Buddhist Belief Blog

In the last article we spent some time with the subject of attachment, and it’s opposite, detachment, and made an attempt at explaining it in a way that made some sense. I don’t know if I succeeded or not — only you can know that. It is a difficult topic when talking about the Third Noble Truth of Buddhist Belief. The main point I wanted to make is this: Not being attached to something doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t care about anything. It doesn’t mean you have to give up anything — other than your attachment to whatever it is — and/or your expectations from it.

One of the reasons why so many of us in this culture have difficulty with the Third Noble Truth is our habit of reacting negatively to the things happening in our lives. We’re on a cycle of letting our emotions tell the world who we are. One of these emotions is anger. An interesting way to look at anger is to see it as a form of energy. That’s truly all anger is until we allow it to turn into aggression. When we reach the point where we’ve identified with the energy of our anger, and you’re trying so hard to not give into it, then you often end up being angry with yourself because you’re angry. It becomes a vicious cycle.

There’s a Buddhist term for the vicious cycle of conditioned behavior– it’s called “samsara“. The way to end this samsara – this cycle of allowing our emotions to rule — is just like it was with attachment — we have to let go. In the case of anger, when we control it and not allow it to become aggression — when we hold the anger to its original level of pure energy, what we will display will be a sharp, pointed, clear-thinking form of wisdom. Turning our anger into a positive energy will result in something helpful, not harmful. You’ll be amazed at how this anger-energy can be used for good. What we often allow to happen is we let it get out of control and we lose our mind. When we control it, we strengthen our mind and discover elements of wisdom we didn’t know we had.

One of the ways that most of us can get our emotions under control is to become more aware of what our minds and bodies are doing in certain situations. For example, there are some situations when our body’s own intelligence will control our reactions. These reactions will be instinctive. One that comes to mind is when we are suddenly faced with danger. What happens? Our heart starts to beat faster. Our muscles contract. Our breathing becomes more rapid as our bodies prepare for either fight or flight. This is known as primordial fear and is also often primordial anger. We have no control over this reaction — it is pure instinct. It is our body’s automatic response to some external, dangerous, life-threatening situation.

An emotional response, on the other hand, is our body’s response to a thought. An example of this might be if you were told that someone’s car had been stolen. Your response to that news would be entirely different than if you were told that it was your car, wouldn’t it? It makes all the difference in the world how we react to something when the “something” involved is related to “me” or “mine“. Despite the fact that our body is a wonderfully intelligent form of energy, it doesn’t have the ability to distinguish between an actual situation and our thought about a situation. When our mind, our ego, gets into the picture, we lose our ability to effectively control ourselves.

We all have anger inside of us. Those seeds of anger are looking for objects to grasp onto. Again, it’s our ego looking for some way to perpetuate itself. Letting these seeds of anger turn into aggression is a matter of survival for our egos. This is different than primordial fear or anger. It’s the ego’s way of proving it exists. Putting an end to this way of dealing with anger is up to us. We’re the troublemakers. It’s all in our hands. Here we are with those choices again. Those egos of ours are constantly looking for something, anything, to grasp onto.

Buddha recommends meditation as a way to turn this need to grasp at things around. Meditation teaches us how to rest in our natural state. Once we learn how this feels, it becomes easier and easier to stay in this place when circumstances come up to make us feel the need to react negatively, without wisdom. When meditation is working as it should, there is no wanting. There is no clinging. There is no craving. There is just the unimpeded, free, experiencing. This is the freedom promised by the Third Noble Truth of Buddhist Belief.

When we allow our anger to become the emotion of aggression, we are on the verge of hatred. This is one of the dangers of anger.

There was a vivid example of this in my own life this past week. As part of the campaigning for the presidency in the USA, there are often methods used which are closely associated with immorality. One of the organizations that support one of our political parties paid for, and distributed a documentary DVD that encouraged people to feel fear and hatred for a particular religious belief. On Friday, last week, an act of vicious hatred was carried out on members of that religion near where I live in Dayton, Ohio. Since this act of terrorism happened to coincide so closely with the distribution of this DVD, I believe the two events are closely related. (You can read more about this at my other blog: http://www.theleaderinside.com).

My point here is that hatred can only lead to more hatred. This fact has been proven over and over again throughout history. The only way to combat this energy of anger and keep it from turning into the emotion of aggression, which can easily lead to hatred, is to bring an abundance of love to it. One of my favorite people to quote is Peace Pilgrim. She said:

Next time we’ll take a look at some further aspects of the Third Noble Truth.

I have something I’d like to recommend to you. Please read on …
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A question that often is asked by readers of blogs like this which relate to Buddhist Belief is this: “What do I do to become a better person?”

