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Devotion in Lay Practice: devotional psychology vs.

religious Piety in Lay Discipline and Practice


"The Dharma is whether in the Sky nor is it to be found across the Ocean. The Dharma is not out of this World nor is it far away or out of Reach. It is as close as our Breath; it is within your Heart and Mind"

Preface First of all I want to give here shortly the Background for this Essay. In this Sense, I want to say that the increasing and growing Amount of Essays that I am posting in last Time, which is dealing with the Lay Practice, is not coincidental and was done on Purpose. As a Lay Practitioner, when I started seriously to practice the Dharma and committed my self completely to the Buddhist spiritual Path, I founded that there were no real proper Guidance for the Lay Practitioner, that have decided to undergo the spiritual Path and Practice in absolute Terms of attaining Nirvana. It seemed at the beginning as if the Liberation was thought only for Monks and as if there is a Distinction, which is unsurpassable. Nevertheless, I knew intuitively that this was not the Case, while the more the Practice grew, I have found also the Evidence that our great Teacher, the Buddha himself thought Liberation to everyone and did not excluded any being from it, neither Monks nor the Lay Practitioner. Later in the Post, I will also bring some Statement from the venerable Monk and Dr. Walpola Rahula, who reinforces this Determination. When the Practice continued to grow and I have built the basis of the Practice, which stood in Accordance with the Teachings of the Buddha and the Buddha Dharma, I have decided to share it for the Benefit of all. In the next Time I will continue to post those Essays, with the Hope to build here in the Blog a solid Source of Information for the Lay Practice. Definition As next and before going into the Details and to the Explanation of the Practice and its Methods, it is important to define first of all the Meaning of the Term Devotion, as it is applied in this Essay, thus it is here not understood in the usual Terms of religious Piety as known from the Theistic religious Traditions. The Way Devotion is applied in the Practice described here is completely different and is standing as opposed to those different religious Traditions. In this Sense, I apply the Word Devotion to the psychological Practice, which has the Aim at transforming and conditioning the Mind and not in Terms of praying to some Gods that should do the Job for us and that do not exist. Thus it is practiced in this Way, which from the outside can be seen as Devotion, I decided not to change the Term and actually to use the same Terms for the Purpose of the Dharma and Practice. The Practice Anyway, the main Purpose of such kind of Practice is as aforesaid the psychological Transformation and the Conditioning of the Mind. So in Order to design such kind of Practice, especially when we have at the beginning Difficulties to draw it solely on our own, we can use the Frame or the Idea of a "Morning Puja" and then expand it depending and in Accordance with our Needs so that it turns and becomes a daily devotional Practice. Such a Practice can include paying Homage and taking Refuge in the triple Gem, Dedication of Merit, Chants, Contemplations as well as Reflections and Recitations, working with psychological phrases as Mantras to conditioning the Mind, reading and learning Sutras,

Meditations and Mindfulness, undertaking the Bodhisattva Vows, undertaking and working with the Precepts, as explained in a previous Post, and many more.

Such a Practice, when involving Meditation and practiced in a combined and integrated Manner, can take two hours and even more. It is clear that if we set Goals in our Practice, as described above, it is also obvious that the Attainment of the Fruits is also a Function of the Time that we are willing to spend to attain it. Practicing only formal Sitting Meditation, even when practiced for a Session of about one hour on daily Basis is not enough. But if we are wise and flexible enough to design the Practice that fits our Life, we are able to attain each Goal that we have set. So it is undoubtedly clear that it is very important to practice this Way on a daily Basis in Order to gain an accumulative Effect. As in Mindfulness Practice itself, where Patience, Diligence and Endurance lead to such an accumulative Effect, the combined and integrated Practice enhance the Practice as a whole, while having such an accumulative Effect considering the all Aspects of the Practice and the Practice as a Whole.

