Buddha Nature - Your journey

[DSFriend]

We have been very fortunate to be able to see that the "poisons" we have been drinking is not "honey". Yet, we are not fleeing entirely from it else, we would all have taken ordination vows by now. Spiritual journey sure is a step by step process.

[pgdharma]

We have been very fortunate to be able to see that the "poisons" we have been drinking is not "honey". Yet, we are not fleeing entirely from it else, we would all have taken ordination vows by now. Spiritual journey sure is a step by step process.

Yes,spiritual journey sure is a step by step process. We also need lots and lots of merits to receive it!

[Douglas Royce]

I am just starting my spiritual journey and reading the discussions in this forum are very helpful. For a beginner like me, reading the different perspectives is an mind-opening experience.

It's like the movie: Matrix. If we choose the blue pill, we remain we remain in the blissful ignorance of illusion. If we choose the red pill, we see the truth, free of our delusions. Sometimes, it is a painful experience. But I believe it is a pain worth experiencing. Yup, I agree with DSFriend. It is a step by step process. We need to break through step 1 fully, before we can proceed further. There is no by-passing here.



 

[fruven]

A Buddha can never tell a lie.  Hence the Dharma that He taught us is true.   If we practise Dharma sincerely and devote ourselves fully to our spiritual guides (who are all living Buddhas) we will definitely realize our Buddha nature.  And we must rely on our Dharma Protectors to help us overcome our inner and outer obstacles.  The Dharma Protectors are inseparable from our Gurus and Yidams, they are one in nature.

I find that practicing with good motivation does a make some difference in how I look at things. Practicing is training the mind, exercising the mind. Going to a Dharma centre and practicing with the lay Sangha does help make me my progress.

We are oblivious of our true potential to be a Buddha had we not found Dharma. Without Dharma, I can’t imagine how I could continue living in samsara.  Birth, sickness, aging and death – these are what all of us have and will be going through in life after life repeatedly.  We live in the dream world that we had created since beginning-less time.  And yet we forget and don’t even realize this!

And yet so many are exposed to the truth and still can't propel themselves out of their misery.
How many times have I heard from "friends" that my journey into buddhism was a way for me to "escape" from reality, if they only meant that for real...hehehe.... Because it is an escape, they are right, but they can't see the jail! They'd rather stay prisoners, because they can only see the wall of the prison, they think there is nothing beyond that wall, and so they stay prisoners.
They think spirituality is a delusion, how misled they are.
It is sad.

Yet when one has had  the privilege to see a Buddha, one has no more doubts about what lies beyond the prison wall, nor its capacity to "escape".
May all sentient beings be blessed to recognize a Buddha when they see one!

Because of our friends delusion it is more imperative that we practice to acquire more skillful means to spread Dharma knowledge and plant Dharma seed, and attract them to the path. This is what being friends is. 

[Tenzin K]

The Buddha Nature is in every one of us. That’s what I first heard when I when to my very first dharma centre. By learning and practicing dharma we are actually finding our Buddha Nature in us and come to a stage where it’s one with us as we reach enlightenment.

Being a student learning and practicing dharma from a highly attained Lama which I see him as an enlightened being it does changed me a lot. The knowledge that I learned make me see myself clearly. I’m able to see my flaws which all the time I’m just being ignorance because I didn’t care. The teaching from the Lama always persistently to break our negative habituation and sometimes it just subconsciously we adopt a new positive habituation without really realizing it. How skillful the Lama is and this is how I benefited from.

We are our own enemy and whatever the Lama teaches us is an antidote to our negative habituation that manifest from our negative karma that accumulated from endless previous lives.

I’m so fortunate to be given the blessing from my Lama to practice Lord Shugden to help me in pursuing my dharma practice. This is one of the most precious practices that will help me to find my Buddha Nature.   

[bambi]

I am definitely not a senior student but I can tell you how I got my breakthrough. I have been taught that everyone has Buddha nature in them but how do we invoke or find them? For me, it was thru seeing Buddha images whenever I feel emotionally sad and then I started to go on internet and searching for teachings as I believe there are much more out there. I learn from many teachings online from many Gurus because I want to understand their way of teaching that I can find easier to apply myself. I look at so many things in a different perspective now. Things are just how we perceive it to be and my karma to have it happen on me. Now I should let go and be happy for all that I have and not be unhappy in any way or else the negative karma will never exhaust.

[RedLantern]

It is all pervasive compassion,an innate kindness and generosity towards all that exists.It is a sense of peace, or  rightness that extend beyond words.Through the heart and mind which includes everything.The gateway to all creative expression.It is the thing that sets us completely free.It's the ability within all being to understand existence as it truly is,without imposing the constraints of our attachments.
"I f the intent is there and the heart is open,the manifestation will come"

[vajratruth]

I heard a teaching that provides an insight into how we can help ourself to monitor our own Dharma progress and growth: our ability to tolerate more. We often act instinctively on our likes and dislikes, i.e. not engaging in conditions we do not like and getting strongly attached to situations that appeal to us.

Thus, a journey that increases our tolerance level towards things we do not like is a journey that is bringing forth the Buddha nature within us. 

Perhaps we can also consider the development of moral discipline is a method that slowly but surely support us increase our ability to tolerate more unfavorable situations that will, eventually, enable us to freely accept more.

[Dondrup Shugden]

"The Buddha's teaching is without contradiction" this is what faith is based on in order to practice the Dharma.

My personal experience is that if the Buddha in the form of a human being attained enlightenment and said that we are all of Buddha nature, we must believe that.  Personally I rely on the following on my journey to get a glimpse of Buddha nature in me:

Observing how happiness grows within my heart, when something good and nice happens to someone else and rejoice thereon.

To study the Dharma and remember the vows to being kind, caring and compassionate.  To realise that all things are dependant arisings and as such are empty of inherent value.

Last but not least have a great Guru and have devotion to the Guru as the Buddha for your life.