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You Are Buddha: A Guide to Becoming What You Are
You Are Buddha: A Guide to Becoming What You Are
You Are Buddha: A Guide to Becoming What You Are
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You Are Buddha: A Guide to Becoming What You Are

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We are all looking for greater meaning and wisdom in our lives. The problem is that we search for these things outside ourselves. The most profound teachings of the Buddha say that the wisdom we search for doesn’t come from outside. It is already within us — it is our very nature. The spiritual path is simply a way of helping us uncover and manifest the wisdom we already have.

Discovering our innate wisdom means learning to trust and rely not only on our intellect, but also on our intuition. It also means recognizing and letting go of negative thought patterns and emotional hang-ups that keep us confused and unhappy. "You Are Buddha" offers a practical guide to learning meditation, working with thoughts and emotions, becoming more deeply embodied, understanding the nature of mind, developing ethical conduct, and becoming an authentically mature human being.

Through the path of meditation, action and insight taught by the Buddha, we can stop identifying with our false self and re-awaken to the wisdom we were born with.

What Others Are Saying about "You Are Buddha"....

"'You Are Buddha' speaks about the nature of our mind and the spiritual path in a very fresh and personal way, making profound insights and practices readily accessible. By looking at ancient wisdom teachings through a contemporary lens and sharing his own rich experiences on the path, Dennis Hunter offers an approach to the Buddhist teachings that can be employed by readers of all kinds of backgrounds. There is no need to label oneself a Buddhist to benefit from this book and discover the basic nature that we all share."

— Khenpo Karl Brunnhölzl, author of "The Heart Attack Sutra" and "The Center of the Sunlit Sky"

"Starting from the most profound understanding of the Buddha’s teachings, 'You Are Buddha' offers an elegant and practical guide to bringing these insights into your daily life. The presentations of meditation practice, and working with negative thoughts and emotions, are especially valuable. Because this book is grounded in Dennis Hunter’s own deep personal experience and his extensive practice of meditation, it brings a very contemporary perspective to these classical teachings."
— Andy Karr, author of "Contemplating Reality: A Pracititioner’s Guide to the View in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism" and co-author of "The Practice of Contemplative Photography: Seeing the World with Fresh Eyes"

"Combining insight into the spiritual path with engaging personal anecdotes, 'You Are Buddha' introduces Buddhist practices and philosophy to support whatever path you're on."
— Susan Piver, Founder, The Open Heart Project, best-selling author of "The Wisdom of a Broken Heart"

LanguageEnglish
PublisherDennis Hunter
Release dateMay 25, 2014
ISBN9781310175589
You Are Buddha: A Guide to Becoming What You Are
Author

Dennis Hunter

Dennis Hunter is a writer, meditation instructor, and spiritual teacher based in New York City. A student of Buddhist meditation and philosophy for over a decade, he spent two years training as a monk at the monastery founded and led by the beloved teacher Pema Chödrön. He regularly teaches meditation workshops and retreats. He is currently working on his second book, on a set of Tibetan Buddhist teachings called the Four Reminders. He is the founder of One Human Journey, a popular spiritual website with over 150 articles on meditation and other topics. His free One Human Journey mobile app offers additional resources including instructional videos, and can be found on iTunes, Google Play, or Amazon. He is available for private meditation instruction, group retreats, or corporate seminars. Follow him on Facebook (www.facebook.com/onehumanjourney) or Twitter (www.twitter.com/dennishunter).

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    You Are Buddha - Dennis Hunter

    YOU ARE BUDDHA

    A Guide to Becoming What You Are

    by Dennis Hunter

    Smashwords Edition

    © Copyright 2014 Dennis Hunter. All rights reserved.

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

    Praise for You Are Buddha: A Guide to Becoming What You Are

    "You Are Buddha speaks about the nature of our mind and the spiritual path in a very fresh and personal way, making profound insights and practices readily accessible. By looking at ancient wisdom teachings through a contemporary lens and sharing his own rich experiences on the path, Dennis Hunter offers an approach to the Buddhist teachings that can be employed by readers of all kinds of backgrounds. There is no need to label oneself a Buddhist to benefit from this book and discover the basic nature that we all share."

    — Khenpo Karl Brunnhölzl, author of

    The Heart Attack Sutra and The Center of the Sunlit Sky

    Starting from the most profound understanding of the Buddha’s teachings, You Are Buddha offers an elegant and practical guide to bringing these insights into your daily life. The presentations of meditation practice, and working with negative thoughts and emotions, are especially valuable. Because this book is grounded in Dennis Hunter’s own deep personal experience and his extensive practice of meditation, it brings a very contemporary perspective to these classical teachings.

