The Eight Sufferings Don't Cure Hemmorhoids

Next time you go and meditate, please meditate on the Eight Sufferings.

For it may inspire you to become compassionate and wise.

You might even be inspired to preach the Buddhadharma to a person in need of relief from his suffering.

Because death is only a temporary escape due to the working of karma, it makes sense to prevent suffering to that people are inspired to listen to the Buddha's word and follow his teachings.

For in doing so, psychic suffering is cured.

Otherwise, meditation isn't worth the hemmorhoids.


(1) Suffering of Birth;

(2) Suffering of Old Age;

(3) Suffering of Sickness;

(4) Suffering of Death;

(5) Suffering of being apart from the loved ones;

(6) Suffering being together with the despised ones;

(7) Suffering of not getting what one wants;

(8) Suffering of the flourishing of the Five Skandhas. ( form, consciousness, feeling, perception, and formatio

Virtue and Non-virtue Points to Self & Other and No-Self

Gewa == virtue

Mi-gewa == non-virtue

Virtue is when noble acts
performed spontaneously
prepare you for the good life.
Which one you for?

Avidya == ignorance
Vidya == wisdom

Ignorance is not seeing the truth;
Wisdom is seeing with a clear mind.
Which one you for?

Skandha == the five aggregates

When one believes he has wisdom
while faith in self and other is strong,
ignorance coalesces
in each of five simple steps of
form, sensation, perception,
impulses, and consciousness.
Thus is suffering understood
within the context of experience.

Experience thus prepares
each of us to realize
primordial wisdom,
the mind pure and serene.
All it takes is meditation.

Atman == self and other
Anatta == no-self

Smash faith in self and other
until it is like finely ground sesame;
this is the essence of no-self.
This is the reason for meditation.
Which one you for?

:updated 20111127.1041

Buddha-Nature (poem)

I. The Essence of Buddha-Nature

Tathagatagarbha simply is
that Buddha-essence which has come,
and having arrived, is not gone;
yet gone is previous spiritual ignorance.
For Tathagatagarbha is the Buddha womb,

Sugatagarbha simply is
incorruptible, uncreated, and indestructible;
yet, it is no-self, and is not a soul.
For Sugatagarbha is Buddha-Nature

II. Buddha-Nature in All Beings

Hidden by mental and behavioural negativities
in every single being,
even the worst of sentient beings,
is that timeless, and
inherently transcendental Buddha-essence.
Indeed, all of us have
within us Buddha-Nature,
but few of us are able to realize it.

III. Buddha-Nature and the Luminous Mind

Unstained is the Luminous Mind,
by nature brightly shining and pure
for it is originally and naturally pure.
Yet it is enveloped in the garments of worldliness,
and soiled with the dirt of
attachment, hatred, delusion
and false imagining.

That stillness of mind
uncovered by the calm insight
of breath meditation
develops too by mindful meditation
this purity of heart
to realize the Luminous Mind,
which sees the original edge of reality
known as Buddha-Nature.

References:

Tathagatagarbha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tathagatagarbha
Sugatagarbha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha-nature

"Garments of worldliness" refers to skandhas, dhatus and ayatanas, specifically:
the Five Aggregates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandha
the Eighteen Dhatus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhatu, and
the Twelve Ayatanas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayatana

Form is Suffering

Form is suffering. The cause and condition for the arising of form is also suffering. As form has originated from what is suffering, how could it be happiness?

-"The Connected Discourses of the Buddha"

This quote is derived from the Dharmacakrapravartana Sutra:

"...Form is suffering, feeling is suffering, perception is suffering, karmic constituents are suffering, consciousness is suffering; in sum, these five agglomerations, which are the basis of clinging to existence, are suffering. This, monks, is the Noble Truth of suffering.

...

"And what is the Noble Truth of the origination of suffering? It is the thirst for further existence, which comes along with pleasure and passion and brings passing enjoyment here and there. This, monks, is the Noble Truth of the origination of suffering." - Commentary on Dharmacakrapravartana Sutra

Originally the Pali Sutra, Dhamma-kakka-ppavattana-sutta (see References) has no entry stating that "form is suffering". Instead it mentions the five aggregates (Skandha) i.e form, feeling, perception, karmic constituents, and consciousness.

"The five Skandhas are a fundamental Buddhist concept and play an important part in Buddhist doctrine. For it is through the five Skandhas that the world (Samsara) is experienced, and nothing is experienced apart from the five Skandha. Furthermore it is through the five Skandha that clinging (Upadana) occur and through the five Skandha that suffering (Duhkha) arises." - Skandha - The Five Aggregates

References:


Commentary on Dharmacakrapravartana Sutra:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/6198/1stsermon.html

The DHAMMA-KAKKA-PPAVATTANA-SUTTA - "Dhamma-kakka-ppavattana-sutta" is another variation of the original Pali title for Dharmacakrapravartana Sutra.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe11/sbe1104.htm

http://www.buddhistinformation.com/ida_b_wells_memorial_sutra_library/dhammakakkappavattana_sutta.htm

Skandha - The Five Aggregates:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandha