Jay Forrest On Natural Buddhism

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"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world" (Dhammapada 1 [tr. Thomas Byrom]). Our minds can be a help or a hindrance depending on whether it is in line we reality. Most of the time it is confused about reality. We need to stop thinking and start noticing.

"People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them." - Epictetus

"No one ever steps in the same river twice." - Heraclitu

Covid-19 has hit the United States. This pandemic is causing a lot of anxiety for people. Panic has hit even my local Walmart, with no toilet paper left in stock. What does Buddhism have to teach us in this time of real world suffering? Can we learn to find serenity in times of uncertainty?

Natural Buddhism is an approach to Buddhism without relying on supernatural explanations, such as rebirth. It is about awakening, transforming, and flourishing in this one life. As Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.”

Natural Buddhism

https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/natural-buddhism/

Interbeing

https://www.viewonbuddhism.org/resources/14_precepts.html

Kalama Sutta

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/kalama1.htm

What is Secular Buddhism? Secular Buddhism is Buddhism without karma, rebirth, Nirvana, or other metaphysical claims. It is about awakening, transformation, and flourishing in this one life. Secular Buddhism accepts the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Noble Path, and the Three Marks of Existence.

I am going on a long sabbatical in order to write my next book. I am guessing it will take me a year or so. I need complete dedication and focus, so I am ending the podcast today. This is my last episode. But I give hints of what's to come. To stay connected, check back in June, or December 2020, and see if things have changed. Also bookmark Bodhidaoism.com. When I come back, fate willing, I will be using that domain. I need to decrease while Bodhidaoism increases. Thank you!

Being and Time by Martin Heidegger is, in the words of William Large, "probable one of the most important books written in the twentieth century" (1). It influenced not only existentialism, but the whole of contentential philosophy. One of Heidegger's main concepts is Dasein. Dasein is Heidegger's "word for human existence.... which describes the way in which human beings are rather than what they are" (Large 109-110). I would translated Dasein into English as "human beingness."

Reference

Large, William (2008) Heidegger's Being and Time. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Thomas Aquinas' idea of God being necessary is false. The Cosmos alone has no cause, needs no cause. The Cosmos alone exists, from within rather than from without, by its essence rather than a cause. This only the Cosmos as a whole is necessary, everything else is contingent might-not-have been. And only the cosmos is eternal, everything else within it has a beginning.

Reference

Kreeft, Peter (2014) Practical Theology: Spiritual Direction from saint Thomas Aquinas. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

In this episode we talk to Jay Michaelson about Bodhidaoism and Point 6 of the Naksha, which reads: "The Cosmos is Divine, being all there is or was or ever will be. We call the Cosmos the Divine because it is our

mother, our sustainer, and the source of awe, reverence, and wonder. The word Divine is simply the metaphor

we use to speak of the mystery of existence and the deeper significance of our interdependence with the

Cosmos. For us, Nature is sacred."

Jay Michaelson is a Rabbi, meditation teacher, and author who writes on law, religion, Judaism, and LGBT issues. Michaelson is legal affairs and religion columnist at The Daily Beast.

Links

Enlightenment by Trial and Error

Jay Michaelson's Website

In this episode we talk to Jay Michaelson about his new book Enlightenment by Trial and Error: Ten Years on the Slippery Slopes of Jewish Spirituality, Postmodern Buddhism, and other Heresies. Jay Michaelson is a Rabbi, meditation teacher, and author who writes on law, religion, Judaism, and LGBT issues. Michaelson is legal affairs and religion columnist at The Daily Beast.

Links

Enlightenment by Trial and Error

Jay Michaelson's Website