Quantum Physics and Spirituality

The Dalai Lama explains the connection between Quantum Physics and Spirituality

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http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/12/28/the-dalai-lama-explains-the-connection-between-quantum-physics-spirituality/

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Hold on to Nothing

Hold on to nothing.

Try to keep your mind in the present. Whatever there is that arises in the mind, just watch it. Let go of it.

Don't even wish to be rid of thoughts. Then the mind will reach its natural state. No discriminating between good and bad, hot and cold, fast and slow. No me and no you, no self at all. Just what there is.

No need to cling to isolation or seclusion. Wherever you are, know yourself by being natural and watching. If doubts arise, watch them come and go.

It's very simple. Hold on to nothing.

It is as though you are walking down a road. Periodically you will run into obstacles. When you meet defilements, just see them and just overcome them by letting go of them. Don't think about the obstacles you have passed already.

Don't worry about those you have not yet seen. Stick to the present. Don't be concerned about the length of the road or about the destination.

Everything is changing. Whatever you pass, do not cling to it.

Eventually the mind will reach its natural balance where practice is automatic. All things will come and go of themselves.

Don't try to get anywhere in the practice. The very desire to be free or to be enlightened will be the desire that prevents your freedom.

You can try as hard as you wish, practise ardently night and day, but if it is still with the desire to achieve in mind, you will never find peace.

The energy from this desire will be a cause for doubt and restlessness. No matter how long or how hard you practise, wisdom will not arise from desire.

So, simply let go. Watch the mind and body mindfully but don't try to achieve anything.

Don't cling even to the practice of enlightenment.

- Ajahn Chah

Text source: Questions & Answers with Ajahn Chah

Buddhism

Five Things Buddhism (and science) says that will make you happy.

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Awakening to Awareness of Our Life Force

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Awakening to Awareness of Our Life Force

The Origin of the World

  An article from National Geographic 

The emergence of life on Earth is on a short list of the biggest unknowns in Science. Did life begin in a small, warm pond at the edge of a primordial sea, as Charles Darwin speculated? Or deep beneath that sea, around one of the burbling hydrothermal vents first seen in the 1970s? and never mind the where: What was it, this initial germ of life? Was it a cell? A replicating molecule? 

One of the most intriguing theories says that the answer to the mystery is right inside us. Biologist Harold Morowitz of George Mason University argues that our metabolism – the chemical reactions that allow cells to turn energy and atoms into biologically useful molecules – provides a long fossil record of Earth life. Morowitz and collaborator Eric Smith of the Santa Fe Institute believe that a central set of chemical reactions has been in place since life’s earliest moments about four billion years ago. These reactions involve just 11 small carbon molecules, such as citric and acetic acids - very ordinary stuff that would have been abundant on the young Earth. 

Those 11 molecules could have played a role in other chemical reactions that led to the development of such biomolecules as amino acids lipids, sugars, and eventually some kind of genetic molecule such as RNA. In other words, metabolism came first – before cells, before replication, before life as we commonly think of it. 

This is probably not what opponents of the teaching of evolution want to hear, but it seems that a kind of molecular natural selection applies event to the world of geochemistry. Some types of molecular chains outcompeted other molecular chains for the plant’s resources, and gradually they led to the kind of molecules that life depends upon – all this before the first living thing oozed forth. Many scientists say life wasn’t a freak accident at all, but the likely outcome of the interaction of the molecules and minerals of the Earth. “Life is an elaboration of something very simple.” Says Smith, “it looks easy and inevitable.’ 

Earth scientist Robert Hazen’s new book, Ge*ne*sis, says that many theories about the origin of life involve the principle of “emergence.” From simple beginnings, complexity can emerge. A classic example of emergence is in your brain. Individual neurons don’t think, but collectively they produce the emergent phenomenon we call consciousness. Says Morowitz, “the unfolding of life involves many emergences.” 

All this is sure to be a matter of contentious debate for a long time. But ours would not be so interesting a world if its ultimate secrets were easily discovered. It took us four billion years to evolve to a point where we could even begin the search. 

