Hi Everybody,
I'm just about to fly off to sun and sand and sea and other good stuff in Antibes, so I thought I'd squeeze in another episode before I go. We're in the middle of the explanation of this central Buddhist analysis that is called the ten worlds, and we've landed on Anger. It's a life state we all readily recognise of course, which you could say powerfully underlines both the validity and the value of this analysis; it's real, and practical and can genuinely help us navigate our emotional state. Anger is a state that is dominated not simply by all the external ugly manifestations of shouting and threatening and the storms of temper, but by the constant overwhelming demands of one's own ego. At its heart is the sense of superiority over others, with all the gross distortions of perspective that brings with it. So there will be the sudden outbursts of blazing anger that may seem to blow up from nowhere, often surprising the owner of the anger as much as the hapless victim. But there will also be lots of other destructive behaviour, such as rampant intolerance and cynicism and sarcasm, lack of gratitude, and constant criticism of others.
It goes without saying that anger of this sort can be immensely destructive of personal relationships. At the wider level of society anger in this sense of superiority of self, clearly lies at the root of a whole range of widespread injustices from racism and religious intolerance, to the oppression of women and minority groups. So sitting in anger state is a very destructive place to be. No one wants to be there.
But once again, there is a positive side to anger because it is also a great achiever. It can be a powerful, highly energised driver towards change, in the fight against apathy for example, or situations that threaten the dignity of the individual.
The key to overcoming the destructive aspect of anger has to come from self-awareness. It can't just be switched off or re-directed from outside. Each of us has to take up a personal struggle to master our anger. It's entirely our responsibility.
So that's Anger state. Next time we're on to the state which Buddhism labels as Humanity, when we are kind of at peace with our lot. Hope to see you then.
Best wishes,
William
Just to remind you the book is available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle as a download. it's doing well. Lots of generous things are being said about. The one I like most is that it not only helps with an understanding of Buddhism , but it helps people to live it on a daily basis. That's huge praise, for which I am immensely grateful.
Thursday 27 August 2015
Tuesday 25 August 2015
my buddhist blog number 100
Hi Everybody,
We're in the middle of the chgapter on the ten worlds.We've looked at Hell and Hunger and we move on now to the third of what are known as the lower life states, which is called Animality. As the name suggests, it defines a state of mind in which we are driven prety much by instinct, with little or no moderation from reason or moral considerations. So this is a state in which the strong or those with special knowledge have no qualms about taking advantage of those who are weak or unaware, in order to satisfy their own ends, regardless of the rights or the morality of the situation, or the pain caused.
These days we might think of the widespread occurrence of mindles hooliganism and reckless anti-social behaviour in which the perpetrators take no account of the suffering or the anxiety inflicted on the people around them. We could argue perhaps that we are being a bit hard on the animals when we define this semi-psychopathic behaviour by referecne to them! But the key point is clear enough, fundamental to this life state is an absence of empathy and humanity. It is also characterised by an absence of wisdom or judgement. So that in this state we simply don't care whetehr our behaviour is appropriate or not, we just go ahead and do whatever we want, regardless of other people's feelings or needs. Similarly we pay scant attention to things like rules or regulations that are designed to keep things running smoothly in our crowded urban environments.
So altogether people in this life state are pretty unpleasant to be with, and can cause a great deal of inconvenience at one end of the scale, and real suffering at the other.
These three life states, Hell, Hunger and Animality are known in Buddhism as the three evil paths, not so much because they are associated with evil in the conventional sense, but because they are undoubtedly the root cause of a great deal of suffering. Indeed they can completely tear lives apartor render them unbearable. People who spend much of their lives in these life states tend to rotate through them in quick succession, one after the other, driven by hunger for one thing or another, not really aware of, or caring about, the effects on other people, creating a great deal of pain and suffering and anguish in their own lives and the lives of others.
In that sense they are desperate life states, and one of the great virtues that stems from a knowledge of these ten worlds, is that it can act like a clarion call. It can make you starkly aware of the reality of your situation, and thus act as a powerful stimulus to lift yourself out of it. Who would want to continue to dwell in Hell, Hunger or Animality, once they realise where they are?
That's it for today. Thank you for reading up to this point.
Look forward to seeing you next time. Hope before long that we'll get these chapters out on The Buddhist Podcast, when Jason can find the time. I have recorded the whole book for him.
Best wishes,
William
PS You can get The Case for Buddhism on Amazon as a paperback, or as a download on Kindle.
