As you may have seen, a week or so ago I wrote about the wisdom of Buddha and the four noble truths. The four noble truths of course are an integral part of the eightfold path. You must know them both full to truly be Buddhist.
I wish to start an in depth study of the eightfold path. I will do a post every so often and talk about the next section of that path. The first post was the first part of the eightfold path (the four noble truths). The second part of the eightfold path is:
Right Thought - We create our own realities through our minds. The ideas we allow to take root in our minds create our karma and our world. So we must be ever careful about what we allow to take root. Those thought’s that are born of desire, and thus cause us suffering when they grow in the mind, are: laziness, vanity, arrogance, conceit, stubbornness, lies, hypocrisy, jealousy, envy, dominance, and belittling.
The methods for removing such thoughts are as follows:
- Abstain from that which excites the senses but brings poison with it
- Use everything in our power to promote peace
- Tolerate all that is, even that which is adverse to our interests
- Avoid all impurity and that which spoils the mind.
- Destroy all the above mentioned negative thoughts at the root
- Continually develop your skills of peacefulness
No on controls our thoughts but ourselves. As such, we have complete responsibility for choosing our own thoughts, and thus creating the world around us. In other words, our “outside” will inevitably begin to mirror our “inside,” which is our thoughts. So be ever careful what you think, and what thoughts you allow to become deeply rooted in your mind; for those thoughts will ultimately determine the course of your life.
I stumbled upon some interesting information a few days ago. I was looking for some ways to improve my interior decor (superficial, I know), and I found some indoor water fountains at this site. They looked beautiful, albeit some of them were kind of expensive; but what was startling was the information I found when I started doing a little research on them.
Apparently, an indoor fountain can bring immense benefits into your home or office; much more than just superficial aesthetics. Not to downplay the value of aesthetics. The fountains are beautiful and are worth the price for their beauty alone. But there are many more emotional, mental, and spiritual benefits as well.
The first benefit is actually scientifically proven. A running water fountain will actually rid your environment of negative ions, which have a deleterious effect on your mood and well-being. The fountains actually cleanse the air around you.
Some of the other benefits are a little more subtle, but still very powerful. Indoor wall fountains offer the continuous sound of trickling water, which has a soothing effect on the mind and spirit. Stress is probably the most pervasive cause of stress in modern society. Loud, unnatural sounds constantly filling our ears causes us to be tense in a way that we don’t notice consciously. This wears on us throughout the day.
The natural sound of running water has long been know to cure that sort of tension, and free our minds from constant worrying. In this way, having an indoor fountain can ease your mind and cleanse your soul.
Buddha is of course the creator of the “Noble Eightfold Path,” which describes wisdom as the understanding of the Four Noble Truths. Thus, to attain wisdom, one must know and deeply understand these truths. So what are they?
(1) Life Means Suffering
Buddha teaches that suffering is inevitable. To be more specific, this suffering is caused by impermanence. We can attain states of calmness and happiness, and experience ease and comfort in our lives. However, we can never stabalize these states and make them have a permenant presence. Our happiness is always temporary, and inevitably ends at some point.
Just as we experience happiness and comfort, we also experience suffering. We experience physical suffering in the form of pain, illness, injuries, and ultimately death. We also experience mental anxieties such as fear and disapointment. These negative mental states and physical conditions happen at least as often as the positive ones. Hence, suffering is a theme that cycles throughout our life.
(2) The origin of suffering is attachment
But why do we experience these negative feelings? In a word, ego. But that word is not helpful in and of itself, and is often very misunderstood. The essence of our suffering is attachment to impermanent things. This includes, but is not limited to, physical and material objects. The word ‘attachment’ can be seen as having two aspects for purposes of this discussion: ‘wanting’ and ‘clinging.’ When we desire things, whether they be a car and a house, or wealth and fame in general, or popularity amongst our peers, we will inevitably suffer, even if we eventually attain these things. They are all impermanent; we will either not attain them at all, or attain them and inevitably lose them, which will cause suffering. Even attachment to our identity of ’self,’ who we think we are is transient. Who we actually are is ever-changing, just like the universe.
(3) The cessation of suffering is attainable
According to Buddha and the Four Noble Truths, the cessation of suffering is possible by simply destroying the source of that suffering. As we learned, suffering is caused by attachment; so the cure for suffering is eliminating attachment. How do we do this? The practice of perfecting dispassion. We must let go of all sensual desires and attachment to ideas and concepts. This will ultimately create a state of Nirvana in which we are freed from all worries, stress, and fabricated ideas. Nirvana is only comprehensible for those who have tasted it.
