Advayavada Study Plan - week 18

Friends,

Last week's preliminary ASP subject was the Second and the Third Noble Truths of Buddhism, i.e. the 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, and the Fourth Sign of Being, i.e. Progress.

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.

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.

The Noble Eightfold Path is composed in Advayavada Buddhism of eight sequential steps, as follows:

(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>

Robert A. Duff about Spinoza

The main principle to which Spinoza unswervingly holds is that Nature is a
systematic whole, concatenated in all its parts. Nature, however, is not for
him the physical world, but the whole of Reality. Being the whole of
Reality, we cannot speak of it as the 'other' or the limit of God, but as
the Nature of God, or what God is. Of Nature in this sense, i.e. as
including all existence, the conscious and self-conscious, as well as the
mechanical and the organic, man is and must be a part. His relation to this
system is intrinsic, essential, permanent. Whatever qualities, endowments,
attributes, he may have, cannot be in conflict with this necessary
dependence. If he can exercise reason, will, moral choice, these must be
consistent with the unity in which he stands with all the rest of Nature,
and be subject to its universal laws.

(For more see http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/spinoza.htm#04)

Self-fulfilling

Unfortunately most religions and beliefs require a failing world to flourish and due to the great number of followers they are self-fulfilling in this respect - we Advayavadins, by contrast, love the world and hate what people are inflicting on it and each other. John.

Advayavada Study Plan - week 17

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.

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 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: the cause of suffering, which is craving, grasping, clinging and attachment (= trishna, tanha), and the need and 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 direct 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 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>

Cuba's chance (Avaaz)

Dear friends,

This weekend, at the Summit of the Americas, the US has a real chance to turn the page on almost half a century of divisive politics in the region.

International and regional leaders, the UN, and an increasing number of US citizens condemn a US embargo that has punished ordinary Cubans for decades.

The US has taken initial positive steps, but strong international pressure by this weekend will send a clear signal to President Obama that it is time to decisively replace the failed policies of the past with a real dialogue.
Click below to sign the Petition to lift the embargo - our message and number of signatures will be sailed right past the Americas Summit on a giant sail-boat banner:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/lift_cuba_embargo

When the United States put its first embargo on Cuba in 1960, the policy's supporters claimed it would accelerate democracy and human rights. A half-century later, the claim has proven hollow, and has caused immeasurable economic harm to ordinary Cubans blocking agricultural and medical supplies, new technology, information and ideas.

Some argue that as long as the embargo exists, the Cuban government can blame it instead of being forced to address its own systemic failures and serious breaches of freedom of speech, association and dissension.

Today there is more hope than ever that Cuban - US relations can change, with implications for the whole region. Across Latin America leaders are calling on President Obama to initiate a new beginning. In the US, recent surveys find that three quarters of US citizens want their government to shift away from the policy of isolation, and even previously hard-line Cuban exile groups are calling for change.

At this moment, as the United States and the region responds to Obama's tentative first steps, our voices have a critical role to play. If we remain silent, we risk ceding the debate to polarizing forces in the US and in Latin America who fear a reconciliation.

Sign the Petition of the Americas now, send this message to friends, and watch for the Avaaz sailboat in Trinidad on Saturday:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/lift_cuba_embargo

With hope,

Luis, Alice, Paula, Graziela, Ben, Raj, Iain, Ricken, Brett, Paul, Margaret, Pascal, Taren and the rest of the Avaaz team.

PS: See more information below:

Obama Lifts Broad Set Of Sanctions Against Cuba, Washington Post, Tuesday, April 14, 2009:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/04/13/ST2009041303010.html

A new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll showing that three-quarters of Americans surveyed think the US should end its five-decade estrangement with Cuba:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/10/poll.cuba/

Leading organization for Cuban exiles calling on the White House to expand relations with Cuba's government,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/us/politics/09cuba.html?em/

Human Rights Watch report "Families Torn Apart: The High Cost of U.S. and Cuban Travel Restrictions", includes recommendation to the the U.S. government to terminate the economic embargo on Cuba:
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/80478/section/1

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

PicoSearch

Dear friends,
Please note that the Relevant Excerpts and the Questions and Answers sections of our website have each been split into six webpages.
There is a handy PicoSearch device at the bottom of all the pages of our website.
For an overview of the current contents of our website please see:
http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/sitemap.htm
Cheers,
John.

Advayavada Study Plan - week 16

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.

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 14 the preliminary subject of our Study Plan was the First Sign of Being, i.e. the first fact of life: anitya, omnia mutantur, everything changes, the impermanence and changeability of everything, of all existents.

In week 15 the preliminary subject was 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.

This week's 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, transcendent Absolute) or in the atman or atta (soul, immortal self) and taught that man suffers because he does not understand and accept that all things in life are instead utterly changeable and transitory. Man is prone to suffering (duhkha) quite simply because he wrongly strives after and tries to hold on to things and concepts which he believes 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 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>