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Buddha's teachings

Sorry I haven’t posted recently I was out of the country for one month I just got back this week. I’ll try to make some comments of the trip which was partially fun, partially business and partially spiritual – in a way it was a very integral trip!

I am engaged in a few projects so I’ll probably have less time to update the blog but I’ll try my best to keep it as updated as possible. Below are the teachings of the Buddha for you to think about. ;-)

Many Buddhist sects disagree as to what the Buddha actually taught. There seems to be major agreement on these points:

• The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an inherent part of existence; that suffering is caused by craving; that craving can be ceased; and that following the Eightfold Path will lead to the cessation of craving (and suffering).

• The Eightfold Path: proper understanding, proper thought, proper speech, proper action, proper livelihood, proper effort, proper mindfulness, and proper concentration.

• The law of dependent causation: that events are not predestined, nor are they random, but that events are caused by the actions that preceded them.

• Rejection of the infallibility of accepted scripture: teachings should not be accepted unless they are borne out by our experiences.

• Anicca: That all things are impermanent.

• Anatta: That the perception of a constant "self" is an illusion.

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Tonglen Meditation

Buddhism that stresses the enlightenment of all beings, among their practices is the practice of tonglen. It is usually practiced after one has developed a strong foundation in Vipassana. Tonglen means “taking and sending.”

The practice is as follows:
“In meditation, picture or visualize someone you know and love who is going through much suffering – an illness, a loss, depression, pain, anxiety, fear. As you breathe in, imagine all of that person’s suffering – in the form of a dark, black, smokelike, tarlike, thick and heavy clouds – entering your nostrils and traveling down into your heart. Hold that suffering in your heart. Then, on the outbreath, take all of you peace, freedom, health, goodness, and virtue, and send it out to the person in the form of healing, liberating light. Imagine they take it all in, and feel completely free, released and happy. Do that for several breaths. Then imagine the town that the person is in, and, on the in breath, take all of the suffering of the town, and send back all of your health and happiness to everyone in it. Then do that for the entire state, then the entire country, the entire planet, the entire universe. You are taking all the suffering of beings everywhere and sending back health and happiness and virtue.”

“But what if I am doing this with someone who is really sicj, and I start to get that sickness myself?”
Without hesitating Kalu Rinpoche said, “You should think, Oh good! It’s working!”
“That is the entire point! Tonglen is designed to cut egoic self-concern, self-promotion and self-defense. It exchanges self for other, and thus it profoundly undercuts the subject-object dualism.”(Wilber – Grace and Grit, pg 244)

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Vipassana

As I mentioned I went to my second Vipassana 10-day retreat and it was excellent. I had moments of deep equanimity and with that comes a great sense of inner joy and peace. I realized that the path is long but every journey starts with the first step and I’m really happy that I’m taking my small steps on this wonderful path.

The entire course is magnificent I truly recommend it to everyone... Not long ago I though that to learn such a technique is such a way I would have to go to India or something, happily I was wrong! There are Vipassana centers all over the globe, probably in a location near YOU.

In the center you learn the pure Vipassana technique. No dogmas, no rituals, no blind faith is involved just pure practice in the way it was meant to be. Vipassana is the technique discovered by the Buddha 2500 years ago. In many places of the world it changed a lot into organized religion of this and that form, but it was kept in its pristine form in a small country called Burma from where it recently sprang back into the world. I am truly happy I got in touch with this technique. I’ve been practicing for less than a year and I can feel the changes, and so do my friends and family. Give it a try! Only by experiencing you will know what I'm talking about.

There are three types of knowledge, the one acquired from listening to others or reading scriptures (suta-mayã pañña); the intellectual comprehension by analyzing what was read or what was heard (cintã-mayã pañña) ; and the best and most truthful knowledge is the wisdom based on direct experience (bhãvanã-mayã pañña). What follows is a simple example of the three: a man goes to restaurant to eat dinner and asks for the menu and reads the different plates on it, that is suta-mayã pañña. Not knowing if the food is good he starts looking at what others next to him are eating and sees if they are enjoying or not. He sees people happy with their meals and is convinced the food is good - cintã-mayã pañña. He goes ahead and orders and eats his delicious dinner – bhãvanã-mayã pañña.Only by tasting will one have the true experience all the rest becomes secondary after direct experience. Only then it becomes true for you!

