Why the eightfold path?

As those of you who read my blog can see: I have named it walking the eight fold path and I was sitting at work today thinking it might be best to write about what the eight fold path is.

In Buddhism, there is the idea of the four noble truths. These are part of the first set of teachings that Buddha gave after he became enlightened. The four noble truths are:
1.There is Suffering.
The idea behind this is that everywhere, all around us and within our minds we create a realm of ‘unsatifactoriness’ or ‘stress’. There is no way to escape from the suffering as it is everywhere. It is in the transitory nature of things, it is in our happiness and in our unhappiness.

2.There are causes of suffering.
These are basically described as being the root delusions that we all live with: Anger, attachment and ignorance and of course under these are delusions that stem from these: Jealoust, love, hatred etc.

3. Suffering can end; Nirvana is peace
So, we have ascertained that all life and death is suffering but we are told that nirvana or enlightenment can be achieved and therefore we can exit the wheel of life. And this can be done using the last noble truth.

4. The eightfold path
Which is:

Correct thought: avoiding covetousness, the wish to harm others and wrong views
So, by keeping your thoughts as equanimous as possible we can achieve a sense of the middle path that Buddha speaks of. This first idea for me, is hardest. Have you ever tried to control a mind that cannot be controlled?

Correct speech: avoid lying, divisive and harsh speech and idle gossip. Another one that is difficult. We are all surrounded by people and talking with them can sometimes be just a little tiring. Idle gossip fills their day and for me? I do get just a little frustrated and bored. But I am trying to understand in myself that this is my own desires and delusions getting in the way of being compassionate for all beings.

Correct actions: avoid killing, stealing and sexual misconduct This includes the intentional killing of sentient beings such as insects and animals. I also follow, as closely as I can while remaining healthy, a vegetarian diet. This is mainly because looking at the meat I never fail to see the face of the animal before pick it up. It once was a breathing, living being and it now saddens me. I never used to follow full vegetarianism, more pescatarian then anything, but one day I just realised that that animal died so I could eat it and that did not feel right.
If my iron levels are low though I will eat some cow or sheep but only if I can look at it and know what it is I am eating.

The sexual misconduct I kinda went over in an earlier blog and I take it to mean that as long as you act with commitment and love then it is simply another act to be mindful of.

Correct livelihood: try to make a living with the above attitude of thought, speech and actions. This speaks of holding employment that does not denigrate sentient beings nor cause harm to others. If you know your work is wrong? Then why do it…?

Correct understanding: developing genuine wisdom.
By reading, talking with like minded people we can all develop wisdom. And through developing this wisdom we can share it with others and open up the world to seeing a path of enlightenment.

The last three aspects refer mainly to the practice of meditation:
Correct effort: after the first real step we need joyful perseverance to continue.
Correct mindfulness: try to be aware of the "here and now", instead of dreaming in the "there and then".
Correct concentration: to keep a steady, calm and attentive state of mind.These things here can be used to help us follow the path in it entirety. My keeping a steady, stable mind it is easier to keep correct thought as we have the space due to the meditation. We can think before we speak, act and develop wisdom so without meditation? We would find it difficult to follow the path..

So, the reason I named my blog what I did stems from my desire to adhere to the eightfold path and create an equanimous world. If by writing this blog I can reach one person and help them onto their own path of spiritual enlightenment then so be it.

Taking Refuge

Well, I haven't written here for a couple of weeks and I put this down to the fact that I have returned to my studies for this semester. This does not mean I haven't been reading about Buddhism, only that I have not had the time to share with others in written form.

Today I'm going to talk about something that I have found in the writings that really helps me sometimes: Taking refuge.
For me, this path was taken on at a time when I felt at an all time low. I had recently experienced some difficult times in my day to day life and I was having trouble keeping my head out of the anxiety cloud that seemed to constantly surround me. The idea that you can take refuge in a religion was something that really threw me but once I really delved into the idea it made allot of sense.
From Taking refuge

"The idea behind taking refuge is that when it starts to rain, we like to find a shelter. The Buddhist shelter from the rain of problems and pain of life is threefold: the Buddha, his teachings (the Dharma) and the spiritual community (the Sangha). Taking refuge means that we have some understanding about suffering, and we have confidence that the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (the "Three Jewels") can help us. We should however not be taking refuge in Buddhism to avoid problems in this very life, there are many non-religious organisations for that, but we should take refuge to avoid problems in future lives, or even better, to avoid future uncontrolled rebirths.

