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20141013

Buddha Nature, Buddha Love

>Love unconditional originates with the Buddha in the form of Buddha Nature, which is the essence of his Boundless Life of Compassion and his Boundless Light of Wisdom.

Like the sunlight reflected off the moon, the Buddha's Compassion is realized through the wisdom of the Four Noble Truths.

Although life may be full of suffering, its cause is endless craving; its end, ceasing vain grasping at everything we crave; and the solution, the Noble Eightfold Path. This is the essence of the Four Noble Truths.

In the Noble Eightfold Path are the Threefold Division of wisdom, ethical conduct and concentration. Of the Eightfold Path factors, Right view and Right intention make up wisdom; Right speech, Right action, and Right livelihood make up ethical conduct; and Right effort, Right mindfulness and Right concentration make up Concentration.

Due to the effects of the samatha and vipassanā meditation practices, the Buddhist practitioner acquires the calm mind of clarity through samatha practice which accumulates the two acquired factors of Superior right knowledge and Superior right liberation through vipassanā practice.

In Mahayana Buddhism, the Threefold Divisions are known as the Three Higher Trainings, which consist of higher wisdom, higher moral discipline and higher concentration. These trainings lead to liberation and enlightenment through engagement with the motivation of renunciation (bodhicitta).

How does unconditional love originate with the Buddha? His compassion for the suffering of endless number of human beings led him to achieve Nirvana. After his death, his followers passed on the meditative practices of samatha-vipassanā to laypeople and Buddhist clergy. For his love for future generations led to the concept of Buddha Nature arising among his many practitioners.

Buddha Nature is the divine nature of the spiritually awakened mind, which is planted like a seed in the mind of a Buddhist follower through the careful and patient instruction of Zen masters, Buddhist practitioners and clergy, working together to carry on the legacy of Gautama Buddha.

Indeed, Buddha Nature inspires the sincere desire to develop the mind spiritually so that the Buddhist practitioner is able to handle the challenges of life courageously and nobly.

How compassionate is the Buddha that he had foreseen our need to realize the spiritual purpose of life, which is to encourage spiritual development through meditative practice!

For Buddha Nature inspires love unconditioned by human suffering to relieve all practitioners of endless craving.


References:

Noble eightfold Path: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path
Samatha and Vipassanā meditation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vipassan%C4%81#Relation_with_samatha
Samatha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samatha
Mahayana Buddhism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana
Nirvana: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana
Buddha Nature: http://buddhism.about.com/od/mahayanabuddhism/a/Buddha-Nature.htm
Amida Buddha, Lord of Boundless Light and Boundless Life: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitābha

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