A more progressive Theravada Buddhism??

(name removed) writes:

"New webpage calls for a more progressive Theravada Buddhism, more social engagement, more women's rights, more environmental..."

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/insightpract...e/message/27229



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V:


Then they should rename it Mahayana Buddhism...for it will not be Theravada any longer.

Keep it real, no use killing off Buddhism even more.

Do I say this as a Theravada fanatic? No, I practice from Theravada and Mahayana and actually more so from the later.


To me it seems that the Buddhist (so called) community has many more problems than seeking to bastardize Theravada traditions. I have been banned or asked to leave from 80%+ of the forums claiming to be Buddhists...eSangha, Tricycle, Shambhala, etc. and asked to stop posting at Buddha chat just this week and on and on.

It seems that many a Buddhist gets caught up in the esoteric, when they do not even have the basics of Buddhism down. For instance, when I complained to the owner of eSangha about discrimination towards his members, he told me he would look into it and get back to me in a couple weeks.

What was his response?

No response, other than my temporary ban was increased another month. So when a sangha is sick from the top man down what else can you expect but trickle down sickness to the rest of the sangha? So we have much more problem at hand with persons 'claiming to be Buddhists' and 'do no harm' when actually they are driven my profits or ego and 'do great harm' to many serious seekers of the Buddhist path by their wrong actions.

No!...leave Theravada alone ... it is our only surviving link to the Buddha. I'd send in some old posts on this subject but eSangha deleted them...luckily I kept a text file below oon a related topic.



....My discussion of a similar topic from an earlier post.


"I believe the traditional views of Buddhist beliefs are dead..."


I believe the traditional views of Buddhist beliefs of escaping samsara are dead as far as practical application for the most part of society. To escape rebirth is impractical for the vast, vast majority of Buddhists. You must essentially give up your current life and take up a life of homlessness, never handle money, do any business, beg for food, give up entertainment of any kind, live celibate, live perfectly devoid of passion, possessions, cravings, desires, ill will and a host of other things...and then escaping samsara it is 'still' only a theory at best. Then this process must be repeated for many, many lifetimes to come. Am I against Buddhism by writing this? No... I love Buddhism, but I also love the truth. It was reported that Jesus said in his sermon on the mount... "what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?" So, if you are asking for bread, I will give bread on this topic and not a stone.

I'll give you an example you can all relate to. If you are reading this you have no chance of escaping rebirth...you are too full of passion to escape anything. What you 'should' be doing as a self proclaimed 'serious Buddhist practitioner' is; instead of reading and writing on the computer you would be meditating on the three liberation's. By meditating on emptiness, formlessness and passionlessness, this will allow you, with a few lifetimes of diligent practice, to recognize the three liberation's of the ego and the dharma as being empty, the dharma as formless and this eventually the recognition of living is an unworthy desire as our existence is characterized by suffering. Another example? I posted a thread at esangha on clarity of goals with your Buddhist practice. It discussed the importance of taking the right path to reach such goals and having a clear picture of this in your mind and actions. I outlined my goals and the tools I use to reach those goals and asked for others to do the same. What was the response? Last time I looked it was nil. Thousands of members there and no one can express their goals and path with their Buddhist practice?

Practitioners that will escape samsara can best be described as barley leaving a trace or ripple on their life and slipping by unnoticed when they depart to avoid rebirth. Others will argue they 'are noticed' and this is what distinguishes them from being reborn again. In either case, it is a 'specialized life' that allows them to escape samsara and the 'why is it so' is not as important as the 'how it is so.' Every step they take barely has weight on the earth and is more of a caress than a step. Their breathing hardly disturbs the air and every breath in and out has reverence in it and mindfulness. TNH describes this in his peace is every step book. Such practitioners are passionless and desireless and as such they are tethered to nothing in life, not even the thought of escaping it. Their actions are of no karmic consequence and after some lifetimes of this type of practice they can slip away unnoticed. Myself, I can only practice this concentrated technique for a few seconds or minutes at the most and then lose it. My practice is not authentic and is forced and ego based, whereas these practitioners practice is authentic and done without the use of force.

But, as I told you before, I am not concerned with developing this type of 'escape' practice and only played around with it for my own edification. The trouble is with many a practitioner is they say they are serious, but in reality are just playing around and deluding themselves. They might practice Buddhism as a hobby or to pass time or to escape the troubles in their life, but that is it. Just burning incense and chanting is not going to do much when it comes to escape vehicles. Oh well, it may be a useful pastime to escape a delusional life? Of the three unwholesome roots, delusion is the most important one. For it is basic to any successful Buddhist practice to dispel such delusions, otherwise you can see little else clearly. Karl Marx said - religion is the opium of the masses. Many of us need such 'drugs' as a way to not face thoughts and fears of dying. This is what many of us run from with our various 'concentrations' and 'distractions' we tie our minds up with trying to avoid the thought of death. Better to accept life, as well as death and then you can be at peace with it as part of natural law. This frees the mind to look for truth instead of drugs.

