In learning the Path (Beliefnet)

Your own practice can show you the truth. Your own experience is all that counts. (Bhante Henepola Gunaratana) In learning this path, it is only important to walk on the real ground, to act on the basis of reality. The slightest phoniness, and you fall into the realm of demons. (Liao-an)

Consciousness is merely to know

The non-dual and life-affirming philosophy way of life we call Advayavada Buddhism, to which we wholeheartedly adhere, is derived from Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka, or philosophy of the Middle Way. For the Advayavadin, Samsara and Nirvana are not different objectively, and there is, in Advayavada Buddhism, no talk of a mind separate from the body. Mind is merely to think and to think is a manifestation of being, as are to walk, to talk or to sleep. It is one of the many ways in which the one 'person' exists, i.e. becomes over time. To the Advayavadin, to say that the mind has or does things, sounds like saying that not one but one's running does the sprinting. This is particularly true when he or she hears other Buddhists saying, for example, that not they but their consciousnesses will eventually enter Nirvana or be reborn or something. However important, consciousness is merely to know, the activity of knowing going on in our brains. Mind (to think) and consciousness (to know) are not things but functions, activities, deeds, events without any substance or corporeality. Also Buddha-nature is insubstantial and not something different or separate from Reality - it is but a name for Reality as it manifests itself in sentient beings. Nirvana, for the Advayavadin, is indeed to live fully in accordance with one's Buddha-nature. (from the Advayavada Buddhism website)

Advayavada Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta

Without going into too much detail, according to the Advaita Vedanta religion, we each of us have a surviving soul and this soul forms part of an unchanging overall godhead called Brahman. Also, the world as we know it, is 'maya', an illusion of the nescient mind 'like a mirage in the desert'. Advayavada Buddhism is, instead, a non-dual and life-affirming philosophy and way of life which adheres faithfully to the fundamental anatman or no-soul doctrine of Buddhism, and which sees life as one of the many very real manifestations of existence and existence itself as a constant flux of ever-changing events with no known beginning or necessary end. As for the human life process specifically, the planet earth is obviously, to loosely quote Alan Watts, 'peopling' most wondrously at this particular time in its history; its purpose, or lack of it, is, of course, beyond man's ultimate understanding. (from the Advayavada Buddhism website)

The Fourth Sign and Mahakaruna

They [the Fourth Sign of Being in Advayavada Buddhism and the Buddhist concept of mahakaruna] are, in our view, very similar if not identical. David Brazier says in his Zen Therapy that the virtue of great compassion [symbolized for example by the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara] 'implies something universal'. He says that compassion is to tune in to the way of the individual who is in front of us now, and that great compassion, mahakaruna, is to flow with the mysterious but omnipresent Tao, the great way of the universe. This is also the position of Advayavada Buddhism. We believe that the objective of the Middle Way expounded by the Buddha is the abandonment of all fixed views and to reconnect and reconcile us with wondrous overall existence - we understand the Noble Eightfold Path as an ongoing reflexion at the level of our personal lives of wondrous overall existence moving forward over time. Our position also implies a deep trust in the goodness of existence as it is beyond man's commonly limited and biased personal experience of it. (from the Advayavada Buddhism website)

Immortality in Spinoza

We accept, indeed largely share, that God, or Nature, i.e. overall existence, has two (inseparable) parallel aspects: (physical) things, and the (non-physical) way in which things exist, i.e. how they are or become, i.o.w. act, over time, ranging, say, from molecular patterns to cognition and the human intellect (indeed, sometimes capable of viewing reality samadhically sub specie aeternitatis). "Substance thinking [thought] and substance extended [things] are one and the same substance, comprehended now through one attribute, now through the other" (EIIP7S). We do not accept, however, that apart from the human mode of extension itself, anything at all in existence displays anything like the human intellect or mind and, above all, that a part of this changing human intellect might moreover be in any way non-temporal or non-durational and soul-like as implied in the last propositions of the Ethics - we totally reject the idea of an essence of non-existence to accomodate such parts. The writer wonders, in fact, whether these few concluding propositions of the Ethics (which astonish so many) might not be apocryphal. What say you? (from the Advayavada Buddhism website)

Advayavada Study Plan - week 40

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.

Adherence to the familiar Five Precepts and a well-considered understanding of the Four Signs of Being and the Four Noble Truths suffice to start off on the Path at any time. Nirvana is, in Advayavada Buddhism, the total extinction of existential suffering as a result of our complete reconciliation with reality as it truly is.

The Noble Eightfold Path in Advayavada Buddhism is fully personalized: it is firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world, and trusting our own feelings and conscience.

By following the Noble Eightfold Path thus you get in tune with wondrous overall existence advancing over time; old mistakes are left behind; sorrow, doubt and remorse immediately start disappearing; and your life soon gathers new impetus.

Last week's ASP subject was the Eighth Step on the Noble Eighfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) meditation or concentration towards an increasingly real experience of samadhi.