- Article by Joel Achenbach 

Buddhist Philosophy and Quantum Physics

Broadly speaking, although there are some differences, I think Buddhist philosophy and Quantum Mechanics can shake hands on their view of the world. We can see in these great examples the fruits of human thinking. Regardless of the admiration we feel for these great thinkers, we should not lose sight of the fact that they were human beings just as we are. - Dalai Lama

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Dalai Lama: Spirituality Without Quantum Physis is an Incomplete Picture of Reality

Moral Bigotry

Some of the greatest blood baths of mankind have been committed in the furtherance of religious faith. Though most of the declared sacred writings are opposed in their moral codes to the taking of life and advocate the brotherhood of man, hatred and intolerance yet prevail in the name of religion. Devout faith is often blind and even willfully closes the mind to historical fact.

Sacred books have been numerous through the ages; some preceded the Bible by centuries, and many still exist today. Yet some of the most renowned sacred personages never left any writings, as, for example, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed. There were no personally written accounts of their revelations or preachments. Some of their revelations were recorded centuries later by scribes who reduced the verbal accounts that had descended to writing.

The original revelations of such prophets were deemed sacred. Each prophet was considered to be a personal conveyor of a revelatory message that was proclaimed to be inspired by the transcendent, Supreme, Divine Being. However, the eventual written form of these messages, as history relates, suffered from the human interpretations of the original verbal accounts.

Many theological controversies arose as to what sections of these works would be accepted in conforming to the rituals and doctrines that the priests and theologians wished to promulgate. This confusion resulted in the schisms now existing in some of the sects today. Many followers of a faith will nevertheless accept the often-altered accounts of these sacred works as being the revealed word of God. They overlook the fact that, historically, various deletions have been made and that new constructions of meaning were inserted by quite human religionist councils of the past.

It is difficult to reconcile the divine transcendency and compassion of a God with the human attributes that members of religious sects have ascribed to Him. Man has often characterized his God, in various faiths, as jealous, as advocating retribution and even the destruction of the life of disbelievers. Even the human taint of envy and hate has found its way into these sacred tomes.

Intolerant attitude

The religionist may accept the monotheistic concept of a sole God, yet he too often cloaks this same God in a raiment of those limiting definitions established by the theology of his faith. This, however, results in a dichotomy with both commendable and detrimental aspects. It is commendable in that each man may create his God, not in essence but in the image he conceives or which he wants to believe. There cannot, of course, be a universally accepted concept of God, for the mental construct varies with the depth of understanding of the individual. However, the concept is detrimental when man’s individual image of God engenders intolerance; simply, the belief, held in all sincerity, that “the God I envision is the right one; all who think and believe differently are heretical and an affront to my God.”

This attitude of zeal for a religious concept which is believed to be the only true one results in adverse emotional and psychological reactions toward all others who do not subscribed to it. It inculcates a spirit of defiance against all the different promulgated religions. Such other adherents are condemned as ‘non-believers,’ that is, they lack the spirituality that can only be had by the followers of a certain particular faith.

At this point, bigotry and intolerance enter. These bigots expound that their moral precepts and particularly their interpretation of sacred writings should become the social standard of morality. They openly affirm that they are the “moral; majority,” which can be construed as meaning that those who do not think in conformity with their ideas are immoral!

Now, no one religion should have conferred upon it the right of purging moral decay according to its precepts and interpretation. The fact is that some of these fundamentalist sects, of which the “moral majority” is mostly composed, become so constrained in their thinking as to want to prohibit acts which are basically humanitarian.

Each human must find his own spiritual enlightenment. It must be intimate to him. It must represent the sublimity of his moral motivation and understanding. If one’s religious and spiritual beliefs do not obstruct the faith of others or are not detrimental to the welfare of society, and are tolerant of the worthy qualities in others, then no religion can advocate more beneficence for its followers than that. Certainly, such moral idealism and behaviour is worthy of any divine beneficence that may be bestowed upon man.

Extracted from the article Moral Bigotry

Can we find true security in the world?

In the desperate search for happiness, a person places his hopes and dreams on his family, friends, success in business, acquiring wealth and property, pleasure and beauty. Yet, does he get happiness from any of them?