Personally, I would rather see Buddhism be used in realistic and practical ways to develop a life of peace generation, both inner and outer peace in this world. Now, this is a real goal that all can achieve with such a practice. This way living in such a peace based world will not be viewed as hell, but as joy and compassion. Sure there are bumps and bruises along the way for all, but it goes with the territory of life. When I kayak and flip I get beat up on the rocks...it goes with the territory, but I enjoy the rest of the ride. If you look at the population it is not declining...escaping rebirth very impractical. I guess it is a fantasy for most, just as heaven is a fantasy to those not believing in Christian doctrine. In either practice though, it is much better to be peace based and make this a life of acceptance and peace instead of one to dread, a life that one would not mind living indefinitely and one that you were happy to live in any case. Unfortunately when I talk of a practice based on inner peace most people are dumbfounded, or as one Buddhist practitioner asked me, 'what is your great attraction to inner peace and happiness?" - as he could see little benefit in such a practice.

I have become somewhat aquatinted with a newer form of Buddhist practice...Won Buddhism. Here is a short snip from their site about what Won is and what they work towards.

Practical Application of Won Buddhism

"Although the teaching of the Buddha embodies supreme truth and skillful means to save sentient beings from misery, the Buddhist system was formed mainly for the life of monks in the monastic order and was not suitable for people living in the secular world. Anyone who wished to he a true Buddhist under such a system, had to ignore one's duties and obligations to the secular life and give up one's occupation. Under such a system, the Buddha-grace, no matter how great the Buddha-dharma may be, cannot reach the numberless sentient beings of the world. Thus, Won Buddhism teaches that a Buddhist should not be shackled to the Buddha- dharma and Buddhist system or disabled to manage the worldly affairs as in the past. A Buddhist should be able to manage the worldly affairs better by being a Buddhist. In other words, one should not become useless to the world by being a Buddhist. By making a lively application of the Buddha-dharma, one should be a valuable person to oneself, one's family, one's society and one's country. Thus, one of the mottos of Won Buddhism reads: Do not separate the Buddha-dharma from daily life; Realize the Buddha-dharma in daily life. The Buddha-dharma here means only those most fundamental teachings which are simple enough and potent enough to deliver all sentient beings suffering in the sea of misery."

For more information about won Buddhism go to:

http://www.wonbuddhism.info/index.html

Now, I do not know that much about this sect, other than their basic goals seem to match my own, so do not hold me to any shortcomings in my recommendation. If it is what it says it is, then a Won practice is what the vast majority of Buddhists would fall into that do not wish to be monks or nuns, yet wish to derive benefits from their practice as well as to help others.

To get back to the subject at hand - a snip from Bhikkhu Bodhi on suffering:

"The Buddha does not merely touch the problem of suffering tangentially; he makes it, rather, the very cornerstone of his teaching. He starts the Four Noble Truths that sum up his message with the announcement that life is inseparably tied to something he calls dukkha. The Pali word is often translated as suffering, but it means something deeper than pain and misery. It refers to a basic unsatisfactoriness running through our lives, the lives of all but the enlightened. Sometimes this unsatisfactoriness erupts into the open as sorrow, grief, disappointment, or despair; but usually it hovers at the edge of our awareness as a vague unlocalized sense that things are never quite perfect, never fully adequate to our expectations of what they should be. This fact of dukkha, the Buddha says, is the only real spiritual problem."


V writes:

Yes, the above is true...but Bhikkhu Bodhi also touches on an important concept that can help us find peace in this life when he writes:

"a basic unsatisfactoriness running through our lives, the lives of all but the enlightened."

You see, a person cannot be at peace within and with all with their current life if they are always trying to escape life out of fear and hatred for living it and feeling regret for it as a burden unjustly imposed on them. No, such a person is not an enlightened being nor is he or she even pointed in the right direction for reaching enlightenment - other than to say he or she needs to look in the 'opposite' direction from where they are looking. An old saying tells us, "A diamond cannot be polished without friction." So, by applying the 'rule of opposites', the once unenlightened mind, can use this 'friction' or former despair to help them turn around to find peace. This is why I always stress to look at the extremes and every option in between to find the answer. For if one direction doesn't work, the opposite direction or a blending of the two just might. Unfortunately, when 'self rules self' the mind is stubborn and fixated on the being right and there are few options to try when the ego rules the roost. Develop 'self without self' and look for universal truth for the answer you seek. The truth is that which doesn't not change, whereas 'self' always changes.

Mixing the Eastern and Western philosophy is tough sometimes as the East puts mind before heart and the West tends to put heart before mind. If we go back to the basics of Buddhism we can check our progression as to why there is any dissatisfaction in our progress for finding peace. In Buddhist threefold training we train in moral discipline, we train the mind and we train in wisdom. The training in moral discipline or 'precepts' brings one enough initial peace to advance to the other disciplines which require more work. Training the mind helps concentrate it as well as calm it, so one may see things in clear light with wisdom training. But without removing the basic obstacles to our growth, we cannot go onto more advanced training successfully. For wisdom is the final destination for the enlightened mind, as you can have concentration and calmness, but still not possess wisdom or enlightenment. Calmness and concentration are prerequisites to enlightenment, they are not guarantees of enlightenment. For enlightenment we need to bring the heart and the mind together for balance. When trained in properly, these three areas help with discerning truth and being at peace with it and this quality of being at peace with ourselves as well as with others is the foundation for enlightenment.

