Tag Archive for: enlightenment

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Total Recall of Who We Are: Stop Thinking and Start Being

Total Recall of Who We Are: Stop Thinking and Start Being

By Dr. Robert Puff

There is a movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger called Total Recall. A large part of the movie revolves around Arnold’s character discovering who he really is. We all want to know who we really are. Unless we settle into thinking, “Well, this is my life and I’m not going to think about it,” we keep searching until we find the answers.

Who Are We Really?

When we’re born into this world, we quickly take on many different identities and continue to do so as we move through life. But how can we possibly be these things if they’re always changing? Can we truly be something that tomorrow might be different? Of course not! So then, who are we?

We have desires and fears and these develop into conditional responses. But we are not those responses. For example, we currently have a sweet, gentle Labrador named Einstein. My children aren’t afraid of Einstein at all, but some of my kids’ friends, and particularly their parents, are. These kids’ parents were raised in Latin American countries where dogs are wild and often vicious. These people have been conditioned to be afraid of dogs. Their children have picked up on their parents’ fears even though they’ve never been exposed to vicious dogs here in the United States. When these people meet Einstein, they learn not to fear him because he’s gentle and kind, and by doing so, they learn to be comfortable around other dogs.

We Are Not Our Thoughts

Thoughts, fears, and desires all occur in the mind. They are not permanent, so anything that the mind can create or conceive cannot be the ultimate, true reality of who and what we are. Our minds cannot grasp our true reality. All of our self-identifications are absolutely false and cause us bondage. When we become aware of this, we’re on the road to freedom, peace, and enlightenment.

If the absolute of who we are is beyond our mental grasp, is it something that’s beyond us, period? Absolutely not. Who we are is who we’ve always been, always will be, and are right now. If we silence the mind, we can experience it. We don’t know it, we can’t discuss it, but we can experience it. I often like to compare this with chocolate. If you’ve never had chocolate, you may be able to write books about it, but until you’ve tasted chocolate, you don’t know what it’s like.

Be Still, and You Will Find Your Supreme Self

When our minds become still, we become present with our Supreme.

self. How is this possible? It’s a lot like we’re in a completely empty space and start creating things. In this empty space, before things start being created, it is so beautiful, rich, and full. The emptiness, the not two, just one unicity is so rich and full that nothing is needed and everything comes out of that.

But what happens is that things do start coming out of it and when they come out, we engage with them. We want more of them or we don’t want them. This process of wanting and not wanting causes us to forget who we are.

Sometimes when we watch a movie, we get so involved in the plot that we forget we’re sitting in the audience. All that we have to do is remember that the movie may be enjoyable, but it’s not who I am. It’s just a movie. Of course we can enjoy our lives and when things go poorly, we can wish they were different. But ultimately, it is still out of the oneness, our not two-ness, that everything comes. The only thing that we are is that Unicity, that Nonduality. The Supreme Self is who we are because we can only be that which always was, always will be, and always is.

The Ultimate Truth

If it were possible – and it isn’t, but if it were – for me to label it, what would I call it? I would call it silent peace or I would call it love. I think we’ve all had the experience of experiencing love so rich, full, and yet so empty that it comes pretty close as a description. It’s the same way I think sometimes when we meditate it can be so peaceful yet so silent.

All that we have to do is realize that we aren’t our thoughts and feelings, even though they continue to occur. We are that from which everything comes. If I can use gold as an example: gold is a beautiful element and we can shape it into so many different ornaments. But it’s still gold when all the creation is over. When it’s melted down, it’s still gold. It’s always been gold and its ultimate nature doesn’t change in any way. It’s always been and always will be gold.

The ultimate truth is that we are. And when we aren’t, we are that. Silence. Beauty. Love.

