Insights From The Buddha
Don’t get caught up in words and concepts. Focus on the application and receiving the wisdom
from that application.
Buddha would refrain to answer questions that were about theory.
Recognize suffering only when it is present and joy when suffering is absent
We need the energy of mindfulness to be present with our habit energy so we can prevent it
from dominating us.
The first function of meditation is to stop
The second is calming
Learn to become solid and stable like an earth tree and not to be swayed by the storm.
5 Stages
1. Recognize the feeling
2. Accept what is present
3. Embrace it like a mother holding a baby
4. When calm enough, look deeply as to why this is coming forward
5. Insight. Understand why this has come forward. What triggered it, what was our part, reflect
until we realize the insight.
The third is resting.
Learn the art of resting allowing our body and mind to rest so we can heal.
Resting is a precondition for healing.
Buddha: my dharma is the practice of non practice.
Touching Our Suffering
To understand the four noble truths we have to practice the 12 turnings of the wheel.
The Four Noble Truths
Suffering
Turnings:
1. This is suffering (recognition of our suffering, that it is happening)
2. Suffering should be understood (encouragement, we describe its qualities, what it’s called, it’s
symptoms, we embrace it)
3. Suffering is understood (realization)
Arising Of Suffering
Turnings
1. There is an ignoble way that has led to suffering (recognize what nutriments increase our
suffering)
2. That ignoble way should be understood (real happiness is possible if we stop ingesting those
nutriments)
3. That ignoble way is understood. (We vow to & stop ingesting the things that increase our
suffering. When hungry I eat, when tired I sleep (being yourself)this part cannot be faked.)
Cessation Of Suffering
Turnings
1. Well-being is possible (peace and joy is possible as well as the absence of suffering)
2. Well-being should be obtained (touch everything that brings you joy deeply, face the
difficulties and grow new happiness, learn the art of cultivating joy)
3. Well-being is obtained ( suffering and happiness are not permanent states)
How Well Being Arises
Turnings:
1. There is a noble path that leads to well-being
2. This noble path is to be lived
3. This noble path is lived
Recognition
We have to recognize our pain and suffering
The wounds in our heart become to objects of our meditation.
Encouragement
After recognizing and identifying our pain we look deeply into it in order to observe it’s causes.
Through sitting meditation, walking meditations , talks with others , reflections. We realize the
causes of our suffering are knowable. At this stage our tactics can still be setback.
Understanding
We now get the realizations of our suffering. We get the name and all the characteristics of our
illness. We call it by name.
The nutriments
1. Food (eat mindfully)
2. Sense expressions. ( use our 1st eye to discern what things are going to be toxic for us at
each sense door)
3. Will ( whatever we direct our will towards everything we do will be directed towards that)
release your attachment to material things so you can be happy. Direct your will towards
freedom, peace and compassion.
4. Consciousness (our consciousness is composed by all the seeds of our past actions and the
past actions of our society and parents ) nourish our consciousness by practicing 4
immeasurable minds of Love, compassion, joy , and equanimity. Or feed it with greed , pride ,
hatred , ignorance , and suspicion. It eats day and night. What it consumed becomes the
substance of our life. The five aggregates in us - forms , feelings , perceptions, mental
formations , and consciousness. When we ingest toxins we cause ourselves suffering.
Meditation 1.
What suffering have I been subject to over the last 3 months and how have I contributed to it?
Understand what nutimrnts you have been investing to cause the suffering.
Once you do that it brings joy
The next thing is to make a vow to invest healthier nutriments.
Suffering - a holy truth.
Then we stop ingesting those nutriments
Cessation of Suffering
(third noble truth cont.)
What nourishes joy and me and in others?
Enjoy the precious jewels that you already have.
Look deeply at your situation and find the conditions for happiness that are already available.
(1st turning)
Encourage selves to find peace and joy. The four noble truths are a practice. Touch deeply the
things that bring you peace and joy. Being here and alive is a miracle. Our suffering is not worth
suffering for. Face and embrace your suffering and you will receive more joy(2nd turning)
The understanding that Suffering and Happiness are not two.
3rd (Turning)
How Well Being Arises
1. We recognize the eightfold path can lead us out of suffering
2. We learn and practice and reflect on the eightfold path and our experiences and suffering
3. The realization that we are practicing the eightfold path.
The Eightfold Noble Path That Leads To Well Being
Well Being
The Ignoble Eight Fold Path
Suffering
The Noble EightFold Path
Right View
Man asked Buddha if the other religious teachers are fully enlightened.
Buddha responds when you have the chance to ask a teacher about the Dharma, ask a
question that can change your life.
1st Practice Of The Noble Eightfold Path
Right View: A deep understanding, of the four noble truths.
Knowing that the paid righteous and others have liberated themselves form
Suffering through it and transformed themselves.
Distinguish wholesome roots from unwholesome roots ( in our consciousness)
If you are loyal the seed of loyalty is in you
If you are a betraying person , the seed of betrayal is in you.
The seeds that are watered by you and your environment are the ones that dictate your
behavior.
Mindfulness helps us to identify all the seeds in our consciousness and water the ones that are
the most wholesome.
The seed of Buddha hood is in all of us.
At the base of our views are our perceptions.
Don’t be fooled by what we perceive. Where there is perception, there is deception. Most
suffering comes from wrong perception. Ask self are we sure until we get right view.
When we perceive the moon, the moon is us, when we perceive a friend the friend is us.
Everything we perceive is the object of our perception.
Everything is our own perception.
The flower we look at is a part of our consciousness.
The source of our perception is our store consciousness.
If 10 people look at one thing, each will have a different perception.