Obviously, my hope is that you’ll become a regular reader of this blog as it’s my goal to help us all to answer that question with some clarity.

There’s a book I’d like to recommend to you that does a great job of answering that question. It’s by Sharon Salzberg and is entitled: “A Heart as Wide as the World: Living with Mindfulness, Wisdom and Compassion“.

Basically, she says if you want to be a better person, simply start acting like one! Makes pretty good sense to me. Sharon Salzberg is one of the best selling Buddhist authors in the United States. I feel that one of the main reasons for this is because you can understand what she has to say. She’s also not afraid to use her own experiences as examples.

Buddhism, and Buddhist Belief for Sharon Salzberg, for myself, and for many others is about the day-to-day steps needed to connect with the Buddha within each of us. The first step is believing that it is possible to do so, to see “Buddha nature” in everyone, including oneself.

Meditation may be the best way to make that connection, according to many Buddhist authors, and Salzberg agrees, but her deconstruction of mindfulness, of being aware of everything as it is happening presently, may be the second most important step toward enlightenment.

To practice mindfulness, Salzberg explains, is not to place a value judgment on any experience or emotion. They simply are what they are. Besides, if everything is fleeting, there is no need to support the idea of “good” or “bad.” It’s simply a matter of time before our sensations and environments will change anyway.

Since today’s blog post is about anger, I’d like to quote from Sharon’s book:

This book is at its best when Salzberg tells a personal story to explain the tenets she is trying to teach. Examples of when her own anger arises out of jealousy or miscommunication lets readers know she is no different than anyone else, thus leading to her appeal. In her writing she shows that there are a multitude of inner struggles to deal with on our path to enlightenment, regardless of your religious belief.

In this book, Salzberg focuses on everyone’s ability, no matter what their background or character, to become a better person. It’s about compassion! When we can learn to respect our fellow human beings and ourselves, we will grow to who we truly are and experience true inner peace.

You can get this book at this link: A Heart as Wide as the World.
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Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….

Shanti everyone, … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

Have a peaceful day!! —

Ron Rink

http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

Tags: Buddhist Belief, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, Second Noble Truth, Third Noble Truth, Nirvana, inner peace, peace, attachment, detachment, anger

Technorati Tags: attachment, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist Belief, detachment, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, inner peace, Nirvana, Peace, Second Noble Truth, Third Noble Truth

Ahh, yes, the Third Noble Truth — the end of suffering! A few days ago I wrote about how in Buddhist Belief you can have an end to your dissatisfactions in life just by ceasing to give in to your clinging, craving and attachments. I wrote that Nirvana is just a moment away from every one of us. I wrote that this word, Nirvana, merely means the extinction or annihilation of suffering. To me, it also means beautiful inner peace. All we need to do to find this great inner peace is to let go of our neediness, our clinging, our craving, our attachments, our delusions, and our greed. It’s a matter of choice, isn’t it? We can choose to give up on all the reasons why we are so dissatisfied, or we can chose not to do it. The choice is always ours — and it’s a choice we make every moment of every day.

It’s interesting that I wrote about giving up on greed at a time when my country is undergoing the extreme suffering brought about by greed. If this financial crisis isn’t major proof for what Buddha taught about how greed would make us suffer, I don’t know what is. (To see my explanation on how this all came about go to one of my other blogs where I talk about this sort of thing. I don’t want to spend time here in Buddhist Belief discussing this political mess, so here’s a link to my article on how greed has brought an entire country — and potentially the world — to the ultimate in suffering.)

Click Here for The Real Story

One of the things we have to relinquish in our lives in order to find the ultimate inner peace is our attachment to things. There were a couple of questions emailed to me about attachment. The questioners were equating detachment (the opposite of attachment) with indifference. The younger you are the more likely you’ll feel detachment and renunciation are pretty scary concepts. Perhaps exploring this a little more may help.

Detachment doesn’t imply giving up anything or not caring about something. It does mean letting go of your attachment to something or your expectation from it.

An example would be your family. Buddha doesn’t expect you to give up your family. I know, the Life Story of Buddha films I showed in some of the previous articles here, told how he did give up his family, but I don’t believe he is saying you should do the same. It isn’t the family members themselves making us less than satisfied at times, it’s our attachment or our expectations of our loved ones that gets under our skin. Think about this for a minute. Perhaps you have children who are no longer living with you and you may not feel they visit you enough. The Third Noble Truth isn’t telling you to give up your children. Not at all. It is saying to rethink your expectations about how often they should visit you. It’s your expectation making you unhappy, isn’t it?

