ThePracticalBuddhist.com - The Practical Buddhist Blog - Practical Advice on Integrating the Practice of Buddhism in Contemporary Life

Old You/New You

8/8/2022

What do you do when you replace the old view of you – formed by your mind, your life experiences – with a new view of you based on the understanding of your spiritual heritage, that you were born with the true Buddha nature inside you and it is still there?

I have in these posts suggested various methods to implement this change. Everything from turning your will and you life over to the care of your true Buddha nature, surrendering your ego to its care, saying, "Not me!" to all your negative feelings and perceptions, shining light and love on your trauma, to burying your old tortured soul and mind with compassion.

But even with all of that work, the mind of the old me still lurked there, waiting for an opportunity to express itself. It would not be denied. And it would sneak up on me with no warning.

Most recently, however, i have an expanded take on the new me. It is not just that the Buddha nature, my divinity, is inside me . . . it is me, it is my substance. That force is what drives all the good that I do in my life. It is the source of my supply.

With this expanded concept of my self, I am becoming more aware of all the abundance in my life and around me and radiate the light that is my true Buddha nature, my divinity. Thus giving my mind, the old me, less opportunity to assert itself. This is another example of the benefit of changing the direction of your energy flow (see my post of that title).

The Mind and Your Inner Child - II

7/31/2022

I wrote a post several years ago in which I shared the received truth that the wounded inner child is the source of all our suffering, indeed all the suffering in the world; the point was made that whenever two people are fighting, it is always their inner children that are fighting. And I therefore said that just as my smiling toddler is the avatar of my true Buddha self, so too my wounded inner child is the avatar of my mind.

I just realized this morning when meditating that I got this wrong. My wounded inner child is my mind, not just its avatar. And that makes a profound difference in how I interact with my mind.

I have always viewed the mind as being my adversary, my enemy, in my intent to walk the path. For the mind constantly brings on doubt and fear, its perceived truth, to pull me from the path.

Recently I wrote a post that said that instead of just saying, "no," to my mind when it asserts itself, recognizing that it and my inner child are one and so an antagonistic stance is not appropriate, I should embrace them, saying that this is not the way we respond to whatever the situation is and provide them guidance from my heart.

That was a positive change in how I had always dealt with my mind. But I still didn't connect the dots. If my wounded inner child is my mind, then it cannot be my enemy. It may be my adversary in walking the path, but it is only so because my wounded inner child is consumed by fear and self-doubt. There is no evil intent.

I did once write that just as the devil is often referred to as a fallen angel, so too our mind is our internal fallen Buddha self (see my post, "The Devil Is Alive and Well"). I then spoke about differencing between those who were under the influence of the devil and those who had become the devil incarnate, evil.

This was wrong thinking. Our wounded inner child is not under the influence of the devil. It may be thought of as our fallen Buddha self, but it is just disturbed, troubled; it is not evil and thus not the devil.

Only when one has given up on the light and assumed darkness as ones identity does one become the devil, and that is the devil incarnate. When I related the story of having dinner with my friend and realizing that I had been in the presence of the devil, that was because my friend had succumbed to darkness, he was not able to see light, and so the devil was indeed inside him.

Thus when my mind, my wounded inner child, asserts itself, beyond saying, "no," I truly need to respond with compassion towards my inner child and provide it guidance from my heart.

Happenstance - Part II - You, Your Buddha Nature, and the Universe

7/24/2022

In the years since I wrote the original post on Happenstance, especially recently having embraced my Buddha nature, my divinity, as being the source of my supply of abundance and prosperity, I have a further take on happenstance.

It is very clear to me that none of the happenstances that I have experienced and that have changed my life happened by accident. They did not just happen. Instead the universe put me and the other person or object in the same place and it then depended on me, it was my responsibility, to see the light, to be aware of the guidance, and pursue what the universe presented to me.

Now, I have always believed (well, at least since I was an adolescent) that there is no God or some force to pray to for action, to make things happen – not God, not Buddha, not the universe. Also, for the first 50 years of my life, I was not in contact with the presence of God, my divinity, my Buddha nature.

And so Question #1: How is it that I was provided with so much good fortune during that portion of my life when I neither prayed for it nor was in contact with my Buddha nature?

