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#Post#: 7649--------------------------------------------------
Re: Emma's Philosophy Corner
DIR By: Emma
Date: January 19, 2014, 6:47 pm
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Is it any wonder that all human problems lie in Ignorance? Root
of all evil and primary cause of all human sufferings.
#Post#: 7650--------------------------------------------------
Re: Emma's Philosophy Corner
DIR By: Emma
Date: January 19, 2014, 6:50 pm
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Causes Of Suffering
All the great Teachers of Ancient Wisdom have taught the reason
for suffering. Jesus taught that suffering was caused by
separating from the love of God, disconnecting through negative
thoughts, actions, and emotions that take us away from God.
Essentially, Jesus taught that falling away from our real
nature, our true being, causes us to suffer. In order to connect
again with our real nature, we have to love God first and love
all of our brothers and sisters without exception. Jesus further
elaborated the way to get back into oneness with God through the
simple teachings of the Beatitudes. For example, “Blessed are
the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”
Buddha taught that desire causes suffering. When we do not have
what we want, we long for it and this causes a burning in our
being until it is satisfied. If we withdraw our attention from
the object of our desire or craving, then we cease to suffer.
Buddha taught this to his disciples 500 years before Jesus came.
An ancient teaching that comes from Vedanta in India describes
five causes of suffering called the Five Kleshas. The first
cause of suffering is not knowing the true nature of Reality.
The second cause of suffering is grasping or holding onto what
is illusory or insubstantial. The third cause of suffering is
from an aversion to something, a fear of something, a revulsion
to something that is insubstantial. The fourth is identification
with the false self or ego and thus we are constricted and
limited in our consciousness. The fifth cause of suffering is
the fear of death. As you can figure out, all of these causes of
suffering are contained in the first one which does not know the
true nature of reality. Not knowing the true nature of reality
is thinking and seeing things in ways that distort reality.
The teaching boils down to this: if you look outside yourself
for what will fulfill you or make you happy, you are very likely
to be disappointed. If you desire something outside yourself,
you are suffering from a misconception about reality. All
goodness and love is inside you at the core of your being where
God resides. If you travel within and focus completely inside in
the center of your being, you will find the love, peace and
fulfillment you have been looking for. Anything outside is
transitory and shallow compared with what is within. It takes
courage to make the journey to the center of your being as you
have to let go of the illusion of separateness or emptiness. You
will stop suffering as you enter into that relationship with God
and let go of the idea that you are vacuously empty. When you
discover God within, all craving ceases along with any fear,
revulsion, prejudice or anger. You are in peace because you lack
nothing as you openly enter into the embrace of oneness with God
within.
#Post#: 7655--------------------------------------------------
Re: Emma's Philosophy Corner
DIR By: Emma
Date: January 19, 2014, 7:06 pm
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The Great Philosopher Buddha and His Path to Enlightenment
INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHISM
As a child, Siddhartha the Buddha, was troubled by some of the
same thoughts that children today have. They wonder about birth
and death. They wonder why they get sick and why grandfather
died. They wonder why their wishes do not come true. Children
also wonder about happiness and the beauty in nature.
Because the Buddha knew what was in the hearts of children and
human kind, he taught everyone how to live a happy and peaceful
life. Buddhism is not learning about strange beliefs from
faraway lands. It is about looking at and thinking about our own
lives. It shows us how to understand ourselves and how to cope
with our daily problems.
THE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA
Life in the Palace
Buddhism is one of the major religions in the world. It began
around 2,500 years ago in India when Siddhartha Gautama
discovered how to bring happiness into the world. He was born
around 566 BC, in the small kingdom of Kapilavastu. His father
was King Suddhodana and his mother was Queen Maya.
Soon after Prince Siddhartha was born, the wise men predicted
that he would become a Buddha. When the king heard this, he was
deeply disturbed, for he wanted his son to become a mighty
ruler. He told Queen Maya, "I will make life in the palace so
pleasant that our son will never want to leave."
At the age of sixteen, Prince Siddhartha married a beautiful
princess, Yasodhara. The king built them three palaces, one for
each season, and lavished them with luxuries. They passed their
days in enjoyment and never thought about life outside the
palace.
The Four Sights
Soon Siddhartha became disillusioned with the palace life and
wanted to see the outside world. He made four trips outside the
palace and saw four things that changed his life. On the first
three trips, he saw sickness, old age and death. He asked
himself, "How can I enjoy a life of pleasure when there is so
much suffering in the world?"
On his fourth trip, he saw a wandering monk who had given up
everything he owned to seek an end to suffering. "I shall be
like him." Siddhartha thought.
