Thursday 30 July 2009
Tuesday 28 July 2009
Monday 27 July 2009
Negligence (Beliefnet)
Negligence produces a lot of dirt. As in a house, so in the mind, only a very little dirt collects in a day or two, but if it goes on for many years, it will grow into a vast heap of refuse. (Commentary to Sutta Nipata)
Advayavada Study Plan - week 31
Friends,
Last week's preliminary ASP subject were the Second and the Third Noble Truths of Buddhism, i.e. the immediate cause of suffering, which is craving, grasping, clinging and attachment (trishna, tanha), and the need and possibility of its elimination (nirodha).
This week's preliminary subject are the Fourth Noble Truth, i.e. the Noble Eightfold Path to eliminate ignorance and craving, and the Fourth Sign of Being (fact of life), i.e. Progress.
In Advayavada Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is interpreted dynamically as an ongoing and autonomous, non-prescriptive, investigative and creative process of progressive insight reflecting in human terms overall existence advancing over time.
The Noble Eightfold Path in Advayavada Buddhism is fully personalized and firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world.
By following the Noble Eightfold Path thus you get in tune with wondrous overall existence advancing over time; sorrow, doubt and remorse immediately start disappearing; and your life soon gathers new impetus.
In Advayavada Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is composed of the following eight sequential steps:
(1) our very best (samyak, samma) comprehension or insight, followed by
(2) our very best resolution or determination,
(3) our very best enunciation or definition of our purpose or intention,
(4) our very best disposition or frame of mind,
(5) our very best implementation or realization of our purpose,
(6) our very best effort or commitment,
(7) our very best observation, reflection or evaluation and self-correction, and
(8) our very best meditation or concentration towards an increasingly real experience of samadhi,
which brings us to
(1) a yet better comprehension or insight, and so forth.
The purpose of the ASP is that we study and discuss the meaning and implications of the weekly subject particularly in the context of whatever we ourselves are presently doing or are concerned with, or about, such as our health, relationships, work, study, and our place and responsibilities in the group, sangha, society at large, etc.
Tip: Write down this week's subject (Path and Progress) in your pocket diary!
John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan>
Wednesday 22 July 2009
The teaching is like a raft (Beliefnet)
O monks, even if you have insight that is pure and clear but you cling to it, fondle it and treasure it, depend on it and are attached to it, then you do not understand that the teaching is like a raft that carries you across the water to the farther shore but is then to be put down and not clung to. (Majjhima Nikaya)
Tuesday 21 July 2009
Advayavada Study Plan - week 30
Friends,
In Advayavada Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is interpreted dynamically as an ongoing and autonomous, non-prescriptive, investigative and creative process of progressive insight reflecting in human terms overall existence advancing over time.
The Noble Eightfold Path in Advayavada Buddhism is fully personalized and firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world.
By following the Noble Eightfold Path thus you get in tune with wondrous overall existence advancing over time; sorrow, doubt and remorse immediately start disappearing; and your life at once gathers new impetus.
Last week's preliminary ASP subject was the ubiquity of suffering (duhkha) in the world, which is simultaneously the Third Sign of Being (fact of life) and the First Noble Truth of Buddhism.
This week's preliminary ASP subject are again the Second and the Third Noble Truths of Buddhism, which are the cause of suffering, which is craving, grasping, clinging and attachment (= trishna, tanha), and the need and indeed possibility of its elimination (= nirodha).
The root cause of all ill in Buddhism is, in fact, ignorance (avidya), i.e. ignorance of the true nature of reality, when the impermanence and the selflessness and finitude of all existents are not fully recognized and understood - it is this fundamental ignorance which in turn gives rise to craving (trishna), the immediate cause of existential distress. Man is prone to suffering (duhkha) quite simply because he wrongly strives after and tries to hold on to things, situations and concepts which he believes are or should be permanent, but are not.
The purpose of the ASP is that we study and discuss the meaning and implications of the weekly subject particularly in the context of whatever we ourselves are presently doing or are concerned with, or about, such as our health, relationships, work, study, and our place and responsibilities in the family, group, sangha, society at large, etc.
Tip: Write down this week's subject (craving and its elimination) in your pocket diary!
