johnw@farside.eng.ready.com (John Wheeler) (05/11/91)
I have enjoyed the enlightening discussions on s.r.e. over the past few weeks. Unfortunately, my work commitments keep me from fully engaging in the various discussions here on the net, though if I had the time I would enjoy doing so. Although I feel I cannot contribute much in the way of erudition and Buddhist scholarship, as interesting as it is, perhaps I can offer at least something to consider. One thing a lot of posters to the net don't speak about is the value of a genuine master on the spiritual path. But any text you read containing the teachings of an enlightened sage will invariably point out the great good to be obtained by finding and practicing under such a compentent guide. The reasons for this are several: 1) Spiritual philosophy in the true sense is not theoretical, it is living experience. It is more easily understood in a living environment, i.e. as directly conveyed by a sage. 2) The enlightened sage provides a continuous, living example that the seeker can learn from. Most people that only read books have no idea what an enlightened being might be like, and conjure up all kinds of erroneous notions about enlightenment. They easily go astray into all kinds of useless speculation. 3) Only a living master can provide personal, custom-tailored advice to fit the propensities of the seeker. A book cannot do this. While books provide general guidelines, they are insufficient for establishing the seeker in truth. 4) Practicing spirituality under a master in such a living fashion is generally regarded as the fastest and most certain method of achieving the goal of spiritual practice. 5) To find such a genuine master and practice the Dharma in the context of a dynamic, living environment is extremely joyful and exciting. Fortunately, I can say this from own experience of being with and practicing under a self-realized sage. It was not until I had the rare fortune of meeting such spiritual master that I could even begin to appreciate the true import of teachings given by past enlightened masters. Under his tutelage it has become clear that the natural state of life is essentially joyful and happy. That spiritual philosophy, far from being a rigorous and puzzling mental conundrum, is simply the natural revelation of our true being, inherently free and spontaneously joyful. That there is indeed a means to experience this for oneself. That inherently all beings are divine and eternally so. That the veil of ignorance that seems to obscure the minds and hearts of beings to their inherent perfection is the merest illusion born of mistaken identity and can be relinquished by right meditation under the guidance of the illumined sage. That the path is joyful in the beginning, the middle, and the end. If you are interested, I am only too happy to share with you how it is that I have found this to be so. Consider it an opportunity, an opening, a possibility. Take good care, johnw@ready.com P.S. Take it easy on that zazen stuff will ya? :-)
walsha@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com (05/18/91)
In article <1991May10.171712.12795@nas.nasa.gov>, johnw@farside.eng.ready.com (John Wheeler) writes: > > If you are interested, I am only too happy to share with you how it is > that I have found this to be so. Consider it an opportunity, an opening, > a possibility. > > > Take good care, > > johnw@ready.com > hi john, yes, i'm interested, but have been unable to email you. how about giving us a little more info. ando.