Look deeply at our perceptions and know their source.
Our happiness depends on our right view. Right view is the living insight we have about the
reality of life that fills us with peace, understanding , and love.
Right view cannot be transmitted by a teacher but only pointed in the direction of. We have to
cultivate our own seeds for right view.
Mindful living
Mindful breathing
Mindful walking
Living each moment of our day mindfully
Your perception or concept of reality is not reality. To practice is to go beyond the concepts and
ideas to arrive at the suchness of things.
Where there is an idea there is no truth.
No idea is the path of non conception. No idea means no wrong idea, no wrong conception.
Because of mindfulness when something is right we know it’s right and when something is
wrong we know it’s wrong.
There are right and wrong views relatively speaking but they are all subjective and technically
wrong.
If I’m in an alley far from
The scene and see someone I don’t know being stomped on on the ground I might think it’s
horrific and that person is messed up for doing it but if I am standing from another angle I might
see a woman cryin that that man tried to rape her and might feel the guys are just for doing him
like that.
Neither view is really “right” because they don’t encapsulate the whole of the situation and are
from different views. The first shows the nature of reality can be harsh and that things horrific
happen on this plane. The second has that idea but also the idea that sometimes violence on
that level could be one’s idea to of justice.
The whole of that event is unrealized from views. But the 2nd one may be “more right” because
it encapsulates more of that which actually was.
Buddha teaches to eliminate wrong views
The seed of Buddha hood are in us and we have to put our views into practice. When we
practice right mindfulness we see the seed of Buddha hood in all of us. This is right view.
Mindful living will increase our right view.
Right Thinking
When right view is solid in us, right thinking arises.
Right thinking will improve our right view. Thinking is the speech of our mind.
Right thinking causes us to see things as they are.
Concentrating on breathing brings mind and body together.
I think therefore I am not. Be here in the moment. Be in touch with life.
In the first stage of meditative concentration both realms of thought exist ( initial thought and
developing thought)
Initial: I have assignment to turn in
Developing: will teacher notice if I turn in late, is it right, etc.
In second stage, neither is there.
Four steps of right thinking
1. Are you sure? ask self this again and again. Wrong perceptions bring unnecessary suffering
and incorrect thinking)
2. What am I doing? Smile to self and reflect deeply on question even with something like
washing dishes. Ask self this often. Do things in mindfulness.
3. Hello habit energy. Accept and acknowledge our habitual ways and thoughts , they lose
power of us.
4. Our mind of love is the deep wish to cultivate understanding in ourselves to bring happiness
to many beings. The motivating force of mindful living. Everything we do or say will help others
become liberated. Replace an unwholesome thought with a wholesome one.
Right thinking is thinking in accord with right view, a map that can help us find our way. But
when we reach the destination we should put down the map.
Practicing right view and thinking will allow you to dwell deeeply in present moment.
Right Mindfulness
At the heart of the Buddhist teachings.
When right mindfulness is present , all the other truths and parts of the path are too.
When we cultivate right mindfulness we cultivate the Buddha within.
Attention is universal we are either paying attention to current moment or something else.
Right mindfulness is non judgemental and accepting.
Mindfulness is to remember to come back to the present moment.
The first miracle of mindfulness is to be present and able to touch deeply the blue sky, the
flower, and the smile of our child.
The 2nd is to make those things present also.
Bring them into the moment with you.
The 3rd is to nourish the object of your attention.
Give right attention to the ones you love.
The 4th to relive the others suffering.
Do what you can in the moment to be there for the person.
These first four belong to the first four of mediation.
Stopping, Calming , Resting, and Healing
The fifth miracle of mindfulness is looking deeply. We see our own precious storehouses and
shine the light of mindfulness on ourselves and the object of our attention.
The sixth is understanding , we see what we didn’t before. They come from within us.
Understanding is the foundation of love.
The seventh is transformation. When we practice right mindfulness we touch the healing and
refreshing elements of life and begin to transform our own suffering and suffering of the world.
Four objects for our mindfulness practice
Our body
Our feelings
Our mind
The objects of our minds
Every Strong Read
The discourse on the four establishments of mindfulness
The full awareness of breathing
Knowing the better way to live alone.
Body methods
Observe non dualisticly in our body.
1. Note all of body positions and movements (standing , walking , lying down, etc.) mere
recognition
2. Recognize all of our bodies parts. If we have black hair we recognize and smile to that.
Observe if our forehead is relaxed, etc. recognizing each part of our body as they are. ( we can
practice during sitting mediation or lying down) we smile to each part.
3. See the elements the body is made of. Anything solid is that earth element we lose the
separation between us and the rest of the universe. Water is the fluids our body is made of we
are over 70% water. Fire is our heat, the electricity that runs through us. Without heat there is no
life. Be aware of the elements with each breath like a body scan. Next is air, through mindful
breathing we experience air. These elements are us and we are these elements. They are not
separate from us and all around us. Smile to self and release all of our worries. Breathe in calm,
breathe out anxieties. Breathe in present moment, breathe out wonderful moment. I’m fully alive
and fully aware. Breathing exercise 1-1 to 10-10.
4. The practitioner understands his body is temporary and not to be attached to it.
Feelings
Feelings are either pleasant , unpleasant , or neutral.
It’s more effective in each cases to breathe and know the feeling within. Call the feeling by it’s
name and see it deeply. While breathing. Our feelings are to be identified by right mindfulness.
Right mindfulness is like a mother, wether the feeling is pleasant or unpleasant we take care of
it and embrace it.
We do not allow our emotions to rule us.
Mindfulness becomes a habit when we practice mindful breathing each day.