John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan>
Friday 10 July 2009
Advayavada Study Plan - week 29
Friends,
In Advayavada Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is interpreted dynamically as an ongoing and autonomous, non-prescriptive, investigative and creative process of progressive insight reflecting in human terms overall existence advancing over time.
The Noble Eightfold Path in Advayavada Buddhism is fully personalized and firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world.
By following the Noble Eightfold Path thus you get in tune with wondrous overall existence advancing over time; sorrow, doubt and remorse immediately start disappearing; and your life at once gathers new impetus.
In week 27 the preliminary subject of our Study Plan was the First Sign of Being, the first fact of life: anitya, omnia mutantur, everything changes, the impermanence and changeability of everything, of all existents, including ourselves.
In the current week 28 the preliminary subject is the Second Sign of Being, the second fact of life: anatman, the selflessness of everything, and therefore the finitude or transitoriness of all individual existents, including ourselves.
'It is very difficult for people to grasp how everything originates in conditions and causes and to see that everything, including ourselves, depends on everything else and has no permanent self-existence.'
In the coming week 29 the preliminary ASP subject is again the ubiquity of suffering (duhkha) in the world, which is simultaneously the Third Sign of Being (fact of life) and the First Noble Truth of Buddhism.
According to Advayavada Buddhism, it is indisputable that the Buddha did not believe in Brahman (God, a transcendent and immutable Absolute) or in the atman or atta (soul, immortal self) and taught that human beings suffer because they do not understand and accept that all things in life are instead utterly changeable and transitory. They are prone to suffering (duhkha) quite simply because they wrongly strive after and try to hold on to things, concepts and situations which they believe to be permanent, but are not.
In Advayavada Buddhism, the concept of duhkha does not include emotional grief nor physical pain. It refers solely to the existential suffering, angst and regret non-enlightened human beings are prone to - the enlightened person accepts with understanding and compassion the grief and pain which are part and parcel of human existence; equanimity does not mean insensitivity to our own feelings and those of others.
The purpose of the ASP is that we study and discuss the meaning and implications of the weekly subject particularly in the context of whatever we ourselves are presently doing or are concerned with, or about, such as our health, relationships, work, study, and our place and responsibilities in the family, group, sangha, society at large, etc.
Tip: Write down this week's subject (duhkha - existential suffering) in your
pocket diary!
John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan>
Thursday 9 July 2009
Wednesday 8 July 2009
Tuesday 7 July 2009
Monday 6 July 2009
Advayavada Study Plan - week 28
Friends,
In Advayavada Buddhism, the Noble Eightfold Path is interpreted dynamically as an ongoing, autonomous, non-prescriptive, investigative and creative process of progressive insight reflecting in human terms overall existence advancing over time.
The Noble Eightfold Path in Advayavada Buddhism is fully personalized and firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world.
By following the Noble Eightfold Path thus you get in tune with wondrous overall existence advancing over time; sorrow, doubt and remorse immediately start disappearing; and your life at once gathers new impetus.
Last week's preliminary ASP subject was the First Sign of Being, the first fact of life: anitya, omnia mutantur, everything changes, the impermanence and changeability of everything, of all existents, including ourselves.
This week's second preliminary subject is the Second Sign of Being, the second fact of life: anatman, the selflessness of everything, and therefore the finitude or transitoriness of all individual existents, including ourselves.
The doctrine of anatman is one of the central teachings of Buddhism. According to this doctrine, there is no self or soul in the sense of a permanent, integral, autonomous being within an individual existent. What we think of as our self or soul, personality and ego, are our own mental creations. Human beings live for about 4,000 weeks and then disappear altogether.
'It is very difficult for people to grasp how everything originates in conditions and causes and to see that everything, including ourselves, depends on everything else and has no permanent self-existence.'
The purpose of the ASP is that we study and discuss the meaning and implications of the weekly subject in the context of whatever we ourselves are presently doing or are concerned with, or about, such as our health, relationships, work, study, and our place and responsibilities in the family, group, sangha, society at large, etc.
Tip: Write down this week's subject ('we have no soul') in your pocket diary!
John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan>
Wednesday 1 July 2009
Conditioned things (Beliefnet)
As stars, a lamp, a fault of vision, as dewdrops or a bubble, a dream, a lightning flash, a cloud, thus one should see conditioned things. (Diamond Sutra)
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