I do agree with u tthat monks help out - the question is
whether he (the monk/nun) is free of all
the trappings of organized religion,habits, rituals,
traditions and so on so forth .... and only then can
he/she free others. If i purport to help someone but in the
end make him/her dependent on scriptures, ian any form of
religion - I may have set to help him but in reality
I never helped him/her.
The centre of one'self' is always the awareness of
the unself (ego-disidentification) so as long
as one is UNself conscious one does not need a path, cos there is
no path. An inward journety into oneself has to come of
one's volition and no amount of cajoling or persuasion would
suffice. As long there is the self - there is no such thing as
being free. Eg this cliched phrase - love oneself. what is often
overlooked is love whom ?- love the ego-based persona (masks) or
love the indivdual (the indivisible being). When one is cognizant
to the pitfalls of confusiing and misintrepreting self and and
when one is willing to undersatand, accept then the likelihood of
transformation is possible. Otherwise, it is a dog just trying to
cathc its tail. Pruning the branches of a tree is chaning the form.
In fact, it is giving strength to the roots to sprout more
which is merely superficial/. However , cutting the roots is a
transformation. It is a new flowering of the very depth of one's
being!
So for me the courage is not to be a monk or nun but rather be
able ( the ability) to fulfil one's role eg as a father,
brother, sister, professsor , driver .... and yet come home to
one's being, one's essential being - unaccumulating expereinces,
roles ... and one is always free, that is, one partakes of
the world in many ways, roles, responsibilities, sharing and
yet one is inwardly detached.
Of course, u are free to intrepret and be what u are as it
resonates with u.
Eckhart Tolle - yes.
PS _ When i mention 'home' - it is one's being and what is one
being? kind, compassionate, loving ..... of course, it presupposes
one is attuned to the vertical dimension. Hence, in my preivous
posting i mentioned I that is unself which has not attachments but
yet partakes of ... The 'I" that defines oneself with roles,
identities, scriptiures, family ... is still attachement. The wise
would see the folly of it and understand that detachment does not
mean moving into a temple, church, or to be alone but rather being
able to be in the world and yet not be of it.
I have to agree with you. Conditionings cannot ultimately
liberate a person, so I am not drawn to things like rituals, etc.
But I do admit that some people find them useful to certain
extents. They are just skillful means. As for monkhood: if it truly
helps one's spiritual development and help others, why not, I know
of monks who became far more useful to society and could devote
more time to their own practice and the work of spreading dharma
after renunciation. But again I am not suggesting it is necessary,
since many enlightened persons I personally know and met are
lay-men.
Scriptures actually help in one's spiritual development, only if
there is misunderstanding of scripture without proper guidance that
one falls into error. However the scripture is just a pointer, what
is important is to practice what the scripture says and realise
them for ourselves.
Regarding the I AM/Beingness you talked about, very often it is
understood that beingness is in the experience of "I AM", even
without the words and label of "I AM", the 'pure sense of
existence', the presence still IS. It is a state of resting in
Beingness.
But in Buddhism, it is also possible to experience everything,
every moment the unmanifested.
The key also lies in 'You' but it is to "see" that there is no
'You' instead. It is to 'see' that there is never any do-er
standing in the midst of phenomenal arising. There is just mere
happening due to emptiness nature, never an 'I' doing anything.
When the 'I' subsides, symbols, labels and the entire layer of
conceptual realm goes with it. What is left without a 'doer' is a
mere happening.
And seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling and not only
that, everything appears as purely spontaneous manifestation. A
whole Presence of the manifold. :)
Also see our moderator's
Thusness/PasserBy's Seven Stages of Enlightenment