Family and friends? While loving family and good friends can be a constant source of happiness, he cannot depend on them forever, someone he loves may pass away or leave him. If his love is centered on one person, the separation will cause him great sorrow.

Business? His business can go bankrupt. Someone he trusts may abscond with the money. A sudden change in the international political scene may destroy his factories and property overseas.

Money? The only reason people want money is because they think it can get them what they want. While money can ensure a comfortable life, it cannot guarantee happiness. Have you seen how some rich people live? They surround their homes with huge walls and gates. The doors are padlocked and all windows barred. They live in constant fear – fear of being robbed, of having their children kidnapped, of losing the wealth they have so painfully gathered, of relatives and friends who might take advantage, of being cheated when responsibilities are give to others.

Pleasure? For the moment, he is lost in a good show, fine music or a game, he thinks that is all he wants. The entertainment has to be better and more vigorous each time to maintain interest. After it is over, he cannot escape the feeling of boredom and the fruitlessness of these pleasures.

Beauty and Youth? While still young, he spends hours maintaining his looks to draw attention from everyone. But no one can remain young forever. Time will be his greatest enemy. The skin that is smooth and delicate will later be furrowed with wrinkles. Muscles that are agile will become weak. The body that responds to any whims of the mind becomes the home of sickness and pain.

There is no security in family, friends, money, position, youth and beauty. The short-lived pleasures are only brief interludes to pain and drudgery. There is no guarantee against failure and disappointments. There is no guarantee to perfect health. Not even the richest and most influential can buy true joy. In this, the man who owns an empire is equal to a pauper who lives in a lean-to shed. Both have their share of sorrow and disappointments. Both will fall sick, grow old and die.

Where do we learn to solve our sorrows?

Although frustration and sorrow are basic to human life, there is no school, college or university in the country which teaches us how to face problems.

It was Buddha who, so intimately concerned about human suffering, he renounced everything to seek a cure to these universal problems. He was concerned about problems facing you and me – our frustrations, our sufferings and our feelings of hopelessness.

What did the Buddha find?

In his enlightenment, the Buddha found that man suffers because of his wrong views. Being ignorant of the nature of things, he gets infatuated with them - his life, his ideas, his family, his property, his pride. Only after developing wisdom to see and experience the truth of all things will he be able to put an end to suffering.

The Buddha realized that the phenomena rise and fall away immediately. From the largest to the smallest, all are in the state of flux. On a clear night we see millions of twinkling stars. What we do not see are the clouds of gas coalescing into stars and galaxies, the myriad stars and planets in various stages of evolving and decaying, the planets circuiting in their solar systems. The smallest of things, the atom, is in constant flux with the electrons orbiting around its nucleus.

Our physical body replaces its old tissues with new cells. Our thoughts, impressions, perceptions, experiences, wants and desires are changing day-by-day and moment-by-moment. Toy guns and dolls which once made us happy are no longer satisfactory now. Our happiness is short lived. If we emerge top in an examination, the rejoicing will last at the most for a few days. Such happiness evaporates like the early mist in the morning sun.

Because of wrong views, man clings and desires for pleasurable things and avoids unpleasant things. Things which please the senses – fragrant smells, beautiful sights, pleasant sensations, delicious tastes, soothing sounds – he pursues for more. Unpleasant things are avoided. He dislikes people who hurt his ego and turns away from bores. He pursues someone who has captivated him and he tries to possess everything pleasing.

Man then builds his world on concepts which he calls “I”, and “Me” and “Mine”. He will say, “These are my wealth, my property, my children, my youth and beauty, my knowledge.” “Look here,” he shouts, “You are hurting my feelings. Don’t you know who I am?” He clings to things and tries to own them.

Does he realize that in reality none of these things belongs to him? No, when he dies, all his wealth and property pass on to others. There is nothing he can bring beyond the grave – not even his own body.

Universe

The Universe is One Harmonious Whole

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Awakening to Awareness of Our Life Force

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Awakening to Awareness of our Life Force - Ken Carey

The Cause of Human Problems and How to Overcome Them

Ignorance which arises from the lack of proper understanding of the nature of life and the mere imaginations regarding the nature of inherent cosmic laws – this is the main cause of all human problems.

