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Nirvana, what is this Nirvana Advice for spirituality By Lakshman (Web Master) Advice
for spirituality. The core need for the such advice is to make not only
our present life but also the existence beyond the present life also
better. No religion in this
world says that every one can go to heaven. Lord Buddha the son of King
Suddhodana who lived in India 2500 years ago had given a very agreeable
and rational explanation
about not only how to live the present life better but also how to
determine the next birth of a person than the astrological methods of
prediction which, I am going
to talk about next. “One
day a group of monks approached the Buddha and wanted to know where, a
person known to them (Sunakkatha) was born after his recent death. Buddha
showed them a nearby tree and told, Monks, suppose you go and cut that
tree down, where do you think that tree falls. Monks answered O, Lord
Buddha there is no doubt that the tree will fall in the direction it is
inclined or leaned now. Then
the Buddha answered as same as that, a person’s next birth is determined
by the way he spends his current life. If he lives the present life in a
way a god like being is living in earth with kindness love ect. Then he
will return to the gods realm after his death because that is the most
suitable place for him to go back . If he lived like a man then he will be
born like a man, if he lived like an animal or a savage then will be born
like an animal or a savage.” Therefore the simplest spiritual advice is, that what ever is your religion it does not matter but live in a manner that a great, compassionate being with godly qualities who had come back to earth for a few years to do some good according to the best of the ability and the circumstances (which could be good or bad as dictated by the previous karmas or the results of the actions from the past successful or unsuccessful missions) in order to return home after that period. Sure you will return to that place called heaven without much trouble. Only the name you call that place may differ according to your religion in this life time. Nirvana,
what is this Nirvana The first requirement for the beginning of the above realisation process is that the understanding and the acquirement of the firm conviction, that there is a cyclic rebirth or the birth and death process and the attachment is the bond to the above cyclic process and the Karma is the force that drives the cycle of birth and the death or the Samsara. No way, it is easy for an ordinary man to understand the above, it requires a great deal of wisdom which is rare in a normal person. That is why the Lord Buddha first hesitated, whether to explain it to the people who lived at that time 2500 years ago in India. Yet as it appeared later, even at that time, there were millions of ordinary people who understood that. Definitely there should be many at present time too who can make use of that guidance. Lakshman 22/5/2005 - Melbourne - Australia
How to get rid of the attachment (Karma) and get liberated? 9 years later I Added this in 18/9/2014 - Thinking this will help some one . Below are 2 actual questions asked by a visitor to this page Q :Why do we have body? That's one of the most interesting thing, so many times I was thinking about this. I would like to know the TRUE reason why we have physical body. For what reason???
You have a body because,
though you can not remember it now as it could be so many life times
ago, at one time, when you were pure consciousness or light, you wished
to have one. Why you wished it ?
Because you wanted to
have certain experiences which you can not get if you do not have a
body. The affinity to have such experience or the desire to have a some
sort of a body is the cause . The easiest example is sex. You can not
have it in any other form. It is the most basic of desires, it is
primeval hence the continuation of mostly every living organism is based
on that.
When you wish a body it
comes in with some
built in set of primeval bodily desires. That is the condition of
getting a body. (Say, like you order something from a factory then it
comes with the factory settings.) Those settings are built in to the
brain, as
the body needs to survive, propagate and to have progeny, it needs to
protect itself from harm, live in a survival of the fittest environment ect. So a sort of a reptilian type of functions with selfishness, ego ,
domineering, strong sexual desires ect comes in already set up to the body.
Once you have the body, or once the symbiosis of body and soul occurs, most of the occasions the soul (or the light) become attached and surrenders to those desires and experiences and get tainted or dilutioned thinking this body is me or the self and those desires are mine. (Now you will know what is the prohibited fruit mentioned in Bible is, which reptile made it eat. Reptile is the brain and the fruit is the misconception of thinking that body as self, instead thinking of the body as the vehicle of getting the certain experiences and sensual feelings. Once you eat the fruit, you forgot that you are the pure sensuousness the light and started thinking I am this body. Feelings are mine. This is me. These things belongs to me {Called Bhava in Sanskrit}. With the appearance of Bhava in your mind, you had lost/forgot your divinity the connection to the higher self. ) This dilution is (called Avidya in sanskrit) Creates more and more desires and attachments. these attachments in turn creates Karmas. Then karmas keep the soul bonded to the wheel of samsara. Processing body after another body going through life/death life/death situations endlessly.
