G. I. Gurdjieff and His School

It is true enough to say that Gurdjieff’s system of ideas is complex and all-encompassing, but one must immediately add that their formulation is designed to point man toward a central and simple power of apprehension which Gurdjieff taught is merely latent within the human mind and which is the only power by which man can actually understand himself in relation to the universe. In this sense, the distinction between doctrine and method, which is fairly clear in most of the older spiritual traditions, does not yet entirely obtain in the Gurdjieff teaching. The formulations of the ideas are themselves meant to have a special action on the sense of self and may therefore be regarded as part of the practical method. This characteristic of the Gurdjieff teaching reflects what Gurdjieff perceived as the center of gravity of modern man’s subjectivity—the fact that modern civilization is lopsidedly oriented around the thinking function. Modern man’s illusory feeling of “I” is built up around his thoughts and therefore, in accordance with the level of the pupil, the ideas themselves are meant to affect this false sense of self. For Gurdjieff the deeply penetrating influence of scientific thought in modern life was not something merely to be deplored, but to be understood as the channel through which the eternal Truth must first find its way toward the human heart.

Man, Gurdjieff taught, is an undeveloped creation. He is not really man, considered as a cosmically unique being whose intelligence and power of action mirror the energies of the source of life itself. On the contrary, man as we encounter him is an automaton. His thoughts, feelings, and deeds are little more than mechanical reactions to external and internal stimuli. He cannot do anything. In and around him, everything happens without the participation of his own authentic consciousness. But human beings are ignorant of this state of affairs because of the pervasive influence of culture and education, which engrave in them the illusion of autonomous conscious selves. In short, man is asleep. There is no authentic I am in his presence, but only an egoism which masquerades as the authentic self, and whose machinations poorly imitate the normal human functions of thought, feeling, and will.

Many factors reinforce this sleep. Each of the reactions that proceed in one’s presence is accompanied by a deceptive sense of I—man is many I’s, each imagining itself to be the whole, and each buffered off from awareness of the others. Each of these many I’s represents a process whereby the subtle energy of consciousness is absorbed and degraded, a process that Gurdjieff termed “identification.” Man identifies—that is, squanders his conscious energy, with every passing thought, impulse, and sensation. This state of affairs takes the form of a continuous self-deception and a continuous procession of egoistic emotions, such as anger, self-pity, sentimentality, and fear which are of such a pervasively painful nature that man is constantly driven to ameliorate this condition through the endless pursuit of social recognition, sensory pleasure, or the vague and unrealizable goal of “happiness.”

According to Gurdjieff, the human condition cannot be understood apart from considering humanity within the function of organic life on earth. The human being is constructed to transform energies of a specific nature, and neither his potential inner development nor his present actual predicament is understandable apart from this function. Thus, in the teaching of Gurdjieff, psychology is inextricably connected with cosmology and metaphysics and even, in a certain sense, biology. The diagram known as “the Ray of Creation” provides one of the conceptual keys to approaching this interconnection between humanity and the universal order, and as such invites repeated study from a variety of angles and stages of understanding.

"The Ray of Creation" in the teaching of Gurdjieff: The Absolute is the fundamental source of all creation. From the Absolute the process of cosmic creation branches and descends (involves) according to an ordered sequence of increasing complexity and density, following the law of the octave. The universe as a whole comprises countless such branchings from the Absolute; this particular diagram represents the "ray" containing our planet earth.

The Prieuré attracted numerous artists and literary figures from America and England, many of whom were sent by P. D. Ouspensky who by that time had broken with Gurdjieff and was leading his own groups in London. Concerning his break with Gurdjieff, which is described with forceful compactness in In Search of the Miraculous, and pending a survey discussion below of Gurdjieff’s leading pupils, there are many indications that at the deepest personal level Ouspensky maintained a spiritual connection with Gurdjieff. But as one close observer has remarked,

As early as 1918 ... Ouspensky began to feel that a break with Gurdjieff was inevitable, that “he had to go”—to seek another teacher or to work independently. The break between the two men, teacher and pupil, each of whom received much from the other, has never been satisfactorily explained. They met for the last time in paris in 1930. (Note 2)

The rationale that lay behind the conditions Gurdjieff created for his pupils, that is to say, the idea of the Fourth Way, can perhaps be characterized by citing the descriptive brochure published at the Prieuré in 1922:

The civilization of our time, with its unlimited means for extending its influence, has wrenched man from the normal conditions in which he should be living. It is true that civilization has opened up for man new paths in the domain of knowledge, science and economic life, and thereby enlarged his world perception. But, instead of raising him to a higher all-round level of development, civilization has developed only certain sides of his nature to the detriment of other faculties, some of which it has destroyed altogether ...

Modern man’s world perception and his mode of living are not the conscious expression of his being taken as a complete whole. Quite the contrary, they are only the unconscious manifestation of one or another part of him.

From this point of view our psychic life, both as regards our world perception and our expression of it, fail to present a unique and indivisible whole, that is to say a whole acting both as common repository of all our perceptions and as the source of all our expressions.

On the contrary, it is divided into three separate entities, which have nothing to do with one another, but are distinct both as regards their functions and their constituent substances.

These three entirely separate sources of the intellectual, emotional or moving life of man, each taken in the sense of the whole set of functions proper to them, are called by the system under notice the thinking, the emotional and the moving centers.(Note 3)

It is difficult conceptually, and in a few words, to communicate the meaning of this idea of the three centers, which is so central to the Gurdjieffian path. The modern person simply has no conception of how self-deceptive a life can be that is lived in only one part of oneself. The head, the emotions, and the body each have their own perceptions and actions, and each in itself, can live a simulacrum of human life. In the modern era this has gone to an extreme point and most of the technical and material progress of our culture serves to push the individual further into only one of the centers—one third, as it were, of one’s real self-nature. The growth of vast areas of scientific knowledge is, according to Gurdjieff, outweighed by the diminution of the conscious space and time within which one lives and experiences oneself. With an ever-diminishing “I,” man gathers an ever-expanding corpus of information about the universe. But to be human—to be a whole self possessed of moral power, will, and the intelligence—requires all the centers, and more. This more is communicated above all in Gurdjieff’s own writings in which the levels of spiritual development possible for man are connected with a breathtaking vision of the levels of possible service that the developing individual is called on to render to mankind and to the universal source of creation itself.

Thus, the proper relationship of the three centers of cognition in the human being is a necessary precondition for the reception and realization of what in the religions of the world has been variously termed the Holy Spirit, Atman, and the Buddha nature.

The conditions Gurdjieff created for his pupils cannot be understood apart from this fact. “I wished to create around myself,” Gurdjieff wrote, “conditions in which a man would be continuously reminded of the sense and aim of his existence by an unavoidable friction between his conscience and the automatic manifestations of his nature.” (Note 4) Deeply buried though it is, the awakened conscience is the something more which, according to Gurdjieff, is the only force in modern man’s nearly completely degenerate psyche that can actually bring parts of his nature together and open him to that energy and unnamable awareness of which all the religions have always spoken as the gift that descends from above, but which in the conditions of modern life is almost impossible to receive.

The most active period of the Prieuré lasted less than two years, ending with Gurdjieff’s nearly fatal motor accident on July 6, 1924. In order to situate this period properly, it is necessary to look back once again to the year 1909 when Gurdjieff had finished his twenty-one years of traveling throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe meeting individuals and visiting communities who possessed knowledge unsuspected by most people. By 1909 Gurdjieff had learned secrets of the human psyche and of the universe that he knew to be necessary for the future welfare of humanity, and he set himself the task of transmitting them to those who could use them rightly. After trying to cooperate with existing societies, he decided to create an organization of his own. He stated in 1911 in Tashkent, where he had established a reputation as a wonder-worker and an authority on “questions of the Beyond.” He moved to Moscow in 1913 and after the revolution of February 1917 there began his astonishing journeys through the war -torn Caucasus region, principally Essentuki and Tiflis, leading a band of his pupils to Constantinople and finally to France, where he reopened his institute at the Chateau de Prieuré at Avon. His avowed aim during this period was to set up a worldwide organization for the dissemination of his ideas and the training of helpers. The motor accident of July 1924 occurred at this critical juncture.

When he began to recover from his injuries, Gurdjieff was faced with the sheer impossibility of realizing his plans for the institute. His health was shattered; he had no money; and many of his friends and pupils had abandoned him. He was a stranger in Europe, neither speaking its languages nor understanding its ways. He made the decision to find a new way of transmitting to posterity what he had learned about humanity, human nature, and human destiny. This was to be done by writing. His period as an author began in December of 1924 and continued until, in May 1935, he stopped writing and changed all his plans.

by Jacob Needleman

Professor of Philosophy
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, California

Kako vidimo druge

Jednoj starici, koja je sjedila pokraj ceste, prišao je putnik te ju

upitao:"kakvi ljudi žive u ovom gradu?"

"Kakvi su ljudi u tvom rodnom mjestu?", zapitala je starica.

"Oh, bili su grozni!", puhao je putnik. "Lažljivci, prevaranti,

nisi nikome mogao vjerovati. Drago,mi je da sam otišao.",

Naći ćeš da su ljudi u ovom gradu isto takvi", odgovorila mu je starica.

Nedugo potom, pristupio joj je drugi putnik koji ju je također upitao o

stanovnicima tog grada.

"Kakvi su bili ljudi u tvom rodnom mjestu?", zapitala je.

"Divni!", uskliknuo je putnik. "Ugodni, iskreni, marljivi, bila je

privilegija živjeti s njima. Bilo mi je tako žao što sam morao otići."

"Naći ćeš da su ljudi u ovom gradu isto takvi", odgovorila mu je starica.

Priča ilustrira da naše osobnosti i očekivanja određuju kvalitetu

odnosa i načina na koji vidimo druge.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jiddu Krishnamurti (May 11 1895 Madanapalle, India – February 17 1986 Ojai, California) was discovered as a young boy by C.W. Leadbeater in India on a private beach that was part of the Theosophical headquarters at Adyar in Chennai. He was subsequently brought up by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbetter within the world-wide organization of the Theosophical Society, who believed him to be a vehicle for a prophesied World Teacher (see Second Coming; Maitreya Buddha). He distanced himself from this destiny while a young man and eventually became an author of many philosophical books.

A brief summary of his teachings is contained in "The Core of the Teachings", a 5 paragraph text which says in part:
Thought is time. Thought is born of experience and knowledge, which are inseparable from time and the past. Time is the psychological enemy of man. Our action is based on knowledge and therefore time, so man is always a slave to the past. Thought is ever-limited and so we live in constant conflict and struggle. There is no psychological evolution.
When man becomes aware of the movement of his own thoughts, he will see the division between the thinker and thought, the observer and the observed, the experiencer and the experience. He will discover that this division is an illusion. Then only is there pure observation which is insight without any shadow of the past or of time. This timeless insight brings about a deep, radical mutation in the mind.
A tremendous volume of material exists documenting the philosophical investigations of Krishnamurti (or simply "K" as he is sometimes referred to) mostly in the form of recorded conversations and talks, although K also wrote several series of short essays and kept a personal journal at least twice in his life. He had dialogues and personal meetings with a wide variety of people from all kinds of backgrounds. An example of the far-ranging and probing dialogues he had is a series of conversations recorded in 1980 with theoretical physicist David Bohm that resulted in the publication of The Ending of Time and The Future of Humanity. These conversations are also available on audio tape and a subset of them on video and DVD as well.

