Buddhism's Spiritual Nature

   Buddhism's Spirituality is a peaceful experience within one?s life.  It is calming enlightenment  that can be developed and integrated into  daily life, by any one who accepts the buddha.  

 What is Buddha-hood's spirituality?  Buddha-hood's Spirit is the void that precedes the attachment of one?s own thoughts.  It is the shadow that hides within the darkness. It is the clarity of the ray of light.

Buddha-hood's spirit is the ?truth of peace? that can not been seen nor touch within the realm of darkness or light.  Buddhism's spirit is the pursuit of peace, and the discovery of happiness It is the state of humbleness, as one shares another?s pain and aspirations. It is as common as the air we breath, the water we drink, and the food that we eat. This is Buddha! This is spirit!

 It is within the experience of peace, one?s is enlightened by the spiritual nature of Buddhism. It is at the moment that one attempts to define, classify, rank, and develop the spiritual nature of Buddhism, that it is now unattainable.

The clarity of the emptiness is now obscured by the conscious effort to seek. And the seeker is left to resolve, what is the true identity of Buddhism For the subconscious, the true of buddha lies on the tip of the tongue. However,  due to  the attempts by the conscious (ego) mind to rationalize the nature of buddha,  a quagmire develops, and it is within this confusion the conscious mind looses its ability discover Buddha-hood (enlightenment).

 Ignoring the subconscious, the conscious mind begins to question and qualify the idea of what is the nature of buddha?  When I think of the Spiritual Nature of Buddhism, I think of  humanities profound capacity to love, to empathize, to pursue justice, to understand,  and to yearn for the creation of peace. Some individuals may express spiritually as:  a journey of one?s life, A destination, a road that must be traveled, An experience of thought and the understanding of one?s self.
A reverence to god, life, and liberty.

The Conscious seeking the Subconscious Nature of Buddhism

     It is the Buddhist belief that all of us are born with an innate ability to Experience  Buddha-hood, It is the essence of this desire that makes us human.  The Nature of Buddha?s spirit is merely to become aware and not to seek to explain, nor to formulate/develop. It is  an understanding, that the consciousness is not above or beyond deception verbally or emotionally.

Knowing these truths enables one to become enlightened, the awareness of the essence of  true life. So the spirit of Buddha-hood is the emptiness, the void of structured definitions, and verbal explanations. Buddha is the enlightenment of love, and peace. It is the black energy of the spirit of life?s truths. It is beyond the physical ability of grasping, touching, and having.

  If the conscious (ego) declares Buddha?s (the awakened) nature as an object of desire, a passion to be obtained, then Buddha-hood?s spirit becomes as illusive. And one?s ability to experience the awakening is lost.   It is with the subconscious that the spirit of Buddha-hood will enlighten us. For it is the awareness of the subconscious  to experience beyond our psychological limitations that allows us to become buddha (enlightened). Enlightenment is beyond one?s conscious experience of  emotional fulfillment and realization. It can not be understood in theses  classifications. Enlightenment is the state of total awakening of peace,   the infinite liberation, the absolute compassion, and the total awareness of emptiness, within the subconscious and conscious mind. .

      Absolute Emptiness is Absolute Awareness.

This realization is not intellectual process, but rather a spiritual process of nature. The Buddhist spiritual nature is a direct awakening of the unity of peace and harmony. .It is the essence of the ego?s awareness of the true Buddha?s spiritual nature.  Buddhism spirit is the pathway to enlightenment.  This enlightenment is beyond experienced reality.

 It is total actualization, the act of being which transcends time and space. Such is the attainment of the Buddha-hood .  It is the   insight to the awareness of full spiritual essence. The attainment of   Buddhism?s spiritual Nature is instantaneous liberation from the limitations of one?s conscious (ego).

It is the discovery of one?s true nature which is no longer restricted by one?s ego. Subconscious to conscious recognition of enlightenment is the divine  awareness of one?s self with the spiritual nature of buddha, as self. The ego is no longer an individual, or limited by its limited identity of self.

