The Four Reliances


First, rely on the spirit and meaning of the teachings,
not on the words;

Second, rely on the teachings,
not on the personality of the teacher;

Third, rely on real wisdom,
not superficial interpretation;

And fourth, rely on the essence of your pure Wisdom Mind,
not on judgmental perceptions.


Traditional Buddhist teaching

This may sound like a nitpick, but I think that the meaning of the words ARE the meaning of the teachings. The teachings are simply the means by which the principles are communicated from one person to another.

An understanding of the meanings of the words is critical to an understanding of the principles. Or from an inverted view, if you don't understand the words being used, how can you possibly understand the principles that they are intended to describe? (rhetorical question)

Whenever you study or contemplate the Dharma,

Rely not on the words, but on the meaning.

If the meaning is understood, then regardless of the speaker’s style,

There will be no conflict.

When you have understood what it was

The speaker intended to communicate,

If you then continue to think about each word and expression,

It is as if you’ve found your elephant but now go in search of its footprints.

If you misinterpret what is said and then think of more words,

You’ll never stop till you run out of thoughts,

But all the while you’re only straying further and further from the meaning.

Like children playing, you’ll only end up exhausted.

Even for a single word like “and” or “but”,

When taken out of context, there’s no end to what it might mean.

Yet if you understand what is meant,

Then with that the need for the word is finished.

When the finger points to the moon,

The childish will look at the finger itself.

And fools attached to mere language,

May think they’ve understood, but they will find it difficult.

Do not rely on the provisional meaning, but on the definitive meaning



When it comes to the meaning,

You should know what is provisional and what is definitive,

And rely not on any provisional meaning,

But only on the meaning that is true definitively.

The omniscient one himself in all his wisdom,

Taught according to students’ capacities and intentions,

Presenting vehicles of various levels

Just like the rungs of a ladder.

Wisely, he spoke with certain intentions in mind,

As with the eight kinds of implied and indirect teachings.

If these were to be taken literally they might be invalidated,

But they were taught for specific reasons.

Do not rely on the ordinary mind, but rely on wisdom


When taking the definitive meaning into experience,

Do not rely upon the ordinary dualistic mind

That chases after words and concepts,

But rely upon non-dual wisdom itself.

That which operates with conceptual ideas

Is the ordinary mind, whose nature involves perceiver and perceived.

All that is conceived in this way is false

And will never touch upon the actual nature of reality.

Any idea of real or unreal, both or neither—

Any such concept, however it’s conceived—is still only a concept,

And whatever ideas we hold in mind,

They are still within the domain of Mara.

This has been stated in the sutras.

It is not by any assertion or denial

That we will put an end to concepts.

But once we see without rejecting or affirming, there is freedom.

Although it is without any subject-object grasping,

There is naturally occurring wisdom that illuminates itself,

And all ideas of existence, non-existence, both and neither have ceased completely—

This is said to be supreme primordial wisdom.

The definitive meaning can either be understood conceptually, by means of ideas, or it can be experienced directly as the object of non-conceptual awareness wisdom. As long as you are caught up in the conceptual extremes of negation and affirmation, existence and non-existence and so on, you have not gone beyond the realm of the ordinary mind. When you arrive at the sublime experience of wisdom, and all dualistic ideas have been pacified, you are in harmony with the nature of reality, which is beyond any kind of refutation and establishment or denial and affirmation, and you have reached the true depths of the Dharma.

I rest my case.

The Spirit of Free Inquiry

The spirit of free inquiry is an important feature of Buddhism. The Buddha encouraged people to investigate the truth of His Teachings for themselves before accepting his ideas. He never expected people to practice His Teaching out of 'blind faith' and superstition, but instead encouraged a free spirit of questions and contemplation. Buddhists believe that people should accept and practise Teachings and lifestyles they find, through their own experience, to be physically and mentally beneficial.

Self-reliance

Buddhism also stresses the importance of self-reliance and individual effort. There are the two main ways that Buddhists focus on self-reliance. Firstly, each person must work out for themselves the way to end their own suffering and attain happiness. And secondly, it is up to each person to realise that it is their own actions that determine their future. In Buddhists thinking, each individual's destiny is not determined by an outside power but by the way we live our own lives and our personal attitudes to suffering, happiness and the world around us. This means that every one of us is responsible for our own actions. Every one of us can progress or develop only as much as our own efforts allow. Buddhists learn that dedication, self-discipline and wise judgment are the keys to reaching the highest goals in life.

Tolerance

Because Buddhism respects the right of all people to inquire freely and to make their own choices, it also teaches tolerance toward other faiths and ways of life. Buddhist students are taught to live in harmony with everybody, regardless of race or religion.

Loving-kindness and Compassion

All living things are equal to a Buddhist. Universal loving-kindness, (a gentle and warm approach to life) together with a compassionate attitude, are the main ways that Buddhists accept not only other people, but all other creatures. All living things, humans and animals alike, share the same environment — we are all part of the same world, as we know from learning about the environment and about nature. If people want to live happily, Buddhism teaches that we must each have concern for the welfare of the other living things that we are here sharing the world with.

Buddhism and Science

There is no conflict between the discoveries of science, even in the modern technological world of today, and the ancient teachings of the Buddha. Buddhists agree that many things He taught about 2,500 years ago have actually been proven by science! The importance of the power of the mind, the impermanence of things — even breakthroughs that seemed incredible to science like the divisibility of the atom, the relativity of matter and energy and the structure of the universe were all taught by the Buddha even before science. A Buddhist does not ignore the facts that science teaches about mankind and the universe, but learns that modern thinking often has ancient roots.


