Taking Refuge in the Buddha

NOTE: I am not a Dharma teacher, a "guru" or Buddhist master but am a simple lay person and the following thoughts are mine and mine alone. I firmly believe that we must work out what we believe for ourselves. That being said, it can be helpful to hear other peoples' opinions and it is my hope that this post will do that to some degree. Please, do not take it as some kind of dogma or doctrine, it is simply my understanding of one aspect of Buddhism.

We constantly hear about taking refuge in the Buddha but what exactly does that mean? Well, the word Buddha literally means "awakened" in sanskrit. Therefore when we take refuge in the Buddha, perhaps we aren't necessarily taking refuge in the historical Siddhartha Gautama. I'm not saying that if you do take this refuge literally that you are somehow "wrong" but I'm simply putting forth the conclusion that I have reached.

For me, taking refuge in the Buddha doesn't mean that in doing so the Buddha will protect us from harm, the Buddha was not a "God." It seems to me, rather that when we take refuge in the Buddha we are actually taking refuge in the present moment. As Buddha means "awakened" we are taking refuge that being awake and aware in the present moment will aid us in realizing peace with our surroundings and the world around us. This greatly reduces suffering.

The other aspect of this for me is that I see taking refuge in the Buddha to mean that we take refuge in the Buddha within us. It is reminding my duality loving ego/mind that I am interconnected with all beings throughout space and time and that includes the historical Buddha. It brings me peace that my True Nature is a beautiful, peaceful Buddha. For me, such a realization brings me great comfort and motivation to cultivate and maintain the pure awakened state of awareness that defines Buddhahood.

Just a few Friday insights from the mind of the one that they call James

~Peace to all beings~

PHOTO CREDIT: CLICK HERE

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International Bloggers Day for Burma 2007

If you are thinking about buying rubies, may I suggest you refrain. Ninety percent of the world's rubies come from the junta led government in Burma.

$750 million dollars a year worth and it all goes to the generals. However that statistic is probably low. The red color of the rubies is a horrible symbol of the blood shed to obtain them. They are quite literally, "Blood Rubies."

~Peace to Burma~

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Burma's Silent Protests and Smuggled Video Appears

Burmese Launch Silent Protest:

YANGON, Myanmar - A growing number of citizens in Myanmar's largest city are shutting off the government-run nightly newscast, trying to send the subtle message to authorities that they are tired of listening to their propaganda, residents said Tuesday.

Most are switching off the news for the first 15 minutes of the hour-long broadcast, while some also are shutting off all the lights in their homes.

It was unclear how many people participated in the protest, which spread by word of mouth.

"This is the least dangerous anti-government activity that I can take," said a resident of Yangon taking part in the protest that began Monday. "By doing this, I am showing that I am not listening to what the government is saying," the woman said, refusing to give her name for fear of government reprisal.

James: What a great example of the power of knowing we are all united, interconnected. The Burmese know that they are One in intention as well as One with people outside their country. It is an example of the saying, "United we stand, divided we fall." Anything can be accomplished when we awake from the sleepy, numbing delusion of separateness.

Video Smuggled out of Burma. CNN obtained this video taken at least two days ago in Burma:
James: The ironic thing is this video was likely taken before the Foreign Minister claimed that they have been using the "utmost restraint" in dealing with the pro-Democracy movement. In other news:

Many of the imprisoned monks are refusing to touch food from their military captors, symbolically maintaining their boycott of the Myanmar regime, according to reports emerging yesterday from unofficial sources in the isolated country.

The guards are trying to force them to eat, which is a form of torture," said Bo Kyi, head of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group based in Thailand. "I'm very worried about them. Some of them could die in detention. It's really heartbreaking for the people of Burma."
Burmese Major Flees Country After Refuses Orders to Kill Buddhist Monks:

by Nick Meo, The Times, October 3, 2007

Rangoon, Burma -- As demonstrations mounted in Rangoon and the military prepared for a crackdown, an agonising decision loomed for Major Htay Win. The soldier, who has fought ethnic rebels for 21 years, knew that he would be executed if he refused to shoot demonstrators. But as a devout Buddhist he was convinced he would burn in Hell if he killed the monks. “There were secret codes to start shooting monks. But for a Buddhist this is a terrible crime. Monks are the sons of Buddha. The account Major Htay gave The Times was of an angry and divided army, horrified at being forced to crush protesters they broadly sympathised with, but also fearful of the hard-core of officers loyal to Than Shwe, Burma’s military leader. “I am just the first who will come to Thailand,” he said. “There are many officers like me who are deeply unhappy. They didn’t want to kill the monks. Many officers are also angry because the Burmese people are hungry.” He claimed that many sympathise with Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s jailed pro-democracy leader. “The problem is that they are afraid of Than Shwe. He is so cruel,” he said.

“I am sure officers must have refused their orders to shoot monks. They will themselves be shot — it will happen in a prison and we will never hear about it. If I went back to Burma, I would be executed by them without a moment’s thought.”

"Than Shwe will try to hang on to power, but I believe this time next year he will be gone. There are other soldiers who want his power.”

