Page 14
WHAT IS ENLIGHTENMENT?...  It is said that words cannot describe being Enlightened. It is said that to be Enlightened means to be free. Before one can be free, one must know what to be free from. What does it mean to be free from suffering? In the Buddhist sense, suffering means to be caught up in the karmic wheel of Samsara or the cycle of birth and rebirth. Every being on this earth is subject to the concept of impermanence by going through at least two of the four earthly stages of birth, old age, sickness and death. Beings are born into this and other planes of existence because of what they did in a past incarnation. The concept of reincarnation applies to this line of thinking. The being's karma determines whether re-incarnation will be pleasurable or painful. Whatever it may be, it doesn't last and the being gets reborn into another plane or the same one. And this cycle of suffering goes on and on. Enlightenment is freedom from this cyclic existence by being beyond karma. The Tibetan Buddhist tradition sites a place called Dewachen where Enlightened beings congregate. It is a sort of Heaven in the Tibetan tradition where all are spiritually accomplished and rest in bliss. But on a more simplistic note, the sufferings one 'tries' to be free from are the
illusions the mind/ego present, illusions of greatness, hate, greed, guilt, jealousy, anger and all other disturbing and destructive emotions and states of mind. The concept of attachment is often used in Buddhist teachings. One can say that Enlightenment is to relinquish one's attachments to these disturbing states of mind. How does one get attached to disturbing emotions? Isn't it that disturbing emotions are what people try to avoid? Feeling negative emotions is a very human characteristic and should not be suppressed when they arise, but to remain angry, hateful or depressed long after the reason for it has past, is what is known as being attached to the emotion. To be free from suffering in the Buddhist sense means to be beyond hate, anger, fear, and other negative emotions. Siddhartha Buddha was known as "The Compassionate One." Compassion is an indispensable part of being Enlightened. There are numerous tales of Siddhartha demonstrating acts of selfless compassion to others. The Buddhist concept of a Boddhisattva is an Enlightened saint who defers his/her entrance into Nirvana until all other sentient beings have entered Nirvana. Compassion in the Buddhist sense not only means compassion for others, but also for oneself. There are many tales of masters and monks who attained Enlightenment through acts of selfless compassion. It is said that in one of Siddhartha's past lives, he was an ox in one of the infernal hell planes. He and another ox were being tormented by a demon to pull a heavy load. In his ox incarnation he took pity on his suffering partner ox and told the demon that he would pull the cart himself saving his friend ox from further suffering. Enraged, the demon slew Siddhartha's ox incarnation which furthered his path to higher incarnations for Enlightenment. There are many teachings, sutras and meditation practices in the various schools of Buddhism that promote compassion. Compassion is an essential factor in attaining Enlightenment. In fact, other religion's central figures have been known to be an icon/symbol of unconditional, selfless compassion. Another description of Enlightenment is to give up the struggle of being caught up in the illusions of life. There is struggle everyday, everywhere, by everyone. There is the struggle for status, wealth, and acceptance. There is a struggle to achieve happiness. The reason why there is struggle is because one is looking outside of oneself for happiness, looking to materialism, and people for self worth. Giving up the struggle also means to look within oneself for happiness. A sort of reflective attitude is encouraged to be free from the struggle. It is said that Ananda, Siddhartha's cousin and right-hand man, attained Enlightenment in one night by just giving up struggling, trying, for Enlightenment. It seemed that he was one of the first followers of Siddhartha but was one of the last of the original disciples to attain Enlightenment. By letting go, Enlightenment seems to be so simple yet so many are still struggling for happiness. Enlightenment can also be defined as being in complete connection with the Divine, being totally aware of one's spiritual identity. In this sense one can say that Jesus, Mohammed, and other noted teachers and masters are Enlightened beings. Enlightenment has also been described as being beyond duality. Duality is the concept of separation where there exists an I, me, you, them, and other concepts of division via race, creed, nationality, economics etc. It's seeing all as part of a Divine whole and seeing oneself as an inseparable part of the whole. The preceding explanations are but a few attempts to explain what Enlightenment is. The Zen Buddhism school says that Enlightenment (Satori) is beyond form. But explaining Enlightenment in words, attempts to give it form. By attempting to give Enlightenment form though words, the essence is lost. To understand Enlightenment one must do the practice of meditation. This is an essential prerequisite.