Mindfulness of the mind in the mind
Be aware of the mental formations
Anything that is formed is a formation
Universal: Attention, contact, feeling , perception , volition
Particular : Zeal, mindfulness , concentration , determination, wisdom
Wholesome & Transformative : when our thinking helps us see clearly
Diligence
Ease
Non -anger
Non- violence
Equanimity
Unwholesome & Unbeneficial : when our mind is scattered in different places
Greed
Hatred
Ignorance
Pride
Doubt
Views
Secondary
Anger
Malice
Hypocrisy
Malevolence
Jealousy
Selfishness
Deception
Gyle
Unwholesome excitement
Lack of faith
Indulgence
Carelessness
Lack of attention
And much more.
Every time a mental formation comes forth, we recognize it and acknowledge it. Mere
recognition.
When we tap into our own consciousness , we tap into the collective consciousness
Our mental formations have seeds in our store consciousness.
We see it’s nature of impermanence when we look deeply into our mental formations. We see
the roots of them.
The fourth establishment. Mindfulness of phenomena. The objects of our mind.
Our mental formations have an object. If you are angry, you are angry at something. That
something is the object.
When we observe something that something is the object of our mind.
A perception is a sign, an image in our mind.
The investigation of (Dharma) Phenomena is one of the seven factors of awakening.
The Seven Factors Of Awakening
1. Mindfulness
2. Invest
3. Diligence
4. Joy
5. Ease
6. Concentration
7. Letting Go
When observing Dharma there are 5 types of meditations that can help us.
1. Counting the breath
2. Observing interdependent arising
3. Observing impurity
4. Observing with love and compassion
5. Observing the different realms
Mindfulness above all is remembering the Buddha inside us.
The different realms
The 18 elements:
The Buddha taught our difficulties and anxieties stem from our inability to see the true face of
things ( although we recognize their appearance, we fail to see their impermanent nature).
We must investigate and look deeply into the 18 elements.
All anxieties, fears and misfortunes arise because we do not understand the true nature of
psychological and physical phenomena.
Buddha said the 18 elements could be penetrated from the perspective of 6 elements.
Earth, Air , Fire, Water, Space , Consciousness
All physical objects are made up of these elements. If we observe these 6 elements I inside and
around us, we see we are not separate from what’s around us.
The 6 Realms ( we must look into the substance of all of these realms for they each have
positive and negative polarity)
Happiness ( deceptive if it is temporarily hiding us from our suffering, can be harmful like a
cigarette, true happiness will be of benefit and nourish ourselves and others)
Suffering ( when something causes us to suffer we must look deeply into it to see if that thing is
needed for us to regain happiness, suffering is essential for us to fully enjoy and appreciate
happiness (polarity).
Joy ( is it authentic or just covering up our anxiety)
Anxiety ( comes from an inability to stay in the moment)
Letting Go ( gives us freedom( the only condition for happiness). We cannot be free if we attach
ourselves to the material.
The next 6 realms
Craving
Freedom From Craving
Anger
Absence of Anger
Harming
Non Harming
When we look deeply into ourself, we realize what we crave , we already have. This insight can
take us from the realm of craving into the realm of freedom.
The fire of anger causes us to suffer more than who we are even angry at. It doesn’t benefit us.
Without anger we are light.
To live in the realm of non harming is to love.
3 additional realms that describe the states of forms of meditation
Desire : material things are present in their grossest form( human beings don’t meditate here)
Form : material things are something subtle
Formless : they are very subtle
If craving , harming , and anger are present , we are like a house on fire.
If they are absent, we produce a cool, lotus lake.
We only need to be aware to produce the lake.
Buddha Taught The Mediation the Two Realms
1. The conditioned realm ( duality) coming and going, up down, big small. (Wave) the historical
dimension.
2. Unconditioned (beyond duality) (Water) The ultimate dimension.
Contemplations on interdependence, impermanence, compassion.
Direct concentration on interdependent nature of certain object.
You can’t see unless you see something.
When the object of knowledge is not present there can be no subject.
Mindfulness of the body - body is mind , objects outside yourself - they are mind too
Every object of the mind , is itself mind.
Objects Of The Mind : Dharmas
The great body of reality is indivisible.
Mindfulness is the mindfulness of everything in the cosmos.
Mindfulness is the Buddha.
Do not lose self in past or future. Come back to present moment and touch life deeply.
The threefold training
Precepts ( right mindfulness)
Concentration
Insights
Right Speech
Refrain from uttering words that can cause the community or family to break.
Do not spread news that I don’t know to be certain.
Or words that can cause division or discord.
I am determined to make all efforts to reconcile all conflicts however small.
1. Speak truthfully
2. Not speaking with forked tongue (saying one thing to one person and something elder to
other. Be loyal to the truth )
3. Not speaking cruelly
4. Don’t dramatize unnecessarily
Deep listening is at the foundation of right speech.
Listen with the eyes of compassion and without judgement.
Train yourself to be a deep listener. (Full self to the experience)
Use loving speech.
This is the fourth mindfulness training and very very important. Listen with your heart , that will
relieve that persons suffering.
Qan Yin: the one who can listen with compassion and true presence. Listen and understand the
sound of the world, the cries of suffering.
This is what psychotherapists aim to do.
I am listening to him / her because I want to relieve their suffering. Compassion must remain
with you the whole time it is with you.
Breathe in and out mindfully if irritation or another feeling comes in, and hold compassion there.
Training oneself to listen with compassion (the fourth mindfulness training).
Consider each word carefully before saying anything. Anything we say that causes unnecessary
suffering is not right speech.