As long as man’s mind is clouded by ignorance of the truth of human existence and of the laws that govern its existence, man’s life will involve suffering of various nature – problems and difficulties, worries and miseries, conflicts and disappointments.

Out of ignorance you create your own suffering which you then share with your fellowmen. The miseries and worries that come to you are due to worldly conditions, your unbalanced and undeveloped mind, and the reactions of evil practices done by you. Whilst the unbalanced mind is easily swayed and troubled by worldly conditions such as profit and loss, praised and blamed, fame and ill-fame, sorrow and happiness, the undeveloped mind prolongs the sway and increased the trouble by its very adamant attitude – blaming yourself or other people and external sources for all your troubles and disturbances.

If you avoid blaming yourself as well as others, you will understand that you are responsible for everything that happens in this world and that there is no world without you. In the highest level of thinking, you should see things as they really are, not as you are. Then you will know that you are responsible for everything.

It is one thing to realize that you are also responsible for all the troubles and problems that come to you. It is another thing to know what you must do to overcome the disturbances that come to you through other people and external sources.

When somebody does something wrong to you owing to his ignorance, misunderstandings and human emotions, then it is time for you to reveal and to utilize your wisdom, your education, your sympathy and your religious background.

It is when others do wrong to you that you must take these actions as opportunities for you to get rid of your defilements and to practise and develop the noble virtues of patience, tolerance and understanding. If you know how to make good use of these noble humane qualities then you will be able to realise how they can be of great help to relieve you from many of the enormous miseries and sufferings that burden your life.

To take revenge on your troublemaker is to invite more problems and difficulties. Negative feelings and negative actions only bring hatred and suffering to you and your troublemaker. In order to take revenge, you have to create hatred and anger in your own minds thus polluting it. This hatred and anger is like a poisonous substance which is secreted, by the glands in your own body. Please remember that when you are going to throw cow dung or mud at another person, you will first have to dirty your own hands. By hating and getting angry with others, you only give them power over you, but you do not solve your problems. Such behaviour makes you no better than your enemies. The Buddha says, “Ah, happily do we live without hate amongst the hateful. Amidst the hateful men, we live without hate.”

Perhaps you may not be strong enough or good enough to love your enemies, but for the sake of your won health and happiness, you must learn at least to forgive and forget.

Many people do evil because of their ignorance and you should not curse them or condemn them into eternal suffering. Instead you should try to correct them, without showing your emotions, that they are wrong and point out where they have gone wrong. With this understanding, you can treat the evildoer as a patient who is suffering from a sickness. If you can help to remove the cause of the sickness then the patient can be cured and can be well and happy.

Try to follow the good example set by the Buddha who always returned food for evil. The Buddha said, “The more evil that comes to me, the more good will radiate from me.” Some people think that it is not practical to return good for evil. Try and see for yourself. If you find that it is too difficult to return good for evil, then you can still do a great service to yourself and to others by not returning evil for evil.

Remember that whatever happens you cannot feel hurt if you know how to keep a balanced mind. You are hurt only by the mental attitude that you adopt towards others. No one can hurt you unless you allow him to hurt you. If another person blames or scolds you and if you are following the Dharma, then Dharma will protect you from the unjust attacks. The Buddha says. “Whoever harms a harmless person, one pure and guiltless, upon that very fool the evil recoils like find dust thrown against the wind.” If you allow others to be successful in hurting you, you are responsible.

To protect whatever inner peace and calm you have managed to create within your mind, you must know when to surrender yourself; you must know when to throw away your pride; when to subdue your false ego and when to change your adamant attitude or false conviction.

To guard yourself from unjust criticism and how to make use of constructive criticism, you must look objectively at whatever criticism that others give to you. If the criticism that comes to you is just, well founded and given with good intention, then accept that criticism and put it to use. However, if the criticism that comes to you is unjust and ill founded and given with bad intention, you are under no obligation to accept this kind of criticism. If you know that your attitude is correct and appreciated by wise and cultured people then do not worry about the ill-founded criticism. Your attitude towards both constructive and destructive criticism is important.

