The Buddha asked us to believe only what we judged to be true, not to
believe in anything just because it was generally believed, or because
we read it somewhere, or someone wise said it.
Today there seem to be various streams of Buddhist philosophy, which
one I wonder conforms to even what He said. Even if we had what exactly
He said, we are now assuming that the Buddha's consciousness has not
evolved any further in the 2600 years since His passing. Even then He
asked us not to believe anyone without ourselves evaluating.
There are some schools that seem to see a falling away of attachments as
paving a way to a very boring mindless uncreative life, where one is not
permitted to have preferences, or enjoy life.
In my short experience in this path, i have found a falling away of
attachments to allow one to enjoy life even more, to enjoy the positive
without getting bogged down by the negative aspects of things. The fear
of losing is gone. Constant nagging thoughts of the future are gone. Our
experience of others and things leaves them unsullied, untouched in a
sense.
The purpose of God's creating this world, does *not* seem to be to
create a dull place where people come to karmically detoxify, or suffer,
as many seem to believe. If that's what some school of philosophy, even
Buddhism, teaches, then we must judge for ourselves, whether such a
depressing scenario makes sense.
Was such a fantastic place as this universe created with all its
richness, for anything other than celebrating and experiencing the most
collosal of all creative powers. If one cannot see the beauty and
miracle around us, then one is not looking around us - at nature, at the
skies, at love and what we truly feel inside us.
Was this amazing diversity of life on this very planet itself, were our
greatest artists and composers, was man's incredible brain created for
us to suffer some previous sins only. Surely if the Creator wanted us to
suffer or live in denial He wouldnt have inspired Beethoven's fifth, or
Mozart.
Even if one were to be truly self-centred, and were to look deep into
one's self, one would see the Creator, and would celebrate and rejoice
in His existence. When we look inside we see and experience God, when we
look without, we see Him in His creation, His physical expression.
The appearance of Buddha and Jesus and Krishna were like first-level
alerts. Today, a second-level alert has been sounded.
A Prayer to The Buddha
My Lord
Come to me
I sit before Thee, calling Thee
For lifetimes i have searched for you
For lifetimes i have gone from sage to sage
i have wandered and prayed
and meditated
i have yearned and struggled and wept
For lifetimes, i have lived and died without even the slightest glimpse of Thee
Today i sit, seemingly one last time
seemingly this is my final, dying call to Thee
Please come into me, permanently, fill me with your consciousness
completely.
Let me experience Thee, let me be Thee, in full force.
Let me know and experience fully that I am Thee, and none else.
Come beloved One, come now, before life ebbs out.
"These ascetics who flee the world and care nothing for its recognition
are precisely the ones who uphold the world. They are like the column
(stambha) which maintains the stability of the universe.
As far as they are concerned, being known or unknown is of no
importance. They go their way in secret. There is no sign to identify
them, they run alinga (that which has no visible symbol), avyakta cara
(avyakta: unmanifested, cara: way, manner). But society needs to know
them. It needs to know that they are there, so that it may preserve a
reminder of transcendence in the midst of the transient world."
From: http://www.angelfire.com/realm/bodhisattva/evamvidvan.html
