Buddha Zhen
Buddhist Scientist,
American Philospher,
Poet, Novelist, Essayist,
Composer, Musician,
Kung Fu Shifu,
Tai Chi Master,
Freemason

Tai Chi Magic 1
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BUDDHISM BASICS page 6

Each of us travels a road in life. Whether it is straight or bumpy or uphill or downhill or windy or rainy...is a mixture of circumstance and our decisions.

You'll notice many of the webpages that follow are merely outlines, or lack some information I obviously want to share.

You're right. I want to discuss these with you. Plus I'd have to make these pages incredibly longer with my explanations, life stories, and of course, listening to your comments, beliefs, feelings, and thoughts on many of these topics, subheads, or outlines.

Since you probably can't visit me on Sunday mornings, I will podcast, and broadcast to anyone who wants to hear. I'm excited about it. I'm excited that you might also be able to join these podcasts by phone or video conference or... Back to your Buddhism now.

The 4 ATTRIBUTES of Buddhism affect our path immensely.

1. WISDOM

2. COMPASSION

3. KNOWLEDGE

4. MERIT

With WISDOM we are able to create new possibilities and inventions.

This determines our path in love by affecting the quality of our efforts.

With COMPASSION we are able to add more love and kindness into life by adding it to the lives of others.

This will affect how people treat us back, and influence how much they want to reward us with love and kindness.

With KNOWLEDGE we are prepared for the obstacles and challenges of our careers and lifestyles.

This will affect the success of our endeavors and shape our material world.

With MERIT we develop our reputations which influence how people treat us and respect us.

This will affect the opportunities we are given and shape our family and social standing.

So, Buddhism teaches us to redefine merits as ALL good things we do all day long. Eventually, all our actions will become meritable and then people will start to notice some of them.

This requires us to keep developing, and improving, and LEARNING. With learning to do more--we do more. The more we do, the more chances there are of being noticed for one of the many good things we do. So, learning becomes the FOOD of our merits. If we are not fed by learning we have less to create new merits.

Buddhism also has THE 5 PATHS:

1. PATH OF ACCUMULATING MERIT

a. desire to learn

b. desire to criticize

c. desire to evolve

2. PATH OF TRAINING

a. control mind/ thought

b. accurate analysis / awareness

c. change self

3. PATH OF ILLUMINATION

a. decide how to think

b. understand others

c. change others

4. PATH OF CONCENTRATED CONTEMPLATION

a. meditation

b. spiritual awareness

c. develop spirituality

5. FINAL PATH

THREE TRUTHS:
(These are the Quantum Physics of Buddhism)

6. UNREALITY OF EGO / INDIVIDUALITY

a. all beings are one life

b. All objects have life

c. All life is one life

7. UNREALITY OF EXTERNAL WORLD

a. The outer world is connected to your inner world

b. Your inner being is a speck of the outer world

c. Time and effort create laws of motion

8. UNREALITY OF EXISTENCE

a. Existence is inconsequential

b. Each existence has consequences and reactions

c. Each action seeks to define existence

Hopefully you've touched on all 8 of the 5 PATHS to some extent.

Yes, I know. Why are there 8 Paths in the 5 Paths?

That is my doing.

As I have studied Buddhism over the years, I've tried to revert the many evolved teachings back to their source, The Original Buddha.

Sometimes I just 'know' that I can improve or interpret the Dharma into a more useful format.

The Original Buddha taught that each Disciple should translate Buddhism into their own language rather than have to study it in its' native Sanskrit language.

The Buddha was aware that information would change in its translation.

The Buddha also taught, that it is more important to have The Dharma understood and utilized rather than preserve it in an archaic language that would be used less.

Even the Dharma itself, he encouraged, should be adapted to suit the listener. If a lesson is accurately translated but not understood well enough to be inspirational...it is useless.

So, due to my own dabblings in Quantum Physics, which always refer to Buddhism for a basis in reality, I felt that the 3 TRUTHS of THE FINAL PATH were actually worthy of being paths themselves.

Also because these 3 Truths are so difficult for the mortal mind to comprehend, I want to supply more information about each one to illuminate them further.

You will also notice my preference for the number 8. This is a really Oriental number. Actually the Celts were hot on this one too. It represents infinity when laid sideways.

The number 8 just works well for spiritual concepts. I have written numerous spiritual and mental concepts in 8 steps or 8 levels.

In our Tai Chi and Kung Fu schools, we use 8 as the number of kicks or punches in our warmup drills. I also encourage students to practice their new Kung Fu Forms 8 times each day.

No matter where you are in your life, let's reevaluate it at by starting at the bottom of the ladder and view it from each rung of the ladder as we climb upward (toward Heaven of course).

Buddha Zhen Shen-Lang
"Spirit Wolf of Truth"
Patriarch of Shaolin Zen

LET'S LOOK AT THE PATH OF ACCUMULATING MERIT on Page 7