Unnecessary worry and troubles can be avoided by not comparing yourself with others. So long as you regard others as your ‘superior’, ‘equal’ or as your ‘inferior’, you will continue to have problems to worry about. If you think you are better than others, you may become proud; if you think you are equal to others you may stagnate; if you think you are inferior to others you may become useless to yourself and to others. Comparing yourself with others can be a source of unnecessary worry. Try to realize that superiority, equality and inferiority are all changing, relative states; at one time, you may be a beggar, at another time you may be a rich person. In the endless rounds within the oceans of life and death, we are all equal inferior and superior to each other at different times. So why worry.

If at all you have to make any comparison, then you should compare the degree of your problems and difficulties with that experienced by others. Whenever problems and difficulties arise you must realize that you are not the only ones in the world with such problems. Many others are worse off than you and yet they do not worry unduly. You should also realize how you have gone through many problems and difficulties, under similar or worse situations and, somehow or other you have managed to overcome your difficulties to ‘drown you’. You have to develop your self-confidence and face the worst of situations in this manner.

There are various ways and means for you to reduce your mental agony and happiness. First and foremost, you must try to understand the nature of the world where you live. You must never expect everything in this world to be perfect and to run smoothly all the time. You must be prepared to face difficulties. The more you crave for worldly pleasures the more you have to be prepared to pay the price in terms of physical and mental agony. There is nothing free in this world.

Human nature being what it is, all of us are inclined to put the blame on others for our own shortcomings or misfortunes. The sooner we realize that our shortcomings are due to our own ignorance of the real nature of life and the laws which govern it, the sooner we will be able to realize that bliss incomparable and peace eternal. Our sorrows are not caused by a family curse that is handed down from one generation to the next nor are they caused by the original sin of some ancestor who has returned from beyond the graves to haunt us. Nor are our sorrows and miseries created by God or by Devil. Our sorrows and miseries are our own making. We are our own jailer; we are our own liberator.

- Author Unknown

Buddhism To Combat Social Problems

Buddhism is more of a way of life as it offers a course of simple, pure and harmonious living. The Teachings of Buddha emphasize on self-reliance, self-responsibility and the importance of cultivating good social values in life like generosity, perseverance, determination, patience, truth fullness and loving kindness and not forgetting the spiritual values of morality, renunciation and equanimity.

We are fully aware that nobody is born with good values. Good personalities and qualities are to be cultivated in life’s long journey.

Perseverance and determination are two transcendental virtues which Buddha advised His disciples to cultivate and practise.

As we cultivate perseverance, we may eventually find ourselves not only having the physical strength of doing moral actions, but also developing the mental vigour and strength of character.

Life is not always a bed of roses; there is always life’s harder moments to encounter. Ours is a rat race world where the impact of changes and challenges in every corner of the world is so immediate and pressing. With perseverance, mental vigour and strength of character, we may be able to survive the pace. With this value of perseverance, we are in a position of setting goals and accomplishing them and thus making ourselves complete, total persons in life.

Determination is another very salient feature taught by Lord Buddha. It is this value that keeps a man driving towards hard and distant goals. With sufficient will power, a person will never turn away from his goal. A very concrete example is none other than the Buddha in His six long years of superhuman struggle for Enlightenment in the face of innumerable problems, particularly so when His five favourite disciples deserted Him at a crucial moment when He most needed their help.

The Buddha often emphasized on self-reliance and not to rely on others for salvation. He exhorted His disciples saying, “Be ye islands unto yourselves, be ye a refuge unto yourselves, seek no refuge in others.” He revealed how vital is self-exertion to accomplish one’s objective. This portion of His teachings is exceptionally realistic and practical to this society of ours – highly competitive one where everybody wants to be better off than others and hence they do not have time for others but ‘self’.

The first step towards self-reliance is to assume responsibility for ourselves and the decisions that affect our lives. We have to indulge in periodical self-evaluation, tell ourselves after each evaluation where we went wrong and improve on them with self effort. No amount of external worship and prayer can make a person progress in insight and righteousness – it is self-restraint, self-effort.

