How do you be one with your true Buddha self? And what is the practical effect? How do you feel it?
To be one with your true Buddha self means it is your true Buddha self that guides your actions and thoughts, not your ego-mind; you are no longer controlled by your ego-mind. That is what has stood between you and your true Buddha self throughout your life.
As I’ve related, for years I would recite that I turn my will and my life over to the care of my true Buddha nature, but it didn’t really make a difference. The ego-mind is very powerful. Then some time ago, someone brought to my attention the practice of opening up your heart to embrace all aspects of your being and experience. I describe this practice in the post, “The Heart’s Embrace.” It is empowering.
Since it is not something that your ego-mind would ever consider doing, if you are able to do this, it's evidence that your meditation practice has connected you deeply with your true Buddha self. You have reached first base.
But even if it feels right, if you don't rebel, don’t take it for granted. Your ego-mind is always laying in wait; like Mara. And so the heart’s embrace is part of my daily meditation practice.
What will happen, what will be the effect of having turned your will and your life over to the care of your true Buddha self? The first thing you will notice is that when you embrace everything, nothing offends. Nothing in the past, nothing in the present, nothing in the future. And when nothing offends all internal and external struggle cease to be. You only struggle when something offends you.
The second thing that happens is that you understand that you have everything you need inside yourself to be at peace and happy. All the things that you’ve been taught to believe that you need are discovered to be just a product of the ego-mind and when you practice the heart’s embrace, when you embrace all aspects of your being and experience, past, present, and future, you let those learned experiences go. Since nothing offends, you know that regardless what life throws your way, you will be at peace and happy because you have returned home and will always return home to you true Buddha nature.
Third, when you are one with your true Buddha self, faith and mind are not separate. And as an ancient poem says, “When faith and mind are not separate, and not separate are mind and faith, this is beyond all words and thought, for here there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, to today. There is only the present moment. All else is thought.” And so you are truly present.
Fourth, when you are one with your true Buddha self, you see things through the eyes of your true Buddha self, through your unwounded, pre-trauma, heart filled with joy and positive energy, and through the neutrality of your senses, the equanimity of your Third Eye.
Finally, when you are one you will practice bodhicitta, which is having compassion, wishing that all beings be free of suffering and that they experience happiness. Even for those who are evil, you will have compassion for you know that they were not born that way; they developed that way because of their life experiences. As I stated in my post, “Evil - How Should a Buddhist Respond?” you want to keep your distance from evil, and in certain circumstances work to defeat it, but one always responds not with hatred but with compassion.
You have reached a state of great peace and you will vigilantly guard against efforts by your ego-mind to assert itself … to create doubt, fear, lack of faith. You will allow nothing, no matter what guise, what enticing or seductive message is sent, to rob you of your peace and happiness. You will have walked the Fourfold Path to Freedom, as I was taught and have related in my books, as well as my post, “The Fourfold Path to Freedom.”
To be one with your true Buddha self means it is your true Buddha self that guides your actions and thoughts, not your ego-mind; you are no longer controlled by your ego-mind. That is what has stood between you and your true Buddha self throughout your life.
As I’ve related, for years I would recite that I turn my will and my life over to the care of my true Buddha nature, but it didn’t really make a difference. The ego-mind is very powerful. Then some time ago, someone brought to my attention the practice of opening up your heart to embrace all aspects of your being and experience. I describe this practice in the post, “The Heart’s Embrace.” It is empowering.
Since it is not something that your ego-mind would ever consider doing, if you are able to do this, it's evidence that your meditation practice has connected you deeply with your true Buddha self. You have reached first base.
But even if it feels right, if you don't rebel, don’t take it for granted. Your ego-mind is always laying in wait; like Mara. And so the heart’s embrace is part of my daily meditation practice.
What will happen, what will be the effect of having turned your will and your life over to the care of your true Buddha self? The first thing you will notice is that when you embrace everything, nothing offends. Nothing in the past, nothing in the present, nothing in the future. And when nothing offends all internal and external struggle cease to be. You only struggle when something offends you.
The second thing that happens is that you understand that you have everything you need inside yourself to be at peace and happy. All the things that you’ve been taught to believe that you need are discovered to be just a product of the ego-mind and when you practice the heart’s embrace, when you embrace all aspects of your being and experience, past, present, and future, you let those learned experiences go. Since nothing offends, you know that regardless what life throws your way, you will be at peace and happy because you have returned home and will always return home to you true Buddha nature.
Third, when you are one with your true Buddha self, faith and mind are not separate. And as an ancient poem says, “When faith and mind are not separate, and not separate are mind and faith, this is beyond all words and thought, for here there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, to today. There is only the present moment. All else is thought.” And so you are truly present.
Fourth, when you are one with your true Buddha self, you see things through the eyes of your true Buddha self, through your unwounded, pre-trauma, heart filled with joy and positive energy, and through the neutrality of your senses, the equanimity of your Third Eye.
Finally, when you are one you will practice bodhicitta, which is having compassion, wishing that all beings be free of suffering and that they experience happiness. Even for those who are evil, you will have compassion for you know that they were not born that way; they developed that way because of their life experiences. As I stated in my post, “Evil - How Should a Buddhist Respond?” you want to keep your distance from evil, and in certain circumstances work to defeat it, but one always responds not with hatred but with compassion.
You have reached a state of great peace and you will vigilantly guard against efforts by your ego-mind to assert itself … to create doubt, fear, lack of faith. You will allow nothing, no matter what guise, what enticing or seductive message is sent, to rob you of your peace and happiness. You will have walked the Fourfold Path to Freedom, as I was taught and have related in my books, as well as my post, “The Fourfold Path to Freedom.”
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