DQ Series: The Thought of Learning Buddhism Determines the Way Out

It is not an intellectual decision, that can be decided by a list of pros and cons, as we were taught to do in school. We will know our purpose because it feels right. And yes, that purpose can change, just as our relationships can change. Just as some relationships are karmic in nature and are finished when the karma has been played out the and lessons have been learned.

Our purpose at one time can shift into a new direction after we have served in that area and our time there is finished. Everything feels much more laborious than need be. Life is not supposed to feel like drudgery, anyway—this is an outdated and misguided belief based on guilt. This is the law of abundance; everything will fall into place when we trust and when we align ourselves with our heart. Although we might like to give some activity a fair chance, for the sake of curiosity, we may or may not be any good at it.

I remember when my father gave dancing the good old college try for the sake of pleasing my mother, but a Fred Astaire this scientist was not! Along these lines, we may consider a tree or a houseplant.

Some plants need more light, more water, etc. Or, consider a car. You may eventually get to your destination on subpar gasoline, or low oil, but it will do better on better gas and more oil. Establish your passions on a day to day basis. Whatever you attach your conscious and undoubted passions to will manifest. In spiritual teachings, it is said that this is how we know when we are going the right way or not.

Does this mean we should give up when too many obstacles befall us? This is the art of walking a line only we can walk for ourselves. Again, it comes back to the necessity of being present in our bodies, so that we can recognize the many ways that information that is felt, rather than intellectualized. So that we can know on a deeper, more intuitive level. So that we we can trust in our sense that it is not just a challenge, but a sign of something awry.

This connection to Self opens the door to personal joy, which we then shine like a lighthouse out to the world. Tagged acceptance , Buddha in the Classroom , Buddhism , burnout , Camus , destiny , enthusiasm , Existentialism , free will , Guru Singh , metaphysics , passion , power spot , purpose , soul speaks , Zen. I made this chart to show the different ways of interfacing with our moment to moment decisions in life. Even the most subtle decision is vast and carries with it the potential for extensive repercussions.

For example, whether we decide to breathe into a moment of frustration or channel it into verbal abuse toward a loved one makes a tremendous difference in our lives, especially, as those moments add up and habit patterns set in. But, life is a process of evolving, if we are fully awake and have the courage to look at ourselves squarely. This means embracing our freedom to make a choice at every moment and owning those decisions. Thus, it also means accepting the consequences of those choices without making excuses for ourselves.

This chart shows us that only when we can truly do that, do we evolve into the optimal version of ourselves. In my book , I captured this teaching with the acronym, DER. To evolve in our own way and according to our own propensity, is our overarching purpose on earth. But, sometimes we find ourselves stuck. This chart demonstrates what Yogi Bhajan said—that there is always a pathway through every problem. Curiously, we often access this pathway by letting go.

This is the feminine aspect of the dance of life. This chart shows us that even when we feel we have not acted optimally, in a situation…say, by lashing out instead of breathing, as in the example above, we can use that moment as an opportunity for conscious reflection, rather than self-reproach. For, emotions like guilt, serve only to block our growth.

It disables that fear. Very often, this moment of consciousness is enough for clearance to occur. The masculine aspect of doing , comes into play inevitably, as every step, however subtle, is a form of action, but through our willingness to surrender to the outcome, we manifest the feminine. Without that feminine aspect, we lock ourselves into an insecure need to control—bereft of the trust that comes from connection to what is. The dance of life is an interplay of masculine and feminine energies.

It is a must, if we choose to grow. We must welcome what is , with a heart full of grateful acceptance, in order to go forth. It is as such that we behold the interplay of self-acceptance and self-improvement. We often defeat ourselves by trying to have the latter without the former. But, self-improvement, on its own, quickly devolves into an obsessive game of chase, creating a gap in our consciousness, between who we are and who we want to be. It leaves us un-whole.

Each soul is incarnated to fulfill its destiny, according to Yogic philosophy, and when we awaken to that purpose, we are living according to our destiny. Your mission is to vibrate higher in your vessel so you awaken completely to your sacred purpose. This awakening is the key to our sense of fulfillment. But it is a huge challenge in a society, which would tempt us, left and right, to seek fulfillment from external sources and all things pinned to appearance—from the allure of a sexy body to the amusement of a new gadget, to the promises of the perfect dream vacation.

