The Themes of Discovering the Heart of Buddhism

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2 The Core Themes DHB The Themes of Discovering the Heart of Buddhism Here there is nothing to remove and nothing to add. The one who sees the Truth of Being as it is, By seeing the Truth, is liberated. - Verse from the Ratnagotravibhaga, an important Buddhist text. The overall aim of the course is to awaken in you a heart response giving you increased confidence with a greater sense of connectedness, value, meaning, purpose and direction in life. It tries to do this by: helping you appreciate the full significance of and deepen your understanding of what you actually knew already from your own experience. helping you understand your experience in the context of a vaster and profounder vision - in particular the vision that the Buddhist tradition has to offer. Your initial understanding of the themes of this course, which form the underlying principles of Buddhism, will be the starting point of a deepening and expanding process. The purpose behind these underlying principles is to help you to find coherence and clarity in your life and 26

3 DHB The Core Themes your further study and practice of Buddhism. As you encounter these same principles again and again in your life and experience, and in more advanced teachings, your understanding of them should deepen naturally as time goes by and that understanding should have a liberating effect. At every stage in Buddhism, it is understanding that liberates. If a new understanding does not feel liberating, then you need to look further, in a different way or more deeply until a new understanding arises that does. The seven themes of the Discovering the Heart of Buddhism training can be thought of as forming a spiral of teaching themes which radiate out from the core theme, the Indestructible Heart Essence. As one follows each theme outwards away from the centre, the topics become more technical and complex. However, the understanding of these complexities depends on and aids one's understanding of the simplicity at the centre. Thus, the measure of success is not so much whether one has covered a certain number of topics, as whether one has a deep understanding of the simplicity at the centre. The complexity reflects the spontaneity and simplicity of the centre. An everdeepening understanding, experience and realisation of the centre throws the complexity at the periphery into perspective. In practical terms, one's learning progresses in a spiral. Each time you return to a theme, it is at a deeper level of understanding and so it always has the capacity to 27

4 The Core Themes DHB yield some fresh insight. There is never a point at which, for example, you approach a topic such as Openness or Heart-Wish with a bored sense of Oh I ve done that. Returning to each theme is, every time, a means of deepening your meditation and experience. Deepening your understanding of one theme, such as Openness, deepens your understanding of all the other themes. Thus, the stability of your understanding and confidence in the core theme and the relationship between that and all the supporting themes steadily increases. The training is designed to keep the development of your understanding dynamically balanced. This approach enables you to pursue all the themes together, constantly linking them back to the centre, continually reminding yourself that all teachings are to further the process of discovering one's own heart essence. This is the overall vision of the path and the purpose of the training within the Awakened Heart Sangha. Overview of the Seven Themes For quick reference, brief comments on the seven themes and the contents of the coursebooks are included here. Indestructible Heart Essence, the core theme of the course, also known as Buddha Nature, the primordially existent essence of our being. 28

5 DHB The Core Themes Confidence refers to confidence in the true nature of our being and experience, giving us a sense of direction and meaning and the courage to overcome negative conditions. Heart Wish is the seat of our deepest and most genuine longings, our drive towards truth and awakening, the power to accomplish the welfare of ourselves and others present in the Indestructible Heart Essence. Openness is the ungraspable, open, spacious quality of all experience. Clarity is the vivid, light and knowing quality that is the mark of awareness. Sensitivity is the emotional, responsive quality present in all experience. Mandala Principle is the structure and dynamic of all experience and of the Indestructible Heart Essence itself. It manifests in all our connections and relationships with the world and other beings. Course Outline Though the Themes are presented in a certain order here, you can approach them in any order you and your Mentor think best for you. Indestructible Heart Essence A) Heart 29

6 The Core Themes DHB B) Contrast between Heart and Mind C) Chitta - Heart and Mind Together D) The Awakening - Letting go of Clinging E) The Indestructible Essence Of Our Being Confidence A) Distinguishing Conditioned from Unconditioned Confidence B) Relating Confidence to the Body C) Confidence that Leads to Awakening D) Confidence in your Power of Discernment F) Confidence to Accept the Truth G) Confidence in the Indestructible Heart Essence H) General Summary Heart Wish A) Introduction B) Discovering the Power of your Heart Wish C) Using our Power of Accomplishment D) Linking the Heart Wish to the Vaster Vision Openness A) Introduction B) How to be more Open and Spacious C) Further levels of increasing subtlety 30

7 DHB The Core Themes D) Summary and Review of Theme Clarity A) Introduction B) How to be more clear C) Clarity at increasing levels of subtlety D) Summary and Review of Theme Sensitivity A) Introduction B) Becoming more sensitive and responsive C) How to Practise D) Summary and Review of Theme Mandala Principle A) Introduction B) The Practical Implications C) Summary and Review of Theme 31

8 The Core Themes DHB The Core Themes in More Detail This section introduces the Core Themes in more detail, and gives some insight into the thinking behind each. At the end of each description, there is a short reflective exercise. You may find it useful to use this as the basis for your conversation with your Mentor. The Indestructible Heart Essence The process of Awakening relies on the fact that we already have within ourselves the power to awaken and that power is none other than the power of the truth. The more open and honest we are, the more that truth reveals itself and the more we experience its inherent wisdom and compassion. What we do not realise is that all that wisdom and compassion is emanating from the nature of reality itself, the reality to which the Buddha Awakened. He did not awaken to a reality that was other than the Awakened Heart itself, the essence of his being. This is also the essence of our heart and being and it is this that we are seeking to link into as the basis, the path and the final fruition of the process of Enlightenment. In order for that process to develop properly, various aspects of the Indestructible Heart Essence have to be discovered within our being and brought into focus. All these aspects are intrinsic to the heart of our being or experience and this is why the Indestructible Heart 32