We're in the middle of the chgapter on the ten worlds.We've looked at Hell and Hunger and we move on now to the third of what are known as the lower life states, which is called Animality. As the name suggests, it defines a state of mind in which we are driven prety much by instinct, with little or no moderation from reason or moral considerations. So this is a state in which the strong or those with special knowledge have no qualms about taking advantage of those who are weak or unaware, in order to satisfy their own ends, regardless of the rights or the morality of the situation, or the pain caused.
These days we might think of the widespread occurrence of mindles hooliganism and reckless anti-social behaviour in which the perpetrators take no account of the suffering or the anxiety inflicted on the people around them. We could argue perhaps that we are being a bit hard on the animals when we define this semi-psychopathic behaviour by referecne to them! But the key point is clear enough, fundamental to this life state is an absence of empathy and humanity. It is also characterised by an absence of wisdom or judgement. So that in this state we simply don't care whetehr our behaviour is appropriate or not, we just go ahead and do whatever we want, regardless of other people's feelings or needs. Similarly we pay scant attention to things like rules or regulations that are designed to keep things running smoothly in our crowded urban environments.
So altogether people in this life state are pretty unpleasant to be with, and can cause a great deal of inconvenience at one end of the scale, and real suffering at the other.
These three life states, Hell, Hunger and Animality are known in Buddhism as the three evil paths, not so much because they are associated with evil in the conventional sense, but because they are undoubtedly the root cause of a great deal of suffering. Indeed they can completely tear lives apartor render them unbearable. People who spend much of their lives in these life states tend to rotate through them in quick succession, one after the other, driven by hunger for one thing or another, not really aware of, or caring about, the effects on other people, creating a great deal of pain and suffering and anguish in their own lives and the lives of others.
In that sense they are desperate life states, and one of the great virtues that stems from a knowledge of these ten worlds, is that it can act like a clarion call. It can make you starkly aware of the reality of your situation, and thus act as a powerful stimulus to lift yourself out of it. Who would want to continue to dwell in Hell, Hunger or Animality, once they realise where they are?
That's it for today. Thank you for reading up to this point.
Look forward to seeing you next time. Hope before long that we'll get these chapters out on The Buddhist Podcast, when Jason can find the time. I have recorded the whole book for him.
Best wishes,
William
PS You can get The Case for Buddhism on Amazon as a paperback, or as a download on Kindle.
Saturday 22 August 2015
my buddhist blog number 99
Hi Everybody,
I have to say when I type that 99 it seems like a very big number to me. I can't remember quite when I wrote number 1, but it's been about as long a journey as it was to write the book. It took a year. When you start out you are never quite sure where it is going to take you, and for how long. I'd done a lot of research but even so the eventual journey was very different from the one I'd envisaged. The human brain is simply amazing. That's what the new book is about. Well mainly. That's how it started out, the extraordinary evolution of the human brain, that we first acquired on the East African savanna's about 70,000 years ago, and that we now take on the District Line every morning to go to work. Same brain. Different world. But that's altogether another story. Where are we? Well we're just launching out on the brilliant, literally brilliant Buddhist analysis of the 10 worlds. We're spinning through the thumb nail portraits that Buddhism provides for us so that we can easily recognise where we are from moment to moment. And we've looked at Hell. Next up is Hunger.
' We've already touched upon Hunger briefly when we were looking at the desire for wealth which is so ubiquitous in the modern human character, but just to paint it ina bit more detail, hunger is essentially a state of constant dissatisfaction with where our life is now, because our wants and our desires have got out of control, and it's the out of control but that's the problem. Desires are of course fundamental to our human nature, and essential to life in many ways. They motivate us for example towards satisfying our basic needs for food and warmth and love and friendship, and move us on to satisfy the need for recognistion and reward and pleasure. Once again as you would expect, there are many gradations of this life state, from a more or less constant low-level itch to have some new thing or experience, all the way up to the stage where the hunger in a sense has become an end in itself, so that it can never be satisfied. We end up chasing one desire after another, and yet experiencing no real sense of fulfilment or satisfaction. As soon as the desire has been achieved, the compelling hunger seeks out another object to be possessed. a more common term for it I suppose might be good old fashioned greed. Since what ever we get is not enough, we end up trapped in a world of frustrated yearning for more stuff, another kind of hell. We are in the grip of a genuine addiction, and like most addictions, it is the source of a great deal of suffering, not just for ourselves, but for all those around us.
