COPD study group Community Group
Created for study & discussion of living/dying with terminal/chronic illness.
With over 650 million followers, it is not surprising there is some variance of Buddhist belief among many cultures. Generally speaking, there are two main types of Buddhism: Theravada, "The School of the Elders," and Mahayana, "The Great Vehicle.”
Theravada is most common in southern Asia, and there is little variation among cultures in its belief. This branch admits the human characteristics of the Buddha, reflects a psychological understanding of human nature, and emphasizes a meditative approach to the transformation of consciousness. The teaching of the Buddha according to Theravada is very plain: abstain from all kinds of evil, accumulate all that is good, and purify our minds. These can be accomplished by The Three Trainings: the development of ethical conduct, meditation, and insight/wisdom.
Mahayana, on the other hand, has variation by culture & expanded belief. This posting applies mostly to Tibetan Buddhism, a mixed branch that also covers a large geographic region and population outside Tibet.
Siddhartha Gautama was the historical founder of Buddhism. Known as Buddha or The Enlightened One, his teachings became Buddhism about 520 BC, making it one of the oldest and the fourth largest philosophy in practice today.
Siddhartha was born a prince in Tibet. His father protected him from gaining any knowledge of suffering. When Siddhartha was 29, he left the palace to meet his subjects. He was shocked to see an old man. Siddhartha’s driver explained that all people grow old. On further trips, the Prince encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic (a person who practices severe self-deprivation for religious reasons). These sights depressed him, and he subsequently sought to overcome aging, illness and death by living the life of an ascetic. He abandoned the palace and went to India to live life as a beggar. There he studied yoga under several Hindu yogi (wise teachers of yoga/meditation). Once Siddhartha had mastered their teachings, the yogis urged the Prince to succeed them. But the Prince was unsatisfied with his learning and again moved on.
He set out to practice a life of even greater austerity (poverty, self-denial). After starving himself on one leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. He began to reconsider his path and remembered a moment from childhood when he watched his father begin the season's plowing. In the remembrance, he attained a concentrated and focused state of meditation called jhana that was blissful and refreshing.
After realizing that meditative jhana was the right path to spiritual awakening but that extreme asceticism (denial) did not work, the Prince sat under a tree meditating for 49 days until he attained Enlightenment at the age of 35. From this point forward, he was known as the Buddha or Enlightened One. He recognized the complete cause of suffering and the steps necessary to eliminate it. To Buddhists, understanding thisthe true nature of human life and ultimate realityis the basis of their belief. They achieve this understanding through their practices in daily living, not relying so much on what is said about their belief but what wisdom they themselves attain through their own effort. For example, they are expected to find their written texts and teachings to be fallible until proven to be true by themselves or those they accept as wiser than themselves. Consider this as compared to the common Judeo-Christian belief that the Bible is infallible.
Buddhists believe that the meaning of life is to end suffering. They define four noble truths, which are too rich in their language to be easily translated and are much greater than my skills can describe.
1. This is suffering:
A) Obvious suffering - meaning physical pain, fear, mental distress, etc.
B) Suffering of change - refers to the problems that change brings, like joy fading or death and dying
C) All-pervasive suffering - that there is always a strong potential for problems or suffering
2. What causes suffering?
A) Attachment - to money, to power, drug addiction, Ben & Jerry's
B) Anger - e.g. doing harm to others will always be returned by bringing harm to ourselves (karma)
C) Ignorance - We don't fully understand the consequence of our actions, why the world is the way it is, etc.
3. Suffering can end; nirvana is peace:
Suffering creates a repeating cycle in our lives because we are ignorant and keep repeating the causes. But we can end this cyclic existence of problems and pain and enter nirvanaa state beyond all sufferingby following the true path.
4. The True Path
A) Correct thought: avoiding covetousness, the wish to harm others, and wrong views (like thinking, “Actions have no consequences,” “I never have any problems,” “There are no ways to end suffering,” etc.)
