Jayke
6th August 2011, 14:37
Countless bodhisattvas and buddhas have studied the intricacies of the mind extensively and over millenia have turned it into a complete workable science, verifiable by anyone who is willing to experiment with the teachings and gain the experience for themselves. They tell us that there are only 5 layers of the awareness onion that need to be peeled before we reveal our true nature and reach enlightenment.
In fact they even tell us how once you break through the third layer, it's tantamount to seeing the Tao as you can begin to live life as one who has stepped into the river of enlightenment. As many people know, it's only perfect practice that makes perfect, if you don't know what it is you're practising you'll likely just end up walking in circles or clinging to irrelevant concepts too tightly. Introducing the Buddhist concept of the skandhas to understand the kind of practice that is practised by the Buddha's.
1. skandha of form - a typical celebrity obsessed with perfect looks, fast cars, nice houses...people rooted in the 3D realm, usually aren't too concerned with anything deeper or anything they can't touch, feel, hear, taste or smell. 5 sense reality.
2. skandha of sensation - the average drug user, addicted to the highs, lows and sensations of a drug so they keep going back for more in a spiralling or vicious cycle. chocolate and food addicts would even fall under this skandha, it's surprising how many people are addicted to sugar.
3. skandha of conception - people who are so attached to concepts that they shut themselves off from any other input and ideas: religious extremists, people who allow concepts to create fear like those who believe in the doom and gloom scenarios of the world, breaking through this skandha allows us to see the Tao and discover the transcendental wisdom that exists in the fabric of reality.
If someone is holding onto a concept too tightly they'll take personal offence when someone disagrees with them, a person who's broken free of this layer realises that words on a page don't really mean anything anyway so it's just a fun game we've all volunteered to play in. They can walk away or drop their concepts or embrace new ones should a more life enhancing belief come along, like children they just play with words and see how it affects the matrix we all live in. This is the level of the illuminati, attempting to control the world from a construct they've created...the only reason they feel the need to have this control though is because they haven't worked on purifying the next skandha.
once you can quiet your mind enough to exist without thought, you can let go of attachments, let go of the past, let go of the future, let go of any concept of self...that quiet mind allows you to become aware of the very subtle flows of energy that exist in and around us, without a sense of self to limit our experience we can actually start to see and feel the flow of energy that exists between two people or two things. In Huna they call these the aka cords, these aka chords are always reaching out trying to express themselves in the world and form attachments to our environment. Breaking through the conceptual skandha allows us to experience the world from a state of energetic flow and fluidity like droplets that have returned to the ocean...from here though there are energies that we recognise need to be purified and the buddhists call this next level the skandha of volition.
skandhas 4 and 5 are a little different than the other 3, we don't need to break through these skandhas since their is nothing seperating us from the fluidity of consciousness any longer, these skandhas just need to be purified.
Volitions, the subtle yet powerful impulses and desires that move our thoughts and actions. In the same way the buddhists tell us pain multiplied by equanimity leads to spiritual purification, what they don't tell us (at least not publicly) is that pleasure multiplied by equanimity leads to physical and energetic purification. By having equanimity over our desires, as they emerge out of us like a dolphin that leaps out of the ocean...equanimity allows them to fall back into us without them ever becoming attached to external reality. If an aka chord leaps out of us and we allow it to distract us, our thoughts begin to follow that flow of energy and we end up projecting our concepts and beliefs onto others and an attachment and limitation is formed.
Skandha 5 is the storehouse of consciousness, it's where our karmic seeds are stored, in the same way seeds in the ground wait for conditions in the environment to be met before they sprout, our karmic seeds only rise above the surface and take form in the world when something in the environment triggers their growth. every time a seed is allowed to sprout...that fully formed thought creation plants another seed into the ground which is how habits and behaviours are formed. To purify these two levels of awareness we have to become karmic gardeners, we allow the life enhancing, beautiful, majestic plants the freedom to flourish while the weeds that drain our energy and block out the light are removed and purified the moment they arise. The weeds burn away when we shine the bright light of inner awareness onto them, they melt back into pure energy that we can then use to energise the more beautiful flowers that grow. This is what they call in Zen as cultivating merit.
Through the knowledge of the skandhas we can develop wisdom...wisdom is just knowledge that has been verified through personal experience. Experiences can be shared and talked about via stories, if you ever doubt or would like deeper insight into the wisdom a person is discussing...just ask them to share their personal life story that led them to understand completely this particular type of wisdom. A person who embodies the wisdom they've discovered will gladly share their life stories freely, in this way we can see which people are truly walking their talk compared to those who may just be leading us down the garden path. Through this sharing of personal experience it allows discernment to grow in the hearts and minds of anyone listening, stories are much more valuable than teachings as it offers our subconscious mind a blueprint so that we may experience those same states of being as well, which is the main reason parables are favoured over specifics in ancient teachings.
