I DON'T love you! (video)

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

One of the funniest British cult classic movies ever made on religion -- Bedazzled -- with a tip of the hat to Zen Master Lee Kwai Quach (Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Raquel Welch)

I'm not in love. I won't be sunk, attached, hopelessly clinging. And yet, somehow, I'm still not free.

Where is my liberation, my enlightenment, my experience of nirvana?

Isn't detachment the key? Isn't indifference, callousness, withdrawal, and aloofness the key?

No, if craving (thirst, grasping for, and clinging) is the problem, simply turning our backs is not at all the solution.

• I'm in love! (love addiction)
• The Affection Sutra
• VIDEO: I'm in love! ("West Coast") 

The reason one withdraws is to draw out the thorn in one's heart. Physical seclusion is not the Way, not the answer, not the solution. At best it is a vital aid to the real thing -- mental withdrawal. But the mind/heart needs something to draw into, to be absorbed by. That's why the meditative absorptions (Pali jhanas, Sanskirt dhyanas, Japanese zens, Chinese chans) are so important.

But I thought shaving my head and not looking at or talking to anybody -- or being looked at or talked to by anybody -- was the Way!

Superficial stays superficial. A saffron robe does not a Buddhist monastic make.

Well, then, what? Shave the eyebrows, too? Get a mantra tattoo? Call my significant other "Boo"?

That and more will never do! The problem is not without; the problem is within. The question is sometimes asked, Do beautiful objects -- alluring, pleasing, attractive, and charming -- cause attachment, or is it the beholder?

Himalayan Theravada monastic experience (sayalaysusila.net)

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Himalayan Ladakh (SylvainBrajeul/flickr)

The answer is obvious if one thinks for a moment. Although it feels like objects (people, songs, entities, foods, flavors, scents, art, etc.) get a hold on us, it cannot be the objects because fully-enlightened beings utterly freed by insight of all clinginess and attachment perceive and experience beautiful objects just like we do. Sayalay Susila (sayalaysusila.net) points out that if object actually had the power they seem to have over us, there would be no release. But because it is us -- our dependently arisen attraction, aversion, and delusion -- then it is possible to become completely free. We are not at the mercy of the Sensual Sphere (Kama Loka), not even the Subtle Sphere (Rupa Loka) or the Immaterial Sphere (Arupa Loka).

It is our job, if we wish to undertake it, to make an end of suffering. Suffering will never end by itself. It may take a break or be delayed, but it is coming back. It is the nature of things that certain action produce painful results. It cannot be otherwise. Until we free ourselves of this karmic round of endless rebirth and disappointment, we can be sure disappointment (dukkha) is on its way.

Rooftop of the World: Puebloan Peoples, Spituk Monastery, Himalayas (Skaman306/flickr)

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(Sylvain Claire/sc-pictures/flickr.com)

We say, "Okay, we'll bare it. It's worth it to experience more pleasure. But this is exactly the trap. We gain no satisfaction. We keep wandering on and on and on trying to break even, like hopeless gamblers, always meeting with disaster, never remembering that we consciously made this bargain.
 
"It is because of not seeing this truth -- the dependently originated nature of things -- that not only us but the Bodhisattva (Buddha-to-be) wandered endlessly for aeons in plane after plane of existence," miserable and exalted, obscure and famous, weeping and laughing, sunk in ignorance and delusion, chasing after pleasant experience, running from misery, ensnared by lust, bitten by hate and frustration, utterly confused and defeated by ignorance, which is the greatest ill of all. And now that we have time to meditate, time to study, time to and talent enough to ask questions and understand, what do we do instead? Search for love, fulfillment by personal relationships, as if we had NOTHING HIGHER TO LIVE FOR.

What are we waiting for? For reality to change? For a better teacher -- like Marshall or Maitreya -- to come along offering us everything, our defilements and enlightenment at the same time? Mahayana already does that. Hey, have sex. But have tantric sex, and enlightenment's included. Hey, have wealth. But have humility, and enlightenment's included. You're already enlightened, so relax! Blah blah blah, meanwhile the wheel of suffering grinds on in very subtle and very overt ways. Liberation is available right now. It won't happen by itself. It would've if it could've. Buddhas are guides:

"By ourselves is harm done.

By ourselves is harm left undone.

Benefit and harm depend on us."

"No one saves us but ourselves,

No one can and no one may;

We ourselves must tread the Path;

Buddhas only point the Way!"

• QUESTION: "We aren't supposed to want love? Should I live alone for the rest of my life? I am new to this blog. Please forgive me if you have answered this question."

This is a great question. The conundrum arises from assumptions. What do we mean by "love"? Universal altruism, loving-kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), unselfish joy (mudita), and impartiality (upekkha)? These are five expressions of love that ancient Indians (Pali/Sanskrit) and Greeks (agape, "unconditional love," etc.) had a better grasp of than we do...

