Buddha the Iconoclast

__________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

 

 

 

( 9 ) Buddha The Iconoclast

 

 

About BUDDHA The ICONOCLAST •  Iconoclasts: “Angelic Troublemakers”    Question Everything !  That’s the really hard part.   • “BUDDHA The ICONOCLAST” - Image & Belief-Breaking •  DEFINITIONS: The Buddha was a pioneering ‘Radical’, Iconoclast, Atheist, Agnostic, Humanist, Secularist, Rebel, Maverick & Good-Hearted Heretic - which disturbs some... • Is There a God or No God?  No Self. No Soul. Nothing?  • "The Buddhist absence of 'Attachment' is not Apathy • Learning-Quotes with an Iconoclastic flavor-bite         If each day falls inside each night there exists a well where clarity is imprisoned. We need to sit on the rim of the well of darkness and fish for fallen light with patience.   ~ Pablo Neruda

please wait for image to load

                                                                                                                      

 

 

______________________________________________________­______

_________________ ‘ICONOCLAST’__________________

Question Everything !

 

~~~~~~~~~‘~~~~~~~~~

 

563 - 483  B.C.

 

The Buddha's tragedy:
He died a philosopher -
’They’ made him a God.
See, 'They' did it again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ Robert G. Brown

 

 

 

 

" Every community needs a group of angelic troublemakers "

~ Bayard Rustin, black activist social reformer

 

 

 

 

“Dharma Teachings” keep Waking Up the true Iconoclast within -

 

Be it Atheist, Agnostic, Humanist, Secularist, Rebel or the true Heretic still fast asleep within us,

or maybe only semi-conscious now inside some of us – offering it needed 'legitimacy' & courage

to really guiltlessly thrive well.  It's totally OK not to 'believe' in God – the Buddha didn't.

Thinking very differently is scary.  The historical Gautama The Buddha was an Atheist.

"A-theist": without Theos – a 'God-less' person - Without 'Belief' in God or the Divine

or even an Intelligent Design(er) as NOT a necessary component of his Practice Path.

( betcha' didn't know that, did ya' )  God is simply not necessary.  It’s totally up to you.

 

QUESTION  EVERYTHING !  –  BELIEVE  NOTHING !  –  THEN JUST KNOW ! 

 

___________________________________________________________­______

 

~ please dismantle & handle this with xtra care ~

 

The ‘Dharma-Wisdoms’ really do Dismantle 'Beliefs' in an Ego-Self,

God & Other Big Burdensome Cultural Grand Illusions & Stories.

Are you open to that ?   Others may not be.  That's their concern.  Not yours.  Be very Respectful.

 

And always Remember as The Dalai Lama says . . .

"Above All - Be Extra Kind, Be Extra Tolerant to All Beings"

 

_____________________________________________________­______

 

 

 

 

“ AND, “You can’t just become “A Buddhist”  – because that’s just

a ‘label’ or a ‘name’ - an big identity-‘concept’ held in the 'relative mind'.

Most spiritual teachings or rituals are like that: very useful good ‘words’.

A ‘name’ & a ‘form’ ( nama-rupa ). Very convenient ‘labels’ & ‘beliefs’.

The Truth: ‘You’ simply Are as you are – present – for this very moment.

Now, living in Peace with this ‘moment’ is still not becoming a ‘Buddhist’

either – but truly becoming a living Buddha !  Instantly.

For just this moment. How long is a ‘moment’ ? “   

 

~ Bhante Ananda Maitreya  “Buddha of  The Moment “

 

Don't try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a 'Buddhist' –

instead, use it to be a better "Whatever-you-already-Are."

   

~ His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

 

'Self-Inquiry' practice will not make of you

'anything' that you are not already,

but it will, over time, destroy the false belief

that 'you' are this body, this mind, this story, this life.

This 'false belief' is the root cause

of all human suffering whatsoever.

 

~ John Sherman                                                                                                                                                     

 

____________________^_______________________
q(~?~)p     
THE LAUGHING BUDDHA SANGHA

nourishing an iconoclast intelligence

____________________________________

 

 

In Buddha's teachings there is

No ‘One’ & No ‘Thing’ to "Believe" in.

 

Buddhists don't do "Belief " !  ( and even that’s a ‘belief’ )

The Buddha fully discovered by himself - for himself ( he almost didn’t teach )

that any 'belief' in a divine authority, scripture or reliance on a God or a Creator

is simply just not necessary – and can be totally irrelevant for a pure, complete,

liberated, full Awaken.ment into Goodness and the attaining of a final Nirvana Peace –

this was as cutting-edge 'Radical' back then, as it is fundamentally right now today !

They didn't burn, hang or ostracize people for 'Heresy' in the tolerance of ancient India.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________­______

__________________________________________­­_______________________________________­______

 

A pure "Humanist", and not a devotional deistic-practitioner –

and now socially 'out-of-caste' - The Buddha was now fearlessly able to say

 

" Be a Lamp Unto Yourself  –

Look Entirely Inwards for

Your Own Unconditional Liberation "

The Buddha was not Divine, nor a 'messiah' –

The Buddha couldn't “save” anyone  ( 520 BC )

 

(  for the full Archive: The Lamp Sutra plus commentary:

see Archive Table of Contents on "Great Doubt" )

 

Buddha said there is just nothing there to 'save'.