Dr. Robert Puff, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, author, international speaker, and meditation expert who has been counseling individuals, families, nonprofits, and businesses for over twenty years. A contributing writer to Psychology Today, he has authored numerous books, including Spiritual Enlightenment: Awakening to the Supreme Reality and creates a weekly podcasts and articles on enlightenment, spiritual enlightenment, nonduality, Advaita Vedanta at: http://www.EnlightenmentPodcast.com

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Anatta “Not Self”

Anatta “Not Self”
By Shelton Ranasinghe

Anatta

Just like Einstein discovered the general theory of relativity, over 2000 years ago the Buddha disclosed the “No Self” concept. This is remarkably an extra ordinary discovery. The people at that time did not know the function of the brain. Whether the Buddha understood the function of the brain is not known as there is no reference to the brain in his teachings. However through self evaluation of how the mind process works he disclosed this fact. The function of the brain was understood in the very recent time, about 300 years ago. The Buddha had thousands of disclosures during his life time. The discovery of “No Self” concept was so important to the Buddha that he prioritized this disclosure to be his second sermon and named it as Annattalakkhana-sutta. The “Anatta” (meaning “Not Self”) doctrine is presented through this sutta. This sutta very deeply explains the philosophical aspect of self. This specific topic of teaching stands out uniquely in the world of religions as all the other religions believe in a self or soul.

The Buddha explained that there is no personality as self or soul. What we experience as self is an illusion, imaginary mental projection, a false belief and non reality. The sense of self only seems solid, but this is in fact an illusion. The true nature is something else entirely. The man attains enlightenment only when he overcomes the delusion of self.

The doctrine of impersonality (Anatta) was very controversial even at the time of Buddha. It is complicated to understand though many books have been written by various scholars based on their understanding. The Buddha stated very clearly that “All ‘Dhammas’ are without self”. “Dhammas” include conditioned things (ex. Samkhara – mental elements and formations) as well as non-conditioned things (ex. Nirvana – State of enlightenment). Though the Buddha vehemently rejected the “soul” theory that was popular at his time, on various occasions he did not openly attack the other religious leaders who preached the soul theory. Attack was not the strategy of his mission. The dialogue Buddha had with disciple Ananda after being silent on the famous question asked by Vacchagotta on “Self”, is a well known recorded incident in Buddhist scriptures. In this particular dialogue the questions were directly associated with the two streams of definitions given for soul at that time. One stream was the belief in a permanent soul, transmigrating from one life period to another. The other was about the soul that only confined to the existing life period.

To explore the understanding of “Anatta”, it is good to know how the Buddha explained the two categories of truths. These were “Conventional truth” and “Ultimate truth”. In day-to-day life most of the things we perceive can be categorized as conventional truth. A few examples are following. We perceive our earth as flat. That is the conventional truth, but it is not really flat. We know that an atom is over 99% hollow, because the electrons circle around the nucleus of the atom are at vast distances compared to the size of the nucleus of the atom. We are made of atoms. Hence we must be over 99% hollow. But we do not define our body that way. White light is made of seven colors but we do not see them separately. Hence, there are conventional truths and ultimate truths as indicated. In everyday life we refer to both these streams for the purpose of understanding and explaining things. If people try to be absolutely specific or scientific in selecting words, we will run into problems in communicating to each other. The self exists as a conventional entity but not in the sense of ultimate truth. “Anatta” has to be evaluated in the context of the ultimate truth and if one tries to explain it in the context of conventional truth it would be a failure.

