From the Zen teachings of Bodhidharma
Translated by Red Pine
If you want to obtain your innate freedom or Nirvana, Buddhism has a unique and direct approach. It is taking a look at what you actually experience, as opposed to what you’re supposed to experience. This is looking at the nature of your mind and yourself in a new light based on your direct experience.
If you follow through in this practice, you will open up vistas in your life that you never thought possible. Once again life will become new and exciting. This does not happen by discovering something new to fill you up. After all if it is new it will eventually become old. Then you will again have to find something new to bring back that excitement. This is the same old treadmill that people are on now.
Stepping off the repetitive treadmill that most people call life
Rather Buddhism is about stepping off this treadmill so that you can really rest in peace. All it takes to step out of suffering is a deep recognition of what you experience even now.
I have a special fondness for the Buddhist approach because it brings back my first spiritual experience. It happened in, of all places, my high school science class. My unsuspecting master was my science teacher. As a child I was very curious and used to ask lots of questions. Finally my exasperated teacher said, “Michael, your mind moves too fast.”
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Step by step, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive points you to the source
of
timeless Wisdom, the place of enlightenment; this is Bliss that does
not depend on what you do or what you think; it is your natural freedom.
For more information go to:
http://www.light-up-your-life.com/wisdom.html
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Is your mind really there?
Of course I looked to see if my mind was moving too fast. And you know what happened? I couldn’t even find my mind. The only thing there was a depth that I couldn’t even grasp. Although it was profound it didn’t fit into any of my words or concepts. And being curious I wondered, “What was that?”
It took me most of my lifetime to find out. But in your case I hope you will find this place of peace and freedom much faster than I did. That’s because I want to save you all the useless running around that I did, so that you can take a direct look into the nature of your mind and wake up on the spot.
In the next series of blogs I will quote various Buddhist masters with some commentary to help you see what they are pointing to. But I think you will see that their message is very clear and will need very little help from me.
The path for the curious
I hope that you are curious too. This is a perfect path for those of you with lots of questions about the nature of your mind, your thoughts and the nature of the world, etc. The battle cry of liberation is: "never get complacent." Continue to ask lot of questions where you really don’t know the answer. Ask questions like this and you will surely wake up to that which is really important, right in this lifetime. And I will interrupt this series of blogs just to answer your questions so, like the Buddha, you can fully see the nature of your mind.
Feel free to ask questions
Please
feel free to continue asking questions. I’m always glad to hear your
reactions and clarify my answers. Unlike the path of faith, on the path
of Self-Knowledge it is curiosity that destroys limitation and allows
you to abide in your natural freedom.
If the comment section of this blog doesn't work, please send your questions and comments to michael@ananya.com. To find out where this all leads go to, www.light-up-your-life.com. And finally, if you enjoy these blogs please tell your friend
Best Wishes,
Michael Gluckman