(4) The path to the cessation of suffering
The Eightfold path of Buddha is unique in that it offers its believers an end to what others deem to be an endless circle of life and suffering. We can escape the karmic wheel through the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold path, which counsels a middle way between the two extremes (dualism) of hedonism (self-indulgence) and asceticism (self-denial). Moderation is the true path, and we attain in by continually improving ourselves and practicing. This path may take many lifetimes, but once we attain the state of Nirvana, we are freed from the cycles of life, death and rebirth. As our immortal soul learns the lessons of life and lets go of desires, passion, ignorance and falsities, we gradually progress on our path to enlightenment.
To celebrate the continuation of this blog, I have composed some Zen inspired haiku. Enjoy!
The sound of water
Fills the abyss in my soul
Water wall fountains
Kneeding and rolling,
Enjoying some shiatsu
In my massage chair
Farewell to all who’ve read this blog. I’m simplifying and part of the process is letting go of this blog. It will cease to exist soon when I don’t renew the domain registration. Thanks for reading. Goodbye.
Karmacino is like Digg for the Buddhist community and it looks pretty cool. I’ve just signed up. My username is zen.housewife
Science says that meditation helps us focus. But we already knew that.
[via: WildMind]
Fellow blogging Buddhist Peter, of The Buddha Diaries, has launched a new collaborative blog called Accidental Dharma: “the gift wrapped in shit” and he is inviting stories of lessons learned from the nasty little (or big) accidents (or incidents, or losses) that happen in our lives. Peter has provided a place for all to explore their accidental Dharma and to tell their story. Email your story.
Hey, I’ve got it.
I’m just shining the sink.
Just drying the dishes.
Just making the beds.
Just wiping the window sill.
Just sweeping the doorstep.
Who knew that Nike had the answer all along? Just do it!
Photograph by Oliver Gruener
Christmas is over. In the long run-up to Christmas when the day actually comes it’s all over in a flash. I’ve been reflecting on impermanence these past few days.
Driving down the motorway at night. Headlights appear, dazzle and are gone.
Standing in a kitchen drying dishes. My sister-in-law realises that she must live her life.
Sitting indoors, nearly seventy, afraid to go out, afraid of change, afraid to live, afraid to die. I feel sad for my mother-in-law whose life is do difficult for her to bear.
Bringing my face down to the carpet in the morning, saluting the sun. Noticing that old people aren’t able to keep their homes as clean as they once did.
Flowers die in a vase. Fruit spoils. What’s in an expiry date?
My only decent pair of jeans became indecent when they split across the back of the thigh, revealing more than intended.
Every moment of the day demonstrates impermanence. What a blessing to see this.
I’m harping on a little, I know, but I’m so blown away by what I have available to me, for my learning pleasure, now that I have this little piece of equipment called a media player. Instead of reading last night I listened to a Dharma talk by Gil Fronsdal about the Four Noble Truths, and this morning I enjoyed a guided Metta meditation when I awoke. I’m downloading a few more Dharma talks as I type this. This is as exciting a discovery for me as books. Yes, it’s that big. I suddenly feel like the world is my oyster and I can bring learning to myself whenever I yearn for it. I feel like I want to say a big thank you to someone, I think I’ll go and give my husband a big kiss.
It was my birthday last Monday. I had meant to write a blog post about it. It was such a lovely day. Pete gave me a Trevor Baylis Eco Media Player. If you don’t know what one of those is, it’s like an iPod, just way, way cooler. It’s bigger than an iPod, has more of a retro look about it, and, and here’s the cherry on top, it is a wind-up media player. Yes, it has a hand-crank. 40 seconds of winding gives you one hour of music. A friend of mine likened it to an old phonograph with earphones. Hahaha. It’s not quite as big as that.
Yesterday I discovered podcasts. And I discovered a website called AudioDharma where you can download Dharma talks by a variety of teachers and speakers. My media player has opened up a whole new world of learning to me.
I’m still reading Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi.
I approached the day with butterflies in my stomach, but felt comfortable within half an hour of being there. It was my first time on retreat. It was a teaching retreat, and we learned about insight meditation (Vipassana). I’ve been trying out insight meditation over the past few months, so this has given me a bit more guidance and reassured me that I’m on the right track.
I’m ready to sign up for a whole weekend of silent meditation now. The thought still scares me, but now I know that those thoughts won’t last long once I’m there.
The most exciting part of the meditation for me is the discovery of the space between thoughts.
It turns out my head is not always what it appears to be, even from the inside.
I’m currently reading Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi.
Some months back I was looking for a Buddha to take pride of place in my little shrine. This would have been ideal, if a little on the large side. Right action for the environment!
[via: Make]