Buddhism - "when is nothing, everything?"
1. Life of the Buddha (563-483 BCE): Siddhartha Gautama, Four Passing Sights, Great Going Forth and the Middle Way, Great Awakening at the Bodhi Tree with Kama Mara, Bodhisattva and the Dhamma "Doctrine" or "Way" (Dhammapada)
2.
The
starting point in Buddha's teachings, is to offer advice as a
physician. The
Four Noble Truths and #1 -
dukkha
-
"unsatisfactoriness" - chaos, imbalance, suffering
a.k.a. "we're ill" or the Titanic is sinking
3. In the
Four Noble Truths, #2- the cause -
tanha
- ignorant cravings, desires, attachments, stuff of the ego
-
“Three Poisons":
greed/desires, delusion/ignorance, and hatred =
bad
karma
a.k.a. "the cause of the illness" or on the Titanic, do we push and shove our way past the babies and grandmothers to get into the limited number of life boats?
4. Landscape: karma and samsara (akin to Hinduism)
Metaphor of River Crossing. On a Yana "raft" - as you reflect on Three Jewels (dhamma "teachings," sangha "community," the Buddha's example)
As move across river, realize its deeper meaning:
anicca -
"impermanent world” transitory, in process –
not permanent objects
paticcasamuppada -
"dependent origination" of reality – interconnectivity –
not Cartesian
Dualism
skandhas
- "aggregate
bundle of forms" "thought-coverings" –
reality a construction of our minds –
not reducible
to material forms,
no
Aristotelian material reductionism
bardos - each person is always in state of becoming, of transitions
5. In the Four Noble Truths, #3 - means to overcome: “Eightfold Path” - it all begins with your thoughts, with prajna “wisdom” -“right knowledge" truth and "right intent” and “mindfulness” - followed by sila “right speech and actions” - ahimsa "non-violence" - mettā "loving kindness" - karuna "compassion," bearing the pain of others - dhyana "meditation" to awaken the true Mind (not still it as in Hinduism)
a.k.a. "cure for illness" or back to the Titanic, with all our best abilities, intentions and love, play our violins for the enjoyment of others, as the Titanic sinks. Isn't this the best way to go out?
And once the “base” mental qualities achieved,
iddhipāda “potency” - “spiritual
power” is attainable
6. In the Four Noble Truths, #4 - Eightfold Path results in:
nirvana - desires are extinguished, released from samsara and karma, liberation from suffering
and
sunyata
– transcendent "emptiness,"
a state of "boundless life," "bliss" - from nothing comes the potential for everything
Great Paradox: when your yana raft reaches the other shore and you jump off, and your are met with the realization that you don't need to carry the raft on your back any longer - that there is no Yana, that there is anatta = no "self" no "soul," no Buddha, no savior, and in fact no nirvana, (all “thought-coverings”). The Buddha: Not non-existence, nor existence, but in removing all skandhas, reveal ultimate potentiality, something already possesses within – “the Buddhahood” – expressed as universal compassion
a.k.a. our ultimate fate cannot be ignored or on the Titanic, as the waters engulf you, your identity is dissolved and are merged with the great endless ocean of what can become, of potentiality of everything, realization of compassion.
7.
No exclusivity,
as all authentic spiritual traditions are governed by compassion and lead to
the realization of the oneness with divinity (however defined)