"Truth is a pathless land. Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, not through any philosophic knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection." [1], [2]
"If one can really come to that state of saying, 'I do not know,' it indicates an extraordinary sense of humility; there is no arrogance of knowledge; there is no self-assertive answer to make an impression. When you can actually say, 'I do not know,' which very few are capable of saying, then in that state all fear ceases because all sense of recognition, the search into memory, has come to an end; there is no longer inquiry into the field of the known."
"Obviously what causes war is the desire for power, position, prestige, money; also the disease called nationalism, the worship of a flag; and the disease of organized religion, the worship of a dogma. All these are the causes of war; if you as an individual belong to any of the organized religions, if you are greedy for power, if you are envious, you are bound to produce a society which will result in destruction. So again it depends upon you and not on the leaders – not on so-called statesmen and all the rest of them. It depends upon you and me but we do not seem to realize that. If once we really felt the responsibility of our own actions, how quickly we could bring to an end all these wars, this appalling misery! But you see, we are indifferent. We have three meals a day, we have our jobs, we have our bank account, big or little, and we say, 'For God’s sake, don’t disturb us, leave us alone'."
"Freedom from the Known is death, and then you are living." "To divide anything into what should be and what is, is the most deceptive way of dealing with life."

Questioner: "I have listened to you for many years and I have become quite good at watching my thoughts and being aware of every thing I do, but I have never touched the deep waters or experienced the transformation of which you speak. Why?"
Krishnamurti: I think it is fairly clear why none of us do experience something beyond the mere watching. There may be rare moments of an emotional state in which we see, as it were, the clarity of the sky between clouds, but I do not mean anything of that kind. All such experiences are temporary and have very little significance. The questioner wants to know why, after these many years of watching, he hasn't found the deep waters. Why should he find them? Do you understand? You think that by watching your own thoughts you are going to get a reward: if you do this, you will get that. You are really not watching at all, because your mind is concerned with gaining a reward. You think that by watching, by being aware, you will be more loving, you will suffer less, be less irritable, get something beyond; so your watching is a process of buying. With this coin you are buying that, which means that your watching is a process of choice; therefore it isn't watching, it isn't attention. To watch is to observe without choice, to see yourself as you are without any movement of desire to change, which is an extremely arduous thing to do; but that doesn't mean that you are going to remain in your present state. You do not know what will happen if you see yourself as you are without wishing to bring about a change in that which you see. Do you understand?
I am going to take an example and work it out, and you will see. Let us say I am violent, as most people are. Our whole culture is violent; but I won't enter into the anatomy of violence now, because that is not the problem we are considering. I am violent, and I realize that I am violent. What happens? My immediate response is that I must do something about it, is it not? I say I must become non-violent. That is what every religious teacher has told us for centuries: that if one is violent one must become non-violent. So I practise, I do all the ideological things. But now I see how absurd that is, because the entity who observes violence and wishes to change it into non-violence, is still violent. So I am concerned, not with the expression of that entity, but with the entity himself. You are following all this, I hope
Now, what is that entity who says, `I must not be violent'? Is that entity different from the violence he has observed? Are they two different states? Do you understand, sirs, or is this too abstract? It is near the end of the talk and probably you are a bit tired. Surely, the violence and the entity who says, `I must change violence into non-violence', are both the same. To recognize that fact is to put an end to all conflict, is it not? There is no longer the conflict of trying to change, because I see that the very movement of the mind not to be violent is itself the outcome of violence.
So, the questioner wants to know why it is that he cannot go beyond all these superficial wrangles of the mind. For the simple reason that, consciously or unconsciously, the mind is always seeking something, and that very search brings violence, competition, the sense of utter dissatisfaction. It is only when the mind is completely still that there is a possibility of touching the deep waters.
6th public talk Ojai, 21st July 1955 from the booklet "Surely, Freedom From the Self is the True Function of Man"

Tendencije uma

''Da ne treba da bude na ovaj način, ne bi ni bilo na ovaj način''.
Kako se budemo upoznavali sa mogućnošću življenja života bez stalnog zauzimanja stava o svemu, odgovarajući povećani osjećaj slobode će se javiti.

Ono što u nama stvara prepreke je osjećaj 'mene' i 'mojeg', koji je proizvod straha i konfuzije. Možda zvuči čudno, ali moramo da naučimo da iskreno poštujemo ono što nas izaziva. Strpljivo i potpuno dopuštajući frustrijajućim dilemama da budu prisutne ovdje-i-sada, svjesnost oslobođena osuđivanja – to je put pročišćenja. Ova vježba će nas voditi do vrlo različitog, a ipak savršeno prirodnog pogleda na teškoće u našim životima.

Postoji tendencija u umu da uvjek bira strane ili se protivi činjenicama. To je nalik sportskom komentatoru koji neprestano ponavlja: ‘Ovo je dobro, ovo je loše; ovo je ispravno, ovo je pogrešno; dobro ti ide; praviš budalu od sebe, trebalo bi ovakav da budeš; nije trebalo to da kažeš, on nije trebao to reći, nego ovo, ona treba da je ovjde…’ To je beskrajna rijeka svih onih ‘treba’ i ‘ne treba’, i tendencija da se razmišlja na ovaj način je tako dugo prisutna da mi vjerovatno i ne znamo koliko je ona u stvari sve-prožimajuća.

Sve što se događa u našim životima događa se kao rezultat nekog uzroka. Postoje uzroci za svaki fenomen koji se pojavljuje, kako izvana, tako i unutra, pa stoga bez sumnje ti fenomeni treba da su tu. Postoji uzrok zbog čega ti se javljaju takve misli. Postoji uzrok zbog čega osjećaš te osjećaje. Zanimljiva stvar, da mi zanemarujemo razumijevanje ovog problema, nije ta da se nama javljaju ovakve misli – uzroci njih leže u prošlosti i nad njima nemamo kontrolu – već ta da mi sebe osuđujemo zato što imamo takve misli. Na taj način što govorimo sebi 'Ne bi trebalo da mislim ovo ili da osjećam ove osjećaje', mi postavljamo prepreke na putu naše samo-spoznaje. Mi, ustvari, zagađujemo našu svjesnost.

Dobra vijest je da zauzimanje strana nije obaveza – mi to ne moramo da činimo. Mi ne moramo da pratimo ove nagone. Sa jednostavnom, pažljivom, ljubaznom, strpljivom pažnjom mi ih možemo prepoznati kao tendencije uma. One nisu um! One nisu ono što smo mi. I na taj način što ih vidimo, malo pomalo, prestajemo da bivamo uhvaćeni u njima. Sve dotle dok ne počnemo da igramo njihovu igru koja je osuđivanje osuđujućeg uma, nalik 'Ja ne bi trebalo da osuđujem', mi uklanjamo kontra silu koja ovim tendencijama daje njihovu snagu. Tada spoznajemo osuđujući um kakav on jeste. I on je baš takav. Nema ničeg loše u osuđujućem umu. Njegova sposobnost da procjenjuje i bira je važan dio inteligencije koju mi kao ljudska bića koristimo radi osobne sigurnosti i preživljavanja. Problem je taj što je njegov uticaj postao disproporcionalno velik u našem svakodnevnom životu, i što on nikada neće da se umiri! Pažljivom i osjećajućom-istragom mi ćemo vidjeti njegovu hiperaktivnost u pravom svjetlu i vratićemo diskriminirajuću funkciju tamo gdje joj je mjesto. Doživljavaćemo punom pažnjom šta god da se događa, ali smireno i sa dozom staloženosti. Svakog trenutka kada pogledamo osuđujući um objektivno – onakav kakav jeste – mi pročišćavamo naš osnovni pogled koji imamo na život.

Pokušavali smo da smislimo pravu filozofiju, pravi politički stav, pravi način života, pravu vezu sa drugima, pravi socijalni kontekst, tako da se dobro osjećamo u svom životu. To potraje sve do prvog kursa meditacije, tokom kojeg naučimo da usredotočimo pažnju na dah i da se odupremo navici da sljedimo svaku misao, dakle sve dok ne okrijemo to prirodno stanje spokojstva koje dolazi sa skoncentriranim umom. Sve do tada smatramo da moramo da radimo nešto ili da budemo zaokupljeni nečim kako bi se dobro osjećali. Kada se sjetimo ili ponovo uspostavimo kontakt sa tom prirodnom dobrotom srca -- koje je tiho, blago, smireno i jasno -- tada se, uviđajući jasno pravu prirodu ovoga svijeta, naš odnos prema tom svijetu mijenja. Svijet ostaje kakav jeste i kakav je oduvijek bio. Još uvijek postoje zadovoljstvo i bol, snažni i blagi. Još uvek postoje nepravda i borba, razočarenje, radost, ushićenje i sreća. Ali kada jasno vidimo da sve to dolazi i prolazi, kada sa svjesnošću vidimo kako sva iskustva nastaju i nestaju, mi više nismo uslovljeni svojim naklonostima i ne prepuštamo se ni u jednom od tih iskustava. Umjesto toga, prepuštamo se razumijevanju prave prirode iskustva.

Prije nego što kažeš bilo šta, zapitaj se da je to nužno ili nije. Ako nije, nemoj ništa ni reći. To je prvi korak u vježbanju uma – jer ako ne možeš da kontroliraš svoj jezik, kako misliš da ćeš uspijeti da kontroliraš svoj um?"

"Drugi ljudi nas kritiziraju i onda sasvim na to zaborave, ali mi to pamtimo i neprekidno o tome razmišljamo. To je kao da pljunu na komad hrane, a mi ga uzmemo i pojedemo. U tom slučaju, ko je glup?"

Šta god da radiš, bilo da stojiš, sjediš, ležiš, govoriš ili nešto drugo, treba da to radiš sa punom pažnjom. Kad uspiješ da učvrstiš ovakvu sabranost, vidjećeš kako se sa njom javlja i jasno razumijevanje, a ta dva uvjeta donijeće ti potom i mudrost. Tako će sabranost pažnje, jasno razumijevanje i mudrost djelovati udruženi i bićeš kao onaj koji je probuđen i danju i noću.

Treba da znaš da to nastajanje i nestajanje jeste samo aktivnost tvoga uma. Kad se nešto pojavi, ono i nestane, a za njim slijedi novo nastajanje i nestajanje. Na putu Dhamme mi to nastajanje i nestajanje nazivamo "rođenje i smrt" i to je sve -- to je sve što postoji! Kada se pojavi patnja, ona i nestane, a kada nestane javi se nova patnja. To je samo nastajanje i nestajanje patnje. Kada toliko uvidiš, bićeš u stanju da neprekidno posmatraš to nastajanje i nestajanje i, kada je tvoje znanje postojano, uvidećeš da je to jedino što postoji. Sve je samo rođenje i smrt. Nema ničega što bi nastavilo da postoji. Samo to nastajanje i nestajanje kao takvo -- to je sve.

Ova vrsta uvida će podstaći smirujući osećaj neopsjednutosti ovim svijetom. Takav osećaj nastaje kada uvidimo da zapravo ne postoji bilo šta vrijedno naše želje, samo nastanak i prestanak, rađamo se i onda umiremo. Tu um dolazi do točke "napuštanja", dopuštanja da sve ide prema svojoj prirodi. Stvari u našem umu nastaju i nestaju i mi to znamo. Kada se javi sreća, mi to znamo, kada se javi nezadovoljstvo, mi to znamo. I to "znanje da u ovom trenutku postoji sreća" znači da se mi sa njome ne identificiramo tako što je smatramo svojom. Slično je sa nezadovoljstvom i nesrećom, ne identificiramo se sa njima i ne smatramo ih svojima. Kada se više ne identificiramo i ne lijepimo za sreću ili patnju, mi tada jednostavno bivamo sa prirodnim poretkom stvari.

Kažemo da je mentalna aktivnost kao smrtno otrovna kobra. Ako ne uznemiravamo kobru, ona jednostavno ide svojim putem. Iako je izuzetno otrovna, na nas to ne utiče; ne približavamo joj se niti je hvatamo rukom, i ona nas ne ujede. Kobra radi ono što je prirodno za kobru da radi. To je ono što jeste. Ako imaš mudrosti, ostavljaš je na miru. I tako ne diraš ono što je dobro. Također ne diraš ni ono što nije dobro -- ostavljaš stvari da postoje u skladu sa svojom prirodom. Ostavljaš na miru i svoje sviđanje i svoje nesviđanje, isto onako kao što ostavljaš na miru i kobru.Dakle, onaj ko je inteligentan zauzeće ovakav stav prema različitim raspoloženjima koja se javljaju u umu. Kada se pojavi dobrota, dopuštamo joj da bude dobra, ali mi u isto vreme i znamo to. Razumijemo njezinu prirodu. Isto tako dopuštamo da postoji i ono ne-dobro, dopuštamo mu da bude u skladu sa svojom prirodom. Ne hvatamo se toga, jer mi ne želimo bilo šta. Niti želimo zlo, niti želimo dobro. Ne želimo ni težinu ni lakoću, ni sreću ni patnju. Kada na ovakav način dođe kraj našim željama, tada je u nama mir čvrsto uspostavljen.

The Power of Now

Several of the following observations arise from reading of Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now. Some things are pure Tolle; others are a distillation, a rephrasing and/or expansion in my words. This is a powerful book that entices you to concentrate on living in the Now and leaving the past and future to take care of themselves because neither truly exist. The one has gone and the other is a figment of your imagination. There is a lot of valuable insight in this book. At least browse it if you have a chance.
Fear has to do with what "might happen." It has to do with future unknowns not present Now. You only cope with Now; you cannot cope with a mind-created projection of an unknown future.
Fear seems to have many causes: fear of loss, of failure, of being hurt. But ultimately all fear is the ego's fear of death, of annihilation. Once you no longer identify with ego and mind, right and wrong have nothing to do with self and defensiveness is no longer necessary.
Die before you die so you realize that there is no death.
"The past gives you an identity and the future holds a promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions."
Although you need to live in the Now, remember that you do have to use time too. Just don't get too tied up in either fretting over the past or fearing the future. You only have the Now. The others are creations of your mind. So build scenarios--but not the best, not the worst. They are only the creations of your mind. You can use the past and future momentarily for planning but don't dwell there long enough for your mind to manufacture a bunch of "What-ifs" that will prevent you from moving.
Fears sleep with desires.
Salvation is not in taking care of but in living the Now well.
Forgive even the uncertainties of the future. Live whatever comes your way. Do not resent. Forgive and live.
If you are in contact with the ultimate being deep within yourself, you respect all, you love all, you know all is fleeting. You contact the all not only from within, but also in the silence between sound in the space between objects. Everything is and isn't. Everything is holy and everything is banal.
You find God the moment you realize you do not have to seek him because he is here.
Some final observations and a summary of the theme of Echart Tolle's The Power of the Now: We have only the Now. The past is only memories and guilt (fear of the past) and the future is only a construct of the mind, a fear filled construct built on piles of "What-ifs" constructed by the mind. We can and must live only in the perceived Now. The perceived consciousness of the mind is actually unconsciousness. We must surrender to the Now, the current situation; we can change it, but we must accept and surrender. Pain comes from the mind dwelling on what cannot be changed instead of surrendering to it and releasing it. Fear involves the mind and totally non-existent mental constructs. There is no past or future so there is nothing to feel guilty about, nor is there anything to fear. My center, my now, is the ever-present Now that is the source of all being. [this paragraph needs some work
It is obvious from the title what this book is all about. The author terms the constant thinking process as “mental noise” as it gets intense and disturbing at times and says that this thinking process has been consistent in people from their childhood and it conditions them by creating definitions for the self like how to behave, what to hate, what to like and all and makes them act out those definitions at the same time not allowing them to go out of it. He teaches how one should detach himself from the chronological time and get down to the unlimited time(?) of the now. He also states how people are peripherally aware of the now and how much they are identifying themselves with the thinking process which according to him is just a tool of the mind and should be used only for practical purposes. He defines the painful past memories as pain bodies and gives ways to dissolve them in no time. Ever came across this situation in life where you stand in a bus stop thinking about when the bus is going to come and what works do I have today to finish off at my workplace, what is my boss going to say about me messing up the last one , once again baaaaaam, a hot girl passes by staring at you and you forget everything, and say to yourself “oh my, would you look at that”, things in reality sometimes excite you and drag you into the now temporarily just like my experience. But this taste of the now is short lived and so momentary and people usually climb back to their mind-identified state in no time. He also explains that, a person who lives completely in the now and here acts so alert and conscious than a person in a mind-identified state.
I am basically quite fast in the uptake, but the whole concept of Eckhart was so hard for me to comprehend in just one night read. The complex sentences explaining about the pain bodies and emotions just made me dull and some of those deep concepts were too difficult to comprehend even after a repeated read and I just got plain exasperated. I thought I would cotton on as I go down the way and I did too. I was able to understand what happened to me on that rainy day too, I got a taste of the “no-mind” “all in the now” state temporarily as a result of the emergency. Eckhart asks you to do this voluntarily by following two methods, to get into the visuals that the Now gives you and submerge yourself into its details, and second, let any disturbing compulsive thoughts flow freely with you observing them without any restrictions.
The overall meaning of this work of Eckhart Tolle is that “you are not your thoughts” which to some extent contradicts other concepts which i once used to appreciate, like the famous Cognitive-Therapy(for therapeutic purposes), positive thinking, optimal thinking(in line with Eckhart’s concept but slightly contradicting).
Eckhart Tolle says at the start of this book that he got his spiritual experience during his late twenties on one bad day he drove himself to the very pinnacle of pandemonium inside his mind and thats when he came to understand the true-self and the false-self. He once explains in this book that one who experiences a near death experience in an intense manner knows the value of life. Dying before the actual death is the enlightenment in his terms, which metaphorically said , dying here means killing the ego and detaching oneself from the mind and thoughts which is exactly the concept of Buddha, Christ and kind of a specific part of the Advaita vedanta from the upanishads. But from my standpoint, I would say this book is not that much spiritual and the abstract explanations are all solely referring to the practical working of the mind and its interpretations of the reality.
This book came out in 1999, millions of copies sold, a New York best seller(now his new book A NEW EARTH is doing the rounds) translated to 33 languages or so and oprah’s favourite. A good read, I would recommend it to those people who are so caught up with the chronological time of the past and the future. Am through with his STILLNESS SPEAKS. Yet to read A NEW EARTH.

Pleeeeeease…….give yourself a chance to feel your real self before you allow your mind to start making plans. It’s very, very easy to do. We are just in the habit of doing things backwards. It’s a learned process from imitating practically everyone else. We perceived our world correctly as children and then grew into this bad habit of thinking before feeling.
Thoughts are generated on top of thoughts, that appear out of nowhere. We all have reaction thoughts to our environment. These reactions lead to thoughts, that lead to more thinking to deal with the original thoughts, and away you go. Emotions result from the process of reacting, contemplating and finally concluding. Or maybe, there is no conclusion, which can result in emotions of fear or stress.
This is how it goes for the majority of people. Thoughts produce emotions. It then becomes natural to try to use this process to create positive emotions. I know from my own experience, that it seems natural to try to think your way into happiness. I’d go over how things were going for me and what the future had to offer, in the happiness category. I would calculate how the day would entertain me and somehow fulfill my soul with purpose. By plotting out strategies, I felt that good emotions would be guaranteed. Thinking would proceed the feelings.
In reality, this strategy fails to deliver the goods. The saying, “live by the sword, die by the sword,” is appropriate here. Sadly, I have found that when you live by the thought strategy, you also die by the thought strategy. While you’re plotting your road to happiness, your thoughts can continually steer you the wrong way on a one way street.
The bottom line on why this happens, came to me from Echart Tolle. His book A New Earth was featured on Oprah’s book of the month program. I caught the live interviews that were broadcast around the world and was astounded by the amazing new insight that was discussed. Echart’s become a bit of a phenomenon as a result of his books and teachings that humbly point to a new path for successful living. I don’t recommend books. That said, I recommend A New Earth by Ekart Tolle. Without getting into lengthy details, I have a few simple insights taken from this book, to share.
We get lost in our thinking. The emotions that are created from this endless thinking, aren’t appropriate or productive for the circumstances we encounter. I have asked myself at many times in my life, why am I not able to be, so very happy with what I have right now? I have been through some difficult times, but mostly I have so much to be grateful for. So much, and yet I don’t feel it often enough. I would rationalize that there was more that I needed, to feel really happy. This is where the thinking and planning came into play. This is where we leave ourselves to journey on a path that actually takes us away from where we really want to be.
The world tells us, this is the way. The world doesn’t really know what it’s talking about. Does it? Think about the complicated world in general. Is this really the best we can do? Notice the horribly high cost of living that has taken place in the last 30 years. Everyone seems to be running in place trying to keep up with this high cost of living. Whatever happened to the leisure lifestyle that modern technology was suppose to provide? Now, after all the heroic efforts to keep up with the ever increasing cost of living, the housing market is having a meltdown and the price of gas and food is soaring. The world’s plan is broke. Thankfully so. Eckhart’s book simply describes a new way to approach living in the modern world. It is based on ancient philosophy from times when people weren’t so confused by the complicated world that we have today. The wisdom is timeless and works immediately. Eckhart has a way of making it easy to understand in today’s terms.
Just being able to get out of your thinking mind and back to who you really are, is all that is needed. This simple act is powerful enough to bring about pure happiness even in the middle of chaos. It doesn’t require classes or a degree. Money, experience in life, relationships are not necessary. All that is needed is to be present in the now. It’s what was natural to us when we were children. It is easy to do, and the benefits of feeling extreme happiness are immediate.
I’m excited to share this, because I live it, and I know how nice it feels. Finally, something makes total sense and you don’t have to believe it, because you can feel it, plain as day. Everything that you have in your life can be appreciated on such a deeper level when you step out of your thinking and get back to you, right now. When you get good at staying in the now zone, you will see two huge benefits. First, you can leave negative thinking and emotion behind in a matter of seconds. The second part is that you get to see and experience things in your life the way they appeared to you the very first time. Everything is new and wonderful the first go around. The first experience is interesting and exciting. As time goes on we experience everything from our thinking mind. The beauty and magic of our surroundings are lost because of this form of processing.
Your body is the gateway to your subconscious mind and the present moment. The subconscious is the source of who you really are. To be connected to extreme contentment, try connecting to your source as much as possible. It’s no big thing. Just periodically, throughout your day, bring your awareness to your body, or the feeling of your body touching something. Be present and aware of how it feels when your hands or your feet or any part of you is touching something. Focus your awareness on what you are physically feeling right now. The more you do this, the more natural and easy it becomes. This is a simple and quick way to break away from your thinking mind.
Your thinking mind wont be too impressed with this. Tell it to shut up and just do it. Feel how a calmness and pure contentment occurs by just switching your awareness out of thinking, and back to being here, right now. See everything for how really beautiful and amazing it is. It feels so nice to see the real world that surrounds you, no matter where you are. Only your thinking mind can prevent you from seeing this. Feel how wonderful life is, by practicing just being, instead of thinking.
Thinking comes before feeling, unless you’re in the amazing present moment. In the now zone, everything is reversed. You feel it…..then,,,, you think it. What you feel before you think, is so natural and beautiful, that you’ll want to continue this process always. These are feelings that your thinking mind could never deliver. All the planning in the world wont get you there.
“Life… is… what happens while your making other plans.”
So.
Stop making other plans.