B) Correct speech: Avoid lying, divisive and harsh speech, and idle gossip.
C) Correct actions: Avoid killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct
D) Correct livelihood: Try to make a living with the above attitude of thought, speech, and actions.
E) Correct understanding: developing genuine wisdom.
F) Correct effort: After the first real step we need joyful perseverance to continue.
G) Correct mindfulness: Try to be aware of the “here and now” instead of dreaming in the “there and then.”
H) Correct concentration: Keep a steady, calm, and attentive state of mind.
Two cornerstones of Buddhist belief are rebirth and karma. Buddhists do not believe in the typical Christian concept of the soulassuming that means a ghostly spirit in the shell of a body. They believe in the universe as an ever-present enlightened force. Everything, including ourselves, is a part of that force, like atoms. Strictly speaking, reincarnation is when a person dies and their personal soul is reborn into another body. Buddhism denies the existence of an immortal soul; instead they believe our tiny little parts of the universe inhabit different realms of existence. The realm we exist in and are reborn into are determined by our karma.
"Countless rebirths lie ahead, both good and bad. The effects of karma (actions) are inevitable, and in previous lifetimes we have accumulated negative karma which will inevitably have its fruition in this or future lives. Just as someone witnessed by police in a criminal act will eventually be caught and punished, so we too must face the consequences of faulty actions we have committed in the past, there is no way to be at ease; those actions are irreversible; we must eventually undergo their effects."
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kindness, Clarity and Insight
The Realms or Types of Existence
Quite a number of different realms are described in Buddhism, all belonging in three categories: the Desire Realms, the Form Realms, and the Formless Realms. All the different realms are too complicated to explain here, but let's take a look at the categories.
Desire Realms
The reason that these realms are called "Desire Realms" is that desire is in some way or another present in all of them.
The "realms" do not necessarily need to exist in different locations or dimensions. Basically, they are described in terms of the main type of experience that beings have. All these realms are all within "cyclic existence," meaning they are all temporary states within the cycles of death and birth.
Form Realms
Form realms are accomplished when you have achieved high levels of concentration and focus on clarity of the awareness of being. In the Form Realm, you don't experience the 'suffering of suffering.' Beings here have renounced the enjoyment of external sense objects but still have attachment to their own body and mind.
Formless Realm
The formless realm is the highest state within existence that still has cycles. Beings here have renounced physical form and attachment to physical pleasures of form and exist only within their mindstream. Their mind however, is still bound by subtle desire and attachment to mental states and their ego.
According to Buddhism, we cannot only be born as human beings but also as animals and other beings. It depends on your karma ripening. There is no permanent stay in the three categories of cycling realms.
Death
During death process, traditional Tibetan Buddhist practices describe a sequence of events. In common sequential order they are:
1. Mirage vision: Vision becomes blurred, mirages and dark images appear, the sense of seeing dissolves. Earth absorbs into Water: The body becomes weak and powerlessa feeling of sinking or falling.
2. Smoke vision: Feeling absorbed in smoke, the sense of hearing dissolves. Feelings of pleasant, unpleasant or neutral cease. Water absorbs into Fire: The bodily fluids dry up.
3. Fireflies: Feeling surrounded by sparks or fireflies, the sense of smell dissolves. Memories of friends and enemies fade away. Fire absorbs into Air: Food and drinks are not digested anymore.
4. Butter-lamp: Appearance of a dying flame, the sense of taste dissolves and the body cannot be moved anymore. No more thoughts of worldly activities or purpose etc.
Air absorbs into Consciousness: The breath ceases. (Somewhere around here one would become "clinically dead" according to Western science.)
5. White vision: Appearance of a vacuum filled with white light.
6. Red vision: Appearance of a vacuum filled with red light, like at dawn.
7. Black vision: Appearance of darkness, slowly losing consciousness.
8. Clear light of death: Appearance of an empty vacuum.
Few people have a sufficiently trained awareness to experience this clearly.