Profit is made by keeping us trapped in a cycle of codependency and separateness. The tragedy is that we are kept from our own inner power. The result is a never-ending cycle of unrecognized addictions of every sort, in which, fueled by a vague neediness, we go on supporting this infrastructure—a mega-system that thrives on our insecurities. How can we wake up from this codependency and align ourselves with our destiny? This wisdom, this sense of knowing is already within. It is the little spark of light that shines forth from within. But because the fog of our emotions and obsessions is so thick, we often miss it.

But when we pause for a moment to let the fog settle, we find it. And we delight in its warmth. And sometimes we summon the courage to trust that light and let it guide us along our path. The minute we come to center, we find ourselves nourished. Like drinking from the nectar of our own internal fountain of bliss, we feel full. Those things on the outside seem to lose their appeal. We realize that what we tend to call free will, is but a confused mix of desires shaped by others and meant to mask insecurities.

We have taken the reins of our life. But this requires the choice to wake up from those things that have held us hostage for too long—the things on the inside, like unhealthy emotions and insecurities, as well as the things that keep us wobbling around on the outside.

Indian religions

And we begin to resist those things that take us off our path. This is the beginning of waking up. It is the nowhere land, in which we get lost in the web of expectations and pressures set by others, be it society, parents, or personal delusion. These pressures drown out the voice of the spirit and over-ride our own sense of self-authority and purpose.

Every time we come to center, we have made a choice. We have honored our commitment to align with our sense of purpose. This is free will. Think of karma as the residue of our actions, either in the here and now or in the here to fore. Why bother about it? Because that which would transform has first to be exposed. These tools include, but are not limited to, the uplifting presence of community, meditation, movement, and especially, intention.

Am I, as the western philosophers would say, pre-supposing the existence of free will? Where I differ and where I differ from my earlier position, as expressed in my book, Buddha in the Classroom , is on how this relates to destiny. Diehard existentialists, like Sartre, reject any suggestion of a deterministic universe, one which would open up a world of easy excuses that render us helpless, like puppets on the strings of our inherited tendencies.

1. .
2. Looking Gorgeous (The Feel Good Factory).
3. Romance and Red Lights in Asia: Your Guide to Dating, Relationships and Red-Light Escapades with Women in Thailand, the Philippines and Japan;
4. See a Problem?.
5. Let The Church Say Change.
6. The Adventures of Gladys & Dante?
7. Color Atlas and Manual of Microscopy for Criminalists, Chemists, and Conservators?

Typical of the western tendency to polarize beyond repair and even more typical of an existentialist like Sartre, who was allergic to any species of God-talk , destiny and free will are seen as irreconcilable. To be clear, free will, as it is typically defined, is the ability to choose from among genuine alternatives. The difference is subtle but immense, since it is our state of consciousness that structures what we see as choices, in the first place. This happens through those Yogic tools and through all meditative practices, which temper our reactive mind while taming the twin dragons; fear and anger.

The Buddha in the Classroom: Zen Wisdom to Inspire Teachers

Tagged Buddha in the Classroom , destiny , Existentialism , fate , free will , happiness , karma , philosophy , reincarnation , Sartre , spirituality , Yoga. The kind of freedom the philosophers talk about in the west is quite different than the freedom of the saints and mystics and Yogis. The philosophers speak of defining our own purpose and identity through the choices we make, of carving out our own paths and therefore, living an authentic life. In philosophical terms, it means rejecting the traditional notion of destiny and the corresponding idea that things are inevitably the way they are, set and fixed, in a pre-planned, determined universe.

Existentialists like Sartre—so called, because our very existence is ours to shape—would famously ask, where is this plan? And so, the urging was to use our free will, the natural byproduct of being born as a conscious human being. Is this the same as the injunction, in the eastern mystic traditions to wake up?