What about all the ways we’re involved in our day-to-day lives? Our work is a good example. What happens when we take a couple of weeks off. Perhaps the first day or so we’re still attached to what’s happening back at the office. We’re worried whether people are meeting our expectations. Then, after a couple of days of sleeping later — hanging out at the beach or wherever — keeping a leisurely pace — sight seeing — enjoying casual dining — spending some time with a good book — you get a chance to look at what being away from all the pressure of work can mean to you. You’ll notice how much more you feel relaxed and content. You may even notice new and creative ideas coming into your mind. Physically and mentally you are suffering less — you’re more satisfied. Your expectations — your attachments to all the things related to your work have been put on the back burner for a while. As a result, your level of stress and suffering are greatly diminished. The often overlooked secret here is not to become too attached to this more relaxed life, but to merely accept the enjoyment it brings you. If you happen to allow yourself to become attached to your vacation life, you’ll feel more disappointment when it’s time to return to work. Just accept and enjoy what is in every moment. Do this, and dissatisfaction will cease.

The attachment aspect of craving and clinging is difficult to wrap our minds around, I know. If we’re to be spiritually detached it means we are to have an unconditional openness to everything.

Let me try to explain it another way. We don’t want pain — however, we also don’t want to give up pleasure. Whichever side of this coin is facing up, it’s still desire. You desire to give up pain — but you also desire to hang on to pleasure. It’s a real problem for all of us — we want what we want, but we also don’t want what we don’t want. Either way, it’s still wanting — it’s still craving — it’s still desire — and ultimately, it still brings us dissatisfaction, either way. Most of us are constantly on the, “I want it — I don’t want it”, merry-go-round. (As I write this and think about how it affects my own life, the truth of it makes me tired.)

One more thought before we wrap up this post to Buddhist Belief. The Third Noble Truth is telling us to learn to live without all our selfish passions. It’s telling us find ways to simplify our lives. Among the best ways to accomplish this is to be more open, honest and trustworthy. If we live this way we don’t have so many things to worry about — and worry is just another form of suffering. Our thought processes are clear and less cluttered. We don’t have to try and remember what story we told to this person — or what story we told to that person — because we know we’ve told the truth to everyone. Our moral discipline and our character are so important to holding suffering at bay. This also includes being completely honest with ourselves. Many things will come into our lives for us to use. When they’ve served their purpose, we can put them away with no regrets. True detachment is not being stuck with anything — not your things — not your ego — not your mind — or your body. None of it is permanent anyway — just let these things go when you’re done with them. What other choice do you really have, anyway?

Next time I hope to write about anger and how it fits into the Third Noble Truth of Buddhist Belief.

Just below I’m repeating my “commercial” for the Spiritual Cinema Circle that I added on here last time. If you didn’t get a chance to check this out last time, I hope you’ll take a moment to do so today.
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I’ve been a member of the Spiritual Cinema Circle for several years. This membership has been a wonderful pleasure. Each month I get a DVD with a feature film and 3 shorter films. It’s mine to keep. I don’t have to send it back. So I can share it with friends or watch them again whenever the mood strikes.

This coming month it stars Michael Douglas as he digs for love and buried treasure in the feature film, King of California.

Yes, from our friends at Spiritual Cinema Circle, comes King of California, a quirky, fascinating, and original movie starring Academy Award® winning actor Michael Douglas. Douglas plays Charlie, whom we meet as he is released from a mental institution, although it’s not quite clear whether he is “cured.” Waiting for Charlie at home is his teenage daughter, Miranda, played by the gifted young actress, Evan Rachel Wood. Any hopes Miranda has for a return to normalcy, however, are immediately dashed as Charlie enlists her in a hunt for Spanish treasure. The Don Quixote-like quest results in a dig beneath the local Costco. The loving, confrontational, and extremely complex father-daughter relationship between Charlie and Miranda is tested and strengthened throughout the film, culminating in a surprise ending.

Also, we have: Monsoon (Short Film): Beautifully shot in Mumbai, India, this film asks how we can honor and respect our loved ones’ wishes, even if they are contrary to our own.

And …Tocar Y Luchar (Short Film): An incredible story in a time when turning a country around seems almost impossible — here’s proof that it’s not.

Plus … Detour (Short Film): In this intriguing short film, Julia intends to leave the traffic jam of her life behind until she meets a strange character who gives her a new perspective.

Receive King of California and the 3 great short films free (plus nominal shipping fee), by visiting Spiritual Cinema Circle at this link:

Spiritual Cinema Circle Free Trial

– be sure to do this before October10.

Here are some video clips so you can get a glimpse of what’s being offered:

Enjoy the films,

I know I sure do — they’re a bright spot in every month.

Start your Free Trial Today — Click the link below…

Spiritual Cinema Circle Free Trial

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Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….