Understanding Buddhism - an Introduction - Commentary on a root text from 'The Selfish Gene'
''We have the power to defy the selfish genes of our birth and, if necessary, the selfish memes* of our indoctrination. We can even discuss ways of deliberately cultivating and nurturing pure, disinterested altruism - something that has no place in nature, something that has never existed before in the whole history of the world. We are built as gene machines and cultured as meme machines, but we have the power to turn against our creators. We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators."  Richard Dawkins 'The Selfish Gene'
In these four sentences Professor Dawkins has described both the scientific view of the 'human condition,' and the main motivations for following the Buddhist path.
Defying the tyranny of the genes - All animals, including ourselves, have genetically programmed drives to eat, reproduce, fight for territory and mates, kill prey, help our kin and so on. These drives appear to our mind as attachment and aversion. Manifestations of attachment include sexual desire, hunger and the need for security. Manifestations of aversion include fighting, fleeing and avoiding painful and dangerous situations. All these mental reactions have evolved because they gave our ancestors a selective advantage. They are, or were, essential for preservation of the individual and procreation of its genes. We humans can to some extent distance ourselves from these drives. We can examine them and if necessary rebel against them. From the Buddhist point of view this is especially significant when these instinctive drives become pathological and turn into harmful 'innate delusions,' giving rise to mental states such as anger, hatred, sadism, jealousy, greed, miserliness, sexual abuse and so on. In Buddhist ethics, anger and greed (and their associated thought patterns) are two of the three poisons. The third poison is ignorance, which consists, among other factors, of being unable to separate the true nature of one's mind from the delusions which afflict it (especially the delusion of the inherent existence of the self ).
Defying the tyranny of the memes - A meme* is a delusional mind-virus which spreads by thought-contagion in the same manner as a chain letter. Many religions have a memetic component. If a religion shows the following features then it is a meme: ~Self-referential or circular claims to the truth such as "This meme says it is the divine truth. Since it is the divine truth, whatever its says must be true. Therefore it must be the divine truth because it says so, and all competing memes must be the work of the devil." ~Threats of eternal punishment in hell for disbelief. ~Commands to persecute or attack people who do not believe in the meme. ~Boosting the believers' egos by telling them they are 'chosen' or superior to believers in false memes. ~Disabling the faculties of disbelief ('immune response') by claiming that faith is superior to reason. The harm that can be done by attachment to memes far exceeds that from attachment to wealth, possessions or people. Memes have been the cause of many of the wars, terrorist campaigns, persecutions, pogroms and witchhunts in history. On the other hand, if a religion is based on wisdom, tolerance, free enquiry, rationality and universal compassion, then it is a beneficial spiritual path. Memes are 'intellectually formed delusions,' as distinct from the genetically programmed innate delusions. However, memes often interact with and derive their power from innate delusions. For example, the meme that infects socially-inadequate, sex-starved young men and causes virulent hatred against the infidel, together with a desire to become a martyr in order to have an eternity of sex with 72 virgins, derives its power from testosterone-fueled innate delusions of aggression and lust.
Delusion of inherent existence - There's one innate delusion that's more subtle than the obvious ones, such as greed and anger - it's the delusion of grasping at inherently-existent things. We see the world in terms of 'things' because our genes are telling us to grab resources. But if we take a step back and view the universe in terms of geological and cosmic timescales, it is apparent that there are no inherently existent things, only processes of continual change. All phenomena are dependently-related and empty of any defining essence (sunyata). Individuals, buildings, artifacts, species, continents, planets and stars are transient phenomena caused by the coming together of parts. All compounded things are impermanent and eventually disintegrate. It is grasping at things as if they were permanent, or desirable in themselves, that is one of the principal causes of dukkha (suffering) - the sensation of unsatisfactoriness due the the transience of all biological pleasures.
Rebellion and liberation - The outcome of a successful rebellion is liberation from tyranny. We've identified the tyrants as the delusions that poison our minds. Analysis of deluded religious motivation allows us to recognise and remove memes, even when they are deep-seated results of childhood indoctrination. With practice in meditation we can also overcome hatred and attachment and the subtle delusion of inherent existence of things. We can declare our independence from the selfish replicators.
