The way of Shakyamuni has come down through the ages as one of the great religions of man, a way that leads to the salvation of the spirit from the bondage of Life, Death and Rebirth, a vicious circle that man is trapped into through his own insatiable desires and ignorance and living the illusory existence of a sleep walker. The Historical Buddha came into being in the times of spiritual chaos in India where the Brahmin of the period had taken advantage and polluted the ancient vedic teachings to suit their cravings. The appearance of the Buddha was like that of an agnostic who came to set right the wrong of religious ignorance and free the masses from the exploitation by the priests caste of the time. The Buddha's way had led to a revolution of the Hindu pantheon of Gods and Deities replacing them with the practice of self realization and ultimate liberation from the cycle of Life, death and rebirth. The Buddha taught man how to stop playing the religious game and awaken to the spiritual realization of the Non attachment to and non dependant upon any other than the self to become free. By the right understanding of the true self nature or Buddha Nature one can shed off this mind and body and become self-less or no self and when there is no self to reckon with, there is none to suffer. In short according to the teachings of the Buddha, for so long as there is a self or an I, there is suffering.
The question is off course is how do i drop off the 'I'? How do I stop identifying with the 'I'? It is impossible and a foolish idea if one look at it at a casual glance, but the Buddha took more than forty long and tedious years of self scrutiny to arrive at an answer for himself. Upon awakening he was said to have uttered, "I am awakened, and the universe awaken with me!" Hence you and i, if we were to ponder upon this utterances it would mean that we are awakened beings, we are all Buddhas by virtue of Shakyamuni Buddha's awakening some two thousand five hundred years ago, the time of Abraham or was it Moses? The time of lao Tzu and Confucius, Zoroaster and such. So how come we are drifting along on this life's highway like a ship without a rudder, cattle headed for the slaughter house? Are we as a specie regressing in our capacity to implement changes when changes are sorely needed, strive for peace when peace has become a rare commodity and a bargaining chip. What is wrong with this generation of humanity that we have allowed ourselves to be dragged into so much conflict that has plunged us into the depth of depravity unheard of in our history.
When the Buddha declared the Universe to have awakened with Him it included us or at least our ancestors some 2500 years ago; it was a Universal miracle. However somewhere, somehow we have deviated and set upon a new course for self destruction rather than self discovery. We have found Gods again and in this we have found too that suffering is here to stay. The Gods love human pain and suffering as it remind man of the need for a saviour, of hope and of grace and such and the need for a scapegoat to blame it all on when things don't go the right way.The Buddha in his final hours is to have said to his cousin Ananda," O'Ananda, depend not on any other than your self for your own salvation!"
Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
The mind is everything. What you think you become.
2 comments:
Hey! Great Article, thanks for sharing the Information
I am John, writing content's on Astrological topics. Recently writing on Fabolous topic "Ephemeris Astrology" and planetary position, if you want to know more, please read my website mPanchang.com
Thanks John, will check out your website, sounds interesting.
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