Open your mouth only when you can use calm and loving speech.
The art of right speech needs right view, right thought, and correct practice.
If you can begin to see the persons suffering who you send a text or letter to, compassion is
born in you.
Silence is a time to look deeply.
The heavens do not say anything - Confucius
Which means the heavens tell us so much but we don’t know how to listen to them.
If we listen out of the silence of our mind, every bird song, and every swaying of a pine tree will
speak to us.
Right Action
Right action of the body. Touching love & preventing harm
Non-violence towards ourselves and others.
1st Mindfulness Training : Reverence for ALL Life. In thinking and behavior. Not supporting the
killing and exploitation of all forms of life.
2nd mindfulness training : Generosity. Committed to cultivating loving kindness and learning
ways to work for the well being of animals , people , plants and minerals.
Committed to share my immaterial and material resources with those who are in real need.
Prevent others from profiting from human suffering. Promote Social justice. Don’t steal.
3rd Mindfulness Training
Sexual responsibility
Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct , I am committed to cultivating
responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety of all. I am determined not to engage in
sexual relations without love and a long term commitment. I will do whatever I can to protect
children from sexual abuse.
4th mindfulness training
Cultivate loving speech.
Training oneself to listen with compassion (the fourth mindfulness training).
5th Mindfulness Training
Mindful eating , drinking, and consuming. Don’t willingly consumes toxins and poisons through
any of the senses. Have a clean and proper diet.
No alc or drugs.
You do this work not for self alone but for everyone.
These are all inter penetrated by the elements of The Noble Eightfold Path. Especially Right
Action.
The basis of right action is right mindfulness.
Right Diligence
Right effort is the energy that helps us realize the Noble Eightfold path.
If our practice takes us away unnecessarily from those we love and causes ourselves suffering,
this is not right diligence.
Our practice should be intelligent.
The four fold right diligence
1. Prevent unwholesome seeds in our store consciousness from arising that haven’t arisen.
2. Helping the unwholesome seeds that have already arisen to return to store consciousness
3. Watering the wholesome seeds we have in our store consciousness that haven’t yet arisen,
and asking our friends to do the same.
4. Nourish the wholesome seeds that have already arisen so they will grow stronger. Keeping
wholesome thoughts.
Right Diligence lies in The Middle Way
Between the extremes of austerity and sensual indulgence.
Joy, Ease, and Interest are at the core of right diligence.
If we don’t have these things we aren’t practicing in a way that brings us joy or we haven’t
realized the benefits of the practice.
Being around others who are on the path as well and practicing can bring about the joy quicker.
Smile as soon as we wake up.
Sometimes we can allow our suffering to lie dormant within us and touch the refreshing and
healing elements around us with our consciousness. They will take care of our pain like
antibodies versus a foreign body that has entered our bloodstream.
Examine your practice. See what brings you joy and happiness in your practice.
Right Concentration
Cultivate a mind that is one pointed.
Neither too high or too low.
Neither too excited or too dull.
Active Concentration : The mind dwells on whatever is happening in the present moment, even
as it changes. We welcome whatever comes along. Our mind remains clear like a calm lake.
Selective Concentration: we choose one object and pay attention to it. We abandon everything
else and make ourselves deeply present with the present moment and object we are observing.
Right concentration
Complete liberation. Live deeply each moment that has been given to us to live.
Samadhi - concentration or absorption. Lifts us above the realms of sensual pleasure and
cravings.
The form realms of concentration
The four formless Dianas
Sensual desire and cravings lose their power and are no longer obstacles.
All the elements inter-are nothing can be by itself alone.
The object of the fifth level of concentration is space, everything seems to be space. Space
inter-is with the other five elements.
The object of the sixth level is limitless consciousness. At first we see only consciousness. But
then we see all the elects are consciousness.
The object of the seventh level is nothingness.
We see the flower in the tree and the tree in the cloud. We see the intimate connection between
people and how each person is contained in each person. There’s no separation. We go
beyond what we see.
The object of eight level is that neither perception or non perception.
We do not stop perceiving altogether. We go beyond signs, (no perception) but don’t become
perception less (no non perception).
The ninth level is the cessation of ignorance in our feeling and our perceptions. From this
concentration is born insight.
All eight are working at this level without ignorance.
If you touch the nature of impermanence deeply, you touch the nature of nirvana.
We transcend birth and death.
Live every moment of life deeply, and while living you will touch the ultimate reality.
Walk in peace and happiness and The Buddha is with you. A picture with The Buddha is only a
sign.
Right Livelihood
You have to find a way to earn a living without transgressing your ideals of compassion and
loving.
Earning a living without dealing arms, slave trading, selling intoxicants , selling poisons.
Have a vocation minimally harmful and beneficial to all forms of life.
Our vocation can nourish our compassion and understanding or erode them.
Be awake to the consequences of the way we learn our living.
Observe if your vocation violates any of the five mindfulness trainings.
Everything we do contributes to the way we have right livelihood.
100% right livelihood is impossible. But we can move towards the best right livelihood. As we
focus on that in our meditations , the answer of how to practice right livelihood will reveal itself.
If someone has a vocation that hurts and oppresses others, it will pollute their own
consciousness, just as we pollute our own air that we have to breathe.
As we study and practice the Noble Eightfold Path , we see each element of the part is
contained in each of the other elements. We also see the four Noble truths in it.
The Two Truths
Relative or Worldly Truth - Stay in touch with suffering and joy. Acknowledge the existence of
both feelings.
Absolute Truth - Suffering is made of things that are not suffering. Cold air can be painful if you
aren’t wearing clothes. But a source of joy if you have warm clothing on.