Who or what is rebelling? - But, if we aren't just the products of our genes and our memes, what are we? Who or what is rebelling against the replicators? What is the end result of liberation? How is it possible for us to think of ourselves as non-deluded, non-mechanistic, non-biological free agents? According to Buddhist philosophy, the reason we can work towards liberation is that our minds, although influenced by biology, are not themselves biological nor indeed physical in nature, nor are they emergent phenomena of physical or biological processes. In fact, there is a specific meditation where we imagine we are throwing away or peeling off all our biological and social attributes in order to find out what we really are. We discover that we are pure awareness, a formless non-physical mental continuum that continues from life to life and body to body.
as soon as possible. Animals are unable to separate their minds from their innate delusions and their biological nature. But we humans know from philosophical analysis that we are non-physical entities. There's no reason why this muddy vesture of biological decay should always grossly close us in. What we need is someone to help us shuffle off this mortal coil once and for all. The questions are - who and how?
Deliberately cultivating and nurturing pure, disinterested altruism. - As Professor Dawkins points out, pure disinterested altruism is, in evolutionary terms, a new phenomenon. It does not exist in nature and does not arise spontaneously in humans. It needs to be deliberately cultivated by conscious effort. To quote Shantideva: "First I should strive to meditate on equalising self and others. Since we are equal from the point of view of suffering, I should protect everyone as I do myself." In Buddhism, pure disinterested altruism, in its initial form, is known as 'Wishing Love.' It is the wish that those around us should be happy and free from suffering. Buddhist teachers are very careful to emphasise the 'pure and disinterested' aspects, because love is often mixed with attachment. The difference between love and attachment is: Attachment is "How can you make me happy?" Love is "How can I make you happy?"
Normally, the fact that love is mixed with attachment doesn't matter too much, but we can think of situations where it can be damaging, for example the over-possessive parent, or the parent who wants their child to fulfil their own frustrated career ambitions, or the husband who kills his wife in a fit of jealousy. Pure disinterested altruism in its developed form arises out of compassion for the suffering of all sentient beings, and is known as bodhichitta. Bodhichitta is the motivation for striving for Buddhahood.
The lunatics have taken charge of the asylum. - Samsara is the endless cycle of birth, death, ignorance and suffering. It is like an old-fashioned Bedlam or lunatic asylum. And we are in it. We are all constantly chasing after delusions and infecting one another with contagious mind-viruses. We are all mentally ill. No-one seems to be in charge of the asylum. No-one comes from the management to try to cure us. Maybe there is no management. Samsara seems to be a realm for containment of the insane. Fortunately, by force of effort and self-examination, a few of the patients have succeeded in curing themselves. The Buddhas were once just as deluded as we are now, but they've worked to develop minds of bodhichitta, free from all delusions. Not only have they healed their own minds, in the process they've gathered the experience and motivation to teach us how to heal our minds.
Training the patients to become doctors. - The Buddhas' healing process contains an extra bonus. It trains more Buddhas. The path out of Samsaric insanity is one and the same as the path to Buddhahood. As we advance along the path, we initially become paramedic Bodhisattvas who are able to help some of the patients. Eventually we'll become fully qualified Buddhas able to help everyone. So, as the process continues, the Samsaric asylum will become a well-staffed compassionate hospital, and eventually all beings will be cured of their delusions and will realize the true nature of their minds.  (Sean Robsville)
(Notes and references and notes... The materialist regards the mind as an epiphenomenon or emergent property of matter. The mind is either the same thing as the brain, or a program running on the hardware of the brain. Buddhists refute this view and assert that the mind is a fundamental aspect of reality, intimately involved with the very deepest levels of existence.
".....There are two essential stages to cultivating universal compassion. First we need to love all living beings, and then we need to contemplate their suffering. If we do not love someone we cannot develop real compassion for him even if he is in pain, but if we contemplate the suffering of someone we love, compassion will arise spontaneously. This is why we feel compassion for our friends or relatives but not for people we do not like. Cherishing others is the foundation for developing compassion. The way to develop and enhance our mind of cherishing love has already been explained. Now we must consider how each and every samsaric being is experiencing suffering.."