Intermediate Stage/Bardo (some Mahayana branches only)
Following the death process, a process similar to the above visions is experienced in reverse order. After the mirage vision, one finds oneself in the intermediate state or Bardo in Tibetan. The experiences in this state are described as being similar to dreaming. The "body" moves as fast as thought andconfused as most beings are by deathit can even take the aspect of a very long nightmare. Karma is at work here, creating pleasant or unpleasant experiences.
Traditionally it is explained that the maximum period that one can stay in Bardo is 49 days. Within that period, all beings have been attracted to a new body to take rebirth. Every 7 days in Bardo, a kind of “small death and rebirth” occurs. And again, the realm we re-birth from Bardo into is a matter of spiritual progress in the karma process, until we achieve Nirvana.
Nirvana
The cycling of existence ends and therefore suffering ends, defining the perfect peace of Nirvana.
Final Thoughts
The Dalai Lama states: “From one viewpoint, Buddhism is a religion, from another viewpoint Buddhism is a science of mind and not a religion. Buddhism can be a bridge between these two sides. Therefore, with this conviction I try to have closer ties with scientists, mainly in the fields of cosmology, psychology, neurobiology and physics. In these fields there are insights to share, and to a certain extent we can work together.”
Theravada is most common in southern Asia, and there is little variation among cultures in its belief. This branch admits the human characteristics of the Buddha, reflects a psychological understanding of human nature, and emphasizes a meditative approach to the transformation of consciousness. The teaching of the Buddha according to Theravada is very plain: abstain from all kinds of evil, accumulate all that is good, and purify our minds. These can be accomplished by The Three Trainings: the development of ethical conduct, meditation, and insight/wisdom.
Mahayana, on the other hand, has variation by culture & expanded belief. This posting applies mostly to Tibetan Buddhism, a mixed branch that also covers a large geographic region and population outside Tibet.
Siddhartha Gautama was the historical founder of Buddhism. Known as Buddha or The Enlightened One, his teachings became Buddhism about 520 BC, making it one of the oldest and the fourth largest philosophy in practice today.
Siddhartha was born a prince in Tibet. His father protected him from gaining any knowledge of suffering. When Siddhartha was 29, he left the palace to meet his subjects. He was shocked to see an old man. Siddhartha’s driver explained that all people grow old. On further trips, the Prince encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic (a person who practices severe self-deprivation for religious reasons). These sights depressed him, and he subsequently sought to overcome aging, illness and death by living the life of an ascetic. He abandoned the palace and went to India to live life as a beggar. There he studied yoga under several Hindu yogi (wise teachers of yoga/meditation). Once Siddhartha had mastered their teachings, the yogis urged the Prince to succeed them. But the Prince was unsatisfied with his learning and again moved on.
He set out to practice a life of even greater austerity (poverty, self-denial). After starving himself on one leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. He began to reconsider his path and remembered a moment from childhood when he watched his father begin the season's plowing. In the remembrance, he attained a concentrated and focused state of meditation called jhana that was blissful and refreshing.
After realizing that meditative jhana was the right path to spiritual awakening but that extreme asceticism (denial) did not work, the Prince sat under a tree meditating for 49 days until he attained Enlightenment at the age of 35. From this point forward, he was known as the Buddha or Enlightened One. He recognized the complete cause of suffering and the steps necessary to eliminate it. To Buddhists, understanding thisthe true nature of human life and ultimate realityis the basis of their belief. They achieve this understanding through their practices in daily living, not relying so much on what is said about their belief but what wisdom they themselves attain through their own effort. For example, they are expected to find their written texts and teachings to be fallible until proven to be true by themselves or those they accept as wiser than themselves. Consider this as compared to the common Judeo-Christian belief that the Bible is infallible.
Buddhists believe that the meaning of life is to end suffering. They define four noble truths, which are too rich in their language to be easily translated and are much greater than my skills can describe.
1. This is suffering:
A) Obvious suffering - meaning physical pain, fear, mental distress, etc.