In all world religions other than in Buddhism, there is a clear belief of a soul that carries the ownership of self from one life to another. As explained in many religious scripts the soul gets punished or rewarded through its journey and is eligible to end up in the kingdom of God, in a place called heaven. In Hinduism the soul can end up in heavenly worlds and also it could be worked out to achieve “Moksha” which is defined as the freedom from the cycle of birth. A soul of a person who has achieved the state of Moksha is supposed to be joining the ultimate flux of energy after death where everything defined to have originated from. In great books of Hinduism, the subject of self is characterized in association with two facets of entities namely the “Nama” (Soul or Atman) and “Rupa” (body). Hindu teaching is very much like the Buddhist teachings in many respects and hence it is interesting to understand the marked difference between the two ideologies in respect to the definition of soul. In Hinduism the self can be explained around the following slogans: “You identify your body (nama), but you are not your body, your soul is the witness of your body; you identify your thoughts (rupa), but you are not your thoughts, your soul is the witness of your thoughts; you identify your emotions, you are not the emotions, your soul is the witness of your emotions”. As phrased above, the self or the soul is directly correlated to a witness with the “nama” and “rupa” concept. Buddha took a step further on this and explained that there is no “witness” either, to be defined as self. In other words there is no thinker of thoughts or a feeler of sensations or a receiver of reactions under the context of ultimate truth that was discussed earlier. Self is an illusion and a non-reality. At every moment there is a birth followed by a death and vice versa. Every instant is a momentary rebirth without a soul. The nature of this illusion is the crux of the Buddha doctrine disclosed by Annattalakkhana-sutta.

It is interesting to note that there are books written about out-of-body experiences. Leave alone the subject of out-of-body experience, if someone asks you to explain exactly where you are in a body (in-body), other than merely giving some references as an answer; there is no proper answer to come up with or to explain who you are. This is exactly what the Buddha pointed out by saying that self is an illusionary process that we have been fooled by. To explain this further, Buddha fragmented all elements which we perceive as self and pointed out that all those fragments are ever changing entities. Either none of them or any combination of them or all of them, can be defined as self as ascribed in soul theory. To explain what people believe as self, the Buddha talked about the five aggregates (Khandhas – piles). By talking about the five aggregates Buddha did not define self as the five aggregates but acknowledged that it is what people considered as self. The five aggregates are defined as form, feeling, perception, fabrication and consciousness. Buddha explained that either none of those aggregates or any combination of those or all of those does not constitute a self. The fragmentation study of self and the dynamism of our existence are further expounded by the Conditioned Genesis (Paticca-Samuppada) in Buddhist teachings. Conditioned Genesis is a law of conditionality based on the following formulation.

“When there is this, that comes to be.

With the arising of this, that arises

When there is not this, that does not come to be.

The ceasing of this, that ceases”

Buddha derived the following fragmented logic elements by applying “Paticca-Sampuppada” to the dynamism of our existence.

1. Conditioned by Ignorance, Intentional activities arise

2. Conditioned by Intentional activities rethinking Consciousness arises

3. Conditioned by Consciousness, Mind and matter arise

4. Conditioned by Mind and matter, the six fold base arises

5. Conditioned by the six fold base, Contact arises

6. Conditioned by Contact, Feeling arises

7. Conditioned by Feeling, Craving arises

8. Conditioned by Craving, Grasping arises

9. Conditioned by Grasping, Becoming arises

10. Conditioned by Becoming, Birth arises

11. Conditioned by Birth, aging, death, sorrow, pain, grief and despair arise.

This explains the process of all elements associated with life. It is to be considered as a cyclic process. Some scholars explain this formulation as cyclic as well as a complex interwoven network process. It touches the birth and death elements. It is a “cause and effect” theory. For example, say that you have craving to buy a luxury car. That craving, ultimately results in an arising of grief when you are unable to buy it. As long as you have the car in your mind the logical elements from 1 to 11 given above keep on forming as a cyclic stream. The simple meanings of the two Pali words in the context of the computer model discussed earlier translate as “Influences (Paticca) of Inputs (samuppada)”.

Buddhist scripture states – “The foolish man conceives the idea of self, the wise man sees there is no ground on which to build the idea of self. Acceptance of the truth of the impermanence of self and the world will therefore free a man from much suffering, if he only makes the effort”.

