How to be a Buddha

There is a simple way to become a Buddha: When you refrain from unwholesome actions, are not attached to birth and death, and are compassionate toward all sentient beings, respectful to seniors and kind to juniors, not excluding or desiring anything, with no designing thoughts or worries, you will be called a Buddha. Do not seek anything else.

-Eidei Dogen, "Birth and Death"

 

We all go through life seeking  and wanting…a good marriage, a good career, a good partner, money, power   and when you  finally  get the internal cue that there  is something  out there, something more that this life you are living, you start again seeking ,  searching and wanting…

 

The truth is that in order to find what we are looking for, you need to stop looking outside.

 

What? You mean enlightenment can’t be find, bought or ordered through Amazon.com?

No, there road to enlightenment is very straightforward and simple. What if I tell you all you need is morality, meditation and wisdom.

 

Morality to do the right thing, meditation to provide you with mindfulness and wisdom to be compassionate with yourself and all the sentient beings in the universe...

 

Sure, that is so easy, even a child can do it…

True, even a child can do it, would you do it?

 

That is the question…would you do it…would you have the guts, the patience and the wisdom to shed all the greed, anger and ignorance that is part of our lives?

In Buddhism, you gain while you loose. When you shed your ignorance, you gain wisdom, when you shed your anger, you learn the meaning of true love.

 

Once you shed all the greed, ignorance and hatred, we reach Nirvana. Nirvana is the state of mind where you don’t desire anything because when you reach understanding of the nature of things, you realize you have everything you need  and you are never alone because you are one with the universe; yes, is that good!

 

Reaching Nirvana is like the analogy of the onion. The onion is you; the layers are your defilements, your ignorance and your attachments… When you peel all those layers, there will be work involved and even tears, but eventually the onion will disappear and you will have a core. That core can be stripped too in other layers and then you will have nothing left which is Nirvana. Nirvana actually means “extinction” from desire, and when you liberate yourself from desire, you attain everlasting happiness and liberation from this world, Samsara.

Remember, everything you need to become a Buddha, is within yourself. Don’t seek outside. Peel your layers of ignorance, anger and hatred and you will reach the bliss of Nirvana.

 

METTA

Dennis Estrada