some notes on Buddhism

[Jonathan Barlow Gee]

Suffering, or ""Dukkha is commonly explained according to three categories:
1. The obvious physical and mental suffering associated with birth, growing old, illness and dying.
2. The anxiety or stress of trying to hold on to things that are constantly changing.
3. A basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all forms of existence, because all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance.""
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukkha

""1. The Truth of Suffering is that all conditional phenomena and experiences are not ultimately satisfying.
2. The Truth of the Origin of Suffering is that craving for and clinging to what is pleasurable and aversion to what is not pleasurable result in becoming, rebirth, dissatisfaction, and redeath.
3. The Truth of the Cessation of Suffering is that putting an end to this craving and clinging also means that rebirth, dissatisfaction, and redeath can no longer arise.
4. The Truth of the Path Of Liberation from Suffering is that by following the Noble Eightfold Path - namely, behaving decently, cultivating discipline, and practicing mindfulness and meditation - an end can be put to craving, to clinging, to becoming, to rebirth, to dissatisfaction, and to redeath.""
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths

""In the same way I saw an ancient path, an ancient road, traveled by the Rightly Self-awakened Ones of former times. And what is that ancient path, that ancient road, traveled by the Rightly Self-awakened Ones of former times? Just this noble eightfold path: right view, right aspiration, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration... I followed that path. Following it, I came to direct knowledge of aging & death, direct knowledge of the origination of aging & death, direct knowledge of the cessation of aging & death, direct knowledge of the path leading to the cessation of aging & death... Knowing that directly, I have revealed it to monks, nuns, male lay followers & female lay followers..."" - Nagara Sutta
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path

there are four ways the mind can work and be considered functional:

1. slow processing speed / high error rate.

2. fast processing speed / high error rate.

3. slow processing speed / low error rate.

4. fast processing speed / low error rate.

""Right Thought (sammā saṅkappa) is the second step on the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. Thoughts are either words or pictures that form in the mind and which are often accompanied by or give rise to feelings which in turn may give rise to actions. The Buddha described two types of thought: logical or directed thought (vitakka) and wandering thoughts (vicāra). Normally our mind is filled with scattered, random, wandering thoughts and we have little say in what they are or what they will be next. When we have a task to do or a problem to solve, the will takes hold of and directs our thoughts in a particular direction. But usually, as soon as the task is finished or the problem solved, the will subsides and thoughts begin their erratic wandering again. The Buddha made this important but often overlooked observation: ‘Whatever one thinks about and ponders on often, the mind gets a leaning in that way.’ (M.I,115). The more of a particular type of thought we think, the more it will occur. If we often have thoughts of greed and allow them to persist they will tend to occupy our mind more frequently and we may begin to act in a greedier manner. Therefore, an important aspect of Buddhist training is to cultivate Right Thought, not to let negative thoughts persist within our mind and to encourage positive thoughts. The Buddha broadly defines Right Thought as thoughts of detachment, of love and of helpfulness (M.III,251). Right Concentration, Right Mindfulness and Right Effort are, of course, important in helping the development of Right Thought.""

- http://www.buddhisma2z.com/content.php?id=417

Right thought requires a functional mind, with either fast or slow processing speed and either a high or low rate of errors. Any of these types of functional mind can attain "right thought" because "right thought" is not defined based on HOW the mind functions, but upon what subject matter it focuses its contemplations. If one has a functional mind, and wishes to pursue "right thought," one would study the 4 noble truths: the truth of suffering and death, the truth of its origin, the truth of its escape, and the 8-fold path, which includes "right thought" among its steps. Although tautological, this self-referential course of study will instill a deeper understanding of mortality and the reason for ethics.

""The Three Jewels are:

1. Buddha: Depending on one's interpretation, it can mean the historical Buddha (Siddharta) or the Buddha nature — the ideal or highest spiritual potential that exists within all beings;

2. Dharma: The teachings of the Buddha, the path to Enlightenment.

3. Sangha: The community of those who have attained enlightenment, who may help a practicing Buddhist to do the same. Also used more broadly to refer to the community of practicing Buddhists, or the community of Buddhist monks and nuns.""