This week's preliminary ASP subject is again the First Sign of Being, i.e. the first fact of life: omnia mutantur, everything changes, the impermanence and changeability of everything, of all existents, including ourselves.

Actual and potential change are certainly the most important aspects of pratityasamutpada, interdependent origination, the universal dynamic principle of existence, meaning that 'all causes are effects and all effects are causes'.

The purpose of the ASP is that we study (and debate in the group, family circle and/or with good friends) 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 (everything changes!) in your pocket diary!

John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan>

The body in which one can see the truth (Beliefnet)

...The body in which one can see the truth will die out, like a fan palm, without any future. But that which is the truth, that which is existence itself, is there although it is deep and infinitely hard to understand. Like the great ocean, one cannot fathom it. (Digha Nikaya)

Advayavada Study Plan - week 39

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.

Adherence to the familiar Five Precepts and a well-considered understanding of the Four Signs of Being and the Four Noble Truths suffice to start off on the Path at any time. Nirvana is, in Advayavada Buddhism, the total extinction of existential suffering as a result of our complete reconciliation with reality as it truly is.

The Noble Eightfold Path in Advayavada Buddhism is fully personalized: it is firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world, and trusting our own feelings and conscience.

By following the Noble Eightfold Path thus you get in tune with wondrous overall existence advancing over time; old mistakes are left behind; sorrow, doubt and remorse immediately start disappearing; and your life soon gathers new impetus.

Last week's subject was the Seventh Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) observation, reflection or evaluation and self-correction of our efforts.

This week's subject is therefore the Eighth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) meditation or concentration towards an increasingly real experience of samadhi.

samadhi = total concentration (of the mind, cf. enstasy); non-dualistic state of consciousness in which the experiencing subject becomes one with the experienced object; total absortion in the object of meditation; transcendence of the relationship between mind and object; merging of subject and object; to contemplate the world without any perception of objects; suspension of judgement; satori; bodhi; rigpa; realization of the sameness of the part and the whole, of the identity of form and emptiness, of samsara and nirvana, of the immediate and the ultimate; mystic oneness; perfect attunement with wondrous overall existence; oceanic feeling; wonder, awe, rapture; essential purity; deep love and compassion; awareness of our common ground.

The purpose of the ASP is that we study (and debate in the group, family circle and/or with good friends) 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 (meditate towards samadhi!) in your pocket diary!

John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan>

Someone who is about to admonish (Beliefnet)

Someone who is about to admonish another must realize within himself five qualities before doing so [that he may be able to say], thus: "In due season will I speak, not out of season. In truth I will speak, not in falsehood. Gently will I speak, not harshly. To his profit will I speak, not to his loss. With kindly intent will I speak, not in anger." (Vinaya Pitaka, translated by F.S. Woodward)

Advayavada Study Plan - week 38

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: it is firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world, and trusting our own feelings and conscience.

By following the Noble Eightfold Path thus you get in tune with wondrous overall existence advancing over time; old mistakes are left behind; sorrow, doubt and remorse immediately start disappearing; and your life soon gathers new impetus.

Last week's subject was the Sixth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) effort and commitment in carrying out our plans.

This week's subject is therefore the Seventh Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) observation, reflection or evaluation and self-correction of our efforts.

The purpose of the ASP is that we study (and debate in the group, family circle or with good friends) 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 (check what I'm doing) in your pocket diary!

John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan>

About true seclusion (Beliefnet)

Living in forests far away from other people is not true seclusion. True seclusion is to be free from the power of likes and dislikes. It is also to be free from the mental attitude that one must be special because one is treading the path. Those who remove themselves to far forests often feel superior to others. They think that because they are solitary they are being guided in a special way and that those who live an ordinary life can never have that experience. But that is conceit and is not help to others. The true recluse is one who is available to others, helping them with affectionate speech and personal example. (Prajnaparamita)

Do not pursue the past (Beliefnet)

The Buddha taught: "Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. The past no longer is. The future has not yet come. Looking deeply at life as it is, in the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom. We must be diligent today. To wait until tomorrow is too late. Death comes unexpectedly. How can we bargain with it? The sage calls a person who knows how to dwell in mindfulness night and day 'one who knows the better way to live alone.'" (Bhaddekaratta Sutta, translated by Thich Nhat Hanh)

Complete spontaneous acquiescence (Beliefnet)

The right attitude for studying the way [8fold path, step 4] is just complete spontaneous acquiescence. Who cares whether it takes twenty or thirty years; you'll be naturally at peace, without the slightest bit of doubt or confusion. How can there be any obstruction again after spontaneous acquiescence? How can anyone arrive by way of externals? (Ming-pen)

Advayavada Study Plan - week 37

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: it is firmly based on what we increasingly know about ourselves and our world, and trusting our own feelings and conscience.

