Natural life and death have absolutely nothing to do with "Buddhism"
or any other "-ism". If you are looking outside yourself for answers
that will bring life-long wellbeing then you have already put the first
foot forward upon the wrong path.
This is the heart of Buddha Dharma.
Only then will you have begun upon the path that truly allows you to
make this magnificent voyage without fear and suffering and to die with
well-being eventually, without having been infected by the worm in the
rose that generates suffering in "living" and fear in "dying".
It does not require an understanding of Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Atheism, Agnosticism or anything that reeks of support or gives reasons for existence. It does not deny impermanence, natural conflict and natural chaos, nor does it require there to be a significance of life beyond what nature provides.
You only have to learn, step by step, how to be a true human being.
You only have to learn how to reject compassion, gladness, and love.
But you have to replace these three cognitive intruders with a natural Compassion, a natural Gladness and a Benevolent Affect which is a full and important integral part of the human creature's heritage that has been slowly stained and masked. Life in this world as a human creature is a precious thing when you learn that when your mind peruses "living" or "dying" then that is the cry of the invisible worm.
O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night
In the howling storm
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy
And the dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
William Blake
Natural life and death have absolutely nothing to do with Buddhism or any other "-ism".If you are looking outside yourself for answers that will bring life-long wellbeing then you have already put the first foot forward upon the wrong path.
You must begin by making the difficult cognitive step of knowing that you must "Kill the Buddha" or any other figure that stands, symbolically or otherwise, as your external savior, casting out the mental concept of "living" and begin to live.
Likewise you must take that difficult step of understading that if you truly live, then you will have also cast out the concept of "dying" and learn how to die.
But although you must kill "all Buddhas" that are saviors in your mind, that does not mean that you reject them as a model or as a guide, being very careful that your own folly has not misled you in that selection.
Examine, for a moment, an animal that most know well, the elephant.
This magnificent animal, from the moment it is born, begins to learn how to survive in the world. It does not learn how to survive as a lion or a tiger might. It does not learn how to survive as a wolf might, or a rabbit, a chicken, a fly or a mosqito.
To do so, you will agree, would be ridiculous.
The elephant does not know that it exists, yet it, from our point of view, exists, and although you might consider its mother as its savior, that
concept cannot ever exist in the growing elephant's mind.
What it does is to allow its own natural development and nature provides it with an innate message which declares "make your first model your
mother."
Later it wiil use its peers, the herds, and of course the alpha male or alpha female.
All these form the correct and natural behavior of the young elephant.
All that it learns is molded together with its own natural experiences.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Although from birth, with great fortune, you may have respected and admired your mother and father, unfortunately they were stained, as
generations long gone were by the arrival of a virus within the mind that affected all human creatures.
Their behaviour was warped by their own parents and grandparents, by their society, their state, religions and education. So they lived and
suffered, bearing this virus that entered the natural evolution of the human creature over fourteen thousand years ago.
That being so, where is the young human creature going to encounter a model that will allow it to emerge from this net of suffering and allow
it to develop natural human behavior?
There are hundreds of thousands of people who are constanty parading around with arrogance, wallowing in their own folly, who want to be the
model which all should follow.
There are thousands of people whom the suffering human may encounter guided by their own virus that want their place in the sun or a purse full of silver, who don robes, dwell in temples, write their books, and declare that they know the secrets.
But there are no secrets. All you have to do is find a model that dwells in this world in a simple manner without suffering, without expectation,
who simply by their own being, aided by their words but never suffocated by them, can present themselves as a mirror so that you can see
the reflection of your own true nature.
This is the model to follow.
It does not require an understanding of Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Atheism, Agnosticism or anything that reeks of support or gives reasons for existence. It does not deny impermanence, natural conflict and natural chaos, nor does it require there to be a significance of life beyond what nature provides.
You may have a guide, but be fearful of expedient means, logic and lateral thinking and any means of emotional seduction. This also means that you must also watch that these do not arise within yourself.
You only have to learn, step by step, how to be a true human being.
You only have to learn how to reject compassion, gladness, and love, replacing these three false cognitive intruders with a Natural Compassion,
a Natural Gladness and Natural Benevolent Affect.
WHERE DO WE START?
Everyone these days wants to start with meditation, despite the fact that Buddha and the great masters all declare that Wisdom and Contemplation must work hand in hand. Okay, do you think that this Wisdom is going to float out of the clouds just because you say the word "Wisdom"?
What is this wisdom?
A philosophical definition of wisdom is to make the best use of knowledge to reach an understanding of what wise men consider Good and Evil and to possess the courage to act accordingly. Modern psychology has defined wisdom as the coordination of "knowledge and experience" and "its deliberate use to improve wellbeing." They declare that a wise person has self-knowlege and that his or her actions are consistent with higher ethical beliefs.
Such definitions lead to the requirement for further definitions. What is Good and Evil? What are these higher ethical beliefs?
No, wisdom can be known fully by Insight, an Identity-free look at your own mind, which in its Form, Essence and Function is no different than any other human creature's.
THE IDENTITY-FREE INSIGHT
Identity-free insight requires that you have some sort of map to follow. The experience of others that have been upon that path with success, mirrored in their behavior, is the best you can do.
So what is the first thing that you must learn, inwardly digest and build an indelible TRUTH that cannot be manipulated or destroyed?
It is: