Buddha - Buddhism Religion
Sidhartha Gautama: The Buddha (563-483 BCE)
Quotes on the Philosophy & Metaphysics of Buddhism
Metaphysical foundations of Nirvana (Truth), Karma (Interconnection)
Sabbadanam dhammadanam jinati
'The gift of truth excels all other gifts.' (Buddha)
The world is continuous flux and is impermanent. (Buddha)
Transient are conditioned things. Try to accomplish your aim with diligence. (Buddha's last words)
The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism. (Albert Einstein)
Introduction
On the Life of Buddha, Metaphysics & Philosophy of Buddhist Religion
Buddhism is a philosophy / religion based upon the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (566 - 486 B.C.). He was an Indian prince born in Lumbini (a town situated in what is now Nepal), destined for a privileged life.
According to legend for his life, before his birth, Gautama had visited his mother during a vision, taking the form of a white elephant. During the birth celebrations, a seer announced that this baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. His father, wishing for Gautama to be a great king, shielded his son from religious teachings or knowledge of human suffering.
At age 16, his father arranged his marriage to Yashodhara, a cousin of the same age. She gave birth to a son, Rahula. Although his father ensured that Gautama was provided with everything he could want or need, Gautama was troubled and dissatisfied. At the age of 29, Gautama was escorted on four subsequent visits outside of the palace. Here Siddhartha came across an old crippled man, a sick man, a dead body and an ascetic. This is known as the Four Passing Sights which lead Siddhartha to recognise the reality of death and suffering and the cyclical nature of human existence (samsara). He then left the palace, abandoned his inheritance and became a wandering monk, seeking a solution to an end of suffering. He began with the Yogic path and although he reached high levels of meditative consciousness, he was not satisfied.
He abandoned asceticism and realised the power of the Middle Way. This is an important idea in Buddhist thought and practice. To seek moderation and avoid the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. At the age of 35, meditating under a Bodhi tree, Siddhartha reached Enlightenment, awakening to the true nature of reality, which is Nirvana (Absolute Truth);
The dustless and stainless Eye of Truth (Dhamma-cakkhu) has arisen.
He has seen Truth, has attained Truth, has known Truth, has penetrated into Truth, has crossed over doubt, is without wavering.
Thus with right wisdom he sees it as it is (yatha bhutam) ... The Absolute Truth is Nibbana, which is Reality. (Buddha, from the Dhatuvibhanga-sutta (No. 140) of the Majjhima-nikaya)
Thus Siddhartha Gautama became known as the Buddha. 'Buddha' (from the ancient Indian languages of Pali and Sanksrit) means 'one who has awakened'. It is derived from the verbal root "budh", meaning "to awaken" or "to be enlightened", and "to comprehend".
The Buddha taught that the nature of reality was impermanent and interconnected. We suffer in life because of our desire to transient things. Liberation from suffering may come by training the mind and acting according to the laws of karma (cause and effect) i.e. with right action, good things will come to you. This teaching is known as the Four Noble Truths:
Dukkha: Suffering is everywhere
Samudaya: There is a cause of suffering, which is attachment or misplaced desire (tanha) rooted in ignorance.
Nirodha: There is an end of suffering, which is Nirvana (the possibility of liberation exists for everyone).
Maggo: There is a path that leads out of suffering, known as the Noble Eightfold Path (right view, right thought, right speech, right conduct, right vocation, right effort, right attention and right concentration).
(Based upon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha)
Metaphysics of Buddhism
Buddha was correct that The gift of truth excels all other gifts, for only truth allows us to act wisely. This website is devoted to explaining this fundamental Truth about Reality (Nirvana) from the Metaphysical foundations of Space and Motion (not Time) and the Spherical Standing Wave Structure of Matter.
Buddha was very close to understanding Reality as he knew that Matter was both Impermanent and Interconnected; The world is continuous flux and is impermanent (Buddha) and as Fritjof Capra writes; The Eastern mystics see the universe as an inseparable web, whose interconnections are dynamic and not static (Capra). This impermanence / flux is caused by the continual wave Motion of Space (which causes both Matter and Time) and the Interconnection of all things is due to the Spherical In and Out Waves which interact with all other matter in the universe.
Read more on the Wave Structure of Matter as the Most Simple Science Theory of Reality.
We hope you enjoy the following quotes on Buddhism. This is a long page, as I have sourced many interesting ideas and find a lot of truth in Buddhism. Namaste.
Geoff Haselhurst, Karene Howie
Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. (Siddhartha Gautama - The Buddha), 563-483 B.C.
Buddhism Quotes on Buddha / Buddhism Religion
I will teach you the Truth and the Path leading to the Truth. (Buddha)
One is one’s own refuge, who else could be the refuge? ..The wise man makes an island of himself that no flood can overwhelm. (Buddha)
It is proper for you to doubt .. do not go upon report .. do not go upon tradition..do not go upon hearsay..' (Buddha, Kalama Sutra)
Never by hatred is hatred appeased, but it is appeased by kindness. This is an eternal truth. (Buddha)
O Brahmana, it is just like a mountain river, flowing far and swift, taking everything along with it; there is no moment, no instant, no second when it stops flowing, but it goes on flowing and continuing. So Brahmana, is human life, like a mountain river. (Buddha)
‘Wherefore, brethren, thus must ye train yourselves : Liberation of the will through love will develop, we will often practice it, we will make it vehicle and base, take our stand upon it, store it up, thoroughly set it going.’ (Buddha)
For the first time in the history of the world, Buddhism proclaimed a salvation which each individual could gain from him or herself, in this world, during this life, without any least reference to God, or to gods either great or small. (Aldous Huxley)
The dustless and stainless Eye of Truth (Dhamma-cakkhu) has arisen.
He has seen Truth, has attained Truth, has known Truth, has penetrated into Truth, has crossed over doubt, is without wavering.
Thus with right wisdom he sees it as it is (yatha bhutam) (Ancient Buddhist texts)
The subtle waves are infinite, producing wondrous sounds.
They follow those who should hear the Dharma's discussion.
(Gaathaas in Praise of the Buddha Amitaabha, Composed by Dharma Teacher T'an-luan, 1978)
Criticism is the deliverance of the human mind from entanglements and passions. It is freedom itself. This is the true Buddhist standpoint. ( T.L.V Murti, The Central Philosophy of Buddhism)
The Pali word kamma or the Sanskrit word karma (from the root kr to do) literally means ‘action’, ‘doing’. But in the Buddhist theory of karma it has a specific meaning: it means only ‘volitional action’ not all action. In Buddhist terminology karma never means its effect; its effect is known as the ‘fruit’ or the ‘result’ of karma.
