THE BUDDHIST RELIGIOUS PATH
© Phra Hans Piyathammo Ulrich Kämpfer
A) THE TEACHING
1. THE TWO ROOTS OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, WHICH DETERMINE THE BASIC “GEOGRAPHY OF THE HUMAN SOUL” AND THE DIFFICULTY OF THE HUMAN CONDITION
In our soul [as incarnated beings after our separation from “the light”], there are two basic “mountains”:
There is the “mountain” of the worldly realm of incarnation [coming into matter], called the LOKIYA realm, with its six levels of perpetual wandering (SAMSARA). [Its symbol is the wheel with 6 spokes]. There is the “mountain” of the spiritual realm (NIRVANA), where enlightenment and religious fulfillment take place [Lat.re-ligio = re-connection (with “the light”)].
In between is the abyss, the dark swamp, hell…
If one wants to reach the spiritual mountain, where the salvation of our soul may happen, one must:
a) extricate oneself from the blind submission to the powers of the worldly realm
b) confront and defeat the powers of darkness
This is a dangerous path that can not be walked alone!
The worldly realm has six basic levels:
THE UPPER WORLD:
1. The deva worlds (Devas = ‘the radiant ones”) [problems of satisfaction](whitish)
THE MIDDLE WORLD:
2. The human world [problems of stress and fatigue] (blueish)
THE UNDERWORLD:
3. The animal world [problems of struggle for survival and procreation] (greenish)
4. The word of the hungry Ghosts [problems of hunger and greed] (yellowish)
5. The world of the fallen angels and the non-brave spirits
[problems of repressed anger, hatred and cowardice] (red)
6. Hell [problems of anxiety and decay] (blackish)
The three typical characteristics of the worldly realm are:
A) Every created phenomenon [object, thought, feeling etc] is impermanent
B) Therefore it is exposed to difficulty and to destruction, thus not satisfactory
C) It experiences itself in its struggle for power and survival, thus living in separative duality, [which is not a spiritual state of being].
The typical consequences of living in the worldly realm are the “three fires”:
1) Greed[Hunger + anxiety]
2) Hatred [Destructive defense + anxiety, thus powerlessness]
3) Ignorance [To ignore ones spiritual roots, being blindly submitted to the powers of the worldly realm, thus to anxiety and craving]
The three “fires” keep us wandering in the SAMSARA worlds, here and thereafter!
It may happen one day, that a person gets “disturbed” during his ‘normal’ life in the Samsara-realm through the experience of a “disillusion”. The person is then shocked, frustrated, maybe traumatized, and loses his security and his faith in his habitual way of living. This “disturbance” might have been caused through problems of the Ego, the family, the job, the planned future, certain events and happenings in life [illnesses, accidents, losses, addiction, depression, panic-attacks] or in the environment, or in the world in general. The causes are of minor importance. One could call it the “showing up of the Karma”. The message is generally that it is time to start doing ones inner “homework”, or that the time for spiritual awakening has come.
According to Chuan Yuan Shakya, there are three possible kinds of reactions:
1. There are the ones who will do everything in order to go back and to reestablish their “peace” and “security” within the (impermanent) Samsara-realm. This happens mostly by the attempt of “removing the symptom”[removing the messenger], through surgery and various kinds of ‘therapies’. Some even try to make life in the dark swamp bearable through the ‘input’ of pharmaceutical products, which lead to the ‘anesthesia’ of their consciousness!
[Knocking out the messerger].
2. There are the ones who limit themselves on their self-destruction. This happens not seldom through drug addiction or through suicide.
3. There are the ones who accept the "dark swamp" as a challenge and try to get through it, in order to reach the shores of the mountain of Nirvana, where salvation and religious fulfillment are awaiting. This means that they have chosen to awaken and walk a spiritual Path, discovering that “disillusion comes before awakening”
(CYS 85).
2. THE PATH THAT LEADS TO SALVATION
The path that leads to the salvation of ones soul is called “the sweet law” of THE MIDDLE WAY:
“IF ONE WANTS TO ADVANCE ON THE SPIRITUAL PATH, ONE MUST
AVOID TWO THINGS:
- TO SUBMIT ONESELF MASSIVELY TO LOW, PRIMITIVE, DEGRADING,
UNNOBLE INDULGING IN SENSUAL PLEASURES, POSSESSED BY
SEPARATIVE DUALITY.