9 DHB The Core Themes Essence is the core theme of the programme. Many of us are attracted to Buddhism because it is so precise and appealing to the rational mind; it is not vague, woolly and sentimental. Unfortunately, for many of us, this reflects a bias towards having a greater respect for the mind than for the heart, as if the heart must always be associated with imprecision and sentimentality. For this reason, the first sections of the course are deliberately focussed on the heart/mind split that we have inherited in our culture and language and seek to start the process of healing that rift through greater awareness on various levels. We start by focusing on the heart and gradually, as the course unfolds, the profound significance of the words 'indestructible' and 'essence' begin to emerge. The whole Buddhist tradition is based on the belief that we have within our being, within our heart, an awake quality, an inner wisdom, which expresses itself as warmth and gentleness. When completely awakened, this is the boundless kindness of the Buddha acting forever for the benefit of all beings without bias or partiality. This awake quality is very tender, but because our vision is so narrow, we dare not allow it to be too tender. Our sense of being weak and limited creates the fear of being overwhelmed by too strong emotions such as deep compassion or anger, so somehow we manage to cut ourselves off from them. Strangely, this effort to cut ourselves off from the depths of our emotions, is at the same time an effort 33

10 The Core Themes DHB to protect ourselves from the overwhelming power of awakening. It is this, our natural and yet misguided attempt to protect ourselves from reality, that in Buddhism is called the obscuring process. It is like dense clouds obscuring the sun. The training consists of getting glimpses of that sun behind the clouds and learning to open out to it. This requires careful preparation. That essence of the heart is very tender, and if we simply go blundering in, as it were, without properly preparing ourselves, we could just get very hurt, or get a very negative feeling about the whole thing, and want to close up again - perhaps even more than before. So it is very important to approach the essence of the heart in a very balanced, steady, gentle, persistent, determined way, - not rushing at it, nor giving up as soon as there is any set-back or difficulty. The first essential thing is to have an open enquiring mind that really wants to know the truth about what it is experiencing. After a while it becomes obvious that this alone is not enough. Persistence is also required. This involves resolve and a sense of commitment. Commitment here means primarily an inner commitment to the pursuance of truth and the process of Awakening. That commitment expresses itself as a kind of determination not to give up, whatever happens, however badly or however many 34

11 DHB The Core Themes times one falls back into confusion, however many difficulties seem to block one's path to Awakening. This determination has to be balanced with an understanding that we have to approach with gentleness. As we get in touch with ourselves, we discover, ever anew, that the reality of our being has many facets and to lean too heavily on one at the expense of the others leads to an imbalance and distorted expressions of the various aspects intrinsic to our being. The course is designed to help you discover these aspects and notice what is needed to free them from the distorting effect of non-awareness and our habitual tendency to grasp at what is not real as real. This is done through meditation and daily life awareness, which reveal these aspects to us as we work through the supporting themes of the course, Confidence, Heart-Wish, Openness, Clarity, Sensitivity, and Mandala Principle. There is a profound sense in which these factors are integral to each other and so inseparable. Openness at all levels implies the presence of clarity and sensitivity and so on with all the others. This is fairly obvious on an immediate level, for example, in the case of Openness, Clarity and Sensitivity, it is easy to see that for our hearts and minds to be open, we need to be aware (clear) and responsive (sensitive). In order to respond we need to feel spacious and open, which means there has to be sensitivity and clarity and so on. These qualities cannot be isolated from each other, but simply reinforce each other and suggest 35

12 The Core Themes DHB three ways in which to approach the same great wonder, the heart-essence of one's being. In the same way, meditation is ultimately inseparable from daily life awareness practice; confidence is inseparable from recognising our own openness, clarity and sensitivity. Heart-wish and mandala principle need much more explanation, but for now it is enough to know that they too are facets of the same reality. By practising, becoming aware of and aligning yourself with each of these themes, your heart will be able to relax and open and you will be able to discover that your heart essence is replete with tremendous qualities. Because this is what you essentially are, it is not a temporary, unstable state. It is an awakening to your Indestructible Heart Essence. Reflection Spend some time linking into whatever uplifts your heart either through some activity or imaginative thinking. For example you may like to take a walk in nature, gaze at a Buddha image, listen to the sound of running water in a stream or bring to mind someone who it feels good to be with. What effect does it have on your being to allow your heart to be moved in this way?! Use these text boxes as a place to jot your thoughts. You do not need to use the whole box and you can use a journal if you need more space. 36

13 DHB The Core Themes! Confidence Confidence is needed in order to align yourself with the heart-essence and its three qualities of Openness, Clarity and Sensitivity. Sometimes in Buddhism it is called faith, but really it is a kind of confidence that there is that 'heart' of Openness, Clarity and Sensitivity to be discovered in our being. Buddhism teaches that it is there in its completeness to be recognised, and to be relied on. It is something that we can take refuge in. This reality is often described as the non-conditioned or non-contingent. 'Non-conditioned' in this context means that it is not something that comes into existence at some point in time and somehow exists as an object of awareness that can be grasped or pinned down as this or that. Everything of this nature that we habitually grasp onto in this way turns out to be an illusion when looked at more closely. First we notice that they scarcely last a moment and so are impermanent and unreliable. Then we notice that the whole idea that anything arises at all turns out to be 37

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