The theory of karma should not be confused with so-called ‘moral justice’ or ‘reward and punishment’. The idea of moral justice arises out of the conception of a supreme being, a God, who sits in judgement, who is a law-giver and who decides what is right and wrong.
The theory of karma is the theory of cause and effect, of action and reaction; it is a natural law, which has nothing to do with the idea of justice or reward and punishment. Every volitional action produces its effects or results. If a good action produces good effects, it is not justice, or reward, meted out by anybody or any power sitting in judgement of your action, but this is in virtue of its own nature, its own law. This is not difficult to understand. But what is difficult is that, according to karma theory, the effects of a volitional action may continue to manifest themselves even in a life after death. (Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught)
..the Buddha's metaphysical conception of the impermanence and interdependence of all things profoundly influences his teaching about the conduct of daily life and the nature of human salvation. (Collinson, Fifty Eastern Thinkers, 2000)
The Buddha taught an attitude of non-violence and an awareness of community and relatedness among all things. He condemned the rigid hierarchy of the Hindu estates, maintaining that inner virtue rather than birth or rank is to be valued, and he welcomed followers, both men and women, from all walks of life. (Cooper, 1996)
The impermanence of all forms is the starting point of Buddhism. The Buddha taught that ‘all compounded things are impermanent’, and that all suffering in the world arises from our trying to cling to fixed forms- objects, people or ideas- instead of accepting the world as it moves and changes. (Capra, The Tao of Physics, p211)
The most important characteristic of the Eastern world view- one could almost say the essence of it- is the awareness of the unity and mutual interrelation of all things and events, the experience of all phenomena in the world as manifestations of a basic oneness. All things are seen as interdependent and inseparable parts of this cosmic whole; as different manifestations of the same ultimate reality. (Capra, The Tao of Physics)
In Indian philosophy, the main terms used by Hindus and Buddhists have dynamic connotations. The word Brahman is derived from the Sanskrit root brih – to grow- and thus suggests a reality which is dynamic and alive. The Rig Veda uses the term 'Rita' to express the dynamic character of the universe, from the root ri- to move; its original meaning in the Rig Veda being ‘the course of all things’, ‘the order of nature’. The order of nature was conceived by the Vedic seers, not as a static divine law, but as a dynamic principle which is inherent in the universe. This idea is not unlike the Chinese conception of the Tao - ‘the Way’- as the way in which the Universe works, i.e. the order of Nature. Like the Vedic seers, the Chinese sages saw the world in terms of flow and change. Both concepts, Rita and Tao, were later brought down from their original cosmic level to the human and interpreted in a moral sense; Rita as the universal law which all gods and humans must obey and Tao as the right way of life. (Capra, The Tao of Physics)
The Eastern mystics see the universe as an inseparable web, whose interconnections are dynamic and not static. The cosmic web is alive; it moves and grows and changes continually. Modern physics, too, has come to conceive of the universe as such a web of relations and, like Eastern mysticism, has recognised that this web is intrinsically dynamic. The dynamic aspect of matter arises in quantum theory as a consequence of the wave-nature of subatomic particles, and is even more essential in relativity theory, where the unification of space and time implies that the being of matter cannot be separated from its activity. The properties of subatomic particles can therefore only be understood in a dynamic context; in terms of movement, interaction and transformation. (Capra, The Tao of Physics, p213)
It is always a question of knowing and seeing, and not that of believing. The teaching of the Buddha is qualified as ehi-passika, inviting you to ‘come and see’, but not to come and believe. (Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught)
According to Buddhist philosophy there is no permanent, unchanging spirit which can be considered ‘Self’ or ‘Soul’ or ‘Ego’, as opposed to matter, and that consciousness (vinnana) should not be taken as ‘spirit’ in opposition to matter. This point has to be emphasised, because a wrong notion that consciousness is a sort of Self or Soul that continues as a permanent substance through life, has persisted from the earliest time to the present day. (Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, p. 24)
All the factors of our lives subsist, then, in a web of mutual causality. Our suffering is caused by the interplay of these factors, particularly by the delusion, aversion and craving that arise from our misapprehension of them. Hence, the Four Noble Truths: We create our own bondage by reifying and clinging to what is by nature contingent and transient. Being caused in this way, our suffering is not endemic. It can cease. The causal play can be reversed. This is achieved by seeing the true nature of phenomena, which is their radical interdependence. This is made possible by the cleansing of perception through meditation and moral conduct. (Joanna Macy, World as Lover, World as Self)
Confirming an intuitive sense I’ve always felt for the interconnectedness of all things, the Buddhist doctrine has provided me ways to understand the intricate web of co-arising that links one being with all other beings, and to apprehend the reciprocities between thought and action, self and universe. (Joanna Macy)
While all the worlds and planes of existence teem with consciousness, human mentality presents a distinctive feature: the capacity to choose, to change its karma. That is why a human life is considered so rare and priceless a privilege. And that is why Buddhist practice begins with meditation on the precious opportunity that a human existence provides- the opportunity to wake up for the sake of all beings. The Dharma vision of a co-arising world, alive with consciousness, is a powerful inspiration for the healing of the Earth. It helps us to see two important things: It shows us our profound imbeddedness in the web of life, thus relieving us of our human arrogance and loneliness. And, at the same time, it pinpoints our distinctiveness as humans, the capacity for choice. (Joanna Macy)
Buddha Reality
On Impermanence, Interconnection, Change / Flux, Waves & Vibration
Sabbo pajjalito loko, sabbo loko pakampito. The entire universe is nothing but combustion and vibration. (Buddha)
Observing, observing you will reach the stage when you experience that the entire physical structure is nothing but subatomic particles: throughout the body, nothing but kalapas (subatomic particles). And even these tiniest subatomic particles are not solid. They are mere vibration, just wavelets.