Sadašnji trenutak

Početak slobode jest spoznaja kako vi niste to biće koje vas opsjeda – mislilac.
Onoga trenutka kad počnete nadzirati mislioca, aktivira se viša razina svjesnosti.
Slušajte glas u svojoj glavi i budite u ulozi svjedoka – ne prosuđujte.

Umjesto da «nadzirate mislioca», prekid u struji misli možete izazvati sasvim jednostavno, usmjerivši žarište pažnje u sadašnji trenutak.
Postanite snažno svjesni sadašnjeg trenutka.

Svaki put dok hodate uz i niz stube u svojoj kući ili na radnom mjestu, pomno usmjerite pozornost na svaki korak, pokret, pa čak i na disanje.
Budite potpuno prisutni. Kad želite oprati ruke, obratite pozornost na sve osjetilne opažaje povezane s tom aktivnošću: zvuk i dodir vode, pokreti ruku, miris sapuna i tako dalje.
Kad ulazite u automobil, nakon što ste zatvorili vrata, zastanite nekoliko sekundi i promatrajte ritam disanja.

Promatranje emocija podjednako je važno kao i promatranje misli.
Naviknite se postavljati si pitanje: što se u ovom trenutku zbiva u meni? – samo promatrajte.

Jakost boli ovisi o stupnju opiranja sadašnjem trenutku.
Što ste sposobniji poštovati i prihvaćati sadašnji trenutak, to ste slobodniji od boli i patnje.
Promatranje obuhvaća prihvaćanje boli kao dijela sadašnjeg trenutka.

Kad vam se prikrade mračno raspoloženje te se upustite u negativne misaone obrasce i razmišljanja o tome koliko je život težak, vaše se razmišljanje združilo s tijelom boli.

Ako ste u prošlosti napravili pogrešku i iz nje sada učite, tada se koristite vremenom sata. S druge strane, ako se mentalno zadržavate na njoj, žalite ili osjećate krivnju, tada se pretvarate u pogrešku: prihvaćate je kao dio osjećaja za vlastito ja i ona postaje psihološko vrijeme. Neopraštanje svakako podrazumijeva težak teret psihološkog vremena.

Sadašnji trenutak jedino je što uvijek imate.

Pogledajte imate li bilo kakvih problema u ovom trenutku.

U potpunosti se koristite osjetilima. Budite ondje gdje jeste. Ogledajte se naokolo. Samo ogledajte, uočite svjetlost, oblike, boje tkanine. Budite svjesni tihe prisutnosti svake stvari. Budite svjesni prostora koji svemu što jest omogućuju postojanje.
Osluškujte zvuke. Dodirnite nešto – bilo što – te osjetite i priznajte njegovo biće. Pratite ritam vlastita disanja: osječajte zrak koji udišete i izdišete, unutra i van.

Nađete li se u raju, um će vjerojatno reći: «Da, ali…». Problema nema -
postoje samo situacije – da se s njima pozabavite ili da ih ostavite na miru i prihvatite kao dio postojanja Sadašnjeg trenutka sve dok se ne promjene ili dok ih ne budete mogli razriješiti.
Probleme je izmislio um i da bi preživjeli potrebno im je vrijeme.

«Problem» znači da se mentalno zadržavate u nekoj situaciji bez ikakve iskrene namjere ili mogućnosti da sada nešto poduzmete.
U mislima nosite suludi teret stotinu stvari koje ćete morati ili nećete smjeti učiniti u budućnosti. Kad stvarate problem, stvarate bol.

Osjećam li se lagodno ovoga trenutka?
Što se upravo sada odvija u meni?

Jednom kad otkrijete kako postoji niska razina nelagode i pozadinskog statičkog naboja, razmotrite na koji način izbjegavate život i odupirete mu se ili ga niječete – tako što niječete Sadašnji trenutak.
Opirete li se onome što radite?
Nosite li u sebi neizgovoreno negodovanje prema osobi koja vam je bliska?
U mislima imate ideju da je «sve u redu», ali duboko u sebi tome zapravo ne vjerujete, tako da se stari mentalno-emocionalni obrasci otpora i dalje nalaze na svom mjestu. Zato se osjećate loše.

Otkrijete li da su ovdje i sada nepodnošljivi te ako ste zbog toga nesretni, imate tri mogućnosti: otiđite iz te situacije, promijenite je ili je potpuno prihvatite.

Sprečava li vas strah da nešto poduzmete? Priznajte taj strah, promatrajte ga, prenesite pažnju na njega i budite potpuno prisutni s njim.

Možda postoji nešto što biste «trebali» napraviti, ali to ne radite?
Ustanite i odmah to napravite. Ili potpuno prihvatite svoju neaktivnost, lijenost ili pasivnost u ovom trenutku, ako tako odaberete. Potpuno joj se prepustite. Uživajte.

Samo se krećete, trčite, radite – i uživate u tome. Ili možete sve to odbaciti i sjediti na klupi u parku. Ali dok to radite promatrajte svoj um. Mogao bi reći:»Trebao bi raditi. Gubiš vrijeme.» Promatrajte ga. Nasmijte mu se.

Osjetite unutarnje energetsko polje. Zapitajte se koji vas «problem» upravo sada muči.Što to ne valja u ovom trenutku?

Sljedeći put kad vam netko kaže:»Oprosti što si me morao čekati», možete odgovoriti: «U redu je, nisam čekao. Stajao sam i uživao – u samom sebi.»

Svaka vanjska svrha prije ili kasnije osuđena je «na propast», jednostavno zato što je podvrgnuta zakonu prolaznosti sviju stvari.

Trebamo biti ukorijenjeni u sebi tako da vam je pažnja uvijek djelomično usmjerena na unutarnje energetsko polje vlastita tijela. Da osjećate tijelo iznutra.

Razlika je između opažanja, nemisaone svjesnosti ljepote te imenovanja i tumačenja te ljepote kao misli. Onoga trenutka kad se pojavila misao imali ste već samo uspomenu.

Sklopite oči. Usmjerite pažnju na tijelo. Osjetite ga iznutra. Je li živo? Ima li života u vašim dlanovima, rukama, nogama i stopalima – u trbuhu i prsima? Osječate li tanano energetsko polje koje prožima cijelo tijelo te svakom organu i stanici daje vibrirajući život? Osjećate li to polje istodobno u svim dijelovima tijela kao jedno jedino polje energije? Nekoliko trenutaka usmjeravajte pažnju na osječaj unutarnjeg tijela.
Zadržite dio pažnje na unutarnjem energetskom polju tijela čak i dok se osvrćete po prostoriji. Nikad nemojte izgubiti dodir s njim.
Pokušajte osjetiti svoje unutarnje tijelo dok čitate ili slušate.

Tijelo koje možete vidjeti i dotaknuti samo je tanka, lažna koprena. Ispod nje krije se nevidljivo unutarnje tijelo, vrata koja vode u Biće. – u kojemu nema ni smrti ni rađanja, nego samo vječna prisutnost. Kroz unutarnje tijelo vi ste zauvijek sjedinjeni s Bogom.

Osjećate cijelo svoje tijelo iznutra kao jedinstveno polje energije. Kao da slušate ili čitate cijelim tijelom. Neka to bude vaša praksa u danima i tjednima što dolaze.
Svakako se usredotočite na ono što radite, ali istodobno, kad god vam je to moguće, osječajte unutarnje tijelo.

Kad god čekate, gdje god to bilo, koristite se tim vremenom za osjećanje unutarnjeg tijela. Na taj način prometne gužve i dugački redovi postaju mjesta uživanja.

Stoga kad se pojavi izazov, neka vam bude navika odmah se spustiti u tijelo i što više možete usredotočiti se na unutarnje enegetsko polje vlastita tijela.
Čim počnete povlačiti svijest iz uma odmah ćete se smiriti i postati prisutni.

Stoga pažnju usmjerite na to da osjetite emociju i provjerite drži li se vaš um nekog obrasca žaljenja, kao što je okrivljavanje, samosažaljenje ili negodovanje, koji bi mogao hraniti tu emociju. Ako je tako, to znači da niste oprostili. Neopraštanje je često usmjereno prema drugoj osobi ili prema sebi i prema bilo kojoj situaciji ili stanju – koje vaš um odbija prihvatiti.
Um ne može oprostiti. Samo vi to možete učiniti.

Kad imate nekoliko minuta vremena, osobito neposredno prije spavanja i nakon buđenja, «preplavite» tijelo sviješću. Sklopite oči. Lezite na leđa. Pažnju usmjerite na različite dijelove tijela, najprije nakratko: dlanovi, stopala, ruke, noge, trbuh, prsa, glava i tako dalje.
Osjetite životnu energiju unutar tih dijelova što jače možete. Kod svakog dijela tijela ostanite petnaestak sekundi. Tada dopustite pažnji da nekoliko puta prođe kroz tijelo kao val, od stopala do glave i natrag. Za to vam je potrebna otprilike jedna minuta. Nakon toga u potpunosti osjetite unutarnje tijelo kao jedinstveno polje energije. Taj osjećaj zadržite nekoliko minuta.
Najčešće je mnogo jednostavnije najprije se usredotočiti na disanje.

Kad god vam je potreban odgovor, rješenje ili stvaralačka ideja, prestanite na trenutak razmišljati tako što ćete pažnju usmjeriti na unutarnje energetsko polje. Postanite svjesni duboke tišine. Kad ponovno počnete misliti, misli će vam biti svježe i stvaralačke.

Kad slušate drugu osobu osječajte energetsko polje vlastita unutarnjeg tijela.
Biće druge osobe ne možete osjetiti osim kroz svoje vlastito. Na najdubljoj razini Bića, vi ste jedno sa svime što postoji. Unutarnje tijelo osjećate kao da je bezgranično.
Sve što postoji je sveto. Isus je rekao:»Rascijepi komad drveta; ja sam ondje. Podigni kamen i naći ćeš me ispod njega.»

Postanite svjesni prostora koji je posvuda oko vas.

Kad god vam se dogodi nešto negativno, u tom je događaju prikrivena važna pouka, iako je možda u tom trenutku nećete uočiti.

Živite li u potpunom prihvaćanju onoga što jest – što je jedini zdrav način života – u vašem životu više nema «dobrog» ni «lošeg».
Kad se dva ili više ega udruži u osobnim odnosima, organizacijama ili ustanovama, prije ili kasnije počnu se događati «loše» stvari.

Drama je kad se sažalijevate. Drama je kad se osjećate krivima ili tjeskobnima.

Kad god ne poštujete Sadašnji trenutak tako što ćete mu dopustiti da postoji, vi stvarate dramu.

Živite li s potpunim prihvaćanjem onoga što jest, to je kraj drame u vašem životu.

Držite li se čvrsto starih stvari i opirete li se, to znači da odbijate teći tijekom života, pa ćete zato patiti.

Neuspjeh se krije u svakom uspjehu, a uspjeh u svakom neuspjehu. Naravno na ovom svijetu, što znači na razini oblika, svatko prije ili kasnije doživi «neuspjeh» te se svako postignuće na kraju izjalovi. Svi su oblici netrajni.

I dalje možete biti aktivni i uživati u očitovanju i stvaranju novih oblika i okolnosti, ali se nećete poistovjećivati s njima. Oblici i okolnosti nisu vaš život – nego samo vaša životna situacija.

Bit će razdoblja kad ćete biti iznimno aktivni i stvaralački, ali može biti i razdoblja kad će se činiti da sve stoji na mjestu. Ciklus može trajati od nekoliko sati do nekoliko godina.

Netrajnost je središnji dio i Isusova učenja: «Ne sabirajte sebi blago na zemlji, gdje ga izgriza moljac i rđa; gdje lopovi prokopavaju zidove i kradu ga!»

Isto stanje koje je jučer ili prethodne godine bilo dobro iznenada se, ili postepeno, pretvorilo u nešto loše. Ista situacija koja vas je usrečila sada u vama izaziva nesreću.(vjenčanje)

Morate doživjeti gubitak mnogih iluzija kako biste spoznali istinu. Sve što se uzdiže to i pada.

Nestane li ovisnosti, nema više ni straha. Život teče s lakoćom.

Kad «vi» - um – ne biste vjerovali da vam je nesreća korisna, zar biste je stvarali?

Promatrajte bilo koju biljku ili životinju i dopustite im da vas nauče prihvaćanju onoga što jest, predavanju Sadašnjem trenutku.

Otpor koji stvara um, u ovom slučaju razdraženost ili bijes, daleko više uznemiruje nego izvorni uzrok kojeg otpor pokušava razriješiti.

Automobilski alarm, lajanje psa, vrištanje djece, prometna gužva. Umjesto da u sebi podignete zid otpora u koji neprestano i bolno udaraju stvari koje se «ne bi trebale događati», dopustite da sve to prođe kroz vas.

Netko vam kaže nešto grubo ili s namjerom da vas povrijedi. Umjesto da se prepustite nesvjesnoj reakciji ili negativnosti, kao što su napad, obrana ili povlaćenje, dopustite da te riječi prođu kroz vas. ne odupirite se. Kao da više nema nikoga tko bi mogao biti povrijeđen. To je opraštanje. Na taj način postajete neranjivi. I dalje toj osobi možete reći kako je njezino ponašanje neprihvatljivo, ako tako odlučite. Ali ta osoba više ne posjeduje moć kojom bi mogla nadzirati vaše unutarnje stanje.
Bez obzira na to je li riječ o automobilskom alarmu, gruboj osobi, poplavi, potresu ili gubitku sveukupnog imetka, mehanizam otpora uvijek je isti.

Onoga trenutka kad potpuno prihvatite svoj ne-mir, on će se preobraziti u mir. Sve ono što potpuno prihvatite odvest će vas onamo, u spokojstvo. To je čudo predavanja.

Kad prihvatite ono što jest, znat ćete kako je svaki trenutak najbolji. To je prosvjetljenje.

Sjetite se kako je opažanj svijeta odraz vašeg stanja svijesti. Vi niste odvojeni od svijeta, a izvan vas ionako nema objektivnog svijeta. Svakog trenutka vaša svijest stvara svijet u kojem obitavate.

Ništa nije onakvo kakvim se čini. Što god opažate samo je neka vrsta simbola, kao slika u snu.

Moguć je i, zapravo, postoji beskonačan broj potpuno različitih tumačenja, potpuno različitih svjetova – a sve ovisi o svijesti koja opaža. Svako biće žarišna je točka svijesti, a svaka žarišna točka stvara vlastiti svijet, iako su svi ti svjetovi međusobno povezani.

Budući da je strah neminovna posljedica egoistične zablude, to je svijet u kojem prevladava strah.

Kad ste potpuno prisutni te kad se ljudi oko vas ponašaju na nesvjestan način, nećete osječati potrebu da na to reagirate. Vaš mir je tako prostran i dubok da u njemu nestaje sve što mu je suprotno.

Predajete se tako što se suzdržavate od pridavanja oznaka Sadašnjem trenutku.

Učite iz prirode: vidite kako se ondje sve postiže i kako se čudo života razvija bez ikakva nezadovoljstva ili nesreće.

Postoji li nešto što bih mogao napraviti da promijenim situaciju, da je poboljšam ili da se uklonim od nje?

Djelo koje poduzmete možda neće odmah donijeti plodove. Dok ih donese – ne opirite se onome što jest.
Zakoračite li u ovu bezvremenu dimenziju sadašnjosti, promjena se često događa na neobičan način, bez ikakve potrebe za velikim vašim radom.

Počnite priznanjem da otpor postoji. Budite prisutni kad se to dogodi, kad se javi otpor. Promatrajte način na koji vaš um stvara otpor, kako pridaje oznake situaciji, vama ili drugim ljudima. Promotrite misaoni proces koji se odvija. Osjetite energiju emocije.

Savršeno je moguće čvrsto i jasno reći ne nekoj osobi ili otići iz neke situacije i biti istodobno u stanju potpunog unutarnjeg prihvaćanja . Neka to ne bude ne reakcije, nego n e visoke kvalitete, n e slobodno od svekolike negativnosti, jer samo kad je takvo ne izaziva daljnju patnju.

Promatrajte koliko ste vezani za vlastita stajališta i mišljenja. Osječajte mentalno-emocionalnu energiju koja se skriva u pozadini vaše potrebe da budete u pravu, a druga osoba u krivu. To je energija egoističnog uma.
Promatrajte što se događa s mentalnim stavom druge osobe kad mu svojim otporom više ne dajete energiju.

Kad se vi preobrazite, cijeli je vaš svijet preobražen, jer je svijet tek odraz.

Ne okrečite glavu od boli. Osjetite je – a ne razmišljajte o njoj! Izrazite je ako je to nužno, ali nemojte oko nje u mislima graditi scenarij. Svu svoju pažnju dajte osječaju, a ne osobi, događaju ili situaciji za koje se čini da su ga izazvali.
Pažnju usmjeravajte na bol, osjećajuči tugu, strah, užas, osamljenost. Ostanite budni i prisutni – prisutni cijelim svojim Bićem, svakom stanicom svoga tijela.

Sve dok osjećaj vlastitog ja temeljite u prošlosti ne možete uistinu oprostiti ni sebi ni drugima. Tek pristupanjem moći Sadašnjeg trenutka, što je vaša jedina moć, možete uistinu oprostiti. To prošlosti oduzima moć, a vi duboko u nutrini spoznajete kako ništa od onoga što ste ikada učinili ili ono što su vam drugi učinili nikada ni najmanje ne može dotaknuti blistavu suštinu onoga tko jeste.

Iz knjige "Moć sadašnjeg trenutka" - Eckhart Tolle

Practice the Dharma

Appreciating Our Advantageous Circumstances

We are extraordinarily fortunate to have the circumstances for Dharma practice that are presently available to us. It is important that we reflect on the advantages and good circumstances that we have to practice right now. Otherwise, we will take them for granted and they will go to waste. We tend to select one or two small problems in our life, emphasize them, and blow them out of proportion. Then we think, "I can't be happy. I can't practice the Dharma," and this thought itself prevents us from enjoying our life and making it meaningful. We human beings are very funny: when something bad happens in our lives we say, "Why me? Why is this happening to me?" But when we wake up every morning and are alive and healthy and our family is well, we never say, "Why me? Why am I so fortunate?"
Not only should we open our eyes to all the things that are going right in our lives, but also we should recognize that they are results of our own previously-created positive actions or karma. It is helpful to think, "Whoever I was in a previous life, I did a lot of positive actions which make it possible for me to have so many good circumstances now. So in this life I should also act constructively by being ethical and kind so that in the future such fortune will continue."

Appreciating Our Problems

Appreciating our advantageous circumstances is important as is appreciating our problems. Why appreciate our problems? Because the difficult situations in our lives are the ones that make us grow the most. Take a minute and think about a difficult time in your life, a time when you had a lot of problems. Didn't you learn something valuable from that experience? You wouldn't be the person you are now without having gone through those difficulties. We may have gone through a painful time in our life, but we came out the other side with stronger inner resources and a better understanding of life. Seen in this way, even our problems enable us to become better people and aid us on the path to enlightenment.
Before we take refuge in the Three Jewels -- the Buddhas, the Dharma, and the Sangha -- it is helpful to visualize them in the space in front of us. That is, we imagine the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and arhats in a pure land. We are there too, surrounded by all sentient beings. A pure land is a place where all the circumstances are conducive to practicing the Dharma. When I visualized being in a Pure Land, I used to imagine only the people I liked and left out the people with whom I felt uncomfortable, threatened, insecure, or fearful. It was nice to imagine being in a place where everything was very pleasant and it was easy to practice the Dharma.
But one time when I was visualizing the pure land, all the people who were giving me problems were there too! I recognized that if a pure land is a place conducive for Dharma practice, then I also need the people who harm me to be there, because they help me to practice. In fact, sometimes those who harm us help us more to practice the Dharma than those who help us. The people who help us, give us gifts, and tell us how wonderful, talented, and intelligent we are often cause us to get puffed up. On the other hand, the people who harm us show us very clearly how much resentment and jealousy we have and how attached we are to our reputations. They help us to see our attachments and aversions and they point out the things we need to work on in ourselves. Sometimes they help us even more than our teachers do in this respect.
For example, our Dharma teachers tell us, "Try to forgive other people, try not to be angry. Jealousy and pride are defilements, so try not to follow them because they will cause you and others difficulties." We say, "Yes, yes, that's true. But I don't have those negative qualities. But the people who harm me are very resentful, jealous, and attached!" Even though our Dharma teachers point out our faults to us, we still don't see them. But when people with whom we don't get along point out our faults to us, we have to look at them. We can't run away anymore. When we're outrageously angry or burning with jealousy or attachment is eating away at us, we can't deny that we have these negative emotions. Of course, we try to say that it's the other person's fault, that we have these horrible emotions only because they made us have them. But after we've listened to the Buddha's teachings, this rationale doesn't work any more. We know in our hearts that our happiness and suffering come from our own mind. Then, even though we try to blame our difficulties on other people, we know we can't. We are forced to look at them ourselves. And when we do, we also see that they are incredible opportunities to grow and learn.
The bodhisattvas, who sincerely wish to practice the Dharma, want to have problems. They want people to criticize them. They want their reputation to get ruined. Why? They see problems as wonderful opportunities to practice. Atisha, a great bodhisattva in India, helped to spread Buddhism to Tibet in the 11th century. When he went to Tibet, he took his Indian cook with him. This cook was very disagreeable, speaking harshly and being rude and obnoxious to people. He even regularly insulted Atisha. The Tibetans asked, "Why did you bring this person with you? We can cook for you. You don't need him!" But Atisha said, "I do need him. I need him to practice patience."
So when someone criticizes me I think, "He is an incarnation of Atisha's cook." One time I was living in a Dharma center and had big problems with one person there, let's call him Sam. I was so happy when I left that place to go back to the monastery and see my spiritual master. My master knew of my difficulties and asked me, "Who is kinder to you: the Buddha, or Sam?" I immediately replied, "Of course the Buddha is kinder to me!" My teacher looked disappointed and proceeded to tell me that Sam was actually much kinder to me than the Buddha! Why? Because I couldn't possibly practice patience with the Buddha. I had to practice with Sam, and without practicing patience there was no way I could become a Buddha, so I actually needed Sam! Of course, that wasn't what I wanted my teacher to say! I wanted him to say, "Oh, I understand, Sam is a horrible person. He was so mean to you, you poor thing." I wanted sympathy, but my teacher didn't give it to me. This made me wake up and realize that difficult situations are beneficial because they force me to practice and find my inner strength. All of us are going to have problems in our lives. This is the nature of cyclic existence. Remembering this can help us to transform our problems into the path to enlightenment.