By following the Noble Eightfold Path thus you get in tune with wondrous overall existence advancing over time; old mistakes are left behind; sorrow, doubt and remorse immediately start disappearing; and your life soon gathers new impetus.

Last week's subject was the Fifth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) implementation or realization of our intention.

This week's subject is therefore the Sixth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) effort in carrying out our plan.

The purpose of the ASP is that we study (and debate in the group, family circle or with good friends) 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 (do my best!) in your pocket diary!

John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm#plan>

The 8fold Path in Advayavada Buddhism

In the Popperian sense, our personalized application of the Noble Eightfold Path is a piecemeal process rather than an Utopian one.

Cultivation of the Good (Beliefnet)

Such human qualities as morality, compassion, decency, wisdom and so forth have been the foundations of all civilizations. These qualities must be cultivated and sustained through systematic moral education in a conductive social environment, so that a more humane world may emerge. (HH the Dalai Lama)

IHEU September 2009 update

This is your monthly update of news from International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU). You can find the full versions of these news stories on our web site. <http://www.iheu.org>

Applications for the IHEU-HIVOS 2009 grants programme have closed:

The deadline for 2009 grants applications has passed and we are unable to consider any further applications. IHEU has received a record number of applications for funding. We hope to tell all applicants the results by the end of November. Read more <http://www.iheu.org/applications-iheu-hivos-2009-grants-programme-have-closed>

Humanists in the top 100 on Kiva:

Kiva is an Internet project allowing people in the developed world to lend, rather than to donate, money to people in the developing world who would otherwise be stuck in the poverty trap. The Humanist team on Kiva <http://www.kiva.org/community/viewTeam?team_id=392> has recently joined the top 100 by number of members. There are 8,236 teams on Kiva and the Humanist team, supported by the British Humanist Association <http://www.humanism.org.uk/>, now has 93 members who have made 364 loans totalling $11,100. Read more <http://www.iheu.org/humanists-top-100-kiva>

International Humanist News published:

The August 2009 issue of International Humanist News has been published. This edition includes features on the conferences recently held in London; and Interpretations of Secularism. We have: the full text <http://www.iheu.org/taxonomy/term/457>, a PDF version <http://www.iheu.org/node/3685> with pictures (available for download now) and more than 15 years of back numbers <http://www.iheu.org/ihn> available on the web site. Read more <http://www.iheu.org/international-humanist-news-published>

Gay Humanists welcome Quaker conversion to gay marriage:

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) congratulates the Quakers on their decision to support full gay marriage, a position that GALHA has long campaigned for. Read more <http://www.iheu.org/gay-humanists-welcome-quaker-conversion-gay-marriage>

Gay Humanists welcome Richard Dawkins's support for Alan Turing:

The gay Humanist charity the Pink Triangle Trust (PTT) has warmly welcomed the decision of Richard Dawkins to back the campaign to win an official apology for Alan Turing, the code-breaking genius and father of the modern computer who committed suicide in 1954 after being prosecuted for being homosexual. Read more <http://www.iheu.org/gay-humanists-welcom-richard-dawkinss-support-alan-turing>

IHEYO Youthspeak - August 2009:

The August issue of Youthspeak is now available. This issue includes: Presidential Note - Thinking of October; Editorial - For the Sake of Yesterday, Today and the Future; Russian Pupils to have a choice of religion, ethics; Swine Flu Scare: Communion wafer banned, Saudi bans pilgrims; Talibans attack four northern Nigerian states; Placenta-derived stem cells may help sufferers of lung diseases; Homosexuals left traumatised by ceremonial 'cure'; Natalia Estemirova, Russian rights activist, found murdered; Project of the Month - Are you warming up for October? Column/Opinion - Come and let's share ideas on Secularism; Humanist Portrait - Michael Jackson: Award-Winning Supporter of Charities; Member in Focus - Tarksheel Society Punjab; Book Review/Resource - The MDG Youth Report; and Humanist Humour - Welcome to Hell! Read more <http://www.iheu.org/iheyo-youthspeak-august-2009>

IHEU protests attack in Nigeria:

In a letter sent to the Nigerian High Commission in the UK, IHEU's President Sonja Eggerickx has protested at the attack on Leo Igwe. Other protests are also being sent by IHEU Member Organizations. Read more <http://www.iheu.org/iheu-protests-attack-nigeria>

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International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) is the world umbrella organisation for Humanist, ethical culture, rationalist, secularist and freethought groups. Based in London, it is an international NGO with Special Consultative Status with the UN (New York, Geneva, Vienna), General Consultative Status at UNICEF (New York) and the Council of Europe (Strasbourg), and it maintains operational relations with UNESCO (Paris).

Its mission is to build and represent the global Humanist movement, to defend human rights and to promote Humanist values world-wide. IHEU sponsors the triennial World Humanist Congress.

You can find out more about IHEU on our web site <http://www.iheu.org>

Fwd by
John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm>