So here are some excerpts from Steve Hagen's work. Again, I would like to stress this is presented here with a spirit of discussion for understanding, not criticism. Perhaps this would provide a little more context to that which I was questioning.
On a positive note I would like to say I very much like how Hagen presents the idea of morality from a Buddhist perspective. It isn't about actions as inherently right or wrong, good or bad, but because right seeing leads to an understanding of that which creates suffering - dukkha.
pg.114
"Our intent need only to be awake. Yet this not need to be a goal as we ordinarily think of it. It's not some end that we should ( or even can) strive for or work toward as such. That is why this practice is radically different than anything else we do or can do. When we see Reality for what it is, we can't pretend to play games of reaching, striving, or arriving anymore. You can't get to seeing, when your fully engaged in this moment, this is seeing. Here there isn't any doubt, there isn't any fear, there isn't any existential angst. There are no overwhelming questions such as "Where do I go after I die?" because it becomes clear that such questions, doubts, fears, and anxieties are based on buying into an illusion-the self"
pg. 134
" So it is with our sense of self. The issues of what self is, how long it will last, what will happen when our bodies die and decay and our consciousness flickers off are all not based on what we actually see ( author's italics), but on what we imagine. The horrendous issues that we have always feared turn our to exist only in our thoughts, concepts. and imagination, not in Reality.
By attending directly to our actual, direct experience, each of us can see this directly. And when we do see this directly,were released from far more than the fears of a childhood fantasy. We're free from the deep fear and horror that have relentlessly plagued humankind.
Each of us can awaken from this pain without resorting to stories or gimmicks. We can finally see that we've been distressed and worried over an illusion."
Gassho
Ishin
Sat today/ lah
On a positive note I would like to say I very much like how Hagen presents the idea of morality from a Buddhist perspective. It isn't about actions as inherently right or wrong, good or bad, but because right seeing leads to an understanding of that which creates suffering - dukkha.
pg.114
"Our intent need only to be awake. Yet this not need to be a goal as we ordinarily think of it. It's not some end that we should ( or even can) strive for or work toward as such. That is why this practice is radically different than anything else we do or can do. When we see Reality for what it is, we can't pretend to play games of reaching, striving, or arriving anymore. You can't get to seeing, when your fully engaged in this moment, this is seeing. Here there isn't any doubt, there isn't any fear, there isn't any existential angst. There are no overwhelming questions such as "Where do I go after I die?" because it becomes clear that such questions, doubts, fears, and anxieties are based on buying into an illusion-the self"
pg. 134
" So it is with our sense of self. The issues of what self is, how long it will last, what will happen when our bodies die and decay and our consciousness flickers off are all not based on what we actually see ( author's italics), but on what we imagine. The horrendous issues that we have always feared turn our to exist only in our thoughts, concepts. and imagination, not in Reality.
By attending directly to our actual, direct experience, each of us can see this directly. And when we do see this directly,were released from far more than the fears of a childhood fantasy. We're free from the deep fear and horror that have relentlessly plagued humankind.
Each of us can awaken from this pain without resorting to stories or gimmicks. We can finally see that we've been distressed and worried over an illusion."
Gassho
Ishin
Sat today/ lah
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