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

Beware Complacency

9/24/2022

When one gets to a certain place in one's practice – and that place is different for different people because their goals are different – there's a human tendency to pat oneself on the back and say you've done it. And when the mind does that, we become complacent and let down our guard regarding the source of our samsara, our mind.

If one is aware that one is feeling complacent or self-satisfied about one's practice, a bell should ring out – Danger! Danger!

I say this from personal experience. It has happened in the past, and just recently I felt after a morning meditation that things were truly coming together, there was a coherence among all aspects of my practice. When I said "your will, not mine," I felt a burden being lifted from my shoulders.

And so what happened in rather rapid order? Twice over the course of the following 12 hours I violated key aspects of my daily mantra regarding my relations, my interaction, with others. This caused grief to people dear to me and thus grief to me.

My purpose in life is to offer myself and others joy. When I instead cause someone and myself grief, I am not only not fulfilling my purpose in life, but I am truly hurting myself and others.

And so I must remember what I have said many times: the path never ends. One must be mindful of the power and persistence of one's mind, knowing that if it sees any opportunity, any crack in your force field of spirituality, it will take advantage of that opportunity to assert itself and at least momentarily knock you off your spiritual balance.

My intent is to always empty myself of myself, to be in touch with the Buddha nature/my divinity inside me, the source of my supply, my substance, to be humble before it saying "your will, not mine," and so be filled with abundance and light, peace and equanimity, happiness and contentment, faith and strength, And never allow myself to be complacent.

What Nourishes My Soul?

9/17/2022

Everywhere I have lived, I have been drawn to nature. Whether living in a city or the country, it is nature I seek out – nature read large. Ether a large body of water, like Lake Michigan or the ocean, or a vista that includes the open sky and some element of nature.

What is at work here? Whether a large body of water or a vista, they connect me to the infinite nature of the universe, the primal forces that are present. Probably that's why I've always been interested in astronomy, in what's out there. Connecting with forces beyond me, beyond the known. Connecting with the abundance and beauty of the universe.

I believe that is also what draws me to good music and beautiful art. It's not just the aesthetic quality, which is pleasing; it connects me with something deeper, spiritual.

It is the spirituality of nature, beyond man's control, and of man himself when he is in touch with the presence of the divinity within him, that nourishes me. Because that feeds the divinity within me, my true Buddha nature.

I function very well in cities, but i need access to this spiritual dimension, which can come from a high-rise with a beautiful vista (not just other buildings), or something that dwarfs or is apart from the man-made environment (like Lack Michigan in Chicago). Central Park and Prospect Park in New York City, for example, lovely as they are, don't work for me because they are very much a part of the man-made environment. They feel like nature in a cage.

The other thing that nourishes me, being human, is human contact. Which means contact with people that is not fraught with the things that usually drive people, that has instead a spiritual quality. The contact does not have to be deep or intellectual, just human, pure, honest. Given the way we are raised and the society in which we live, that is not easy to come by. I am grateful that when I go to temple, this is what I receive from the sangha. And I have found that if I radiate light when in public, even in this impersonal space, I will get an occasional positive response.

If I know that this is what nourishes me, how can I increase the nourishment in my life? We make decisions every day about what direction our lives will take, both on matters large and small. Typically the mind has a large say in these decisions. Even when one has turned one's will and life over to the care of your Buddha nature, your divinity, when you have surrendered your ego, emptied yourself of yourself, the mind still seeks to have influence, just like Mara would consistently tempt the Buddha.

And not being enlightened, even if you are aware of this, it is a challenge to distinguish whether the guidance you are receiving is coming from the mind or from your heart. Clearly if it causes you suffering, then as the Buddha said, "this is not you, this is not yours, this is not your self;" I know it is not coming from my heart. But that is not always the case, or better put, by the time I realize it is causing suffering, I have already invested time and energy in the wrong path. This is a painful lesson.

My intent is to be ever vigilant so that this knowledge and awareness of what nourishes me influences all my actions and activities.

