The Path to Purification: Buddhism

Purification is a natural process of life. Every organism on the planet has a special process they use to clear their mind, body and spirits. Humans are no different. We tend to use the bath or shower to purify germs…

Purification is a natural process of life. Every organism on the planet has a special process they use to clear their mind, body and spirits. Humans are no different. We tend to use the bath or shower to purify germs off the body, but inner purification is also needed.

Original Date August 18, 2021

Last Update: August 23, 2021

Introduction

A Psion is a special calling and requires purification. In truth everyone should undergo the process of purification. The purpose of purification is a physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual clearing of the systems’ of one’s universe so that they will be exceptional instruments for the use of the Psion. However, it is not only the Psion that requires purification, but everyone that exists on the planet. And in truth everything needs to be cleared, and cleansed of impurities which muddy the environment.

We always like to start with a definition, so let us start with a clear definition of Purification.

pyu̇r-ə-fə-ˈkā-shən

noun
1. The act or an instance of cleansing or purifying.
2. The removal of impure elements from something.
3. A freeing from sin, guilt, or defilement.
4. the process of cleaning morally.
5. the clearing of something making it complete and absolute.

This pertains to all members of society from the average person, to the highest Psion. Purification is a system that one undergoes to clear the individual’s personal universe from all negative fields that may defile and cause destruction of the vital energy.

In the little article “The Path to Freedom: Buddhism” we discuss meditation as a tool for purification and will look at the three vritti instruments necessarily used for walking the Path of Freedom. We revisit those today with the focus of purifying ourselves.

So, let us begin…

The Problem

Planet Earth has been a bedrock of negative events that have scarred its history and tarnish the earth water and spirit of the planet. In its early days it was pristine and pure, however with the addition of humanity and his wildly violent emotions, mind, and spirit, he enslaved other humans and either killed or sold them off. Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history. During those wars it is a modest guess that there had been over a billion lives lost. In addition to wars there has been plagues and diseases that had and still are ravaging the world. This has killed another 430,100,000 people. Famine has caused another 300,000,000 deaths. And the list can go on of human induced and karmic deaths.

Over the last 10,000 of early to current humans across the entire globe there has been devastations that impact the physical and immaterial worlds. All of these leave a mark on the quality of society.

Indigenous People Caretakers of the Land

While there has been numerous human events that has causes disruptions there has also been many societies that have attempted to live in harmony and repair the world as they live their lives with sustainable practices while keeping a balanced society. The American Indians are an example of cultures that have lived cooperatively with nature. Through their lives they realized that they are part of One Great Spirit. Under their control, the Americas corrected and enhanced the land and mitigated hatred and negative spirits within their societies. But they are not the only ones.

The Asian societies tend to live harmoniously on the land. A number of their core religions follow traditions of care-taking and the Druids were very earth centric in their lifestyles. There are many other cultures that have strove to balance their lives with the lives of nature, and if you desire further examples you can ask Google.

Our Rights

Everyone that is born has the unalienable right to live within their own mental confines. The difference between one person and the next is the dynamics of their mental confines. Religions in the past have denied teaching all of the truths of life, keeping from the masses vital information that can transform the quality of humanity. And philosophies while sharing an aspect of the “Truth” have failed to outline the most important aspects of their precepts and thus people have missed the important “gems” of personal transformation that had been embedded in their teachings.

They have failed to tell us that each human must go through a series of initiations throughout their lives. These initiations are mandatory. And tt doesn’t matter whether they believe in the system or not. They have failed to mention that our success as individuals, depend upon the quality of the lives that we lead. They have neglected to enforce the “truth” about what it means in plain and direct talk, without the notion of Hell and Brimstone, and the stories of “good angels and bad angels”. The truth really fairly straight forward. And what is important is the qualities of mind and spirit that are cultivated by the individual. An example… we are told that to pay retribution to a person for harming is a “sin” or is wrong in some way. What they don’t tell you is that to allow someone to “mistreat you” will set you up with a life pattern of victim. It will also create victims in your bloodline for all of your progeny. Not a good thing!