Buddha?s spirit within the Budo

 

The peace and wisdom attained through the enlightenment of Buddha offers

excellent guidance for the student of Budo.  For Buddha had explains that war and violence were not the correct action, but it was all so wrong to be in poor

physical health, lacking the ability to defend oneself.    The Budo is the

self-cultivation of awareness and the promotion of virtuous conduct.
 

The Budo embraces honor, peace and states as its directive to avoid

confrontation. The Art of Budo has strong spiritual tradition of developing one?s

mind, spirit and body. 

 

Historically Budo has been practiced in conjunction with the spiritual art of

Buddhism.  However, not every Budo student will receive the awakening of

enlightenment. For the student whom lacks the spiritual and moral resolve will

 not discover the awaking of the Buddha spirit.  The Buddhist nature of spirit can not be defined nor gained by verbalizations, power, or wealth.

Once the student of Budo consciousness/ego understands this,  it can begin the awakening of emptiness which will lead to the path and the discovery of buddha, free moral choice.  During this discovery the Budo student  becomes aware of one?s chi ?energy? in every fiber of his being.

Bodhidharma has always emphasized the importance of the development

one?s ?chi?.  ?Chi? exercises are used to strengthen/enhance one?s body and spirit. The exercises were also practiced to achieve harmony between the mental and physical spirit.  I t is through this disciplined training that the Budo student discovers the peace and power of emptiness. Ultimately hoping to achieve the enlightenment, the aura of peace and harmony.

 

It is student?s restraint over excess, and the pursuit of simplicity that creates

 an awareness of the Buddhism?s spirit within the Budo. The beauty of everyday life, for the Budo student who has reach enlightenment, is that daily  

experiences are now transformation into  training lesson of the virtues of

Buddha. Understanding the enlightenment of Buddhism in everyday affairs

 helps the Budo student to live every moment in a peaceful way. 

This liberation allows the student?s spiritual nature the understanding of peace.

This liberation teaches the student to view the larger picture of one?s life,

 thus gaining a greater understanding  of one?s surroundings:

 

 Honor, benevolence, honesty, respect, peace, love, and living a virtuous life

are the most essential aspects of the liberation. Removing the spiritually of

Buddha from Budo can only lead to violence. I t is the union of the inner spirit

and the development of the physical body that separates an enlightened person from the unknowing.  The union also helps the student discover one?s inner peace and self control.  So enlightenment helps to clarify the spiritual nature of both resistance and violence. While providing the spirit with the means to  pursue harmony, and enabling the body to protect one?s self.

 The spiritual nature, the essences,  of the Budo is peace, harmony with one?s surroundings,  and the avoidance of confrontation. However, if one can not avoid the impending violence of an opponent, the preferred response is to stop the action with redirection of the aggression.

Ego in the Budo Student

 

        Releasing oneself from ego is a guiding principal of the Budo Arts..
 

One must learn, not let one?s ego guide their spiritual thoughts.

The student must learn to avoid ego?s vanity, by emptying one?s mind.

The paradox with the above statements are: as ones tries to loose one?s ego, the ego now becomes the present activity of one?s conscious spirit (ego). It is the dog that chases its tail. As the dog circles around and around, it can seethat it has nearly caught it (the tail), but is unable to understand why it can not reach it. 

 Ego to emptiness: is the state in which the motivations of selfish

intentions have been forgotten.  Buddha teaches us that the

desire for attachments is the cause of our suffering. Ones who disregards

attachments, gains greater emptiness, once the ego enters the realm of

emptiness, one will gain enlightenment.

 

 The absence of conscious mind ?mushin? refers to the state of the Budo spirit when the individual is no longer aware of his physical or spiritual acts.

This state is considered to be free movement, as if to appear without conscious effort. In this spiritual state the subconscious, the conscious and the spirit move in unison, as if without thought. The movement is instinctive and immediate. In this Buddhist state the Budo student can observe the realm of one?s surrounds with little to no effort, enabling him to evaluate, defend or evade.

 

Buddha?s enlightenment arrives once the student?s ego has been emptied from one?s conscious. This is the pinnacle of   enlightenment when the body and spirit (subconscious) become one with conscious (ego).A student will devote years of training to emptying his mind, after much fatigue and frustration, his mind gives up, and emptiness occurs. And enlightenment spontaneously appears.