All conditioned things are impermanent. They are phenomena subject to birth and death. When
birth and death are no longer , the complete silencing is joy.
The Five Remembrances
1. I am of the nature to grow old
2. I am of the nature of have ill health
3. I am of the nature to die
4. Everyone I love can change
5. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.
Relative Truth
In the ocean. Each wave has a beginning and end. We can call each one long lasting, less long
lasting, nice , or beautiful. But those are just signs. In the world of the water there are no signs.
The wave is both a wave and water.
The wave may go high and feel better than other waves, or feel afraid to crash, or even scared
to not rise as high as it could. These are all relative.
But when the wave touches her true nature, water, there is no complex. This is absolute.
Liberation is the ability to go from the world of signs to the world of true nature.
We need the relative world of the wave but we also need to touch the water, our real being.
They inter-embrace and both have value.
We shouldn’t allow relative truth to imprison us and keep us from touching absolute truth.
The notions to remove
The notion of self- everything is everything. We are all made of non self elements. They are
present with us. Like the cloud is present in the flower. We don’t need signs to see the cloud in
the flower , but we know it’s there because without the cloud the flower would not exist.
So the whole cosmos is in the flower and the whole cosmos in us.
I am in you and you in me.
The notion of being human
Man is made of non man elements. Earth, water, fire , air, minerals, vegetables, etc.
ancestors. We are the continuation of our ancestors. Without these elements we can’t exist. So
these elements must be protected.
The notion of living beings
Living beings are made up of so called non living elements . Non living beings are alive also.
The notion of lifespan
We exist only from this point in time to another point in time.
Absolute truth is we exist beyond a lifespan. The ultimate dimension of no birth and no death.
Nirvana.
The wave lives deeply and touches her truth of being water beyond her experience of being a
wave.
You don’t have to die to enter nirvana, you only have to dwell deeply in the present moment.
The Three Dharma Seals
Impermanence
Non-Self
Nirvana
Impermanence
Everything is impermanent. Is there anything in my life that I can apply this to?
Things change because causes and conditions change. The existence of every single this
possible only because of the existence of everything else.
Non-Self
There is nothing that can be called a permanent self. Looking deeply at impermanence you see
non - self. I am a different person than I was a few minutes ago. Mentally and physically.
It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. It is wanting things to be permanent when they are
not.
Impermanence teaches us to respect and love every moment.
Impermanence makes transformation possible.
Non-Self
Nothing has a separate existence or separate self. Everything has to inter-be with everything
else.
The flower is us, the mountain is us, our parents are us.
We are all of the same reality. We are what we perceive.
We are made of elements that are not us.
When you touch one thing you touch everything.
The one is in The All and The All is in the one.
When we touch things deeply we touch the ground of being free from duality and beyond life
and death.
Nirvana
The ground of being. The substance of all that is. A wave does not have to die to become water.
The wave already is water. We are like that. We carry in us Nirvana the world of no birth and no
death, self and no non self, no permanence and no impermanence. Nirvana is the complete
silencing of concepts.
The Buddha said The Dharma is a raft to carry us to the other side, not to be held on to as an
object of worship. It is an instrument to help us to the shore of well-being. If you get caught up in
the Dharma , it is no longer the Dharma.
Dharma: the inherent nature of reality.
Impermanence and Non-Self belong to the world of phenomena, like the waves. Nirvana is the
ground of all that is, the waves do not exist outside the water. If you know how to touch the
waves , you touch the water at the same time.
Nirvana doesn’t exist separate of impermanence and non-self. If you know how to use the tools
of impermanence and non-self to touch reality you will touch Nirvana here and now.
Nirvana is the extinction of all notions. Being, non being , birth, non birth. These are all notions.
While living on this plane in our relative reality , we have to deal with these notions. However ,
when we touch life deeply, reality presents itself to us in a different way.
Buddha : There is no birth and no death, no being and no non being.
There’s no birth or death, only continuation.
The Eight Concepts
Birth
Death
Permanence
Disillusion
Coming
Going
One
Many
The Eight No’s
No Birth
No Death
No Permanence
No Disillusion
No Coming
No Going
No One
No Many
Nirvana is released from these concepts
Nirvana is not something to look for in the future. It is ever present.
Relevance to the Essence
Relevance to The Circumstance
Speak in accord with the Dharma and directly to the ppl you speak to in discussions.
The Four Standards of Truth
The Worldly
The Person
Healing
The Absolute
The 3 Doors Of Liberation
Emptiness
Signlessness
Aimlessness
Everything is empty of a separate self. Everything is interdependent.
The beautiful flower does not become empty when it fades and dies , it’s already empty because
it’s made from non flower elements.
Emptiness is the middle way between existence and non existence.
It isn’t right to say the flower exists but it also isn’t right to say it doesn’t exist.
A human being isn’t independent of other species.
We destroy ourselves when we destroy the planet.
When we maintain that we are all linked to each other, this is the concentration on emptiness.
True emptiness is called wondurous being because it goes beyond existence and non
existence.
When we eat, I am this food, this food is me.
Signlessness
Sign: An appearance, or the object of our attention
When we see something, a sign or image appears to us.
If water is in a square container, it’s sign is squareness, when we open the freezer and take out
some ice, the sign of that water is solid.
Signs are instruments for our use but they are not absolute.
Wherever there is a sign , there is deception.
The concentration on Signlessness.
We cannot be caught in signs or else we will suffer.
Until we can see the ocean in the sky, we will be stuck in the world of signs.
Look beyond the look of water and see that it is made of non water elements.