- TO SUBMIT ONESELF MASSIVELY TO EVIL AND DISTRUCTIVE SELF-
MORTIFICATION, -INHIBITION AND -DEJECTION, POSSESSED BY
SEPARATIVE DUALITY”.
TheMiddle Way requires living fully, with full power. The Buddha has said that one must become THE CHARIOTEER OF ONE’S SOUL. That means, one has to take the control over the forces of ones soul!
The two basic mistakes according the Middle Way are:
To let the horses (body, mind, feelings, thoughts and matter) be in control.
To reject, starve, inhibit or even to kill the horses.
The horses must be in our service! The chariot will carry us to our destination.
The destination lies on “the other shore” (Nirvana), where the salvation of our soul will happen, through enlightenment and religious fulfillment.
3. FOUR BASIC WORDS
A) THE DHARMA (Sanskrit)/DHAMMA (Pali)
The Dharma is at the same time the insight into the spiritual reality beyond the material world and the teaching how to get there.
B) SAMMĀ (Pali)
This core-word of the Buddha could be translated as “peaceful and joyful self-loving identity with oneself, in inclusive individuality”
C) THE NIRVANA (Sanskrit)/NIBBANA (Pali)
The Nirvana is the first goal of Buddhist practice. It is the realm one reaches after having overcome darkness and one’s submission to the powers of body and mind, having reached "the other shore", where 'enlightenment' and religious fulfillment will happen.
If one wants to overcome the lokiya realm, in order to reach the “other shore”, the realm of Nirvana, one must overcome the abyss, pass through the “dark swamp”. This is the BIG TEST, the BIG WAR!
The path that leads to Nirvana is called the LOKUTTARA path, the “MIDDLE WAY” or the “HOLY ASCENDING EIGHTFOLD PATH”.
D) THE FOUR JHANAS
Having reached the “other shore” (NIRVANA), the process that leads to religious fulfillment is done in 4 steps, called THE FOUR JHANAS.
4. THE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ONE'S LIFE
Every action [KARMA (Sanskrit)/KAMMA (Pali)] has an effect that goes on until it will be 'released'. This can happen a very long time after the death of one's physical body. The effects of one's actions in the past are the cause of what one will encounter in the present.
“ACTIONS” ARE THOUGHT, SPEECH AND DEED; THE DECISIVE ELEMENT IS THE VOLITION, THE GOOD OR BAD INTENTION.
If we nurture the light, the good will come to us. If we nurture darkness,
darkness will get its power on us. Darkness wants our destruction.
We create our future by what we do in every moment in the present.
We are fully responsible for our life on earth and for what comes after.
5. THE "4 SUBLIME STATES OF THE HEART" (BRAHMA VIHARA)
1. LOVE/LOVING-KINDNESS [Metta] (Its close enemy is co-dependency)
2. COMPASSION [Karuna](Its 'close enemy' is pity)
3. SYMPATHETIC JOY [Muditta](Its 'close enemy' is altruism)
4. IMPARTIALITY/EQUANIMITY[Uppekkha] (Its 'close enemy' is
indifference)
6. THE “FOUR STAGES TO BUDDHAHOOD”
1. The “stream-enterer” [having entered the stream that leads to Nirvana, after having overcome doubts concerning the “Path”, superstition and narcissism]
2. The “once-returner”[having partly overcome greed and hatred]
3. The “non-terurner”[having totally overcome the submission to greed and hatred]
4. The “purified one” (Arahant) [having overcome the “five higher fetters”, such as higher desires and agitations, spiritual competition and ignorance].
The purified one may pass the threshold to the Nirvana.
7. BUDDHA'S LAST SERMON TO ANANDA:DEPEND ON YOURSELF!
"Therefore, o Ananda, be ye islands unto yourselves. Take the Self as your
refuge. Take yourself to no external refuge. Hold fast to the Dharma. Hold
fast as a refuge to the Truth. Don't look for refuge to anyone beside
yourselves…
And whosoever, Ananda, shall take the Self as an island, taking themselves
to no external refuge, but holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, it is they,
Ananda, who shall reach the very topmost height -
But they must be anxious to practice, to learn!"
