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He is also shown as communicating peace, compassion and energy. In some Buddhist traditions, this vision includes other archetypal Buddha figures that represent various aspects of enlightenment, thus making this great vision of Buddhahood accessible to common people. There is also the vision of a Pureland where all beings are shown sitting on lotuses, listening blissfully to the Buddha's teachings. This vision encompasses the whole of humanity; it envisages a world in which life conditions support all humans in practicing Dharma.
In Buddhism another important vision is of the glorious vision of Bodhisattva, the being who is devoted to welfare and enlightenment of others as to his or her own. For Bodhisattva, indeed, there is no ultimate difference between himself and others. His life shows the transformation of the individual and the world are inextricably inter-related, such that we can not work on ourselves without affecting society, we can not help society unless we are working on ourselves. But vision is not enough to realize it, we need to work on ourselves and follow the path of transformation. The Noble Eightfold Path, in which transformation consists of working on many fronts, our emotions, speech, actions, relationships, livelihood, awareness, energy and mental states. Meditation is the direct way of working on the mind. Through meditation, we develop skilful mental states. This skilful mental state make us more aware of our behaviour, speech and attitudes towards others, we become more ethically sensitive. This also makes us to realize that, we could not go from a gross or unethical state into meditation.
Ethical base is must for meditation. In Noble Eightfold Path meditation is a last step. In Yoga of Patanjali, Yamas and Niyamas are the base for higher meditation. First step is ethical one. Meditation prepares the mind to cultivate wisdom or insight into the nature of reality. Ethics is inevitably bound up with how we relate to others. Meditation is concerned with culti vating awareness and highly positive mental states such as loving kindness and compassion. Wisdom involves understanding in a direct way that there is no ultimate difference between oneself and others. Ethics, meditation and wisdom, all three are intimately connected with how we relate to others. Path of six Paramitas [Path of perfections], involves the cultivation of generosity, ethics, patience, energy, meditation and wisdom. Following this path, one would be able to help others more effectively, minimizing one's weakness and maximizing one's strength. This path, no doubt, involves through transformation of body, speech and mind, necessarily involving one's behavior, speech and attitudes towards others.
Buddhism believes that if we are producing anything that is directly or indirectly harmful to others, we are partially responsible for their suffering. The same goes for consuming things that involve exploitation of beings in their production. What one do must benefit others and certainly not harm
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| SR No. | 007005 |
| Book Title | World of Philosophy |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave |
| Publisher | Shanti Prakashan |
| Publication Year | 2011 |
| Total Pages | 1002 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 30 MB |