As you experience it yourself you experience that the entire material world is nothing but vibration. We have to experience the ocean of infinite waves surging within, the river of inner sensations flowing within, the eternal dance of the countless vibrations within every atom of the body. We have to witness our continuously changing nature. All of this is happening at an extremely subtle level. These kalapas (subatomic particles) according to the Buddha, are in a state of perpetual change or flux. They are nothing but a stream of energies, just like the light of a candle or an electric bulb. The body (as we call it), is not an entity as it seems to be, but is a continuum of matter and life-force coexisting.
http://www.buddhanet.net/bvk_study/bvk21d.htm
(Sourced from ''Buddha's path is to experience reality'' by S N Goenka OCT 95 Vipassana english news letter, ''Samma Samadhi'' April 95 hindi Vipassana patrika, discourses of Sayagyi U Ba Khin-Sayagyi U Ba Khin Journal-VRI Igatpuri)
Flux / Impermanence
O Brahmana, it is just like a mountain river, flowing far and swift, taking everything along with it; there is no moment, no instant, no second when it stops flowing, but it goes on flowing and continuing. So Brahmana, is human life, like a mountain river.’ (Buddha)
‘The world is continuous flux and is impermanent. (Buddha)
One thing disappears, conditioning the appearance of the next in a series of cause and effect. There is no unchanging substance in them. There is nothing behind them that can be called a permanent Self (atman), individuality, or anything that can in reality be called ‘I’.
.. There is no unmoving mover behind the movement. It is only movement. It is not correct to say that life is moving, but life is movement itself. Life and movement are not two different things. In other words there is no thinker behind the thought. Thought itself is the thinker. If you remove the thought, there is no thinker to be found. Here we cannot fail to notice how this Buddhist view is diametrically opposed to the Cartesian cogito ergo sum: ‘I think, therefore I am.’ (Rahula, What the Buddha Taught)
It is important to understand how things change over time and thus how they have come to exist and how their change may be adapted in the future. The Metaphysics of Space and Motion and the Spherical Wave Structure of Matter explains this change (motion causes change/time/flux) and interconnectedness, that all things exist in Space and are subtly inter-connected by their spherical waves to all other things within the Space of our finite spherical universe.
Gautama's final breakthrough of awareness under the bodhi tree, the culminating insight of the enlightenment, was to survey the underlying evolutionary principles that drive the universe of phenomena. His vision was of a world in constant flux with nothing immutable in it, and of human experience as a stream of momentary mental states, with no stable central controlling 'Mind' set apart from those mental states. Yet both the flux of the world and the stream of the mind flow on in patterned, law-governed ways. The conditioned process is complex, Gautama realized, but its principles can be understood; it can be influenced.
According to Buddhism, every event or phenomena, including every event in the mind, arises in dependence on a network of other phenomena which are its conditions, and it in turn forms one of the conditions for innumerable other phenomena. The details of just how phenomena are connected together is incredibly complex and subtle. (Cooper, 1996)
..this philosophy of ‘becoming' is unique in the spiritual history of humanity, in so far as it explains everything that exists through the co-operation of only momentarily existing forces, arising and disappearing in functional dependence [on} each other. (Helmuth von Glasenapp)
These momentary forces, of arising and disappearing, are thus explained with the Metaphysic of Space and Motion. It is a property of Standing Waves that they successively appear and disappear as the two waves, flowing in opposite directions, combine then cancel each other out. Thus matter, as a SSW appears and disappears in Space (with the frequency of roughly one hundred billion billion times per second.) This appearing and disappearing must also apply to the Wave-Center. Thus the particle effect of the Wave-Center appears in a discrete point in Space, then disappears, then re-appears again as the next In-Waves meets at its Wave-Center.
Buddha Nature
On Nature and Interconnectedness
One is one’s own refuge, who else could be the refuge? said the Buddha. (Dhp. XII 4.)
Buddha taught, encouraged and stimulated each person to develop themselves and work out their own emancipation, for humans have the power to liberate themselves from all bondage through their own personal effort and intelligence.
It is always a question of knowing and seeing, and not that of believing. The teaching of the Buddha is qualified as ehi-passika, inviting you to ‘come and see’, but not to come and believe. (Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught)
The Buddha says, You should do the work, for the Tathagatas only teach the way. (Dhp. XX 4.)
(Tathagata means ‘One who has come to Truth’. This is the term usually used by the Buddha referring to himself and to the Buddhas in general.) (Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught)
A true Buddhist is the happiest of all beings. He has no fears or anxieties. He is always calm and serene, cannot be upset or dismayed by changes or calamities, because he sees things as they are. The Buddha was never melancholy or gloomy. He was described by his contemporaries as ‘ever-smiling’ (mihita-pubbamgama). (Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught)
Although there is suffering in life, a Buddhist should not be gloomy over it, should not be angry or impatient at it. One of the principal evils in life, according to Buddhism, is ‘repugnance’ or hatred. Repugnance (pratigha) is explained as ‘ill will with regard to living beings, with regard to suffering and with regard to things pertaining to suffering. Its function is to produce a basis for unhappy states and bad conduct.’ (Abhisamuc, p7)
Thus it is wrong to be impatient at suffering. Being impatient or angry at suffering does not remove it. On the contrary, it adds a little more to one’s trouble, and aggravates and exacerbates a situation already disagreeable. What is necessary is not anger or impatience, but the understanding of the question of suffering, how it comes about, and how to get rid of it, and then to work accordingly with patience, intelligence, determination and energy. (Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught)
Buddha on Nirvana
The Third Noble Truth is that there is liberation, emancipation, freedom from suffering, from the continuity of dukkha. This is called the Noble Truth of the Cessation of dukkha (Dukkhanirodha-ariyasacca), which is Nibbana, more popularly known in its Sanskrit form of Nirvana. (Walpola Rahula, p35)
Now you will ask: But what is Nirvana?
..The only reasonable reply is that it can never be answered completely and satisfactorily in words, because human language is too poor to express the real nature of the Absolute Truth or Ultimate Reality which is Nirvana. Language is created and used by masses of human beings to express things and ideas experienced by their sense organs and their mind. A supramundane experience like that of the Absolute Truth is not of such a category.
Words are symbols representing things and ideas known to us; and these symbols do not and cannot convey the true nature of even ordinary things. Language is considered deceptive and misleading in the matter of understanding of the Truth. So the Lankavatara-sutra says that ignorant people get stuck in words like an elephant in the mud. Nevertheless, we cannot do without language. (p35)
Nirvana
Let us consider a few definitions and descriptions of Nirvana as found in the original Pali texts:
‘It is the complete cessation of that very ‘thirst’ (tanha), giving it up, renouncing it, emancipation from it, detachment from it.’ (Mhvg. (Alutgama, 1922), p.10; S V p.421) (Rahula, p.36)
‘Calming of all conditioned things, giving up of all defilements, extinction of ‘thirst’, detachment, cessation, Nibbana.’
