The
trouble is with many a practitioner is they say they are serious, but
in reality are just playing around and deluding themselves.

I believe the traditional views of Buddhist beliefs of escaping
samsara are dead

I believe the traditional views of Buddhist beliefs of escaping
samsara are dead as far as practical application for the most part of
society. To escape rebirth is impractical for the vast, vast majority
of Buddhists. You must essentially give up your current life and take
up a life of homlessness, never handle money, do any business, beg for
food, give up entertainment of any kind, live celibate, live perfectly
devoid of passion, possessions, cravings, desires, ill will and a host
of other things...and then escaping samsara it is 'still' only a theory
at best. Then this process must be repeated for many, many lifetimes to
come.

I'll give you an example you can all relate to. If you are reading this
you have no chance of escaping rebirth...you are too full of passion to
escape anything. What you 'should' be doing as a self proclaimed
'serious Buddhist practitioner' is; instead of reading and writing on
the computer you would be meditating on the three liberation's. By
meditating on emptiness, formlessness and passionlessness, this will
allow you, with a few lifetimes of diligent practice, to recognize the
three liberation's of the ego and the dharma as being empty, the dharma
as formless and this eventually the recognition of living is an
unworthy desire as our existence is characterized by suffering.

Practitioners that will escape samsara can best be described as barley
leaving a trace or ripple on their life and slipping by unnoticed when
they depart to avoid rebirth. Others will argue they 'are noticed' and
this is what distinguishes them from being reborn again. In either
case, it is a 'specialized life' that allows them to escape samsara and
the 'why is it so' is not as important as the 'how it is so.' Every
step they take barely has weight on the earth and is more of a caress
than a step. Their breathing hardly disturbs the air and every breath
in and out has reverence in it and mindfulness. TNH describes this in
his peace is every step book. Such practitioners are passionless and
desireless and as such they are tethered to nothing in life, not even
the thought of escaping it. Their actions are of no karmic consequence
and after some lifetimes of this type of practice they can slip away
unnoticed.

Personally, I am not concerned with developing this type of 'escape'
practice and only played around with it for my own edification. The
trouble is with many a practitioner is they say they are serious, but
in reality are just playing around and deluding themselves. They might
practice Buddhism as a hobby or to pass time or to escape the troubles
in their life, but that is it. Just burning incense and chanting is not
going to do much when it comes to escape vehicles. Oh well, it may be a
useful pastime to escape a delusional life? Of the three unwholesome
roots, delusion is the most important one. For it is basic to any
successful Buddhist practice to dispel such delusions, otherwise you
can see little else clearly.

Karl Marx said - religion is the opium of the masses. Many of us need
such 'drugs' as a way to not face thoughts and fears of dying. This is
what many of us run from with our various 'concentrations' and
'distractions' we tie our minds up with trying to avoid the thought of
death. Better to accept life, as well as death and then you can be at
peace with it as part of natural law. This frees the mind to look for
truth instead of drugs. But just freeing oneself from the fear or
delusions of Yahweh is not the answer for finding inner peace. The
wrong living atheist need distractions as well from the ugly lives they
have created for themselves, just as every other person does that fits
this equation.


The formula for failure is: Authentic Nature + Wrong Actions =
Destruction


The formula for success is: Authentic Nature + Right Actions = Peace


See:

http://jesusneverexisted.org/jne/forum/index.php?topic=342.0


The distractions atheists use to escape life are their constant
battling with the theists and their hatred and defiance against
anything related to spiritual guidance. Now, all atheists are not of
this sort. Some atheists are spiritually based and some are defiance
based, but that is a different post.

See:

http://jesusneverexisted.org/jne/forum/index.php?topic=380.0


Getting back to Buddhism, I would rather see Buddhism be used in
realistic and practical ways to develop a life of peace generation,
both inner and outer peace in this world. Now, this is a real goal that
all can achieve with such a practice. This way living in such a peace
based world will not be viewed as hell, but as joy and compassion. Sure
there are bumps and bruises along the way for all, but it goes with the
territory of life. When I kayak and flip I get beat up on the
rocks...it goes with the territory, but I enjoy the rest of the ride.
If you look at the population it is not declining...escaping rebirth
very impractical.

I guess it is a fantasy for most, just as heaven is a fantasy to those
not believing in Christian doctrine. In either practice though, it is
much better to be peace based and make this a life of acceptance and
peace instead of one to dread, a life that one would not mind living
indefinitely and one that you were happy to live in any case.
Unfortunately when I talk of a practice based on inner peace most
people are dumbfounded, or as one Buddhist practitioner asked me, 'what
is your great attraction to inner peace and happiness?" - as he could
see little benefit in such a practice.