See, all of this made allot of sense to me. Its not about finding a way to put your head in the sand and forget about the issues that are presenting themselves. Its more about realising that there are ways you can find support within the teachings of a Buddha. His teachings are largely derived from personal experience and even though they took place 2400 years ago, I feel they are still largely applicable, even in today's hectic life.

We can also find support within a group of people that are like minded. People to bounce our ideas of the teachings off or perhaps gain another understanding of how something worked for another and their experience of it.

Anyway, I just felt this was something to share this evening. I hope you are all well and I hope to have more time to write again soon.

The only time is now

Something I've always had a problem with within myself is the ability to live in the now. I've sat and thought long and hard about my past actions. How these actions affect my life now and how they imprint themselves on my future. Of course, this would be Karma but today I want to talk about something that's a more pertinent: Living in the now.

I'm currently reading a book titled: City Dharma by Arthur Jeon. Its light and contemporary and of course as with anything, I'm taking it with a grain of salt. There was one paragraph that got me thinking:

Most thought is generated in an automatic, reflexive way, creating inner hell. In fact, most of this habitual thought is neurotic; 90 percent of if we thought yesterday and 90 percent we will think tomorrow. Our internal hell can be created with endless thoughts of I wish I were rich, all my problems would disappear or My life sucks or This friggin traffic .

For me, it was this inner dialogue that used to cause me the biggest problems. Coupled with the fact that I am very honest, sometimes too honest, it caused me allot of grief.

Buddhism has helped me with this in many ways. These thoughts that we think constantly are a problem when we begin to let them define who we are as people, or when we identify with them. I discovered recently that I am not my thoughts. My thoughts, like everything, comes and goes. But by identifying with them I allowed them to perpetuate and I begin to construct my own little stories around these thoughts.
After a while this became rather tiring and not very useful. Enter: Meditation. By taking a little time every day to sit within the mind and focus on your breathing you are creating space for your thoughts. Then, these thoughts can come and go without you clinging to them and using them to create your inner hell, as it is the attachment to the thoughts that is causing the hell. People often don't realise that that is what is happening and look outside for the cause of their anguish. This is where we blame other people, events and situations for our sadness/anger/frustration when in fact, we create it. All within our own mind.

When your thought is on your breath you are training your mind to do something new. You are training it to look away from the future, the past and look to what is happening right now. Right now? I am typing, breathing, thinking about my next letter to type. By keeping focused on what is happening right now I limit my chances of spelling mistakes, which makes for better reading! Hence: The karmic production of mindfulness here is good spelling.

I had a wonderful experience the other day: I had been thinking about the idea of placing your mind wholly on what you are doing, how it can create an internal happiness so I tried this whilst washing the dishes.
I focused my mind on my task: Washing dishes. As i picked up each dish I examined it, placed it in the water and cleaned what needed to be cleaned. As I was doing this my flatmate walked in and began to dry. We worked together, in silence, to finish the job. As the sink emptied I went out of the kitchen, feeling very calm and happy. I said to my flatmate that I was using awareness to clean the dishes and that he did enter my mind as I was washing but I didn't feel a need to talk with him. He said that he knew I would talk when I wished and the silence was helpful. It was at that moment that I understood: I had created a sense of happiness within myself through washing dishes! I sat on my chair and smiled.
Karmically, I had created washed dishes which would have affects later that right now I mostly have no idea about. But I shall leave Karma for another day!

As I sat, I watched the happiness come and go. Like all things: It was momentary but I felt all of it, to my core. When it left? I was content.

Attachments..

Today the thoughts on my mind are fluctuating between western ideas around romantic attachments and Buddhism. How does Buddhism see loving relationships?

In Buddhism the following thought prevails (from :Ajahn Sumedho, in 'Teachings of a Buddhist Monk')

"Desire can be compared to fire. If we grasp fire, what happens? Does it lead to happiness?
If we say: "Oh, look at that beautiful fire! Look at the beautiful colors! I love red and orange; they're my favorite colors," and then grasp it, we would find a certain amount of suffering entering the body. And then if we were to contemplate the cause of that suffering we would discover it was the result of having grasped that fire. On that information, we would hopefully, then let the fire go. Once we let fire go then we know that it is something not to be attached to.
This does not mean we have to hate it, or put it out. We can enjoy fire, can't we? It's nice having a fire, it keeps the room warm, but we do not have to burn ourselves in it."

The idea of attachments is hugely driven, I feel, by our media culture. It tells us everyday that three things prevail: Sex, Love and Consumerism.

Sex is everywhere. The advertising agencies use it to sell just about anything. Though sex and orgasm are talked about extensively in Buddhist literature, our society has taken it one step further and finds new ways to exploit sex and sexuality to the point where often, I am overwhelmed by it. I hate to think how our youth feel about being confronted by sexualised images everyday. Sex in the context of Buddhism, besides the mention in the precepts of living, is often referred to by the orgasm that is achieved by the partners as being a moment where your mind is filled with nothing but the thought of this experience. In terms of meditation? This is a wonderful moment. The time post-orgasm where a couple usually lie together is also a great example of another meditative state that is experienced or can be utilised everyday: Just Being. The idea that you must only experience the state of 'just being' and 'orgasmic emptiness' during sex makes no sense as a person who meditates I try to feel the emptiness and just being everyday. According to Winton Higgins (Buddhist Sexual Ethics):

if in our sexual lives we act non-violently, do not take what is not freely given, do not deceive and do not act out of delusive and irresponsible mindstates, we cannot fall foul of the third precept anyway. Buddhism's very tough sexual ethic would be complete without the third precept. It's really there for the sake of emphasis. Sexuality is a very strong energy, the focus of many cravings, vanities and delusions. It calls for its very own precept!

It makes sense the sexual conduct would be within the precepts of living. Sex calls all of us and according to Buddha is one part of the delusionary tricks our ego plays on us to call us away from our ultimate goal: Enlightenment. But as stated here: If, every day you live with mindfulness and are aware of the intent and as long as the sex is loving and comitted then it is just another act to be aware of.

Love is often discussed in Buddhist texts as love can be described as a wish for others to be happy. Compassion and loving kindness are things that all people can give to one another without losing themselves and yet, in western culture we seem to think that only those deserving of our love should see it. Those people we deem ' acceptable'. In Buddhism all living creatures are deserving of compassion and loving kindness as all beings are in a state of suffering. As we all suffer, can we not have the ability to see that all creatures are the same? One thing I find most difficult about living in our society is the fact that I love many people. I love animals. I love most bugs and I make sure, everyday, that I do not have the intention to kill a sentient being, bugs included. There is something that my husband and I decided long ago: We are polyamorous. This basically means that we are married but we love many. I know that he is his own person and I cannot tell him who he can and cannot love and he understands that same about me. Love is not something that we give away and we run out of. It is infinite. So, I give love to as many as I can and I meditate on the idea often that I love and have compassion for sentient beings. As an aside I have found a marvelous quote within Love and Marriage: A Zen Buddhist Reflections:

In our relationships we need to hold with open hands, understanding that all things are in flux, and nothing remains the same forever. But as we apply this boundlessness, this openness to our seeing each other, and caring for each other, we quickly discover how powerful and transformative it can be.
.

The reason I have chosen attachments today I was on a website where I have friends that chat and they were discussing love and monogamy. Also, my husband has been asking me alot: What is Buddhas thoughts on Marriage? I guess this sparked my desire to see what Buddha would say, also, about my chosen lifestyle. When it comes down to it attachments cause more suffering. But loving freely and giving love to all does not. In fact it expands a persons emptiness. By giving love we create more space within ourselves to be able to 'just be'. It is this state that we are striving for and the enlightenment that follows.

The difficulties of meditation

I was talking to a friend the other day. I had invited her along to a meditation group, one I hadn't attended yet for zen. She asked what kind of meditation it was and I wasn't sure how to answer her. I just said it was zen. Turns out she wanted to know if it was guided or not. No, it wasn't guided.

This was the first time I'd actually heard of someone taking/leading guided meditations to be honest. I had experienced it a couple of times and it wasn't really my cup of tea as I found I had to focus outside and could not actually focus on my breathing properly.