In fact they even tell us how once you break through the third layer, it's tantamount to seeing the Tao as you can begin to live life as one who has stepped into the river of enlightenment. As many people know, it's only perfect practice that makes perfect, if you don't know what it is you're practising you'll likely just end up walking in circles or clinging to irrelevant concepts too tightly. Introducing the Buddhist concept of the skandhas to understand the kind of practice that is practised by the Buddha's.
1. skandha of form - a typical celebrity obsessed with perfect looks, fast cars, nice houses...people rooted in the 3D realm, usually aren't too concerned with anything deeper or anything they can't touch, feel, hear, taste or smell. 5 sense reality.
2. skandha of sensation - the average drug user, addicted to the highs, lows and sensations of a drug so they keep going back for more in a spiralling or vicious cycle. chocolate and food addicts would even fall under this skandha, it's surprising how many people are addicted to sugar.
3. skandha of conception - people who are so attached to concepts that they shut themselves off from any other input and ideas: religious extremists, people who allow concepts to create fear like those who believe in the doom and gloom scenarios of the world, breaking through this skandha allows us to see the Tao and discover the transcendental wisdom that exists in the fabric of reality.
If someone is holding onto a concept too tightly they'll take personal offence when someone disagrees with them, a person who's broken free of this layer realises that words on a page don't really mean anything anyway so it's just a fun game we've all volunteered to play in. They can walk away or drop their concepts or embrace new ones should a more life enhancing belief come along, like children they just play with words and see how it affects the matrix we all live in. This is the level of the illuminati, attempting to control the world from a construct they've created...the only reason they feel the need to have this control though is because they haven't worked on purifying the next skandha.
once you can quiet your mind enough to exist without thought, you can let go of attachments, let go of the past, let go of the future, let go of any concept of self...that quiet mind allows you to become aware of the very subtle flows of energy that exist in and around us, without a sense of self to limit our experience we can actually start to see and feel the flow of energy that exists between two people or two things. In Huna they call these the aka cords, these aka chords are always reaching out trying to express themselves in the world and form attachments to our environment. Breaking through the conceptual skandha allows us to experience the world from a state of energetic flow and fluidity like droplets that have returned to the ocean...from here though there are energies that we recognise need to be purified and the buddhists call this next level the skandha of volition.
skandhas 4 and 5 are a little different than the other 3, we don't need to break through these skandhas since their is nothing seperating us from the fluidity of consciousness any longer, these skandhas just need to be purified.
Volitions, the subtle yet powerful impulses and desires that move our thoughts and actions. In the same way the buddhists tell us pain multiplied by equanimity leads to spiritual purification, what they don't tell us (at least not publicly) is that pleasure multiplied by equanimity leads to physical and energetic purification. By having equanimity over our desires, as they emerge out of us like a dolphin that leaps out of the ocean...equanimity allows them to fall back into us without them ever becoming attached to external reality. If an aka chord leaps out of us and we allow it to distract us, our thoughts begin to follow that flow of energy and we end up projecting our concepts and beliefs onto others and an attachment and limitation is formed.
Skandha 5 is the storehouse of consciousness, it's where our karmic seeds are stored, in the same way seeds in the ground wait for conditions in the environment to be met before they sprout, our karmic seeds only rise above the surface and take form in the world when something in the environment triggers their growth. every time a seed is allowed to sprout...that fully formed thought creation plants another seed into the ground which is how habits and behaviours are formed. To purify these two levels of awareness we have to become karmic gardeners, we allow the life enhancing, beautiful, majestic plants the freedom to flourish while the weeds that drain our energy and block out the light are removed and purified the moment they arise. The weeds burn away when we shine the bright light of inner awareness onto them, they melt back into pure energy that we can then use to energise the more beautiful flowers that grow. This is what they call in Zen as cultivating merit.
Through the knowledge of the skandhas we can develop wisdom...wisdom is just knowledge that has been verified through personal experience. Experiences can be shared and talked about via stories, if you ever doubt or would like deeper insight into the wisdom a person is discussing...just ask them to share their personal life story that led them to understand completely this particular type of wisdom. A person who embodies the wisdom they've discovered will gladly share their life stories freely, in this way we can see which people are truly walking their talk compared to those who may just be leading us down the garden path. Through this sharing of personal experience it allows discernment to grow in the hearts and minds of anyone listening, stories are much more valuable than teachings as it offers our subconscious mind a blueprint so that we may experience those same states of being as well, which is the main reason parables are favoured over specifics in ancient teachings.