BUDDHISM and YOU

You do not have to call yourself a Buddhist or do anything out of the ordinary in order to enrich your life with the principles and practices of Buddhism. Its philosophy and psychology improve the human mind and are, therefore, of universal value.

Buddhism, like the other two isms in this series – Taoism and Zenism – is not only relevant, but also critically needed in the Western world. Every day we grapple with problems (including the ten outlined in the Preface). Every day we seem to make some progress, and then encounter disheartening retrogressions. At times, we seem to take one step forward, and one back. Perhaps it is time to take a different approach, and look east.

Here are just three of many Buddhist concepts that have the potential to significantly enhance your understanding, happiness, and success in life:

• A deep understanding of shunyata (emptiness) can free you from delusions, attachments, and suffering. This is widely considered the single most important truth in Buddhism.

• By learning the true extent of dukkha (suffering) in the world, you can instantly replace your feelings of indifference, envy, or even hatred toward people with a sincere compassion for everyone, including your enemies.

• With a realization of karma and its short- and long-term consequences, you can redirect your thoughts, words, and actions from those creating negative impacts to those generating great merit.

Of the three Eastern traditions in the trilogy, Buddhism is the one that best integrates the head and the heart. Rid yourself of any stereotypes, open up to its wisdom, connect with its compassion, and in time you will…

• Become more aware that your thinking creates your inner world, and affects your feelings and moods.

• Realize that you are in control of your thinking and, therefore, you are in control of your feelings and moods.

• Learn the seven ways that meditation can calm, protect, and program your mind for a great life.

• Recover from, and transcend, severe mental-emotional traumas.

• Master those negative states of mind that bring you stress, anxiety, fear, frustration, jealousy, depression, hatred, or anger, and gain inner peace.

• Pierce the veil of illusion and begin to see reality instead of a deluded sense of reality.

• Become mindful of your mental, physical, and emotional state.

• No longer become angry when life is frustrating or provocative.

• Begin to see people in an entirely different way, and develop great compassion for them.

• Learn the dos and don’ts of Buddhist ethics, and become a more wise, kind, and happy human being.

• Live a more simple, peaceful, and beautiful life.



Now here is an excerpt……
BUDDHA NATURE

DESCRIPTIONS:

“What I have done, you can also do.” – the Buddha

INTRODUCTION:

The above self-effacing quote from the Buddha is redemptive, exhilarating, and empowering. Deep within every one of us is a pure, immaculate Buddha Nature, also known as the Buddha Principle, Mind, Element, or Essence. This essential nature is reliable, incorruptible, and permanent.

One of the most significant and transformational ideas in the great Buddhist tradition is that all sentient beings have an innate, pure, and powerful Buddha Nature.

The DEMOCRATIZATION of GREATNESS:

Unlike many other highly influential people in the history of civilization, the Buddha did not represent himself as a special source of wisdom. On the contrary, he said that every one of us has the answers and the power within to become delusion-free and enlightened. The emancipatory belief intrinsic to all Buddhist practices is that we all have the capacity to do what he did. We all are complete beings with the innate ability to awaken, liberate ourselves, and achieve self-realization. Each one of us has everything we need right now to lead a high moral life, and to eventually escape samsara. (See “The Philosophy of Buddhism – Metaphysics.”)

OUR DISTORTED THINKING:

However, as clouds obscure the starlit sky, delusions obscure our clear thinking. We have difficulty seeing our true nature and that of reality because the process through which we interpret the world is defective. Our fears, desires, biases, false beliefs, ignorance, subjectivity, and narrow-mindedness all conspire to distort our reasoning and, in turn, our behavior. We then experience the corresponding inevitable failure, frustration, dissatisfaction, and suffering.

OUR LIBERATION:

The Buddha gave us the explanation and the way out of this dilemma in The Four Noble Truths and in The Noble Eightfold Path. It is our responsibility to recognize the importance of this wisdom, and follow the path. It is our responsibility to learn the Dharma, discover our Buddha Nature, free our mind from self-deception, escape the tumult of craving, gain inner peace, develop compassion, and evolve into fully enlightened human beings (Buddhahood). Buddha’s path leads to that fully developed sublime state, later described by Aristotle as self-realization.


PRESCRIPTIONS:

BELIEVE in YOUR BUDDHA NATURE:

No matter what you have been, or have not been; no matter what you have done, or have not done; from this day on, believe that you possess a pure and powerful Buddha nature. This is one of the greatest things you can ever do for yourself.

Reinforce this thought every day of your life. There is a pure, stainless, incorruptible part of you. Meditate on it. Internalize it as a permanent part of your self-image. Maintain an unshakable belief in your Buddha Nature that infuses your life with wisdom and compassion, and gives you a self-confident glow. Know that it is within your zone of proximal development to become a Buddha!

BELIEVE in the BUDDHA NATURE of OTHERS:

Now see everyone else as you see yourself: as an essentially pure and complete human being, seeking the full realization of his or her Buddha Nature. Understand that we are all works in progress moving along together on planet Earth. See this as a spiritually soothing scenario that helps you be more understanding, tolerant, and peaceful. Consider yourself and everyone else as an exquisite, multifaceted jewel that needs some polishing. Remind others that they are jewels too, who, no matter what, can shine with their own unique brilliance.