What about the positive dimension of hunger? It lies in the fact that there is often a huge amount of drive and energy locked up in the hunger state. If that energy can be re-directed or re-channelled away from satisfying our own selfish needs, towards meeting the needs of others who may be severely deprived in various ways, then such hunger can move mountains and achieve great good.'
That's it for today. Be back next week with a look at Animality, the third of the four lower worlds.
See you then.
Best wishes,
william
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle as a download.
I have to say when I type that 99 it seems like a very big number to me. I can't remember quite when I wrote number 1, but it's been about as long a journey as it was to write the book. It took a year. When you start out you are never quite sure where it is going to take you, and for how long. I'd done a lot of research but even so the eventual journey was very different from the one I'd envisaged. The human brain is simply amazing. That's what the new book is about. Well mainly. That's how it started out, the extraordinary evolution of the human brain, that we first acquired on the East African savanna's about 70,000 years ago, and that we now take on the District Line every morning to go to work. Same brain. Different world. But that's altogether another story. Where are we? Well we're just launching out on the brilliant, literally brilliant Buddhist analysis of the 10 worlds. We're spinning through the thumb nail portraits that Buddhism provides for us so that we can easily recognise where we are from moment to moment. And we've looked at Hell. Next up is Hunger.
' We've already touched upon Hunger briefly when we were looking at the desire for wealth which is so ubiquitous in the modern human character, but just to paint it ina bit more detail, hunger is essentially a state of constant dissatisfaction with where our life is now, because our wants and our desires have got out of control, and it's the out of control but that's the problem. Desires are of course fundamental to our human nature, and essential to life in many ways. They motivate us for example towards satisfying our basic needs for food and warmth and love and friendship, and move us on to satisfy the need for recognistion and reward and pleasure. Once again as you would expect, there are many gradations of this life state, from a more or less constant low-level itch to have some new thing or experience, all the way up to the stage where the hunger in a sense has become an end in itself, so that it can never be satisfied. We end up chasing one desire after another, and yet experiencing no real sense of fulfilment or satisfaction. As soon as the desire has been achieved, the compelling hunger seeks out another object to be possessed. a more common term for it I suppose might be good old fashioned greed. Since what ever we get is not enough, we end up trapped in a world of frustrated yearning for more stuff, another kind of hell. We are in the grip of a genuine addiction, and like most addictions, it is the source of a great deal of suffering, not just for ourselves, but for all those around us.
What about the positive dimension of hunger? It lies in the fact that there is often a huge amount of drive and energy locked up in the hunger state. If that energy can be re-directed or re-channelled away from satisfying our own selfish needs, towards meeting the needs of others who may be severely deprived in various ways, then such hunger can move mountains and achieve great good.'
That's it for today. Be back next week with a look at Animality, the third of the four lower worlds.
See you then.
Best wishes,
william
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle as a download.
Wednesday 12 August 2015
my buddhist blog number 98
Hi Everybody,
We pick up exactly where we left off a couple of days ago; we're talking about the fundamental Buddhist principle of the Ten Worlds. We've covered the initial question of why 10? We move on to another key point, not a ladder!
' Another important point to emphasise is that these ten states are not in any way represented as a sort of subjective or emotional ladder, on which we might move up or down in any progressive way, one rung at a time. Not at all. These ten life states represent rather the entire universe of our mind, and we can move from any part of that universe to any other part in a trice, depending on what is taken place within our minds and what is happening around us from moment to moment.
There is however a basic problem in putting this idea across. The movement of our mind is so dazzlingly swift, and words by comparison are so slow and cumbersome, that any attempt to describe these kaleidoscopic changes in our subjective or emotional life, in the slower medium of words inevitably appears somewhat laboured and unreal. It feels, and no doubt reads, a bit like walking in wet concrete, everything is slowed down and slightly caricatured. But don't let that put you off, the Ten Worlds are real in our life, and it really helps to know more about them.
OK, let's paint brief portraits of all ten life states, so that we can recognise them for what they are.
Hell
Hell as its name indicates, is a state of the deepest suffering or depression, often characterised by a feeling of helplessness. We feel we can't escape the pain we're in, we just have to endure it. That having been said there many gradations of course, from the somewhat auperficial hell of having really bad day at the office, when everything and everyone seems to be against you, and just nothing goes right, to the despair and panic of being made redundant and not knowing where you are going to find another job to pay the bills. The distinctive colour of Hell state is grey, we feel grey within and the world seems grey without.