In Buddhism it is
explained as dependent Origination (Patticha Samuppada)
Avijja -
Ignorance or Dilution ->
Gives rise to ->Sanskara -
Karma formations -> Gives
rise to ->Vinnana -
Soul consciousness ,
(separation of soul or soul identity) -> Gives rise to ->
Nama /Rupa -
Mind and body -> Gives
rise to -> Salayatana -Sensual
organs such as eye, tong, ear, nose etc.-> Gives rise to ->Phassa
- Contact or impression
-> gives rise to -> Vedana -
Feelings -> Gives rise to
-> Thanha -
craving or sensual desires->
Gives rise to -> Upadana -
Attachment -> gives rise
to -> Bhava -
Belongingness - >Gives
rise to -> Jathi -
Birth -> Gives rise to ->
Jara/Marana -> To get liberated from that mis conception you need to rewind the process. Liberation comes when you start realizing that the body is not the self. And experiences or the sensual feelings are not the self either. And begins to understand the soul/body difference called (Nama/Rupa). Once you begins to understand it you start to see the bad side of having a body. Things like pain and suffering caused by being born, getting older, pain of sickness, ect. It is all suffering (Dhukka in Sanskrit language) . Once you understand that
holding in to this body is indeed a burden or suffering. Then you start
looking for the way to find the relief of this suffering. How to let go
to the hold in to the body. And look for the cause of it all.. The cause ?
is attachment. The reason for the attachment is misconception or mis
understanding or the darkness called (Avidya). The light or the (Vidya )
is the correct understanding or the true nature of the things you hold
for dear. With correct understanding in place you start seeing the light
or the liberation from this attachment.
How to get rid of the
attachment and get liberated ? was explained to people about 2500 years
back but do not want to discuss because I do not want to shake your
belief or challenge it as this is not a religious discourse. But if you
think what I told is logical then you may able to find the way as you
are extremely intelligent person.
With blessings
Lakshman
Added this in 20/9/2014 - Thinking this will help some one Q. Yes, what you wrote is very logical and it resonated totally with my understanding. So now, don't worry about shaking my belief. I have none. How to get rid of the attachment and get liberated?
The
way to liberation begins with the understanding in your intellect the four realities
exists and that those are true or correct.
Called 4
Noble truths.
It is
understanding the reality of : Or the truth of that :
1 suffering
exists and it is a truth. (Called Dukkha Sathya)
2. Truth of
that the reason for suffering is attachment or the craving for sensual
pleasures
3. Truth of
that there is a way to get over that attachment or the bond that keep
you bounded the vicious circle of Samsara.
4 Truth of
the existence of such a way to liberation that if you follow the simple
path. called noble 8 fold path which is namely:
right
understanding,
right
thought,
right
speech,
right
action,
right
livelihood,
right
effort,
right
awareness and
right
concentration.
P.S. This is a good discourse in English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leUG3KpvKUo This looks very simple but profound. Volumes of discourses and books written about each of these like what is right understanding ? what is right concentration ect. Basically it
is that you need to lead a good innocent harmless to any one a life. In
that way you lead a trouble free life. By living such a peaceful
life, you get time to think about the life and philosophy ect. (But
for an example if you are a thief or a murderer or a thug then you do
not have
that peace of mind to think about the spirituality)
When you lead such a good life, eventually you become a
seeker of truth, about life itself and then the right awareness,
concentration understanding, thoughts, efforts and actions start to
appear and you begin to see the world as it is and realize that it
is filled with suffering (Dukkha Sathya) and begin to look for the way
to get released from it or liberation.
That is the
way. Once you are in that path you will get there with right effort.
The effort you have to make is
given in details in the Discourse of lord Buddha called "Maha
Sathipatthana Suthra"
This
particular part I explained now is a Discourse of Lord Buddha give about
2600 years ago in a Discourse at the kingdom of Kuru some where present
day north India Delhi.
Here is the
link http://www.tipitaka.org/stp-pali-eng-parallel#24
But read
starting from the below ( Starting from the part "The great discourse
.....) otherwise if you start from the beginning it will be confusing
and difficult for you to make head or tail of it as you may not have the
necessary background knowledge
The Great Discourse on the Establishing of
Awareness
Thus have I heard:
At one time the Enlightened One was staying among
the Kurus at Kammāsadhamma, a market town of the Kuru people. There the
Enlightened One addressed the monks thus: "Monks,"1 and
they replied, "Venerable Sir!" Then the Enlightened One spoke as
follows:
1.Introduction
This is the one and only way, monks, for the
purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation,
for the extinguishing of suffering and grief, for walking on the path of
truth, for the realisation of nibbāna
or the liberation : that
is to say, the fourfold establishing of awareness. ....
