Because man experiences as progress that which agrees with the direction in which overall existence moves forward over time, the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path must be understood as an ongoing reflexion at the human level, and in human terms, of that progress of existence.
Buddhism is the collective name for the diverse philosophical, esoteric and religious beliefs that are derived from the way of liberation taught, in the 6th century B.C., by the North-Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama, who was called the Buddha, which means the Awakened or Enlightened One.What we know for a fact about the historical Buddha and his original teachings is very limited. We ourselves, in Advayavada Buddhism, take it for granted that the essence of his teachings are the so-called Four Noble Truths, which he allegedly disclosed in his very first sermon to his initial five disciples, in Sarnath, near Varanasi (Benares) in India, at the age of about 35.
The basic interpretation of the Four Noble Truths is (1) that human life is fraught with suffering; (2) that this suffering is caused by man's craving for and attachment or clinging to situations, things and concepts; (3) that his suffering will certainly end if and when man rids himself of this craving and attachment or clinging; and (4) that the sure way to achieve this is by following the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Noble Eightfold Path, when interpreted dynamically as an autonomous process of progressive insight, as Advayavada Buddhism does, is that of (1) our very best comprehension or insight, followed by (2) our very best resolution or determination, (3) our very best enunciation or definition of our intention, (4) our very best disposition or frame of mind, (5) our very best implementation or realization, (6) our very best effort or commitment, (7) our very best observation, reflection or evaluation and self-correction, and (8) our very best meditation or concentration towards samadhi, which brings us to a yet better comprehension or insight, and so forth.
By following the Noble Eightfold Path systematically we regain our place in totality becoming over time, breaking, as we advance along the Path, the fetters that restrict us to Samsara. Advayavada Buddhism does not tell you what to think, or believe, or do - it is not one more oppressive ideology, but a straightforward blueprint to understand and implement the Buddha's basic teachings meant to overcome suffering in your own life. Nirvana, in Advayavada Buddhism, is the total extinction of existential suffering as a result of our complete reconciliation with reality as it truly is. Advance along the Noble Eightfold Path, for instance, according to the following practical Advayavada Study Plan (ASP) weekly schedule:
Week of the current year and subject:
01 - 14 - 27 - 40 : Impermanence (First Sign of Being).
02 - 15 - 28 - 41 : Selflessness (Second Sign of Being).
03 - 16 - 29 - 42 : Existential suffering (Third Sign of Being and First Noble Truth).
04 - 17 - 30 - 43 : Craving and its elimination (Second and Third Noble Truths).
05 - 18 - 31 - 44 : Path and Progress (Fourth Noble Truth and Fourth Sign of Being).
06 - 19 - 32 - 45 : Our v. best comprehension (First Step on the Noble Eightfold Path).
07 - 20 - 33 - 46 : Our v. best resolution (Second Step on the Noble Eightfold Path).
08 - 21 - 34 - 47 : Our v. best enunciation (Third Step on the Noble Eightfold Path).
09 - 22 - 35 - 48 : Our v. best disposition (Fourth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path).
10 - 23 - 36 - 49 : Our v. best implementation (Fifth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path).
11 - 24 - 37 - 50 : Our v. best effort (Sixth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path).
12 - 25 - 38 - 51 : Our v. best observation (Seventh Step on the Noble Eightfold Path).
13 - 26 - 39 - 52 : Our v. best meditation (Eighth Step on the Noble Eightfold Path).
...and so forth!
samadhi = total concentration (of the mind, cf. enstasy); non-dualistic state of consciousness in which the experiencing subject becomes one with the experienced object; total absortion in the object of meditation; transcendence of the relationship between mind and object; merging of subject and object; to contemplate the world without any perception of objects; suspension of judgement; satori; bodhi; rigpa; realization of the sameness of the part and the whole, of the identity of form and emptiness, of samsara and nirvana, of the immediate and the ultimate; mystic oneness; perfect attunement with overall existence; oceanic feeling; wonder, awe, rapture; essential purity; deep love and compassion; awareness of our common ground.
The purpose of the Advayavada Study Plan ASP is that we study (and e.g. debate in a local group or family circle) the meaning and implications of the weekly subject, not as a formal and impersonal intellectual exercise, but in the context of whatever we ourselves are presently doing or are concerned with, or about, such as our health, relationships, work, study, our place in society, etc.
The Advayavada Study Plan starts with the three conventional signs or marks or basic facts of being in traditional Buddhism: impermanence, selflessness and suffering. Impermanence refers to the unstability and transitoriness of all things including ourselves; selflessness refers to the fact that nothing has an enduring self or independent substance; and suffering refers to the existential sorrow that all non-liberated human beings are prone to.
Advayavada Buddhism's most important tenet is, however, that there is a fourth sign or mark of being implicit in the Buddha's teaching, namely that, expressed purely in terms of human perception and experience, reality is sequential and dynamic in the sense of ever becoming better than before. What human beings experience and identify as good, right or beneficial, indeed as progress, is, in fact, that which takes place in the otherwise indifferent direction that overall existence flows in of its own accord.
To understand this important tenet, one should first come to realize most deeply, for instance through meditation on the incontestable non-duality of the world, that not the human manifestation of life (i.e. its ongoing process of re-combination, mutation, concatenate multiplication and disintegration of the expended units, and its vicissitudes and perils, even possible extinction, self-inflicted or not) is the measure of things in space and time, but the whole of infinite interdependent reality itself, which, hardly affected, if at all, by the negligible impact of mankind's doings on the overall scheme of things, will continue to become exactly as it, by definition, must.
It then becomes very clear that the Middle Way taught by the Buddha as the correct existential attitude is not meant to in the least deviate from the Dharma of the whole; that the objective of the Middle Way is, in fact, to reconnect and reconcile us with overall existence; and that the Middle Way in its dynamic Noble Eightfold Path mode must indeed be seen as an ongoing reflexion at the level of our personal lives of overall existence becoming over time. Now, as the Eightfold Path leads us towards an ever better situation, we now know that, expressed in terms of human perception and experience, existence as a whole advances over time towards better and better as well. This fact is, indeed, the fourth sign or mark of being.
The purpose of Buddhism is obviously to return mankind to the fold of overall existence. Buddhism must therefore be understood as a 'way of reconciliation' with the whole of existence just right as it is, i.e. as it truly is beyond our commonly limited and biased personal experience of it. The aim of Advayavada Buddhism is to help us understand this main purpose of Buddhism more clearly and to give us individually the necessary tools to become a true part of the whole, here and now.
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