None of his colleagues believed the regime’s claim that protesters were in league with foreign powers. “They know that is bulls**t. The generals just want to cling on to power,” he said.

James: The top cadre of leaders within the junta has gone too far this time in killing the most revered people in Burma, the Buddhist monks. Yet the irony is that the top leadership will most likely be toppled by a revolt from their own soldiers. And finally, I'd like to add this quote from His Holiness the Dalai Lama:

Lack of understanding of the true nature of happiness, it seems to me, is the principal reason why people inflict sufferings on others. They think either that the other's pain may somehow be a cause of happiness for themselves or that their own happiness is more important, regardless of what pain it may cause. But this is shortsighted: no one truly benefits from causing harm to another sentient being. Whatever immediate advantage is gained at the expense of someone else is shortlived. In the long run, causing others misery and infringing their rights to peace and happiness result in anxiety, fear, and suspicion within oneself. Such feelings undermine the peace of mind and contentment which are the marks of happiness. True happiness comes not from a limited concern for one's own well-being, or that of those one feels close to, but from developing love and compassion for all sentient beings. Here, love means wishing that all sentient beings should find happiness, and compassion means wishing that they should all be free of suffering. The development of this attitude gives rise to a sense of openness and trust that provides the basis for peace.

--The Dalai Lama, from The Dalai Lama: A Policy of Kindness, edited by Sidney Piburn From Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book

~Peace to all beings~

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Meditation and Nausea with an Update on the Situation in Burma

I've been feeling nauseous lately and today I'm feeling it again. I didn't feel up to meditating this morning because of my stomach but I thought that it might help despite feeling like it was the last activity I wanted to engage in. I tend to heat up when I meditate which doesn't help calm my stomach in the least so I took off my socks to release some energy and began to breath deeply from my stomach.

I did a relaxation meditation for the first ten minutes focusing my breath and mind upon each section of my body and when I reached my intestines and stomach I spent a little extra time taking in full but not forced breaths. It wasn't long before my stomach felt stable and relaxed. By the end of my session my stomach had relaxed so much that it was able to belch out some trapped air that was causing some pressure and thus adding to the stomach sickness. Gone was the tightness of my stomach muscles.

The other aspect of this is that I saw my chiropractor early today before meditating and I was super tight from recent neck problems. However, once my spine adjusted during this current session I noticed that my stomach relaxed ever so slightly.

Yes, meditation is a great medicine for so many conditions and states of mind.

It is remarkable how when one part of your body is stressed and unbalanced the rest of your body becomes misaligned as well. It's the mind, body, consciousness interconnection. I am a firm believer that our state of mind can greatly affect how our body feels. It is a excellent reminder of the interdependency between the parts that make up "the body." In reality we know that there is no such thing as a "body" rather only parts that make up what we label a "body" that we often (unskillfully) address as a separate manifestation from anything else.

However, what good is a body if oxygen isn't available and what good is a body if food isn't available? The body can not live without the warmth of the sun, just like it can not survive without water. So, we see that we are actually made up of "things" or manifestations that are non-body parts. In reality, there is nothing that exists that isn't apart of our bodies.

BURMA UPDATE:

Yangon, Myanmar -- Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.

The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: 'Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand.'

There were reports that many were savagely beaten at a sports ground on the outskirts of Rangoon, where they were heard crying for help.

Others who had failed to escape disguised as civilians were locked in their bloodstained temples.

There, troops abandoned religious beliefs, propped their rifles against statues of Buddha and began cooking meals on stoves set up in shrines.

'People are scared and the general assessment is that the fight is over. We were informed from one of the largest embassies in Burma that 40 monks in the Insein prison were beaten to death today and subsequently burned.'

The 42-year-old chief of military intelligence in Rangoon's northern region, added: 'I decided to desert when I was ordered to raid two monasteries and force several hundred monks onto trucks.

'They were to be killed and their bodies dumped deep inside the jungle. I refused to participate in this.'

James: The following poem (not sure where it is from but I believe it is in the Anguttara Nikaya) contains some words that comfort me in the face of all the death and misery going on these days in Burma (and in the rest of the world, such as in Iraq). Perhaps it will touch and comfort someone who has lost family and friends in Burma (or elsewhere).

This body is not me.

I am not limited by this body.

I am life without boundaries.

I have never been born,

and I have never died.

Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars, manifestations from my wondrous true mind.

Since before time, I have been free.

Birth and death are only doors through which we pass, sacred thresholds on our journey.

Birth and death are a game of hide- and seek.

So laugh with me,

hold my hand,

let us say good-bye,

say good-bye, to meet again soon.

We meet today.

We will meet again tomorrow.

We will meet at the source every moment.

We meet each other in all forms of life.

James: Then of course there are the Five Remembrances. Below are the remembrances offered by Thich Nhat Hanh with a snippet of analysis of them by Frank Jude Boccio in an article titled, "Embrace Reality" published in the Yoga Journal:

I like this version of the Buddha's Five Remembrances, offered by Thich Nhat Hanh in The Plum Village Chanting Book (Parallax Press, 1991).

