Observations
Latter Day Buddhism
Direction:
The Buddha asked people not to mindlessly accept his words but to investigate for themselves the immediate experience of Mind.
The Buddha urged people not to blindly follow traditions, reports, hearsay, opinions, speculaiton, or the authority of religious texts but to see and know for ourselves what is True -- and, when we do, to take it up. He also urged us to see and know for ourselves what is hurtful and divisive -- and to give that up. The emphasis is on seeing and knowing, not on thinking, calculating, and believing.
Two Notes About Mind:
First, "Mind" is vastly more than the thoughts, images, emotions, explanations, and questions we think our brain churns out. There is another aspect of mind that is boundless and not limited to our personal experiences of thought and thing, yet it's completely accessible in every moment.
Second, certain themes necessarily emerge and reemerge as we investigate the subject of mind: attention, intention, honesty with oneself, wisdom, true compassion, and the pure, genuine, undiluted desire to wake up.
-- See: Buddhism Is Not What You Think, Finding Freedom Beyond Beliefs
by Steve Hagen, Copyright 2003, Prologue: See for Yourself, pages xii & xiii.
September 5 & 9, 2007 Reflections
Wednesday, September 5, 2007:
I was almost right,
but I was 180 degrees wrong;
The self isn't the only thing
that exists,
The self is the only thing
that doesn't exist.
I'd be making less
of a mistake
To assume that I create
everything that I experience
Than to assume that I create
nothing that I experience.
Thus, I should assume that I create
everything that I experience
And direct my life accordingly.
Sunday, September 9, 2007:
The universe was here
for billions of years
before I was born
and didn't know
I was coming.
The universe will be here
for billions of years
after I die
and will forget
I was ever here.
All that there is,
is the here and now.
-- Brian William Drisko
1. Everything is change: No permanence.
2. Emotions relate to suffering.
3. Everything is illusory and empty.
4. Free myself from the delusion of self.
"Since death alone is certain and the time of death uncertain, what should I do?
Buddhism is not a belief system.
It is about testing, and knowing the actual, immediate, direct experience of this moment.