The water is the Sun the earth and the flower.
Just by looking at the sun you can see the water.
When we look deeply into our children we realize they are the way they are because of
ourselves and our society among everything else.
Our ancestors are present in us right now.
When we get caught in signs , we get afraid to lose that manifestation of that thing.
Even though it will exist beyond space and time.
Four Signs
Self
Human
Living Being
Lifespan
Aimlessness
There is nothing to do , nowhere to go
Your purpose is to be yourself
There is no reason to put something in front of you and run after it, we already have everything
we need
Just be in the moment, that’s the deepest practice of meditation.
There is nothing to attain. We don’t mediate to obtain enlightenment, enlightenment is already in
us.
We already are what we want to become.
To have happiness in this moment is the spirit of aimlessness.
Aimlessness and Nirvana are on in the same.
I happy in the present moment, I do not ask for anything else. I don’t expect any additional
happiness or conditions that will add to it.
The 3 Bodies of Buddha ( Spiritual Aspects Of Buddha Personified)
dharmakaya : source of enlightenment & happiness
The body of the teaching, the body of the way.
The way to realize understanding and love. This is anything that can help us wake up.
Trees, grass, birds , human beings,kwk.
Buddha said he will expire physically, but the Dharmakaya will be present with them (his
students).
Hear the sounds and see the sights around you, and return to your breath and smile.
People who are awake can hear the Dharma being preached in a pebble, the bamboo, or the
cry of a baby.
The oak tree is an oak tree. That is all it has to be. It is itself. It offers shade and air to all. When
we look at it we feel strong and stable.
We can learn the Dharma from the oak tree, so it is a part of the Dharmakaya.
Sahmbogakaya: body of bliss or enjoyment
Results, rewards.
The Buddha experiences boundless peace, Joey, and happiness because he practices deeply.
This is our body of enjoyment. Every time we touch something beautiful, we touch the
sambogakaya. When we are happy and at peace we are the sambogakaya.
Nirmanakaya: historical embodiment of the Buddha , viewed as one of the many sent forth from
the Dharmakaya. The Siddguarta Buddha was one of many rays of the sun of the Dharmakaya
sent to earth to help humans learn the Dharma and relieve suffering.
We All Have
Body Of Dharma
Body Of Enjoyment
Physical Body (Of Transformation)
The Three Jewels
I take refuge In the Buddha within, the Buddha takes refuge in me (we express trust in our
capacity to walk in the direction of beauty truth, and deep understanding based on our
experience of the efficacy of the practice )
Take Refuge In The Dharma ( we enter the path of transformation, the path to end suffering)
Take Refuge In The Sanga (we focus our energy on building a community that lives The Way
and with awareness, mindfulness, and peace)
These aren’t notions, they are our life.
We rely on the Buddha in ourself.
Buddha taught : don’t take refuge in anything outside yourself.
Buddha (enlightened one, not the person) is within
Dharma is within as you cultivate it
Sangha is within.
Buddha is our mindfulness
Dharma is our conscious breathing
Sangha is our five aggregates working together.
A Buddha is a Buddha when the Dharma is in him or her.
Buddha is the teacher showing the way, peaceful and smiling, a living source of understanding
and compassion.
Dharma is the clear path , leading us out of ignorance, and bringing us to an awakened life.
Sangha is the beautiful community that practices joy, realizing liberation, bringing peace and
happiness to life.
I take refuge in the Buddha, the one who shows me the way in this life.
I take refuge in the Dharma , the way of understanding and of love.
I take refuge in the Sangha , the community that lives in harmony and awareness.
Dwelling in the refuge of Buddha, I see clearly the path of light and beauty in the world.
Dwelling in the refuge of Dharma, i learn to open many doors on the path of transformation.
Dwelling in the refuge of Sangha I am supported by its shining light that keeps my practice free
of obstacles.
Taking refuge in the Buddha in myself, I aspire to help all people recognize their awakened
nature
Taking refuge in the Dharma in myself I aspire to help all people grasp the way of practice and
grasp liberation.
Taking refuge in the Sangha of myself I aspire to encourage people to make fourfold
communities that aid in the transformation of all beings.
The Four Immeasurable Minds
Love
Compassion
Joy
Equanimity
Practice looking and listening deeply so we know what to do, and what not to do to bring others
happiness.
Without understanding your love is not true love.
The intention and capacity to transform suffering and lighten sorrows ( compassion )
Doctors relieving someone of their disease without getting sick.
Deep looking
Deep listening
Mindful breathing
Deep communion. One word can give comfort and confidence. One action can save a persons
life or move them to take action on a opportunity.
True love always brings joy to ourselves and the one we love.
Joy relates primarily to mind.
A joy filled with peace and contentment. We rejoice seeing others happy and ourselves.
Non attachment, even mindedness, letting go.
True equanimity is love without discrimination. The ability to see everyone as equal. We have to
put ourselves into the other persons skin and become one with them to understand them.
Our loves are like the breeze. We don’t take the breeze and try to trap it. We allow our loved the
space to be themselves.
The Five Aggregates
Form: our body , senses, and nervous system. Practice lying down and doing total relaxation.
Then be aware of forehead and smile to it.
Then another part of face. Breathe in to be aware of a part of body, smile to it when you breathe
out. Breathe in aware, breathe out embrace.
Identify the four elements in your body.
Be aware of the ancestral energy in your body.
Become aware of the positions of your body and it’s movements.
When you master this practice you will be able to be aware of your feelings as they arrive.
Your body is not your self. It’s a formation. Calm the waves that come onto your body.