(S I, p.136) (Rahula, p.36)
‘O bhikkhus, what is the Absolute (Asamkhata, Unconditioned)? It is the extinction of desire (ragakkhayo), the extinction of hatred (dosakkhayo), the extinction of illusion (mohakkhayo). This, O bhikkhus, is called the Absolute.’ (Ibid. IV, p.359)
‘The cessation of Continuity and becoming (Bhavanirodha) is Nibbana.’
(Words of Musila, disciple of Buddha. S II (PTS), p.117) (Rahula, p.37)
Nirvana is definitely no annihilation of self because there is no self to annihilate. If at all, it is the annihilation of the illusion, of the false idea of self. (p37)
Nirvana as Absolute Truth
We may get some idea of Nirvana as Absolute Truth from the Dhatuvibhanga-sutta (No. 140) of the Majjhima-nikaya. This extremely important discourse was delivered by the Buddha to Pukkusati, whom the Master found to be intelligent and earnest, in the quiet of night in a potter’s shed.
The essence of the relevant portions of the sutta is as follows:
A man is composed of six elements: solidity, fluidity, heat, motion, space and consciousness. He analyses them and finds that none of them is ‘mine’, or ‘me’ or ‘my self.’ He understands how consciousness appears and disappears, how pleasant, unpleasnt and neutral sensations appear and disappear. Through this knowledge his mind becomes detached. Then he finds within him a pure equanimity (upekha) which he can direct towards the attainment of any high spiritual state. But then he thinks:
‘If I focus this purified and cleansed equanimity on the Sphere of Infinite Space and develop a mind conforming thereto, that is a mental creation (samkhatam). If I focus this purified and cleansed equanimity on the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness, on the Sphere of Nothingness, or on the Sphere of Neither-perception nor Non-perception and develop a mind conforming thereto, that is a mental creation.’
Then he neither mentally creates nor wills continuity and becoming (bhava) or annihilations (vibhava). As he does not construct or does not will continuity and becoming or annihilation, he does not cling to anything in the world; as he does not cling, he is not anxious; as he is not anxious, he is completely calmed within (fully blown out within paccattam yeva parinibhayati). And he knows:
‘Finished is birth, lived is pure life, what should be done is done, nothing more is left to be done.’ (This expression means that now he is an Arahant).
Now when he experiences a pleasant, unpleasant or neutral sensation, he knows that it is impermanent, that it does not bind him, that it is not experienced with passion. Whatever may be the sensation, he experiences it without being bound to it (visamyutto).
‘Therefore, O bhikkhu, a person so endowed is endowed with the absolute wisdom, for the knowledge of the extinction of all dukkha is the absolute noble wisdom.
This his deliverance, founded on Truth, is unshakable. O Bhikkhu, that which is unreality (mosadhamma) is false; that which is reality (amosadhamma) is Nibbana, is Truth (Sacca). Therefore O Bhikkhu, a person so endowed is endowed with this Absolute Truth. For, the Absolute Truth (paramam ariyasaccam) is Nibbana, which is Reality.’
(Buddha, from the Dhatuvibhanga-sutta (No. 140) of the Majjhima-nikaya) (Rahula, p38-9)
Elsewhere the Buddha unequivocally uses the word Truth in place of Nibbana: ‘I will teach you the Truth and the Path leading to the Truth.’ (S V (PTS), p.369) (Rahula, p39)
Now, what is this Absolute Truth? According to Buddhism, the Absolute Truth is that there is nothing absolute in the world, that everything is relative, conditioned, impermanent, and that there is no unchanging, everlasting, absolute substance like Self, Soul or Atman within or without. This is the Absolute Truth. (p39)
++ disagree. Absolute Truth comes from Absolute Space (what exists, Reality).
It is incorrect to think that Nirvana is the natural result of the extinction of craving. Nirvana is not the result of anything. If it would be a result, then it would be an effect produced by a cause. It would be samkhata ‘produced’ and ‘conditioned’. Nirvana is neither cause nor effect. It is not produced like a mystic, spiritual, mental state, such as dhyana or samadhi. TRUTH IS. NIRVANA IS. The only thing you can do is see it, realise it. There is a path leading to the realisation of Nirvana. But Nirvana is not the result of this path. You may get to the mountain along a path, but the mountain is not the result, not an effect of the path. You may see a light, but the light is not a result of your eyesight. (p40)
People often ask: What is there after Nirvana? This question cannot arise, because Nirvana is the Ultimate Truth. If it is Ultimate there can be nothing after it. If there is anything after Nirvana, then that will be the Ultimate Truth and not Nirvana. (Rahula,p40)
Another question arises: What happens to the Buddha or an Arahant after his death, parinirvana? This comes under the category of unanswered questions (avyakata). (Rahula, P40)
There is yet another popular question: If there is no Self, no Atman, who realises Nirvana? Before we go on to Nirvana, let us ask the question: Who thinks now, if there is no Self? We have seen earlier that it is the thought that thinks, that there is no thinker behind the thought. In the same way, it is wisdom (panna), realisation, that realises. There is no other self behind the realisation. In the discussion on the origin of dukkha we saw that whatever it may be- whether being, or thing, or system- if it is of the nature of arising; it has within itself the nature, the germ, of its cessation, its destruction. Dukkha arises because of ‘thirst’ (tanha) and it ceases because of wisdom (panna). ‘Thirst’ and Wisdom are both within the Five Aggregates.
Thus, the germ of their arising as well as that of their cessation are both within the Five Aggregates. This is the real meaning of the Buddhas well-known statement:
‘Within this fathom-long sentient body itself, I postulate the world, the arising of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path leading to the cessation of the world.’ (A (Columbo, 1929) p218)
This means that all the Four Noble Truths are found within the Five Aggregates, i.e. within ourselves. This also means that there is no external power that produces the arising and cessation of dukkha. (p42)
When wisdom is developed and cultivated according to the Fourth Noble Truth, it sees the secret of life, the reality of things as they are. When the secret is discovered, when the Truth is seen, all the forces which feverishly produce the continuity of samsara in illusion become calm and incapable of producing any more karma-formations, because there is no more illusion, no more ‘thirst’ for continuity. It is like a mental disease which is cured when the cause or the secret of the malady is discovered and seen by the patient. (p43)
He who has realised Truth, Nirvana, is the happiest being in the world. He is free from all ‘complexes’ and obsessions, the worries and troubles that torment others. His mental health is perfect. He does not repent the past, nor does he brood over the future. He lives fully in the present. Therefore he appreciates and enjoys things in the purest sense without self-projections. He is joyful, exultant, enjoying the pure life, his faculties pleased, free from anxiety, serene and peaceful.
As he is free from selfish desire, hatred, ignorance, conceit, pride, and all such ‘defilements’, he is pure and gentle, full of universal love, compassion, kindness, sympathy, understanding and tolerance. His service to others is of the purest, for he has no thought of self. He gains nothing, accumulated nothing, because he is free from the illusion of Self and the ‘thirst’ of becoming. (p43)
Nirvana is beyond logic and reasoning (atakkavacara). (p43)
(The Wave Structure of Matter does not agree with this)
Nirvana is ‘to be realised by the wise within themselves’. (paccattam veditabbo vinnuhi) (p44)
Buddha on Mind (citta) and Matter (rupa)
Sabbo pajjalito loko, sabbo loko pakampito. The entire universe is nothing but combustion and vibration. (Buddha)
With this awareness, one can observe and realize that the entire pancakkhandha, the five aggregates, are nothing but vibrations, arising and passing away. The entire phenomenon of mind and matter has this continuously ephemeral nature. This is the ultimate truth (paramattha saccaparamattha sacca) of mind and matter -permanently impermanent; nothing but a mass of tiny bubbles or ripples, disintegrating as soon as they arise (sabbo loko pakampitosabbo loko pakampito).
This realisation of the basic characteristic of all phenomena as anicca (impermanent) leads one to the realisation of the characteristic of anatta (not 'I', not 'me', not 'mine', not 'my soul'). The various sensations keep arising in the body whether one likes it or not. There is no control over them, no possession of them. They do not obey our wishes. This in turn makes one realize the nature of dukkha (suffering). Through experience, one understands that identifying oneself with these changing impersonal phenomena is nothing but suffering.
Sourced from 'Significance of the Pali Term Dhuna in the Practice of Vipassana Meditation', Vipassana Research Institute
http://www.vri.dhamma.org/research/90sem/dhuna1.html
As you experience the reality of matter to be vibration, you also start experiencing the reality of the mind: vinnana (consciousness), sanna (perception), vedana (sensation) and sankhara (reaction). If you experience them properly with Vipassana, it will become clear how they work.
Buddha discovered the way: whenever you experience any sensation, due to any reason, you simply observe it. Every sensation arises and passes away. Nothing is eternal. When you practice Vipassana you start experiencing this. However unpleasant a sensation may be - look, it arises only to pass away. However pleasant a sensation may be, it is just a vibration-arising and passing. Pleasant, unpleasant or neutral, the characteristic of impermanence remains the same. You are now experiencing the reality of anicca. You are not believing it because Buddha said so, or some scripture or tradition says so, or even because your intellect says so. You accept the truth of anicca because you directly experience it. This is how your received wisdom and intellectual understanding turn into personally experienced wisdom.
Only this experience of anicca will change the habit pattern of the mind. Feeling sensation in the body and understanding that everything is impermanent, you don't react with craving or aversion; you are equanimous. Practicing this continually changes the habit of reacting at the deepest level. By observing reality as it is, you become free from all your conditioning of craving and aversion.
http://www.buddhanet.net/bvk_study/bvk21d.htm
(Sourced from ''Buddha's path is to experience reality'' by S N Goenka OCT 95 Vipassana english news letter, ''Samma Samadhi'' April 95 hindi Vipassana patrika, discourses of Sayagyi U Ba Khin-Sayagyi U Ba Khin Journal-VRI Igatpuri)
The Buddha described everything as made from mind and matter. He described the parts of the mind and the qualities of matter. These are called "elements" which is confusing today when we use the same word for chemical elements and I prefer the translation to be "properties". The 4 properties he described were likened to earth, air, fire and water (the Greeks must have got this from him as he sent arahants to all the known lands) but are to be understood as the qualities of hardness, cohesion, vibration and expansiveness. These are a correct description for a tensile aether, just like Maxwell arrived at later and which I was also convinced lay behind the structure of cycles and of the wave nature of matter. (Ray Tomes)
The Abhidhamma Pitaka investigates and analyses Mind (citta) and Matter (Rupa), the two composite factors of the so-called a being.(Pali term 'Abhidhamma' is composed of two words 'Abhi' and 'Dhamma'. Abhi means subtle, higher, ultimate, profound, sublime and transcendental, and Dhamma means Truth Reality or Doctrine)
PRIMARY ELEMENTS / PROPERTIES
According to the Buddhist conception, all inanimate objects are aggregates of the following five inherent elements, namely:
(1) The Element of Solidity (Pathavi),
(2) The Element of Fluidity (Apo),
(3) The Element of Heat (Tejo),
(4) The Element of Vibration (Vaya)
(5) The Element of Space (Akasa) .
In the case of animate objects, all living beings are also aggregates of six inherent elements, i. e. , the above five with addition of mind.
1. What is the Element of Solidity?
Whatever in one's own body there exists of hardness or softness, such as the hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, etc, is called one's own solid element.
By realizing the true nature of the solid element, there cannot be found one's own I'ness or personality or ego (Atta), but only the element of solidity which is ever arising and passing away from growth to decay, from decay to death. In reality, this is not mine; this am I not ; this is not my ego, but only the atom of physical phenomena.
2. What is the Element of Fluidity?
Whatever in one's own body there exists of Liquidity or fluidity, such as blood, sweat, fat, tears etc, is called one's own fluid element.
By realizing the true nature of the fluid element, there cannot be found one's I'ness or personality or ego (Atta), but only the element of fluidity which is ever changing from one form to another. In reality, this is not mine; this am I not; this is not my ego, but this is only the atoms of fluid phenomena.
3. What is the Element of Heat?
Whatever in one's own body there exists of hotness, such as that whereby one is heated, consumed, scorched, perishable, whereby that which has been eaten, drunk, is fully digested or wasted and so on, is called one's own
heating element.
By realizing the true nature of the he heating element, there cannot be found one's own I'ness or personality or ego (Atta), but only the element of that which is ever warming (usama), digesting (pacaka), decaying (jirana), going up and down of temperature (santappana) and burning (daha) . In reality, this is not mine; this am I not; is not my Ego, but this is only the atoms of firing phenomena.
4. What is the element of Vibration?
Whatever in one's own body there exists of wind or vibration, such as the upward-going and downward-going winds, the winds of stomach and intestines, in-breathing and out-breathing and so on, is called one's own Vibrating elements.