B) Suffering of change - refers to the problems that change brings, like joy fading or death and dying
C) All-pervasive suffering - that there is always a strong potential for problems or suffering
2. What causes suffering?
A) Attachment - to money, to power, drug addiction, Ben & Jerry's
B) Anger - e.g. doing harm to others will always be returned by bringing harm to ourselves (karma)
C) Ignorance - We don't fully understand the consequence of our actions, why the world is the way it is, etc.
3. Suffering can end; nirvana is peace:
Suffering creates a repeating cycle in our lives because we are ignorant and keep repeating the causes. But we can end this cyclic existence of problems and pain and enter nirvanaa state beyond all sufferingby following the true path.
4. The True Path
A) Correct thought: avoiding covetousness, the wish to harm others, and wrong views (like thinking, “Actions have no consequences,” “I never have any problems,” “There are no ways to end suffering,” etc.)
B) Correct speech: Avoid lying, divisive and harsh speech, and idle gossip.
C) Correct actions: Avoid killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct
D) Correct livelihood: Try to make a living with the above attitude of thought, speech, and actions.
E) Correct understanding: developing genuine wisdom.
F) Correct effort: After the first real step we need joyful perseverance to continue.
G) Correct mindfulness: Try to be aware of the “here and now” instead of dreaming in the “there and then.”
H) Correct concentration: Keep a steady, calm, and attentive state of mind.
Two cornerstones of Buddhist belief are rebirth and karma. Buddhists do not believe in the typical Christian concept of the soulassuming that means a ghostly spirit in the shell of a body. They believe in the universe as an ever-present enlightened force. Everything, including ourselves, is a part of that force, like atoms. Strictly speaking, reincarnation is when a person dies and their personal soul is reborn into another body. Buddhism denies the existence of an immortal soul; instead they believe our tiny little parts of the universe inhabit different realms of existence. The realm we exist in and are reborn into are determined by our karma.
"Countless rebirths lie ahead, both good and bad. The effects of karma (actions) are inevitable, and in previous lifetimes we have accumulated negative karma which will inevitably have its fruition in this or future lives. Just as someone witnessed by police in a criminal act will eventually be caught and punished, so we too must face the consequences of faulty actions we have committed in the past, there is no way to be at ease; those actions are irreversible; we must eventually undergo their effects."
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kindness, Clarity and Insight
The Realms or Types of Existence
Quite a number of different realms are described in Buddhism, all belonging in three categories: the Desire Realms, the Form Realms, and the Formless Realms. All the different realms are too complicated to explain here, but let's take a look at the categories.
Desire Realms
The reason that these realms are called "Desire Realms" is that desire is in some way or another present in all of them.
The "realms" do not necessarily need to exist in different locations or dimensions. Basically, they are described in terms of the main type of experience that beings have. All these realms are all within "cyclic existence," meaning they are all temporary states within the cycles of death and birth.
Form Realms
Form realms are accomplished when you have achieved high levels of concentration and focus on clarity of the awareness of being. In the Form Realm, you don't experience the 'suffering of suffering.' Beings here have renounced the enjoyment of external sense objects but still have attachment to their own body and mind.
Formless Realm
The formless realm is the highest state within existence that still has cycles. Beings here have renounced physical form and attachment to physical pleasures of form and exist only within their mindstream. Their mind however, is still bound by subtle desire and attachment to mental states and their ego.
According to Buddhism, we cannot only be born as human beings but also as animals and other beings. It depends on your karma ripening. There is no permanent stay in the three categories of cycling realms.
Death
During death process, traditional Tibetan Buddhist practices describe a sequence of events. In common sequential order they are:
1. Mirage vision: Vision becomes blurred, mirages and dark images appear, the sense of seeing dissolves. Earth absorbs into Water: The body becomes weak and powerlessa feeling of sinking or falling.
2. Smoke vision: Feeling absorbed in smoke, the sense of hearing dissolves. Feelings of pleasant, unpleasant or neutral cease. Water absorbs into Fire: The bodily fluids dry up.
