Buddhism As Education

The first flood to note is he current that accompanies the senses of emotional impressions of their desirability or interest. This is the flood of sensuality (kamogha), a torrent under whose trance sense objects seem to offer pleasant sights, sounds, tastes, fragrances and touches. With some experience and considered attention, we can note that some of these, once seen, heard, etc, actually induce the kind of feeling that the current promises in any but the most fleeting way In the gentle or pulsing waves of this flood however, the objects of the sense seem irresistible, charming and productive of real satisfaction. And yet the manifest truth of our lives is that we are not blissed-out or even satisfied for long in any sense of contact. It happens all day long and with luck it is mostly okay. Sometimes it is pleasant for a little while and sometimes it is unpleasant, but the pleasant, once established, gets to be normal and then became boring after some time. So, desire for newe...

We have to be aware of how people tend to imitate their teachers. They become copies, prints, castings and it is like the story of the king's horse trainer. The old trainer died, so the king hired a new trainer. Unfortunately, this man limped when he walked. New and beautiful horses were brought to him and he trained them exquisitely, to run, to canter, to pull carriages. But each of the new stallions developed a limp. Finally, the king summoned the trainer and seeing him limp as he entered the court, he understood everything and immediately hired a new trainer. As teachers, you must be aware of the force of the examples you set. And even more important, as students, you must not follow the image, the outer form, of your teacher. He is pointing you back to your own inner perfection. Take the inner wisdom as your model and do not imitate his limp. Know your own mind and body and you will know others' as well. One's facial expressions, speech, gestures, actions, all ...

Within the last century, western science and physics have made a startling discovery. We are part of the world we view. The very process of our observation changes the things that we observe. For example, an electron is an extremely tiny item. It cannot be viewed without instrumentation and that apparatus dictates what the observer will see. If you look at an electron in one way, it appears to be a particle, a hard little ball that bounces around in nice straight paths. When you view it in another way, an electron appears to be a wave form, with nothing solid about it. It glows and wiggles all over the place around it. An electron is an event more than a thing. And the observer participates in that event by the very process of his or her observation. There's no way to avoid this interaction. Eastern science has recognized this basic principle for a very long time ago. The mind is a set of events and the observer participates in those events every time he or she looks inward....

You must recall the words "salvation" or "liberation" used in all religions. The final goal of all religions is salvation or emancipation, or whatever word most suitable in each language. But all these words have the same meaning, getting saved. All religions teach salvation. Then, from what are we saved? We are saved from spiritual prison. The thing that all of you want and need - even right at this moment - is the thing called "freedom" or "liberty", which is simply escape from prison. Whether a physical, material prison or a mental, spiritual prison, the meaning is the same. In all cases, we want freedom. Those who lack of wisdom can see and fear only physical, material prisons. But those who have wisdom to look deeper will see how much more terrifying and dangerous the spiritual prison is. Really, we can see that hardly anybody is locked up in ordinary jails, while everyone in the world is caught in the spiritual prison. For instance...

Mind and matter, though closely associated, are entirely two distinct entities; very different in terms of their nature, cause and functions. Unlike matter, which is composed of physical constituents such as atoms and molecules, the mind has no such physical quantity. It composed of its own continuum only, just as a wheat requires a grain of wheat as seed for its substantial cause, so does mind always require an earlier moment of its own type as its main cause. Matter can never become consciousness and vice versa. But this does not mean that matter could exist independently from the mind. It is on this point that many well-respected western scientist have made a fundamental error. Their obsessive conviction in measuring every physical phenomenon in their basic constituents lead them to believe in the existence of absolute space and time, totally independent of the subjective mind. Matter exists because mind perceives it; and mind exists because there is a matter to be perceive...

We are living in a world in which cosmic changes on a vast scale also take place. The cosmic forces that are at work are powerful and still incomprehensible. Our progress therefore sometimes appears to be illusory, momentary and insignificant, when we see a lifetime's good work coming to naught, when disasters overtake us, when achievements of many generations get destroyed, sometimes in seconds, we get lost, we lose our balance and feel dismayed, we lose heart and give up the battle as lost. We have to, however, persevere, we need to have stout heart, maintain composure and continue our good work. Vast changes wrought by man Humanity would not have made any progress if it had not tried to create conditions of comparative safety, stability, peace and plenty of over-changing world which is always in a state of flux. We were subject to the vagaries of weather, but gradually we provided ourselves with better and better shelters which have given us protection from scorching heat of the...