By realizing the true nature of the vibrating element, there cannot be found one's own I'ness or personality or ego (Atta), but only the element of vibration which is ever moving, supporting and permeating from place to place. In reality, this is not mine; this am I not, this is not my Ego, but this is only the atoms of vibrating phenomena.
In the case of the Element of Space, there is, of course, the space between any two phenomena or elements, such as bone and flesh, or skin and flesh and so on.
Here we realise that Ancient Indian Philosophy did not understand the true connection between the One Thing, Space and the many things, matter. They believed Space / Akasa is what exists between matter, rather than matter existing as a spherical standing wave in space.
By taking the whole view of the physical phenomena to one-pointedness, one should understand, discern and realize that the body composed of hairs,bones, teeth, blood, sweat, wind etc, is nothing, but the particles or atoms of these four primary phenomenal element which are for ever and ever arising and passing away without any stop even a very short moment.
Being so, the so-called body named such and such with a conventional term is, in the sense of ultimate reality merely proton, neutron and electron of physical phenomena, but not infinite soul; nor mine; nor am I, nor my personality nor ego or self.
Regarding the mind, there is no place where mind can be located. Evidently mind is not static thing, but a moving phenomenon. It is therefore, in reality, the process of consciousness arisen between sense organs and objects. When mind comes in contact with an object through any one of six sense-doors, a new mental phenomenon or consciousness arises and immediately it passes away. Even during such a very short moment of consciousness, the mental process has happened many times very swiftly.
So the comprehensive discernment of physical and mental phenomena in its real nature is called (Vipassana Ñ ana) Insight knowledge.
By realizing the true nature of the ultimate reality, one in able to be contented; contentment leads to lesser and lesser desire for sensual pleasure, from lesser desire to delight, then to rapture, absolute purity, happiness, one-pointedness of the mind, discernment in insight as it really is, banefulness in craving, will for emancipation from craving,realization of insight in absolute emancipation and then finally leads to the attainment of Ultimate Peaceful Happiness of Nibbana.
Therefore, a Buddhist must not only view these two conceptions correctly, i.e.
(1) (Kammassakata Nana) Insight knowledge in the nature of action and its results
(2) (Vipassana Nana) Insightful knowledge into the true nature of physical and mental phenomena i. e. , the three characteristics of impermanence, etc, but also he devotes himself to the actual practice of the Teaching in order to attain the Ultimate Happiness of Nibbana.
DHAMMA - The Noble Doctrine of The Buddha - Sayadaw Bhaddanta Pañña Dipa
http://www.erowid.org/spirit/traditions/buddhism/buddhism_dhamma.shtml
Karma of Buddhism Religion
The Pali word kamma or the Sanskrit word karma (from the root kr to do) literally means ‘action’, ‘doing’. But in the Buddhist theory of karma it has a specific meaning: it means only ‘volitional action’ not all action. Nor does it mean the result of karma as many people wrongly and loosely use it. In Buddhist terminology karma never means its effect; its effect is known as the ‘fruit’ or the ‘result’ of karma.
Volition may relatively be good or bad, just as desire may relatively be good or bad. So karma may be good or bad relatively. Good karma produces good effects and bad karma bad effects. ‘Thirst’, volition, karma, whether good or bad, has one force as its effect: force to continue- to continue in a good or bad direction. Whether good or bad it is relative, and is within the cycle of continuity (samsara). An Arahant, though he acts, does not accumulate karma, because he is free from the false idea of self, free from the ‘thirst’ for continuity and becoming, free from all other defilements and impurities. For him there is no rebirth.
The theory of karma should not be confused with so-called ‘moral justice’ or ‘reward and punishment’. The idea of moral justice, or reward and punishment, arises out of the conception of a supreme being, a God, who sits in judgement, who is a law-giver and who decides what is right and wrong. The term ‘justice’ is ambiguous and dangerous, and in its name more harm than good is done to humanity.
The theory of karma is the theory of cause and effect, of action and reaction; it is a natural law, which has nothing to do with the idea of justice or reward and punishment. Every volitional action produces its effects or results. If a good action produces good effects, it is not justice, or reward, meted out by anybody or any power sitting in judgement of your action, but this is in virtue of its own nature, its own law.
This is not difficult to understand. But what is difficult is that, according to karma theory, the effects of a volitional action may continue to manifest themselves even in a life after death. (Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, p32)
Buddhism Religion on No Soul (Anatta) & Conditioned Genesis (Paticca-samuppada)
Buddhism stands unique in the history of human thought in denying the existence of such a Soul, Self, or Atman. According to the teaching of the Buddha, the idea of self is imaginary, false belief which has no corresponding reality, and it produces harmful thoughts of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, selfish desire, craving, attachment, hatred, ill-will, conceit, pride, egoism, and other defilements, impurities and problems. It is the source of all the troubles in the world from personal conflicts to wars between nations. In short, to this false view can be traced all the evil in the world. (Rahula, p51)
Two ideas are psychologically deep-rooted in man: self-protection and self-preservation. For self-protection man has created God, on whom he depends for his own protection, safety and security, just as a child depends upon a parent. For self-preservation man has conceived of the idea of an immortal Soul or Atman, which will live eternally. In his ignorance, weakness, fear and desire, man needs these two things to console himself. Hence he clings to them deeply and fanatically.
The Buddha’s teaching does not support this ignorance, weakness, fear and desire, but aims at making man enlightened by removing and destroying them. According to Buddhism, our ideas of God and soul are false and empty. Though highly developed as theories, they are all the same extremely subtle mental projections, garbed in an intricate metaphysical and philosophical phraseology. These ideas are so deep-rooted in man, and so near and dear to him, that he does not wish to hear, does not want to understand, any teaching against them.
The Buddha knew this quite well. He said his teaching was ‘against the current’ (patisotagami), against man’s selfish desires. Just four weeks after his Enlightenment, seated under the banyan tree, he thought to himself:
I have realised this Truth which is deep, difficult to see, difficult to understand ... comprehensible only by the wise .. Men who are overpowered by passions and surrounded by a mass of darkness cannot see this Truth, which is against the current, which is lofty, deep, subtle and hard to comprehend.
With these thoughts in mind, the Buddha hesitated for a moment, whether it would not be in vain if he tried to explain to the world the Truth he had just realised. Then he compared the world to a lotus pond: In a lotus pool there are some lotuses still under the water; there are others which have risen only up to the water level; there are still others which stand above water and are untouched by it. In the same way in this world, there are men at different levels of development. Some would understand the Truth. So the Buddha decided to teach. (p52)
Anatta or No-Soul
The doctrine of Anatta or No-Soul is the natural result of, or, the corollary to, the analysis of the Five Aggregates and the teaching of Conditioned Genesis (Paticca-samuppada).