I have become somewhat aquatinted with a newer form of Buddhist
practice...Won Buddhism. Here is a short snip from their site about
what Won is and what they work towards.

Practical Application of Won Buddhism

"Although the teaching of the Buddha embodies supreme truth and
skillful means to save sentient beings from misery, the Buddhist system
was formed mainly for the life of monks in the monastic order and was
not suitable for people living in the secular world. Anyone who wished
to he a true Buddhist under such a system, had to ignore one's duties
and obligations to the secular life and give up one's occupation. Under
such a system, the Buddha-grace, no matter how great the Buddha-dharma
may be, cannot reach the numberless sentient beings of the world. Thus,
Won Buddhism teaches that a Buddhist should not be shackled to the
Buddha- dharma and Buddhist system or disabled to manage the worldly
affairs as in the past.

A Buddhist should be able to manage the worldly affairs better by being
a Buddhist. In other words, one should not become useless to the world
by being a Buddhist. By making a lively application of the
Buddha-dharma, one should be a valuable person to oneself, one's
family, one's society and one's country. Thus, one of the mottos of Won
Buddhism reads: Do not separate the Buddha-dharma from daily life;
Realize the Buddha-dharma in daily life. The Buddha-dharma here means
only those most fundamental teachings which are simple enough and
potent enough to deliver all sentient beings suffering in the sea of
misery."

For more information about won Buddhism go to:

http://www.wonbuddhism.info/index.html

Now, I do not know that much about this sect, so do not hold me to any
shortcomings in my recommendation. If it is what it says it is, then a
Won practice is what the vast majority of Buddhists would fall into
that do not wish to be monks or nuns, yet wish to derive benefits from
their practice as well as to help others.

To get back to the subject at hand - a snip from Bhikkhu Bodhi on
suffering:

"The Buddha does not merely touch the problem of suffering
tangentially; he makes it, rather, the very cornerstone of his
teaching. He starts the Four Noble Truths that sum up his message with
the announcement that life is inseparably tied to something he calls
dukkha. The Pali word is often translated as suffering, but it means
something deeper than pain and misery. It refers to a basic
unsatisfactoriness running through our lives, the lives of all but the
enlightened. Sometimes this unsatisfactoriness erupts into the open as
sorrow, grief, disappointment, or despair; but usually it hovers at the
edge of our awareness as a vague unlocalized sense that things are
never quite perfect, never fully adequate to our expectations of what
they should be. This fact of dukkha, the Buddha says, is the only real
spiritual problem."


V reponds to Bhikkhu Bodhi:

Yes, the above is true...but Bhikkhu Bodhi also touches on an important
concept that can help us find peace in this life when he writes:

"a basic unsatisfactoriness running through our lives, the lives of all
but the enlightened."

You see, a person cannot be at peace within and with all with their
current life if they are always trying to escape life out of fear and
hatred for living it and feeling regret for it as a burden unjustly
imposed on them. No, such a person is not an enlightened being nor is
he or she even pointed in the right direction for reaching
enlightenment - other than to say he or she needs to look in the
'opposite' direction from where they are looking. An old saying tells
us, "A diamond cannot be polished without friction." So, by applying
the 'rule of opposites', the once unenlightened mind, can use this
'friction' or former despair to help them turn around to find peace.

This is why I always stress to look at the extremes and every option in
between to find the answer. For if one direction doesn't work, the
opposite direction or a blending of the two just might. Unfortunately,
when 'self rules self' the mind is stubborn and fixated on the being
right and there are few options to try when the ego rules the roost.
Develop 'self without self' and look for universal truth for the answer
you seek. The truth is that which doesn't not change, whereas 'self'
always changes.

Mixing the Eastern and Western philosophy is tough sometimes as the
East puts mind before heart and the West tends to put heart before
mind. If we go back to the basics of Buddhism we can check our
progression as to why there is any dissatisfaction in our progress for
finding peace. In Buddhist threefold training we train in moral
discipline, we train the mind and we train in wisdom. The training in
moral discipline or 'precepts' brings one enough initial peace to
advance to the other disciplines which require more work. Training the
mind helps concentrate it as well as calm it, so one may see things in
clear light with wisdom training. But without removing the basic
obstacles to our growth, we cannot go onto more advanced training
successfully.

For wisdom is the final destination for the enlightened mind, as you
can have concentration and calmness, but still not possess wisdom or
enlightenment. Calmness and concentration are prerequisites to
enlightenment, they are not guarantees of enlightenment. For
enlightenment we need to bring the heart and the mind together for
balance. When trained in properly, these three areas help with
discerning truth and being at peace with it and this quality of being
at peace with ourselves as well as with others is the foundation for
enlightenment.