That seems at odds with what I have come to believe, as I have been taught, that one does not experience anything one wants or desires, even a Right desire, unless we are spiritually in a place where we feel that we are deserving of what we desire, that we have changed our subconscious from one of inferiority and lack to one of competence and deserving of abundance.

My only answer is that your Buddha nature and the universe are always looking out for you, they know you, and provide even if you are not in a position to experience abundance – and so I experienced a good job, and love – but I nevertheless did not feel good about myself, I felt no abundance, and indeed, because of the force of my negative mind-energy, I did things that ended up destroying that which I was provided and loved. So I did not truly experience, during this time of my life, what I desired.

We can achieve all sorts of things through the power of the mind, as well as those that are provided by happenstance, but we cannot achieve abundance, the feeling of abundance, unless we are spiritually in the Right place, unless we are guided by the Buddha dharma, among other things.

Question #2: Now that I am in a higher spiritual place, what is the role of my Buddha nature, my divinity, and the universe in bringing me prosperity?

And I literally just became aware of the answer as I was writing. The answer is that the answer really doesn't matter. This is an example of my mind doing a number on me, trying to make "sense" of all this and in the process destroy the faith that has slowly been building in me recently that I can place myself in the hands of my Buddha nature – that I don't have to think about this, apply my mind to this – and all will not just be well, I will prosper in the broadest sense.

I don't know when or how or where this will happen, but there is no question in my heart that it will happen. Only a feeling of lack (which I explained in my recent post, "Feeling Lack - An Insidious Perception") would rob me of this gift.

Wealth, Poverty, and Buddhism

7/20/2022

There is a general impression among many that if you walk the Buddhist path, you should not acquire wealth, perhaps even take a vow of poverty. Not so!

First one must distinguish between monks and other disciplines of the Buddha on the one hand and laypeople or "householders." For the former, there is no question that Buddhist monks take a vow of poverty. In the life of the Buddha, there are reports of many wealthy people who were converted by the Buddha, who "went forth from faith from the house life into homelessness", who gave up all their wealth and acquired the robes and the alms bowl of the monk.

But for householders, that rule does not apply. Almost the contrary. There is ample evidence in the Buddha dharma that the Buddha was supportive of householders acquiring wealth provided that it was acquired in a Right way and was used in a Right way. Indeed, wealth was held to be a very important tool in helping others, including the sangha.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Buddha did not view householder poverty as something good or meritorious. It was not a negative mark, but it wasn't something to be sought. He saw it as the cause of suffering and much crime and other Wrong action by man. And so, as Tevya said in Fiddler on the Roof, it's no sin to be poor, it's also no honor either.

So if you're a Buddhist "householder," regardless what your line of work, even if you are helping others spiritually, there is no negative mark from gaining wealth, so long as you gain it through Right action and make use of it in a Right way.

Feeling Lack - A Most Insidious Perception

7/14/2022

In a previous post, I spoke about the relationship of feeling lack v abundance. My simple mind assumed that now that I am fully connected with the abundance in my life and that I know there has always been abundance in my life because of my oneness with my true Buddha nature who is the source of my supply, my previous obsession with feeling lack would wither. Not so!

I have become aware that although I do indeed believe and have faith in my true Buddha nature, my divinity (see my post, "Buddhism and the Divine"), and the universe as the source of my supply and that I have been provided with abundance and positive happenstance throughout my life, my ingrained feeling of lack has resurfaced and coexists with this feeling of abundance.

First, some personal history. While I have always been aware of the positive things in my life, both personally and professionally, I have always focused on the things that I do not have. Whether it's the people who I feel don't like me, or my not being popular, for example.

The other pertinent factor is that I have been manifesting things in my life that I would like to be other than they are. These are Right thoughts without which one cannot move forward with one's life. But I have found that as my manifesting has become more specific, more tangible, it has turned into a craving and my mind becomes desperate to have control over its realization. And of course when you feel a craving, you feel the lack of what you don't have.

There are several things I know I must do in my meditation to bring myself back to equanimity. First, is the understanding that lack is not a physical/material fact, it is a perception, it is a label like all other labels. And so as with all labels, I will say to it, "Not me!" (See my post of that title.)