Emptying Myself of Myself - The Divine's Will Not Mine

9/10/2022

If you have been reading my posts, you know that I have gone pasts traditional Buddhist teaching to embrace elements of the Divine. (See my posts, "Buddhism and the Divine" and "Happenstance - Part II, You, Your Buddha Nature, and the Universe.") This is all consistent with the Buddha dharma, but it introduces concepts and forces which are not explicitly recognized in the dharma.

You are probably familiar with the phrase, "God's will, not mine," which is a central part of 12-step programs (although the reference is to one's higher power, so the phrasing is "your will not mine"). This is an essential part of surrendering your ego to your true Buddha nature, turning your will and your life over to the care of your true Buddha nature.

When I incorporated this mantra into my practice, I felt a burden being lifted from me. I had no fear of not being in control. Instead I felt relief at not being in control, of things not depending on my mind's efforts.

Recently, though, I learned that a further step on this path is to empty myself of myself and so be one with my the Buddha nature, the divine, inside me. For only when one is in that state can one truly say, "your will, not mine," because at that point you have no will because you have emptied yourself of yourself, not merely turned your ego over to the care of your Buddha nature.

Also, when you are in that place, you are in a position to not just receive but to accept and follow any guidance you receive from your Buddha nature/the divine inside you, your heart. There truly is no struggle then, for there is no "I" to struggle with the divine.

This is my intent every day, every moment of the day, as I continue walking on the path

Renouncing What You Have Always Depended On

9/3/2022

Recently I have written about the teaching of being at one with your Buddha nature/divinity, seeing it as your source and your supply, and your substance. And so be filled with abundance and light, peace and equanimity, happiness and contentment, faith and strength.

That sounds like the whole ball game, right? Well, the other morning while meditating I realized that in order to be fully in that space, I must renounce my dependence on things, people, and experiences for my source and supply. That may be implied by looking to the presence of your Buddha nature/divinity as your source and supply, but implication is not sufficient. You must clearly renounce, relinquish, that habit energy that has been with you throughout your life.

The Abundance Book as well as The Course in Miracles makes clear the importance of renouncing what we have previously put our faith in as providing for or supply, namely money and material things, jobs, people. It's not that these things are not important to one's life, but they are not the source of your supply. Buddhist teaching is very clear that that comes from within, and it comes from our being one with our Buddha nature, our divinity, or if you wish, the presence of God within us. (See my post, "Buddhism and the Divine.")

This is one more aspect of the importance of surrendering your ego to your true Buddha nature. See my post, "Turning Your Will and Your Life Over to Your True Buddha Nature."

A Buddhist Trinity - Amended

8/28/2022

Several years ago, a wrote a post describing the core aspects of the path leading to peace and happiness: acceptance, being present, and faith that you'll be ok in the future whatever will be, que sera sera. I later wrote a post about some supporting practices.

All of this is a challenge, having been raised as we have been and living in an environment which is often hostile, with our egos being constantly challenged. In order to have a reasonable chance to experience acceptance, being present, and faith in the future it is clear to me now that several other spiritual practices are critical.

The first is gratefulness. It's relatively easy for someone to list the things that he's grateful for; I did it for years. But to feel grateful is something else altogether. To have the feeling of gratefulness rise up within you, unasked, means that you are truly grateful.

The second spiritual practice is feeling abundance. One reason why gratefulness is so critical is that if you are not grateful, you cannot experience, feel the abundance that is part of your life and exists all around you. Believe me, if you are in a state of being ungrateful, about anything, you will not be able to experience any abundance in your life.

Without being grateful and experiencing abundance, you stand little chance of truly being accepting and present in the moment, nor have faith that you'll be ok in the future regardless what happens.

Let's say you're working on a new project, or a job, and it just isn't going well; it's causing you lots of stress. We are raised to say keep at it, don't admit failure. Yet from a spiritual perspective, taking that route is bound to just perpetuate your suffering.

Spiritually, if something is causing you suffering, it either isn't right for you and you need to let it go, or you need to find a different way of approaching it. As the Buddha said, "If it causes you suffering, it is not you, it is not yours, it is not your self for your self would never cause you suffering. " But if you aren't otherwise filled with gratefulness and aware of your abundance, you will not be able to accept that fact and let it go.

Another example is people are always talking about what they don't want, something they have but they don't want. That doesn't get you anywhere, does not move you forward. It just mires you in frustration.