Moreover, it is also important to mention that such kind of a devotional Practice comes in Addition to other Practices that we undergo on our Path and is not a Replacement of other Practices. If to mention some of them, so this kind of devotional Practice should be usually also accompanied by the Establishment of the four Foundation of Mindfulness, formal Meditation Sittings, studying Sutras, comprehensive Dharma Meditations, the Practice of Metta and the Brahma Viharas and many more. Anyway, it is also a good Idea to hold those Sessions of devotional Practice more than once a day, if it is of Course possible. In such Manner our Practice becomes also very intensive, comprehensive and advanced. By doing so our whole and entire Life becomes also the Field of our spiritual Practice, while it does not really Matter if it is at Work or at Home. When we design the Practice and our spiritual Life based on a flexible Model, as explained here, we have only to tailor the different Elements to the different and dynamic Circumstances of our Life. We involve then the whole and the entire Extent and Scope of our Life into the spiritual Life and Practice. Psychological Devotion vs. religious Piety Another important Aspect of this kind of devotional Practice that we must understand is the Differentiation between such kinds of a psychological Devotion and the religious Piety, as we can meet it in the Theistic Religions. As I wrote in the Post that was dealing with working with the Precepts in the Lay Practice, the Model that accompanies us here must be a dynamic and modular one, while we can't base our selves on an archaic and rigid Set of Rules, Ceremonies and Rituals that has the Aim at satisfying an Illusion of God and that is aloof and estranged from our Life and Karma. As working with the Precepts, also in this Case we must design this kind of "devotional Practice", so that it gives us Solutions and Answers to the different Issues that deal specifically with our Karma, suffering, Conditionality, Weaknesses, psychological Background and many more. Working in this Way we can add new Aspects, alter other ones, when we have overcome certain Aspects, we can let them go and so on. We can't definitely stick to certain archaic and frigid Rules, which are also aloof and estranged of us.

In the Post mentioned above and that is dealing with working with the Precepts in Lay Practice I wrote the following, which can be of Course also applied to the devotional Practice: "Those Precepts have the Aim at helping us in our Practice and not satisfying an Illusion of Gods, big or small, or an

"almighty Creator". They must be therefore also compatible with the Issues we deal with, the needs of our Practice we have to meet, the Karma we have gained, the certain Aspects of suffering we are confronted with, the Weaknesses, Difficulties and so on that are requiring our Attention and Acceptance and must be therefore tailored to each and every Practitioner based on those Aspects, as described above. Nevertheless, there are of Course some basic Precepts and Aspects that are important and required for everyone, but most of them must match the specific Aspect of each Practitioner. So thus every one knows very well those Aspects or when he worked them out even when it happens gradually he must then accordingly progress with the Precepts".

Practicing in this Way, we can match the Practice to whatever Circumstances that we may encounter in our Lay Life and to whatever Places in which we are living. Even when living in a Place, where it is difficult to find a Teacher or a Sangha, we can design the Practice and than practice it on our own. We can practice in the Morning if we want, we can do it in the Evening or in the Afternoon, if it matches more and is more suitable to our Life. Even when Circumstances around us are requiring this, we can then move accordingly the Emphasis from one Aspect to another one. We can one Day meditate more and hold a longer formal Meditation Session, while in other Days the devotional Practice will be more emphasized. Even when we are on the Way, we can read Sutras and practice the psychological Mantras or contemplate, Reflect and read Recitations. In those Terms, some Aspects of the devotional Practice can be even practiced not one, twice or even more.

Epilogue
There are some who believe that Buddhism is so lofty and sublime a system, write Dr. Walpola Rahula in his Book "What the Buddha Taught", that it cannot be practised by ordinary man and woman in this workaday world of ours, and that one has to retire from it to a monastery, or to some quiet place, if one desires to be a true Buddhist. This is a sad misconception, due evidently to a lack of understanding of the teaching of the Buddha. People run to such hasty and wrong conclusions as a result of their hearing, or reading casually, something about Buddhism written by someone, who, as he has not understood the subject in all its aspects, gives only a partial and lopsided view of it. The Buddhas teaching is meant not only for monks in monasteries, but also for ordinary men and women living at home with their families. The common belief, continues Dr. Walpola Rahula, that to follow the Buddhas teaching one has to retire from life is a misconception. It is really an unconscious defence against practising it. There are numerous references in Buddhist literature to men and women living ordinary, normal family lives who successfully practiced what the Buddha taught, and realized Nirvna. Vacchagotta the Wanderer, (whom we met earlier in the chapter on Anatta), once asked the Buddha straight-forwardly whether there were laymen and woman leading the family life, who followed his teaching successfully and attained to high spiritual states. The Buddha categorically stated that there were not one or two, not a hundred or two hundred or five hundred, but many more laymen and women leading the family life who followed his teaching successfully and attained to high spiritual states In the Context of those Statements made by Dr. Walpola Rahula in his Book, I would also add say that the Dharma is certainly whether to be found in the Sky nor is it to be discovered across the Ocean. The Dharma is not out of this World nor is it far away or out of Reach. It is as close as our Breath; it is within your Heart and Mind. This kind of Practice, as I have describe in the Post here is not easy, it can be even considered as most intensive, comprehensive and advanced Practice, but when practiced properly it bears wonderful, sweet and majestic Fruits.

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