No Self.  No Soul.  Nothing.  Nada. Just Nothing There. ( sorry )

 

_______________________________________________________________________________­______

 

The core-essence of the most difficult of all Buddhist Wisdom-practices is –

"Working with Impermanence & Anxiety"

The core-essence of the most difficult of all Buddhist Compassion-practices is –

"Working with Resistance & Separation"

 

_______________________________________________________________________________­______

 

"Buddha's advanced spiritual practice

is not a search for God or the Divine."

 

♦  "The real ‘Question’ is not - whether or not - there is or is not a God –

But, what is a particular individual person’s need for a 'Belief’ in a God."

~ Henri Van Zeyst ~

 

That's the real big Question we each must ask ourselves individually.

It's all personally subjective. 'Objectivity' is hearsay prior to Realization.

Universal 'speculations' absolutely can't be satisfyingly 'answered' from

a ‘relative’ personal-emotional 'need' - or a relative point-of-limited-view.

In Buddhist practice, what we DO is deeply observe and identify our own

'need-based' desires, clingings & attachments & our own bound-relationship

with 'False Beliefs' - and the dysfunctional-means we use to hold onto them.

 

____________________________________________________________________________­______

 

Henri Van Zeyst, one of my most iconoclastic mentors, described ‘Buddha’

as a “Compassionate Godless Atheist & Good-Hearted Maverick Heretic”

– and that went and disturbed some of the Western students very greatly. 

Westerners on the whole, carry a chaotic, undefined, confused ‘wound’

in their unexplored, cultural & personal unresolved God-relationship.

That can be gently opened up, sweetened and authentically healed

through the Dharma's understanding and compassionate wisdom.

Henri said you can train yourself to get used to –

what he called The Absence.    ~ Akasa Levi

 

♦ "The Buddhist absence of 'Attachment' -
 is not necessarily at all, in any way,
 the absence of profound loving."

 

~ Nayake Maha Thera Ananda Maitreya ~

 

" There is no God –

there is only Godliness ! "

 

~ Osho Rajneesh

 

"Buddhist meditation has 'Nothing' to offer you –

other than What Is - in THIS very moment.

God(s), goddesses, gurus, religion & the ego-self

can certainly tempt you with so, so much more."

 

~ Henri Van Zeyst

 

 

♦ "Remember... the 'illusion'

has only the ‘appearance’

of existing from its own side.

Take it to your side, you're caught."

 

~ Lama Thubten Yeshe

 

"The mind does not 'see' what is Real –

The eye only 'sees' what is Actual –

what is 'Actual' – solid – tangible

that 'what is' is brought to the mind.

Please do not confuse

what is Actual with what is Real"

 

~ Henri Van Zeyst

 

“ Who was born first – 'You' or 'The World'?

As long as you give first place to ‘The World’

– you are bound by it.

Once you realize, beyond all trace of doubt,

that the ‘world’ is simply 'experienced' in you –

– and not 'you' in the world –

and so, right then and there, you are free of it !

Of course, your 'body' remains in the world and

'of ' the world – you still can serve the world –

you can certainly enjoy the world –

but YOU are not  d-e-l-u-d-e-d  by it.”

 

~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

Who IZ the Creator ?

Me or Ye ?  Us.

Brahma created the Universe

and is presently fast sleep,

sublimely supine in Vishnu's giant palm.

Brahma's job as Creator is All Done.

The Universe is still here & functioning.

Shiva & Kali - Dance Lords of All Change

manage the work-a-day tasks of the 'World'

Ha-Shem !

You and I 'think' we "create" and therefore we DO.

'Live our thoughts' every impermanent moment of ‘em.

Big Screen E-Bay-bought tastes n' all. Is this the deal Real?

Brahma we just don't acknowledge much. Shiva surrounds us.

Jah'weh, Shiva, Kali, Shen, Shekina, Arun, Ha'shem, Wakan’tanka,

I thank, celebrate & serve You All for being here & inviting me to exist.

 

~ Sowan Sota Panna Yogi

___________________________________________________________________________________

 

"the unreal is unreal"

~ the last dying words to his students

of  Zenmaster Hsuang Tzang (1335 AD)

 

"Reality"...what a concept ! 

 

~ Robin Williams

 

"One of the advantages of being 'disorderly'

is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."

 

~ A.A. Milne

 

_____________________________

_________________________________

 

The forest is mostly dark,

its ways to be made anew day after day –

the dark richer than the light and more blessed,

provided we stay brave enough to keep going in.

 

~ Wendell Berry

 

___________________________________

 

 

"If you're going to 'try', go all the way.

Otherwise don't even start.

This could mean losing girlfriends,

wives, relatives, jobs.

And maybe your mind.

It could mean not eating for three or four days.

It could mean freezing on a park bench.

It could mean jail. It could mean derision.

It could mean mockery, isolation.

By the way, Isolation is the gift.

All the others are a test of your endurance.

Of how much you really want to do it.

And you'll do it, despite rejection in the worst odds.

And it will be better than anything else you can imagine.

If you're going to try, go all the way.

There is no other feeling like that.

You will be alone with the gods.

And the nights will flame with fire.

You will ride life straight to perfect laughter.

It's the only good fight there is."

 

~ Charles Bukowski

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________