I have only brought all this up to help dispel some delusions in practitioners. As I said above, the three unwholesome roots of delusions, greed and hate are very basic to a practice. Out of these three, delusion is the foundational root, for without seeing delusions for what they are, you cannot distinguish the other two unwholesome roots of greed and hate. But this is only restating the eightfold path of right actions, right thoughts, right view, right intentions, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Isn't it kind of sad though a Christian - Buddhist has to lecture you on such topics? After all a Christian - Buddhist is not a 'real' Buddhist? Well, this mix of Christian - Buddhist is one of the reasons I can write on such topics. It allows me, as I said above, to mix heart and mind in balance and see things from a different perspective. As I have mentioned before, a wooden Buddha will not get through a fire, a clay Buddha will not get through the ocean and a bronze Buddha will not get though a furnace. But, a clay Buddha can get through the furnace and turn to stone, a wooden Buddha can float across a river and a bronze Buddha will withstand a fire. So I use many tools to find peace and do not limit myself. I do not write on this topic to try to force a change on your journey or goals with your Buddhist practice. Only you can do that and that change must come from within you as a real and authentic change in your nature. But, if you have no goals or path to follow, maybe this post will 'awaken you' to finding one? I make no claim to have the 'last word' on this subject. I can only share how I practice and find peace with it in this life. When we put our peace first we will be awakened to a new life that we can 'live' with serenely.

In the book "The Miracle of Mindfulness." it says: "If while washing dishes we think only of the tea that awaits us...then we are not 'washing the dishes.' If we can't wash the dishes, chances are we won't be able to drink our tea either." So it goes with a person that focusses their attention always to the future at some distant hope of finding the happiness through death to replace the lack of happiness that they cannot find in the present. I prefer to practice mindfulness of my life in the present moment. As such, I work to make the present moment peaceful when I have a say in the matter and make it one that I do not need to escape from through fixating on the future hopes of escaping life. And when I do not have a say in the matter, I am at peace with this road also. I practice for inner peace, but also it might be termed enlightenment. Buddhism provides this tool, which is just one out of the many tools I use for peace development. For once we have found a contentment within and with all and are at peace - we are progressing on the road to enlightenment. You can also tell when you have "arrived" by your practice telling you so. Does your practice revolve around actually practicing what you have learned to generate peace within or are you on a never ending journey of always looking and never finding?

I look at pain and suffering as part of natural law. I accept it as part of life and look at this as growing pains. Humans are not singled out in this area as every animate and most inanimate object suffer from impermanence as well. While inanimate objects do not suffer pain for the most part they would if they felt the changes happening to them...the rocks crumbling or the earth splitting. Nothing can live without experiencing pain - it is natural law and not just karma. Without this pain of impermanence we could not digest food nor could we even experience taste. The embryo could not grow or rain fall from the sky. Sometimes we can get blinded to the big picture when we concentrate on the minutia. I find many problems can be solved with a simple acceptance of what IS. Now, an area that humans can cause great suffering is through their actions. In this area we do have some control over our suffering and the suffering of others as all our actions have consequences and many of our actions are producing consequences that rob of us and others of peace.

Once I am at peace, I can share with others about finding peace for themselves, which is the secondary reason I practice. I have no interest in practicing Buddhism for extinguishing reincarnation. Such "fear based" reasons for being a Buddhist are not authentic or natural - the persons actions are based on fear or negative consequences otherwise they would not do them. My actions are based on inner peace and if I stray - there goes my peace - it is my choice. I enjoy life and realize that due to natural law, suffering comes about as part of the process and I accept it as a fair trade off for the privilege of living, so I would enjoy any reincarnation if given the privilege. Buddhism helps makes this trade off of life and pain more in my favor by lending me support to live a life at peace in the present. I do not practice Buddhism to earn merit for the next life - I practice Buddhism for my own peace generation in THIS LIFE.

If you would like to try another path to peace other than destruction of ones existence, try the path of the Bodhisattva. The world is ripe with those living in misery. There are no shortage of customers for you to offer peace to. And as you instill seeds of peace within others, you plant the same seeds and water these seeds within you as well. As you give so you receive. I hope you can find the same contentment within your life as I have found through Buddhism. and if you still wish to work towards extinguishing samsara, then by all means go in that direction. Give up your current life, all attachments and tethers and start on a new life this very instant. In the bible, Luke 16:13 tells us, "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" This goes the same for those seeking the path of extinguishing rebirth, you cannot serve two masters...so better get to work ... once you have decided which path to take.



Good Luck,



V (Male)