Shanti everyone, … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

Have a peaceful day!! —

Ron Rink

http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

Tags: Buddhist Belief, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, Second Noble Truth, Third Noble Truth, Nirvana, inner peace, peace, attachment, detachment

Technorati Tags: attachment, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist Belief, detachment, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, inner peace, Nirvana, Peace, Second Noble Truth, Third Noble Truth

First things first — as you know my regular posting to the Buddhist Belief Blog suddenly dropped off last week. Unfortunately, the area where I live got caught in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Without spending time on the entire story (if you want to know the whole story of this adventure, send me an email and I’ll be happy to fill you in), what’s important to you is that we lost our power here. Not just in my neighborhood but throughout half the state of Ohio where I live. No power – no posting for about a week.

We are back and ready to embark on the next installment of the Buddhist Belief.

We’ve been looking at the teachings of Buddha from the point of view of my own studies and an effort to bring you the basic teachings in language you can understand. We started with Buddha’s enlightenment experience, and showed you a film series about his life and how he achieved his enlightenment. We know that his basic teachings were the four facts of life, the Four Noble Truths.

The First Noble Truth is that life is dissatisfying. (Buddhists refer to this as dukkha.) In basic terms it says whatever we create, or is conditioned by us in some way, just isn’t going to make the grade in the long run.

The Second Noble Truth, is the cause of this dissatisfaction, or dukkha, is our clinging to those dissatisfying things. It’s the process of investing ourselves in the fool’s gold. It’s our greed for things which are illusory — things that are fleeting and impermanent. It’s our attachment, our insatiable thirst for more, the clutching, the identifying with everything in our lives as me or mine. It’s our resistance to the inner knowledge we all have that things are not permanent. It’s our clinging to the past, or chasing after the rainbows of the future, rather than accepting what is at this moment.

So, as some of my wonderful readers have expressed desire to learn more, let us embark on the next fact of life, the Third Noble Truth — or Nirvana. My readers are saying, “Enough with the suffering, Ron! Let’s get into the good stuff!”

Yes, the Third Noble Truth — the end of suffering.

One of the prime prerequisites for a clear understanding of the Third Noble Truth is an acceptance of the first two Noble Truths — there is dissatisfaction in our life and the cause is our own craving, attachment and resistance to impermanence. The Third Noble Truth is where it can end. This is where we can find the great lasting inner peace, the fulfillment — yes, even enlightenment itself.

Over the past twenty or thirty years I’ve read volumes on Buddhism. Much of those readings were wonderful — others were good, although sometimes difficult to understand. The one fact that runs through all of the multitude of volumes of Buddhist Belief is this basic truth — as long as we hang onto the craving, the clinging, the attachment, the holding on to that which cannot ever be held for long, we will suffer. Once we learn to relinquish our desire for more and more, come to accept the fact that everything changes — that nothing remains — and dissolve our wanting — then, and only then, will we find Nirvana.

Buddha taught that Nirvana is always here. It is in the present, the Now. It’s the flip-side of our clinging and craving. It can be experienced in a moment — this moment. It doesn’t have to take a lifetime for you to find your inner peace. You don’t have to die for you to find your moment. It can be there in an “Oprah moment” — one of those “Ah-Ha” moments. If you were to look up the meaning of the word Nirvana, you would find that it means the extinction or the annihilation of suffering. It can happen simply by letting go of our neediness, our clinging, our craving, our attachments, our greed and our delusions. When all the conflicts generated by these things are no longer controlling our lives, we will reach the place where suffering ceases to exist.

I can hear you saying, “Okay, Ron. We can see there is a truth here. We can also see it’s not as simple as you describe. What’s the catch?”

I know people reading this blog are intelligent — they are people who can discern when something might need more information. Most of us are either afraid – or unwilling — or just not able to go through this “letting go” process right now. We just don’t want to. The way we are today is where we feel the most comfortable. It’s where we live, right? What a frightening concept to even think about messing with our “zone of comfort”. Is this the right time and place for us to be giving up on all the things we truly want to hang on to?

One of the readers of this blog told another reader that it’s all there if you want it — and — if you’re ready for it. Maybe we want to keep doing what we’re doing. This is a good time to be certain that we’re being completely honest with ourselves. Reading this may be creating some conflicting emotions within you. There’s a lot of fear in the letting go process. This may be the time to make this life-changing move — and it may not. Only you can make the choice.

Obviously, the Third Noble Truth of Buddhist Belief needs further examination. If there aren’t any more once-in-a-lifetime weather events around here, I’ll be back in a couple of days to continue the discussion.
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There’s something else I’d like to pass along to you. I’ve been a member of the Spiritual Cinema Circle for several years. This membership has been a wonderful pleasure. Each month I get a DVD with a full-length feature film and 3 shorter films, and they’re mine to keep and share with family and friends.

This month it stars Michael Douglas as he digs for love and buried treasure in the feature film, King of California.