B. THE PRACTICE:
1. THE “TEACHINGS OF THE BUDDHAS”
1. TO AVOID AND TO EXTINGUISH THE BAD
2. TO DO, TO MAINTAIN AND TO INCREASE THE GOOD
3. TO PURIFY ONE’S MIND AND HEART
2. THE "HOLY ASCENDING EIGHTFOLDPATH"
[Symbol: the wheel with 8 spokes]
A) WISDOM: THE INSIGHT IN WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG
1. S a m m a - d i t t h i: The knowledge about the wisdom and the vision of SAMMĀ.
I) The wisdom of the difficult condition of the human being on earth
II) The wisdom of the causes of this condition, which lie in “thirst”
III) The wisdom of the possibility of overcoming this condition through
overcoming “thirst” [anxiety and desire] by a spiritual path.
IV) The wisdom of the “Holy Ascending Eightfold Path” [of SAMMA], the
spiritual path that will lead us “back to the light”.
2. S a m m ā - s a n g k a p p o: We thus shift our focus towards SAMMĀ
WE DECIDE TO FREE OURSELVES FROM WHAT PREVENTS SAMMA,
NAMELY:
- KARMA-FORMING [SAMSARIC] ACTIONS [WITH MIND AND BODY]
- MALEVOLENCE AND ILL-WILL [WITH THOUGHT AND SPEECH]
- ABUSE, THROUGH “ACTING OUT” [WITH SPEECH AND BODY]
B) VIRTUE: EXTRICATING ONE’S SOUL FROM THE BLIND MIXING AND
ALIGNING WITH THE LOKIYA REALM, IN FAVOUR OF AN
ALIGNMENT WITH SAMMA
3. S a m m ā - v ā c ā : We connect our utterances with SAMMĀ
IN ORDER TO BECOME FREE FOR SAMMĀ, WE DIS-INDULGE FROM
UTTERENCES THAT ARE THE RESULT OF:
- WRONG AND DISTORTED VIEWS
- MALICIOUSNESS
- BRUTALITY AND CRUELTY
- DUMNESS, FRIVOLITY AND IDLENESS [SUPERFICIALITY]
“If a word has five marks it is well-spoken, not ill-spoken, not blameworthy
or condemned by the wise.
It is spoken at the right time,
it is spoken in truth,
it is spoken gently,
it is spoken about goal
and it is spoken with love”.
4. S a m m ā - k a m a n t o: The goal of our actions is SAMMĀ.
IN ORDER TO BECOME FREE FOR SAMMĀ, WE DIS-INDULGE FROM:
- GETTING DISTRACTED, CONFUSED AND LOST THROUGH LOKIYA
ENTANGLEMENTS IN THE SAMSARIC WORLDS
- EXPECTING, GRASPING AND CLINGING TO THAT WHAT HAS NOT
BEEN OFFERED [OR COME UPON US “BY FATE” AND DESTINY]
- [SAMSARIC] WANDERING THROUGH ACTIONS OUT OF SENSUOUS
DESIRE [ORAL, SEXUAL, MENTAL MISCONDUCT]
5.S a m m ā - Ā j ī v o: We align our whole lifestyle and subsistence with SAMMĀ.
C) THE GREAT BECOMING
S a m m ā - V ā y ā m o: We are energetically fully active for SAMMĀ.
S a m m ā - S a t i: We recollect ourselves in SAMMĀ.
S a m m ā - S a m ā d h i: Abiding in SAMMĀ.
To become the master of ones soul, the charioteer, is the primordial condition for reaching the “other shore”.
Spiritual practice must grow like a tree. We water it with our patient, peaceful endurance. It grows in the environment of the right inner attitude, which we have to train ourselves daily.
3. THE BASIC ATTITUDE FOR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
1. Mindfulness
2. Investigation of the dharma (teaching, truth)
3. Energy (energetic initiative)
4. Rapture
5. Tranquillity
6. Concentration
7. Equanimity
4. THE "ETERNAL LAW"
Hatred never ceases through hatred,
But through love alone is healed.
This is the ancient and eternal law.
(Dhammapada 5)
5. BREAKING THE LOKIYA “CHAIN-REACTION”
When a disturbing impression comes from the outside or from the inside, don’t let it touch your feelings. When it has already happened, don’t let the feeling touch your mind.
When this has already happened, don’t let the mind touch your bodily actions!
Don’t align blindly with the powers of the lokiya realm.
