The Conundrums of Religions – Part 2

All general categories of religions have various ‘traditions’ and denominations which present their particular perspective in a way that makes sense to them.

Whatever religion you are in…

If you are satisfied with the general concepts and are not in a capacity to seek any other form of worship…

Then perhaps within that religion, seek a denomination that ‘holds water’ and makes sense as compared with the deep end of all other reasonable spiritual traditions.

Even Christianity, when it’s presented in a non-dogmatic way that speaks to the true metaphorical meanings of the myths, magic, and miracles can deliver a certain depth of ‘peace of mind’ to an aspirant of True Divinity.

I have looked deeply with earnest as many of these ‘traditions’ as I could over my lifetime.

For example,

Even though I resonate deeply with Buddhism, there are many Buddhist traditions that do not ‘hold water’ or make sense after embracing the deep end of so many traditions.  Particularly the most popular version called ‘The Pure Land’.  It was developed about 1800 years after the Buddha created his nearly flawless teachings which included his Noble Eight-Fold Path. Note: his teachings were flawless… their various interpretations vary which sometimes contradict the Buddha’s original Wisdoms. However all that is presented and taught… the most important part about practicing Buddhism is one must put the various teaches to heart, then drop them and find the ineffable Wisdoms through their own earnest efforts.

The ‘Pure Land’ tradition seems to ignore most of what the Buddha taught in favor of a really simple form of worship that is easy to do for anyone… not just dedicated aspirants and celibate monks.  Like Christianity and unlike what the Buddha taught, they are not so much interested in gaining liberation in this life… but rather, it is a Devotional cult of the buddha Amitabha in which they pray,  meditate and devote themselves to the notation that this ‘god’ Amitabha will hear their petitionary prayers and bless them with a rebirth into a “Pure Land” that then, they can start a practice to do what the Buddha describes in his Noble Eight-Fold Path that ends pain & suffering and brings one’s perspective to abide in ‘Nirvana’.

With all due respect…

I feel this tradition falls into a chapter of the book series called:

Buddhism for Dummies.

(No joke, there really is a book called this)

~ ~ ~

There are no short cuts to the Absolute, and anyone that earnestly devoted themselves with the ‘Right Effort’ can achieve this final goal and enjoy an ever-increasing depth of Bliss with each focused step along this Path.

But,

there are countless diversions, misinformation, and roadblocks that other ‘traditions’ lay out that sadly keeps a lot of seekers from ever even starting a reasonable Path towards the ultimate goal of living a life free of the inherent ignorance, confusion, pain & suffering that most of us unnecessarily endure our entire life,

and…

To become Enlightened to our True Nature of Being and thus…

Know unshakably the True Nature of Reality.

~

Most Christians seem very afraid of dying.

Even though they are promised they will get to ‘meet their maker’,

They seem very dreadful of being judged, on ‘judgment day of death’.

And the poor Catholics that have been deceived and already lived in fear of demons under their beds and in their closets… add to the dread of being judged after death is too much for most to feel good about whatever it is that comes after this ‘here & now’.

Oddly,

True Buddhists don’t fear dying…

They fear the dread of being born again and again

into this crazy life of ‘Samsara’…

At the deep end of Buddhism:

The Buddha’s most profound philosophies have taught

the concept of Anatta – No self.

Anatta – No self, is part of the starting point towards taking up a Buddhist practice, similar to the Advaita Vedanta’s contemplation of finding one’s True Self.

or in Tibetan Dzogchen – to abide in Rigpa.

‘Self-inquiry’ is contemplated deeply to get a feeling of ‘who are we’?

‘Self-Realization is part of the inquiry one naturally and essentially must deeply contemplate.

With the Hindu/Buddhist technique of “Neti Neti”, one can use negative deduction to help reveal our True Nature…

‘not this’ not that…

We all know we can’t take our money with us,

and

I’m not my body, it dies while

my True Nature is never born, nor never dies.

I’m not any of my body parts ether.

Although metaphorically

my heart metaphorically represents my love and compassion…

it is just a body part, like my brain.

The thoughts that our ‘mind’ generates are too

just functions of the body…

they are not an everlasting eternal ‘me’.

This Spiritual ‘Self’ inquiry can take a few minutes

or

the rest of one’s life. But…

All inquiries wade into the deep end of …

Awareness.

The aspects of a ‘non-duel’ unified consciousness is simply

Awareness.

In the deepest sitting meditation,

once the universal focus on breath is focused,

abiding in the awareness of Awareness in the higher states of consciousness

is about as close as we can become Aware of our True Nature.

