The Buddha discusses “The Three Moments” and the path to liberation as “graduated training”. As well as how they are connected to each other. Graduated training simply means steps, the steps to liberation. The three moments is what gets you through to liberation. These steps are shown through various amounts of similes from the Buddha, from the lotus flower, the heartwood, or the elephant footprint. You will soon understand the relation between “The Three Moments” through “graduated training.”
Firstly, understanding the three moments means a great deal. The three moments are, realization of gratification, danger and escape – in the conditioned world. You have to understand the present condition in order to get past it. Gratification is the joy and pleasure with experience when we succeed in fulfilling our desires. (Bodhi, 2005, pg. 186) Danger is to take the world as permanent, predictable, and satisfactory when in fact it is; impermanent, unpredictable and unsatisfactory. Escape is the removal of craving and losing oneself in distractions (Bodhi, 2005, pg. 187) Craving can be anything from wanting to be wealthy and be in a higher class to just wanting to be enlightened. The three moments are also connect to the Four Noble Truths. Gratification infers the second noble truth from the four noble truths, for happiness and enjoyment stimulate craving, which is the origin of suffering. And the truth of suffering is directly danger. And the end to all suffering would be escape, which also infers the Noble Eightfold Path, the fourth truth, the way to the end of suffering. (Bodhi, 2005, pg. 187) This all means everything is leading to each other, the gradual steps of realization of the three moments in the conditioned world. The three mom...
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... – but they really won’t matter to you anymore. The questions are irrelevant to liberation, they do not change the three aspects of human condition; how will it change the fact that I am aging, decaying, dying. And they will not help the suffering and the release from it. It does not do to dwell on these questions when they are not relevant to your helping.
All in all, The Three Moments and graduated training have a very strong interconnection which now is brought clearly to your attention. You must understand gratification, danger, and escape in order to escape it all and to move on to the unconditioned world. But not without the help of graduated training and taking the steps to achieve each understanding and to escape from it. Only then can you get on the path to liberation. From knowledge to practice – from the mundane right view to the supamundane right view.
The last Noble Truth is the way to overcome desire is to follow the Eightfold Path. Siddhartha followed the Eightfold Path by when he was down by the river. When he was by the river he could live the life he wanted to by getting rid of all his sorrow and pain. The Eightfold Path consisted of right views, right aspirations, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right contemplation.
An individual’s meaning or purpose in life cannot truly be realized unless they are faced with a situation in which their course of action directly affects their future. In most cases, humankind is forced to face an extreme circumstance when something comes to an end, whether it be positive or negative, for that ending means that change is inevitable and approaching. Thus, life becomes more meaningful as something ends, for people are forced to realize what is truly important to them as well as the idea that nothing lasts forever. Individuals must choose which of the aspects and goals of their lives are the most significant and should be focused on as they approach a resolution, as can be seen in the Gawain Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Therefore, due to the finality of an ending and the uncertainty of the following events, humankind can reveal what they believe are the
Buddhism in India was born and would eventually rank as the world’s fourth major religion. The Buddha preached his first sermon in Deer Park, still a definitive text for all Buddhists. He proposed a path to enlightenment very different from the elaborate ceremonies and colorful myths attached to the Hindu deities of his youth. The Four Noble Truths: Recognizing and understanding suffering, letting go of self-centered cravings, realizing liberation, and cultivating the path. (Gach) Pain is inseparable part of mankind’s everyday life, our cravings of all kinds are the cause of this pain, and the way off this treadmill is to free oneself of these cravings. This can be achieved by following the Eightfold Path of: Right view, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration. The goal is to break the cycle of reincarnation based on your Karma and to reach Nirvana, the final goal of Buddhism. (Gach) The Buddha said that desire is the cause of suffering, and any kind of over indulgence may lead to addiction. Addicts and alcoholics are experts on desire; addiction is desire run rampant. (Griffin) In his book, Buddhism and the Twelve Steps, Kevin Griffin relates the steps with the practices of
In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, a classic novel about enlightenment, the main character, Siddhartha, goes on a lifelong journey of self-discovery. Along the way, Siddhartha encounters many who try to teach him enlightenment, undoubtedly the most important being the Buddha himself. Although Siddhartha rejects the Buddha's teachings, saying that wisdom cannot be taught, we can see, nevertheless, that along his journey for understanding Siddhartha encounters the Four Noble Truths that are a central theme in Buddhism: suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the middle path.