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Jewels

""The mantra oṃ vajrapāṇi hūṃ phaṭ is associated with Vajrapani.""

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrapani

""The six domains of the desire realm are as follows:
1. the god (Sanskrit, Pali: deva) domain
2. the jealous god (S., P.: asura) domain
3. the human (S. manuṣya, P. manussa) domain
4. the animal (S. tiryagyoni, P. tiracchānayoni) domain
5. the hungry ghost (S. preta, P. petta) domain
6. the hell (S: naraka, P. niraya) domain""
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_realm

""Six bardos

The Bardo Thodol differentiates the intermediate state between lives into three bardos:

The chikhai bardo or "bardo of the moment of death", which features the experience of the "clear light of reality", or at least the nearest approximation of which one is spiritually capable;

The chonyid bardo or "bardo of the experiencing of reality", which features the experience of visions of various Buddha forms, or the nearest approximations of which one is capable;

The sidpa bardo or "bardo of rebirth", which features karmically impelled hallucinations which eventually result in rebirth, typically yab-yum imagery of men and women passionately entwined.

The Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State also mentions three other bardos:

"Life", or ordinary waking consciousness;

"Dhyana" (meditation);

"Dream", the dream state during normal sleep.

Together these "six bardos" form a classification of states of consciousness into six broad types. Any state of consciousness can form a type of "intermediate state", intermediate between other states of consciousness. Indeed, one can consider any momentary state of consciousness a bardo, since it lies between our past and future existences; it provides us with the opportunity to experience reality, which is always present but obscured by the projections and confusions that are due to our previous unskillful actions.""

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo_Thodol

""Following the Tibetan Thodol, we have classified Second Bardo visions into seven types:

The Source or Creator Vision

The Internal Flow of Archetypal Processes

The Fire-Flow of Internal Unity

The Wave-Vibration Structure of External Forms

The Vibratory Waves of External Unity

“The Retinal Circus”

“The Magic Theatre” "" - Dr. Tim Leary

- http://psychedelicfrontier.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/The-Psych...

notes on Tim Leary's "The Psychedelic Experience"

the 10 sefirot:

Chikhai Bardo

1. (Pluto) Kether: the Primary Clear Light, chikhai bardo,

illumination: the nervous system devoid of mental-conceptual activity.

ylem: the mixture of primordial matter prior to the Big Bang.

2. (Neptune) Chokmah: the Secondary Clear Light; flashing in and out between pure ego-less unity and lucid, non-game self-hood.

Chonyid Bardo

3. (Saturn) Binah: the Source or Creator vision; the PCL is perceived as an anthropomorphic non-corporeal omnipotence (God) causing an alien subject-object relationship.

4. (Jupiter) Chesed: the Internal Flow of Archetypal Processes (external stimuli ignored, intellectual aspects). "the mirror of consciousness is held up to the life-stream." All forms are transitory.

5. (Mars) Geburah: the Fire Flow of Internal Unity (internal, emotional aspects) - intense sensations of unity and love.

6. (Sun) Tiphereth: "the Retinal Circuis," ecstatic freedom of consciousness as one "travels between many worlds of experience by alternating internal and external stimuli. Attempts at control encourage the "plastic puppets" vision.

7. (Venus) Netzach: the wave-vibration structure of External Forms (external stimuli, intellectual aspects), raw "is-ness" is experienced as atomic wavelengths. The Maya revelation - a feeling of power.

8. (Mercury) Hod: the vibratory waves of External Unity (external, emotional) "communication is unnecessary since complete communion exists."

9. (Moon): Yesod: "the Magic Theater," the play of all forms and things becomes the play of heroic figures, super-human spirits and demigods.

Sidpa Bardo

10. (Earth) Malkuth / Shekinah: Sidpa Bardo, there are 7 potential scenarios corresponding to 7 Hermetic Principles. The Buddhists describe the 6 re-entry visions of social sangsara, while the Jews stress the 4 elements. Sexual or Judgment visions occur along the binary geometry of the bio-survival circuit. "Game Reality."