Dharma Practice in Modern Society

This is an important aspect of Buddhism in modern society. Dharma practice isn't just coming to the temple; it's not simply reading a Buddhist scripture or chanting the Buddha's name. Practice is how we live our lives, how we live with our family, how we work together with our colleagues, how we relate to the other people in the country and on the planet. We need to bring the Buddha's teachings on loving-kindness into our workplace, into our family, even into the grocery store and the gym. We do this not by handing out leaflets on a street corner, but by practicing and living the Dharma ourselves. When we do, automatically we will have a positive influence on the people around us. For example, you teach your children loving-kindness, forgiveness, and patience not only by telling them, but by showing it in your own behavior. If you tell your children one thing, but act in the opposite way, they are going to follow what we do, not what we say.

Teaching Children by Example

If we're not careful, it is easy to teach our children to hate and never to forgive when others harm them. Look at the situation in the former Yugoslavia: it is a good example of how, both in the family and in the schools, adults taught children to hate. When those children grew up, they taught their children to hate. Generation after generation, this went on, and look what happened. There is so much suffering there; it's very sad. Sometimes you may teach children to hate another part of the family. Maybe your grandparents quarreled with their brothers and sisters, and since then the different sides of the family didn't speak to each other. Something happened years before you were born -- you don't even know what the event was -- but because of it, you're not supposed to speak to certain relatives. Then you teach that to your children and grandchildren. They learn that the solution to quarreling with someone is never to speak to them again. Is that going to help them to be happy and kind people? You should think deeply about this and make sure you teach your children only what is valuable.
This is why it's so important that you exemplify in your behavior what you want your children to learn. When you find resentment, anger, grudges, or belligerence in your heart, you have to work on those, not only for your own inner peace but so you don't teach your children to have those harmful emotions. Because you love your children, try to also love yourself as well. Loving yourself and wanting yourself to be happy means you develop a kind heart for the benefit of everybody in the family.

Bringing Loving-Kindness to the Schools

We need to bring loving-kindness not only into the family but also into the schools. Before I became a nun, I was a schoolteacher, so I have especially strong feelings about this. The most important thing for children to learn is not a lot of information, but how to be kind human beings and how to resolve their conflicts with others in a constructive way. Parents and teachers put a lot of time and money into teaching children science, arithmetic, literature, geography, geology, and computers. But do we ever spend any time teaching them how to be kind? Do we have any courses in kindness? Do we teach kids how to work with their own negative emotions and how to resolve conflicts with others? I think this is much more important than the academic subjects. Why? Children may know a lot, but if they grow up to be unkind, resentful, or greedy adults, their lives will not be happy.
Parents want their children to have a good future and thus think their children need to make a lot of money. They teach their children academic and technical skills so that they can get a good job and make lots of money -- as if money were the cause of happiness. But when people are on their deathbed, you never hear anybody wishfully say, "I should have spent more time in the office. I should have made more money." When people have regrets about how they lived their life, usually they regret not communicating better with other people, not being kinder, not letting the people that they care about know that they care. If you want your kids to have a good future don't teach them just how to make money, but how to live a healthy life, how to be a happy person, how to contribute to society in a productive way.

Teaching Children to Share with Others

As parents you have to model this. Let's say your children come home and say, "Mom and Dad, I want designer jeans, I want new rollerblades, I want this and I want that because all the other kids have it." You say to your children, "Those things won't make you happy. You don't need them. It won't make you happy to keep up with the Lee's." But then you go out and buy all the things that everybody else has, even though your house is already filled with things you don't use. In this case, what you are saying and what you are doing are contradictory. You tell your children to share with other children, you don't give things to charities for the poor and needy. Look at the homes in this country: they are filled with things we don't use but can't give away. Why not? We're afraid that if we give something away we might need it in the future. We find it difficult to share our things, but we teach children that they should share. A simple way to teach your children generosity is to give away all the things you haven't used in the last year. If all four seasons have gone by and we haven't used something, we probably won't use it the next year either. There are many people who are poor and can use those things, and it would help ourselves, our children, and the other people if we gave those things away.
Another way to teach your children kindness is to not buy everything that you want. Instead, save the money and give it to a charity or to somebody who is in need. You can show your children through your own example that accumulating more and more material things doesn't bring happiness, and that it's more important to share with others.
Teaching Children About the Environment and Recycling
Along this line, we need to teach children about the environment and recycling. Taking care of the environment that we share with other living beings is part of the practice of loving kindness. If we destroy the environment, we harm others. For example, if we use a lot of disposable things and don't recycle them but just throw them away, what are we giving to future generations? They will inherit from us bigger garbage dumps. I'm very happy to see more people reusing and recycling things. It is an important part of our Buddhist practice and an activity that temples and Dharma centers should take the lead in.
The Buddha did not comment directly on many things in our modern society -- such as recycling -- because those things didn't exist at his time. But he talked about principles that we can apply to our present situations. These principles can guide us in deciding how to act in many new situations that didn't exist 2,500 years ago.
New Addictions in the Modern Society
However, the Buddha did talk directly about intoxicants and discouraged us from using them. At the time of the Buddha, the chief intoxicant was alcohol. However, extrapolating on the principle he set down, the advice against intoxicants also refers to using recreational drugs or misusing tranquilizers. If we take this a step further, we have to observe our relationship to the biggest intoxicant in our society: television. As a society, we are addicted to TV. For example, after getting home from work, we're tired and want to relax. What do we do? We sit down, turn on the TV, and space out for hours, until we finally fall asleep in front of it. Our precious human life, with its potential to become a fully enlightened Buddha, gets wasted in front of the TV! Sometimes certain TV programs are far worse intoxicants than alcohol and drugs, for example, programs with a lot of violence. By the time a child is 15-years-old, he or she has seen thousands of people die on the television. We're intoxicating our children with a violent view of life. Parents need to select the TV programs they watch with a lot of care, and in that way be an example to their children.
Another big intoxicant is shopping. You may be surprised to hear this, but some psychologists are now researching addiction to shopping. When some people feel depressed, they drink or use drugs. Other people go to the shopping center and buy something. It's the same mechanism: we avoid looking at our problems and deal with our uncomfortable emotions by external means. Some people are compulsive shoppers. Even when they don't need anything, they go to the mall and just look around. Then buy something, but return home still feeling empty inside.
We also intoxicate ourselves by eating too much or eating too little. In other words, we handle our uncomfortable emotions by using food. I often joke that in America the Three Jewels of Refuge are the TV, the shopping center, and the refrigerator! That's where we turn when we need help! But these objects of refuge don't bring us happiness and in fact make us more confused. If we can turn our mind to the Buddhas, the Dharma, and the Sangha, we'll be a lot happier in the long-run. Even in this moment, our spiritual practice can help us. For example, when we are tired or stressed out, we can relax our mind by chanting the Buddha's name or by bowing to the Buddha. While doing this, we imagine the Buddha in front of us and think that much radiant and peaceful light streams from the Buddha into us. This light fills our entire body-mind and makes us very relaxed and at ease. After doing this for a few minutes, we feel refreshed. This is much cheaper and easier than taking refuge in the TV, shopping mall, and refrigerator. Try it!!
Extracted from "The Path To Happiness" by Ven. Chodron

Dharma

Dharma označava razumijevanje i ponašanje koje vodi dokidanju patnje i njenog izvora, te iskustvu trajnog stanja sreće i ispunjenja. Stoga, Dharmu možemo opisati kao način življenja
Samo Dharma, uz motivaciju prikladnu prakticiranju Dharme, vodi djelotvorno do ispunjenja. Sve druge aktivnosti spadaju u tzv. "osam svjetovnih briga". Ove brige vladaju životom lišenim Dharme i priječe način života koji vodi prestanku nezadovoljstva. Te brige su: dobitak i gubitak, ugoda i bol, pohvala i pokuda, te slava i sramota.
Ove brige su sveprisutne u svakodnevnim životima velike većine ljudi. Sveprisutne su upravo zato što su pogrešno prepoznate kao djelotvoran način za dostizanje sreće i izbjegavanje patnje. Mnogi od nas, zabrinuti za dobitak i gubitak, teško rade da bi stekli prihode kojima mogu kupiti stvari za koje vjeruju da donose sreću. Zarađujemo također da bi izbjegli neimaštinu i poniženje siromaštva.
Isto tako, doživljavanje ugode i izbjegavanje boli primarne su motivacije za većinu naših aktivnosti. Sudjelujemo u brojnim aktivnostima - od kojih se neke čine duhovnima - samo za neposredno zadovoljenje ili olakšanje. Ovakva rješenja mogu voditi privremenom olakšanju nelagode, no na tome njihova djelotvornost prestaje. Pohvala i pokuda su također izražene svjetovne brige, pa ne treba puno promišljati da bi vidjeli koliko želja za pohvalom i strah od kritike i pokude utječu na naše ponašanje. Naposljetku, zadnji par uključuje želju da budemo prihvaćeni, voljeni, priznati i poštovani, kao i izbjegavanje neprihvaćanja, odbijanja i tako dalje.
Međutim, ovih osam svjetovnih briga ne razmatramo zato što su loše same po sebi. Nije "loše" imati stan i auto, dobru odjeću i pun frižider, biti priznat i pohvaljen u svom poslu, ili biti poštovan od drugih. No suštinska priroda svih ovih stanja je prolaznost i nemogućnost da budu izvorima trajne sreće. Čak i kad stvari idu po najboljem zamislivom scenariju, kad nam se u životu sve "posloži" kako smo sanjali, prije ili kasnije pojave se uvjeti zbog kojih smo i postali scenaristi. Planovi koje smo tako pažljivo provodili u djelo, umjesto da nam donesu sreću i slobodu, donose nam još nove poteškoće i nerijetko razočarenja. Konačno, spoznajemo da naša nastojanja da steknemo materijalnu "sigurnost", emocionalnu ispunjenost i društveni status ustvari su isprazna, te da mogu lako odvesti u još veću nesreću i patnju. Za sve ovo možemo okriviti druge, postati ogorčeni, te stvoriti sukobe i nesklad s ljudima oko sebe. Ukratko, predanost svjetovnim brigama ne obećaje nikakvo trajno zadovoljstvo, a jamči neprekidnu tenziju i frustraciju. Kad ovu situaciju jasnije razumijemo, prirodno tražimo alternative, a to nas može dovesti do Dharme. Ovaj "novi početak" ne označava provođenje nekakvih duhovnih vježbi, već je to temeljni preobražaj u razmišljanju i nakon toga načinu življenja - napuštanje štetnog ponašanja i aktivnosti, te usvajanje ponašanja i aktivnosti koji su povoljni i dugoročnije korisni.
Osnova i početni cilj ovog preobražaja je izbjegavanje povređivanja drugih. Bilo da smo sami ili s drugima, moramo se truditi izbjeći nanošenje boli - bilo izravno djelima i rječima, ili posredno svojim mislima i namjerama. Druge možemo povrijediti vrijeđanjem, ogovaranjem, sarkazmom, ili obmanjivanjem, kao i činovima propusta uslijed neosjetljivosti i nesmotrenosti. Najsuptilniji način povređivanja drugih je posredno kroz naše misli, sudove i stavove. Kad umom vlada neprijateljstvo, druge napadamo svojim razmišljanjem. Premda nema očitog povređivanja, ove misli djeluju na nas i snažno utječu na našu interakciju s drugima, kako se ponašamo, kako slušamo, kako ocjenjujemo postupke drugih. Povrh toga, dugoročni učinak je neizbježno štetan po nas same - duhovno i zdravstveno. Dakle, početna tema prakticiranja Dharme je nenasilni pristup vlastitom životu, drugim živim bićima i okolišu. To je osnova za duhovnu praksu, koja donosi dobrobit nama samima i drugima.
Trebamo se odreći osam svjetovnih briga.

