Reading "The Feeling Buddha"

[Sumaya]

It is pleasure to go back to your book and just read - there is a dukkha, dukkha is noble, there is a response - samudaya – thirst, samudaya is noble, … both are realities.
And there is fire and there is a spiritual danger.
Yesterday during the sutra study you were discussing samadhi. There are two quotations from “The Feeling Buddha” which I would like to mention. “Samadhi means concentration or rapture and refers to the vision of the purpose of life.” “The real measure of such an event, however, is not in the experience itself but in the effect it has upon the life of the person”. So how do we face a spiritual danger? How do we tame the fire? How do we open to the vision, to the vision which reflects the dharma?
I really like this book, because it is very simply written (so it is very difficult to escape from it) but more seriously the book is creating Nirodha.

Namo Amida Bu

[Modgala Duguid]

Yes...I remember being around as a new student when Dharmavidya was writing "The Feeling Buddha" and it grabbed me! Made sense of this buddhist Path and Buddhist Psychology all in one. In a sense I've been teaching fromn "the Feeling Buddha" ever since and trying to create spaces where we can discover nirodha. and this has worked no matter what country - Zambia, India, bosnia....
In my retreats I try to open up spaces to explore the questions you ask - Namo amida bu

[Dharmavidya]

We can see the Buddha's teaching as centred on the matter of how to overcome spiritual danger. Spiritual danger is different from physical danger. Physical danger means that my body may get hurt. Spiritual danger means that I might fail to do what I should do. To do what one should do and not be frightened or tempted into doing something unworthy or failing to act when one should act requires faith. Faith requires an object to have faith in. For Buddhists that object is a Buddha. For Amida Buddhists it is Amida Buddha, as representative of all the Buddhas. It is by keeping faith in times of danger that danger is transcended. Faith is thus not opposed to works - works are an expression of faith and faith is the support of right work. When we are tempted to do something ignoble, remember Buddha! If we translate"Remember Buddha" into Japanese it comes out as nem-butsu. As devotees we take the purpose of life as being to keep faith and live a noble life. This is optional. We could choose to live an ignoble life - but there would be consequences. If we have the discernment to see the consequences clearly, then it becomes pretty obvious what is the best course. Thus faith, nobility and wisdom all coincide. They only sometimes seem not to do so because our ability to foresee the future is limited. One way to overcome spiritual danger is to clearly see the disadvantage of the ignoble course of action. Living a limited (bombu) beings, we are constantly falling short in one way or another. A noble life means a life of love. Those who manage this most fully are called Buddhas. That is what makes them suitable objects of faith/refuge. It also makes them objects of gratitude. We are grateful for the love that the Buddhas have showered upon us. This gratitude makes big difference to our lives. It helps us to remain faithful and live generous lives ourselves. Namo Amida Bu.

[Gerald Beeck]

I started to read the book yesterday. It is good to read it again. As Sumaya said "because it is very simple written" and in this simplicity lies its strenght. You can read it very quick and just follow the words and the understanding will be there. It is not difficult. It shouldn't be difficult, it is written for everybody. But don't be fooled by the easy reading. To practise what is written is a totally other story. But maybe not. When we have truly faith and give ourselves to the Dharma the letting go will go. Me bombu Gerald.
Namo Amida bu

[Katrien Sercu]

At this moment there is the weekend about 'the feeling Buddha'. I wanted to come, but I could not. This book is for me 'food and drink', because it is so clear, simple, wright and useful in dailey life. I often take the book and read some pages.
At this moment I have to be with my children, who lost their father suddenly, without preparation. He was 59 year old. Namo Amida Bu...impermanence of life, sorrow, lost for my three children.