I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape ill health.

I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change.

There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

Boccio: At a recent lecture, I led a group of interfaith seminarians in the contemplation of the Five Remembrances, Buddha's teaching on impermanence, aging, health, change, and death. Afterward, one of the students asked, "Isn't this just negative thinking?" On the contrary, the Five Remembrances is what the Buddha offers to awaken you from denial, to cultivate gratitude and appreciation for the life you've been given, and to teach you about nonattachment and equanimity.

If you think of it this way, the meditation is not a bleak, depressing list of things you'll lose, but a reminder of the wonder and miracle of life as it is -perfect and whole, lacking nothing. When you accept impermanence as more than a philosophical concept, you can see the truth of it as it manifests itself in your mind, your body, your environment, and your relationships, and you no longer take anything for granted.

Once you accept the reality of impermanence, you begin to realize that grasping and clinging are suffering, as well as the causes of suffering, and with that realization you can let go and celebrate life. The problem is not that things change, but that you try to live as if they don't.

When you can extend beyond the limits you've created you see that your life is not really "yours" but all of life itself manifesting through you.

As the Buddha tells us: "When one perceives impermanence, the perception of no-self is established. With the perception of no-self, the conceit of 'I' is eliminated, and this is nirvana here and now."

~Peace to all beings~

PHOTO CREDIT: CLICK HERE

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Situation in Burma Day 12. Hope Fading, Monks Tortured and Killed.

AP, Sept 29, 2007

YANGON, Myanmar -- Soldiers and police took control of the streets Friday, firing warning shots and tear gas to scatter the few pro-democracy protesters who ventured out as Myanmar's military junta sealed off Buddhist monasteries and cut public Internet access.

On the third day of a harsh government crackdown, the streets were empty of the mass gatherings that had peacefully challenged the regime daily for nearly two weeks, leaving only small groups of activists to be chased around by security forces.

Thousands of monks had provided the backbone of the protests, but they were besieged in their monasteries, penned in by locked gates and barbed wire surrounding the compounds in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay. Troops stood guard outside and blocked nearby roads to keep the clergymen isolated.

Many Yangon residents seemed pessimistic over the crackdown, fearing it fatally weakened a movement that began nearly six weeks ago as small protests over fuel price hikes and grew into demonstrations by tens of thousands demanding an end to 45 years of military rule.

The corralling of monks was a serious blow. They carry high moral authority in this predominantly Buddhist nation of 54 million people and the protests had mushroomed when the clergymen joined in.

"The monks are the ones who give us courage. I don't think that we have any more hope to win," said a young woman who had taken part in a huge demonstration Thursday that broke up when troops shot protesters. She said she had not seen her boyfriend and feared he was arrested.

James: Despite this news of fading hope we know that things will change one day for the Burmese people. We take refuge in the Dharma which involves realization and a deep understanding of impermanence. The impermanence of the situation in Burma is evident on so many levels and the crackdowns remind those of us who live in better situations to not take that reality for granted, for it will indeed disappear one day. All is impermanent so now is the time to find peace within, so that just like these monks, nothing will keep us down or terrorize us with fear.

MONKS BEATEN, TORTURED AND KILLED:

Eye witnesses said that numerous monasteries were raided on Friday with reports that many monks were beaten and arrested. Whole monasteries were reported to have been trashed with blood and broken glass seen everywhere.

An unconfirmed account had it that a monastery at an obscure neighborhood of Yangon, called Ngwe Kyar Yan (on Wei-za-yan-tar Road, Yangon) was raided early in the morning of Sept 28, 2007.

A troop of "lone-tein" - the local name for the riot police which comprises mainly of paid thugs and protected by the military, attacked the monastery with 200 monks studying there.

They systematically rounded up all the monks and ordered them to line up. Then, one after another, brute force was used to push their heads against the brick wall of the monastery, in many cases crushing the monks' skulls.

One by one, the non-resisting monks fell to the ground, screaming in pain. The "lone-teins" then tore off the red robes from the monks, threw the bodies into the military trucks (like rice bags) and taken away to an unknown location.

The head monk of the monastery, who was tied up in the middle of the monastery was tortured and bludgeoned. He was said to have died later in the same day.

James: Despite this awful news I would imagine that those monks (and citizens) who gave their lives are well on their way to Buddhahood.

LETTER OF APPEAL FROM VENERABLE AJHAN SUMEDO:

I am making a statement of support and sympathy for the heroic efforts of the Buddhist Monks, Nuns, Students, and all the Burmese Laypeople who are peacefully protesting against the injustice and oppression of the present government of Myanmar.

It is very confusing and distressing to witness a government which claims to respect the Buddhist religion react to a peaceful protest in such a violent and brutal way.

I have always held the Sangha in Burma with great respect. I ask the present government to listen to the Sangha and to seek a way of reconciliation in accord with the Dhamma which will be for the welfare and happiness of all.

I send all my blessings to the peaceful protesters and my compassion to the Government of Myanmar which has strayed so far from the wisdom and compassion of the Lord Buddha.

~Peace to all beings~

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