Srž dharmičke prakse je oslobađanje sebe od prianjanja u ovom životu. Praksa je usmjerena na dublje pitanje stjecanja potpunog oslobođenja od nezadovoljstva putem oslobađanja uma od jada pomućenosti, prianjanja i ljutnje.

Svaka zbiljnost smrti i netrajnosti s kojom se susretnemo treba poslužiti kao podsjetnik na našu vlastitu smrtnost.

Druga tema meditacije na smrt je izuzetno snažna: vrijeme naše smrti je apsolutno neizvjesno.

Svi nastojimo ostvariti sreću, makar nakratko, te izbjeći čak i malu patnju. No koliko smo često sigurni da će naši napori uroditi željenim plodom? Životi su nam ispunjeni neizvjesnošću. Stjecanjem obrazovanja, pronalaženjem zanimanja i posla, ulaskom u brak, roditeljstvom i planiranjem buduće materijalne sigurnosti - čitavo vrijeme baratamo nepoznanicama. Pa ipak djelujemo na osnovu svojih najboljih prosudba i intuicije. Najbolje prosudbe koristimo i o drugim ljudima, ustanovama, osobnoj i nacionalnoj budućnosti, te čitavom svijetu, uključujući i duhovna pitanja. Ni u jednom od ovih područja nema jamstva da su nam vjerovanja valjana, no mi ipak po njima djelujemo. Inače ne bi mogli donositi odluke i djelovati.

Buddha je podučavao da činovi ostavljaju utiske u toku svijesti te da se ovi utisci nastavljaju nakon smrti. Izvjesni tipovi ponašanja ostavljaju utiske koji u odgovarajućim uvjetima - bilo u ovom ili budućem životu - proizvode patnju. Drugi tipovi ponašanja dozrijevaju kao blagostanje i radost. To su tzv. potpuni dozrijeli učinci čina. Ako učinak je bolan, kaže se da je uzročni čin nepovoljan, a u obrnutom slučaju - povoljan. Nema dakle apsolutnog moralnog principa, već se priroda čina određuje po prirodi posljedice. To je, ukratko, budistički zakon karme, na kojem se temelji budistička moralnost. Ovaj zakon je prirodan i dinamičan, a ne "sudački" niti "sudbinski".

Suština Buddhine poruke sadržana je u četiri Plemenite Istine, a to su Istina patnje, Istina nastanka patnje, Istina prestanka patnje, te Istina puta ka prestanku patnje. One nalažu četiri zadatka: prepoznati Istinu patnje, napustiti Istinu nastanka patnje, ostvariti Istinu prestanka patnje, i njegovati Istinu puta ka prestanku patnje. Buddha je svoje učenike pozivao da Istinu patnje prepoznaju! Čini se čudnim, na prvi pogled, da nas ohrabruje da činimo nešto što već činimo. Tko nije osjetio bol i nezadovoljstvo? No, ovdje se misli na nešto dublje.
Buddha je objavio da sva su iskustva - radosti, ravnodušnosti i bola - po sebi nezadovoljavajuća. Nisu li i najveća svjetovna ispunjenja označena mrljom nezadovoljstva? Kad ovi užitci prođu i nestanu, ne ostajemo li s neispunjenom čežnjom i bolnom prazninom? No usprkos tome, skloni smo prianjati za ugode života, zanemarujući njihovu prolaznu prirodu. Buddha nas ohrabruje da nadiđemo ovo poricanje i suočimo se sa stvarnošću. Potpuno poimanje nezadovoljavajuće prirode ovog života u cikličnom postojanju može biti razorno iskustvo. No može isto tako otvoriti pristup autentičnoj praksi Dharme, a upravo je zato Buddha isticao istinu patnje. Patnja koju moramo prepoznati ne uključuje samo gubitak voljene osobe ili gubitak posla, već i temeljna stanja ljudske egzistencije, a to su starenje, bolest i smrt. Misliti da ćemo s krajem ovog života biti oslobođeni daljnje patnje, ili nada da ćemo se nekako izvući, puko je sanjarenje - iz budističke perspektive puno stvari ukazuje upravo suprotno.
Budizam ponekad ocjenjuju kao pesimistički svjetonazor, a istina je da se mnoga budistička učenja fokusiraju na prolaznost i patnju. Buddha je čak izjavio da ono što obična bića smatraju užitkom tek je jedan oblik patnje. Zašto? Jer, uslijed svoje netrajne prirode ugoda mora prestati, a kad prestane, ostaje nam nezadovoljstvo. Da li je onda istina da sva su iskustva u samsari prožeta patnjom? Da li su doista sva svjetovna iskustva samo privremeno opadanje patnje? Ne izvire li svjetovna sreća iz autentičnog izvora radosti?
Istražimo ove premise ispitujuć nešto što normalno smatramo ugodnim. Ako je podražaj za ovaj užitak radostan po prirodi, onda se ugoda koju pruža treba nastaviti sve dok se podražaj primjenjuje; to jest, bez da ikada prerasta u dosadu ili neugodu. Nadalje, povećanje intenziteta ili količine tog podražaja treba proporcionalno pojačati ugodu. Da li možemo reći da to vrijedi za užitke kao što su jedenje, seks, skupljanje novca, posjedovanje mnogo stvari, odlaženje na česta putovanja, imanje djece, druženje s prijateljima? Nijedan od ovih događaja ne pruža užitak redovito i bez iznimke; oni nisu pouzdani. Ne možemo ih smatrati izvorima neprekidne sreće, a povećanje njihove količine ne proizvodi nužno veću ugodu. Ustvari, radost nema izvor ni u jednom vanjskom podražaju. Ona izniče iz uma, a beskrajna radost izvire iz uma koji je oslobođen patnje, jada i velova iluzije. Meditiranje na to kako se istina patnje odnosi na nas same jedan je od način njegovanja ovog duha. Ispravno meditiranje na patnju drugih vodi iznicanju samilosti. Ako je naše razumijevanje prirode patnje površno, samilost koju osjećamo prema drugima biti će tek nešto više od sentimentalnosti, plitka i nestalna, usmjerena samo na očitu i grubu patnju. No s produbljivanjem uvida u istinu patnje, može se roditi samilost čak i prema onima koji uživaju izvrsno zdravlje i prosperitet. Naša samilost obgrljuje sva bića koja su podložan mentalnim jadima, svima koji u borbi za sreću stvaraju uvjete za vlastitu patnju.

