Sangharakshita

Um, so yes, I'm roughly going to speak about the fourth noble truth, which is the path.

[clears throat] So, uh, 70 years ago or so, 1956, Sangharakshita, who founded this tradition, w- we often within the tradition call him Bhante.

Uh, so Bhante wrote a poem about the path.

So I thought I'd like to read this poem to you.

what might that feel like? To try and get a, a deeper sense of, sense of it.

So I've e- emphasized compassion partly 'cause that nicely leads us into the third area, which is, um, looking around.

So, uh, o- one time, uh, somebody asked Bhante Sangharakshita, um, "How do we know if we're making spiritual progress?" And he said, um, "You'll be less selfish." Now, I find that a really, really helpful benchmark, um, uh, for seeing if I'm going in the right direction.

Because I think if we're really sincerely practicing, the natural development that comes out of that, if we're practicing mindfulness and metta in a, in a, in a wholehearted way, we will not only become more aware of what's going on in our mind, but we'll also become more aware of others.

So when we say enlightenment is the end of greed, hatred, and delusion, without quite realizing it, what we're saying is Buddhism isn't those things.

My own teacher, Sangharakshita, said that Bu- uh, enlightenment is everything the world is not.

Yeah? Enlightenment is everything the world is not.

But that still doesn't actually tell you what it is.

Um, basically more and more left brain.

I got it right this time.

Um, whether that's true or not, what I see with people practicing is that they very easily practice with a little bit of intelligence that they think they've got, yeah? And they, you know, and it's very tempting now because there's lots of YouTube teachers, there's lots of, uh, influencers and so on, talking to that part of yourself.

You know, if you wake up first thing in the morning, go outside, uh, put your face in the sun and put your tongue out, and that's very good for your somethings.

Um, the spiritual life can also be very challenging.

Um, I can look to my friends and my teachers for support, and I do, but ultimately it's down to me.

It's my responsibility.

Um, I feel really fortunate that I was, that I came across Buddhism and meditation, uh, when I was young, when I was 21.

And we celebrate Padmasambhava here in the center, because Padmasambhava was an important figure for our teacher.

He was an important figure for Sangharakshita for various reasons.

One was because he had an intense encounter with a statue in a temple of Padmasambhava.

But there were many moments in his life when he had Inspiration, strong influences from Padmasambhava.

Well, engaging in this kind of devotional practice in the way that I've described, or at least in the spirit in which I've described, would be a, a kind of wise attention, I would say.

Um, and this is very, very important because if we want to succeed, uh, in our Buddhist practice, even we just want to ex- uh, succeed in the practice of meditation, we have to find, um, what Sangharakshita, the founder of this, this movement de- described as intellectual understandings.

I beg your pardon, emotional equivalents for our intellectual understandings.

And I think the key to this is what I've described by finding what by somehow stimulating our imagination, allowing our imagination to engage, uh, with the ideals that, uh, uh, we profess.

It's very beautiful, that, isn't it? Like, we don't really need to do anything more than be aware with kindness of whatever we're experiencing.

So, um, Sangharakshita says something very lovely to, uh, echo this, um, simplicity approach, simple approach.

He says, "The essence of the Buddha's teaching is quite simple.

Consciousness is not fixed, but subject to change.

It was the first time that I actually read the Buddha's words.

Um, and then we've got Bhante Sangharakshita's, uh, translation, uh, the teacher who founded this center.

Uh, and this one came out a few years after, uh, I found the Dhammapada.

So actually my, I'm exploring both.

But their leader died seven weeks after, uh, they, they converted.

And so whilst they were sort of Buddhists, they actually didn't know the teachings.

So Bhante, um, Sangharakshita, you know, en- engaged in teaching them, and the first things he was teaching them was the Dhammapada.

And it was the first time they had heard, um, to, uh, the Buddha's words for them, given to them for their situation.