Below is the actual place this Discourse was given according to a Sri Lankan News paper article dated 28/9/2014 (Mawbima) - where the lord Buddha sat is now covered by the building here
I think this single discourse of lord Buddha is all any one looking for the release from the Samsara or the enlightenment needs to know. You do not need to look for or learn any thing else nor you do not need to be a Buddhist either to realize this. Because this is so simple (yet profound) So near you, many do not recognise it. (Thinking Yeh, what is it ? breathing in breathing out, thinking body is bad and guarding the thoughts? Nope !! We need to pray to some one for the rescue of us from the ocean of suffering and land us in heaven. We need not try rescuing ourselves. It is not our responsibility to save our self by making us better beings. It is the responsibility of god. what ever we do, once we pray, he will land us in eternal bliss.) As same as your shadow is always with you, but you rarely notice it. As same the enlightenment is so near yet so far for many. Aparts it does not give you any special powers or any material benefits. It is just the realization that who you really are ! A wakeup to know where you belong. So it is understandable in this current materialistic world very few are interested because they do not gain any thing tangible by realizing some thing. Still there are a few left who are true seekers. This is written for the benefit of those few who look for this knowledge. I wrote this because it is very hard for an ordinary Buddhist person or even some monks to grasp these concepts easily because it is not explained in simple terms. So its doubly hard for a person from non Buddhist background to make head or tail out of it. May take many life times on earth even to hear these.
My duty is
done by trying to explain these profound concepts with love and compassion
for whoever may be looking for these knowledge, trying to be as simple and
understandable as possible according to my understanding and the best of my
ability. May peace be upon this world ! May all beings are free from sufferings of Samsara !!! By the good merits of the explaining the Dhamma from the best of my ability, which is the highest form of giving one can do. May my intellect shine as the brilliance of the Sun at mid summer, so I can easily break my attachments and realize the nirvana. Merging with the highest forms of energy in the universe, where the other great great beings such as Buddhas , the non preaching or the silent Paccheka Buddhas and Arhaths had gone. Never to be returned again. Thus not to be again limited and bound to an any form of a body which is disease ridden, requires constant attention, feeding, which is impermanent, fragile, ageing and death bound.
Page Title: Buddha Dhamma Buddhism Dharma
The Ultimate Quest for happiness Samsara The
picture below, graphically represents not only the Hindu, but also
the Buddhist view of the endless circle of life and death. (Samsara)
Which brings birth, old age, disease and death. In summery Sufferings
(Dukkha) Past
knowledge in present context Understanding the law of Karma Buddha.net
Free Buddhist E books (e-sangha.com)
The First Discourse of Buddha. At the end of this First Discourse, which is now known as the "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta" and given to these five ascetics Brahmins who were at that time living at Isipatana in Benares. The oldest of ascetic Brahmins, Kondanna, who was well versed in all the Vedic scriptures was able to understand and grasp the Buddha's first Discourse "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta" very easily with no difficulty at all. Thus becoming the first person to realise the first path and he became a Sotapanna, or one who goes against the stream of Samsara (the recurring cycle of life and death). According to the Buddha, whatever is impermanent is subject to suffering, and the world rests on this basic factor of suffering (Dukkha), However, having accepted this fact, He goes on to teach man how to gain his release from all suffering. The tragic story of Patacara who loses her whole family within a matter of a single day and a night, points out only too well how suffering besets the unsuspecting worldling. More.. Buddhism in Pictures
To be able to listen, the first time users may have to spend 2-3 minutes installing Live 365 player (Audio). Here
is the List of
Discourses of For Western listeners Buddhist
attitude towards death and life (In
English
-(Audio)
By Australian Monks - Audio)
and more..
P.S Some listeners from USA informed me certain Sinhalese audio links are not working at times. In such cases click here Savanata Sisilasa is the original broadcasting station. Follow the instruction on that page how to install the "365 Player". You need to install it once. Before being able to listen. After that you can listen at any time you feel like it. Now, everyday you can listen to a new discourse.
A physician's view of: What caused the Lord Buddha's DeathHow the Buddha died by Venerable Dr Mettanando Bhikkhu Bangkok Post, May 15, 2001. Dr Mettanando Bhikkhu was a physician before entering the monkhood. He is currently based at Wat Raja Orasaram, Thailand. This is his explanation More
Page Title: Buddha, Dhamma Buddhism |
For
Hinduism
It is more than two millennium and a half now since the great teacher and a prince by birth later known as the "Buddha" walked the ancient land of India. Even today Billions of people all over the world Buddhists and non Buddhists accept Buddha's teachings in their life. And there is no doubt that Buddha is one of the greatest sons India has ever produced. But it is a great pity to see that many Indians know next to nothing about Buddha, his life or the teachings. It
is as shameful as to say that, "I am a proud Indian, but I know
nothing about Mahathma Gandhi". Specially for a Hindu to be so
ignorant of Buddha.
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