The Buddha, in the course of His ministry pointed out to His disciples the real nature of the world and advised them not to be ‘surface seers’ seeing and acknowledging only the beautiful things in life and pushing aside the ugly side of it. In the hustle and bustle of modern life, we have got to compete against tensions, distractions, stress and strains and none of us would be spared these realities.

Another salient feature of Buddhism is the Buddhist concept that nothing in this world is permanent. Everything in this world is so very uncertain and short-lived nowadays. At any point of time, we may be faced with an involuntary separation, either death of a loved one or the breaking up of a relationship. With a clear perception of the impermanency on life, we will find ourselves being more capable to handle our problems calmly. We will be more ready to face problems in life. Although we are not robots, and are still vulnerable to feelings and pains, we will be in a better position to confront and deal with such feelings and pain with realistic approach and be able to survive through the agony.

Very much connected with this Buddhist concept of impermanency is the question of ageing which has become a social problem to many people. If we cultivate right understanding (the keynote of Buddhism) we will not be tormented by the thought of old age and will accept it as part of life.

Cultivating right understanding and putting it into practice is essential to solve the day-to-day problems.

- Source Unknown

Buddhist View on Love

Through love one adds to the find of human happiness, one makes the world brighter, nobler and purer and prepares it for the good life better than in any other way. There is no ill luck worse than hatred, it is said, and no safety from others’ hostility greater than the heart of love, the heart which hate is dead.

If one has developed a love that is truly great, rid of the desire to hold and to posses, that strong clean love which is untarnished with lust of any kind, that love which does not expect material advantage and profit from the act of loving, the love which is firm but not grasping, unshakable but not tied down, gentle and settled, hard and penetrating as a diamond but unhurting, helpful but not interfering, cool, invigorating, giving more than taking, not proud but dignified, not sloppy yet soft, the love that leads to the heights of clean achievement, then in such a one can there be no ill-will at all.

Love is an active force. Every act of the loving is done with the stainless mind to help, to succour, to cheer, to make the paths of others easier, smoother and more adapted to the conquest of sorrow, the winning of the highest bliss.

The way to develop love is through thinking out the evils of hate, and the advantages of non-hate; through thinking out accordingly to actuality, according to karma, that really there is none to hate, that hate is a foolish way of feeling which breeds more and more darkness, that obstructs right understanding. Hatred restricts; love releases. Hatred strangles, love enfranchises. Hatred brings remorse; love brings peace. Hatred agitates; love quietens, stills, calms. Hatred divides; love unites. Hatred hardens; love softens. Hatred hinders; love helps. And thus, through a correct study and appreciation of the effects of hatred and the benefits of love, should one develop love.

Wisdom of The Dhammavadaka

Treasure silence when you find it, and while being mindful of your duties, set time aside, to be alone with yourself. Cast off pretense and self-deception and see yourself as you really are.

Despite all appearances, no one is really evil. They are led astray by ignorance. If you ponder this truth always you will offer more light, rather than blame and condemnation.

You, no less than all beings have Buddha Nature within. Your essential Mind is pure. Therefore, when defilements cause you to stumble and fall, let not remorse nor dark foreboding cast you down. Be of good cheer and with this understanding, summon strength and walk on.

- The Dhammavadaka

Read the full article Here

Theory on God

Max Loughan, the 13-year-old Physicist has a mind-blowing theory on God.

Brilliant young man, articulate, confident, and very mature for his age. It is such a joy to hear him speak. It’s unfortunate that there were so much background noise and the sound on some parts of the video were not very good.

Click Here to see the video

Chi / Energy

Science Says: Humans Can Absorb the Energy of Others.

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http://expandedconsciousness.com/2016/09/26/absorb-the-energy/

How to Explain Your Spirituality to Others

An article on how to explain your spirituality to others by Kalee Brown

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Means of Control

I came across this article from the site call ‘Collective Evolution’. Interesting. Do read.

How false flag terrorism and religion are being used as a means for control.

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/09/11/how-false-flag-terrorism-religion-are-being-used-as-a-means-for-control/