    — Andy Karr, author of Contemplating Reality:

    A Pracititioner’s Guide to the View in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism

    and co-author of The Practice of Contemplative Photography:

    Seeing the World with Fresh Eyes

    Combining insight into the spiritual path with engaging personal anecdotes, You Are Buddha introduces Buddhist practices and philosophy to support whatever path you're on.

    — Susan Piver, Founder, The Open Heart Project and

    best-selling author of The Wisdom of a Broken Heart

    Table of Contents

    Preface

    Introduction :: Become What You Are

    Chapter 1 :: Follow Your Intuition

    Chapter 2 :: Stinking Thinking

    Chapter 3 :: The Path of Meditation

    Chapter 4 :: Seeing What Wants to Be Seen

    Chapter 5 :: Things As They Are

    Chapter 6 :: What Is Mind?

    Chapter 7 :: Hiking the Spiritual Path

    Chapter 8 :: Unselfing

    Chapter 9 :: The Heart of the Matter

    Chapter 10 :: The Endless Loop

    Chapter 11 :: Facing Your Demons

    Chapter 12 :: Put Away Childish Things

    Chapter 13 :: The F Word: Forgiveness

    Chapter 14 :: Practice What You Preach

    Chapter 15 :: The Magic of Speech

    Chapter 16 :: All Situations Are the Path of Awakening

    Chapter 17 :: You Are Buddha

    Additional Resources

    Acknowledgments

    Preface

    We are all looking for greater meaning and wisdom in our lives. The problem is that we search for these things outside ourselves. The most profound teachings of the Buddha say that the wisdom we search for doesn’t come from outside. It is already within us — it is our very nature. The spiritual path is simply a way of helping us uncover and manifest the wisdom we already have.

    Discovering our innate wisdom means learning to trust and rely not only on our intellect, but also on our intuition. It also means recognizing and letting go of negative thought patterns and emotional hang-ups that keep us confused and unhappy. Through the path of meditation, action and insight taught by the Buddha, we can stop identifying with our false self and discover who we really are.

    Rooted in the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, woven with insights from other spiritual traditions, and filled with fresh, personal examples, instructions and stories that bring the teachings to life, You Are Buddha illuminates the path of re-awakening to the wisdom we were born with. This is a book that will benefit anyone — from any background — who seeks a deeper spiritual life.

    Introduction :: Become What You Are

    This book is a series of reflections on how you can engage profoundly with your own spiritual path. The reflections here touch on a variety of topics, ranging from meditation to working with troublesome thoughts and emotions, from ethical conduct to more philosophical views about the nature of mind and reality. These reflections are all woven together with the common thread of a single basic premise: that the wisdom and awakening and freedom you seek are already here. You don’t have to travel to India to find it. That wisdom is inside you. It is you. You couldn’t get rid of it if you wanted to. The only question is when you will get around to recognizing it and fully realizing it.

    This radically empowering idea has its origins in the most profound teachings of the Buddha, rooted in ancient scriptures with exotic, hard-to-pronounce names like the Uttaratantra Shastra and the Lankavatara Sutra. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing exotic about it — it’s as natural and familiar as the air that you breathe. Its essence is contained in the title and subtitle of this book. You are Buddha. Become what you are.

    Become what you are. It’s a riddle, a Zen koan. How do you become something you already are? That’s the beauty and the great mystery of the Buddhist teachings on Tathagatagarbha, another exotic, hard-to-pronounce word that simply means Buddha Nature. It’s the spark of divinity that lies at the heart of every sentient being, waiting to be discovered and uncovered so that it may shine its light without limitation.

    From the very start, the basic nature of your mind is no different from the nature of the Buddha’s mind. It is luminous and stainless and formless, without any boundary or limitation whatsoever. The spiritual path is not about adding anything to that nature; it’s not about becoming something you’re not or acquiring something you don’t already have. Unfortunately, a lot of spirituality today is aimed at exactly that, tantalizing you with things and experiences you are told you must have in order to become something that you currently are not. The genuine spiritual path, on the other hand, is like coming back home. It’s not about gaining anything; on the contrary, it’s about losing everything, which is absolute freedom. It’s about removing every mental and emotional obscuration that stands in the way of manifesting the enlightened nature you already possess. In fact, it’s misleading to say that you possess it, because you cannot possess what you are. The genuine spiritual path is about stripping away everything that stands in the way of you recognizing and fully embodying your own basic, awakened nature, the nature of a Buddha. It’s about becoming what you really, truly are — beneath the spell of confusion you’ve unwittingly cast upon yourself, beneath lifetimes of accumulated bad habits and mistaken ideas about who you are.

    Become what you are. As you read the chapters that follow, I encourage you to keep this koan or riddle in mind. Let it puzzle you and irritate you and (hopefully, sometimes) amaze and delight you. Let it serve as an invitation, a reminder, and a call to action. As another famous Zen koan asks, What face did you have before your parents were born? Are you ready to discover your true face?

