Hi Everybody,
We're in the middle of a discussion of Shakyamuni's enlightenment and how we might strip away the mystical envelope that inevitably surrounds it and come to terms with it in a more modern, more everyday idiom. Shakyamuni taught for a surpisingly long time, over 50 years, and throughout that time he was tireless in his efforts to convey the essence of his new understanding of reality, in ways that made a practical difference to ordinary people's lives. Right at the heart of his teaching was the clear message that the new understanding that he had gained of human life and motivation, although radical in its direction and implications, was not in any sense divine, or alien to ordinary human existence. How could it be since he was no more nor no less than that. What he had come to understand was simply the highest reach of an ordinary human mind.
He was clearly a man of great charisma and an inspirational speaker and he talked of taking people up a sort of staircase of understanding pitching his teaching always at a level that could be received and comprehended by whatever audience he encountered. So it wasn't remote and theoretical and removed from the concerns of ordinary people. But when seen against the centuries-long background of Brahmanism nothing like it had been taught before. Because his teaching eliminated the received wisdom of a pantheon of gods who basically controlled human destiny, and introduced a wholly new perception of reality, concerned with the growth and liberation of the individual human spirit.
He has been described as setting motion, ' the true great adventure of self reformation. '
It was this powerful human -scale philosophy focused on daily life, and deliberately expressed in the dialect of ordinary people rather than in the dialect of the priestly class, that touched and drew in people from all backgrounds and all walks of life; the rich and the poor, the young and the old, the educated and the unschooled. They all wanted to see and hear him speak in person. The image that most readily comes to mind perhaps is of a Ghandi-like figure, immensely approachable, immensely compassionate, surrounded by a crowd listening intently as he talked about a new kind of hope and a new kind of possibility for ordinary lives.
More than enough for one session I think. The last 3 episodes go together to provide a kind of brief overview of Shakyamuni's enlightenment. Hope you enjoyed it.
Best wishes, william
PS The Case for Buddhism is available as a paperback on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.
Sunday 28 August 2016
Friday 19 August 2016
mybuddhist blog number 144
Hi Everybody,
Nice damp cool rainy day outside. It's always so much easier to sit down at the computer to write when it's raining, than when it's bright and sunny. So we're in the middle of this interesting issue of how we deal with the idea of Shakyamuni's enlightenment, which is the well-spring if you like from which Buddhism has flowed out into the world. A key point for me in coming to terms with this is that whatever elements of the enlighenment story we find difficult to grasp or to understand, perhaps...we do well to remember...simply because of the limitations of our own experience or our own imagination; whatever the precise nature of the truths that Shakyamuni came to perceive, the key thing to hang onto I would argue, is that what resulted from his experience is clear enough for all to see. The immense power of the experience that he went through changed him forever. He became truly a different man. In many ways it seems similar to the experience that Saul went through on the road to Damascus that transformed him from a fierce persecutor of the Christians into Paul, the great teacher and primary architect of the Christian Church. But in the case of both Paul and Shakyamuni the experience they went through was like walking through fire, and it lit a fire in them that was so strong that it was never extinguished.
Shakyamuni was never able again to separate his existence as a human being from his desire to teach the truths about the life we all lead, that he had come to understand. And his desire to improve the well-being of all of humankind. He set out if you like to reveal a new understanding of reality, which is what enlightenment ultimately means. And central to that new understanding is the seemingly simple, and yet truly revolutionary idea, that life is not a rehearsal for some sort afterlife. It is the real thing, and it makes sense therefore to learn how to build the best life for ourselves today, in the here and now.
Enough for today.
Back in the middle of the week.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon in paperback and as a download on Kindle.
Nice damp cool rainy day outside. It's always so much easier to sit down at the computer to write when it's raining, than when it's bright and sunny. So we're in the middle of this interesting issue of how we deal with the idea of Shakyamuni's enlightenment, which is the well-spring if you like from which Buddhism has flowed out into the world. A key point for me in coming to terms with this is that whatever elements of the enlighenment story we find difficult to grasp or to understand, perhaps...we do well to remember...simply because of the limitations of our own experience or our own imagination; whatever the precise nature of the truths that Shakyamuni came to perceive, the key thing to hang onto I would argue, is that what resulted from his experience is clear enough for all to see. The immense power of the experience that he went through changed him forever. He became truly a different man. In many ways it seems similar to the experience that Saul went through on the road to Damascus that transformed him from a fierce persecutor of the Christians into Paul, the great teacher and primary architect of the Christian Church. But in the case of both Paul and Shakyamuni the experience they went through was like walking through fire, and it lit a fire in them that was so strong that it was never extinguished.
Shakyamuni was never able again to separate his existence as a human being from his desire to teach the truths about the life we all lead, that he had come to understand. And his desire to improve the well-being of all of humankind. He set out if you like to reveal a new understanding of reality, which is what enlightenment ultimately means. And central to that new understanding is the seemingly simple, and yet truly revolutionary idea, that life is not a rehearsal for some sort afterlife. It is the real thing, and it makes sense therefore to learn how to build the best life for ourselves today, in the here and now.