To actively shape our own Karma by making conscious choices and to reshape our plethora of long-established, unconscious habits through mindful awareness? Insofar as we are to create our own lives, with all the responsibility that goes along with this freedom, there is a parallel. For thinkers like Sartre, consciousness is the source and spring of free will. But, this unyielding and often rigidified consciousness is exactly the source of trouble from the point of view of Buddhist and Yogic teachings. Existential freedom free will is an ability to choose from among genuine alternatives that exist in the world, whereas the freedom the Yogis speak of refers to an awakened state of mind that shapes what we see as choices in the first place.

Tagged Buddha in the Classroom , Buddhism , Camus , ego , enlightenment , Existentialism , free will , philosophy , Sartre , spirituality , thinking , Yoga. Ego is a misconstrued phenomenon. I often forget this fact when I say something like, It felt ego-driven to me. You think he was arrogant? So, here, I offer a little portraiture of this elusive, oft-misunderstood, conceptual thing.

Ordinarily thought of as arrogance, in its subtler shades, ego is desire, attachments, expectations. It is the picking and choosing mind. It is jumping to conclusions, clinging to positions, single-minded stubbornness. It is pushing your agenda. And it is all grounded in fear.

The ego is the insecure part of us that needs constant recognition, approval, reassurance, and flattery of which there is never enough. Mostly, ego just needs to be right. It is the dualistic mind. When these pestilent mental states are painstakingly peeled away, layer by layer, the light of compassion shines through, and we find that in this new state of lightness, we are able to harmonize with our surroundings, enabling others to effortlessly harmonize with us.

There is a short excerpt from my book and an interview with me here , at the Hazy Moon Zen Center. This old three-story, Victorian house is where I practice Zen-style meditation with my Sangha , or Zen Community, and where I meet with my teacher, at various steps along my journey back home.

It is rare to encounter a real Zen teacher. William Nyogen Yeo—our teacher, or Roshi—spent nearly three decades studying with the late Taizan Maezumi Roshi, who was widely regarded as the foremost Zen master of the twentieth century. Nyogen Roshi was the last of only a dozen disciples authorized by Maezumi Roshi to succeed him as a teacher. So take us through the process of this book. When did you first conceptualize the whole idea and how did it flow from there? It was the fall semester of My spirit was declining and I was dragging myself to class each day. I started envisioning a series of vignettes in which I would consider burnout from the point of view of Zen.

Little did I know, the coming semester would be the worst yet! It was almost serendipitous, though, because I had just bought a voice recorder, so I started recording myself on the way back to my car each day after class, and the stories just kept coming. Both Jainism and Buddhism spread throughout India during the period of the Magadha empire. Buddhism in India spread during the reign of Ashoka of the Maurya Empire , who patronised Buddhist teachings and unified the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century BCE. He sent missionaries abroad, allowing Buddhism to spread across Asia.

Flood and Muesse take the period between BCE and BCE as a separate period, [] [] in which the epics and the first puranas were being written. According to Alf Hiltebeitel , a period of consolidation in the development of Hinduism took place between the time of the late Vedic Upanishad c. The emerging self-definitions of Hinduism were forged in the context of continuous interaction with heterodox religions Buddhists, Jains, Ajivikas throughout this whole period, and with foreign people Yavanas, or Greeks; Sakas, or Scythians; Pahlavas, or Parthians; and Kusanas, or Kushans from the third phase on [between the Mauryan empire and the rise of the Guptas].

The end of the Vedantic period around the 2nd century CE spawned a number of branches that furthered Vedantic philosophy, and which ended up being seminaries in their own right. Prominent amongst these developers were Yoga , Dvaita , Advaita and the medieval Bhakti movement. The smriti texts of the period between BCE CE proclaim the authority of the Vedas, and "nonrejection of the Vedas comes to be one of the most important touchstones for defining Hinduism over and against the heterodoxies, which rejected the Vedas. The result is a universal achievement that may be called smarta. It views Shiva and Vishnu as "complementary in their functions but ontologically identical".