Tijekom dana, iskrivljenja u našem umu povremeno navaljuju s odbojnošću prema nepoželjnim događajima, ili s uzrujanim prianjanjem prema poželjnim. Konceptualna zbrka i emocionalni nemir koji se tako dojmljivo ispoljavaju u samoći, samo su tanko zakriti u dinamici našeg društveno aktivnog života. Ukoliko želimo pronaći izvor našeg nezadovoljstva, moramo tražiti u mentalnom području ovih jada. Kao što je već jasno, zadatak identificiranja punog opsega patnje i njenog nastanka, te oslobađanje sebe zauvijek od njih, smatra se temeljnim izazovom u budizmu. Ovdje se bavimo s nečim što nadilazi samo pronalaženje duhovnog blagostanja u ovom životu: želimo dokraja iskorijeniti izvore nezadovoljstva u ovom i svim budućim postojanjima.
Buddha je podučavao da nas dvije sile bacaju u uvjetovano postojanje: mentalni jadi (skt. kleša) i činovi pod njihovim utjecajem (skt. karma). Ovi činovi ostavljaju utiske u našem umu, koji uvjetuju buduća rođenja. Da bi ovi utisci u toku svijesti utjecali na buduće živote, moraju ih stimulirati mentalni jadi kao, naprimjer, prianjanje. Ukoliko nema stimulacije, oni ostaju latentni. Zato, čak i da netko ima ogromnu zbirku nepovoljnih utisaka u svom umu, ako naknadno oslobodi um od svih jada, ovi utisci ne mogu proizvesti karmičke posljedice. Iz ovog razloga važnije je identificirati i odagnati ove mentalne jade nego njihove karmičke utiske. Između dva izvora patnje - mentalnih jada i ojađenih činova - prvi je važniji. Temeljni jadi uma poznati su u budizmu kao tri otrova: neznanje, mržnja i prianjanje. Među njima, neznanje je korijen iz kojeg niču mržnja i prianjanje. Svi drugi mentalni jadi, kao zavist, sebičnost i ponos, posljedica su ova tri otrova.
Mentalni jadiU vlastitom životu već znamo puno o jadima; nisu nam nepoznati neznanje, odbojnost i prianjanje. Pošto smo svakog dana pogođeni ovim tendencijama, shodno je da ih dublje promotrimo. Premda smo često iskusili mentalne jade i patnju, možda nismo dovoljno pažljivo ispitali odnos između njih. Svi smo nerijetko osjetili frustraciju, nezadovoljstvo i bol u mnogim varijacijama, ali kako smo na njih odgovorili? Najobičniji odgovor na patnju je okrivljavanje nečeg vanjskog. Traganje za izvorima patnje nije nova ideja koju sugerira Buddha. Mi to uvijek radimo i često mislimo da smo identificirali pravi uzrok svog nezadovoljstva. Nije li istina da kad se osjećamo sretni, onda to pripisujemo, isto tako, vanjskim okolnostima? Suštinska istina patnje je da ni osobni ni društveni problemi nisu proizvod vanjskih uvjeta. Ovi utjecaji mogu biti ponekad veoma važni, ali naši napori da riješimo oba tipa problema fokusiranjem samo na vanjske uvjete osuđeni su na neučinkovitost i površnost. Umjesto toga, kontemplativni uvid u dubine ljudske prirode nužan je za rješavanje patnje na globalnoj razini; a samilosni obzir prema drugima može produbiti vlastitu introspektivnu mudrost. Prema Buddhi, suštinski izvor svih patnji, strahova i sukoba je neznanje. No, u slučaju fizičkog bola kod preloma noge uzročna uloga neznanja nije nimalo očigledna. Štoviše, kad suosjećamo s tugom druge osobe patimo i sami, a izvorom naše tuge čini se samilost, a ne neznanje.
Budizam govori o dva tipa neznanja koji djeluju kao uzroci patnje. Prvo je stanje nesvjesnosti, specifično odsustvo čiste i jasne svjesnosti. U svakom trenutku života odvijaju se nebrojeni psihofiziološki događaji. Fizičke senzacije nastaju i nestaju diljem tijela, odvijaju se fizički i mentalni osjećaji ugode, bola i ravnodušnosti, a čulni i mentalni oblici svijesti izniču u neprekidnom stanju toka, združeni sa širokim spektrom misli, sklonosti, diskriminacija i tako dalje. Ljudi koji njeguju pomnost u meditaciji često su osupnuti pukom količinom mentalnih događaja koje otkriju u svakom trenutku, događaja kojih su bili nesvjesni sve dok nisu pokušali umiriti svoj um. U meditaciji se struje konceptualizacije, naprimjer, prepoznaju kao mnogostruke, brze, neobuzdane i najviše od svega - neprekidne. Um se otkriva kao nabujali izvor kompulzivnih ideacija: misli, prisjećanja, asocijacije, maštarije, želje i emocije kuljaju iz naizgled neiscrpnog vrela. Meditant se nalazi uhvaćen u bujici mentalnog stampeda, premda se povukao u osamu meditirati.
Svi ovi mentalni događaji fluktuiraju sa svakim trenom dok nastaju i nestaju, uvjetovani događajima u tijelu i okolišu, kao i prethodnim mislima i emocijama. U međuvremenu, opipne senzacije prožimaju tijelo, skupa sa svojim pridruženim osjećajima; druge osjetilne sposobnosti vida, sluha, njuha i okusa djeluju s raznim stupnjevima prevladavanja. U svakodnevnim stanjima nejasne svjesnosti ne prepoznajemo iznicanje ovih događaja iz trena u tren; ne vidimo njihove suptilne i složene međuodnose, niti shvaćamo njihovu prirodu ili kako prestaju. Ukratko, naša svjesnost bivanja živim u svijetu veoma je maglovita.
Povrh ovog odsustva jasne svjesnosti tijela, uma i okoliša, postoji još dinamičniji oblik neznanja koji djeluje. Ovo neznanje, drugi tip, nije samo previđanje prirode ovih događaja, već njihovo aktivno iskrivljavanje. Bez jasne percepcije nastanka misli, naprimjer, ovo neznanje imputira ideju da "ja mislim ove misli". Slično tome, ono identificira mentalne i fizičke događaje kao "moje"; a bez viđenja odnosa i veze među njima, imputira "ja ih kontroliram". Tijelo, svijest, emocije, misli - sve ove neznanje smatra "mojima".
Pogledajmo nekoliko izvedenih mentalnih jada (skt. upakleša) koji izviru iz tri otrova. Ponos je mentalni faktor zasnovan na izobličenom viđenju sebe, koji se fokusira na odlike - dobre ili loše, visoke ili niske - s osjećajem umišljaja i samovažnosti. S ovim osjećajem ponosa osjećamo se superiorni prema drugima poradi izvjesne odlike - vrline, inteligencije ili ljepote - koju smatramo inherentno "svojom". Ponos, iako nastaje iz neznanja, ponovo osnažuje lažni osjećaj ega, uzdižući ga iznad drugih ega. Drugi izvedeni jad je sumnja o stvarima kao što su patnja, njen nastanak, njen prestanak, te staza ka tom prestanku. To je jedan oblik skepticizma, koji ne treba brkati s kritičkim propitivanjem.
Kad učimo budizam s istinskom žeđu za većim razumijevanjem, neizbježno će doći do promašaja i neizvjesnosti.
Mentalni jadi (kleša) kao neznanje ili obmana, mržnja ili odbojnost, prianjanje ili vezanost, te njihove izvedenice zavist, zloba, agresivnost, sumnjičavost, ponos, bestidnost, nesavjesnost, lažljivost, podmuklost, tromost, tupost, nemir, mahnitost i tako dalje, donose nam svu patnju i nezadovoljstvo. Oni su suštinski uzroci čitavog nepovoljnog ponašanja i patnje. No, bitno je napomenuti, mentalna i fizička patnja nisu po sebi kleša, ili jad. Ustvari, patnja može iznicati skupa s povoljnim stanjem uma, kao što je početna samilost.
Egzistencijalno, kleše nas pogađaju narušavanjem sklada i ravnoteže našeg uma. Kognitivno, iskrivljuju našu svjesnost stvarnosti. Poradi ovog dvojnog aspekta, ovaj pojam se prevodi i kao mentalni jad, i kao iskrivljenje. Ključno je razviti jasno teoretsko razumijevanje prirode kleša općenito, te naročito specifičnih primarnih i sekundarnih jada, tako da ih možemo početi identificirati i istraživati njihovu prirodu u svakodnevnom životu.
Temeljni jad je neznanje, a temeljni protiotrov ovom jadu je uvid. Naš zadatak je da se odmaknemo od tendencije ignoriranja, poricanja ili potiskivanja mentalnih iskrivljenja, te da umjesto tog razvijamo uvid u njihovu prirodu i funkcioniranje. Kako bi utvrdili ove mentalne događaje, bitno je da se prestanemo s njima identificirati. U početku je korisno jednostavno ih promatrati, ispitujući način na koji izniču u odnosu na prethodne događaje. Ispitivanje radimo pažljivo, jasno ih razlučujući od ostalih mentalnih procesa koji nisu iskrivljenja ili jadi, te motreći učinke koje proizvode u nama. Naposljetku, zamjećujemo način na koji nestaju iz svijesti. Kad mentalni jadi izniču bez pomnosti i jasne disktriminacije, ta iskrivljenja prožima pomućenost. Kad izbije ljutnja, naprimjer, često se nesvjesno identificiramo s njom, pa to izražavamo misleći, "Ja sam ljut" ili "Mrzim ovo!" Ovim procesom identifikacije stvaramo sliku sebe kao ljutite, pohlepne, zbunjene, tjeskobne, ljubomorne - i tako dalje - osobe. Takav osjećaj osobnog identiteta je samo djelomičan, konvencionalno istinit, pa skriva pravu prirodu mentalnih jada. Nijedan od ovih jada nije "ja", kao što rak ili tuberkuloza nisu "ja". Oni su izvori patnje od kojih se možemo osloboditi. Premda obrasci ovih jada mogu biti duboko usađeni u naše mentalno ponašanje, oni nisu urođene odlike uma.

Možemo testirati budističku hipotezu da sva patnja izniče iz mentalnih jada, a eksperiment može početi dočim iskusimo nezadovoljstvo bilo koje vrste. Kad zamjetimo da se pojavilo nezadovoljstvo, možemo pogledati da li nastaje iz bilo kojeg ustanovljivog mentalnog jada. Obično ćemo za svoju nesreću okriviti neki vanjski događaj, ali pogrešnost ovog odgovora postaje očita kad svjedočimo da netko drugi na isti događaj reagira bez nezadovoljstva. Dok ispitujemo porijeklo nezadovljstva na ovaj način, možemo otkriti prilike kad se čini da mentalni jadi ne igraju ulogu. Možemo osjetiti bol zbog nesreće drugih, pa tuga može iznići iz oštroumnog obzira i samilosti. Naime, istina je da ne bismo osjećali takvu tugu kad za druge ne bi nimalo marili. No zasada je samilost koju osjećamo neizbježno povezana s patnjom. Ukoliko produbimo uvid, otkrićemo da istinski izvor ove "suosjećajne patnje" nije samilost, već suptilno prianjanje i neznanje koji izniču s njom. Isto se može reći za fizičku bol. Osoba koja je ostvarila slobodu od mentalnih jada kroz njegovanje dubokog uvida i dalje može osjećati bol. To nije stanje u kojem je tijelo pod općom anestezijom. Ali iskustvo boli je veoma različito uslijed njene sposobnosti da svjedoči bol kao struju događaja na koje treba ili ne treba reagirati. Mučnost fizičke patnje posljedica je neznanja i prianjanja, posebno povezanih s koncepcijom da "ovo je moje tijelo".
Mentalni jadi nas muče cijeli život i kroz nebrojene živote u prošlosti; ako ne primjenimo efikasno protiotrove za njih, nastavit će se beskrajno. Navikli smo identificirati i usprotiviti se vanjskim neprijateljima koji priječe našu dobrobit. No istovremeno nastavljamo patiti uslijed propuštanja da prepoznamo i usprotivimo se svojim pravim neprijateljima - mentalnim jadima. Kako da se od njih oslobodimo? Budizam sugerira radikalan odgovor na mentalne jade: nemojte učiti živjeti s njima, rješite ih se zauvijek! Eonima oni uzrokuju neizmjernu štetu našem umu, a posljedično i svijetu koji nas okružuje. Istinske krivce moramo prepoznati, a početi možemo tako što se s njima ne poistovjećujemo. Ukoliko istinski shvatimo da smo žrtve svojih mentalnih jada, možemo prestati osuđivati sebe za svoje greške i propuste. Možemo pokrenuti samilost prema sebi, a s time otvoriti put suosjećanju s drugima koji na sličan način pate.
Naposljetku, zaključimo s analogijom. Zamislite da hodate po pločniku ruku punih namirnica i netko se grubo zabije u vas tako da padnete, a sve namirnice vam se prospu. Dok se dižete iz mješavine razbijenih jaja i zgnječenih rajčica, spremni ste zavikati, "Idiote jedan! Što si... slijep!?" No, prije negoli dođete do daha, vidite da je osoba pred vama doista slijepa. I ona je pala među prosute namirnice, a vaša ljutnja nestaje u trenutku, ostavljajući mjesto suosjećanju: "Da li ste povrijeđeni? Mogu li vam pomoći?" Naša situacija je upravo takva. Kad jasno shvatimo izvor nesklada i patnje u svijetu je neznanje, možemo otvoriti vrata mudrosti i samilosti. Tada smo u položaju da liječimo sebe i druge.

Preliminarna učenja možete ponoviti svakog jutra, odmah nakon buđenja, kroz četiri kratke kontemplacije: 1. Kontemplacija ljudskog života: Neizmjerna je vrijednost dragocjenog i rijetkog ljudskog rođenja obdarenog vremenom, prilikom i uvjetima za duhovnu praksu. Ako propustim ovakvu priliku, kad će se ona ponovo pojaviti? 2. Kontemplacija smrti i prolaznosti: smrt je neibježna, vrijeme smrti je neizvjesno, u smrti nam koristi samo praksa Dharme. Sve su stvari prolazne, što mi vrijede obitelj, prijatelji, imovina i sve uspomene, ako sam propustio njegovati duboku i čistu svjesnost? 3. Kontemplacija karme: svi oblici života u cikličnom postojanju podložni su zakonu karme. Motivacija je ključni faktor u procesu karme. Povoljni činovi uzrok su iskustvima radosti, a nepovoljni činovi jamče bolna iskustva. Sve dok postoji podložnost karmi, preporađanje je neizbježno. 4. Kontemplacija patnje: Patnja u raznim oblicima prožima sve razine cikličnog postojanja. Uzroci patnje su mentalni jadi, prije svega neznanje, odbojnost i prianjanje. Stvarni izvor sreće i patnje je um. Smisao postojanja je ispunjenje svrhe uma. Svrha ove prakse je oslabljivanje osam svjetovnih briga i preusmjeravanje njihove snage na spontanu duhovnu težnju.



Bilo da kanim pokrenuti se ili govoriti, Prvo ću ispitati svoj um, I čvrsto djelovati na prikladan način.Kadgod moj um iskrivi pohlepa ili ljutnja,Neću djelovati, niti ću govoriti, Već ostat ću poput drvene klade.