Second, besides saying, no, to my mind, I need to embrace my mind and my inner child and say to them that this is not the way we respond to things and provide them with guidance from my heart, my true Buddha nature. This is a wonderful practice that is full of compassion for myself. (See my post, "Don't Just Say No to the Mind.")

Finally, I must be very clear to myself that I will be ok, safe, regardless what the universe provides, whether what I am manifesting comes to be or not. It would be great if it happens, but if it doesn't, that's ok too. (See my post, "Manifesting in the Moment." For the dangers in manifesting, see my post, "Manifesting - DANGER DANGER!")

It still amazes me, after all the work I've done and progress I've made on the path, that my mind is so tenacious. Worse, it's such a part of my traditional habit-energy that when it asserts itself, I'm often not aware what is happening until I become aware of a problem in my practice.

But now that I'm aware, I know what it is that I must do to free myself from this feeling of lack. As you can see from this and other posts, one's work on the spiritual path is never done.

Can't Find Your Buddha Nature? Look in the Mirror

7/9/2022

There are many spiritual videos which suggest taking what is called "mirror time" – looking in the mirror and saying "I love you" to yourself, smiling at yourself. And that is part of my spiritual practice every morning. It does feel good.

But recently I saw a video that gives a deeper meaning and sense to mirror time. Latoya Okela said that God spoke to her and said that if she could not find God at times, that she had but to look in a mirror. That if she looked into her eyes, she would see the divinity that is within her.

What a simple but effective practice to connect with the Buddha nature inside you. And especially at those times when you feel disconnected from your Buddha nature, for whatever reason. For example, because something is bothering you or because things are not going the way your mind wants them to go. And you, meaning your mind, blames your Buddha nature for deserting you, not helping you. Look at yourself in the mirror – look deep into your eyes, stay there for a few minutes, don't move and you will see your Buddha nature; it has not deserted you.

This examples requires two further comments. Regarding this tendency of many to blame Buddha or God when things don't go the way we want them to go (yes, Buddha is not a God, but many practitioners react to him as though he were), of course it is not the task of Buddha nature, or your divinity for that matter (see my post, "Buddhism and the Divine"), to make the world the way you want it to be, to make things happen. Its task is to provide you with the means of being at peace and happy regardless what is going on in your life and around you; to feel abundance at all times because you know you have everything you need inside yourself to be at peace and happy.

As for something bothering you and so you feel your Buddha nature is not there for you, here is the uncomfortable truth. The truth is that you have left your Buddha nature, not that it is not there for you. If you were one with your Buddha nature, whatever it is would not be bothering you. You would react to the situation with dispassion, knowing that that's just the way things are right now. But when you stray, when you are not connected, then your mind will react with its habit-energy and you will be bothered.

If Nothing Offends, All Internal Struggle Ceases

7/3/2022

This section of my daily meditation mantra – if nothing offends, all internal struggle ceases – is at the core, the endpoint, of my spiritual practice. It is the place in which I am at peace regardless what is going on around me.

And how do I get there? I know that the real me is my true Buddha nature, the divinity* within me. I have renounced my ego-mind; I have said, "Not me!" to all the feelings and perceptions that are the result of my mind's reaction to my life experiences and are the cause of my suffering. I have shone the light and love of my true Buddha nature on my trauma, embraced it, and so all the negative energy that has flowed from that trauma during my life is dissolved, dissipated. And for good measure, I bury my trauma and my tortured child's soul with compassion, laying it to rest.

At the same time I embrace my true Buddha nature. I have returned home and will always return home to my true Buddha nature. And so true faith pervades my mind, I know I have everything I need inside myself to be at peace and happy. All's self-revealing and clear without exerting power of mind.

When I am in that space, I know that I will be ok, regardless what the universe provides – when, how, where – because I have returned home and will always return home, sustained by the love of Buddha nature within me, the source of my supply, and so experience abundance and light, peace and equanimity, happiness and contentment, faith and strength.

And so nothing offends. All internal and external struggles cease to be. Free of mental obstructions, I experience all things with dispassion, free of labels and emotions, but aware and knowing that things are the way they are because it's just the way it is. And so my mind rests undisturbed. And when my mind rests undisturbed, nothing offends. No thing can give offense. I know that I have everything I need inside myself to be at peace and happy. And make the choice to allow nothing to disturb that peace and happiness.