Enough for today.
Back in the middle of the week.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon in paperback and as a download on Kindle.
Saturday 13 August 2016
my buddhist blog number 143
Hi Everybody,
Find it hard to believe that I've been posting this blog since 2013!! Amazing how time flies when...you're seeking to create value. During that time the book has been published in English and Spanish, and seems to be very popular, particularly in the USA., for which I'm deeply grateful. OK so we're in the midst of this discussion about faith, what can it possibly mean in a religion that has no gods to have faith in? One hurdle we have to leap over before we get to that is the subject of Shakyamuni's enlightenment. What's that all about? Enlightenment is ina sense a technical term in Buddhism and I think it really helps to see it in that light. Indeed the word Buddha itself essentially means the enlightened one, it comes from a Sanskrit verb that means to be awakened. or to be aware of or to know deeply. And the key thing to note is that those are quite human-scale activities aren't they? Nothingn divine about them. We can all wake up, or be aware or know deeply.
So how should we deal with the fact of Shakyamuni's enlightenment? In many ways the concept of a state of being, or a state of mind labelled enlightenment is strange to us, not to say alien. It's a word we're not likely to use often, if at all. In an essentially intellectual and materialist age we are much more attuned to, and likely to be much more comfortable with down-to-earth explanations and scientific patterns of proof. But of course as we all know, there is much more to our humanity, particularly our humanity when it is lived at the highest level,than can be observed and measured in a laboratory. So we have to accept I think that in using an unusual word like enlightenment, we are reaching out in an attempt to describe something that may be very difficult to actually pin down, but which nevertheless remains a wholly valid part of human experience. Put simply we might say that enlightenment involves a completely different view of reality. One analogy that comes to mind is the sort of phase change as it's called in physics that takes place when water turns to ice for example. It is exactly the same stuff so to speak, precisely the same molecular substacne, nothing has been added or taken away, but it is also a complete transformation.
Is that similar to what happens to ordinary people when they achieve a measure of enlightenment? They are exactly the same people. But they are also transformed.
Enough for one swallow.
Hope it makes sense.
See you next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available in paperback on Amazon and a download on Kindle.
Find it hard to believe that I've been posting this blog since 2013!! Amazing how time flies when...you're seeking to create value. During that time the book has been published in English and Spanish, and seems to be very popular, particularly in the USA., for which I'm deeply grateful. OK so we're in the midst of this discussion about faith, what can it possibly mean in a religion that has no gods to have faith in? One hurdle we have to leap over before we get to that is the subject of Shakyamuni's enlightenment. What's that all about? Enlightenment is ina sense a technical term in Buddhism and I think it really helps to see it in that light. Indeed the word Buddha itself essentially means the enlightened one, it comes from a Sanskrit verb that means to be awakened. or to be aware of or to know deeply. And the key thing to note is that those are quite human-scale activities aren't they? Nothingn divine about them. We can all wake up, or be aware or know deeply.
So how should we deal with the fact of Shakyamuni's enlightenment? In many ways the concept of a state of being, or a state of mind labelled enlightenment is strange to us, not to say alien. It's a word we're not likely to use often, if at all. In an essentially intellectual and materialist age we are much more attuned to, and likely to be much more comfortable with down-to-earth explanations and scientific patterns of proof. But of course as we all know, there is much more to our humanity, particularly our humanity when it is lived at the highest level,than can be observed and measured in a laboratory. So we have to accept I think that in using an unusual word like enlightenment, we are reaching out in an attempt to describe something that may be very difficult to actually pin down, but which nevertheless remains a wholly valid part of human experience. Put simply we might say that enlightenment involves a completely different view of reality. One analogy that comes to mind is the sort of phase change as it's called in physics that takes place when water turns to ice for example. It is exactly the same stuff so to speak, precisely the same molecular substacne, nothing has been added or taken away, but it is also a complete transformation.
Is that similar to what happens to ordinary people when they achieve a measure of enlightenment? They are exactly the same people. But they are also transformed.
Enough for one swallow.
Hope it makes sense.
See you next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available in paperback on Amazon and a download on Kindle.
Sunday 7 August 2016
my buddhist blog number 142
Hi Everybody,
Sitting here at my desk with the evening sun streaming through the windows after a beautiful midsummer's day. The grass in Richmond Park is bleached golden with the sunshine and Gatsby just disappears when he runs into it. OK so today's episode runs on from the last sentecne of the last one, ' The point is that we are undoubtedly spiritual animals, however much we may try to convince ourselves that we're not!
Madonna once told us most persuasively that this is a material world and that she is very much a material girl. That may indeed be so, but ther'es a powerful line from Bruce Springsteen that brings us a completely different message and one that reflects perhapsa growing change in social sentiment.
' It's time to start saving up ' he tells us...' for the things that money can't buy...'