Yes, from our friends at Spiritual Cinema Circle, comes King of California, a quirky, fascinating, and original movie starring Academy Award® winning actor Michael Douglas. Douglas plays Charlie, whom we meet as he is released from a mental institution, although it’s not quite clear whether he is “cured.” Waiting for Charlie at home is his teenage daughter, Miranda, played by the gifted young actress, Evan Rachel Wood. Any hopes Miranda has for a return to normalcy, however, are immediately dashed as Charlie enlists her in a hunt for Spanish treasure. The Don Quixote-like quest results in a dig beneath the local Costco. The loving, confrontational, and extremely complex father-daughter relationship between Charlie and Miranda is tested and strengthened throughout the film, culminating in a surprise ending.

Also, we have: Monsoon (Short Film): Beautifully shot in Mumbai, India, this film asks how we can honor and respect our loved ones’ wishes, even if they are contrary to our own.

And …Tocar Y Luchar (Short Film): An incredible story in a time when turning a country around seems almost impossible — here’s proof that it’s not.

Plus … Detour (Short Film): In this intriguing short film, Julia intends to leave the traffic jam of her life behind until she meets a strange character who gives her a new perspective.

Receive King of California and the 3 great short films free (plus nominal shipping fee), by visiting Spiritual Cinema Circle at this link:

Spiritual Cinema Circle Free Trial

– be sure to do this before October10.

Here are some video clips so you can get a glimpse of what’s being offered:

Enjoy the films,

I know I sure do — they’re a bright spot in every month.

Start your Free Trial Today By Clicking Here:

Spiritual Cinema Circle Free Trial

=================================================

Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….

Shanti everyone, … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

Have a peaceful day!! —

Ron Rink

http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

Technorati Tags: Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist Belief, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, inner peace, Nirvana, Peace, Second Noble Truth, Third Noble Truth

One of the mental pictures I used in the last couple of articles about the Second Noble Truth of Buddhist Belief is the picture of how our incessant searching for some sort of gratification is like drinking salt water. The more we drink, the more we seem to need and want. Our thirst never gets quenched. We’ve learned that the Second Noble Truth is about our craving for things, clinging to those things that will eventually either dissipate or fall apart.

The question to ask ourselves is, “What’s really bugging us?”

At times, it seems as though everything is bugging us. Most everything is less than satisfying. Why is that? What IS our problem, anyway?

You know what it is? It’s exactly what the Buddha said it was. It’s the craving; it’s the clinging; it’s the holding on to stuff that won’t last; it’s the hanging on to the things in our life which we know are impermanent or over which we have no control; it’s identifying ourselves with things we know are not true — such things as the illusion of who we are — which is nothing more than a fabrication our own mind made up. It’s our constant resistance to accept things as they are.

What about our image of ourselves? How much is reality? I may think of myself as Ron — an American — a man — a writer — a lover of peace. But is that all I am? Will that persona last forever? Am I not much more than that in a universal sense? Doesn’t this mind-made concept of who I am limit my true possibilities?

I know, what’s my point here? This is confusing, I know. It is for me as well, but I keep working on it. In plain language I’m trying to make the point that what we think we are — what we have identified with as our image, is a hoax. Totally a hoax. What do you think? Is that statement bold enough for you? Sure, we all have to function in this world. We need to have some sort of mask to present to others. What Buddha is saying here, is that we don’t need to be so completely identified with this idea of who we are. We’re invested in this image of ourselves. To go a step further, we’ve become deceived by it. We don’t have to be this image — that’s what freedom is all about. You don’t have to be stuck with who you think you are.

You inherited your genetic makeup from your parents, but there’s no rule saying you have to identify with it. Maybe your parents weren’t very healthy. Does that mean you can’t be healthy? We can be responsible for ourselves in every way, physically and spiritually. I know the parents who raised me have no resemblance to who I am today. We are able to be something other than what people told us we could be.

One of the reasons why we’re so attached to who we think we are is because it’s familiar, it’s what we know. It’s our security blanket. We also seem to need others to hang our hopes on. The children like to idolize Santa Claus. Adults might pick idols like Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr, or the Dalai Lama. In some parts of the world it may be other avatars. What happens when we do this is we eventually become disappointed because, like everything else, these ideals aren’t permanent. They are not forever. They too will eventually fade. What will last is the essence of who you are — the purity of heart which doesn’t need anything to cling to because it is complete unto itself.

So, the Second Noble Truth of Buddhist Belief is that the cause of the dissatisfaction taught in the First Noble Truth, is clinging and craving.