If self is an illusion, the question arises as to “who” gathers or receives the Karma or the resultant reactions (conventional merits and demerits associated with actions) associated in most of the eastern religions. The soul theory in Hinduism perfectly answers this question as it recognizes a transmigrating entity. Most Buddhists tend to grasp the soul theory inadvertently as a result of this. Acceptance of soul theory contradicts the Buddhist teaching. Buddha pointed out the in-validness of the above question. Because, since there is no self or soul, the word “who” does not bear any validity or meaning in the question of “who” gathers or receives the Karma. Because the question is not valid, an answer cannot be composed. Self is an illusion. This non-self theory puts a spin onto operational logic of rebirth and Karma concepts. Rebirth and Karma concepts existed prior to the Buddha era, and were integral parts of Hinduism, and became elements of Buddhist doctrine as well. However Buddha’s explanation of the Karma and rebirth theory is not soul based and shall be understood in that respect.

Shelton Ranasinghe

Author: Buddha Impetus to Primitive Psyche, Heaven at SETI’s Doorstep

Shelton Ranasinghe

sr2665@gmail.com

B.Sc (Eng), C.Eng, P.Eng, MIMech E(London), MIE(Australia), FIE(Sri Lanka), ASME(USA)

Author of Buddha Impetus to Primitive Psyche and Heaven at SETI’s Doorstep

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How Enlightenment Resides In You

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How Enlightenment Resides In You
By Craig Villarrubia

As I look back at my spiritual journey it is clear that my personal understanding of enlightenment has evolved. Early in my search I remember getting a glimpse of its promises through self-help and spiritual texts. I associated enlightenment with visions, specialness, power and bliss. It was all very attractive to the ego. What better way to aggrandize oneself than to achieve enlightenment? Hence I became a spiritual “seeker.”

Like so many other ego ventures this one was designed to keep me in a trap. You see, as long as I identified myself as a “seeker” of enlightenment I would ensure that I never found enlightenment. In my search I read book after book. I listened to tape after tape and traveled from workshop to study program. I spent countless hours in meditation. All of which certainly evolved my spiritual experience (and arguably led me to an enlightened experience), but none of it really sealed the deal. I never felt as if I could walk with the fortitude that I had achieved enlightenment.

In my mind I had made up “enlightenment” to be a moment of time where I would be blessed with all knowledge. It was an achievement that would be awarded to me for all my good hard work. I thought “perhaps one day in the midst of meditation I would feel it.” I would tell myself “if I can just quiet my mind a little longer.” There were times when I convinced myself that I almost had it. “Happiness is so close” I told myself. The fatal error in all of this was that I placed enlightenment outside my reach and into the future. It was always something to work towards.

In Truth everyone is already enlightened. A lesson I would eventually learn along the way. In A Course in Miracles Jesus says it best “There is nothing about me that you cannot attain. I have nothing that does not come from God. The difference between us now is that I have nothing else. This leaves me in a state which is only potential in you.” Jesus was saying that his enlightenment is attainable to all of us at our choosing provided we relinquish what is not of God. Being a spiritual “seeker” is NOT of God, that was of the ego. In its attempt to hide the truth from me, the ego would have me believe that enlightenment (along with many other things) lived in a future place. But in fact, all visions, specialness, power and bliss is accessible to us right now.

That experiential discovery of Truth IS enlightenment. I don’t have to chase it. Simply allowing what is, exposes the Truth. There is no “road to enlightenment” since a road would imply separation and some kind of distance to be traveled. Enlightenment therefore can be better understood as the discovery of what already is (rather than an accomplishment.) It’s not a destination where all my problems are solved but rather a shift in viewpoint where I can see that there are no problems. Identification shifts from the “little me” called Craig to Oneness and connectivity to all. I’ve come to realize an infinite extension of awareness rests in presence for everyone’s exploration, enjoyment and discovery.

There is no need to suffer. Discover the peace and joy that’s yours. If you’re inspired by spiritual growth and self development visit me at http://www.craigvillarrubia.com On my site you’ll find FREE articles, videos and podcasts that serve as a resource to spiritual enlightenment. You can also join me on Facebook for daily quotes and updates at http://www.facebook.com/craigvillarrubia

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