For example: you have a friend that always asks you for something, physical, emotional, mental, or energetic it doesn’t matter. Religion and philosophy tells you that should “be a good person” and a “good Samaritan”. You strive to do as you have been told and allow not only that friend to take advantage of you, thinking that you will be repaid, but you allow other people to more or less take advantage of you. You find your quality of life going down slowly, energetically as you Soul and Spirit withdraw their protective mechanism. You are awaiting Heaven to repay you, and over time you start to believe that someone somewhere will compensate you. Guess What? You will be waiting for a very long time, because the truth is in Nature above (Heaven) and in Nature below, survival is based on your success in standing up for your unit (Personal Universe). Karma is Cause and Effect. A Cause of Abuse, causes not a better effect, but the effect of Abused. A running river carves a path along a pathway, the stream doesn’t jump from current into a completed different current. It follows along the most logical path.

The Law of Retribution

If a bully hits a child, the child’s instinct is to strike back. It doesn’t think and reason that the cause of the assult is due to an abusive role model. The whys are irrelevant. The child may try to proxy their right to ‘self defence’ to a teacher, parent, or older sibling, but that doesn’t reduce the victim’s personal debt. The work is the onus of the child who was assaulted.

So, the notion that someone will “protect” our rights is untrue. They may, but it is not the law. The Law of Retribution is based on the concept of lex talionis—that is, the law of retaliation. At its core is the principle of equal and direct retribution, as expressed in Exodus 21:24 as “an eye for an eye.” Destroying the eye of a person of equal social standing meant that one’s own eye would be put out. Again you may want to proxy your right to retribution, but then whoever obtains your right will be actually cause problems with their own Karma, as they are not the person injured by the slight.

But, we digress. Let’s get back to understanding of truth and eliminating the religious tales that he have been given that proxy our rights to look after ourselves.

Back to Purification and Initiation

It is through purification, that we let go of every condition that could put us in harm’s way due to the wrong associations, in the wrong environments, and doing the wrong things. As we purify the mind, body, and spirit and take the Path of Purification of the vehicles of our being, we then will move away from those negative systems in nature and in humanity that destroy our success. Lasting success is always contingent upon purification in virtue, mind, and wisdom.

There has always been some manner of initiation and grading system that the average person must navigate. Unfortunately, this information has been withheld or blanketed in Christian Sacraments, Hindu Kundalini Awakening, Hebrew Kabbalistic Tree of Life, and many other sacred pathways to Enlightenment. The withholding of this important information makes the difference between the average person having an average life and a great life. It is the difference between transforming the consciousness of humanity from lower beast and animal to divine human being.

Purification

So we will now communicate a Buddhist system of purification. It is one that everyone can use and get good results. It is simple but at times perhaps not easy. As to controlling one’s mind and living a virtuous lifestyle for some may at first be challenging until you get used to it.

The ability to purify oneself lies not external to the individual but within. Therefore, we will use the above definition as our starting point as within it is the order and process of purification. Just to recap succinctly we will:

1. Perform the act or an instance of cleansing or purifying. (in order to use)
2. Remove impure elements from something. (effective)
3. Free [ourselves] from sin, guilt, or defilement. (structural)
4. [Perform] the process of cleaning morally. (functional)
5. Clear something making it complete and absolute. (productive)

We use the Path of Purification as a means to approach the Greater Path that is the Greater Path to Freedom. As we walk through each step of the Path of Purification, we opens the doorways and walk in parallel along the Greater Path of Freedom. Their cornerstones are thus shared and eventually then converge into one path. The distinction between the two paths are the foci of the mind and heart as one treads.

As we begin our study of purification it is well that we know that purification can be taught by different means. They are Insights and Training of the Mind:

1. Insight of truth

a. It is attained by methods that are purified and sure and not divergent.
b. The Insights lead to awareness and practice culminating in penetration of the Four Noble Truths attached to it.
c. The passage following identifies Insight.

“Formations are all impermanent:
When he sees thus with understanding
And turns away from what is ill,
That is the path to purity”

The Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: catvāri āryasatyāni; Pali: cattāri ariyasaccāni; “The four Arya satyas”) are “the truths of the Noble Ones”, the truths or realities for the “spiritually worthy ones”. The Four Noble Truths are:

1. Dukkha (suffering, incapable of satisfying, painful) is a characteristic of existence in the realm of life and death.

So, then we go through life and experience (perceive) suffering and things that are unsatisfying and painful. The object wants to be observed. It has a vibration that is set out to attract and repel. It wants like minded fields and particles to grow with it. It desires control.

At this phase We either move to Samudaya or Irodha.

2. Samudaya (origin, arising) of this dukkha, which arises or “comes together” with taṇhā (“craving, desire or attachment”). These things attract our bodies and our minds. We are then held fixated on the subjects. Our minds are held hostage to the negative things. We worry, complain and feel off.

3. Irodha (cessation, ending) of this suffering (pain) can be attained by the renouncement or letting go of this craving and desires.

This can be done mentally or actively. When we let go of the pain and suffering, it starts to let go of us, and we don’t feel the rising of its energy field within the stream of our mind. We cease to sense or perceive the “call of the object” desiring to find like-minded fields.

4. Magga (path, Noble Eightfold Path) is the path leading to renouncement of craving, desire or attachment, and the cessation of Dukkha or suffering.

With this is the conclusion of the desires that causes one unrest. When a person has no abnormal craving then they do not suffer.

The problem with society is that people do not know or understand their purposed path. They do not know why they want a thing, except for the fact that “everyone else has it”. For example, if a person (viewer) sees that their neighbor has a new car, the viewer may become covetous of the car and want the neighbor’s car. The viewer doesn’t really want the car, but has fear that the vehicle shows others that he/she is less capable than the neighbor. The jealousy that the viewer feels grows when his/her partner mentions the vehicle, not for comparison, but for light conversation. The viewer is more desirous than ever. You can imagine the thoughts going through the viewers mind.

What the viewer doesn’t realize is that his/her soul doesn’t need the vehicle, as it is not part of their personal image. Nor is the experience of having increase his/her balance and inner harmony. It is likely a test in which the viewer fails. If the viewer could peer into their Soul and Spirit, they may find that it is not the vehicle that improves his image, but his individual skills as a human being. The Lesson that he needs to address is:

Autonomy vs. Shame 1 – 3 years of age.

Initiative vs. Guilt 3 – 5 years of age.

Developing the qualities of Will and Purpose, respectively. His Soul and Spirit is teaching him through visual stimulus that when a person has will power and purpose they can create more abundance on many different levels. The interesting thing about the levels is that they are not only on the physical plane (i.e. the body) but also reside on all other dimensions that are assigned to the individual that is the Astral Plane, the Mental Plane, and levels of Spiritual Planes.

Through purification using Insight Meditation, the individual learns their “true nature”, and moves towards that path until they are walking or running their own true path. A famous University Professor once endeavored to participate in a 90 day program of meditation in Thailand. Within that period of time he experienced profound discoveries about his true nature and his goals. His life was never the same. The same would be true for you. Using Insight meditation to discover the fundamental you. Insight turns off most of the sensory apparatus and tune into the streams of consciousness that is the understanding. It is training to see and experience things as they occurs, without misperception, invalid assumptions or wrong inferences.

The second type of mediation is called Relaxation Meditation and it is described next.

2. Calming Meditation or Training of the Mind to be calm and clear. It contains systems which focusing on your breath, a mantra, an object or visualization in order to train your focus and drop your awareness. The benefits of the calming meditation is the alleviation of conditions that cause one to be unable to focus control think or tap into the energy of their Soul and Spirit.

This type of meditation technique is very different from the former. There are 40 subjects that the meditator may use to reach levels of calmness. it uses the mind to work with specific mind stuff (mental tools) which reach the underlying regions of the mind channels and create stillness within the person.

