Monday Flew By, Sleepy Tuesday

"In order to accommodate those who wanted to continue life's pleasures, the Buddha allowed disciples to remain laypeople... Although they lived as laity, they practiced Buddha's true Dharma, taking refuge in the Three Treasures, keeping the five precepts, practicing meditation, and attaining wisdom... they were still able to become liberated from birth and death."

-The Way to Buddhahood, pg. 111

Monday

I'm a bit off schedule for posting but I still wanted to do it. Monday flew by. I remember coming home, taking a shower, eating some food, watching some videos then sleeping. After waking up, I did some research into Shaolin staff on my computer then went to MMA class early. Once I got home it was time to eat. Next thing I know it's 10:00 pm. Crazy how the time just flew by.

Edited: Everything written before was on Monday, Everything written after was on Tuesday.

Tuesday

Last night (Tuesday Morning), I spent a lot of time training and reading. You could say that yesterday was day one of returning to side splits training. Today will be day two. Right now I'm just trying to get in the habit of attempting the splits daily. After the tournament passes, I will then focus on getting deeper into the splits.

For my reading, I continued to plow through "The Way to Buddhahood". As hard of a read it is, there are some gems amongst all the foreign terms. Today's reading really focused on what causes suffering. For this book, there are many things. The five grasping aggregates, the six senses, and the six consciousnesses. They say things like our thoughts, perceptions, sensations, and consciousness react to things that we are attached to. Even our own instinctual senses "betray" us, smell, sight, taste etc.

Donuts and Attachment

So it seems that part of the Buddhist training would be learning to control the reaction to things and then eventually become unattached to things that "control" us. When you use the phrase unattached, people think of having no emotion or being like a robot. For my understanding, I use donuts. Imagine a table of donuts at a party.

There are some people who will see the donuts, eat one, enjoy it, and then be done. There are others who see the donuts, acknowledge that they are/look good. But that's it, maybe they're not hungry. Then there are others who see the donuts, immediately go to them, eat one, want another, eat another etc. Each of these people show a different level of attachment to the donut, but you wouldn't call the first or second one a robot even though they are more detached from it than the third person.

If that makes sense.

Soul and Self

To be honest, most of what I've read would go hand in hand with Christianity and other religions. Be good to people. Don't kill or steal. Follow these rules. But the one thing that I don't understand about Buddhism is their idea of no self. During my reading it only mentioned this idea but didn't explain it. Buddhists believe that there is a temporary body and a temporary mind but there is no soul or self.

I understand that nothing is ours including our own body. This I can accept. I just don't understand how there isn't a self. If the mind and body are temporary, then what is it that goes to the heavens, what is it that gets enlightened, what is it that goes through different lives (according to the buddhist thought)?

I'll keep reading, maybe I'll find out.

📿Johnny