Buddhism is a strong faith that continues to grow and attract followers all over the world. It began more than 2,500 years ago with the story of Prince Siddhartha, who became Buddha after achieving enlightenment.


Buddha's teachings describe a way to end suffering, achieve happiness and live in harmony with all living things. Buddhist students are encouraged to learn by investigation and experience, they are taught that it is only through their own efforts that they can achieve goals and peace. Buddhism teaches tolerance toward other faiths, loving-kindness and compassion for all living things. Buddhists respect and use science, they believe many of the Buddha's teachings have been proven by science.

Whether one believes in a religion or not,
and whether one believes in rebirth or not,
there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion.


Dalai Lama

What is our purpose in life?

The traditional answer to this is that our purpose is to attain nirvana and stop the endless cycle of rebirths and suffering. But the idea of a general purpose for mankind suggests that someone or something created that purpose, which in turn suggests an omnipotent deity.
The way I think of it is that we have no pre-ordained purpose. We evolved, and here we are. Because we also evolved language and conceptual thinking, we got stuck with this concept of a self, an ego that makes us feel separate from everything else. The ego needs constant reassurance of its importance, which is why we cling to our views and defend them fanatically, and why we are constantly criticizing others. Our ego rules our lives. It is terrified of being snuffed out.

We handle this in different ways. Some of us have lots of kids so we can feel that a part of us lives on forever through our descendants. Some of us perform heroic deeds so that our names will live on in history forever. Some of us get onto Ripley's Believe It Or Not with the world's longest moustache or beating the world record for smashing melons with our head, or some such nonsense, so that we'll achieve digital immortality. Some of us cling to the idea that a god will give us eternal life in some form after death.

For those of us who don't find this pseudo-immortality or unguaranteed immortality satisfying, there's a need to create our own purpose in life. This is where Buddhism fits the bill nicely. Instead of being ruled by the ego and its fears, get rid of it! Being rid of the ego and the suffering it brings is what Ajahn Jagaro called "True Freedom" - a very appealing idea for all of us.

If we don't achieve true freedom in this life, we should get another chance in a future life. But simply diminishing the ego and increasing freedom in this life seems like a worthwhile purpose to me.

Ego


By becoming attached to what is seen of the mind itself, there is an activity awakened which is perpetuated by habit energy that becomes manifest in the mind-system. From the activities of the mind-system there rises the notion of an ego-soul and its belongings; the discriminations, attachments, and notion of an ego-soul, rising simultaneously like the sun and its rays of light.

Ego


To say that the mind, or the mind-objects, or the mind consciousness constitute the Ego: such an assertion is unfounded. For an arising and a passing away is seen there; and seeing the arising and passing away of these things, one should come to the conclusion that one's Ego arises and passes away.

Ego

Now, if someone should say that feeling is his Ego, he should be answered thus: There are three kinds of feeling; pleasurable, painful, and indifferent feeling. Which of these three feelings now do you consider as your Ego? At the moment namely of experiencing one of these feelings, one does not experience the other two. These three kinds of feeling are impermanent, of dependent origin, are subject to decay and dissolution, to fading away and extinction. Whosoever, in experiencing one of these feelings, thinks that this is his Ego, will, after the extinction of that feeling, admit that his Ego has come dissolved. And thus he will consider his Ego already in his present life as impermanent, mixed up with pleasure and pain subject to rising and passing away.

Ego

If there really existed the Ego, there would be also something which belonged to the Ego. As, however, in truth and reality, neither an Ego nor anything belonging to an Ego can be found, is it therefore not really an utter fool's doctrine to say: This is the world, this am I; after death I shall be permanent, persisting and eternal?

Ego

Suppose, a man, who can see, were to behold the many bubbles on the Ganges as they are driving along. And he should watch them and carefully examine them. After carefully examining them, they will appear to him as empty, unreal, and unsubstantial. In exactly the same way does the monk behold all the bodily forms, feelings, perceptions, mental formations and states of consciousness. Whether they be of the past, or the present, or the future, far or near. And he watches them and examines them carefully, and, after carefully examining them, they appear to him as empty, void and without an Ego.

Ego and Desire

The feeling of a separate "I", which we call ego-consciousness, is directly related to the strength of ignorance, greed, and hatred. The deepest meaning of ignorance is the believing in, identifying with and clinging to the ego, which as we have seen, is nothing but an illusive mental phenomenon. But because of this strong clinging to ego-consciousness, attachment/desire, anger/hatred arise and repeatedly gain strength.

The ego needs activity in order to exist. Like and dislike, attachment, aversion, greed and hatred are the main overt activities of the ego. The more desire and aversion we have the more alive we feel, the more real and concrete the ego seems. In reality, the ego depends on desire, its life-blood is desire. The ego and desire are like the two sides of a coin — one cannot exist without the other. The ego is projected desire, and desire is projected ego. It is like pedalling a bicycle: if we go on pedalling, the bicycle goes on moving; but if we stop pedalling the bicycle will start slowing down and eventually collapse.The more we go on generating desire the ego seems very real. When desiring stops the ego then appears as an illusion.

Well thank you everyone for reading this thread. I hope it has given you some interesting perspectives on life and how one can go about it if you will.

May you lead a peaceful life full of happiness and positive results.

John

Thank you John.