SageTree

I thought for some time yesterday while mowing about what I could add to this talk. Mostly, just ending up feeling frusterated, because I didn't know what I wanted to say.

Komps comment there, gave me an idea this morning.

Here is a decent outline of Buddhism and God, better stated in diversity than I can summon at 6am.

Basically it's not ruled out that you can't believe in a Creator God, in a western sense, however the Buddha stated that said belief or speculation can lead to inaction and having the attachement, only leads back to Samsara, or further suffering. The basis for that is that Buddhism uses observation and analysis to drawl wisdom and understanding.

Feeling pretty Agnostic , for lack of a better paragraph, and striving to follow the Buddha Dharma, I read sutras, saw the path laid forth, and decided to see if the no creator/non-issue of Creator, could be true for me.

Seeing a supreme consciousness, like an ether, prevading the Universe, is how I have thought about Dharma for years. While its not soley this, I see it working within Natural Laws and ARE the 'Laws'. Cause and Effect (Karma) in a physics sense simply means, when you act with a certain force that Laws of motions take effect, and the 'gravity' of the action brings the things you put out into the world, back down to you. Albeit sometimes the timing seems unfair, viewing with an mind full of Ego, makes it seem unfair. Realistically I expect some 'unfair' things to happen, but analisis leads to knowing it will pass, or I'll make due with what I got.

This isn't a scare tactic to me. It's seems logical. I have done 'bad' things in life intentionally when I was younger, and we all do them unintentionally in small ways that we don't even know about. But actions given with love and pure intention to allieve suffering, sometimes fall on ears that are having a bad day, for instance, and don't resound very nicely. To me this means I can work better on Right Speak and Understanding.

Back to the Point. I feel like there is a system in the Universe in place that doesn't work in so mysterious ways. Dharma is the gravity that attracts and repels. We are 'creators' who can chose to knock down that first domino in a chain and the rest falls as nature intends, beit ending the chain or falling alittle to the left of centre and not knocking down more. My intention is good and I accept that bad things happen to you even when you are trying your hardest to live rightly.

The Creator, Mover or Punisher, doesn't play much into my understanding of why things happen, Is what I found out, personally. Life is ever changing and the more suited and practiced I am in observing and using perspective, bad things don't really happen, with enough looking, even attrocities, which are painfully sad, are still only a way the wheel of life turns.

We WILL die physically and after that I don't know what happens. I have a notional idea of what reincarnation means, but I also look at it from that minute to minute, birth decay death cycle, where we carry all our past deeds, from this life, which is karma, from one minute to the next, then reincarnation does logically exist in this life time. As for the bigger possible reincarnation/transmigration of Soul and what that even means, I don't know. Focusing on that is a goal and leads to attachment to that goal and all the speculation around it.

Living rightly now I can feel assured that ,as long as I'm realistic about my intention, I am acting to the most realized manner as I can conceive and that makes me feel true. But also leads me to constantly consider why and what intent I have. And how I can do better, but not in a down on myself way, just with sincere consideration that I am practicing and it takes time.

In the end, not having a Creator or phyiscal God, didn't leave me unsettled at all. Observing the phenomena of life with Love and Understanding brings me peace. Having a teacher who has laid a path with many means of traveling it and with open inquary is good for me. Reading the texts and looking at how there is a micro and macro application to these words has logically pushed me closer to enlightenment from moment to moment, from insight to insight, from breath to mindfull breath, has given me the power to love people as hard as I can and use compassion to the understanding that we ALL suffer and ALL want release, and I am part of that creating and release, the rising and falling of life, feelings, emotions. Impermenance of all mental states, knowing the 'This too shall pass", whole heartedly, has left me humbled and feeling at my best to swollow my pride at times, consider if interveining will help, an just being patient.

This is why I had a hard time knowing what to add to this, because I feel that recently I have had solidifying experiences, that has changed my idea of God and the necessity to discuss it. I can listen deeply and watch in meditation and find God that was I suppose, but I feel for me, that honouring that rise and fall of all things in my meditation/life and living with viginlant awareness of the moment, IS the highest form of honour I can pay anything, human, God or the Triple Gem of Buddha/Dharma/ Sangha. I can see the visble effects of that mindset and how I 'create' a world around me where people know that I love them, even in small ways with strangers, I do my best to let them know I care, with small seemingly impersonal actions.

God said 'He was who he was' and that sounds like 'He' didn't want alot of stuff piled on top, laden with knowing and expectation. Not expecting, on that note, releases me from more suffering from attachment to outcomes. And I don't know what to expect afterwards. But I can do my best here to help create a 'heaven' on earth, and I know I'll find out what happens when I die,even if it's just knowing it's my last breath.

Thanks for letting me talk about 'God' in a personal way, and allowing me to freely layout, ALOT, where I am at in my head, and the process of my consideration.

Namaste'
SageTree

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