Śākyamuni Buddha

Śākyamuni ("Sage of the Śākyas") was a spiritual teacher who founded Buddhism. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha of our age. "Buddha" means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one." The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE, but more recent opinion dates his death to between 486 and 483 BCE or, according to some, between 411 and 400 BCE. By tradition, Gautama is said to have been born in the small state of Kapilavastu, in what is now Nepal, and later to have taught primarily throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kośala. Śākyamuni Buddha is the primary figure in Buddhism, and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition, and first committed to writing about 400 years later. He is also regarded as a god or prophet in other world religions or denominations, including Hinduism, Ahmadiyya Islam and the Bahá'í faith. (Wikipedia)

January 2010
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
<< <	Current	> >>
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31

Any world is an illusion. Even the world we think we have now is not possible - how can it then be said to be real? In Truth, no particular world can exist. In Truth, any world would be unreal.

Truth is the only reality and is unspeakable. Truth is not just possible, but actual. It is here already - where else could it be? 'Here' extends infinitely. And It is here now. 'Now' extends eternally. However, neither space nor time can be said to exist or not to exist and Truth essentially is beyond both.

Although Truth requires no work, some of us may want to work hard to see this clearly. Looking inward, we will have to do this solitary work ourselves. This entails questioning our beliefs and having faith in Truth. Time is precious. But in the end, neither time nor effort are real and there is nothing whatever that we lack. - We are that which we seek. ~ The Editor

“Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra
trafitto da un raggio di sole:
ed è subito sera” ~ S. Quasimodo

Archives
Categories

RSS 2.0: Posts, Comments
Atom: Posts, Comments

What is RSS?

Self-Inquiry

01/14/10

Realization.org

Ramana Maharshi -- Abide as the Self (Video)
Ramana Maharshi - The Sage of Arunachala (Video)

Sri Ramana Maharshi wrote his famous booklet Self-Enquiry when he was in his early twenties. Self-Inquiry is a meditation technique for attaining enlightenment which is associated with Sri Ramana Maharshi.

The Sanskrit name for it, atma-vicara, really means self-investigation, self-examination, self-reflection, or looking within, but self-inquiry has become the standard translation. As we'll show below, this can be misleading. Self-enquiry is the British spelling; self-inquiry is American.

History of Self-Inquiry

Self-inquiry is an ancient technique that dates back at least to the Upanisads. For example, the Katha Upanisad says:

The primeval one who is hard to perceive,
    wrapped in mystery, hidden in the cave,
    residing within the impenetrable depth—
Regarding him as god, an insight
    gained by inner contemplation,
    both sorrow and joy the wise abandon.[1]

This is a pretty good summary of Ramana Maharshi's method, although it's written in veiled language. The "primeval one" in this verse is Brahman (the Self) and the "cave" is the heart center, so the meaning is: concentrate inwardly (on the feeling of me) until the innermost self is discerned in the heart and recognized as God. A similar reference occurs in the Maitri Upanisad 6.34.