Tag: buddhism

Verbal dialogue is not the essence of his teachings, but he explains in a direct and simple way that everyone can understand, how each individual can practically integrate greater acceptance, peace and joy into their daily lives.

Tony teaches with humour, humility and with infinite patience, empowering the individual with courage, trust and inner strength to continue on this journey back into wholeness, a path that leads towards real freedom.

"Conscious evolution is ultimate freedom. Overcoming the fear of what lies ahead, by illuminating the spiritual dimension within our nature, is awakening to the splendour of our hearts.

It is said that the mind clarifies matters and reveals truth, but, in fact, it creates confusion for the heart. True reality dwells in its natural center - the heart: the heart is the path to self-realization.

The totally natural state of joy and wisdom experienced as the heart opens to the truth, is the remarkable state of being, free for all to experience."

"He who is in search of a spiritual teacher
should first seek the guru within himself...

If one cannot contact directly this inner guru, then one must search for the outer guru.

The outer guru - the spiritual teacher - is he who guides the true seeker into this inner journey for the intimate contact with the inner guru - wisdom. He who is trying hard to experience his inner guru, will easily find an outer guru also to help him in his inner journey.

Each individual has to experience the truth in his heart because the experience of others cannot be his own experience. The enlightened teacher cannot give someone his own enlightenment.

The teachers guidance verbally helps in the understanding of our mental and physical functions, manifestations and problems, so that we may begin on the path of self inquiry. The duty of the spiritual teacher is to pass on the information, and the duty of the student is to practice and to transform the information into his blood.

Everybody understands reality according to their own capacity, rather than the ultimate reality itself. Therefore, your teacher can be only he who understands you, and whom you understand.

Nature is the ultimate teacher, and it has only one goal for all beings, especially all human beings: to bring them from the field of multiplicity into the realm of unity.

A spiritual teacher does not teach anyone to depend on him, nor does he pretend to be the master of anybody. Those who declare themselves to be a guru, and those who pretend to be the guru - definitely they are not.

The true teacher is he who removes the power of competition and jealousy from your heart, and makes your heart able to love not only all fellows of the present , but also fellows of the past and future. When there is union with the inner guru, all selfishness, evil tendencies, chaos, disharmony, ignorance, egoism, misunderstanding, greed, lust, and hatred disappear and there is an uninterupted flow of love, understanding, togetherness, selfless service, gratefulness and compassion"

The Dalai Lama's teachings are the teachings of the Tibetan Buddhism with a special emphasis on the Four Noble Truths which are among the truths Gautama Buddha is said to have realized during his experience of enlightenment.

Four Noble Truths

Noble Truth 1 - The Nature of Suffering (Dukkha): birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.

Noble Truth 2 - The Reason for Suffering (Samudaya): it is this craving which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there, that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination.

Noble Truth 3 - The Cessation of Suffering (Nirodha): it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, nonreliance on it.

Noble Truth 4 - The Way (Marga) Leading to the Cessation of Suffering: it is the Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

Noble Eightfold Path

As the name indicates, there are eight elements in the Noble Eightfold Path, and these are divided into three basic categories as follows:

Wisdom (Sanskrit: prajñā, Pāli: paññā)
1. Right view
2. Right intention

Ethical conduct (Sanskrit: śīla, Pāli: sīla)
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood

Mental discipline (Sanskrit and Pāli: samādhi)
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration

Awakening from the trance of the self, says Wolinsky, begins by extending your awareness to every level of who you are: your biological instincts, your thoughts and feelings, the archetypal dimension, and – ultimately – who you are beyond those thoughts, emotions, memories, associations, and perceptions. But, how do you begin this journey?

"The only way to find out who you are," taught Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, “is to find out first who you are not.” Waking from the Trance offers you an opportunity to begin that life-changing investigation.

Waking from the Trance Highlights:

• Quantum psychology – a multidimensional model of self
• Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj’s advaita vedanta approach to self-inquiry
• Expanding awareness to the eight dimensions of being
• The roots of traditional psychology – and its limits
• The false core and the false self
• The biological dimension: dissolving the boundaries around the physical body
• Finding the space between thoughts and before thoughts
• “Delabeling” – working with your emotions as energy states
• The enneagram – its origins and its understanding of the false core types
• Identifying the trances of common spiritual systems
• “Uncooked seeds” – addressing undigested psychological material and early trauma
• Attention-focusing methods from the Vijnana Bhairava
• The dimension of Essence
• Understanding the I AM, "the seed of consciousness"
• How the One Substance condenses into consciousness
• Archetypes and the collective unconscious – a Quantum psychology view
• Modern physics on causality, the observer, and the observed
• Through the Void to the Nameless Absolute

"...our normal conception of self is a false self. What many people see as themselves is not their true selves."
~ excerpt from "True Self" - January 2006, Edge Life Magazine online)

"Enlightenment is sometimes called the "Natural State" or the "Unconditioned." In Zen, you will hear references to our original face.
Returning to the "Natural State" requires no effort. Actually, anything you do will only get in the way. It is like mixing a jar of water with sand and ice. As long as you keep mixing, the contents will not be at their natural state: sand on the bottom, ice on top, and clear water in between. Anything you do will keep mixing and jumbling the contents."
~ excerpt from "Effortless Meditation" - January 2008, Edge Life Magazine online)

"Remember, no one is in their right mind"
~ tagline from podcast, 'Out of Our Minds'

You can listen to many 15-minute podcasts by Eric on his website...http://www.awaken2life.org