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    George Vasiliades
    This document discusses adapting spiritual practices to modern life. It argues that strict asceticism is no longer necessary and that we should question traditions and listen to our inner Buddha nature instead of dictating paths. We are asked to meditate on the idea that the Buddha is within us now, not a place to be reached. A story is shared about a man asking Avalokitesvara for help and being told he needs only to see within himself for wisdom. We are encouraged to find the Buddha in every situation through intention, meditation, devotion, compassion, and sitting in silence to let our inner Buddha emerge.

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    This document discusses adapting spiritual practices to modern life. It argues that strict asceticism is no longer necessary and that we should question traditions and listen to our inner Buddha nature instead of dictating paths. We are asked to meditate on the idea that the Buddha is within us now, not a place to be reached. A story is shared about a man asking Avalokitesvara for help and being told he needs only to see within himself for wisdom. We are encouraged to find the Buddha in every situation through intention, meditation, devotion, compassion, and sitting in silence to let our inner Buddha emerge.

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    This document discusses adapting spiritual practices to modern life. It argues that strict asceticism is no longer necessary and that we should question traditions and listen to our inner Buddha nature instead of dictating paths. We are asked to meditate on the idea that the Buddha is within us now, not a place to be reached. A story is shared about a man asking Avalokitesvara for help and being told he needs only to see within himself for wisdom. We are encouraged to find the Buddha in every situation through intention, meditation, devotion, compassion, and sitting in silence to let our inner Buddha emerge.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    28 views2 pages

    For Upload 2

    Uploaded by

    George Vasiliades
    This document discusses adapting spiritual practices to modern life. It argues that strict asceticism is no longer necessary and that we should question traditions and listen to our inner Buddha nature instead of dictating paths. We are asked to meditate on the idea that the Buddha is within us now, not a place to be reached. A story is shared about a man asking Avalokitesvara for help and being told he needs only to see within himself for wisdom. We are encouraged to find the Buddha in every situation through intention, meditation, devotion, compassion, and sitting in silence to let our inner Buddha emerge.

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    of 2

    Being free in the context of a spiritual discipline

    Dear friends, After several posts on some of the tenets of Vajrayana, I decided to talk about some ideas on how a disciple, taking on a spiritual path, should approach his practices. For many centuries, disciples all over the world learned the hard way. Asceticism, fasting, meditating for hours, disturbed sleeping patterns were some of the highlights of the life of a disciple. But does this lifestyle still apply in achieving the aspirations of a devotee? Do we still need to be strict in our arduous efforts? My friends, things have changed. Modern life doesn't give us the luxury to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world and embark into our voyage towards Self Realization in practicing our faith as Buddhist monks did aeons ago. No, we need to adapt our practices in such a way that the fruits of our labours can ripen. But what do I mean by that in practical terms? Simply put, we only need to let go of what we know or have known as the Buddhist path, as being dictated by our Patriarchs (including me), and move deeply in silence and ask ourselves: What has really changed in my life since I started following my spiritual path? Have I really accomplished peace, harmony, steadfastness in becoming more compassionate? If not? Why is that? Many of you will argue that questioning the wisdom of our Patriarchs would be disrespectful to them and to the face of our Lord Buddha. But is it? One thing that Shakyamuni Buddha, the first expounder of the current form of Dharma in all of its three vehicles of Buddhism, was to apply Upaya, or 'skilful means' to lead people to Self Realization. But where is the Buddha now to guide us through these difficult times when the old strict and narrow path doesn't help us anymore to become what we indented to become in the first place? The Buddha, my dear friends, is in you. What you need to do is to stop and listen in silence your own Buddha-Nature. Many will also argue that the inherent Buddha-Nature in every human being is so deeply hidden within ourselves that even if we tried to reach it in silence we would be mislead by our own ego-nature. My brothers and sisters, the Buddha is not a place someone needs to reach, no. The Buddha is here and now, and everywhere. Meditate on this for a while. A man sits in front of the statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, the Lord of infinite Compassion, in pray asking for help. The Bodhisattva answers. He sais: 'Son, do not seek for my help. I cannot help you'. The man asks why, and the Bodhisattva answers. He sais: 'You do not need my help, you only need to see'. The man asks how. The Bodhisattva answers. He sais: 'Oh, it is simple. You only need to look for the Buddha inside the problem and gather the fruit of wisdom that is hidden within it'. So my friends, this is true practice, learning to find the Buddha in every situation, every human, every animal, every plant and every rock. Of course we need to meditate, but not constantly. Of course we need to display devotion, but with moderation. Of course we need to practice compassion, but with wisdom. But we also need to learn to see, and that seeing

    comes only through our own intention to sit in silence and let the Buddha immerge from within. Intention is something powerful that goes beyond the mind. Daoists believe that intention springs from the wholeness of your consciousness not only the mind but from your whole body, so powerful the intention is. But thats another story that I will discuss in another post Love Kukai

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