one understands another by means of the universal language of silence.

What one fails to know by conversation extending to several years can be known instantly in silence, or in front of silence. Dakshinamurti and his four disciples are a good example of this. This is the highest and most effective language. The silence of Dakshinamurti removed the doubts of the four sages. Mouna Vyakhya Prakatita Tattvam means the Truth expounded by silence. Silence is said to be exposition. Silence is so potent.

dakshinamurthy

Silence is the true teaching. It is the perfect instruction suited only for the most advanced seeker. The others are unable to draw full inspiration from it. Therefore they require words to explain the Truth. But Truth is beyond words. It does not admit of explanation. All that it is possible to do is to indicate it.

A realised one sends out waves of spiritual influence, which draw many people towards him. Yet he may sit in a cave and maintain complete silence. We may listen to lectures upon truth and come away with hardly any grasp of the subject, but to come into contact with a realised one, though he speaks nothing, will give much more grasp of the subject. He never needs to go out among the public. If necessary he can use others as instruments.

The Guru is the bestower of silence who reveals the light of Self-knowledge that shines as the residual Reality. Spoken words are of no use whatsoever if the eyes of the Guru meet the eyes of the disciple.

Silence is the best and the most potent initiation. Dakshinamurti observed silence when the disciples approached him. That is the highest form of initiation. It includes the other forms. There must be subject-object relationship established in the other diksha. First the subject must emanate and then the object. Unless these two are there how is the one to look at the other or touch him? Silent initiation is the most perfect; it comprises looking, touching. It will purify the individual in every way and establish him in the Reality.

Silence is the most potent form of work. However vast and emphatic the scriptures may be they fail in their effect. The Guru is quiet and peace prevails in all. His silence is vaster and more emphatic than all the scriptures put together. These questions arise because of the feeling that, having been here so long, heard so much, exerted so hard, one has not gained anything. The work proceeding within is not apparent. In fact, the Guru is always within you.

Source: http://www.inner-quest.org/Ramana_Silence.htm

Who is the ‘seer’?

First, let us try to define the terms, ‘seer and seen’. The ‘seen’ is all that we see in the external world including our own body. Then what constitute the seer? Are we not the ‘seer’? Let us first understand the process of seeing itself. How everything is seen? I have read in some books which poses a question. Are the scenes fall on our eyes or the eye seek the scenes? Even while we examine this aspect, let us assume that the rays fall on our eyes, caught in the retina in upside down fashion. The optical nerves convey the scene to the brain which perceives the scene in straight way. Now ‘light’ is the medium through which our eyes captures the scenes which falls in the eye screen through the lens. Now, we understand that the eye is only an organ which do not perceive the scene but the brain reconstruct the image. Now again, it is not the brain but there is a seer behind who perceives the pictures. Then, the real question arises. Are we not the seers? The truth is physical entity called human beings are also included in the scene category but there is an ‘invisible seer’ who utilize the body, mind and senses to see the world!

The ‘seer’ is none other than the “SELF” of every individual. The bodies of each individual may differ but the ‘seer’ in each and every body is one and the same.There are no two ‘seers’ since the self is one only. In fact, Vivekananda too subscribed to this view. During his historic lecture in Chicago, he said, “The centers are everywhere but the circumference is nowhere. Each individual self and the cosmic Self are one and the same. The individual ‘i'(ego self) falsely identifies itself with the body and feels that he is the enjoyer or sufferer. It is the ‘myness’, the feeling of identity with the body makes him to think in this fashion. But the real ‘seer’ is behind all this illusions created by the mind! Here, I remember an episode in the life of great saint Ramana Maharishi of Thiruvannamalai, in South India. When he was seriously ill with carcinoma, and he was about to pass away, the devotees pleaded with him, “not to leave them’. To this Sri Ramana Maharishi replied, “Where I can go, I am always here”. It is a very profound statement. He is not referring to the dying body. He is referring the ‘immortal self’ which neither comes nor goes. It was there before, It is now here, It is going to be here forever. It is not born nor it suffers death. Only the bodies takes birth and perish since they came in between and hence they will perish. Which comes in the middle goes away too. But the Self or the SEER is ever present everywhere.

The conclusion is ‘neither the eye, nor the brain nor the individual is the seer. All these are ‘seen’. The seer is the SELF alone!

Source: http://saisarannaga.hubpages.com/hub/The-seen-is-within-the-seer