This resulted in the formation of numerous Vedanta schools, each interpreting the texts in its own way and producing its own sub-commentaries. It is noteworthy as evidence of a materialistic movement within Hinduism. Two of Hinduism's most revered epics , the Mahabharata and Ramayana were compositions of this period. Devotion to particular deities was reflected from the composition of texts composed to their worship. For example, the Ganapati Purana was written for devotion to Ganapati or Ganesh.

These texts collectively called as Puranas allowed for a divine and mythical interpretation of the world, not unlike the ancient Hellenic or Roman religions. Legends and epics with a multitude of gods and goddesses with human-like characteristics were composed. The Gupta period marked a watershed of Indian culture: Buddhism continued to have a significant presence in some regions of India until the 12th century.

Tantrism originated in the early centuries CE and developed into a fully articulated tradition by the end of the Gupta period. According to Michaels this was the "Golden Age of Hinduism" [] c. During this period, power was centralised, along with a growth of far distance trade, standardizarion of legal procedures, and general spread of literacy. After the end of the Gupta Empire and the collapse of the Harsha Empire, power became decentralised in India.

Several larger kingdoms emerged, with "countless vasal states". Smaller kingdoms were dependent on the protection of the larger kingdoms. The disintegration of central power also lead to regionalisation of religiosity, and religious rivalry. In the same period Vedanta changed, incorporating Buddhist thought and its emphasis on consciousness and the working of the mind. But at the same time, Buddhism was incorporated into Hinduism, when Gaudapada used Buddhist philosophy to reinterpret the Upanishads.

The Bhakti movement began with the emphasis on the worship of God, regardless of one's status — whether priestly or laypeople, men or women, higher social status or lower social status. The movements were mainly centered on the forms of Vishnu Rama and Krishna and Shiva. There were however popular devotees of this era of Durga.

The most popular Shaiva teacher of the south was Basava , while of the north it was Gorakhnath. The "alwar" or "azhwars" Tamil: Several important icons were women. For example, within the Mahanubhava sect, the women outnumbered the men, [] and administration was many times composed mainly of women.

Sri Vallabha Acharya — is a very important figure from this era. Vaishanava bhakti literature was an all-India phenomenon, which started in the 6th—7th century A. The religion of Alvar poets, which included a woman poet, Andal, was devotion to God through love bhakti , and in the ecstasy of such devotions they sang hundreds of songs which embodied both depth of feeling and felicity of expressions [web 8]. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded parts of northern India and established the Delhi Sultanate in the former Rajput holdings. The Sultanate ushered in a period of Indian cultural renaissance.

The resulting "Indo-Muslim" fusion of cultures left lasting syncretic monuments in architecture, music, literature, religion, and clothing. During the 14th to 17th centuries, a great Bhakti movement swept through central and northern India, initiated by a loosely associated group of teachers or Sants.

They taught that people could cast aside the heavy burdens of ritual and caste, and the subtle complexities of philosophy, and simply express their overwhelming love for God. This period was also characterized by a spate of devotional literature in vernacular prose and poetry in the ethnic languages of the various Indian states or provinces. Lingayatism is a distinct Shaivite tradition in India, established in the 12th century by the philosopher and social reformer Basavanna. The adherents of this tradition are known as Lingayats.

The term is derived from Lingavantha in Kannada, meaning 'one who wears Ishtalinga on their body' Ishtalinga is the representation of the God. In Lingayat theology, Ishtalinga is an oval-shaped emblem symbolising Parasiva, the absolute reality. Contemporary Lingayatism follows a progressive reform—based theology propounded, which has great influence in South India, especially in the state of Karnataka.

The tendency of "a blurring of philosophical distinctions" has also been noted by Burley. Sikhism originated in 15th-century Punjab , Delhi Sultanate present-day India and Pakistan with the teachings of Nanak and nine successive gurus. Sikhism's traditions and teachings are distinctly associated with the history, society and culture of the Punjab.

Adherents of Sikhism are known as Sikhs students or disciples and number over 27 million across the world. According to Gavin Flood , the modern period in India begins with the first contacts with western nations around The modern era has given rise to dozens of Hindu saints with international influence. In late 18th-century India, Swaminarayan founded the Swaminarayan Sampraday. Anandamurti , founder of the Ananda Marga , has also influenced many worldwide.