I know I have nothing to prove. My only purpose in life is to offer myself and others joy. And I offer myself joy be cherishing each moment, grateful for being alive; being in touch with the positive energy in my heart, my faith; releasing all desire for my life to be different in any way from the way it is right now at this moment; being aware of all that I am grateful for; and loving myself unconditionally and having compassion for myself.

And I know that all I need to be at peace and happy is to offer myself and others joy. To be in the company of loved ones and friends. Respect my mind. Respect my body. Be in touch with nature. Live within my means. And be one with the presence of Buddha, my divinity, within me, the source of my supply.

I affirm these truths every day, reminding myself, because only by constant awareness of the truth can one overcome the challenges of living in the world man has created and of living with the trauma of one's past.

I always used to wonder when I started the spiritual path why monks and holy men spend hours every day in meditation. If you've reached that point in your spiritual practice, why is there this need? I used to think it was a way of distancing themselves from the world. But I know now that it is because only through constantly reminding oneself of the truth of one's true nature and divinity that one can face life with a smile in one's heart.

May you too experience peace and happiness.

*P.S.
For those readers confused or troubled by my reference to the divinity within me, see my post, "Buddhism and the Divine. "

Lack v Abundance

6/26/2022

The words "lack" and "abundance" don't feature much in Buddhist teaching, but they fit well with that teaching and help open up the door to experiencing peace and happiness. As I've always said, the words we use to express concepts make a big difference in opening doors or creating barriers to the Buddha dharma.

One of the challenges of freeing oneself from the control of the mind is having faith that regardless what we experience, what the universe provides, we will be ok, because we have returned home to our true Buddha nature, are sustained by its love, and so are at peace and happy. And we let nothing disturb that peace and happiness.

The mind doesn't believe this so it throws all sort of things at us – mainly fear – that disturb our peace and happiness.

Perhaps the biggest barrier to having faith is our consuming fear of lack. Whether it be fame or fortune, spouse or children, job . . . whatever, most of us are consumed with the fear that at some point in the future we will loose what we have or never obtain what we want. It's impossible to be at peace and happy if that is your driving force.

What is missing from a life consumed with the fear of lack is gratefulness for what one has and has had, an awareness of the abundance in one's life – all the good things that we experience every day. The old, "Is the glass half empty or half full."

When we renounce our mind, free ourselves from its control, we must not only replace it with faith in our true Buddha nature, but the knowledge that the peace, love, and light that flows from our Buddha nature, from our divine essence (see my post, "Buddhism and the Divine"), will allow you to experience the abundance that we have, have always had, and will always have in our lives. It may not be the abundance that our mind wishes, but it is abundance nevertheless, and not just in a spiritual sense.

When Buddhist teaching tells us to free ourselves from cravings and attachments and instead be grateful for what we have, that is in effect freeing ourselves from the fear of lack – because that is what cravings and attachments are – and realizing instead the abundance that is in our lives.

It has been a great comfort to me in recent months, empowering, to be constantly aware of all the abundance in my life, both now and in the past. The word "abundance" is a sustaining, life-affirming, word.

And I know that I will always experience abundance because it is not dependent on anything being provided me by the outside world. It is coming from the peace and serenity within me. The knowledge that I have everything I need inside myself to be at peace and happy. I have been told it has brought a glow to my face.

I just discovered that this is the third post I've written about abundance. Clearly. being consumed with the feeling of lack and not being aware of the abundance in our lives is a major barrier to experiencing peace and happiness while walking the path. For the other posts, see, "Being Aware of Abundance," and "Prosperity and Abundance."

The Four Bodhisattva Vows

6/17/2022

There are four vows that Bodhisattvas make (referred to as "the great vows"):

All beings without number I vow to liberate.
Endless blind passions I vow to uproot.
Dharma gates beyond measure I vow to penetrate.
The great way of Buddha I vow to attain.
- As translated by Roshi Philip Kaplan.

When they are recited with conviction, chanted, they are empowering and moving as part of your meditation practice.

The first vow is not to be taken literally. The bodhisattva could not liberate all beings. But what he or she can do is dedicate his practice and his merit to the enlightenment of all others, and pray that his efforts be a drop on the ocean of activity of all other bodhisattvas who work to liberate and bring enlightenment to all.