Become the master of your soul! Become the charioteer of the lokuttara carriage!
6. A USEFUL PRACTICE FROM TIBETAN BUDDHISM
Before you sleep, let the day pass in your mind.
Reflect objectively and ask yourself questions like:
a) Where have I nourished the light, and where have I nourished darkness?
b) Where have I done my best, and where have I wasted my time?
7. BASIC ADVICE FOR MEDITATION
There are many kinds of meditation!
Meditation literally means “moving towards one's middle”.
Choose your position: Standing, walking, sitting or lying.
Usually the right hand rests on the left hand, the arms forming a circle of energy, a fortress, the fortress of the heart.
Get quiet and peaceful. Become fully present.
Relax your shoulders, belly, jaws and forehead and breathe regularly.
During a few minutes be fully aware of your regular and tranquil breathing. Let nothing disturb this awareness. Eliminate everything that wants to disturb you, ffrom the surrounding, the mind or the body with your will power.
Exhaling, sink deeper and deeper into yourself, become more and more tranquil and peaceful.
Be fully aware of your body-sensations, your feelings, the never ending chatting of your mind, the impressions coming from the outside world…
Take the position of a mindful witness: Accept what is happening with loving-kindness, but don't identify with it, don't attach yourself to it.
There is the saying "Let it come, let it be, let it go..."
Remain fully concentrated. Stay focused on your will for the good. Always be focused and and relaxed. [Don’t pay attention to any pictures you will get!].
With the time your meditation will develop a space of peace, tranquility, recollection and regeneration inside you, which may be called “the fortress of the heart”. This is a protected space of absolute imperturbability. A space you can always return when you need it.
Later it may become a space of existential insight.
8. ABOUT PRAYING
We fold our hands, pointing in the direction of the goal of our prayer.
In prayer we reunite our goal, faith, love and will power with trust and surrender to the Supreme Help, which comes from the spiritual realm if we want it and ask for it with all our heart.
9. FURTHER ADVISE
a) Nurture love and light rather than fear and darkness!
Nurturing the light: Nurturing darkness:
Faith and trust Faithlessness and skeptical doubt
Wisdom and good will Ignorance and ill-will
Constructive energy and activity Destructive and self-destructive energy and activity, as well as passivity, sloth, torpor, grudge and restlessness
Mindfulness and unselfishness Ignorance, selfishness and greed
Loving-kindness and compassion Hatred and resentment
Love and generosity Fear and anxiety
Fortification and will power Being the slave of fears and desires
Patience and endurance Impatience and giving up
Integrity, sincerity and truthfulness Deceit and self-deceit
Forgiveness Resentment, hatred, revenge
b) Avoid bad company!
c) Search good company!
10. ABOUT CEREMONIES
The spiritual path happens inside ones inmost heart.
Ceremonies might be usefull, but not necessary.
At Buddhist altars we light a candle from a big candle or lantern, which can be understood as lighting our own Inner Light through the 'Big Light' of the spiritual realm. Then we light 3 incense-sticks. The smoke is an ancient symbol of something that carries our prayers 'upwards'. Inside the LuangpawYaai chapel we light 7 incense sticks. Sometimes there is a lotus-flower, which we keep in our hand together with the incense sticks during our prayers. Then we put the incense-sticks into the brass bowl and the lotus-flower into the vase.
The lotus-flower is a very holy symbol:
It is a symbol for the human being, whose physical roots are in the mud below the surface of the water ( > matter, ignorance and unconsciousness) and whose blossom is above the water, directed towards the light ( > the spiritual realm).
Pictures and statues often show the Buddha dwelling upon an open lotus-flower during the 'Seven Days of Meditation'. He claimed the “Lotus throne” of enlightenment and religious fulfillment, after having defeated the hellish powers of the Lord of darkness, who attacked him on all sides, wanting to destroy him.
Enlightenment, as it is said, takes place in the seventh center of energy on top of the head. This center is called the "lotus of the one thousand petals".
In Tibetan Buddhism this is illustrated by the holy mantra of the six syllables:
AUM MA-NI PAD-ME HUM. ["Truly, (the secret of) the “gem” of AUM (the holy “word”) lies in the (1000 petal) “lotus"].
As symbol of the enlightenment, there is a flame on top of Buddha's head.
-ooOoo-