How can I overcome maddening sexual lust?

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly via Sayalay Susila (sayalaysusila.net)

Tiger Girl with full Japanese back tattoo or irezumi (Arisu Nomura/imageof.net)

  

Question: How can I overcome sexual lust, which is recurring again and again despite experiencing progressive calmness in my meditation?

Answer: Contemplate this fathom-long body.  And develop the jhanas, the absorptions, to overcome maddening sensual cravings.

• Singing Birds and Stinging Bees: SEX Slavery

Shorter Sutra on the Aggregate of Distress

Wisdom Quarterly version, Cula-dukkha-kkhandha Sutta (MN 14)

Ssshh, don't talk or think about "cookies."

Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was staying among the Sakyans at Kapilavatthu in the Banyan Park [Afghanistan]. Then Mahānāma (3) the Sakyan [the Buddha's cousin, which the Commentary claims was already a once-returner when this discourse was delivered] went to the Blessed One.

Arriving he bowed, sat respectfully to one side, and said: "Venerable sir, for a long time now I have understood the Dharma taught by the Blessed One in this way: 'Greed is a defilement of the mind/heart; aversion is a defilement; delusion is a defilement.'

Sexual craving is like a jungle thicket, hard to escape. A banyan park is better (Kiran Gopi)

  

The Buddha (ArunHaridharshan/flickr)

"Yet, even though I understand the Dharma taught by the Blessed One in this way, there are still times when the mental/heart states of greed, aversion, and delusion invade my mind/heart and remain.

"The thought occurs to me: What within me is as yet unabandoned so that there are times when these invade my heart/mind and remain?"
 

"Mahanama, that very [greed, hatred, and delusion] is what is as yet unabandoned by you so that there are times when they invade your heart/mind and remain.

• NOTE: Previously mistranslated, the point of this sentence is that the mental states that invade Mahanama's mind/heart are precisely the ones he has yet to abandon. In practical terms, this means he does not have to look for another quality lurking behind them but, instead, can focus attention on abandoning these states directly whenever they arise. The remainder of the discourse gives a lesson on how craving, aversion, and delusion can be abandoned by understanding the object on which they most frequently focus: sensuality (Ven. Thanissaro).

If fat is sexy, is fatter sexier?

"For if that were abandoned by you, you would not live the household life and would not partake of sensuality. It is because it yet remains unabandoned by you that you live the household life and partake of sensuality.
 

"Even though a disciple of the noble ones has clearly seen as it actually is with right view that sensuality is very disappointing, associated with much despair and great drawbacks, nevertheless -- if one has not attained a rapture (piti) and supersensual pleasure [sukha, both associated with the first and second absorptions] apart from the ordinary five sense strands, apart from unskillful mental states, or something more peaceful than that [any attainments beyond the second absorption] -- one can be tempted by sensuality.

Paris (Bryan1974/flickr.com)

"But when one has clearly seen as it actually is with right view that sensuality is very disappointing, associated with much despair and great drawbacks, and one has attained a rapture and supersensual pleasure apart from the ordinary five sense strands, apart from unskillful mental states or something even more peaceful than that, one can no longer be tempted by sensuality.

"I, too -- before enlightenment, when still an unawakened bodhisattva -- saw as it actually was with right view that sensuality is very disappointing, associated with much despair and great drawbacks. But as long as I had not attained a rapture and supersensual pleasure apart from the ordinary five sense strands, apart from unskillful mental states, or something even more peaceful than that, I did not claim that I could avoid being tempted by sensuality. 

"But when I saw as it actually was with right view...I claimed that I could avoid being tempted by sensuality."

Why? The Five Hindrances

The Five Hindrances (nīvarana) or "obstacles to enlightenment" make one blind, whereas the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhangas) give rise to internal light and wisdom (S.v.97f.). The "Discourse on the Hindrances" points out how the methodical development of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthānas), when practiced and brought to culmination, rid one of the Five Hindrances (A.iv.457f.).

What does "Om mani padme hum" mean?

Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Donald S. Lopez (U. Michigan); Wiki edit

The mantra in Tibetan script on rock outside the Potala Pueblo/Palace (onwardtibet.org)

Tibetan script of Om mani padme hum ["Hail, Jewel-Lotus Bodhisattva [Avalokiteshvara, who is Kwan Yin]" or "Jewel in the lotus"] mantra (Tashi Mannox/tibetanlife.com)

Yes, but what does it mean?

Buddha on cash (Omoo/gansv1846/flickr)

Mantras (sacred incantations) may be interpreted by practitioners in many ways, or even as mere sequences of sound whose effects lie beyond strict linguistic meaning.