    One Human Journey

    Before continuing, I should probably say a few words about how I came to write this book, and why.

    I have felt a calling towards the spiritual life, in various ways, since I was a child. That calling has led me, over the years, to seek out and engage with a number of religions and spiritual paths, always searching for greater meaning and purpose and wisdom in my life. I was, for several years as a child and pre-teen in Oklahoma, a devout Southern Baptist. In fact, I was so devout, so evangelical, that I dragged my own parents into the church, and established them on the straight and narrow path. I placed my faith and trust as well as I could (which wasn’t really very well) in the Southern Baptist views of God and Jesus that I learned in Bible School. I adopted a narrow, fundamentalist view of the meaning of life and the nature of reality; I even dreamed of becoming a Southern Baptist preacher when I grew up. But my Christian faith was eroded by grave philosophical doubts that had nagged me from the very first moment I set foot in the church, and further clouded by the neurotic storms and emotional turmoil of puberty. When the walls of that faith crumbled and collapsed around me, I swung hard to the opposite extreme and became a disgruntled atheist, disavowing (in a youthful, uneducated way) any notion of spirit or divinity.

    But it wasn’t long before my natural spiritual inclinations led me to begin exploring again, and I found myself, along with several teenage friends who shared the same mindset, delving into New Age territory. We began practicing witchcraft, gathering herbs and ritual implements and casting spells; we studied astrology and Tarot cards and all kinds of ESP and paranormal phenomena. Before long, I and my two best friends found ourselves enrolled in a quasi-cultish New Age organization called the School of Metaphysics, where we took weekly spiritual lessons. I had convinced my parents to pay for these lessons by telling them it was a study program that would help me focus my mind and get better grades in school. At the School of Metaphysics we focused our minds on New Age ideas like kundalini energy and astral travel and past life regressions. Once a week, on Tuesdays, we fasted and ate nothing but fruit — until one Tuesday when my blood sugar bottomed out and I collapsed to the floor. That incident raised my mother’s suspicions, and it wasn’t long before she discovered what we were really studying and yanked me out of the School of Metaphysics.

    But I continued reading New Age books and practicing Wicca on my own; I constantly battled my mother for the freedom to pursue my own spiritual path, and she waged a years-long (and ultimately fruitless) war to bring me back to Jesus. I recall one particularly intense confrontation over the occult books in my library, which my mother sought to confiscate and destroy. There was a lot of screaming on both sides, and in the ensuing melee the vacuum cleaner somehow came between us, and it somehow ended up in my mother’s hands, and she somehow struck me with it — the only time in my life, I believe, that she had ever struck me. The incident culminated in uniformed police officers entering our living room to resolve the domestic dispute. I can only imagine what went through their minds when they encountered this impassioned mother and son fighting over books about witchcraft.

    In my early adult life I moved to New York City and left behind the path of Wicca. In terms of my spiritual life, I drifted somewhat aimlessly for a number of years. Initially, I was driven by a narcissistic ambition to become the great American novelist, but when that tree didn’t bear any edible fruit after a few years, I began to despair. I dabbled in Judaism and Catholicism but didn’t feel any strong connection. I turned to intimate relationships (not particularly well-chosen ones) to seek meaning in my life. I got myself into trouble in ways that I don’t care to describe here. It was during a particularly low point in this journey that I found myself avidly consuming books about Buddhism and Kabbalah. I was searching for some way to climb back out of the pit of self-absorption and self-pity in which I was wallowing.

    I bounced back and forth between the two traditions, comparing what each one had to say about the divine nature of reality and the human experience, about how we got here and where we are going and how we can make our short lives most meaningful. It was then that I first saw clearly how the fingers of different spiritual traditions all seemed to be pointing at the same moon. I still couldn’t see the moon, but I knew it was there, and I knew these two ancient fingers — from such radically different traditions — were pointing at the same thing. And although I had felt isolated and alone in my search for many years, I had never really lost faith that the moon they were pointing to was somewhere up there (or, rather, somewhere in here).

    I began to recognize the return of the old inner calling, which was still there, and had been there all along. I yearned for a more profound engagement with spirituality. I discovered that path in Buddhism, which — of the many religions and practices I have sampled in the spiritual buffet that has been my life — fundamentally made the most sense to me. What Buddhism has to say about the nature of the human mind, and about the nature of divinity, and about the path to realizing the essential oneness of those two, rang true to me in a way that no other system of spiritual teachings has ever done. That doesn’t mean that Buddhism always makes sense to me, or that I don’t struggle with questions and doubts like anyone else. If I didn’t have any doubts left, I think perhaps I would be what people call enlightened. And I am decidedly not what people would call enlightened.