What we call a being is composed of the Five Aggregates, and when these are analysed and examined, there is nothing behind them which can be taken as ‘I’, Atman or Self, or any unchanging abiding substance. That is the analytical method. The same result can be arrived at through the doctrine of Conditioned Genesis which is the synthetical method, and according to this nothing in the world is absolute. Everything is conditioned, relative and interdependent. This is the Buddhist theory of relativity. (p52)
Conditioned Genesis
On this principle of conditionality, relativity and interdependence, the whole existence and continuity of life and its cessation are explained in a detailed formula which is called Paticca-samuppada ‘Conditioned Genesis’, consisting of twelve factors:
1. Through ignorance are conditioned volitional actions or karma-formations (Avijapaccaya samkhara).
2. Through volitional actions is conditioned consciousness (Samkharapaccaya vinnanam).
3. Through consciousness are conditioned mental and physical phenomena (Vinnanapaccaya namarupam)
4. Through mental and physical phenomena are conditioned the six faculties (i.e. five physical sense-organs and mind) (Namarupapaccaya salayatanam).
5. Through the six faculties is conditioned (sensorial and mental) contact (Salayatanapaccaya phasso).
6. Through (sensorial and mental) contact is conditioned sensation (Phassapaccaya vedana).
7. Through sensation is conditioned desire, ‘thirst’ (Vedana-paccaya tanha).
8. Through desire (‘thirst’) is conditioned clinging (Tanha-paccaya upadanam).
9. Through clinging is conditioned the process of becoming (Upadanapaccaya bhavo).
10. Through the process of becoming is conditioned birth (Bhavapaccaya jati).
11. Through birth are conditioned (12) decay, death, lamentation, pain, etc. (Jatipaccaya jaramaranam..)
This is how life arises, exists and continues.
It should be clearly remembered that each of these factors is conditioned (paticcasamuppanna) as well as conditioning (paticca samuppada). Therefore they are all relative, interdependent and interconnected, and nothing is absolute or independent; hence no first cause is accepted by Buddhism. Conditioned Genesis should be considered as a circle, and not as a chain. (p54)
The Dhammapada
Words of Truth - Selections from the Dhammapada
Not to do any evil, to cultivate the good, to purify one’s mind, this is the Teaching of the Buddhas.
To speak no ill will, to do no harm, to practice self-restraint according to the fundamental precepts, to be moderate in eating, to live in seclusion, to devote oneself to higher consciousness, this is the Teaching of the Buddhas.
Fools, men of little intelligence, give themselves over to negligence, but the wise man protects his diligence as a supreme treasure.
Give not yourselves unto negligence; have no intimacy with sense-pleasures. The man who meditates with diligence attains much happiness.
By endeavour, diligence, discipline and self-mastery, let the wise man make (of himself) an island that no flood can overwhelm.
All (mental) states have mind as their forerunner, mind is their chief, and they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with a defiled mind, then suffering follows ..
All (mental) states have mind as their forerunner, mind is their chief, and they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts, with a pure mind, happiness follows one as one’s shadow that does not leave one.
‘He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me’: the hatred of those who harbour such thoughts is not appeased.
Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world; it is appeased by love. This is an eternal Law.
This fickle, unsteady mind; difficult to guard, difficult to control, the wise man makes straight, as the fletcher the arrow.
Hard to restrain, unstable is this mind; it flits wherever it lists. Good is it to control the mind. A controlled mind brings happiness.
He whose mind is unsteady, he who knows not the Good Teaching, he whose confidence wavers, the wisdom of such a person does not attain fullness.
Whatever harm a foe may do to a foe, or a hater to another hater, a wrongly-directed mind may do one harm far exceeding these.
Neither mother, nor father, nor any other relative, can do a man such good as is wrought by a rightly-directed mind.
That deed is not well done, which one regrets when it is done and the result of which one experiences weeping with a tearful face.
Make haste in doing good; restrain your mind from evil.
Whosoever offends an innocent person, pure and guiltless, his evil comes back on that fool like a fine dust thrown against the wind.
The man of little learning (ignorant) grows like a bull; his flesh grows but not his wisdom.
If a man practices himself what he admonishes others to do, he himself, being well-controlled, will have control over others. It is difficult, indeed, to control oneself.
Oneself is one’s own protector (refuge); what other protector (refuge) can there be? With oneself fully controlled, one obtains a protection (refuge) which is hard to gain.
Do not follow mean things. Do not dwell in negligence. Do not embrace false views.
Come, behold this world, how it resembles an ornamental royal chariot, in which fools flounder, but for the wise there is no attachment to it.
Happy indeed we live without hate amongst the hateful. We live free from hatred amidst hateful men.
From lust arises grief; from lust arises fear. For him who is free from lust there is no grief, much less fear.
He who holds back arisen anger as one checks a whirling chariot, him I call a charioteer; other folk only hold the reins.
Conquer anger by love, evil by good, conquer the miser with liberality, and the liar with truth.
Be on your guard against verbal agitation; be controlled in words. Forsaking wrong speech, follow right ways in words.
Be on your guard against mental agitation; be controlled in thoughts. Foresaking evil thoughts, follow right ways in thoughts.
The wise are controlled in deed, controlled in thoughts, verily, they are fully controlled.
As rust, arisen out of iron, eats itself away, even so his own deeds lead the transgressor to the states of woe.
Know this, O good man, that evil things are uncontrollable. Let not greed and wickedness drag you to suffering for a long time.
There is no fire like lust. There is no grip like hate. There is no net like delusion. There is no river like craving.
The fault of others is easily seen; but ones own is hard to see. Like chaff one winnows other’s faults, but one’s own one conceals as a crafty fowler disguises himself.
Not by silence does one become a sage (muni) if one be foolish and untaught. But the wise man who, as if holding a pair of scales, takes what is good and leaves out what is evil, is indeed a sage.
You yourselves should make the effort; the Awakened Ones are only teachers. Those who enter this Path and who are meditative, are delivered from the bounds of Mara (Evil).
‘All conditioned things are impermanent’, when one sees this in wisdom, then one becomes dispassionate towards the painful. This is the Path to Purity.