Renunciation
Leaving his kingdom and loved ones behind, Siddhartha became a
wandering monk. He cut off his hair to show that he had
renounced the worldly lifestyle and called himself Gautama. He
wore ragged robes and wandered from place to place. In his
search for truth, he studied with the wisest teachers of his
day. None of them knew how to end suffering, so he continued the
search on his own.
For six years he practiced severe asceticism thinking this would
lead him to enlightenment. He sat in meditation and ate only
roots, leaves and fruit. At times he ate nothing. He could
endure more hardships than anyone else, but this did not take
him anywhere. He thought, "Neither my life of luxury in the
palace nor my life as an ascetic in the forest is the way to
freedom. Overdoing things can not lead to happiness. " He began
to eat nourishing food again and regained his strength.
Enlightenment
On a full-moon day in May, he sat under the Bodhi tree in deep
meditation and said. "I will not leave this spot until I find an
end to suffering." During the night, he was visited by Mara, the
evil one, who tried to tempt him away from his virtuous path.
First he sent his beautiful daughters to lure Gautama into
pleasure. Next he sent bolts of lightning, wind and heavy rain.
Last he sent his demonic armies with weapons and flaming rocks.
One by one, Gautama met the armies and defeated them with his
virtue.
As the struggle ended, he realized the cause of suffering and
how to remove it. He had gained the most supreme wisdom and
understood things as they truly are. He became the Buddha, 'The
Awakened One'. From then on, he was called Shakyamuni Buddha.
The Buddha Teaches
After his enlightenment, he went to the Deer Park near the holy
city of Benares and shared his new understanding with five holy
men. They understood immediately and became his disciples. This
marked the beginning of the Buddhist community.
For the next forty-five years, the Buddha and his disciples went
from place to place in India spreading the Dharma, his
teachings. Their compassion knew no bounds, they helped everyone
along the way, beggars, kings and slave girls. At night, they
would sleep where they were; when hungry they would ask for a
little food.
Whenever the Buddha went, he won the hearts of the people
because he dealt with their true feelings. He advised them not
to accept his words on blind faith, but to decide for themselves
whether his teachings are right or wrong, then follow them. He
encouraged everyone to have compassion for each other and
develop their own virtue, "You should do your own work, for I
can teach only the way."
He never became angry or impatient or spoke harshly to anyone,
not even to those who opposed him. He always taught in such a
way that everyone could understand. Each person thought the
Buddha was speaking especially for him. The Buddha told his
followers to help each other on the Way. Following is a story of
the Buddha living as an example to his disciples.
Once the Buddha and Ananda visited a monastery where a monk was
suffering from a contagious disease. The poor man lay in a mess
with no one looking after him. The Buddha himself washed the
sick monk and placed him on a new bed. Afterwards, he admonished
the other monks. "Monks, you have neither mother nor father to
look after you. If you do not look after each other, who will
look after you? Whoever serves the sick and suffering, serves
me."
The Last Years
Shakyamuni Buddha passed away around 486 BC at the age of
eighty. Although he has left the world, the spirit of his
kindness and compassion remains.
The Buddha realized that that he was not the first to become a
Buddha. "There have been many Buddhas before me and will be many
Buddhas in the future," The Buddha recalled to his disciples.
"All living beings have the Buddha nature and can become
Buddhas." For this reason, he taught the way to Buddhahood.
The two main goals of Buddhism are getting to know ourselves and
learning the Buddha's teachings. To know who we are, we need to
understand that we have two natures. One is called our ordinary
nature, which is made up of unpleasant feelings such as fear,
anger, and jealousy. The other is our true nature, the part of
us that is pure, wise, and perfect. In Buddhism, it is called
the Buddha nature. The only difference between us and the Buddha
is that we have not awakened to our true nature.
#Post#: 7947--------------------------------------------------
Re: Emma's Philosophy Corner
DIR By: Clay Death
Date: January 21, 2014, 8:54 pm
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wow emma. that is pretty heavy stuff. keep it coming.
I will have to think about some of this.
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
#Post#: 8678--------------------------------------------------
Re: Emma's Philosophy Corner
DIR By: Emma
Date: February 1, 2014, 2:27 pm
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From one of the greatest teachers out there...Perception and
Reality.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FgGZ1xBAQw
#Post#: 9179--------------------------------------------------
Re: Your Favourite Documentary
DIR By: Emma
Date: February 8, 2014, 6:00 pm
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Lovely documentary on Einstein.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcXxHZssCh4
#Post#: 10615--------------------------------------------------
Re: Your Favourite Documentary
DIR By: Emma
Date: February 24, 2014, 6:42 pm
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One of my favourite documentaries on poet Sufi Rumi.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H5UxOANuR8
#Post#: 11528--------------------------------------------------
Re: Emma's Philosophy Corner
DIR By: Emma
Date: March 5, 2014, 6:32 pm
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Know The Ego
Here are some of the characteristics of the Sense of Separate
Self (Ego):
1. It is looking for problems, issues, mistakes, misconducts,
and flaws for identification.