 

In this, the second most famous Buddhist mantra behind the selfless climax of the Heart Sutra literature (Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi swaha), we must question our common sense literal interpretation. Dr. Donald S. Lopez, professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan, in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, points out a more sensible explanation.

Om is the cosmic sound in Sanskrit

The middle part of the mantra, maṇipadme, is commonly interpreted as "jewel in the lotus," Sanskrit maṇí ("jewel, gem, cintamani") and the locative of padma "lotus"). But according to the distinguished professor, it is much more likely that maṇipadme is in fact a vocative, not a locative, addressing a bodhisattva called Maṇipadma, "Jewel-Lotus," which is an alternate epithet of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. 

It is preceded by the syllable oṃ (aum, shown at right) and followed by the syllable hūṃ. These are both interjections without direct linguistic meaning. This lack of direct meaning is easy to understand when one considers corresponding Judeo-Christian exclamations used in and around prayer, praise, and worship such as "amen" (a Western corruption of the East's aum), "Hallelujah," "So be it!" "So may it be!" It's not that they have no meaning or serve no function; it is that that meaning and function is indirect and open.

 

In this case, one opens and places oneself in a proper frame of mind/heart with the cosmic sound oṃ then seals the utterance with another syllable (hum, the sacred sound corresponding to the throat chakra). Many mantras, such as the epitome of the Heart Sutra, end in svaha ("all hail").

Om mani padme hum: mantra of Avalokiteshvara Tibetan script (Christopher J. Fynn)

 

31 Planes (sayalaysusila.net)

Another suggested translation runs: Om purifies bliss and pride (realm of the gods); ma purifies jealousy and the need for entertainment (characteristic of the asura loka, the realm of the jealous angels/godlings); ni purifies passion and desire (characteristic of the human realm); pad purifies ignorance and prejudice (characteristic of the animal realm); me purifies greed and possessiveness (characteristic of the realm of the hungry ghosts); hum purifies aggression and hatred (hell realm).

 

Prof. Lopez also notes that the majority of Tibetan Buddhist texts have regarded the translation of the mantra as secondary, focusing instead on the correspondence of the six syllables of the mantra to various other groupings of six [such as the Six Realms, which are the first six planes of existence, categorized as the Sensual Realm in the three realms within the Buddhist cosmology of 31 Planes of Existence] in Buddhist tradition (Lopez, p.130). 

For example, in the Chenrezig Sadhana, Tsangsar Tulku Rinpoche expands upon the mantra's meaning, taking its six syllables to represent the purification of the six realms of existence... More

In other words, ᠣᠧᠮ ᠮᠠ ᠨᠢ ᠪᠠᠳ ᠮᠡᠢ ᠬᠤᠩ

Native Buddhist artifacts, Grand Canyon (video)

xDhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; David Hatcher Childress (davidhatcherchildress.com), host George Noory (coasttocoastam.com); Karen Slaughter

Lightning bolt illuminates the Grand Canyon (news.yahoo.com, May 14, 2013)

Ancient Mesoamerican site, modern Mexico, panoramic view from pyramids (Tula)

 

Egypt in the Grand Canyon

Lost Cities: Ancient Mysteries of the Southwest

Six years ago archeologist and author David Hatcher Childress discussed his research into Buddhist, Hindu (Vedic), and Egyptian artifacts found in the Grand Canyon, USA.

Did Egyptians visit North America thousands of years ago? Childress reveals his investigation into the history of the Olmecs in the south (Mesoamerica) -- with a great pyramid at La Venta, Mexico -- and the amazing technologies they possessed.

"The more and more I've looked into it over the years, what I've concluded is that, Yes, there is something to it," Childress says of the famous 1909 American media story: At that time a Smithsonian-sponsored expedition into the Grand Canyon found and collected Egyptian and Buddhist artifacts. 

Ancient bald Olmec sitting pose

Childress is off to the American Southwest, traversing the region's deserts, mountains, and forests investigating archeological mysteries. He starts in northern Mexico and searches for the lost mines of the Aztecs and continues north to west Texas, delving into the mysteries of Big Bend, including mysterious Phoenician tablets discovered there and the strange lights of Marfa. He continues northward into New Mexico, where he stumbles upon a hollow mountain with gold bars hidden inside! In Arizona he investigates tales of Egyptian catacombs in the Grand Canyon... In Nevada and California Childress checks out mummified giants and weird tunnels in Death Valley, plus he searches the Mohave Desert for the mysterious remains of ancient dwellers alongside lakes that dried up tens of thousands of years ago...
 

Noble disciple Sayalay Susila, Grand Canyon

He shares one confounding piece of evidence to mainstream history which claims that Native Americans did not practice mummification. "The Thing," a Southwestern roadside attraction, shows that mummies were found in the "New" World.

