[image: Inline image 2] When Shakya the Muni attained the buddha state, he is reported to have said: "Profound, simple, transparent!" What did he mean by this?
The 'Buddha', Shakya the Muni, was born in 563 BCE - in the sixth century in what is now Nepal, at Kapilavastu. He was the founder of the 'Enlightenment Tradition' in South Asia, that is, 'original Buddhism' before the rise of the eighteen sects. Shakya was a householder who became a recluse at the age of twenty-three, by renouncing the world in pursuit of finding the answer to the cause of suffering and how to eradicate it. Shakya was the first historical yogin in India. According to Shakya, he became 'enlightend' while sitting under a tree and practicing meditation. That's why in the Mahayana Shakya is depicted in a sitting meditative pose. Buddha in Sanskrit means 'the awakened one', that is he 'woke up' to the Reality that all events and conditions are the result of causes, and that everything happen for a reason. Shakya Buddha taught *Causation*, the central philosophy of Buddhism. Shakya practiced a form of yogic meditation, according to the Shakya himself in numerous talks and conversations. The question is: 'Did the Shakya use a specific yoga meditation technique in order to become enlightened, and if so what was it? According to the Soto Zen Tradition, Shakya passed down a special meditation that is very similar to TM practice. It involves a sitting type of meditative repose in which the mind becomes empty of thoughts allowing one's own Buddha nature to be realized. According to R. A. F. Thurman, "What can be said with some certainty is that what the Shakya taught was not a religion. A young seeker who would later become one of the Buddha's most famous disciples met an old monk on the streets of the Indian city of Varanasi whose composure and contented glow were notable. The youth asked the old mendicant about his teacher and the teaching he followed. The monk avowed an inability to explain and invited the seeker to visit his teacher, the Buddha. The seeker insisted on some explanation, and the monk said, "The Buddha has said that all things arise from causes, what are their causes, and what their cessation. Such being his philosophy!" This mantralike statement contains the core insight of Shakya the Muni. In Sanskrit 'dhyana', Chinese 'chan', and in Japan, 'zen', which translated into English means 'meditation'. So, Bodhidharma took the Shakya's teaching to China, hence it was taken to Japan by Dogen who founded the Soto Zen sect. Thus a direct link back to Buddha Shakya himself. According to Dogen, the practice of sitting zazen IS the experience of enlightenment - they are one and the same. Shakya the Muni formulated the Twelve Fold Chain of Causation in order to explain cause and effect to our understanding. The Shakya taught Causation and he offered the Eight Fold Path to liberation. He said that each of us must work out our own salvation with diligence. Naga Arjuna said that all things and events are devoid of own-being; He also said that any statement when taken to extremes will be found to be self-contradictory, thus teaching the Middle Way. However, Naga Arjuna said that it's important to understand the law of the excluded middle: you are not going to get any more enlightenment than you are going to get. It's also important to remember that wanting to change that which cannot be changed will only result in despair and frustration. These calm and rational words of the Shakya are like a cool, refreshing breeze. It's probably a fact that there are no Buddha's in heaven and none of the Gods are enlightened. So, lets sum up what we know: Shakya realized that everything happens for a reason - things don't just happen at random. So, there is causation - all things owe their existence to other things; and all things change due to the change in other things - in short, for each action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It's the law of physics: co-existent determination. Shakya realized that all things are relational and momentary. There's not a single thing in this world that is really absolutely, permanent and non-changing. Shakya saw all his previous existences; he saw all his future existences; he saw all the suffering he had endured and would endure for myriads of lifetimes. He saw that he would suffer in being reborn, going through old age, and dying, over and over again. Work cited: 'Inner Revolution' by Robert Thurman, Ph.D. Riverhead Books, 1998 p. 322 On Sun, Dec 29, 2013 at 7:23 AM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: > > Om, have either of you earned a real PhD from a real university > > or are you just pretty well read in spiritual things? > > > Most of what I know I learned from my teachers: MMY, Suzuki Roshi, Lama > Govinda, and Chogyam Trungpa. After learning how to meditate I was > interested in learning exactly what it was that I was doing. So, I started > to read some books and take some courses. I took several courses with Dr. > Patrick Olivelle, who was the Chair of the Department of Asian Studies, and > Director of the Center for Asian Studies, at the University of Texas at > Austin. Later I took some courses with Professor Brougham at a community > college. All this reading and taking courses would probably have been > almost worthless without a grounding in how to meditate. No degree could > ever provide the practical knowledge of exactly how to contact the > transcendent. It's not complicated, but it is interesting to read about > spiritual paths. > > > On Sat, Dec 28, 2013 at 8:52 PM, <dhamiltony...@yahoo.com> wrote: > >> >> >> Om, have either of you earned a real PhD from a real university or are >> you just pretty well read in spiritual things? Just wondering. Das after >> your name can work pretty good too. Das is a different credential than >> just being a Phd. >> >> -Buck Das on the lone prairie >> >> >> > >
