--- In [email protected], 覺å¦ç²¾æ ï¼JMJMï¼ <chan.jmjm@...> wrote: > > Hi Pudgala2, > > According to the Diamond Sutra, ego is defined as the "notion of self". > Sentient beings include all living beings with or without thoughts, > without or without form. > pudgala2: Anyone who has studied the Buddhist sutras know they start with Thus have I heardthey're all hearsay. The sutras are transcriptions of an oral tradition written hundreds of years after the Buddha. They where then translated into other languages by scholars who had no reference reality to what the Buddha actually did.
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch is a transcription of a speech by an illiterate laborer. It is the only sutra that works for me. The scholar(s) who translated this transcription into English chose to use the obscure word sentient in the following way: We have now vowed to deliver an infinite number of sentient beings; but what <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> does that mean? It does not mean that I, Hui-neng is going to deliver them. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> And who are these sentient beings, potential within our minds? They are the <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> delusive mind, the deceitful mind, the evil mind, and such like--all these are <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> sentient beings. Each of them has to be delivered by oneself by means of his <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> own Essence of Mind; only by his own deliverance, is it genuine. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> Now, what does it mean, "delivering oneself by one's own Essence of Mind?' <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> It means the deliverance of the ignorant, delusive, and the vexatious beings <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> that spring up within our own mind, by means of Right Views. With the aid <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> of Right Views and Prajna, the barriers thrown up by these delusive and <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> ignorant beings may be broken down; so that each of us will be in a position <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> to deliver himself by his own efforts. The false will be delivered by truthfulness; <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> the delusive by enlightenment; the ignorant by wisdom; and the malevolent by <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> benevolence; such is genuine deliverance. <http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bb29.htm> pudgala2: This is a Zen Forum and The Platform Sutra is Zennothing more needs to be saidyou either get it or you don't. > The article you quoted seems to be an incomplete personal realization > based on modern day terms. It is valuable, yet may not be complete. > This being said, however... > pudgala2: I am the author of my postings and a Zen partitioner and I enjoy expressing my understanding of the BuddhaDharma. > Even Diamond Sutra asks us to be detached from words, or more properly > quoted, be detached from the "notion of dharma". > pudgala2: My response to this comment will be a later posting. > This is the only way to liberate our heart, or as others may call it our > spirit. Such that we could witness the truth instead of studying logic. > _/\_ > jm > The Four Noble Truths of the Buddha are the most logical expressions of the way to end mental suffering that I have ever readfew put it into practice. > On 6/18/2012 12:56 PM, pudgala2 wrote: > > > > > > Twenty-five hundred years ago Siddhartha Gautama made the astonishing > > discovery > > that the ego is a "virtual reality" conditioned in the brain by > > unconsciously acquired > > beliefs, attitudes, opinions, moods, etc.â"collectively known as > > /sentient beings/. > > Gautama penetrated and released these empty emotional cofactors of his own > > conditioned personality and realized Enlightenmentâ"the end of mental > > anguish. > > > > Buddha: /I teach one thing and one thing onlyâ"the end of > > /[egotistical] /suffering./ > > > > /Sentient being/ is the most misunderstood and misused concept in > > Buddhism. It must > > be thoroughly penetrated and understood or you will completely miss > > the point of the > > BuddhaDharma and the ending of mental anguish by the *release of all* > > /sentient beings/. > > > > /Sentient beings/ are mental entities such as perceptions, beliefs, > > opinions, attitudes, > > desires, moods, values, prejudices, convictions, assumptions, > > preconceptions, biases, > > habit patterns, dispositions, sentiments, judgments, addictions, > > impulses, compulsions, > > compunctions, obsessions, scruples, delusions, views, concepts, > > thoughts, ideas, etc., > > that are *emotionally identified with and encapsulated in an ego*. > > They are mentally > > felt to be valid and real to the ego. "I am what I feel/experience" is > > the cry of the egoâ" > > the artificial sense of self construction. > > > > The ego is a psychosomatic accretion unwittingly conditioned into the > > brain by the body > > growing up the way it didâ"a /fait accompli/. The limitations of this > > crude creation generates > > ever increasing suffering in the bewildered mind. > > > > Most minds, via their ingrown egos, get distracted and bogged down in > > traditions, > > families, self complacency, careers, causes, religions, mental > > illnesses, drugs, and other > > acquired addictions, delusions, and illusions. A self selected few > > come upon the /Truth > > of Suffering/ and enter the path/process of the BuddhaDharma seeking > > an end to their > > egotistical suffering. > > > > Suffering is an alarm telling mind it is time to wake up, pay > > attention, and return to > > *Original Mind* by deconstructing the *Original Sin of Egotistical > > Identification*. > > > > >
