Buddhism for Dum-dums

• Try to make things match your ideas.

  Isn't that what you were trying before? It can work well in lots of situations, but obviously can't solve all your problems. It is said that after Alexander the Great had conquered all of the known world, he sat down and wept because there was no more to conquer. If the whole world can't make someone happy, what chance do you and I have using that approach?

• Try to make your ideas match reality.

  Again, very useful in many ways. That's what Science is about. And Science gave us cars, airplanes, electric lights, antibiotics, nerve gas, atomic bombs....

  Okay, so maybe that approach isn't the whole answer either.

• Perceive things without forming ideas about them.

  "Hey! Can you DO that?" I hear you cry.
  Actually, you are already doing it. Think about it. You have to perceive something first before you can form ideas about it.

Over two and a half millennia of sincere, dedicated Buddhists vouch for it! Wouldn't you say it's worth a try?

They say the mind is like a mirror. Hold something red in front of a mirror, and you've got a red mirror. Hold something blue in front of it, and you've got a blue mirror. Your mind is conscious of an impermanent body with built-in drives such as hunger, so your mind feels like it is hungry. If you can sit and just watch your body and its drives, you begin to see what it is like, and then you can realize that the mind watching all this is like that mirror. The mirror isn't originally red. Likewise, your mind, your "original face" (to use the Zen term), your Buddha-nature, is NOT hungry! Or upset, or sad, or angry. YOU ALREADY HAVE THIS TRANQUILITY WITHIN YOU! You just have to locate and identify it- not an easy task! But it can be done. Millions of Buddhists succeed at it.

Meanwhile, Buddhism also gives some guidelines for how to live so that the confusion and grasping that your body is subjected to can be diminished. It's like taking the red cloth away from the front of the mirror. That is not, of course, a final solution, since there are a lot of red cloths blowing around in life. But it can give you some space to work in. Most of these guidelines are either moral behavior , or simplifying your life. If you just start with those principles, you can?t go too far wrong, and can pick up the details later.
~Rev. Hugh Ryunyo King

That's what I like to hear! First, take a look at just why "the clouds of delusion are covering the sun of Enlightenment", as the old Buddhist saying has it.

• Desire- Wanting something to be a certain way, as in "I'm going to win, I just know it!"
• Being afraid something is a certain way- the old "monsters under the bed" syndrome.
• Assumptions. Plain old habit, as in "Of course it is- don't be silly!"

Reality is what's still there after you stop believing in it.
~Lama Sabachthani,
Rectory Of The Flowering Lotus Mahayana Amidaist Organization

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To clear away these "clouds",

• first, don't practice wanting. Most people spend a lot of time looking at ads, commercials, X-rated internet sites, window-shopping, reading romance novels, etc. knowing that it only increases their desires. And since unhappiness is the extent to which your desires exceed what you have, you know how that will end up, don't you?
• Once your desires are less out of control, there's less to be afraid of. Most of your fears are that you won't get what you desire.
• Keep in mind that assumptions can be wrong, and pay attention.
  Since words and names are a shorthand way of representing situations to yourself by ignoring most of the fine detail (or, to quote Antoine de Saint-Exupry, "Language is the source of misunderstandings."), you can often weaken or overcome your attachment to these categories and classifications simply by paying attention to detail. Be careful not to look for particular details that you "know" are there- just look.

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Methods used by different branches of Buddhism Theravada , the "Way of the Elders".
Bhikkus (monks) and Bhikkunis (nuns) live by very strict rules. The object is to just refuse to act on desires, so that they eventually fade away. For example, they eat whatever food the lay followers give them, and would never hint for some favorite dish. They do not handle money. They do not even touch members of the opposite sex.
These are the South-East Asian Buddhists with shaved heads wearing yellow robes. The robes are cut into smaller panels and sewed together, so they will have no commercial value. The orange color originally came from curry sauce. The Bhikkus and Bhikkunis would dress in old robes that had been discarded because they had food stains. The Buddha had them stain the whole garment instead of leaving it spotted, which, as Lama Sabachthani points out, is a good thing considering how small some of those South-East Asians are, especially the women. Otherwise you might end up with an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka-dot Bhikkuni.
Both monastic and lay followers also practice a range of meditations, such as metta (lovingkindness), or vipasyana (insight).

Zen or, in Chinese, Ch'an.
There are two major schools- Soto , which emphasizes Zazen (sitting meditation), and Rinzai , which also uses more unorthodox methods such as Koans .

Sukhavati , or "Pure-Land"
The Buddha talked about Enlightenment as a place. It's a very easy description to understand and work with, as long as you don't start thinking it's some kind of heaven.
In this Pure Land, there lives Amitabha (or, in Japanese, Amida), "the Buddha of Unbounded Light". This refers to your Buddha-nature, which the unenlightened reinterpret and redefine and pile assumptions onto until it is a turmoil of frustration and suffering. Then they think that's their "self".
The idea, same as in Theravada or Zen (or any other school of Buddhism) is to catch the consciousness in its pure state, before those habits and attachments mess it up. In the Sukhavati method, you learn this pattern (usually by reading the descriptions the Buddha gave, such as the Amitabha Sutra ), then constantly remind yourself, in those terms, to rely on the purity of mind that exists within you, by reciting some phrase that means "I rely on Amida Buddha". In Chinese it's "Namo Omitafo", in Japanese it's "Namu Amida Butsu". Both these are written as shown on the right. In Chinese, this is called "Nien-fo", and in Japanese, "Nembutsu", both meaning "thought of the Buddha".
Other phrases are sometimes used. The famous Tibetan " Om Mani Padme Hum " is related. Shinran Shonin, the founder of the largest sect which uses this method, seemed to prefer a translation of the phrase into Chinese, instead of the transliteration. He used to recite "Ki myo jin jippo mu ge ko nyo rai". "Ki myo" is the Japanese for the Sanskrit "Namo", "I rely upon". "Jin jippo" is the ten quarters, meaning everywhere. "Mu ge ko" means "unhindered light", and "Nyo rai" is Tathagata, another term for the Buddha. So, "I rely upon the Awakened One of Unbounded Light" would be a good English equivalent.

