The essence of Buddhism

[Brian]

In the garden of gentle sanity may you be bombarded by coconuts of mindfulness

~chogyam trungpa rinpoche

You don't soon forget being hit by a coconut.

[RigdzinTrinley]

I was lying on a beach in goakana once when that happened, hit my arm - woke me up from time wasting on the beach for sure...

 

If that one would've hit my head either I'm dead or at least out for some time

 

I didn't take the message of impermanence or mindfulness and returned to just lying around

 

the famous sermon of the rishikesh babas comes to mind:

 

"Babaji doesn't need much, babaji doesn't need a house, babaji can sleep in the temple, babaji doesn't need a wife or dress in special cloth...

 

But sometimes babaji like a chai and bidi"

 

The right answer is "babaji, would you like a chai and a bidi?"

 

(tea and weird Indian cigarette thing)

 

Edit: sometimes babaji needs to chill

Edited January 15, 2016 by RigdzinTrinley

[3bob]

the insane can turn (to the sane) on a dime in a half of blink of a Buddha eye, no bazooka's needed.

Edited January 22, 2016 by 3bob

[THACS]

Those that keep The Sacred Lotus Flower Sutta within their Hearts,
"the Mantra is the Mind" and "the Body is within the Fleeting World".
Therefore in Emptiness there are no instructive meanings,
is there in this: The Great Cart thumps in agitation.


The mantra (Namu Myoho Renge Kyo) is the mind (of Buddha)
the Body (ultimate reality as it is, 'Jisso', now) is within the fleeting world.
The great cart thumps in agitation like the
ferry thumps impatiently at its mooring before the journey.

So, one must enter the room, dawn on the robe, have Buddha Compassion,
sit on the Throne and be Without Self, sense ultimate reality as it is,
all in this fleeting world: A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.

or

So, one must enter the room, dawn on the robe,
have Compassion without Choice,
sit on the Throne and be Selfless, sense ultimate reality as it is,
all in this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.

Ignorance - Fear- Hate - Suffering
When people are born, they are born without Choice.
When they grow up and learn their Name,
they remember they were born with no Name,
born without Choice.   You learn that if you do not Choose,
others will choose for you and that choice maynot
be the choice you would choose.

“ The cause of all sorrow lies at the very beginning; it is hidden in the ignorance from which life grows.
Remove ignorance and you will destroy the wrong desires that rise from ignorance;
destroy these desires and you will wipe out the wrong perception that rises from them.
Destroy wrong perception and there is an end of errors in individualized beings.
 Destroy the errors in individualized beings and the illusions of the six fields will disappear.
Destroy illusions and the contact with things will cease to beget misconception.
Destroy misconception and you do away with thirst.
Destroy thirst and you will be free of all morbid cleaving.
Remove the cleaving and you destroy the selfishness of selfhood.
If the selfishness of selfhood is destroyed you will be above
 birth, old age, disease, and death, and you will escape all suffering.”

"Through many births I sought in vain The Builder of this House of Pain.
Now, Builder, You are plain to see, and from this House at last I'm free;
I burst the rafters, roof and wall, and dwell in the Peace beyond them all."
 

Is this the essence of Buddhism?

[Bodhicitta]

If I had to pick one Mahayana text that covers every aspect of doctrine, path & results, I would suggest this one - in Sanskrit titled Mahayanasutralamkara. There are two excellent English translations, with commentaries. It is a large book with the commentaries, but those comments are needed to clarify many verses.

One came out in 2014 done by the Dharmachakra translation group and the other from the Padmakara translators just came out late in 2018.

The root text was taught to Asanga (a bodhisattva of the 5th century) by Maitreya a 10th stage bodhisattva, who will become in the distant future our next Buddha.

Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sutras is the title of the Dharmachakra version.

The Padmakara version is called A Feast of the Nectar of the Supreme Vehicle.

Both are in epub versions also.