The thing I really wanted to write about today though, is this: she mentioned something that I think allot of people have trouble with and that is that her mind just moves too fast/has too much in it/won't stop. I have been pondering this for a couple of days now and to be honest? I'm still contemplating it! Most people I know, when I tell them I meditate, often come to the topic of their mind and how it just doesn't stop moving. I've often felt the same way about my own mind . I want to start the next section of my blog with a quote from Sogyal Rinpoche and his book titled: 'The Tibetan book of living and dying':

"We are so addicted to looking outside ourselves that we have lost access to our inner being almost completely. We are terrified to look inward, because our culture has given us no idea of what we will find. We may even think that if we do, we will be in danger of madness. This is one of the last and most resourceful ploys of ego to prevent us from discovering our real nature.

So we make our lives so hectic that we eliminate the slightest risk of looking into ourselves. Even the idea of meditation can scare people. When they hear the words egoless or emptiness, they think that experiencing those states will be like being thrown out the door of a spaceship to float forever in a dark, chilling void. Nothing could be further from the truth. But in a world dedicated to distraction, silence and stillness terrify us; we protect ourselves from them with noise and frantic busyness. Looking into the nature of our mind is the last thing we would dare to do."

The reason I like this particular quote is it comes right down into the heart of the problem for allot of people: We make our minds busy and we do this so that we can have a sense of self, a seemingly magical purpose that gives us a reason to live.

I've discovered that I live my life searching for happiness and pleasure. I used to try to find it in the strangest places and yet, when I walked away that feeling I'd worked so long to foster would always escape my grasp and I'd be left back at square one:Unhappy and feeling empty. The emptiness was the thing that scared me the most. I wasn't filled with the same exuberant expansiveness that everyone else seems to experience so there must be something wrong with me and my mind. So, I would make my mind busier. SO busy that I developed worry, anxiety and emotional clingyness. I would cling to people and objects terrified that if I didn't let them fill me with happiness then I would never find the exuberance.

One thing that Buddhism has begun to show me is that the busy search for happiness really, is never ending. It doesn't ever stop. Have you ever noticed how in your mind your working towards something, striving for that one thing that will make you happy? I know I used to . Until I discovered that once I got that one thing? There was always something else to replace it meaning? I was never to feel content with what I had. I had to always strive for the next great thing which meant my mind was constantly on the move. Meditation has helped me to see that by concentrating on my breathing and the flow of breath I can begin to see the true nature of my mind: The coming and going, the flow of thoughts and emotions.

Often we all move so fast so that we keep our mind going. For myself, this is an avoidance technique used to stop myself from going too deep into my thoughts and feelings. These days when I am beginning to feel the familiar pull of anxiety I stop myself and think: What is this? Where has is it come from? Often, when I can name The anxiety it falls away just like everything does. This is the due to the impermanent nature of, well, pretty much everything! When we are born we are not filled with thoughts and emotions but as we begin to learn the societal pulls and desires we begin to rush after all the things society tells us we need: The new cell phone, the big TV, the bestest friends. Why? Because we are told it is the best or the biggest therefore it will make us happy.All the while we push aside this feeling that there is no point to any of it.

Nothing can make us happy. We need to find ourselves first and if we know ourselves perhaps we can begin to discern that the things we are told to strive for, the objects we buy and the people that we cling to are not going to stop our mind from running away. Meditation? Is training for the mind. Its like going to the gym. It helps me to focus, be mindful and to discern. You train your body so why do we not ever get taught to train our minds?

Why Meditate?

Here is an excerpt from a marvelous piece of writing I have found.

"There is a story regarding the Buddha which recounts how he once gave teaching to a famous sitar player who wanted to study meditation. The musician asked, "Should I control my mind or should I completely let go?" The Buddha answered, "Since you are a great musician, tell me how you would tune the strings of your instrument." The musician said, "I would make them not too tight and not too loose." "Likewise," said the Buddha, "in you meditation practice you should not impose anything too forcefully on your mind, nor should you let it wander." That is the teaching of letting the mind be in a very open way, of feeling the flow of energy without trying
to subdue it and without letting it get out of control, of going with the energy pattern of the mind. This is meditation practice." ( It was written by Chogyam Trungpa and you can find it here )

Meditation is a way of finding the minds quiet place. I used to think that it was a magical way of getting rid of unwanted thoughts and emotions that used to plague me. You know, those ones that take over. You watch, seemingly from the sidelines as you take steps and make actions that later leave you thinking: 'What have i done?!' In fact, it is not a way of stopping the mind. Nor is it a way of stopping the emotions. It is simply letting it be.