Through the international influence of all of these new Hindu denominations, many Hindu practices such as yoga, meditation, mantra, divination, and vegetarianism have been adopted by new converts. Jains authored several classical books in different Indian languages for a considerable period of time. The Dalit Buddhist movement also referred to as Navayana [] is a 19th- and 20th-century Buddhist revival movement in India. It received its most substantial impetus from B. Ambedkar 's call for the conversion of Dalits to Buddhism in and the opportunity to escape the caste -based society that considered them to be the lowest in the hierarchy.

According to Tilak, the religions of India can be interpreted "differentially" or "integrally", [] that is by either highlighting the differences or the similarities. Hinduism , Buddhism , Jainism and Sikhism share certain key concepts, which are interpreted differently by different groups and individuals.

• BUDDHISM AND CONFUCIANISM IN CH'I-SUNG'S ESSAY ON TEACHING (YUAN-TAO).
• Navigation menu!
• Buddha in the Classroom | Leaves of Wisdom Falling.
• ?

Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism share the concept of moksha , liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Common traits can also be observed in ritual. The head-anointing ritual of abhiseka is of importance in three of these distinct traditions, excluding Sikhism in Buddhism it is found within Vajrayana.

Rama is a heroic figure in all of these religions. In Hinduism he is the God-incarnate in the form of a princely king; in Buddhism, he is a Bodhisattva -incarnate; in Jainism, he is the perfect human being. Among the Buddhist Ramayanas are: The Tai Ramayana is another book retelling the divine story in Asom.

Indian religions - Wikipedia

Critics point out that there exist vast differences between and even within the various Indian religions. For a Hindu, dharma is his duty. For a Jain, dharma is righteousness, his conduct. For a Buddhist, dharma is usually taken to be the Buddha's teachings. Indian mythology also reflects the competition between the various Indian religions. A popular story tells how Vajrapani kills Mahesvara, a manifestation of Shiva depicted as an evil being. Jains assign the term nastika to one who is ignorant of the meaning of the religious texts, [] or those who deny the existence of the soul was well known to the Jainas.

Frawley and Malhotra use the term "Dharmic traditions" to highlight the similarities between the various Indian religions. This process, in which dharma was presented as an equivalent of, but also a response to, the western notion of "religion", reflects a fundamental change in the Hindu sense of identity and in the attitude toward other religious and cultural traditions. The foreign tools of "religion" and "nation" became tools of self-definition, and a new and precarious sense of the "unity of Hinduism" and of national as well as religious identity took root.

The emphasis on the similarities and integral unity of the dharmic faiths has been criticised for neglecting the vast differences between and even within the various Indian religions and traditions. King it is typical of the "inclusivist appropriation of other traditions" [] of Neo-Vedanta:. The inclusivist appropriation of other traditions, so characteristic of neo-Vedanta ideology, appears on three basic levels. First, it is apparent in the suggestion that the Advaita Vedanta philosophy of Sankara c. Second, in an Indian context, neo-Vedanta philosophy subsumes Buddhist philosophies in terms of its own Vedantic ideology.

The Buddha becomes a member of the Vedanta tradition, merely attempting to reform it from within. Finally, at a global level, neo-Vedanta colonizes the religious traditions of the world by arguing for the centrality of a non-dualistic position as the philosophia perennis underlying all cultural differences. In a judicial reminder, the Indian Supreme Court observed Sikhism and Jainism to be sub-sects or special faiths within the larger Hindu fold, [web 10] [note 28] and that Jainism is a denomination within the Hindu fold.

The Court however left it to the respective states to decide on the minority status of Jain religion. However, some individual states have over the past few decades differed on whether Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs are religious minorities or not, by either pronouncing judgments or passing legislation. One example is the judgment passed by the Supreme Court in , in a case pertaining to the state of Uttar Pradesh, which declared Jainism to be indisputably distinct from Hinduism, but mentioned that, "The question as to whether the Jains are part of the Hindu religion is open to debate.