Richard Dawkins 1989  'The Selfish Gene' Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-286092-5. Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist and the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Understanding of Science at Oxford University; England. He is a fellow of the Royal Society and a leading authority on the relation of science to religion. He has sometimes been rather critical of the more obscurantist aspects of religion, for example 'Young earth' dogmas and creationism.)
Where do we go from here? - If we indeed come to the conclusion that our mind is a non-physical continuum that attaches itself to biological systems in life after life, then we might decide we don't want to carry on this way. Our delusions are bad enough when we are humans, but what chance have we if at our next rebirth our mind attaches itself to a chimpanzee, dog or pig? Before humans evolved, our minds spent countless millenia attached to the bodies of animals, and there's nothing to prevent them becoming attached to animals again. We have no absolute guarantee of taking a human rebirth. 'We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators.' This is known in Buddhism as 'Our precious human life.' Our minds can only get access to the sensory and intellectual equipment needed to liberate themselves when they are in the human realm. So we should avoid actions and thought-patterns which might lead to lower (eg: animal) rebirth. We also need to get our minds permanently out of the cycle of death and rebirth
What Buddha said about Old Age... What this laughter, what this joy, when the world is ever on fire? Shrouded all about by darkness, will you not then look for light?  Behold this beautiful body, a mass of sores, a bone-gathering, diseased and full of hankerings, with no lasting, no persisting. Thoroughly worn out is this body - a net of diseases and very frail. This heap of corruption breaks to pieces - for life indeed ends in death. As gourds are cast away in Autumn, so are these dove-hued bones. What pleasure is there found for one who looks at them? Of bones is this city made, plastered with flesh and bones. Herein dwell decay and death, pride and detraction.  plendid royal chariots wear away, the body too comes to old age. But the good's teaching knows not decay. Indeed, the good teach the good in this way. Just as the ox grows old, so ages he of little learning his flesh increases, his wisdom is waning. Seeking but not finding the House Builder, I hurried through the rounds of many births. Painful is birth ever again and again. O House Builder, you have been seen, you shall
not build the house again. Your rafters have been broken, your ridge pole demolished too. My mind has now attained the Unconditioned. And reached the end of all craving. Having led neither a good life, nor acquired riches while young, they pine away as aged herons around a fishless pond. Having led neither a good life, nor acquired riches while young, they lie about like broken bows, sighing about the past.
May I be a guard for those who are protectorless, a guide for those who journey on the road; for those who wish to go across the water, may I be a boat, a raft, a bridge. May I be an isle for those who yearn for landfall, and a lamp for those who long for light; for those who need a resting place, a bed, for all who need a servant, may I be a slave. May I be the wishing jewel, the vase of plenty, a word of power, and the supreme remedy. May I be the trees of miracles, and for every being, the abundant cow. Like the great earth and the other elements, enduring as the sky itself endures, for the boundless multitude of living beings, may I be the ground and vessel of their life. Thus, for every single thing that lives, in number like the boundless reaches of the sky, may I be their sustenance and nourishment until they pass beyond the bounds of suffering. Countless sentient beings, I vow to help to cross the ocean of existence. Eternal Sufferings, I vow to end. Innumerable spiritual methods, I vow to study and comprehend. The Buddha's unsurpassable supreme Dharma, I vow to realize.
The Bodhisattva Vow... The Bodhisattva Vow is essential to Mahayana Buddhism, and thus also to Tibetan Buddhism. Various forms are current. The essence is: May I attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Here follow a few other ways of saying the same thing with a few more words (found on the internet): However innumerable sentient beings are, I vow to save them. However inexhaustible the defilements are, I vow to extinguish them. However immeasurable the dharmas are, I vow to master them. However incomparable enlightenment is, I vow to attain it. All beings, without number, I vow to liberate. Endless blind passions I vow to uproot. Dharma gates beyond measure I vow to penetrate. The way of the Buddha I vow to attain. The passions of delusion are inexhaustible, I vow to extinguish them all at once. The number of beings is endless, I vow to help save them all. The Truth which cannot be told, I vow to tell it. The Way which cannot be followed is unattainable. I vow to attain it.
Disclaimer: All images and/or articles retain the original copyrights of their original owners.
Click to visit our Main Site...
October 16, 2004
Click above to visit our Main Site. More information, more images, and NO pop-ups.