I have found the most amazing thing through my daily meditations. I have this ability to stand back from myself and watch. Buddhism teaches that the first three steps of the eightfold path involve actions: Right Thought, Right Action and Right Speech. Through meditation I have been able to remove a part of myself from the active process and stand to the side as a form of observer for my actions, talks and thoughts.

If your anything like me, you'll find meditation to be tiring sometimes. I guess the reason I am so tired is I let myself stand back and watch my mind as it runs through a billion scenarios and my emotions as I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders and this is what I used to feel everyday.

Meditation is not about letting go and it is not about controlling it. It is about observing the minds movements. Seeing the thoughts come up on the screen of your mind, seeing it and letting it just be. By letting it be often I can see it leave. I don't hold on to it; that serves me no purpose. But i do, in my mind comment on it before it goes. I do the same with emotions.

My process for meditation is:
*Sit on my cushions. Align my posture correctly.
*Light Two candles.
*Rest my hands gently on my thighs.
*Allow my gaze to lose focus and just sit.
*focus my attention on my breathing.

Some meditation types call for closing eyes. To be honest? There is really no right or wrong way there is simply the way that works for you. The only thing that is stressed is posture. By having a straight back with softly curved lumbar, you allow the mind to uphold the same sense of strength. It takes effort and discipline to meditate and what better place to start then with your posture!

As I focus on my breathing I start to see the reel that all my thoughts show up on that I watch on a day to day basis. And i slowly let it fall away. When my emotions begin to play havoc I feel them rising from the pit of my stomach and I often ask myself: "What is this? Where did this come from? What are you about?" and often the emotion will reveal itself to me. I will look at it sit with it. As one of my problems in day to day life is feeling emotions correctly I will always just sit with it and FEEL whatever it is I am feeling. Sometimes its sadness and on a number of occasions as I am sitting there tears will begin to fall. I don't stop them, I don't stop meditation to wipe the tears away. I simple let them fall for as long as the emotion is there but usually the emotion leaves, as everything does, and the tears stop falling.

I guess what I'm trying to say meditation is one of the key points in Buddhism. It allows for the ego to begin to fall away so that we may see the emptiness of ourselves. This emptiness? I will go over at a later date.

The buddha: Who was he?

I always feel that the beginning is the best place to start so here I go. I am not the most learned person. In fact, I simply read, analyse the reading then put it away for later use in my mind. Sometimes, I will talk about my reading or I will read aloud to my husband but mostly, I read for my own expansion of understanding.

I read the story that repeats around the place about the beginning of Siddharta Gautama's path into becoming an enlightened being. He was born a prince in a place called Lumbini, which is now Nepal. He was raised surrounded by riches but felt that there was more so he left his rich palace. When he left he was confronted with realities: sickness, death and asceticism. He became deeply depressed by these sights and chose to, from that point on, live as an ascetic.

Through a process of learning from teachers and still not feeling like it was enough He realised, after living the ascetic life in an attempt find enlightenment, that this was not the way to go. He became gravely deprived of physical nourishment and was nursed back to health by a milkmaid. Through this He realised that there is a middle path that can be walked and through deep meditation under the Bodhi tree he reached enlightenment. After enlightenment he doubted that the human race would be able to understand the teaching but through the urgings of the Deva he stayed and taught. The first of these were his original ascetic disciples and this formed the basis of the Sangha, which is part of the triple gem trio: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha which translates to: Enlightened being, Teachings of the Buddha and community of those who either are enlightened or follow the Buddha. There is more to the idea of Buddha, but that will come at a later date I feel. It is from here though, that the Buddha then lived for another 50 odd years teaching those that wanted to learn.

Although Buddhism is one of the top 5 major religions, I feel that Buddhism is more a state of being and a way of life. From what I have read so far? This was the beginning of the Buddhist teachings.