Tag Archives: cessation

Siddhattha’s Enlightenment

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Vajragoni

The following is what occurred during Siddhattha’s awakening beneath the Bodhi-Tree. The sacred snapshot of him sitting reflectively on a grassy knoll is known as sitting on the Throne of Wisdom. Having departed from the game of samsara at the age of twenty-nine, then practicing severe austerities for six years, he was now thirty-five years of age and thus more fully seasoned to be cloaked with the mantle of deathlessness. He was more fully prepared for Mara’s greatest molestations. Attempting to entice Siddhattha with every sensual device possible, Mara is justly rebuked and vanquished by the young and aspiring noble arhat. The Bodhisatta then became attuned to all of his previous incarnations; afterwards there was no more karma to burn in Light of the True Home of the Deathless—yea, he burned-off all his past karmic associations. It was during the middle-watch of that illuminative night that Siddhattha developed the Divine-Eye, which empowered him during the last watch to contemplate the Law of Dependent Origination, which was soon accompanied with the insight into the arising and cessating of the Five Aggregates of skandhic-grasping. read more

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To Tell the Truth

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Vajragoni

For Baby-Boomers the old TV Game-Show, To Tell the Truth, has some fond memories, in particular during its Black & White heydays from the mid-50’s into the mid-60’s. Its inception runs as follows: read more

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Praxis: Part II

Posted on December 20, 2014 by Vajragoni

(Hakeda)

The Practice of Cessation

Should there be a man who desires to practice “cessation,” he should stay in a quiet place and sit erect in an even temper. [His attention should be focused] neither on breathing nor on any form or color, nor on empty space, earth, water, fire, wind, nor even on what has been seen, heard, remembered, or conceived. All thoughts, as soon as they are conjured up, are to be discarded, and even the thought of discarding them is to be put away, for all things are essentially [in the state of] transcending thoughts, and are not to be created from moment to moment nor to be extinguished from moment to moment; [thus one is to conform to the essential nature of Reality (dharmatā) through this practice of cessation]. And it is not that he should first meditate on the objects of the senses in the external world and then negate them with his mind, the mind that has meditated on them. If the mind wanders away, it should be brought back and fixed in “correct thought.” It should be understood that this “correct thought” is [the thought that] whatever is, is mind only and that there is no external world of objects [as conceived]; even this mind is devoid of any marks of its own [which would indicate its substantiality] and therefore is not substantially conceivable as such at any moment.  read more

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Praxis: Part I

Posted on December 20, 2014 by Vajragoni

(Hakeda)

Part 4 

On Faith and Practice 

Having already discussed interpretation, we will now present a discussion of faith and practice. This discussion is intended for those who have not yet joined the group of beings who are determined to attain enlightenment.  read more

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raison d’être

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Vajragoni

(Hakeda)

  1. The Characteristics of Beings in Saṃsāra 

In analyzing the characteristics of beings in saṃāra, two categories may be distinguished. The one is “crude,” for [those who belong to this category are] united with the [crude activities of the defiled] mind; the other is “subtle,” for [those who belong to this category are] disunited from the [subtle activities of the defiled] mind. [Again, each category may in turn be subdivided into the cruder and the subtler.] The cruder of the crude belongs to the range of mental activity of ordinary men; the subtler of the crude and the cruder of the subtle belong to that of bodhisattvas; and the subtler of the subtle belongs to that of buddhas.  read more

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