FREETHOUGHT BUDDHISM

(please check out the discussions for further information)

The term Freethought Buddhism is intended to differentiate this Buddhist Meetup from various Lineages and Traditions (Long Path's) of Buddhism which have developed their own ideas base on various texts and teachers that they hold dear.  Shakyamuni Buddha may have been the first to define freethought when he said in the Kalama Sutra, “Do not accept anything by mere tradition. . . Do not accept anything just because it accords with your scriptures. . . Do not accept anything merely because it agrees with your preconceived notions.” Buddha taught irreligion.

Considering such an irreligious view, the Bodhisattva Vow takes on a different meaning than accepted in the mainstream. Does the wish for the liberation of all sentient beings actually point to a compassion that is intolerant of all religion?  Is a "true" bodhisattva an appeaser, moderate, enabler, or advocate of Interfaith movements that promote the tolerance of beliefs which enchain sentient beings?  Chögyam Trungpa  said, “Compassion is not so much feeling sorry for somebody, feeling that you are in a better place and somebody is in a worse place. Compassion is not having any hesitation to reflect your light on things. As light has no hesitation, no inhibition about reflecting on things, it does not discriminate whether to reflect on a pile of sh-t or on a pile of rock or on a pile of diamonds. It reflects on everything it faces.”

The instructions left by Buddha suggest that as long as we see ourselves as separate, independent selves, there can be no real compassion. Buddhist teachings on compassion are grounded in the direct realization of Form and Emptiness,...without which, compassion is impossible.  Thus, a real Bodhisattva is intolerant of anything that steps between a sentient being and their liberation,...that better describes the Bodhisattva vow from a Short Path point of view.

Freethought Buddhism is not intended to be a beginner level or Long Path spirituality group. Nearly every Buddhist group has a novice program that will welcome beginners. This Meetup is for those who have already initiated un-learning the Long Paths of Traditions and Lineages, and aware of a Short Path or Fourth Way to realize Full Spectrum Consciousness in a single lifetime. (see: Paul Brunton Entering the Short Path).

Abraham (Esther Hicks, Law of Attraction) said, "We teach meditation, or quieting the mind, because it is really easier to teach you to have no thoughts, than to teach you to have pure, positive thought. We would rather you be in a state of appreciation, than in a state of meditation, because in appreciation you are a vibrational match to your [Higher, non-skandha Self]."

Kagyu, the fourth stream of mastery, says, "In a state of non-meditation, you attain Mahamudra." Surely meditation is helpful to quiet the Six Senses,...because the senses cannot observe Stillness,...meaning that they can only observe vibration. All vibration is in the past. There is no Stillness, present, nor instant in time. Freethought Buddhism Meetup is envisioned to be a dialogue (among those who, at least partially, understand the nature of meditation) to look beyond the point of view of the Six Senses, and instead discuss the point of view of what is being observed. For example, the Six Senses observe the electrodynamic spectrum an exclaims that light travels at 186k mps,...however, from light's point of view, it travels no distance, in no time, and thus has no need of speed.

Although E= mc² is readily agreed upon; nearly no one recognizes light's point of view that mc² < c. All energy is less than the Stillness of light. Since clear recognition that everything one perceives is a dream, necessitates an understanding of the feminine aspect of nature; a familiarity with Tilopa's Mahamudra, the Heart Sutra, Lojong, and the TG (transgender), Ambi-gender of the monk Avalokiteshvara (Av a lo ki tash vara) who became the Bodhisattva Kuan Yin when he uncovered the threshold of compassion, is suggested.

The Buddhists have a story about Shakyamuni Buddha and Angulimala, the wearer of a garland of fingers. Angulimala was a notorious bandit who cut off a finger from each of his victims and wore them all around his neck. Although there are several variations of the story, the punch line is nearly the same. One day, Buddha, the Light of Asia, was walking calmly along a road in the Kingdom of Kosala, where Angulimala was seeking his next victim. Seeing Buddha, Angulimala ran up to bash him from behind, yet he could not get close enough, and the faster he went, the Awakened One seemed to go that much faster. Infuriated and bewildered at not being able to catch him, Angulimala shouted for Buddha to stop. The Light of Asia replied,"But I’m standing still. If you desire to catch me, you too must be still." This is where oral traditions, especially Theravada ones, go off into different invented morals. The true pearl in the tale is that no matter how fast you move to catch light, light will always be 299,792 kilometers per second faster. Undivided light can only be caught through stillness.