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Social Entrepreneurship

Yesterday I went to an event on Social Entrepreneurship here in São Paulo and it made me think about what I wrote yesterday…

For awhile I’ve been reading many books on sustainability, many of them very good ones such as Natural Capitalism, Cradle to Cradle, Growing a Business and so on. The environment is something that we all should be thinking about and to be in a business that cares has always been a dream for me.

From my room I’ve been trying to think of a way to contribute for a better world. Doing studies, searching for alternatives, looking at graphs, reading this, reading that – but I haven’t left the room!!! I haven’t been actually involved in anything, just thoughts of it… But thought have their limits, they can only take us so far…

On the event yesterday they had one panel with many different ‘thinkers’ of different fields, from teacher to scientists discussing how a sustainable world should be. Most of what they said was beautiful utopian non-sense! There was an enormous gap between what they thought things should be like and how to get there – an infinite abyss! They were the theoreticians that probably (like myself) spend their days thinking but not acting.

Right afterwards they had some people talking about things they’ve done in their communities, city and the like – this was the best part of the day. They had an Indian, a garbage picker and small organic producer. They were all very simple people but they made a great impact where they acted. Changing for the better the life conditions of the places they’re involved with. It is amazing how there is so much power in a human being… power to change, to make things new, to create and recreate… (look up Ashoka)

I could then see clearly that the people that really make a difference are those that are involved in something and not those that are discussing heaven on earth. I went to the seminar thinking that it would perhaps help light a bulb in my head with the ultimate idea of how to save the world. How ridiculous… This light won’t go on unless I get involved in something however small it should be, only by being involved will I be able to make the changes that I dream to make. Only by getting involved will I realize where I can be of service, where I can be of help…!

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Tell me, I will forget...

Tell me and I will forget
Show me and I might remember
Involve me, and I will make it my own!

This quote so simple and so truthful, and this is exactly the contemplatives traditions motto. There is no use if you hear the truth and don’t act on it – to change is to act! Remember this straightforward quote and apply it in different areas of your life. When you hear something you believe can help you improve your life in any way become involved in it before it becomes just a ‘new’ interesting theory you heard… (Vipassana is for sure one way to become involved in getting to know Spirit.)

Buddhism in its many forms emphasizes the importance of a wisdom that comes from experience, not the one we read from sacred books or hear from sages. True wisdom comes from knowing by experiencing. One can study an entire life about honey for example, if he/she never tried it, all the studying will not be enough to know its taste. Only after tasting it one will truly know honey – the words then become secondary! So it is with spirit.

Get involved in the search for your Buddha nature; don’t just accept paradigms and ideas but practice! Books and courses are nice but by themselves they cannot bring true and lasting transformations – only a steady practice can. Be it Yoga, Vipassana, Zazen, ITP whatever, find a transformative practice that suits you and embrace it for life!

And have a nice trip!

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Vipassana meditation

In order to advance I must retreat!!! I’m going into my second 10-day Vipassana retreat. So far, going to my first retreat was one of the best experiences I’ve had - it really changed me. It marked the beginning of serious practice on my part; where once I did a lot of reading but none of the practice, after the 10-day period I realigned myself making meditation one of the priorities of my day. I might go a day without exercising, but not without meditating! I really happy with it!

I strongly recommend going into a Vipassana retreat, you get to feel how it is like to live a monastically life. If you don’t have the routine of meditating or if you think sitting for an hour is too much, after the retreat it all becomes really easy. In the 10 days that you are there you learn the technique step by step in a very flowing process. I won’t say it is easy, because it is not but the rewards are exponential!!!

I went to a Vipassana Meditation Center as Taught By S. N. Goenka and his Assistant Teachers in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. It is an international organization and there are no charges for the course – not even for food and accommodation. “All expenses are met by donations from people who, having completed a course and experienced the benefits of Vipassana, wish to give others the opportunity to also benefit.”

Check out their website and look for a course near you!

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