What we must do instead is talk (but not obsess) about the things we want. Throw positive thoughts out to your Buddha nature and the universe. Remember, any time you voice a negative, you are in fact affirming that negative! But again, the only way to stop focusing on what we don't want, is to be grateful for what we have, feel the abundance, and accept our life as it is at this moment.

The third critical spiritual practice is to be in constant contact with your Buddha nature, your divinity. Given the environment we live in and the way most of us have been raised, these spiritual states I've noted are a real challenge to experience with some consistency. To experience them with consistency requires that we are in constant contact with our Buddha nature, with our divinity. And so this is the third critical spiritual practice.

This is relatively easy when you are sitting on your cushion, or are out in nature, or are doing something that is not part of your role in the world. But when you are trying to do something, achieve something, being in contact with our Buddha nature while in the process rather than with our mind is a great challenge. There are times when the mind must be engaged, it is an essential part of moving through life, but frequently that balance is all wrong between the weight of our mind and the weight of our contact with our Buddha nature and so we go down the wrong path.

I truthfully have no foolproof answer to maintaining that contact. All I can do (I am not enlightened) is to put myself in contact with my Buddha nature throughout the day, literally asking it to be with me, while rejecting the input of my mind.

Humility: The Truth About "My" Good Accomplishments

8/16/2022

I've always been proud about what I've accomplished in life, whether it's the work I did or relationships I developed on the job, whether it's the music or books I've written, whether it's my blogs and videos. And this seemed very natural. I was not "prideful" (conceited, arrogant, or overconfident) while still taking legitimate pride in my accomplishments, if that makes sense.

However, I recently watched a video on being humble before God, and I realized that the pride I took in my accomplishments was not being humble before God or Buddha. Why is that? Because I know now that my Buddha nature, my divinity, was an active participant in everything good that I have created. In each case I was moved by my Buddha nature and was giving voice to its wisdom and humanity. My music, books, etc. were in fact joint projects. I could never have done those things were it not for the Buddha nature, the divinity, that was inside me, that is my substance, source, and supply.

I had known the truth for many years that the true Buddha nature was inside me. But I never viewed it as an active participant in my life; more a guider on how to live.

So for many years, although I realized everything good that has happened in my life has happened by happenstance, not because of my mind's effort, I was not able to add more to that realization. But since reading The Abundance Book, I have become aware of and acknowledged the presence of my Buddha nature, my divinity, within me as being the source of my supply, the source of my abundance.

And so I realized that this happenstance has been a function of my Buddha nature/my divinity/the universe; these things did not happen by accident. Even during the decades before I had any knowledge of or belief in the Buddha, I was being provided for. I know now that this is further proof of the constant presence of Buddha nature inside us all. (See my post, "Happenstance - Part II.)

And now most recently, I have come to understand that these forces are not just the source of my supply of abundance, but they are my substance. Everything good I have done has been a result of their influence, even when I was totally unaware of it.

And so I have humbled myself before my true Buddha nature and divinity. I no longer take unwarranted pride in my accomplishments.

Your True Self and the Irrelevance of the Mind

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 – your true self? (See my "Coming Home" videos, especially "Your True Self = Your Heart.")

I have in my 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, I believed 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. And I feared that.

Most recently, however, I have received a teaching that has given me 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 new 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.

I have also accepted the teaching of his will, not mine. It is of course my responsibility to engage myself in what I feel led to do, but I don't have to figure out what is best for me or how it will work out; that is the responsibility of my divinity, of the universe. That is a burden that I am relieved of. My responsibility is to be ready when I am guided. I know I will be safe regardless what the universe provides because I have returned home and will always return home to my true Buddha nature, the divinity inside me. (See my post, "Buddhism and the Divine.")

And finally, with my new self operating, I have no need to fear the impact or guidance of my mind. I have left that behind. Yes, it will always be there and it will certainly attempt to assert itself. But I have the faith in myself and the presence of God within me that its fears are no longer relevant. I am no longer my wounded inner child in an adult body. And so I can just ignore it.

To quote Martin Luther King from a difference context, "Free at last, free at last, thank God I am free at last!"

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.