Feelings: there is a river of feelings within us and every drop of water is a feeling. Observe each
feeling sitting on the bank of the river as it flows by. Meditation is to be aware of each feeling.
Recognize it , smile to it, look deeply into it , embrace it with all our heart.
We see it’s roots in our perceptions, our bodies, or our deep consciousness.
Mindful breathing while looking into the nutriments that causes them. We don’t seek refuge in
our feelings or let them rule us. We calm them down like a mother to a child. Or older sibling to
little sibling. They are impermanent forms. This is how we cultivate non fear.
Perceptions: perceptions arise, stay for a period of time, then cease to be. When we perceive
we often distort. Our perceptions are often erroneous. It’s important to look deeply into our
perceptions and the nature of them. Ask ourselves are we sure? The perceived and perceiver
are inseparable. Don’t get attached to a perception. Practicing mindfulness, concentration, and
deep looking help us to find the wrong angles of our perceptions. Understanding, the fruit of
mediation dissolves our wrong perceptions. We substitute perceptions with True Vision.
Mental Formations: anything made from another element is a formation. Fear is a mental
formation , our body is a formation.
Feelings and perceptions are mental formations. 51 formations that exist as seeds in our store
consciousness. Every time a seed is touched it operates on our mind consciousness as a
mental formation. Our practice is to be aware of the manifestation and look deeply into the
mental formations so we can know their true nature. All are impermanent and without real
substance. We develop wholesome mental formations and transform unwholesome ones
through practice.
Consciousness:
Store consciousness is the ground of all of our mental formations. They exist as seeds buried
deep in our consciousness. If we water them, they become mental formations.
Consciousness contains all the other aggregates.
Mindfully consuming transforms the collective and individual consciousness.
Mediate on the Five Aggregates in a diligent way and see their impermanence,
interdependence.
The Five Powers
Faith
Energy
Mindfulness
Concentration
Insight
All sentient beings have the seed of Buddha nature.
To practice means to help that seed manifest.
Bud means to wake up. To know in a very deep way. To understand.
Capacity
The ability to have something (happiness) in any surroundings. No matter the environment.
Take whatever the conditions of the present movement and make them the foundations of your
happiness.
Don’t say because there are thorns you cannot be happy. Or get the rose.
When unwholesome formations are dormant it’s a good time to water wholesome ones. When
they are present, waking meditation will help deal with them.
3 kinds of pride
Thinking I’m better than the others
Thinking I’m less than the others
Thinking I’m just as good as the others
The moment we recognize any habit energy , it loses its power. When they come up, call them
by name and smile to them.
The 6 Paramitas
The Effort needed to cross over into well-being
Generosity
Discipline (The Mindfulness Trainings)
Inclusiveness
Diligence/Perseverance
Meditation
Wisdom/Insight/Understanding
The Perfection of Giving: Give joy , happiness, and love. It is certain we become happy when
we give. Our true presence is the greatest gift we can give to others.
We can give our stability. Breathing in I feel myself as a mountain. Breathing out I feel stable.
Solidity is one of the characteristics of Nirvana.
Freedom from craving is an important practice. Look deeply into the craving you have to see it’s
true nature and come back to the present moment.
Peace can be offered. It is a benefit to be near someone who is peaceful. Offer those we love
our peace and lucidity.
Offer space. The more we offer the more we have.
If another person makes you suffer it’s because they are suffering themself.
Offer understanding. Understanding is the flower of practice. Focus your attention on one object
intently and deeply. You’ll get understanding.
What you give is what you receive.
Inclusiveness
If your heart is small. One unjust word or deed will make you suffer. If your heart is large , that
word or deed will not have the power to make you suffer.
Like a handful of salt in a cup of water vs a river of water.
Look at enemy forces as misfortunate victims.
Understand and you will suffer less.
See things as themselves and not more than that.
You develop inclusiveness with the 4 immeasurable minds.
The Seven Factors Of Awakening
Bodhyaṅga: Bodhy means awakening or enlightenment, comes from root Bodh which means to
wake up. Means to know what’s going on within and all around you. A Buddha is one who is
awakened.
Anga means limb.
Mindfulness
Means to remember. Mindfulness should always be present. With training. Every time we
breathe in and out mindfulness will be there so that our breathing becomes a cause and
condition for mindfulness being there.
The Four Establishments Of Mindfulness
Investigation of Phenomena
Being open to allow things to reveal themselves.
It brings us deeper into life. And the nature of reality.
Diligence / Energy / Perseverance
The source of our energy is mindfulness, investigation, and faith in the practice.
When we look deeply we see life is a miracle beyond our comprehension.
See meaning in our life even when we have hardships. Happiness isn’t material. It’s when we
feel we have meaning in our life.
Ease
Diligence is always accompanied by ease.
Bring our energy to our head to our abdomen. Practice this each day. Rest each day deeply.
Joy
Joy is the feeling of being thirsty and a glass of water is served to you. Happiness is when you
get to drink the water.
Joy comes from touching things that are beautiful within and outside of ourselves.
Concentration
Samadhi: Sam together ah: bring to a certain place , di: energy of the mind.
We collect the energy of our mind and direct it towards an object.
Our mind is one pointed and still.
Once mindfulness is developed, concentration becomes stronger.
Equanimity
Loving everyone equally. Remain compassionate with no hostility or ill will.
Practice this in the face of harsh words.
Learn not to feel annoyance, bitterness, or dejection.
Not to feel elated when praised, but to remember any praise for us is for all that makes us up.
Meditate on the four elements to know the nature of equanimity.
Transcend the idea of a separate self to know equanimity.