2. It does not accept what is. There is a shortcoming, or
something wrong, not enough and unpleasant at this moment. It
wants to escape it as much as it can by going to the past and
searching for mistakes, harping on them while feeling regretful
and judgmental. Or it may go to an unknown fantasy of the future
to have a better life and fix those pains and issues of the
past. In this path, the mind will learn to value the
ordinariness of the presence. It will honor and respect the
simplicity of the presence.
3. The promise of the future never shows up for the Ego, because
we are always in the “here-and-now.” There is always now; no
other time exists. In this path, one would realize that now is
all there is.
4. The Mind likes separation. Mind is in the duality vision. It
sees itself as a separate entity, apart from the rest of the
world. This separation will cause a great source of pain and
suffering.
5. The Mind wants to compete. It wants to beat others in
everything to feel better. It is a temporary satisfaction being
bigger, better and wealthier than others; however, deep down,
since separation is not our nature, the mind will become
isolated and sad.
6. The Mind is into the “what ifs.” What if I lose my job? What
if my parents die? And so on.
7. Waiting is the characteristic of the Mind. Waiting for a
better job, or a vacation, or better future. True life is here
and now.
8. Where is the enemy? The Mind is looking for “the enemy”
everyday. Who is my new enemy today? This is, once again, due to
the illusion of separation.
9. The Mind is looking to prove others wrong in order to feel
bigger and better, even for temporary gratification.
10. The Mind is looking for approval from others. When people
approve the Mind, it is becomes inflated and happy. When people
criticize the Mind, it will shrink and become unhappy. Its
happiness depends upon others.
11. The Mind needs this consciousness to survive; however,
consciousness does not need the mind to survive. We are beyond
the mind.
12. We are beyond our emotions. Once the Truth is realized, all
emotions are more than welcome. As long as you know who you are,
there will be no identification to these feelings and emotions.
They will come and go. There will be no identification, since
there will be no individuality...
13. The mind likes to go back to the past and make stories from
the past. These stories could be very sad and some of them big
tragedies. The stories are there; however, one need to
investigate, although the story is there as an event, is there a
separate entity as "I" exist which is claiming these events? One
needs to go within and check it out. This false self, would like
to claim them for identity. We are not our history.
14. Being the awareness will teach us that our identification is
this pure, silent watcher who is a witness that acts
spontaneously when it is needed here and now. No previous
knowledge is needed.
15. The Mind is into "becoming" and "searching” in order to
become successful in this world. This includes spiritual
success. After all, when worldly success is gained, it then goes
after the spiritual success. The Mind wants to become loving,
caring, silent, non-judgmental and to love unconditionally. The
Mind is trying to become God.
As long as there is a sense of separate self, it is not possible
for the mind to be non-judgmental. As long as the mind is
diluted by appearances, it sees itself apart from the rest of
the world and it will judge against the rest of the world.
With all of these aspects it is striving to achieve, the mind
becomes exhausted and frustrated. This is because these are not
the jobs of the mind. To be the Truth for the mind is
impossible. Once the Truth is realized, the mind will be free
from becoming. At this time, the search is over. The mind will
be at rest; it will be liberated.
Meditation will point to our True nature. Our True nature is
eternal. It will never come, never go. Once the Truth is
realized, any thought or emotion is more than welcome. The
thought or emotion will be there; however, there is no sense of
"me" to identify with that thought or emotion as "my thought” or
“my emotion.”
Remember, pleasure or pain are created by the mind. Our true
essence is Joy. We forget our True Self (Silent watcher,
awareness) and imagine the physical body or the mind to be the
Self. This is a false identity that gives rise to misery.
Reality (awareness) lies beyond our mind.
#Post#: 11549--------------------------------------------------
Re: Emma's Philosophy Corner
DIR By: Emma
Date: March 6, 2014, 7:19 am
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I am nothing and yet, I am all there is. I am a paradox. I am
God.
#Post#: 11563--------------------------------------------------
Re: Emma's Philosophy Corner
DIR By: Emma
Date: March 6, 2014, 1:16 pm
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I am here; I am alive; and I am aware.
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