Who strives not when he should strive, who, though young and strong, is given to idleness, who is loose in his purpose and thoughts, and who is lazy- that idler never finds the way to wisdom.
Watchful of speech, well restrained in mind, let him do no evil with the body; let him purify these three ways of action, and attain the Path made known by the Sages.
The craving of the man addicted to careless living grows like a Maluva creeper. He jumps hither and thither, like a monkey in the forest looking for fruit.
Whosoever in this world is overcome by this wretched clinging thirst, his sorrow grows.
One should not despise what one receives, and one should not envy (the gain of) others. Those who envy others do not attain concentration.
The sun glows by day; the moon shines by night; in his armor the warrior glows. In meditation shines the Brahman. But all day and night, shines with radiance the Awakened One.
On Ethics / The Middle Way / The Eightfold Path and The Four Noble Truths
In the Benares Sermon the Buddha's teaching begins with the enunciation of the Four Noble Truths.
These truths are: that suffering is everywhere (known as the truth of dukkha), that misplaced desire (attachment) is the cause of suffering; that its cure lies in removal of the cause (the Possibility of Liberation from Difficulties exists for everyone); and that the cause may be removed by following the Noble Eightfold Path.
Buddhism recognizes that humans have a measure of freedom of moral choice, and Buddhist practice has essentially to do with acquiring the freedom to choose as one ought to choose with truth: that is of acquiring a freedom from the passions and desires that impel us to distraction and poor decisions. In this end, the Buddhist dharma enjoins:
..to tread the Noble Eightfold Path, the course of conduct that can end suffering. The path requires one to live a life based on a right view, right thought, right speech, right conduct, right vocation, right effort, right attention and right concentration. The details of Buddhist practice are to be derived from this framework and worked out by reference to the principle of seeking the Middle Way in all things. In following the Middle Way, extremes are repudiated since they constitute the kind of ties and attachments that impede progress towards release.
It is the nature of life that all beings will face difficulties; through enlightened truthful living one can transcend these difficulties, ultimately becoming fulfilled, liberated and free. (Collinson, Fifty Eastern Thinkers, 2000)
The Noble Eight-Fold Path is the path of living in awareness. Mindfulness is the foundation. By practicing mindfulness, you can develop concentration, which enables you to attain understanding. Thanks to right concentration, you realize right awareness, thoughts, speech, action, livelihood and effort. The understanding which develops can liberate you from every shackle of suffering and give birth to true peace and joy. (Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds)
What the individual can do is to give a fine example, and to have the courage to uphold ethical values .. in a society of cynics. (Albert Einstein, letter to Max Born)
Buddhism as Practical Philosophy
On Yoga and the Interconnection of Body Mind and Universe
All our philosophy is dry as dust if it is not immediately translated into some act of living service. (Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi)
Everything he advocated he did: he believed firmly that the best recommendation for a philosophy or a religion is not a book, but the life it inspires. (Collinson on Gandhi, Fifty Eastern Thinkers, 2000)
This truth is to be lived, it is not merely pronounced with the mouth ..(Hui Neng)
They have a practical aspect that is readily absorbed into daily life. At the same time they deal with certain large questions that have always fascinated humankind: questions concerning the soul, the self, free will, death, God, reality and the meaning of life. Buddhism is sensitively agnostic concerning these ultimate questions and so allows for the human sense of mystery and transcendence and the propensity to speculate and reason that are part of human consciousness in general. (Collinson, Fifty Eastern Thinkers, 2000)
Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is. (Bhagavad-Gita)
The body and mind both exist as the Relative Motions of Wave-Centers of all matter in the Universes and are intimately interconnected. Yoga, as a practical philosophy, recognises the importance of harmony of body, mind and universe as being an interconnected whole / One. Yoga means 'union' as Fritjof Capra writes; .. the idea of the individual being linked to the cosmos is expressed in the Latin root of the word religion, religare (to bind strongly), as well as the Sanskrit yoga, which means union. (Fritjof Capra)
The Wave Structure of Matter should greatly aid in the practice of yoga as it explains how humans are structures of the universe, an inseparable part of the whole / One.
An improvement in posture and breathing is not the sole nor even the primary aim of yoga. Instead, it is either a therapeutic method of freeing the mind from false beliefs, or the insight into ultimate reality, the dharmas, achievable by this method. Yoga is an intrinsic and integrated system consisting of metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, the theory of knowledge, ethics and the philosophy of language. (Patanjali)
Health is a balanced state of bodily elements and of all anatomical and physiological systems, where each part of the body functions at full potential. (Iyengar)
All impressions and reactions are known as 'mental fluctuations' or 'thought-waves', and yoga is the control of thought-waves in the mind. (Patanjali)
Yoga aids many problems currently existing in modern society. At a physical level, it gives relief from countless ailments. The practice of the postures strengthens the body and creates a feeling of well-being. From the psychological viewpoint, Yoga sharpens the intellect and aids concentration. It steadies the emotions and encourages a caring concern for others. Above all, it gives hope. The practice of breathing techniques calms the mind. Its philosophy sets life in perspective. In the realm of the spiritual, Yoga brings awareness and the ability to be still. Through meditation, inner peace is experienced .Thus Yoga is a practical philosophy involving every aspect of a person's being. It teaches the evolution of the individual by the development of self-discipline and self-awareness. (Iyengar)
Quotes from Walpola Rahula, 'What the Buddha Taught'
On the Buddhist Attitude of Mind
One is one’s own refuge, who else could be the refuge? said the Buddha. (Dhp. XII 4.)
Buddha taught, encouraged and stimulated each person to develop themselves and work out their own emancipation, for humans have the power to liberate themselves from all bondage through their own personal effort and intelligence.
The Buddha says, You should do the work, for the Tathagatas only teach the way. (Dhp. XX 4.)
(Tathagata means ‘One who has come to Truth’. This is the term usually used by the Buddha referring to himself and to the Buddhas in general.)
Almost all religions are based on faith- rather ‘blind’ faith it would seem. But in Buddhism emphasis is laid on ‘seeing’, knowing, understanding, and not on faith, or belief. (p8)
The question of belief arises when there is no seeing - seeing in every sense of the word. The moment you see, the question of belief disappears. If I tell you that I have a gem hidden in the folded palm of my hand, the question of belief arises because you do not see it yourself. But if I unclench my fist and show you the gem, then you see it for yourself, and the question of belief does not arise. So the phrase in ancient Buddhist texts reads: ‘Realising, as one sees a gem (or a myrobalan fruit) in the palm’. (p8-9)
It is always a ques
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