Silpa
- Buddha
A
great many things transpire here and there and everywhere all over
the world of today. Some appear trivial, some momentous; some close
to ourselves, some far away. Most of them generate fear, anxiety and
discord of thoughts from personal right up to societal level. For
instance, the seemingly insoluble wars and killings in many parts
of the world all lead to destructions, and fellow human beings died
daily. Their death cuts deep into Mankind's sensibility. Wars and
killings bring pain tnd suffering to Man’s body and mind. And it seems
that the further the world advances, Our anxiety exponentially multiplies.
Granted
the above world conditions and turning to the individuals, fear lies
at the very core of Man's mind. the fear that arises from worldly
conditions loss of gains, loss of fame or rank or dignity, blames,
and pain : fear that derives from being born into the world, getting
old, getting sick and passing away ; agony that results from cravings
to have or to be, and cravings not to have or not to be ; suffering
that derives from clinging to the egobelief; suffering that arises
from greed, hatred and delusion; they all are but suffering that arise
from lack of essential knowledge. It is the state of' ignorance cloaking
essential knowledge that lures Mankind to lead a life without direction,
floating along with the tides of mundane worldly conditions, day in
and day out with no end in sight. Whenever humankind is troubled by
suffering, they would search for an escape path, in accordance with
their personal belief and level of intellect. But quite often, instead
of untying the original knots of suffering, they futher create new
ones that squeeze them much tighter
Buddhism
is a religion leading toward a state of knowing awakening, and blissfulness.
Thanks to the purity of His mind, wisdom and loving-kindness, Lord
Buddha had discovered the "Buddha conditionality" and propagated
it among the worldly creatures, calling it Dharma. Subsequently propounded
in all directions by the holy Sangha, the path leading toward such
a state of being consists of rules of morality. concentration and
understanding. Rules of morality or Sila are precepts preventing people
from doing bad deeds - physically, verbally and spiritually. Concentration
or Samadhi refers to the doing of good deeds through detachment from
worries, critiques and enchantment until the Four Jhanas or Absorptions
have been attained. Once attained, the mind will be in a condition
suitable to reflect upon the state of things as they are, in accordance
with the Four Noble Truths, namely: Suffering, Origins of suffering,
Cessation of suffering and the Path leading to the cessation of suffering.
If one were to view in terms of substance of the principal path leading
to total extinction of the origins of suffering, one could contemplate
on the four foundations of mindfulness: Body, Feelings, Mind and Mind-objects
in that order. Knowledge leads to understanding, thus giving rise
to the cstate of Buddhae. Once wisdom reaches the state of total purity,
the cstate of Buddhae likewise becomes totally pure like a full moon.
A person in that state of being has successfully released self from
the worldly life cycle founded on ignorance of the essential knowledge,
began ascending upon the supra-mundane or cunbelonginge plane, poising
to become a noble individual - starting from the plane of Stream-entrant,
Once returner, Non-retuner and finally the Worthy One, in that order.
The process can be compared to a lotus growing out of sludge, rising
above water, spreading, its petals amidst the radiance of wisdom,
being sustained by understanding, tiid powered along by the cstate
of Buddhae in the final stage
Lord
Buddha had discovered and unambiguously ordered the steps from start
to finish in the path leading to the "state of Buddha".
Any one who has discovered His dharma, studied. understood and practiced
them accordingly, would personally experience the results accrued
from such efforts - the blissfulness that radiates in his body, remarks
and mind, not to mention the conduct of life henceforth in human society.
The wider the grace of cstate of Buddhae expands, the greater the
happiness and peacefulness will be experienced by humankind. Translation by Chantima Ongsuragz
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