I have only brought all this up to help dispel some delusions in
practitioners. As I said above, the three unwholesome roots of
delusions, greed and hate are very basic to a practice. Out of these
three, delusion is the foundational root, for without seeing delusions
for what they are, you cannot distinguish the other two unwholesome
roots of greed and hate. But this is only restating the eightfold path
of right actions, right thoughts, right view, right intentions, right
livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. As
I have mentioned before, a wooden Buddha will not get through a fire, a
clay Buddha will not get through the ocean and a bronze Buddha will not
get though a furnace.

But, a clay Buddha can get through the furnace and turn to stone, a
wooden Buddha can float across a river and a bronze Buddha will
withstand a fire. So I use many tools to find peace and do not limit
myself. I do not write on this topic to try to force a change on your
journey or goals with your Buddhist practice. Only you can do that and
that change must come from within you as a real and authentic change in
your nature. But, if you have no goals or path to follow, maybe this
post will 'awaken you' to finding one? I make no claim to have the
'last word' on this subject. I can only share how I practice and find
peace with it in this life. When we put our peace first we will be
awakened to a new life that we can 'live' with serenely.

In the book "The Miracle of Mindfulness." it says: "If while washing
dishes we think only of the tea that awaits us...then we are not
'washing the dishes.' If we can't wash the dishes, chances are we won't
be able to drink our tea either." So it goes with a person that
focusses their attention always to the future at some distant hope of
finding the happiness through death to replace the lack of happiness
that they cannot find in the present. I prefer to practice mindfulness
of my life in the present moment. As such, I work to make the present
moment peaceful when I have a say in the matter and make it one that I
do not need to escape from through fixating on the future hopes of
escaping life. And when I do not have a say in the matter, I am at
peace with this road also.

I practice for inner peace, but also it might be termed enlightenment.
Buddhism provides this tool, which is just one out of the many tools I
use for peace development. For once we have found a contentment within
and with all and are at peace - we are progressing on the road to
enlightenment. You can also tell when you have "arrived" by your
practice telling you so. Does your practice revolve around actually
practicing what you have learned to generate peace within or are you on
a never ending journey of always looking and never finding?

I look at pain and suffering as part of natural law. I accept it as
part of life and look at this as growing pains. Humans are not singled
out in this area as every animate and most inanimate object suffer from
impermanence as well. While inanimate objects do not suffer pain for
the most part they would if they felt the changes happening to
them...the rocks crumbling or the earth splitting. Nothing can live
without experiencing pain - it is natural law and not just karma.
Without this pain of impermanence we could not digest food nor could we
even experience taste.
The embryo could not grow or rain fall from the sky.

Sometimes we can get blinded to the big picture when we concentrate on
the minutia. I find many problems can be solved with a simple
acceptance of what IS. Now, an area that humans can cause great
suffering is through their actions. In this area we do have some
control over our suffering and the suffering of others as all our
actions have consequences and many of our actions are producing
consequences that rob of us and others of peace.

Once I am at peace, I can share with others about finding peace for
themselves, which is the secondary reason I practice. I have no
interest in practicing Buddhism for extinguishing reincarnation. Such
"fear based" reasons for being a Buddhist are not authentic or natural
- the persons actions are based on fear or negative consequences
otherwise they would not do them. My actions are based on inner peace
and if I stray - there goes my peace - it is my choice. I enjoy life
and realize that due to natural law, suffering comes about as part of
the process and I accept it as a fair trade off for the privilege of
living, so I would enjoy any reincarnation if given the privilege.
Buddhism helps makes this trade off of life and pain more in my favor
by lending me support to live a life at peace in the present. I do not
practice Buddhism to earn merit for the next life - I practice Buddhism
for my own peace generation in THIS LIFE.

If you would like to try another path to peace other than destruction
of ones existence, try the path of the Bodhisattva. The world is ripe
with those living in misery. There are no shortage of customers for you
to offer peace to. And as you instill seeds of peace within others, you
plant the same seeds and water these seeds within you as well. As you
give so you receive. I hope you can find the same contentment within
your life as I have found through Buddhism. And if you still wish to
work towards extinguishing samsara, then by all means go in that
direction. Give up your current life, all attachments and tethers and
start on a new life this very instant by taking that first step and
shutting your computer down for good.


Good Luck,



V (Male)

Agnostic Freethinker
Practical Philosopher
AA#2