And then there is the ultimate hell of the deep deep grief at the loss of a child or a partner, when you cannot believe that the darkness will ever lift, and you don't know how you can carry on.
We all immediately recognise this state as being real. There's nothing in the least theoretical about it, it's a real part of our lives. The examples of course are as many and as varied as there are people to experience them. And when we have been cast inot hell state, the memory of it may remain sharp and clear with us for a very long time, sometimes forever.
Buddhism tells us that all these life states have both a positive and a negative dimension, but can there possibly be a positive dimension to Hell? Buddhism argues that there is, that the deep suffering can be the greatest possible stimulus to action. It is so painful that we feel compelled to summon up from somewhere the life force to enable us to climb out of the hole that our life has fallen into. Hell is also a great teacher, in the sense that having been there ourselves, we are immensely more capable of understanding and feeling compassion for others who are in hell state now, and therefore finding the best way to support them. '
We move on over the next few episodes to examine all ten life states in the same way.
Hope to see you next time.
Best wishes,
William
The Case for Buddhism is available in paperback from Amazon and as a download from Kindle.
We pick up exactly where we left off a couple of days ago; we're talking about the fundamental Buddhist principle of the Ten Worlds. We've covered the initial question of why 10? We move on to another key point, not a ladder!
' Another important point to emphasise is that these ten states are not in any way represented as a sort of subjective or emotional ladder, on which we might move up or down in any progressive way, one rung at a time. Not at all. These ten life states represent rather the entire universe of our mind, and we can move from any part of that universe to any other part in a trice, depending on what is taken place within our minds and what is happening around us from moment to moment.
There is however a basic problem in putting this idea across. The movement of our mind is so dazzlingly swift, and words by comparison are so slow and cumbersome, that any attempt to describe these kaleidoscopic changes in our subjective or emotional life, in the slower medium of words inevitably appears somewhat laboured and unreal. It feels, and no doubt reads, a bit like walking in wet concrete, everything is slowed down and slightly caricatured. But don't let that put you off, the Ten Worlds are real in our life, and it really helps to know more about them.
OK, let's paint brief portraits of all ten life states, so that we can recognise them for what they are.
Hell
Hell as its name indicates, is a state of the deepest suffering or depression, often characterised by a feeling of helplessness. We feel we can't escape the pain we're in, we just have to endure it. That having been said there many gradations of course, from the somewhat auperficial hell of having really bad day at the office, when everything and everyone seems to be against you, and just nothing goes right, to the despair and panic of being made redundant and not knowing where you are going to find another job to pay the bills. The distinctive colour of Hell state is grey, we feel grey within and the world seems grey without.
And then there is the ultimate hell of the deep deep grief at the loss of a child or a partner, when you cannot believe that the darkness will ever lift, and you don't know how you can carry on.
We all immediately recognise this state as being real. There's nothing in the least theoretical about it, it's a real part of our lives. The examples of course are as many and as varied as there are people to experience them. And when we have been cast inot hell state, the memory of it may remain sharp and clear with us for a very long time, sometimes forever.
Buddhism tells us that all these life states have both a positive and a negative dimension, but can there possibly be a positive dimension to Hell? Buddhism argues that there is, that the deep suffering can be the greatest possible stimulus to action. It is so painful that we feel compelled to summon up from somewhere the life force to enable us to climb out of the hole that our life has fallen into. Hell is also a great teacher, in the sense that having been there ourselves, we are immensely more capable of understanding and feeling compassion for others who are in hell state now, and therefore finding the best way to support them. '
We move on over the next few episodes to examine all ten life states in the same way.
Hope to see you next time.
Best wishes,
William
The Case for Buddhism is available in paperback from Amazon and as a download from Kindle.
Sunday 9 August 2015
my buddhist blog number 97
Hi Everybody, I've had more writing commissions over the past 6 months than I had all of last year. Not quite sure whether to be pleased about that or not. I like to chill out in the summer, and then work harder in the winter. however mustn't look several gift horses in the mouth as they say. But it means bigger gaps than I would like in the blogging stakes. Apologies to any waiting readers. Good news is that I've just had another order for The Reluctant Buddhist from SGI-USA. and that's always pleasing, to know that it is still in demand. And extraordinarily Amazon are promoting the Spanish version in Spain. so life is being very sweet to me. anyway, we're at the beginnin gof Appendix A, dealing with tthe 10 worlds. and we pick up with a key question, why 10?
' Although it might seem when you first encounter the concept, to be somewaht implausible to say the least, to reduce the vast range of our constantly shifting responses to just 10 states. But hold your judgement till you have explored the idea a little further. It's worth bearing in mind that this is a structure that has undoubtedly stood the test of time. Moreover it does pass the all-important test of practicality.
If there were 50 or 100 life states for example, it would become wholly unwieldy and impractical as a way of thinking about our ordinary daily lives. That is a crucial point. The Ten worlds as a fundamental principle of Buddhism is not intended as a reference book to sit on the bookshelves, or alongside the psychiatrist's couch. It is of value only to the extent that it is useful to ordinary people going about their daily lives. It provides us in a sense with a road map, an A-Z of our inner life state. This is where you are, where do you want to be? With this structure we are offered thoughtful and detailed, and above all an objective guide to help us interpret where we are in our subjective or emotional life, so that we can see it more clearly and do something about it.
If we accept, as Buddhism teaches, that both suffering and happiness come not from external factors in our lives, but from deep within, then knowing more clearly where we are, as opposed to where we would like to be, is a crucial piece of information that we need. Indeed we might ask, where else are we going to get that information?
And this is certainly not superficial stuff. The life states are in from moment to moment affect everything in our life; how we feel, how we think, how we act, even how we look, not to mention how our environment responds to us. With a moment's reflection we can all recognise the truth in that. When we are in the state of anger for example, it is instantly signalled by the flushed face, the stifening of the facial muscles, and the raised pitch of the voice. That's an angry man we say! And that set of indocators is likely to trigger an immediate tension in our environment. Everybody responds with their own heightened tension, and increased attention to what's going on. Is he going to hit him we might think! Then if somebody happens to prick the tension with a joke or a laugh, in an instant it's all gone. The muscles in the face relax, the voice is lowered again, the eyes lose their glitter, the general tension in the room dissipates. It's all there in those few contrasting moments, how we feel, how we think, and look and act. and how our environment responds. '
That's it. Enough for today. I'll be back with another episode later this wek, promise! It takes up the issue of the 10 worlds not being a ladder!!
See you then I hope.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon all over, and on Kindle as a download.
' Although it might seem when you first encounter the concept, to be somewaht implausible to say the least, to reduce the vast range of our constantly shifting responses to just 10 states. But hold your judgement till you have explored the idea a little further. It's worth bearing in mind that this is a structure that has undoubtedly stood the test of time. Moreover it does pass the all-important test of practicality.
If there were 50 or 100 life states for example, it would become wholly unwieldy and impractical as a way of thinking about our ordinary daily lives. That is a crucial point. The Ten worlds as a fundamental principle of Buddhism is not intended as a reference book to sit on the bookshelves, or alongside the psychiatrist's couch. It is of value only to the extent that it is useful to ordinary people going about their daily lives. It provides us in a sense with a road map, an A-Z of our inner life state. This is where you are, where do you want to be? With this structure we are offered thoughtful and detailed, and above all an objective guide to help us interpret where we are in our subjective or emotional life, so that we can see it more clearly and do something about it.
If we accept, as Buddhism teaches, that both suffering and happiness come not from external factors in our lives, but from deep within, then knowing more clearly where we are, as opposed to where we would like to be, is a crucial piece of information that we need. Indeed we might ask, where else are we going to get that information?
And this is certainly not superficial stuff. The life states are in from moment to moment affect everything in our life; how we feel, how we think, how we act, even how we look, not to mention how our environment responds to us. With a moment's reflection we can all recognise the truth in that. When we are in the state of anger for example, it is instantly signalled by the flushed face, the stifening of the facial muscles, and the raised pitch of the voice. That's an angry man we say! And that set of indocators is likely to trigger an immediate tension in our environment. Everybody responds with their own heightened tension, and increased attention to what's going on. Is he going to hit him we might think! Then if somebody happens to prick the tension with a joke or a laugh, in an instant it's all gone. The muscles in the face relax, the voice is lowered again, the eyes lose their glitter, the general tension in the room dissipates. It's all there in those few contrasting moments, how we feel, how we think, and look and act. and how our environment responds. '
That's it. Enough for today. I'll be back with another episode later this wek, promise! It takes up the issue of the 10 worlds not being a ladder!!
See you then I hope.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon all over, and on Kindle as a download.
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