The First Noble Truth (dukkha) is that life is “suffering.” Bodhi explain, “The reason all worldly conditions are said to be “dukkha” is ina...
In Stage 3, the challenge is to learn to live: to define life goals, build self-respect, and find peace and happiness. The goal is that the client leads a life of ordinary happiness and unhappiness.
Transformational learning is a procedure that leads students to scrutinize the roots of their assumptions and preconceptions and, as a result, it has deepened their awareness to change their attitude and perception towards life, others and the affairs of the world. Philosopher Maxine Greene emphasizes that meaningful learning involves a process of disclosure, reconstruction and generation. She practically points out that when learners encounter dislocations, and have realized that their old inherited recipe for solving problems are no longer effective, their immediate central concern is to “mentally ordering his own life-world” by looking at the meaning of their experience in light of a new perspective. There are three main mental components of transformative learning, namely: First, the experience; Second, the inner meaning and; Third is the reflection. Mezirow point out that rational thinking and reflection takes place as a response to disorienting dilemma. This mental examination of an experience, serves an opportunity to process imaginative ways of accessing new values, new meaning perspectives that dynamically resolve the problem. Because of this, significant life learning transformation perspective is
Over the years, discrimination has slowly, but surely become an inevitable product of human nature because inequalities in social and economic status occur and thus, humans have become predisposed to discriminate and be discriminated against.
In the book “A Man’s Search for Meaning”, Viktor Frankle said “life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” The meaning of life can be discovered in three ways. First, one can accomplish something. Second, one can experience something or encounter someone. Or thirdly, one can demonstrate a certain attitude toward suffering/turning a personal tragedy into a triumph.
“The Eightfold Path was like a staircase… those seeking enlightenment had to master one step at a time.” The steps of the Eightfold Path were:
occurring in the present moment, which can be developed through the practice of meditation and
The first division, wisdom, contains the paths of right view and right intention. Wisdom does not involve having knowledge of something for a short period of time or memorizing information, but instead being in a constant state of awareness. Practicing mindfulness through learning skills or preforming activities with more thought can bring an individual closer to enlightenment. Right View allows one to see reality for what it is. This new view of the true nature of our surroundings allows an individual to choose new, realistic goals. Possessing Right View means understanding the Three Marks of
This has taught Buddhist followers to appreciate the qualities of life by cherishing and not taking anything for granted. It is often misinterpreted as a negative form of appreciation, seeming as though there is no acknowledgment of an end. However, it is supported by further philosophies to appreciate what life has to offer by “living each day as if it were the last” (unknown). The third Noble Truth is referred to as Nirodha, the acknowledgment that there is a source of mental development.... ...
Life is said to be divided into two dominant salient phases in many cultures: in the first phase, from childhood to middle adulthood, we are becoming individuals, gaining knowledge about traditions and values of cultures and learning the ways of the world and maintaining ourselves in the demands of family, work, and society. In the second phase, which begins as Jung declared, with the midlife crisis, we begin spinning inward, reconnecting with the center of our being identifying ourselves as unique and approachable personality . In the first phase we build and develop our ego and in the second phase we transcend and surrender it (Metzner, 1998).
It is the state of freedom where the individual ego is eliminated. “As people come to a critical level of understanding of the nature of oppression and their roles in this systemic phenomenon, they seek new paths for creating social change and taking themselves toward empowerment or liberation” (Harro, 463). So many people want to do something about a personal issue; however, it is as if it is “all talk” because they are not able to proceed in doing so. They feel as if trapped. That is where the Cycle of Liberation comes to the rescue. This cycle teaches people how to play their roles in oppression. Once people are able to overcome that oppression they will be able to move to that level of success. “Love is the most important thing in the world. It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration, and respect” (Hesse, 147). This quote comes from the 1922 novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse; it is about the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha. In the Cycle of Liberation, it is a systematic process with seven steps. Siddhartha himself took on his own Cycle of Liberation for self-discovery and love. The Cycle of Liberation is the tool people need in order to end society’s definition of beauty. The first phase of this cycle is the “Waking Up” phase. The Waking Up phase is where the liberation begins; “This may be the result of a critical incident or a long slow evolutionary process that shifts our worldviews” (Harro, 465). This is when the person would wake up and realize society’s definition of beauty is unrealistic and there should be no expectation for beauty in