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David McGavock

Four Noble Truths by His Holiness the Dalai Lama - 0 views

  • three categories: the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change and all-pervasive suffering.
  • Suffering of suffering refers to things such as headaches and so forth. Even animals recognize this kind of suffering and, like us, want to be free from it. Because beings have fear of and experience discomfort from these kinds of suffering, they engage in various activities to eliminate them.
  • Suffering of change refers to situations where, for example, we are sitting very comfortably relaxed and at first, everything seems all right, but after a while we lose that feeling and get restless and uncomfortable.
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  • Generally, the ultimate cause is the mind; the mind that is influenced by negative thoughts such as anger, attachment, jealousy and so forth is the main cause of birth and all such other problems.
  • the Buddha taught that the root of the three sufferings is the third: all-pervasive suffering.
  • This third, all-pervasive, suffering is under the control of karma and the disturbing mind.
  • All our suffering can be traced back to these aggregates of attachment and clinging.
  • according to the Buddhist viewpoint, that’s not the case; your consciousness will continue.
  • f you really want to get rid of all your suffering, all the difficulties you experience in your life, you have to get rid of the fundamental cause that gives rise to the aggregates that are the basis of all suffering. Killing yourself isn’t going to solve your problems.
  • investigate the cause of suffering: is there a cause or not?
  • If it is a cause that can be overcome, is it possible for us to overcome it? Thus we come to the second noble truth, the truth of the cause of suffering.
  • Thus, through investigation we find no valid support for the grasping mind but do find the support of logical reasoning for the mind that realizes that the grasping mind is invalid.
  • All-pervasive suffering is the third type of suffering. It is called all-pervasive [Tib: kyab-pa du-che kyi dug-ngäl—literally, the suffering of pervasive compounding] because it acts as the basis of the first two.
  • which is then followed by grasping at things and becoming attached to them as “mine.”4
  • Thus ultimately, the problem is this feeling of “I”
  • There’s nothing good about anger and attachment; nothing good can result from them. They may be difficult to control, but everybody can realize that there is nothing good about them. This, then, is the second noble truth.
  • the question arises whether or not these kinds of negative mind can be eliminated.
  • The truth of the cessation of suffering
  • If, upon investigation, we discover many other, valid ways of looking at things and that all these contradict, or negate, the way that the mind that grasps at true existence perceives its objects, we can say that this mind does not see reality.
  • try to determine whether the mind that grasps at things as truly findable is correct or not.
  • Middle Way schools contain many lines of reasoning for carrying out such investigation.6
  • first there’s attachment to the self,
  • When we eliminate the disturbing negative minds, the cause of all suffering, we eliminate the sufferings as well. This is liberation, or the cessation of suffering: the third noble truth.
  • path to the cessation of suffering
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    "His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave this teaching in Dharamsala, 7 October 1981. It was translated by Alexander Berzin, clarified by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, edited by Nicholas Ribush and first published in the souvenir booklet for Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre's Second Dharma Celebration, November 5-8 1982, New Delhi, India. Published in 2005 in the LYWA publication Teachings From Tibet."
David McGavock

