Tony
26th May 2011, 08:11
FEAR AND NOT KNOWING.
[ What is presented here is a Buddhist system for understanding how everything works. Hopefully it is in non buddhist terms. This is just a presentation for anyone who feels they would like a platform to work from. See how it feels. If you have a planned path already that is fine. I have been on spiritual paths for about forty years, mostly in a confused state, so I've got it wrong quite a bit! However this has allowed my to become a bit of a spiritual engineer. I've received a lot of teachings from some remarkable teachers, analysed till the cows come home, and done a bit of meditation. These are not my teachings, they are passed down. They just seem to pop out....! ]
I've been looking over the threads, and two aspects seem to be cropping up, fear and not knowing.
So wondered if the two could have a link, and of course they have.
Let's break down the idea of fear.
Fear is aversion, not wanting something. The opposite of fear is hope. Hope is wanting something. These are two are poisons, to a stable mind. A stable mind is, consciousness that is aware of itself.
( Please forgive me if I keep saying the same things, we all need constant reminding.)
The mind, finds itself reacting to things, liking and disliking. We want the world different to the way it is. This is due to ego. So what is ego? We have three qualities to our being, empty essence, cognisant nature and unconfined compassion. You could use other words. The combination of emptiness and cognisance creates compassion.
These three qualities work together, which produces the middle way. Beyond extremes.
If empty essence is missing, you just have cognisance = knowing. So when this knowing, pops it head out, sees something, and because it is lacking understand of emptiness, it sees all beings and phenomena, as real, solid. This is the birth of EGO. Ego, is judging what it wants, and does not want. This is the extreme of eternalism. ( Did you notice yesterday, that many people were saying, one cannot know, because it is never ending,) This the outcome of not recognising emptiness of all phenomena. The other extreme is just having emptiness, nothing seems real. Which can become nihilism, resulting in depression. ( personally experienced!)
Big mistake!
That is why the understanding and realisation of empty cognisance, solves all problems. Though it does take a bit of work! Empty meaning, a thing has no inherent existence, it is produced by cause and effect. Deep within a thing, most of it is space. Also things come and go. The understanding of this is fundamental knowing reality.
At any moment, fear is useful as it gets you (your body) out of the way of an oncoming truck. Though you and every thing is ultimately empty in essence, the truck is a relative truth and so is your body! However one doesn't have to fear all trucks. This is an exaggeration in the mind, which if we are not careful, can be carried around with us like luggage - for many life times!
It doesn't help if the world around us keeps over-reacting to every bit of hearsay. With the backup of the health and safety brigade, fear is being maintained, nicely.
I say doesn't help, but in a way it does help! Ultimate reality (empty essence, cognisant nature and compassionate energy) immediately recognises a relative truth. In fact they work as a unity, they cannot be separated. The most important aspect of buddhism, is the inseparability of the two truths.
That is the middle way.
(Yes, I know it's confusing, that also take some work! If you are going to be your own teacher, you will need some tools.)
The world around us is confused, it was created by not knowing. Not knowing ones ultimate nature.
This is poison called ignorance. Due to ignorance hope and fear were created, together they are the three poisons. Attraction, repulsion and inertia are in every atom.
The antidote for the three poisons are...........empty essence, cognisant nature and and unconfined compassion! They are actually the same thing!!!! When the three awakened qualities are not recognised they turn into the three poisons.
It is a very simple system, where every thing is known!
Believe nothing!
Tony
[ What is presented here is a Buddhist system for understanding how everything works. Hopefully it is in non buddhist terms. This is just a presentation for anyone who feels they would like a platform to work from. See how it feels. If you have a planned path already that is fine. I have been on spiritual paths for about forty years, mostly in a confused state, so I've got it wrong quite a bit! However this has allowed my to become a bit of a spiritual engineer. I've received a lot of teachings from some remarkable teachers, analysed till the cows come home, and done a bit of meditation. These are not my teachings, they are passed down. They just seem to pop out....! ]
I've been looking over the threads, and two aspects seem to be cropping up, fear and not knowing.
So wondered if the two could have a link, and of course they have.
Let's break down the idea of fear.
Fear is aversion, not wanting something. The opposite of fear is hope. Hope is wanting something. These are two are poisons, to a stable mind. A stable mind is, consciousness that is aware of itself.
( Please forgive me if I keep saying the same things, we all need constant reminding.)
The mind, finds itself reacting to things, liking and disliking. We want the world different to the way it is. This is due to ego. So what is ego? We have three qualities to our being, empty essence, cognisant nature and unconfined compassion. You could use other words. The combination of emptiness and cognisance creates compassion.
These three qualities work together, which produces the middle way. Beyond extremes.
If empty essence is missing, you just have cognisance = knowing. So when this knowing, pops it head out, sees something, and because it is lacking understand of emptiness, it sees all beings and phenomena, as real, solid. This is the birth of EGO. Ego, is judging what it wants, and does not want. This is the extreme of eternalism. ( Did you notice yesterday, that many people were saying, one cannot know, because it is never ending,) This the outcome of not recognising emptiness of all phenomena. The other extreme is just having emptiness, nothing seems real. Which can become nihilism, resulting in depression. ( personally experienced!)
Big mistake!
That is why the understanding and realisation of empty cognisance, solves all problems. Though it does take a bit of work! Empty meaning, a thing has no inherent existence, it is produced by cause and effect. Deep within a thing, most of it is space. Also things come and go. The understanding of this is fundamental knowing reality.
At any moment, fear is useful as it gets you (your body) out of the way of an oncoming truck. Though you and every thing is ultimately empty in essence, the truck is a relative truth and so is your body! However one doesn't have to fear all trucks. This is an exaggeration in the mind, which if we are not careful, can be carried around with us like luggage - for many life times!
It doesn't help if the world around us keeps over-reacting to every bit of hearsay. With the backup of the health and safety brigade, fear is being maintained, nicely.
I say doesn't help, but in a way it does help! Ultimate reality (empty essence, cognisant nature and compassionate energy) immediately recognises a relative truth. In fact they work as a unity, they cannot be separated. The most important aspect of buddhism, is the inseparability of the two truths.
That is the middle way.
(Yes, I know it's confusing, that also take some work! If you are going to be your own teacher, you will need some tools.)
The world around us is confused, it was created by not knowing. Not knowing ones ultimate nature.
This is poison called ignorance. Due to ignorance hope and fear were created, together they are the three poisons. Attraction, repulsion and inertia are in every atom.
The antidote for the three poisons are...........empty essence, cognisant nature and and unconfined compassion! They are actually the same thing!!!! When the three awakened qualities are not recognised they turn into the three poisons.
It is a very simple system, where every thing is known!
Believe nothing!
Tony