Nature is a series of cycles and rhythms. The rhythm of our normal breathing coincides with nature. We are neither drawn to push or pull our breath. The rhythm of the breath gives us our clue. We do not need to be caught up in the flow of breathe; we merely need to watch it happen. This action of quietly sitting and watching breathing is called Anapanasati. The action itself is the tool to tranquility. With anapanasati we watch the flow of breathing without attaching any feelings of judgment to it. We simply watch the inhalation and exhalation. More specifically we watch the beginning, middle and end of the in-breath, and the beginning, middle and end of the out-breath paying particular notice to the small space in-between. Without thought of good or bad, pleasurable or non-pleasurable we quietly observe. Most of the time we find our minds are racing. The actions of the mind and the racing thoughts drag us from place to place, thought to thought. We will notice this when we loose the focus on the breath. We need to be patient with ourselves as the process of training the mind takes some time. We simply return to the breath. The deliberate action of breathing is so much slower than the actions of the mind that by focusing our attentions on the breath we find ourselves calming and resting in a quiet more relaxed state. The mind is calmed and we sit quietly expecting nothing.

The first time you place a collar and leash on a puppy he rebels and fights. Training the mind to be calm is at first like a puppy. We are not accustomed to reining in our thoughts, mental associations and judgments. We need to be gentle with ourselves and return over and over again to the starting point of the breath. Our willingness and commitment to begin over and over will bring about the tranquility we are looking for. It is in the attitude we foster that brings about an ability to be patient. Letting go of everything for those few moments, you can always go back to them if you choose. But during the meditation we have only to watch the breath, as we relax anapanasati resumes and the conditions are there to allow insight to the self.

In meditation we have no goals other than to be present. Allowing the mind to notice itself and the small thoughts that arise and fall away. Thoughts like the breath arise and fall away. We take our clue from nature in that all things arise and fall away.

We cannot expect to be able to sit quietly practice anapanasati and gain a tranquil state in the first 15 minutes of meditation. Small steps and a willingness to return to the beginning again and again will help to ensure tranquility. The process of reigning in the mind takes practice. You crawl before you walk. You walk before you run.

Mindfulness, insight and wisdom are the jewels of a good meditation practice. Mindfulness is the noticing the entire ordinary phenomenon around us. Pointing us toward watching helping us to become observers of ourselves and space we occupy. In this way we extend our mental awareness. From awareness comes insight, insight of the self through meditation is wisdom. Through self knowledge and wisdom we can become the authentic person. It is through the knowledge and acceptance of self that compassion becomes a value.

When your actions are performed, with the thought of loving the self, and without delusion, we can more readily see the cycle of life. Namely, that nothing is permanent, that all that arises will also fall away. An understanding of the impermanence of physical and mental conditions give rise to the fact we are able to see the perpetual action of samsara in our lives.

Our bodies breathe at their own paces. Luckily we do not have to tell ourselves to breathe. We can not control the breath for long periods of time. Our influences are short lived. The breath itself and the conditions of the body dictate the breath. The in-breath predicates the out-breath as likewise the out-breath shapes and forms the in-breath. Realizing this, we are watching the breath as it exists naturally. Breathing is part of our nature and part of nature itself. Being aware of this we are practicing Vipassana meditation.

Nature is the great teacher. The generating of compassion is by mindfulness, insight to ourselves and self wisdom. Wisdom does not come from books or classrooms or listening to teachers. It comes from the knowledge of self and mindful observation of the ordinary.

Breathe! You are alive!

“May All Beings Have Happy Minds”

I Wish You Peace,

Bhante Kassapa

Bhante Kassapa Bhikkhu
bhante_kassapa@yahoo.com
Buu Mon Temple
Port Arthur, Texas, 77640
409.982.9319

“One thing I teach: suffering & the end of suffering. It is just I’ll and the ceasing of Ill that I proclaim.”
–The Buddha

The primary goal of most humans is to find a way to happiness. For the Buddhist faith the answer to the question, “What is the purpose of life?” is “To end suffering.” The Buddha teaches us is that human suffering is the result of attachment. We have been in a cycle of repeatedly seeking those objects of desire that are shallow and offer no lasting or permanent happiness. We cling to ideas, objects, material forms, and mental images. When these things are lost or unobtainable we suffer. Sorrow always follows a loss. And loss is inevitable.