Tibetan Bon Buddhist practice of Great Perfection – Dzogchen –

calls this Rigpa.

Many traditions refer to it as ‘the Ground of our Being’. Our True Self.

Christ Conscious. God Nature. Buddha Nature.

~ ~ ~

There is much written about the philosophical wisdoms that expands upon this Ultimate-‘Self’ understanding.  But simply reading about these wisdoms will not bring a profound understanding of our True Nature. 

That which can be read or written is not the Tao…

the Great Mystery or the Flow of Life,

nor can it lead to understanding our True Nature.

Flat Earth in space with sun and moon

All religions and spiritual traditions today were created at a time when the world view was generally accepted that:

Women had no rights.

Slavery was perfectly normal.

The earth was flat.

The flat earth was the center of the universe filled with round planets. huh ? :-O

The sun revolved ‘around’ the earth.

And many other un-evolved concepts.

Tibetan Bon tradition is the oldest spiritual tradition with un-broken lineage of over 18,000 years.  That is indeed impressive, but one really must take into account what the world view was that long ago. 

As humanity slowly evolved, so did the more mindful traditions that transcend along with time as well.

In the ‘Tantric’ tradition, it is assumed that once a new paradigm of teaching the wisdoms of ‘Tantric’ was discovered…

the old out dated teachings are to be literally thrown out.

All traditions should embrace this ‘Transcend & Include’ methodology.

After all this effort the Buddha laid out to describe our ‘True Self’ as having no individuality; there is no separation between who we take ourselves to be and all that is…

Then,

The conundrum with contemporary Buddhism is:

“Who is it that will be burdened by being reborn?”

In my humble opinion:

The fear of being born again & again… provides a false sense of inspiration to really work hard to achieve full “enlightenment” in this life … or else!…

Those pesky rebirths!

Here the process of putting down in words what the Buddha had taught 400 years after he ‘transcended’, would require a bit of ‘filling in the blanks ‘so to speak.

All religions and even this spiritual tradition seems to require a ‘Divine reason’ to do good and have a dedicated practice… or else!

However,

the Buddha’s Noble Eight-Fold Path clearly outlines how to ‘Unconditionally’ do good

without attachment for any praise…

~

There is enough benefits right now in this ‘here & Now’ earthly reality,

to find liberation from the ‘pain & suffering’ we inherently push through in our lives.

That’s why psychologists have busy careers!

There are many profound benefits to be experienced from integrating

the Buddha’s Noble Eight-Fold Path into one’s daily flow.

You don’t need to accept the burden of being reborn over & over again…

With a Truly ‘Non-Duel’ unified conscious perspective,

There really is no ‘me’ or ‘you’, an ‘us’ or ‘we’…

There is just

Unity.

This is the ‘non-dual’ unified conscious perspective.

One big difference from what is projected as ‘heaven’… is that

Nirvana” is not a place that an individual goes to after this life…

it is a recognition of the ‘True reality’, Awareness of one’s True Self, that is beyond conscious, beyond our mind and the ego most mistake as their identity… and

way beyond what we once naively imagined was ‘God’.

~ ~ ~

When ‘you’ are at one with it all…

there can be no ‘you’ over here… and this ‘one-ness’ over there

It’s just inseparable Unity.

It’s not a place… yet is everything that ‘is’.

There is nothing in this life that can come close to explain the ineffable nature of

the ‘timeless wonder of it all’ and what’s before & beyond this life…

Except for very deep stages of higher consciousness found in Jana meditation or

the deep end of the Buddha’s Noble Eight-Fold Path,

which will offer this experience to the ones that put in the ‘Right Effort’…

But to adequately teach this experience to another would take many years of focused practice… and then, it can’t really be ‘taught’ so to speak…

one can only ‘point out’ the direction one should take along their own Path.

In Christianity, an individual must postpone the gratification of ending pain & suffering

until they die, get judged, go to the higher hierarchies of ‘heaven’ then…

they’ will be in a ‘dualistic’ version of ‘heaven’ as some place out there

that our individual self goes to and gets a ‘Heavenly body’

that looks just like the one you’re in right now:-O!

It gets more complicated with all the man made up projections of a ‘heavenly hierarchy’.

So many distractions to the individual seeking the Absolute Higher Truths.

But when you allow yourself to let go of everything you’ve been told and

everything you think you know and start your Path with a ‘beginner’s mind’

Take in as much as you can.

When you learn from different perspectives that are ‘pointing towards’ the same ineffable Absolute truths…

Then you’ll know you’re on the right Path.

Namaste ~ Amen ~ Peace Peace Peace

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