Advayavada Study Plan - week 26

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

This week's ASP subject is the Eighth Step on the Noble Eighfold 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 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 (e.g. 'meditate towards samadhi') in your pocket diary!

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

Total relinquishment in Zazen [Ekeson]

Seigaku Kigen Ekeson writes in Tricyle (Summer 2009) that

"Zazen comes to us from our teachers as the practice using all forms and all awareness as vehicles for the relinquishment of all forms and all awareness. This relinquishment must be total and does not allow for some detached, aware perspective to continue at all, much less be owned or cultivated. Through zazen, we don't seek to become 'fully functional human beings [Genpo Roshi, in Introducing Big Mind]', we seek to die to our human condition and be reborn as bodhisattvas: agents of compassionate impermanence."

It will be clear that in Advayavada Buddhism we do not share this understanding of enlightenment at all.

John Willemsens.

Twitter

Advayavada Buddhism and I are now on Twitter.
/\ John.

Advayavada Study Plan - week 25

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 ASP subject was the Sixth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path: our very best (samyak, samma) effort or commitment in carrying out our intention.

This week's ASP subject is the Seventh Step on the Noble Eighfold 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 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 (e.g. 'evaluate and correct') in your pocket diary!

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

A Bull of a Man, by John Powers.

John Powers. A Bull of a Man: Images of Masculinity, Sex, and the Body in Indian Buddhism. Harvard University Press, June 2009
ISBN-13: 9780674033290, Hardcover, $45.00

From the front flap and back cover:

The androgynous, asexual Buddha of contemporary popular imagination stands in stark contrast to the muscular, virile, and sensual figure presented in Indian Buddhist texts. In early Buddhist literature and art, the Buddha's perfect physique and sexual prowess are important components of his legend as the world's "ultimate man." He is both the scholarly, religiously inclined brahman and the warrior ruler who excels in martial arts, athletic pursuits, and sexual exploits. The Buddha effortlessly performs these dual roles, combining his society's norms for ideal manhood and creating a powerful image taken up by later followers in promoting their tradition in a hotly contested religious marketplace.

In this groundbreaking study of previously unexplored aspects of the early Buddhist tradition, John Powers skillfully adapts methodological approaches from European and North American historiography to the study of early Buddhist literature, art, and iconography, highlighting aspects of the tradition that have been surprisingly invisible in earlier scholarship. The book focuses on the figure of the Buddha and his monastic followers to show how they were constructed as paragons of masculinity, whose powerful bodies and compelling sexuality attracted women, elicited admiration from men, and convinced skeptics of their spiritual attainments.

A Bull of a Man is one of the most creative and remarkable manuscripts on an Indian-Buddhist related topic that I have read in the past quarter-century. No other publication on embodiment in Buddhism even approaches its sophistication. It is an exciting, essential volume for all in Buddhist studies.
--Charles S. Prebish, Utah State University

Whereas for years Western scholars have propagated a disembodied view of Buddhism, John Powers makes a powerful case for the Indian tradition's obsession with gender, sexuality, and the body. Engagingly written and packed with fascinating details, A Bull of a Man is a major contribution to Buddhist studies and a must read for anyone in interested in the interaction between gender and religion.
--Christopher E. Forth, author of Masculinity in the Modern West

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

International Humanist News

This update from International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU)
is to let you know that the May 2009 edition of
International Humanist News is now available at:

<http://www.iheu.org/ihn-may-2009-pdf>

This edition includes features on Humanist ceremonies;
and Democracy versus Theocracy.
Both text <http://www.iheu.org/taxonomy/term/456>
and PDF <http://www.iheu.org/ihn-may-2009-pdf>
versions are available.

We also have over 15 years of back numbers at
<http://www.iheu.org/ihn>

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

Advayavada Study Plan - week 24

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 soon gathers new impetus.

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

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

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 next week's subject (e.g. 'my very best effort') in your pocket diary!

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