Not I, Not Other than I. The life and Teachings of Russel Williams.
I was forunate to meet this extraordinay man many times. Sadly he is no longer with us in body but he touched the heart and souls of all who spent time with him. The book details his amazing life and as the title suggests looks a life from a different perspective.
"Russel Williams is one of the most remarkable enlightened spiritual teachers of our time. After an early life of extreme hardship – leaving school at the age of 11, and becoming an orphan shortly afterwards – he underwent a spiritual awakening at the age of 29. Since the late 1950s, he has been a spiritual teacher, and is still actively teaching now, at the age of 94. Russel has created a profound text which will surely become known as a classic of spiritual literature."
Self realisation is a much misunderstood phrase, especially in the west. Psychologist Abraham Maslow named a few people who he considered to be self realised, such as, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt, I have only met one person who was self realised. To be in his presence was a very special experience indeed. It is usually agreed that the simple answer to what is self realisation is ultimately learning the answer to a very basic question...."Who am I?"
"The answer lies from understanding that you are not your emotions or your thoughts. Who you really are is not even your body or your mind. These are all things you as a self experience, but they are not you."
Who truly knows the meaning of soul? Psyche is the Greek word for soul. Psyche or soul could simply be our word for the mysteroous way we experience the movement towards meaning. The idea of soul might be too vague for many, but we must retain it in order to honour it's ambiguity, even though, whether soul is in fact there is unimportant. What matters is that in certain states we can experience the realm of mystery, which constitutes soul.
Many believe the mind to be consciousness, or the seat of consciousness. To date, despite massive amounts of research, there has been no conclusive evidence to show how the brain can create consciousness, or where in the brain conciousness is created.
I think we have Atisha to thank for Lam Rim. I spent a weeks residency at Manjushri Buddhist centre in the English Lake Diistrict studying Lam Rim. It was quite a week our teacher was fantastic.
I guess you could say it was a good result for England but poor performance. USA were more fluid and continuously pulled England all over the pitch. Looks like England will go through, but they will have to play better.
In Tibetan Buddhism monks are generally called Lamas. Much to my surprise when I first met the Lama who, although based in London, is the head teacher at my local centre, Lama Jampa Thaye, it turned out we were the same age, grew up in the same part of Machester and had mutual friends from the 60's.
Which one? My local centre is Kagyu Dechen, I really enjoy going there, although I have spent much more time at Kadampa centres in different parts of the country, in Spain also.
Which ever one I could have used, my post would mean the same. It's really not the issure you seem to be making of it. Btw, I know someone who has met you some time ago.
How else can the sociopath and those with certain character disorders with such damaged egos cope, without lying to, not only others but also to themselves as well, without repeatedly projecting responsibility onto others?
It seems strange you should say that as the real aim for a Buddhist is to achieve Bohdichitta, (enlightened mind.) Once Bodhichitta is realised (emptiness)the person becomes a Buddha. However, in Buddhist teachings the mind is just a space, pure luminosity with no shape, size, smell or form. So I guess given those charactaristics (or lack of them, it's easy to see why we must conclude that Buddhists do not believe in a mind. What they dont believe is that anything exists intrinsically alone from it's own side. The body can't exist, if the mind was part of the body, it couldn't exist. We create a reality based on our limited senses, but it's really just an illusion.
I'm not entirely sure what point you're trying to make. The two clearly mean the same, but discrimination is more often than not seen (falsely) to have negative connotations.
Discernment
English Noun (en noun) The ability to distinguish; judgement. Discrimination.
bodleing2 Forum Posts (6,132)
RE: Self-realisation...
Let me recommend a very good book.Not I, Not Other than I. The life and Teachings of Russel Williams.
I was forunate to meet this extraordinay man many times. Sadly he is no longer with us in body but he touched the heart and souls of all who spent time with him. The book details his amazing life and as the title suggests looks a life from a different perspective.
"Russel Williams is one of the most remarkable enlightened spiritual teachers of our time. After an early life of extreme hardship – leaving school at the age of 11, and becoming an orphan shortly afterwards – he underwent a spiritual awakening at the age of 29. Since the late 1950s, he has been a spiritual teacher, and is still actively teaching now, at the age of 94.
Russel has created a profound text which will surely become known as a classic of spiritual literature."