The second vow is self-explanatory. We all have endless blind passions that are the product of our mind and our life experience. Until we uproot those passions by turning our will and our life over to the care of our true Buddha nature, surrendering our ego to its care, there is no peace, there is no happiness.

And so this vow is inward-directed. The bodhisattva knows that he cannot uproot someone else's passions; only the person himself can uproot those passions. And the bodhisattva knows that while he may no longer act on those blind passions, and he does not feed them, they are still within him; they will always be a part of him.

Re the third vow, what does it mean to penetrate dharma gates? Dharma has two meanings. The first is "reality." Tradition says that there are 1008 gates to reality. Symbolically the gates are without number. We are raised not to experience reality as it is but instead reality as it is seen by our mind. And so there is no end to the dharma gates to be penetrated. And it is one of the great vows because if we do not see reality as it is, free of the mind, there is no end to samsara, there is no nirvana.

But dharma has a second meaning, and that is the teachings of the Buddha. They also have untold gates or barriers presented by our mind. The Buddha dharma is at such a variance from the way we have been raised and taught, the way we have learned to relate to ourselves and the world around us, that was can only penetrate the teachings by going beyond our mind to our spirit, our true Buddha nature, our heart. By freeing ourselves from the control of our mind and being one with our true Buddha nature, we are able to experience the truths of the Buddha dharma from within ourselves, and so enable us to see reality as it is.

The final vow is to walk the path of the Buddha, to walk the Noble Eightfold Path (see my post of that title). To attain this vow means once again freeing oneself from the control of one's mind, turning your will and your life over to the care of your true Buddha self, surrendering your ego to its care. For without being free of the mind, one cannot engage in Right anything.

Indeed, the prerequisite, the condition that must be present to implement the Four Vows, which is to be a bodhisattva, is to have turned you will and your life over to the care of your true Buddha self, surrendering your ego to its care.

This does not mean that you cannot begin walking the paths set forth in the vows until one is completely free of the control of one's mind. But it does mean that one has to be on that trajectory. For more on freeing yourself from the control of your mind, see my post, 'How to Free Yourself . . ."

The Light Within You

6/11/2022

Each of us is born with the true Buddha nature inside us. And since Buddha nature is light, love, faith, and trust, among other qualities, we were all born with the light of Buddha inside us.

And indeed, typically, whenever you see a smiling baby or toddler, we see a face that is overflowing with light and happiness. That's why all people are so attracted to children of this age; they see something pure and wonderful that they have lost and unbeknownst to them yearn for.

We know what happens to that light and faith. It gets buried by the experiences of our life\ and the mind's reaction to those events. Whether it's trauma or a negative reaction to repeated negative experiences, our mind absorbs this negativity and perversely makes it our self-image.

The qualities we are born with are seeds that need to be nourished. Unfortunately instead of being fed, our mind takes control with its negativity and our Buddha nature gets buried, is suffocated, under the detritus of our lives.

Even before we started walking the path, we had evidence that the light was still within us when we would have an internal discussion between the "good" us and the "bad" us. Or when we would see a cartoon showing an angel sitting on one shoulder whispering in one ear and the devil sitting on the other shoulder whispering negative thoughts in the other ear.

We really never thought about it, but where did you think those "good" thoughts came from? They came from your heart, your true Buddha nature. It was alive in us and we didn't even realize it or draw any strength from it. When we would have these internal discussions, the "bad" side would always win because it was more powerful, more forceful.

Even as people walk the path, they are often still in the control of their mind and so they have scant contact with their heart, their Buddha nature, outside of when they are sitting on the cushion.

But it is never too late. Our light is waiting there to be rediscovered and nourished. It take s a lot of courage to disavow your mind and reconnect instead with your heart. All you're ever known about yourself is your mind. You identify with it.

You may be well aware of all the suffering it causes, but because the other path is into the unknown, you don't have the courage to say "no" to your mind and instead turn your will and your life over to the care of your Buddha nature, to surrender your ego to its care.

It comes back to the question I raised in an early post, "Do you really want to be at peace and happy?" If you do, the path is clear, the choice is clear. Have the courage to disavow your mind and embrace the Buddha nature inside you. Take refuge in it.