In addition to chanting, a very effective method of building up associations of reliance has developed, consisting of various ritualized expressions of gratitude and reliance toward either an image of Amida or the written phrase shown above. Unfortunately, to those with a religious tradition of placating a deity, these forms are easy to confuse with prayer and worship. The technique of " guided imaging " in psychology would be a better comparison.

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How to apply Buddhism to your own life

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He who knows the truth but does not practice it is like a cowherd counting other people's cattle.
~The Dhammapada

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Study
Actually, study can be a practice, as long as you're studying things like impermanence, emptiness, or the nature of suffering (' the Three Marks of Existence '), but not if you're just studying the history or geography of Buddhist countries. That's because expecting the world to be permanent is a cause of problems, but not knowing the capital of Nepal, is not.

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Ethical behavior
Understand and apply the Law of Karma- what you do affects what happens to you. If you always make trouble, the one thing you can be sure of is that you will always be in a troubled environment.
This is a specific application of the Law of Cause and Effect. Decide what effects you want, then choose the appropriate causes.

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Overcoming Attachment

• Attachment to ideas.
  • First of all, keep in mind that 'the map is not the territory' (as they say in General Semantics ). It's the fact that your ideas don't match reality that causes all your trouble. So why hold onto them?
• Attachment to things.
  
  • Actually, you aren't attached to things- you're attached to your ideas about things. So look carefully at the things you feel attached to. You will start to see how they are different from what you thought.
  • Look for the telltale signs of impermanence. Remember, these things won't last forever, and when they go, your grasping after them will lead to sorrow.
  • Analyze things into their component parts as a way to weaken grasping of the thing as a whole.
  • Question why you feel attachment to an object. Is it a prop in some role you are playing? Is it something all the cool guys have?
  • Plan what you would do differently if you didn't have it. You can't leave here unless there's somewhere else to go.
  • The investment of time and energy in trying to get more possessions can warp your view. Compulsive gamblers are a good example. The more they lose, the harder they hold onto the idea of winning.
  • And finally, just get rid of some things. Dump them, give them to your friends, donate them to a thrift shop- whatever. Then forget them! Don't try to trade things for gratitude, recognition, or fame. Those are even less dependable than objects! Making anonymous donations would be best. Just don't get extreme about it. Do as much as you feel comfortable with. Practice letting go.
• Attachment to self.
  This is the one that scares people. They think they are giving up their existence or something. Not so! If you give up a wrong idea about something, you don't have any less of that thing. You just understand it and can work with it better.
  All the points about attachment to things also apply to attachment to self.
  • Remember, your sensory experiences, your interpretations of them, your attitudes, even your body, are all impermanent. The 'Buddha-nature', the clear consciousness that exists inside of you, is not.
  • The Middle Way , as taught by the Buddha, is usually explained as avoiding the extremes of sensory indulgence and asceticism. But the Buddha never told a follower who was offering food "I can't eat this- it's too good" OR "I can't eat this- it's too bad"! The true middle way does not mean avoiding poverty or luxury, pleasure or pain- it just means avoiding chasing after any of those. Philosophically, it means avoiding the extreme ideas of existence and non-existence, i.e., "This is a real thing equal to its name and not dependent on any causes and its future existence is guaranteed...." etc. vs. "It's all a mirage. Soon I will wake up and it won't be here...." etc.
    Avoiding any extremes is a good idea.
  • Pema Chodron talks about "dropping your story line".
    We've all been in restaurants and had a chance to watch someone playing his big starring role as The Waiter with a supporting cast of you and the other customers. Annoying, isn't it? He's the one that expects you to remember his name, but he can't remember who ordered what. He uses the terms "today" or "for you" in every sentence. He whizzes by asking "ISEVERYTHINGALLRIGHT?"and is gone before you can tell him you wouldn't know, you haven't had a chance to take a bite yet.
    If you think that's something, just consider- what roles are you playing???

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    You should learn to get along without yourself, because someday you won't be there.
    ~Lama Sabachthani

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    I knew a guy in high school who was very successful with girls. His secret? He read romance comic books. He copied the dress, speech patterns and grooming of the character who always got the girl. The girls in school had all learned their roles from the leading ladies in the same comics, so he couldn't miss.
    This proves three points:
    First (and this is a very practical teaching), you can succeed better by taking a successful supporting role in someone else's script than by trying to force them into your own story line.
    Second, you can begin to see how much of what we think we are is really just something we're doing.
    And third, you see that if you are really attached to your role, your self-concept, your story line- then you can't use this tool.

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  (Note- under construction. This is as far as we've gotten. Check back later. There's more coming!)

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  "Forgiveness means giving up all hope of a better past."
  ~Lama Sabachthani

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