So, using the tools of the two meditation types you can work upon your purification. It is customary to first go through Calming Meditation as it trains one to create the discipline for deeper levels of meditation and the Four Noble Truths. As the individual’s underlying truths become revealed then the cornerstone of Purification Virtue begins. It is because once you have the self knowledge of what makes you crave, what are you weaknesses, you can then begin to apply your volition to clear your past, and present, clearing the way for your future.

So, let us begin by asking the question, “What is Virtue?

Virtue the First Cornerstone of Purification

What is Virtue? It is the states beginning with volition present in one who
abstains from destruction, or in one who fulfils the practice of the duties. In our studies Virtue has many types and of course different levels.

A. There is virtue as volition.
1. is the seven volitions of ten courses of action (kamma) in one who abandons the destruction of things.

B. Virtue as consciousness-concomitant.

1. It is the three remaining states consisting of non-covetousness, non-ill will, and right view.

a. It is one who dwells with a mind free from covetousness.
b. It is one who dwells with a mind free of ill will.
c. It is one who dwells with a mind that has the right view of life.

C. Virtue as restraint.

1. This should be understood here as restraint in five ways: restraint by the rules of the community (pátimokkha), restraint by mindfulness, restraint
by knowledge, restraint by patience, and restraint by energy.
2. The five ways of Virtue by Restraint

a. Restraint by mindfulness is outline as “He guards the eye faculty, enters upon restraint of the eye faculty”
b. Restraint by knowledge is outlined as understanding of “The currents in the world that flow, Ajita,”

1) It stems from the acts of mindfulness this is Calmness meditation.

c. Restraint of currents is outlined by “understanding they are dammed or not dammed”

1) it is used by the other restraints.

d. Restraint by Patience is that given in the way beginning, “He is one who bears cold and heat”.
e. Restraint by Energy is that given in the way beginning, “He does not endure a thought of sense desires when it arises”

1) purification of livelihood is here combined with this one.

So those are the fivefold restraints. And with them people do not dread evil, (of the mind, body or spirit) and they have no chance of transgression as they are met with the purification of the mind which then purifies all other vehicles of mind, body, Soul, and Spirit.

We proceed back to the last virtue: The Virtue of Non-transgression.

D. Virtue as Non-transgression is no desire or inclination to break any law either by body or speech, it contains the precepts the Noble Truths which define the virtues that have been undertaken.

These are the virtues that a person must acquire if they are to purify their Soul and Spirit.

It is said that anyone who can not control themselves in virtue concentration or in wisdom:

“The inner tangle and the outer tangle—
This generation is entangled in a tangle.
And so I ask of Gotama this question:
Who succeeds in disentangling this tangle?” (S I 13)

Our minds bodies and lower spirits are in a tangle. Tangles are anything and everything that causes us to be removed from our true path and destiny. It is the craving of mind stuff and its modifications. That stuff is visible and invisible. Their nature is to arise and descend. The tangle is inner (within the person) and outer (outside of the person). They grow intercept one another and evolve both the individual as well as humanity.

And the Great Sage stated:

My task is now to set out the true sense,
Divided into virtue and the rest,
Of this same verse composed by the Great Sage.

There are here in the Victor’s Dispensation
Seekers gone forth from home to homelessness,
And who although desiring purity
Have no right knowledge of the sure straight way
Comprising virtue and the other two,
Right hard to find, that leads to purity—
Who, though they strive, here gain no purity.

To them I shall expound the comforting Path
Of Purification, pure in expositions,
Relying on the teaching of the dwellers
In the Great Monastery;
let all those Good men who do desire purity
Listen intently to my exposition.

And through virtue we will accomplish the path to the next cornerstone of Purification, that is Concentration to Right Effort and Right Mind.

So we have 1/3 of the secret of human and spiritual purification.

Thank you for reading!

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The Path to Purification: Buddhism