Mythical meditator (Las Limas)

This odd mummy of a woman and child together was "privately purchased in 1910," according to his sources. Childress theorized that it "may well be one of the artifacts from the caves." Speculating on why this information has been shrouded in secrecy, Childress speculated that "today, history is politically correct, not what happened, but what they want to have happened."

 

He refutes the mainstream belief that ancient peoples were fairly isolated, asserting that "Oceans were highways, not barriers." To support this idea, he points out that the Egyptians, Romans, and Phoenicians had ships bigger than those used by Columbus.

By the third hour of the interview, Childress got into his work exploring the ancient and mysterious Olmec culture of ancient Mexico, which was only discovered in the 1940s. He points out that the Olmecs were a unique looking people who may have been responsible for many works ascribed to the Mayans (Maya), such as very precise and famous cosmic calendar, which share a Buddhist/Vedic view of time measured in epochs and aeons.

Naga guides Olmec pilot (Delange)

Regarding fantastic ancient technologies, Childress discussed the discovery of an old Indian book about the ancient spacecraft, which are called vimanas in ancient India. The Olmecs described metal crafts using mercury as fuel. [This form of propulsion, which is based on manipulating gravity by swirling the mercury within the craft, was detailed in Popular Mechanics and elsewhere decades ago.] More
 

Sitchin with massive Olmec head (cae2k.com)

• Mystery of the Olmecs
• Lost Cities of North and Central America
• Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries of South America
• Lost Cities of China, Central Asia, and India
• Technology of the Gods: Incredible Sciences of the Ancients
• Vimana Aircraft of Ancient India and Atlantis
• The Enigma of Cranial Deformation: The Elongated Skulls of the Ancients

Unravelling the Mysteries of Mind and Body

Wisdom Quarterly, new Dharma book by Sayalay Susila edited by Dhr. Seven

The Sayadaw, Sayalay, and Seven set out the Buddha's "Higher Teaching"

  

(Aidan McRae Thomson)

Wisdom Quarterly is overjoyed to announce that Unravelling the Mysteries of Mind & Body Through Abhidhamma, the much awaited new book by the accomplished Buddhist monastic Sayalay Susila and Wisdom Quarterly editor Yogi Seven, is now available on Amazon.

We are pleased to see our efforts come to fruition and have the opportunity to share this work of Dharma, the culmination of Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw's accessible teachings on this delicate and complex topic.

 

All proceeds from the book go to support the establishment of Appamada Vihari, Sayalay Susila's new meditation center, offering an opportunity for all to accumulate supportive merit to advance on the Buddhist path toward enlightenment in this very life.

Why would anyone go on a meditation retreat?

 
ABOUT

Ven. Sayalay Susila, Grand Canyon

Unravelling the Mysteries of Mind & Body Through Abhidhamma was originally derived from a series of PowerPoint presentations and talks on the Abhidharma (Buddhism's "Higher" or "Ultimate Teachings"). 

It is based directly on instructions by famed Burmese Buddhist Meditation Master Pa Auk Sayadaw -- presented by the Chinese-Malaysian nun Ven. Sayalay Susila on her trips around the U.S. and Canada in 2002.

How much longer will the liberating Dharma survive in the world? (Mikecogh/flickr.com)

 
Repeatedly told how helpful these were, Sayalay developed them into a startlingly clear visual presentation and eventually a book, now in its second completely re-edited edition.
 
At first glance the Abhidharma can appear so complicated as to be impenetrable. It may, therefore, seem dull and irrelevant, a mere commentary to the sutras rather than a systematic treatment of what is needed to attain enlightenment -- the details, the explanations, the factors explained in extreme detail.
 

The Buddha among devas explaining the Abhidharma leading to final liberation

 
That it has been largely overlooked outside of Burma comes as no surprise. But the Sayadaw, Sayalay, and Seven have made Abhidharma accessible by employing direct and concrete language, clear analogies, and simple anecdotes primarily based on the experiences of real meditators in Asia, America, and Europe over many years. 

The essence of Abhidharma is drawn out from its vast and complex matrix. Doing so makes it utterly practical, relating to everyday life in a way practitioners find meaningful for ordinary living. The way to realization is through concentration-and-insight meditation instruction to tie together theory and practice.

First edition (holybooks.com)

In this way analytical knowledge is made available for direct personal realization in meditation (bhavana, cultivation and development of various kinds). By providing clarity, this book helps practitioners come to a knowing-and-seeing, or knowledge and vision, of Abhidharma as a path revealed by the historical Buddha. It shows that its application, not its theoretical grasping, leads to happiness, mundane and supramundane. 
 

May all beings -- humans, devas, and others -- share in the blessings of this offering of liberating wisdom.

Who sees the Dharma (Dependent Origination) sees the Buddha (MN 28; Mikecogh)