    The primary difference between Buddhism and many other spiritual traditions is that there is no God who can wave his finger and sweep away your troubles or establish you in everlasting happiness. It’s up to you — because there is no divinity out there that is inherently separate from you. By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us and molds us, wrote the theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. We imagine it as distant and inaccessible, whereas in fact, we live steeped in its burning layers.

    We live steeped in its burning layers. Divinity is within you. It is you, and you are it. You are, in fact, a Buddha, and you always were. You have simply never realized or manifested your own potential, or your power. The spiritual path is merely a sequence of steps laid out to help you recognize and become what you already are.

    This basic idea, which stood in such sharp contrast to my early religious indoctrination, struck a chord deep in my bones; it made intuitive sense to me in a way that few things before ever had. It made enough sense, in fact, that I decided, a number of years ago, to bite the bullet and start calling myself a ‘Buddhist’ — that is, to embrace Buddhism as my religion and my primary path, not merely as a system of ideas that I admired from a distance. I was tired of noshing on potato chips and other snacks from the spiritual vending machine. I wanted Brussels sprouts, and steamed broccoli, and all those things that scare children but nourish the body and spirit more deeply. To get those things, I needed to go into the kitchen and have someone experienced teach me how to make them, and then sit down at the table and eat them. If this meant donning an apron with a ‘Buddhist’ logo on it in order to work in that kitchen, then so be it.

    Wayne Dyer once advised his readers, Don’t be Buddhist — be Buddha-like. It’s advice worth contemplating. Whatever spiritual path we are walking, the point is not to get bogged down in the outer forms of religion, or in building our identity around being a certain kind of ‘spiritual’ person — that’s just more fodder for the ego — but to penetrate to the essence of the spiritual teachings and bring their wisdom as fully as possible into every aspect of our lives. The point is to be Christ-like, to be Buddha-like, to be Mohammed-like. Jesus was not a Christian; Buddha was not a Buddhist; and Mohammed was not a Muslim. The three of them taught love. Love was their religion. If only we could all remember that. The human world would be a much happier and safer place in which to live.

    Eventually, after a few years of sometimes tentative study and practice, my calling towards the Buddhist path took me physically by the hand and led me hundreds of miles north and east, to a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Canada. There, I spent two years immersing myself more deeply in practice and following the monk’s path of simple, non-materialistic living. It was in the monastery that I began to write this book. The reflections here emerged from the subjects I was contemplating on a daily basis while practicing intensively and holding temporary monastic vows. Much of the material in the book appeared, in draft form, as a series of essays on a blog called One Human Journey that I kept during my time at the monastery, and have maintained ever since. Throughout the book I refer to some of my experiences at the monastery, using these anecdotes as teaching examples. I often found that it was in these experiences that the meaning of the teachings came alive for me.

    Someone told me about a teaching they’d received from a Tibetan Buddhist master, Dzongsar Khyentse. He advised his students, when they go on retreat, to establish very strong boundaries between past, present and future, and to really do their best to stay in the present. Dwell in the pleasantness of presentness, he advised them. Before going to the monastery, I tried to arrange my life in such a way that I could do exactly that, a way that would allow me to dwell as little as possible on outside obligations or thoughts of past and future. I paid off my bills, quit my job, gave up my apartment, sold or gave away most of my possessions, and placed my two cats with a friend who was willing to adopt them. Giving up everything in such a dramatic way was both cathartic and emotionally wrenching; it felt a bit like planning my own funeral. But by doing so, I was able to leave behind two decades of history in New York City and come to the monastery with a clean slate, and no particular agenda for the future. Whether I would stay for a year, two years, or for the rest of my life, I wasn’t sure.

    In the end I stayed for a little over two years. Those two years were a life-changing experience. But I left the monastery because I felt another calling. I realized that the life of a celibate, renunciant monk living in a monastery was not really my life path. I was drawn towards being back ‘in the world,’ and towards being in an intimate relationship. I felt the pull of something else waiting for me outside the monastery walls.

    By sharing some of my personal history in this way, I hope to explain why I do not particularly see this as a book about Buddhism, nor as a book meant especially for Buddhists.

    Rather, I see it as a book about wisdom, which is a universal human endowment (even if that’s not always obvious from the way we act), and about spirituality, which is a fairly universal human aspiration. Wisdom and spirituality don’t know any particular creed or culture. For me personally, wisdom and spirituality frequently appear in the clothing of Buddhism, so that is often how I describe them. But the clothing and the body it clothes are not the same thing. I also look for — and find — wisdom in the most unlikely places: in movies and pop songs, for example; or in advertisements, which sometimes unwittingly speak profound truths. Finding wisdom in such unlikely places is possible because — and this is the crucial point — wisdom is not something external to our own minds. It is already within us — it is our very nature, our Buddha Nature — and the spiritual path is simply a way of helping us recognize and uncover the wisdom we already have.

    I hope the chapters of this book help and guide you in your quest to discover and fully

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