There are things in life that bring us joy. So often the Buddhist doctrine of loss and attachment seems fatalistic and pessimistic. Buddhism does not teach that there is no happiness. The Buddha did not deny that there are happenings or things in life that will bring joy. What he did point out is that everything is impermanent; and none of the things, possessions, mental images or ideas that we cling to is able to bring a lasting joy. His teaching of suffering and the alleviation of suffering were his focus. He based his teaching not only on identifying the problem, but also on presenting the solution.

Once we have recognized that all things are impermanent, we have begun the journey to end suffering. Freeing oneself from the attachments we have garnered throughout our lifetime is not an easy task. But it is the lessening ourselves of the attachments that provides the freedoms from our sufferings.

Ending the cycle of suffering means the eventual end of Samsara. Buddhism teaches that Samsara is the endless birth, life, suffering and death cycle we are trapped in due to the greed, grasping and endless attachments with which we fill our lives. The Four Noble Truths are the blueprints for understanding the Buddha’s position and description of Samsara and the causes of and solutions to the problems of attachment and suffering.

After attaining enlightenment, the Buddha delivered his first Dharma Talk. In this Dharma Talk he taught the “Four Noble Truths,” from which formed the foundations of belief for Buddhism:

The Four Noble Truths:

1. In all life there is Suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by desire and attachment.
3. Suffering can be stopped.
4. The way to end suffering is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path.

According to the fourth Noble Truth, we can permanently escape the suffering caused by attachment in following the Noble Eightfold Path. The word “right” in these following instructions can be understood by using “Good and Appropriate.” Right Intention may be viewed as Good and Appropriate Intention. The word “Right” is the traditional translation from the Buddhist teachings.

To reinforce the reason for the modifier “Right” it must be understood that it is not enough to have the intention to do something. Intention, like speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration, can also be bad or detrimental. “Right” refers to the goodness and appropriateness of the individual elements of the Eightfold Path.

The Noble Eightfold Path:

1. Right knowledge
2. Right intention
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration

We need to be like a scientist peering through a microscope. We are there to observe. It is when we place a judgment on the experience that experience is changed. By attaching a want or need to change the experience of living we give in to the patterns of suffering. Waiting for something to happen is not being mindful to the present. It is easy to become attached to an idea, person, and possession or desired outcome. Attachment, of course, is the core of suffering. Your mindfulness is the key.

I acknowledge that it may be very natural for us to categorize and label or define all of our experiences as they happen. However, our goal is to allow the experience the freedom to exist and then allow it to pass without an attachment or comment. It can be as natural as the rising and falling of the breath. It is a skill that can be learned.

Yesterday is the parent of today. In the same way that today is the parent of tomorrow. The goal is to be present to today.

Allowing ourselves the freedom to let go of our possessive natures and rid ourselves of the need to label, change, or modify the events of our lives, we break the cycle of suffering. We can be happy and joyful. It is our positive natures that allow us to experience this. Let go and live a freer life. Let go of greed and envy and replace it with compassion. We are the architects of our future.

I Wish You Peace,

Bhante Kassapa

Bhante n. Kassapa Bhikkhu
bhante_kassapa@yahoo.com
Buu Mon Temple
Port Arthur, Texas, 77640
409.982.9319

Karma:
Karma refers to the natural law in Buddhism that deals with cause and effect in a person’s life. The idea is that what you throw out in the waves comes back to you, what you plant you harvest. We as Buddhists believe you go through a cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. All of life is a process that is guided by the natural law of karma.

If a person asks you what kind of person you were in a previous life you can ask yourself what kind of person you are in this life and that would be the closest answer you could come up with. What you do and what you say and how you do things is based on your experiences in previous lives, as well as your experiences earlier in this life.

Karma is not written in stone. Your karma is rewritten every day. Each day you are presented with an opportunity to go do good, as well as an opportunity not to do good.

So in a sense, Karma is a fluid representation of the good and bad that we perform in our life. Buddhist teachings tell us that those who do good become good. Likewise, those who do bad will become bad.

Karma is a reflection of the essence of being human.
Like a part of one’s own shadow, like the image in a mirror.
Karma affects not only this life, but also subsequent lives. For Buddhists, what you become in the next life depends on what you did in this life just as what you are in this life is a distillation of what you were in previous lives. Karma is a thread woven through all of our lives.

Samsara:
Samsara is the name we use for the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth.
The concept of transmigration, or Samsara, is one of the most difficult concepts to understand in Buddhism. The law of Samsara holds everything in the birth and rebirth cycle.
The only thing that is passed on from the current life to the next life is a set of feelings, a set of impressions, a set of present moments, and the Karma that is created in previous lives and the current life.

In this life you have a human personality. And it exists in this life. What is passed on are impressions of your personality so that in the next life your personality may be very similar. The Buddha did not discuss how similar they may be. He never said. But with the refinement process from life to life, we have the ability to become closer to the goal of breaking the cycle of Samsara. A new individual in the next life will not be the same as previous lives. The circumstances of Karma affects the condition of the rebirth. A person born into life is not the same person of previous lives, much like an acorn is not the oak tree of its parent, but becomes its own oak tree. Some similarity exists, but, depending on where the seed falls and grows, it could be larger or smaller, stronger or weaker, straighter or more contorted, but it is still an oak tree.

As Buddhists, we pray, and transfer our merits to those people who are passed in the hopes that the conditions of their rebirth are better than the conditions of their previous life. You are going to be much like you were in this life, but with another opportunity to do good. Each lifetime presents opportunities to do good, to learn the lessons, and to bring ourselves closer to the goal of nirvana.

Nirvana:
Nirvana is an eternal state of being. It is where the laws of Karma and Samsara cease to be. Nirvana is not the same concept as the Christian concept of heaven. Nirvana is not a place, but rather a state of being. You can be in Nirvana while living the present life. It is the end of suffering and desire. It is the end of individual consciousness. Speaking to his disciples, the Buddha described Nirvana thusly:

“There is Disciples, a condition, where there is neither earth nor water, neither air nor light, neither limitless space nor limitless time, neither any kind of being, neither ideation nor non-ideation, neither this world nor that world. There is neither arising nor passing away nor dying, neither cause nor effect, neither change nor stand still.”

Often people look at the Buddhist concept of Nirvana as annihilation, but rather it is an assimilation of the energy into the pool of energy that is Nirvana. As Buddhist practitioners we may not understand totally the conditions of Nirvana, but the idea of Nirvana gives us hope.

The idea of rebirth is as natural to us as the rain. It is an idea shunned by Western religious teachings. But how many people privately believe they themselves have lived before? If you are given many opportunities to grow and become good, do you need a salvific figure in your life? As Buddhists, we believe that no one can cleanse you, nor can anyone defile you. No one can rid you of your sins but you. Doing good things and good acts, you become good. Likewise, doing bad things and wrong acts, you become bad. Clearly, the responsibility of Karma, Samsara, and Nirvana is our own. The Buddhist ideation of salvation is then our own responsibility. Buddha taught that he was not a god.

We do however revere him as the Enlightened One. We honor his teaching as the Path. Our duty to ourselves is to engage the natural laws of Buddhism with our own daily living. Buddhism is the acceptance of our selves in the natural law of nature. Buddhism is a description of a path to harmony. It is our goal to bring that harmony to ourselves and the world around us. We do this through the practice of Metta (loving kindness). It is in the accepting of self that we begin the journey to accept others. It is in learning to love ourselves that we begin walking the path that teaches us how to love others. It is through non-violence and compassion that we become enlightened. We can be a people of hope. We can be a people of compassion. It begins inside us, and it begins today.

I Wish You Peace,

Bhante Kassapa

Bhante n. Kassapa Bhikkhu
bhante_kassapa@yahoo.com
Buu Mon Temple
Port Arthur, Texas, 77640
409.982.9319