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Another example is the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Bill , that is an amendment to a legislation that sought to define Jains and Buddhists as denominations within Hinduism. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. For religious demographics of the Republic of India, see Religion in India. For the book, see The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism. This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience.

Please help by spinning off or relocating any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia's inclusion policy. September Learn how and when to remove this template message. Madrasian Culture Soanian Culture. Bronze Age — BC. Iron Age — BC. Late medieval period — Early modern period — Periods of Sri Lanka. Vedic period and Historical Vedic religion. Painted Grey Ware culture.

The idol of Mahavira , the 24th and last Tirthankara of Jainism.



• Follow the Author.
• The Buddha in the Classroom: Zen Wisdom to Inspire Teachers by Donna Quesada;
• U.S. Military Doctrine After the Long War (World Politics Review Special Reports);

Brahmanas , Upanishads , and Vedanta. Mahavira , Jainism , Timeline of Jainism , and Jain community. Jain Palitana temples , Shatrunjaya hill, Gujarat. Maurya Empire and Silk Road transmission of Buddhism. Pala Empire and Gupta Empire. Mahabharata , Ramayana , and Puranas. Buddhism and Jainism and Decline of Buddhism in India. Advaita Vedanta and Ajativada.

Decline of Buddhism in India. Bhakti movement , Alwars , and Nayanars. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources.



Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. June Learn how and when to remove this template message. Mughal period and Maratha Empire. Adi Shankara and Charvaka. Legal Status of Jainism as a Distinct Religion. While Kuru - Panchala , at the central Ganges Plain, formed the center of the early Upanishadic tradition, Kosala - Magadha at the central Ganges Plain formed the center of the other shramanic traditions.

It is the formative period for the Upanishads and Brahmanism [subnote 1] Jainism and Buddhism. For Smart, the "classical period" lasts from to CE, and coincides with the flowering of "classical Hinduism" and the flowering and deterioration of Mahayana-buddhism in India. According to Muesse, some of the fundamental concepts of Hinduism, namely karma, reincarnation and "personal enlightenment and transformation", which did not exist in the Vedic religion, developed in this time. Over many centuries a fusion of Aryan and Dravidian occurred, a complex process that historians have labeled the Indo-Aryan synthesis.

The Brahmanas and Aranyakas are somewhat older, reaching back to the eleventh and even twelfth century BCE. The renouncer tradition played a central role during this formative period of Indian religious history Some of the fundamental values and beliefs that we generally associate with Indian religions in general and Hinduism in particular were in part the creation of the renouncer tradition. These include the two pillars of Indian theologies: They are parallel or native religions of India and have contributed to much to [sic] the growth of even classical Hinduism of the present times.

Any theory that attempts to link the two traditions, moreover fails to appreciate rather distinctive and very non-vedic character of Jaina cosmology, soul theory, karmic doctrine and atheism". These concepts were certainly circulating amongst sramanas, and Jainism and Buddhism developed specific and sophisticated ideas about the process of transmigration. It is very possible that the karmas and reincarnation entered the mainstream brahaminical thought from the sramana or the renouncer traditions.

In view of the fact that this doctrine is emblazoned on almost every page of sramana scriptures, it is highly probable that it was derived from them. There has been an ongoing debate between Jainism and Vedic Hinduism as to which revelation preceded the other. What is historically known is that there was a tradition along with Vedic Hinduism known as Sramana Dharma. Essentially, the sramana tradition included it its fold, the Jain and Buddhist traditions, which disagreed with the eternality of the Vedas, the needs for ritual sacrifices and the supremacy of the Brahmins.

Ancient Hindu and Buddhist scriptures refer to Jainism as an existing tradition which began long before Mahavira. Vajrapani refuses, because Mahesvara Shiva "is deluding beings with his deceitfull religious doctrines and engaging in all kinds of violent criminal conduct". Vajrapani and Mahesvara engage in a magical combat, which is won by Vajrapani. Mahesvara's retinue become part of Vairocana's mandala, except for Mahesvara, who is killed, and his life transferred to another realm where he becomes a buddha named Bhasmesvara-nirghosa, the "Soundless Lord of Ashes".