The things that money can't buy...what can he possibly mean other than a deeper and more meaningful spiritual life beyond the bounds of mere materialism? What is remarkable I think is just how close that sentiment comes to something that a great and influential Buddhist teacher called Nichiren Daishonin wrote to his followers all those years ago.
' More valuable than the treasures in any storehouse..he wrote... that is to say more material stuff..' are the treasures of the body'... that is to say good health...' and the treasures of the heart... that is to say an active and meaningful spiritual life...are most valuable of all. '
And in our deepest selves we know that to be true don't we?
That's it. short and I hope sweet!
See you next time.
Keep reading
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.
Sitting here at my desk with the evening sun streaming through the windows after a beautiful midsummer's day. The grass in Richmond Park is bleached golden with the sunshine and Gatsby just disappears when he runs into it. OK so today's episode runs on from the last sentecne of the last one, ' The point is that we are undoubtedly spiritual animals, however much we may try to convince ourselves that we're not!
Madonna once told us most persuasively that this is a material world and that she is very much a material girl. That may indeed be so, but ther'es a powerful line from Bruce Springsteen that brings us a completely different message and one that reflects perhapsa growing change in social sentiment.
' It's time to start saving up ' he tells us...' for the things that money can't buy...'
The things that money can't buy...what can he possibly mean other than a deeper and more meaningful spiritual life beyond the bounds of mere materialism? What is remarkable I think is just how close that sentiment comes to something that a great and influential Buddhist teacher called Nichiren Daishonin wrote to his followers all those years ago.
' More valuable than the treasures in any storehouse..he wrote... that is to say more material stuff..' are the treasures of the body'... that is to say good health...' and the treasures of the heart... that is to say an active and meaningful spiritual life...are most valuable of all. '
And in our deepest selves we know that to be true don't we?
That's it. short and I hope sweet!
See you next time.
Keep reading
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and as a download on Kindle.
Monday 1 August 2016
my bvbuddhist blog number 141
Hi Everybody,
This passage follows on almost directly from the last line of the last episode........never before have so many people in the West turned to Buddhism to find answers to their questions about life, the universe and everything.
What makes it all this more remarkable is that this global movement is taking place not on the backs of missionaries or itinerant preachers as you might expect, or anything resembling them, but slowly steadily, almost imperceptibly, in a truly modern way, as a result simply of people talking other people, largely on a one to one basis. ' This is my experience. You might find it useful in your life.'
The very basis in a sense on which this book, this blog, is being written.
Moreover it's taking place in an age, as I've said, that is far more notable for its rampant materialism and its widespread cynicism than for its religious commitment, and despite the fact that a Buddhist practice is genuinely demanding. It calls for application and effort and commitment, because we are learning a new set of life skills, fundamentally new ways of thinking about ourselves and our relationships, and how to tackle the tough and challenging stuff that is inherent in all our lives.
Clearly it is fulfilling some perceived need for a stronger and more meaningful spiritual life for many people; a searching for something more to life, a reaction perhaps against these powerful influences of cynicism and materialism at work in society. There is so much more available to be 'done' these days, and so much more to ' hunger' after in shopping malls and supermarkets and on the web, that we can find our lives almost entirely taken up with ' stuff.' With the doing and the arranging and the acquiring and the moving on from one event, one party, one club to the next.
But is that enough? Is that what we really want? The point is that we are undoubtedly spiritual animals, however much we try to convince ourselves that aren't.'
Nuff said.
Thanks for readingn thus far.
See you next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and on Kindle in English and Spanish.
This passage follows on almost directly from the last line of the last episode........never before have so many people in the West turned to Buddhism to find answers to their questions about life, the universe and everything.
What makes it all this more remarkable is that this global movement is taking place not on the backs of missionaries or itinerant preachers as you might expect, or anything resembling them, but slowly steadily, almost imperceptibly, in a truly modern way, as a result simply of people talking other people, largely on a one to one basis. ' This is my experience. You might find it useful in your life.'
The very basis in a sense on which this book, this blog, is being written.
Moreover it's taking place in an age, as I've said, that is far more notable for its rampant materialism and its widespread cynicism than for its religious commitment, and despite the fact that a Buddhist practice is genuinely demanding. It calls for application and effort and commitment, because we are learning a new set of life skills, fundamentally new ways of thinking about ourselves and our relationships, and how to tackle the tough and challenging stuff that is inherent in all our lives.
Clearly it is fulfilling some perceived need for a stronger and more meaningful spiritual life for many people; a searching for something more to life, a reaction perhaps against these powerful influences of cynicism and materialism at work in society. There is so much more available to be 'done' these days, and so much more to ' hunger' after in shopping malls and supermarkets and on the web, that we can find our lives almost entirely taken up with ' stuff.' With the doing and the arranging and the acquiring and the moving on from one event, one party, one club to the next.
But is that enough? Is that what we really want? The point is that we are undoubtedly spiritual animals, however much we try to convince ourselves that aren't.'
Nuff said.
Thanks for readingn thus far.
See you next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available on Amazon and on Kindle in English and Spanish.
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