3. Fireflies: Feeling surrounded by sparks or fireflies, the sense of smell dissolves. Memories of friends and enemies fade away. Fire absorbs into Air: Food and drinks are not digested anymore.
4. Butter-lamp: Appearance of a dying flame, the sense of taste dissolves and the body cannot be moved anymore. No more thoughts of worldly activities or purpose etc.
Air absorbs into Consciousness: The breath ceases. (Somewhere around here one would become "clinically dead" according to Western science.)
5. White vision: Appearance of a vacuum filled with white light.
6. Red vision: Appearance of a vacuum filled with red light, like at dawn.
7. Black vision: Appearance of darkness, slowly losing consciousness.
8. Clear light of death: Appearance of an empty vacuum.
Few people have a sufficiently trained awareness to experience this clearly.
Intermediate Stage/Bardo (some Mahayana branches only)
Following the death process, a process similar to the above visions is experienced in reverse order. After the mirage vision, one finds oneself in the intermediate state or Bardo in Tibetan. The experiences in this state are described as being similar to dreaming. The "body" moves as fast as thought andconfused as most beings are by deathit can even take the aspect of a very long nightmare. Karma is at work here, creating pleasant or unpleasant experiences.
Traditionally it is explained that the maximum period that one can stay in Bardo is 49 days. Within that period, all beings have been attracted to a new body to take rebirth. Every 7 days in Bardo, a kind of “small death and rebirth” occurs. And again, the realm we re-birth from Bardo into is a matter of spiritual progress in the karma process, until we achieve Nirvana.
Nirvana
The cycling of existence ends and therefore suffering ends, defining the perfect peace of Nirvana.
Final Thoughts
The Dalai Lama states: “From one viewpoint, Buddhism is a religion, from another viewpoint Buddhism is a science of mind and not a religion. Buddhism can be a bridge between these two sides. Therefore, with this conviction I try to have closer ties with scientists, mainly in the fields of cosmology, psychology, neurobiology and physics. In these fields there are insights to share, and to a certain extent we can work together.”
so far i love their beliefs/philosophy/way of looking at life. it seems pretty realistic to me. and i like that the soul becomes part of the universe, kind of dispersed throughout. that's because i love that i was made from star stuff and i will return to star stuff.
thanks! awesome stuff.
Thanks again! Learned some good stuff here.
I read a bit about the Tibetan Book of the Dead & want to read more. Amazing that a text written 1,000 years ago contains beliefs matching modern science in ways about the process of death as well as similarities to what people now report as near death experiences.
question? (your my teacher now :)
=3. Suffering can end; nirvana is peace:
Suffering creates a repeating cycle in our lives because we are ignorant and keep repeating the causes. But we can end this cyclic existence of problems and pain and enter nirvanaa state beyond all sufferingby following the true path.
is nirvana death?
or is nirvana just a new state of mind in this existence when we learn a different way thus finding peace? --- like having a "spiritual awakening" that changes a person & makes them happy & free of their "suffering/anxiety/heartache" or whatever was making them "unhappy" in this life before?
http://buddhism.about.com/od/abuddhistglossary/g/nirvanadef.htm
so nirvana is still this life, but finding peace...got it
:)
(i am really enjoying studying your studying--i'll get to dennis' next :)
The way I understand it-suffering occurs because of attachment-to stuff, to life, to love etc. We can overcome suffering when we realize that all things are continuously changing, nothing stays the same. We can live in the moment and experience that moment to the fullest when we are not thinking about it, not making judgements about it, not labeling it. We just have to be!
Can I do that? Heck no...I have no attachment to material things, I'm not afraid of dying but I'm very anxious of the prospect of suffocating slowly . I rather get hit by a car or a bullet that kills me instantly. I want an easy death:) -I'm glad that I found this post. It reminds me to deal with today and not worry about something that has not happened yet. When that comes, I deal with it the same way.