The four immeasurable minds of love along with the seven factors of awakening bring about
perfect enlightenment: Buddha
The Twelve Links of Interdependent Co-Arising
This is because that is. This is not because that is not. This comes to be because that comes to
be. This ceases to be because that ceases to be.
The One contains The All.
The necessary and sufficient conditions for something to arise.
Path of purification
1. Root cause
2. Object
3. Predominance
4. Priority
5. Continuity
6. conaesence
7. Mutuality
8. Support
9. Decisive support
10. Pre naesence
11. Postnaesence
12. Repetition
13. Karma
14. Karma result
15. Nutriment
16. Faculty
17. Diana
18. Path
19. Association
20. Dissociation
21. Presence
22. Absence
23. Disappearance
24. Non Disappearance
The Four Conditions And 6 Causes in Vinyadivada School.
1. Cause Condition or Root Condition. The seed is the cause condition of the flower.
- [ ] Motivating or Creative Force. Each conditioned Dharma is the general cause for all things
except itself. It is a co present cause offering no obstacles because no dharma constitutes an
obstacle to the arising of dharmas prone to arising. Has the functioning of empowering not
restricting.
- [ ] Concurrent condition. Sometimes two root conditions have to be present at the same time.
A_B. The same is true of lamp and lamp light. All pairs of opposites are like that. One cannot be
present without the other. Above and below come into existence at the same time.
- [ ] Seed condition of the same kind. Similars cause similars. Life produces rice, wholesome
causes bring about wholesome effects. Faith and joy make a stable practice possible.
- [ ] Associated condition. A wholesome and unwholesome seed support each other in giving
rise to something. Applies to mental events. Guilty person giving money to church because of
bad livliehood . Seed of guilt is wholesome, giving is wholesome Elders tell him to transform
his livelihood they rather that than have his money, is what’s born from this association.
- [ ] Universal condition. The cause is present everywhere.
- [ ] Ripening condition. Some seeds given to us don’t ripen for many years, some ripen quicker
than others. I might get a teaching from someone and it doesn’t resonate and make sense until
years later. If you meditate , it may feel like a distracted and agitating meditation, but ripen into a
calm and relaxing meditation.
2. Condition for Development: can help certain seeds develop or obstruct their development.
Obstacles are needed to fortify our conviction, learn who we are, and practice perseverance.
Without it, we won’t fully value the faith we have within.
3. Condition of Continuity: in order for something to exist there needs to be a continual
succession , moment after moment. For our practice to grow, we must practice everyday.
Consistency
4. Object as Condition: if there is no object there cannot be a subject. When we are confident,
we are confident about something. All phenomena are objects of mind. When we perceive the
image or sign or any phenomenon we know the image resides in our own consciousness.
Tripitajka
The Three Baskets
Sutras : Teachings of The Buddha
Vinaya : Rules of Conduct
Abidara: Systemized presentations of the teachings
Interdependent Co-Arising allows you to see The Buddha
The Two Truths allow you to hear the Buddha.
When you are able to hear and see the Buddha you won’t lose your way in the ocean of his
teachings.
The Twelve Links In The Chain of Interdependent Co-Arising
Ignorance. The lack of understanding.
Volitional Action , the will to cling to being , impuleses
Consciousness , the whole of consciousness , filled with unwholesome formations
Mind Body: Objects of our conciousness
6 Sense Organs :
Contact between sense organ, sense object, and sense consciousness.
Feelings
Craving
Grasping
Coming To Be
Birth
Old Age , Decay or Death
All links are present in each link.
Every link is conditioned and conditions every other link.
Transform the 12 links into understanding and other attributes.
When ignorance ends there is clear understanding.
Clarity gives rise to the desire to act with love and compassion. This is the great aspiration.
The great aspiration conditions wisdom. Our store consciousness becomes a great mirror
wisdom that reflects the reality of the cosmos. The seeds for this are present. They only need to
be watered.
The mind consciousness becomes beautiful observation wisdom.
The result body is the fruit of good practice. Any mind body , nice or ugly, that has the function
to bring about love and happiness is the body of the Buddha. Guarding our senses allows for
clarity and good practice.
Contact becomes mindful.
Upon our contact, feelings arise in us of compassion & love for ourselves and our friends and
enemies.
We replace craving with the desire and capacity to offer real joy.
This brings us to equanimity. Accepting the flowers and garbage with no attachment.
Aimlessness takes the place of grasping. Freedom is wondrous being. Beyond being and non
being. This is the basis of being without being caught in birth and death, without being caught in
signs.
We study these 12 links to diminish our ignorance and increase our clarity.
Birth and death, being and non being are just concepts in our minds.
Enjoy happiness and feelings without getting attached.
Twelve Links , The Two Aspects Of Interdependent Co Arising
1. When conditioned by deluded mind, ignorance. When conditioned by true mind , clear
understanding.
2. When conditioned by deluded mind , volitional actions, when conditioned by true mind , great
aspiration
3. When conditioned by deluded mind , consciousness , when conditioned by true mind four
wisdoms. Wonderful realization, wonderful observation, wisdom of equality, great mirror mind.
4. Deluded mind:mind body, true mind: transformation body
5. Deluded mind: 6sense organs and their objects , True mind: result body
6. Deluded mind: Contact , True mind: mindfulness of contact
7. Deluded mind: feeling, true mind: mindfulness of feeling
8. Deluded mind: craving , true mind : 4 immeasurable minds
9. Deluded mind: grasping , true mind: freedom
10. Deluded mind: coming to be, true mind: wondurous being
11. Deluded mind : birth, true mind: wisdom of no birth
12. Deluded mind: death , true mind : wisdom of no death