The Dumbing Down of Our True Nature (part seven)

Using practical efforts to help others transform to the enlightened state, Buddhism sometimes changes into a system that attempts to erode the superstructure of the ego. This does not work as well as it should because the punishment of the ego will usually cause it to submerge, change or to adapt to the harsh methods to destroy it. You actually cannot crush the ego. The mind is very tricky and changeable, and so it remains, in spite of efforts to destroy it. However, it can very easily morph into a disgusting display of impoverished self-degradation that is totally fake. It is scary to watch a person attempt to control their ego by hiding self-cherishing in humility. They can even be hiding it from themselves.

The ego is suffering and needs to be separated from the overactive, over stimulated, and unaligned energetic state of confusion. The self-cherishing that is a feature of unenlightened existence as well as inappropriate pride need to be destroyed in order to be rescued from the suffering imprisoned state. The ego, a kind of organizational principle, needs to be healthy, flexible, and strong enough to withstand and flow with the rigors for preparation for transformation. The beaten down ego is useless!

Self-cherishing that holds I, me and mine as supreme receivers of all benefit and relating all events from that central position is gradually replaced by greater and greater concern for others. This is the systematic training of the Mahayana, the awakening of altruistic compassion. As a practitioner becomes more aligned toward what they will become in their next stage of development in the future, the veils and barriers that hold them into a particular view of solidity begin to erode. The meditator begins to experience both inside and outside, forms, colors, feelings, as well as energetic movements that do not seem to relate to the human experience. The gradual adaptation to an expanded view is done in meditation and not by becoming fascinated with these awarnesses as psychic powers to be used.

The innate view that classic Buddhist philosophy describes as taking the unreal to be real also takes the more subtle to be unreal. It functions as blinders to the myriad forms of life surrounding the individual. This is a ramification of the simplified parameters of the hypnotic programming called the innate view.

When the innate view is beginning to erode, that person very much needs a mentor to explain and to introduce the perceptual orientation from a new viewpoint. A transitional being that the human practitioner is becoming inside also needs to keep a good balance while they are gaining new understanding. The changes that they are experiencing are part of a natural and organic process of transformation. This natural process of evolutionary development is facilitated and guided from the outside by the enlightened mentor who has already been through the process. From the interior, where the Great Path continues, guidance developed by perfection itself in its compassion form of enlightened beings such as deity and inner and outer mentor will help the meditator.

So, how does the innate view help you in this evolutionary development? It helps by imprinting deliberately simplified parameters. Perhaps you think human life is complex but it is not! You live in a simple world, a very simple world. Deliberately simplified parameters allow the person in preparation for transformation to another way of being to learn small and careful lessons without distraction. That is why highly evolved practitioners seek to be reborn in the human realm. There are yogic practices specially developed for human practitioners who pass away before they complete training and are reborn here to gain proficiency in skills needed for the next phase of their development!

The completion stage of the advanced practitioner requires lifetimes that cause them to return to practice as well as benefiting others as part of that practice. Many of you are struggling with daily practice in early stages of becoming competent and yet even now you can appreciate the value of the human realm if you find the cultivated methods and teachings to continue practicing the inner yogas. These special yogic practices are for future stages of development. Important practices that inner yogic beings need to accomplish here in the human realm include preparation for actual compassion to arise after enlightenment.

Do you think that this compassion is going to be experienced before enlightenment? That is not possible, however, if preparation is done carefully, the actual compassion arises after enlightenment with further training. This actual compassion arises in order to prepare the new bodhisattva for entry into enlightened society of benefit beings. This higher functioning community needs the newly awakened one to become capable of getting along with many different kinds of beings in order to benefit them in their own process to perfection. Right now, most human beings cannot even get along with themselves, much less myriad other forms of beings. To be continued…