The Third Noble Truth which we’ll discuss in our next articles, is the dissolution of craving and clinging. It’s the great “letting go”. It’s the openness and purity of who we truly are which doesn’t need anything any longer. It’s the place where we can rest our weary minds and finally be at ease. And, to be clear to many who learn about Buddhist Belief from other sources, you don’t have to die to let this happen.

Soon thereafter, we’ll discuss the Fourth Noble Truth. That’s the one I call the “biggie”. Here, Buddha gives us the keys to release from suffering, which is called the Eightfold Path. These are the eight principle of enlightened living. They show us how we can truly be free. They show us the real hope in the teachings of Buddhist Belief. Here we will learn that nothing is hopeless. We’ll discover that everything is always changing and not exactly as we think it is. Even ourselves – yes — even we are a work in progress. Sure, we have to do some work to bring this to us, but it is the true work.
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One of the aspects of this blog has been showing you a short video on the subject of Buddhist Belief. This one a little over four minutes long and shows Linhai, the founder of Sacred Journeys speaking about the Four Noble Truths. If, for some reason, the video doesn’t play when you press the play button, here’s a link to take you directly to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxYoWfzdgkI

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Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….

Shanti everyone, … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

Have a peaceful day!! —

Ron Rink

http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

Technorati Tags: Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist Belief, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, inner peace, Peace, Second Noble Truth

We were talking last time about how to deal with the Second Noble Truth. I shared some of the insight I received after reading that inner peace was always available to every one of us. It wasn’t something to be found “out there” somewhere. It wasn’t even something that reading more books would show me. It was something to be found only in one place, and the place was our own natural being. All the work being done to find this beautiful, lasting peace wasn’t necessary. We just have to learn to be. (Now, there is a basic Buddhist Belief in a nutshell if I ever heard one.)

Why does this seem to be so much more difficult than it truly is?

A good answer to this question could be because we’re so wrapped up in “doing”, achieving and becoming, that we forget about — just “being”. We’ve been conditioned to “do” rather than “be”. Nothing could be more comforting than to realize that all we need to do is relax and find the wonderful balance that is fully complete in each of us. We just need to “be”. It’s who we are. There’s nothing missing from our true spiritual ground — our true nature. It’s all there. Once we see this amazing truth and recognize it for what it is, then our activities of life — all of our “doings” — those things we need to get done every day will take on an entirely new perspective. We’ll become more creative. We’ll find it easier to be proactive rather than reactive. We’ll experience a more graceful life rather than being lost in the drudgery of our conditioning.

We keep wanting to think there has to be something more. We think if we just look around this corner, or take that fork in the road, we’ll find something better. We’ve been conditioned all our lives to believe this way. Even in our spiritual quest we feel as though we have to “strive” for something more. We desire something higher — or we work hard to get rid of something about us that we think of as inadequate — or less than. We keep wanting to “become” something we think we’re not, when all that’s needed is be as we are. The beauty is — we already are, anyway, so it’s an easy trip. We don’t have to go far at all to get there. It is really a matter of recognizing who and what we are, rather than trying to quench our thirst for something else, for that thirst continuously perpetuates our pain — as told in the First and Second Noble Truths.

As you’ve already surmised, this blog is about basic Buddhist Belief. Did you know there are about 84,000 Buddhist teachings. (No, I haven’t studied all of those, thank you!) What has worked so well for me is staying close to the basics of what Buddha taught — which are — there is suffering and/or dissatisfaction in life — the reason for this is our own constant craving — and that making some lifestyle changes could solve the whole problem. We can do all this right here, right now. In fact we can get some great practice by doing meditation every day. You don’t have to convert to anything — you don’t have to learn any dogma — you don’t even have to use the word Buddhism. One of the reasons why I am such a strong proponent of daily meditation is because the practice of meditation is an ideal way to plug into the essence of us and block out all the conditioning — the becoming — the clinging — the craving. Even if your meditation is only for a short time when you’re getting started on your path to inner peace, those moments when you are completely in the present, the Now, are the moments when you can feel the suffering cease.

One way to determine the value of meditation is to spend some time and carefully examine our daily lives. Notice how much of your energy is devoted to the thirst that drives us. See how driven we are in our compulsiveness. We’re always plugged into everything other than our essence. We’re watching something, or listening to something, or cruising the television channels, or talking on the phone, and now that we have cell phones we don’t even have some quiet time in the car while we’re driving. There’s no time to just be. Take the time to notice your life. I would bet very few people reading this are the exception to what I’m describing.

Next time we’ll carry this line of thought a bit further. After we’ve said enough about what the Second Noble Truth is all about, we’ll embark on some understanding of the Third Noble Truth of Buddhist Belief.
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I’ve been showing you a series of short 10-minute videos produced by the BBC called “The Life of Buddha.” You can see those by scrolling back thoough the last five articles. I hope you enjoy it. This week I’d like to pass along these wise quotes of Siddhattha Gotama; the Buddha. It doesn’t matter which faith you follow or if you don’t particularly consider yourself a religious person, you will find truth in his words. Buddha civilized half the world with his teaching.

