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| The Image of a Buddha in Meditation |
I was reading
the book, "Advice on
Dying and Living a Better Life" written
by H.H. Dalai Lama of Tibet as translated into English by Dr. Jeffrey Hopkins.
From a personal perspective as well as tool for teaching philosophy, I
found the book interesting and valuable.
Actually I found this book in a book sale about a year ago. This is the third time that I am re-reading
the book. The Easter holidays has
provided me a respite from my work which enabled me to devote some little time
for serious reading. In
this blog entry please allow me to share with you some little nuggets of
reflections I had while reading the book. This is not a comprehensive review and neither
do I consider this a review but simply a sharing of my impressions and
reflections. In the book, the Dalai Lama
presents intelligibly the major themes or concepts within Buddhist
philosophy such as the theory of Impermanence, Karma, and dependent
origination.
Our bodies are
products of karma produced in a series of life cycles. Karma means the
law of cause and effect. Karma is different from what is colloquially
known in this country. Here in the
Philippines it is pretty normal for anyone to say that one will suffer the fate
of karma if one does evil. Or simply put
it we have come to use the term for retribution. But in Buddhist philosophy from where we got
the word Karma, the term has a different dimension in meaning. Karma is the law of cause and effect. This means that whether our actions are good
or bad it has a corresponding consequence. That present events, situations,
mental dispositions and attitudes are product of past action spanning not only
our life time but even the past lives we have had. In fact the cyclic existence of birth,
death and rebirth have their origin in Karma. The affirmation of
individuality or the affirmation of the seeming reality of the self is the
product of ignorance. This ignorance
fuels karma and is the cause why we are trapped in the cyclic existence in the
Samsara. The basic characteristic of this cyclic existence is
suffering. Suffering stems from our
ignorance. The affirmation that
individual phenomena are real is the product of ignorance. To consider phenomena as permanent is
ignorance. It is like holding on to
water with your bare hands only to see them slip away in seconds. Only the practice of meditation, tantric yoga
can help overcome ignorance.
Thus confronted by the sea of impermanence
the Dalai Lama invites everyone to take refuge in the three jewels, The Buddha,
the Dharma (teachings) and the Sangha (the community). It is the conscious effort that will help us
achieve enlightenment through the help of these three jewels.
The
idea of reincarnation has been sensationalized.
Stories were written about it and on the extreme bizarre ideas have been
associated with it, such as believing that you were some sort of person in past
lives, or that you were a priest in Egypt in ancient times. I opine that stories like these are borne of
ignorance and are meant to entertain of which only the gullible will believe. But
to recall our past lives or even if that would be possible which is not the
case, is not important anymore. For the
practical reason that it will not help improve our lot in the future and that
there is no real self. The individual “self”
that we consider is the product of illusion and ignorance, because there is no
self at all. Thus one manifestation of
ignorance is the cherishing of one’s self.
The
body is different from the mind. This thought is central to the
reason why we need to work our own enlightenment so that we could achieve a
better reincarnation in the future. Unlike Western thought were the direction
is linear, eastern philosophy is cyclic. Time is immaterial; there is no
running out of time. Thus, achieving nirvana (nothingness) or
the Buddhist concept that is roughly equivalent of our concept of heaven or salvation
is something that needs to be worked out continuously and even on
several lifetimes. The practice of yoga is hinged on the idea that death
being the disintegration of the body elements must be taken cared of because one's
state of death or practice of yoga will specify what kind of reincarnation we
will have. That is why the Dalai Lama advised the practitioners to workout
and wished for a reincarnation where one will possess intelligence or
consciousness that will allow us to continue the practice of yoga so as to
achieve progressively until we achieve nirvana.
I would opine
that the Dalai Lama has a more complicated teaching about this but this is
beyond my reach now. These are just the nuggets of reflection I got from
the Book. The book was interesting though. The reason why I love to
study Buddhist philosophy is because its rationality blends with spirituality.
This is the
kind of thing absent from the empty, empirical sciences of the west.
After all science is not the only source of knowledge. it does not
have the monopoly.
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