My Thoughts on Budhism and Right Action

The 3 Lamas at Yonghe Lamasery in Beijing

A Brief Background About Me

 I was never a religious person, or a believer in any sense of the word; if people ask me what my religious affiliation is I tell them it is the same as my political affiliation: none, because I think it is all BS. I don't believe in a higher power, an afterlife, or anything of the sort. What I do believe in, and where I place my faith now as always, is humanity. I believe, rightly or wrongly, that all people are inherently good, I believe all people throughout time are my brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, friends and lovers. Because of my belief in humanity I want to spread the happiness and joy that I feel when I look at this beautiful world around me to everyone else on this planet. I want to spread such positive feelings because I sincerely believe that we only have one chance at life, and that when people talk about heaven and hell what they are actually talking about is their current state of existence on earth. I believe that heaven and hell are very real; I believe we create our own heaven and hell right here on this Earth. Due to this, I believe it is imperative that people seek to create a state of heaven right here, right now, on this Earth, not just for themselves, but for all of humanity.

I think a great mode of thought for explaining my beliefs to my fellow humans is Buddhism. I have always enjoyed Buddhism as it does not require a belief in a higher power, daily worship, proselytization, donation, blind obedience or any of those other things which I despise in many religions. All it requires, is right action; all it requires is that one act with love in their heart toward all beings.  

What follows are my thoughts on Buddhism as derived from what I have learned during my time in China. I have met and spoken with many Buddhists, both practicing and not, as well as many Buddhist priests. I spent time gathering information on how the Chinese people perceive Buddhism and have used such knowledge to formulate my own thoughts on the matter. This is a brief version of what I have discovered.

The Matreiya Buddha at Yonghe Lamasery in Beijing

On The Buddha and One's Capacity to Achieve the Buddha-nature

The Buddha is not a single individual that existed as a historical personage known as Siddhartha Guatama, nor does Buddha even mean a group of individuals who achieved enlightenment by forsaking the material world; Buddha is a word meaning the divine nature as manifested through the knowledge of the infinite and ultimate present that exists in every individual person throughout time.

The capacity to achieve the Buddha-nature is inherent within each of us, and such recognition comes when a person is able to perceive the world clearly through their third eye, which is the mind. The greatest obstacle to to recognizing our inherent ability to achieve the Buddha-nature is the false belief that we are in control of our own minds. Our thoughts, as derived from our minds, are shaped by the world around us, which is a false reality built upon the backs of many false realities that have been constructed prior to our births. Where ever we are born, we are born into an ancient falsehood which we then recreate, forming a vision of reality that we believe to be correct, though it is far from the ultimate truth. Such a version of reality only reinforces our ignorance of the ultimate truth and creates a hubris in us in that we believe we may know any truth at all.

In our ignorance, we perceive thoughts and senses as gifts through which to view reality, but in truth, such things only cloud what is the ultimate truth by allowing an individual to build and perceive a false reality which they then use to separate themselves from others. The greatest aspect of achieving the Buddha-nature may be the we will finally realize that we are all one, one people, one soul, living together within the heart of the universe. The greatest period of humanity will be ushered in when a majority of people are able to achieve their Buddha-nature and recognize that we are all a single consciousness experiencing itself subjectively.

Yet, to achieve what is here being referred to as the Buddha-nature we must come to the understanding that to possess true knowledge of reality we must access, and exist within, the divine present. Existing in a permanent state of the present is a daunting and alarming proposition, for we must forsake much in life to do so; culture, nationality, religion, possession, recognition, wealth, none of these matter in the immediate present. Though we may be fearful of forsaking such things, all people recognize deep in their minds that such things are fruitless and ultimately matter not, yet fear keeps them from accepting this fact.

Such knowledge, although inherent in all individuals, is not manifest in most; this is because the designs of the flesh do not allow us to experience life as our divine-selves, but only as our mortal-selves. The mortal-self is that self which we act through day to day, wherein our minds are clouded by false thoughts, and our actions only work to further ourselves or those we perceive as close to us. The divine-self is what we may act as once we have achieved the Buddha-nature, wherein our minds are not clouded by thought so that we are able to perceive that reality only exists within the present, and that in the divine present everything is one.

Unfortunately, the state of being which is here being referred to as the mortal-self, is the state of being that the vast majority of people who have ever lived have existed in from birth to death, for their minds were clouded by thought, which is derived from our mortality and false sense of understanding; this blocks our access to the direct and ultimate present, which is the divine present. Only through access to our mind, which we in our frailty believe we have always been and always will be in control of, may we achieve the Buddha-nature and thereby access our divine-selves. All human beings posses the capacity to achieve such, yet due to circumstances, fear and false knowledge, we are unable to access the divine-self.