Dedicated to
Robin van Wissen

If, for some reason, the video doesn’t play when you press the play button, here’s a link to take you directly to it :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTsb-woP3jI

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Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….

Shanti everyone, … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

Have a peaceful day!! —

Ron Rink

http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

Technorati Tags: Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist Belief, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, inner peace, Peace, Second Noble Truth

We ended the last article by pointing out the three aspects of the Second Noble Truth of Buddhist Belief . Remember, they were first, our craving for pleasurable experiences, our desires, getting what we want. The second aspect was the aggressive need to get rid of the things we don’t want. We’re either experiencing excessive desires or anger and aggression as a result of these two aspects. The third aspect of the Second Noble Truth is our need to be something other than what we are. It’s chasing after the desires of the ego part of us.

The important thing to keep in mind from the last article is that no matter what we get of the things we want — no matter what unpleasant things in our life we manage to rid ourselves of — no matter what we achieve — no matter how much money we make — none of this is going to last forever. The reason why all this leads to the dissatisfaction of the First Noble Truth, is deep down, in the places in our mind where true wisdom resides, we know this to be true. Lasting satisfaction will never happen. Our resistance to this knowledge is what brings about the suffering described in the First Noble Truth.

You could think of our craving as a thirst for pleasure. The more you drink, the thirstier you become. We thirst to be rid of pain. We thirst to become something or someone else. It’s like drinking salt water — our thirst is never quenched.

The way the Buddha analyzed the cause of suffering, is that the cause — the Second Truth — and the end of the cause — the Third Truth — in addition to the path to end suffering — the Fourth Truth — will lead us to see this is where the cord to suffering gets cut. If we look at what we cling to, what we crave, what we demand, what we identify with, and how all those attachments are truly not working for us, we get a glimpse of what we are really getting. The question to ask is, “Are we getting what we expected?”

I know that for me, one of the most difficult hurdles I had to cross with applying the Buddhist Belief to my life, was how traumatic it was to accept how conditioned and addicted I was. Once I paid attention to the fact that I was rarely at ease, always seeking something either through shopping, or chasing after things, or through consumption and irrational desires, I came to an understanding that I wasn’t truly happy or content. I was generally dissatisfied. I always wanted more, but I didn’t know why.

I realized eventually, that this is how I was conditioned to act. From the time I was a small child I was conditioned to always get more — do more. I had my first job when I was eight years old– and it wasn’t a newspaper route — it was setting pins in a bowling alley. Once I reached my teens and twenties I had to keep achieving. There was a drive to succeed — to be the best. I had to get the best grades in college. I had to rise up the “ladder of success” in my working life. I had a gnawing need to have the best — to look the best — to be the best — to associate with the best.

I’m sure most of you are thinking, “Yeah. So, what’s wrong with that?” Am I right?

Folks, I was on a treadmill that was leading nowhere. The more material goods I accumulated — the higher I rose in the commercial banking ranks with my employment — the more money I made — the less satisfied and healthy I was. I was like a gerbil on a wheel. The more driven I was, the more the need to keep driving grew within me.

A few years ago I discovered I was applying the same kind of drive to following a path of Buddhist Belief. I was striving to be something or someone else to the point of little or no success. There was still desire and craving there. And, whenever there is desire and craving there will be a lot of suffering. I kept wondering when this inner peace I was supposed to be feeling would show up. Oh, I had wonderful moments of beautiful peace during many of my meditations, but, overall, in my day-to-day life, I was still dissatisfied and striving for more.

Then, in one of the many books I’ve read about Buddhist Belief, I read that Buddha taught that inner peace was always available within our natural being, within our spiritual ground, within our Buddha-nature. It’s not that I hadn’t read these same teachings in previous books, but, for some unknown reason, this time I got the picture. It was liberating and exhilarating. I was just changing my previous desires over to a new set of desires to become more Buddha-like. This was just more craving for something different. I was working so hard to become what I already was.

Once I began to rest in the truth of the wisdom within — once I began to see through the constant craving, clinging, wanting, and not wanting, I could begin to understand that these were the aspects of my life that were causing me to be so restless and dissatisfied. I began to see that this was not only hurting me, it was also the reason why there is so much suffering in the world.

The lesson here is that there is a reason why we call it “inner peace”. It is called “inner peace’ because it is always within us.