Buddha's Four Noble Truths - Lion's Roar - 0 views

  • He gave this teaching to his first five monk-disciples at the Deer Park, now known as Saranath, near Varanasi in India.
  • In the Uttaratantra, an important Mahayana text on buddhanature, it is said: As it is necessary to diagnose the sickness, to abandon its causes, to attain the happiness of good health and to apply medicine for it;The suffering and its cause as well as its cessation and the path of (cessation)Should be recognized, abandoned, attained, and applied.
  • The Character of the World: The Noble Truth of Suffering
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  • For us, deep down in our mind, there is a habit that keeps us from seeing, let alone accepting, our own true character: the suffering, changing, impermanent and dying character of our life.
  • Buddhism first asks us not only to see the momentary and suffering character of the world, but also to have tolerance in accepting suffering as natural and not negative.
  • However, Buddhism also believes that, while the true character of the samsaric world is suffering, how the suffering character of phenomena affects us depends on our way of perceiving and feeling it.
  • three root sufferings of living beings: ordinary suffering, suffering produced by change, and the pervasive suffering of conditioning.
  • According to Buddhism, there are eight major sufferings
  • four major experiences of suffering of human life: the suffering in the process of taking birth, of old age, of sickness, and of dying and death.
  • accompanied by four secondary sufferings of human life: the sufferings of worry about facing harsh situations, about separation from loved ones and desirable things, about not achieving what one wishes, and about encountering unwanted situations.
  • Karma and Emotional Afflictions: The Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering
  • What is the noble truth of the source of suffering? It is craving [which produces] re-existence [as a being in samsara], and which is accompanied by passionate desire, and which is total delight with [or attachment to] this and that. —The Buddha
  • Every action we perform with our mind, or with body or speech inspired by mind, formulates and produces a commensurate effect on our future.
  • Tilopa instructs his disciple Naropa: Appearances [of phenomena] do not bind you [to samsara] but attachment [to them] does. So, Naropa, cut off attachment.
  • Buddhahood: The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering
  • What is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering? It is the total abandonment, renunciation, purification and exhaustion of the craving [which produces] the re-existence, and which is accompanied by passionate desire, and which is total delight in this and that. It is the complete freedom from, cessation of, pacification of and termination of desire. —The Buddha
  • f nirvana is described in affirming or positive terms, since we are using conventional words connected with certain conceptual views, we will probably grasp a concept associated with them and reaffirm our usual conceptualization, and that will be wrong. If we describe nirvana in such terms as uncompounded and the cessation of passion, which are beyond the ordinary norm, there will be less danger of misleading people, and they might pause and think more.
  • According to Mahayanists, pursuing various trainings for realizing buddhahood, the true nature of our own mind, is the path.
  • Through this path we reach the perfection of training, which is the realization of the ultimate nature and the cessation of the cycle of samsara. It is not that we are achieving something new or that we are returning to a previous state. It is awakening or realizing what actually we have always been by uncovering the layer of conceptual and emotional traces.
  • The Noble Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering
  • What is the path that leads to the cessation of suffering? It is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right contemplation. —The Buddha
  • In Buddhism there are hundreds of different paths of training to reach the fully enlightened state, buddhahood. But whatever technique of training is given in the teachings, it has to be based on the view of the “four emblems” of Buddhism. If the teaching is based on and propagates these principles, whatever techniques are presented, it is the teaching of Buddhism.
  • The view of the “four emblems” of Buddhism is: all compounded phenomena are impermanent; all contaminated things are miserable; all phenomena are selfless (voidness); and nirvana, the goal, is peace.
  • The Theravada Path
  • This vehicle relies on the three divisions of scripture known as “the three baskets.”
  • vinaya, the code of moral discipline for the monks, nuns and lay devotees;
  • sutra, the discourses on various spiritual trainings; and abhidharma, the scriptures on wisdom, philosophy and psychology
  • One of the main emphases of Theravadins is on physical discipline, such as living in solitude and leading a celibate life in order to avoid the circumstances that cause emotional afflictions and evil deeds to arise in one’s mind.
  • The Mahayana Path
  • emphasis on developing great compassion—the aspiration and dedication to take responsibility for others’ happiness and to lead all beings to the attainment of buddhahood without the slightest self-interest.
  • their main emphasis is on the training of the mind. By training the pilot-like mind on the right path, they bring the vehicle-like speech and body onto the right path.
  • They do not try to avoid the sources of emotional afflictions but destroy them by using antidotes such as compassion for anger, knowledge of the impermanent character of phenomena for attachment, and the wisdom of realizing the nature of phenomena as the union of voidness and interdependent arising for ignorance.
  • the two ways of developing the enlightened mind.
  • develop the “aspiring enlightened mind.” In this training one generates love, compassion, joy and equanimity toward all beings by seeing and understanding them as one’s mother.
  • The second training is to put the “enlightened mind into practice” by following the six perfections (Skt. paramitas).
  • The Tantric Path
  • The unique character of the training of tantric Buddhism is pure perception. In it one sees and actualizes all as the buddha-realms. One sees, believes and experiences that all appearances are the Buddhas and their pure land, all sounds are the pure sound or speech of the Buddhas, and all thoughts are the wisdom mind of the Buddhas.
  • At the beginning of the tantric path, when the disciple is ready, the master initiates him or her into the training. At the time of initiation, the disciples experience the true nature, or at least glimpse the wisdom of their mind and the wisdom energies of their consciousnesses, mental events and physical elements.
  • After that the disciple goes through the training of the “two stages.”
  • development stage, one sees, visualizes and actualizes the universe as the Buddhas and their pure lands.
  • the perfection stage, by using the powers of the channels, energies and essence of one’s vajra-body, one attains and perfects the union of great bliss and voidness.
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    "Tulku Thondup on the four simple and practical statements that encompass the entire Buddhist path, the Buddha's Four Noble Truths."
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