When we realize that all exists only in the mind in the divine present, then attachment to life and suffering will finally be extinguished. But such a realization is hard to accept, for again, in our frailty, we believe in past and future, good and evil, and that we understand the world around us. What we do not realize is that as the universe is infinite, so is our misunderstanding of it. The only thing we may truly understand is ourselves, and we may only understand ourselves in the present, for the present in the only place in which we, or anything else, exists.

Entrance Gate to the Yonghe Lamasery in Beijing

On Right Action Versus Right Though

In the beginning there was only the word; man did not hear the word, thus those who spoke were forced to act.

Seeking god through knowledge will not lead to the ultimate knowledge of god; seeking the love of god in thought will not lead to the ultimate love of god. Only when we seek the knowledge of god and the love of god in action will we come to experience god, not as an outward being, but as an inward expression of our very selves.

To achieve oneness with god, that is, to live with and within the knowledge of god, will only come when we realize that we are the very thing we speak of when we speak of god. God exists internally; outward manifestations of god are simply a want or desire for what we perceive as the highest manifestations of ourselves, those selves being divine and not encumbered by mortality.

Yet only by accepting our mortality will we gain the knowledge necessary for the final transformation of our mortal selves into our divine selves. For with this understanding comes the understanding of the emptiness of material life and the oneness with life that we may achieve that exists only in the infinite and ultimate present.

Reality exists only in the here and now, nothing escapes the bonds of this ultimate present save our thoughts; the very thoughts which separate us from god and our fellow human beings by building a false reality in which be believe we have access to the truth, the truth of ourselves, of life, of god. This truth does not exist in reality; reality exists only in the divine and ultimate present. Past and future exist naught but in our minds, as does the after life.

There is only the present life, and in that present life we may come to find, through right action not right thought, that we human beings are, collectively, god. Through right action we may begin to perceive clearly what lies slumbering in hearts of all humankind; we are all one, one in flesh and blood, one in heart and mind, one in ignorance of the truth, one in the ability to transcend our former selves and become our god selves. Through right action we experience the longed for oneness with god; a wholly internal experience in which we will realize that we are all god.

The god self that we can come to experience in ourselves will awaken us to on of the greatest truths of existence, and we will finally comprehend that the nature of god is simply the purest nature of man. This god self, or purest nature of man, is within the grasp of all people through out time, yet few ever gain access to it. This is so because few ever take the time to follow the path of right action to the knowledge of god. We must not believe that right thought will ever lead us anywhere; the cruelest atrocities have been committed when people thought they were committing good. Only right action will lead to the manifestation of the knowledge of the love of god, and of god.

When we believe that right thought is the ultimate path to the knowledge of god we will begin to fight with, and separate ourselves, from our fellow human beings. This is because we believe that we are right, and they are not. When we believe that right action is the only path that will lead to the ultimate knowledge of god, such barriers will break down because the only thing that will matter to us is the right action, and the thoughts that allowed the individual to arrive at the conclusion of right action being the ultimate path will be superfluous to the right action itself.

In right action within the ultimate present we are acting out god’s plan, which is the plan of our divine selves, whereby we act with the ultimate level of love, compassion, concern, caring and responsibility for our fellow human beings. Through right action within the ultimate present, we will slowly realize that what we perceived as god has existed as a potential state of being within us, always. It is the achievement of this state of being that is of ultimate concern, for it is this state that allows us to transcend our mortal selves and become our divine selves.

The Giant Buddha of Leshan

Conclusion

Those are my thoughts on Buddhism and spirituality as I see it, and though I may never achieve access to my Buddha-nature, I do try to employ right action in my life as opposed to right thought as I have previously done wrong when thinking I was doing right. All of these thoughts have been coming to me more and more as I get older, and although I am no religious man or believer in god by any means, I do understand the value that coming to a deeper level of spirituality may have for my life. Spirituality for me is as simple as viewing a piece of fine art that connects with me on an emotional level, and as deep as opening up to someone I am in an intimate relationship with and thereby coming to know them and myself more deeply. I love this world, I love life, I love Beijing, and spirituality for me is sharing that love with my fellow humans. I don't really have much more to say about this subject for now, as I am honestly a bit uncomfortable about opening up in such a public forum, but to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves we must share our thoughts and experiences with others. As always I hope you have enjoyed reading.

Two Monks on a stroll in the Forbidden City