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No other event in humanity’s recent past has so starkly and glaringly brought out the uncertainties of human life as the current pandemic. Philosophers tell us that the coronavirus could be a warning that humanity is deviating from the path of nature. Medical practitioners, scholars, and social activists, all urge us to lead a life in harmony with nature; they have all felt the need to imbue our lives with compassion. Away from the glitz of modernity, perhaps the pandemic is reminding us about the reality of impermanence in our lives. Understanding the impermanence of existence and the need for compassion are central elements in the teachings of the Buddha. At this juncture, it is worthwhile to recall the message of unity of humankind, compassion, and forgiveness given by Gautam the Buddha more than 2500 years ago and the path shown by him to get rid of impurities and defilements originating in the mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vipassan\u0101 (to see things as they are) is a meditation technique based on the Buddha\u2019s teachings. The method involves observing one\u2019s respiration (\u0101n\u0101p\u0101na) as it is, and not as one would like it to be, the natural breathing (not regulating or controlling the breathing), and bodily sensations, again, natural sensations and not created ones, as they arise and pass. The ultimate goal is to \u201cexperience\u201d the universal law of impermanence, governing the whole universe \u2013 animate and inanimate \u2013 within the framework of one\u2019s body to attain nirvana (extinction), liberation or freedom from the cycle of birth and death by going beyond mind and matter. The three stages of meditation are 1) s\u012bla (morality), 2) sam\u0101dhi (mastery over mind), and 3) pa\u00f1\u00f1a (wisdom). On the foundations of morality, the mind has to be trained to develop the faculty of awareness to experience reality as it is, constantly changing, within the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the mind is trained to develop an awareness of bodily sensations, one experiences the whole phenomenon of constantly changing mind-matter interaction dissolving into subtle vibrations throughout one\u2019s physical structure. The two pillars of this technique are awareness and equanimity. While experiencing bodily sensations, one is supposed to remain equanimous with a perfect understanding of the universal law of impermanence; thus, one stops generating r\u0101ga (cravings) and dve\u1e63a (aversions or hatred) \u2013 sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra (impressions carved in consciousness because of the four components of mind \u2013 cognizing, recognizing, perception and reaction \u2013 coming into contact with matter). Through constant practice, one experiences the ultimate truth within the framework of one\u2019s body, gets rid of sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra, and stops generating fresh sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra; thus, one becomes capable of going beyond mind and matter, thereby paving the way for attaining liberation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buddha found that all du\u1e25kha (misery) in life was because of r\u0101ga \u2013 craving, clinging, or attachment and dve\u1e63a \u2013 aversion or hatred. The whole spectrum of Indian spirituality before, during, and after Buddha has highlighted the importance of getting rid of cravings, aversions, and ignorance to lead a life free from miseries. Allegedly, Buddha\u2019s contribution lay in showing how to get rid of cravings and aversions through experiencing bodily sensations. Transmigration of the soul or the principle of consciousness and rebirth has always been an integral part of Indian spirituality. Buddha\u2019s contribution lay in showing the path to how to lead a life free from miseries and become liberated from the cycle of birth and death, thereby attaining nirvana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buddha found that when the mind comes into contact with matter, internal or external, a sensation is generated on the body to which we react with craving or aversion, thereby generating sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra. Thus, from the moment life is created, one keeps on generating sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra <\/p>\n\n\n\n which is the root cause of all misery. By walking on the path of s\u012bla, sam\u0101dhi, and pa\u00f1\u00f1a, it is possible to get rid of the old stock of accumulated sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra and not create fresh sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra. Allegedly, while experiencing bodily sensations, the old stock of accumulated sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra over previous births and during the present life appear in chunks in the form of solidified, gross sensations that get eradicated as one remains equanimous towards these unpleasant sensations. It is possible to reach a stage through constant practice and efforts, as happened with Gautama Buddha. Here one has eliminated all previous sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra and ceases to generate fresh sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra. This is seen as a state of full enlightenment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If at the time of death, the consciousness is free from sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra a new life is not created, and one attains freedom from the cycle of birth and death. As consciousness is not free from sa\u1e45kh\u0101ra when a body dies, it enters a new body, a new life starts, and so starts \u2018miseries\u2019 of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The teachings of Gautama Buddha are premised on the belief that all impurities and defilements originate in the mind; therefore, the solution lay in the purification of mind. Buddha\u2019s teachings can be summarized in the following words: refrain from sinful activities, do pious acts and keep on purifying the mind. A fountain of compassion and love springs from the mind, free from all impurities and defilements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Science tells us nothing about what happens to consciousness after the body dies. Therefore, we know nothing about life after death. Yet, we know that there have been saintly people and mystics throughout human civilization who cannot be dismissed as self-contented fools. And humans have always turned to religion to come to terms with happenings, events, and situations that we may not find amenable to scientific explanation. Buddha\u2019s message of purification of mind as a way of attaining freedom from the miseries of life and compassion for all living creatures and forgiveness are eternally relevant to humankind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Based on a ten-day vipassan\u0101 course conducted by the late Guruji Sri S. N. Goenka.) <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No other event in humanity’s recent past has so starkly and glaringly brought out the uncertainties of human life as the current pandemic. Philosophers tell us that the coronavirus could be a warning that humanity is deviating from the path of nature. Medical practitioners, scholars, and social activists, all urge us to lead a life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7,13,148,1],"tags":[157,158],"class_list":["post-1256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-management","category-spirituality","category-spirituality-magazine","category-spirituality-issue-9-18-march-22-en","category-uncategorized","tag-issue-9","tag-march-2022"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"trp-custom-language-flag":false,"newsportal-magazine-tab-thumbnail":false,"eggnews-slider-large":false,"eggnews-featured-medium":false,"eggnews-featured-long":false,"eggnews-block-medium":false,"eggnews-carousel-image":false,"eggnews-block-thumb":false,"eggnews-single-large":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"omriseadmin","author_link":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/author\/omriseadmin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"No other event in humanity’s recent past has so starkly and glaringly brought out the uncertainties of human life as the current pandemic. Philosophers tell us that the coronavirus could be a warning that humanity is deviating from the path of nature. Medical practitioners, scholars, and social activists, all urge us to lead a life…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1256"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1259,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256\/revisions\/1259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.omrise.net\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/IyLUMfnHdxcs8LX1sA5xnMzNlkt4tCUQG45Z1_-IVeUsLY70UT2RlKmE2joq50rKGPSVQ1m-sMRSlZE03SgrKw79QzB1eZpa554JDKRTOb7dbfNgXtzVp8u0gU0L7e__xiNm00Uf\")