Okay. That’s enough for this time. We’ll pick this up again in our next post when we continue our discussion of the Second Noble Truth and Buddhist Belief.
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I’ve been showing you a series of short 10-minute videos produced by the BBC called “The Life of Buddha.” Last time was Part Four. This time we’ll show you the last part, Part Five. I hope you enjoy it. If, for some reason, the video doesn’t play when you press the play button, here’s a link to take you directly to it :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AZmTgK8td0

======================================
Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….

Shanti everyone, … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

Have a peaceful day!! —

Ron Rink

http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

Technorati Tags: Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist Belief, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, inner peace, Peace, Second Noble Truth

We finished the last article by talking about attachment. In the early stages of living a lifestyle based on Buddhist Belief , it may be a bit of overwhelm to lose our attachment to everything all at once. It might be best if we rid ourselves of the unhealthy things in our life — things like smoking, lousy relationships, drugs and alcohol. Focus more on the things you should keep or add to your life like healthier food choices, meditation, nourishing your good relationships and your spiritual life. Keep doing this and you’ll find, over time, your need to remain attached to things will gradually move more and more towards the positive, and the negative things will diminish.

Before we move on with the Second Noble Truth I’d like to mention something one of the readers asked. This person wanted to know how someone who is a Christian can live a Buddhist lifestyle? First of all, living a lifestyle based on Buddhist Belief is not about changing your religion. I do call myself a Buddhist, but I don’t consider using the teachings of the Buddha to show me a better way to live my life, as a religion. I also don’t see anything in the basic teachings of Buddha in these articles contradicting the teachings of the various religions. Is it possible that others may not agree with me? Absolutely! I have no problem with that. This is not about worshiping Buddha. What this is about is applying the teachings of a person who lived 2500 years ago and applying them to our lives. I think most people are dealing with different things in their lives. There are all sorts of different realities going on in each of our lives. The same differences will apply to how people reading this blog will interpret what’s being written. As I’ve quoted in another blog recently:

Let’s spend a moment on what we wrote about attachment. What would be worthy of attachment? Suppose you’d like to be attached to God? You should go for that. Be attached to God. We need to rid ourselves of things like clinging, being demanding, resistance, greed, and being rigid. These things are just not helpful. Being generous with yourself and others, practicing tolerance, equanimity and balance in your life — these are good things.

Okay — got carried away there, so let’s get on with the plan for this article — the Second Noble Truth.

You’ll remember from previous posts, the first of the Four Noble Truths says life is pretty darn dissatisfying. All the created and conditioned things are just a bit less than we wished — they’re not quite as reliable as we’d like and are ultimately not what we expected. Many Buddhist teachers call the First Noble Truth, suffering. Personally, I prefer the word dissatisfying.

Just being aware that life is dissatisfying won’t make it any less so. We need to know why that’s the case and this is where the Second Noble Truth comes into play. What is the cause of all this dissatisfaction?

The really cool part of this is once we realize the truth about “why”, we come to understand the things themselves don’t suffer or become dissatisfied — it’s us that feels the pain! We suffer because of our clinging, our attachments, our greed, our constant desires, our need for more and more. Many Buddhist teachers just call it craving. We want more and more of the things and experiences in our life so we’ll be happy. We get them and soon these things lose their shiny exteriors and we become less satisfied with them and we begin to suffer. When suffering kicks in, we crave finding ways to replace them and the cycle starts over again.

It isn’t the “things” we need to get out of our lives — it’s our attachment to them. Attachments fall into three different categories. The first is our craving for pleasurable experiences, getting what we want. The second sort of attachment is getting rid of the things in our life we don’t want. The first is all about desire, and the second part is more about anger and aggression. It’s the craving for something to be other than what it is.

The third aspect of the Second Noble Truth is the craving or desire to be someone other than who we are. The ultimate ego-trip — the degree of dissatisfaction in wanting to become “somebody”. No matter who we become — no matter how we may see ourselves — no matter what we may achieve — no matter what material possessions we may accumulate — it, or they, won’t last forever. Yet, we knock ourselves out chasing after these aspects of attachment. If we identify with our body — or if we identify with our mind — or if we identify with our concept of who we think we are — and since these types of attachments or identification won’t last forever, (and deep down we know it), ultimate satisfaction never happens! We never quite get what we thought we would. Our inherent wisdom is always there telling us that this just is not going to last — and therein lies the reason why we suffer.

We’ll pick this up again in our next post when we continue our discussion of the Second Noble Truth and Buddhist Belief.
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I’ve been showing you a series of short 10-minute videos produced by the BBC called “The Life of Buddha.” Last time was Part Three. This time we’ll show you Part Four. I hope you enjoy it. If, for some reason, the video doesn’t play when you press the play button below, here’s a link to take you directly to it :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8q-uSYujMI

======================================
Always remember ….

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

Have a peaceful day!! —

Ron Rink

http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

Technorati Tags: Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist Belief, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, Second Noble Truth