DWQA QuestionsCategory: ReligionsA practitioner asks: “As a longtime Buddhist practitioner and now a mindfulness teacher myself, I continue to struggle with trying to make sense of some of the core teachings in Buddhism. One of the three “marks of existence” that all Buddhist practices are centered around understanding through increasingly direct and deep insight/realizations on the path to enlightenment is “no self” or “not self” (annata), which includes that there is no such thing as a permanent, unchanging entity or “soul.” It is said that in his quest for enlightenment, the Buddha looked deeply for the “housebuilder,” the one behind the whole thing, this experience of “I, me, myself,” the doer, and he couldn’t find one, and found instead that all phenomena, including the experience of a fixed entity called a self or soul, were simply the result of interdependent causes and conditions coming together temporarily, including even consciousness itself, which arises temporarily to meet with sensory experiences (which includes the 6th sense of mind) and that this consciousness we experience, too, dies with the body. Of course, there is something that experiences rebirth, as Buddhism was very, very clear on that … Since the goal, enlightenment, involves the ONLY permanent death … The cessation of rebirth. One of my primary teachers stated that what gets reborn is not a “soul,” but our “habits.” I am really hoping that Creator can shed some light on these things, since the teachings of the Buddha are what I resonate with the most, and yet I am also an LHP practitioner and do believe in the divine realm and love the idea of having/being an “immortal soul.” The LHP itself I do see as basically a lovingkindness/compassion/sympathetic joy/equanimity (Divine Abodes) practice, and therefore an extension of Buddhist practice. I accept that especially because the teachings of the Buddha were not written down until hundreds of years after his death that they could have become corrupted, and that given the depth of dark manipulation on Earth they most certainly were. However, this teaching, that there is no soul, that there is no self, is basically THE most important teaching in all of Buddhism. The Suttas (sacred ancient Buddhist texts) quote the Buddha as saying, “Nothing whatsoever is to be taken as I, mine, myself. Whoever has understood this has understood all the teachings.” How are we to make sense of this?”
Nicola Staff asked 3 years ago
Your situation is typical of many who have come from a religious or spiritual tradition and invested much time in deep thought and embraced the teachings because they fit with your thinking at the time and provided a stepping stone for self-improvement, which is the goal of enlightenment—it is a healing exercise after all and that healing is with the overarching goal of reaching a state of divine alignment where there is no separation in awareness from divine wisdom. We can tell you that not only were the teachings of the Buddha imperfectly preserved, there was in fact corruption that took place by subsequent students and this was engineered deliberately to dilute the teachings in a way to render them applicable to the self in isolation and then to diminish the self in the bargain. This is a disempowerment campaign in action par excellence and right in the heart of the issue of the meaning of life and the importance of one’s own being. The importance of the self is not to be minimized, but to be exalted in the sense that you are, after all, an extension of Creator’s consciousness itself, and therefore not only have a lofty origin but a lofty standing should you recognize this and act on that awareness with maximum effectiveness to claim your birthright, and partner with us to make the most of it. When the perception of being in the world is a self-limited singularity that is deigned as a temporary circumstance only, with little larger meaning, and is ephemeral, you might as well be a wisp of smoke in the wind that once came from something but then dissipates and dies away—this is hardly an accurate description of divinity. We understand you cherish the inner satisfaction it has given you to be focused on spirituality and feel benefitted from the doing, but we can tell you there are greater visions than this and you are finding that through the Lightworker Healing Protocol bringing you to a fuller and more complete description of the divine realm and your place within it, and within the physical as an extension of your own divine soul which is, in turn, a part of us—this is the schema. We understand you must again consider it and weigh the likelihood and may not be fully prepared to believe it at first blush because of prior beliefs that were instilled first, but that is a circumstance of life that is a routine dilemma—the message getting to a person first takes precedence and is able to instill and shape beliefs that will be difficult to overturn with subsequent exposure to differing perspectives. This is why propaganda can be so very effective because it creates a framework within the being that will resist truth if it finally comes along. The same is true of any incomplete body of thought and perception that is taught as truth and may be honestly conveyed by the teacher in question, because it is what they themselves have come to believe and see as real to them, and are simply wanting to share this with others. But given that almost everything taught through the ages has turned out to be wrong in major respects, it should not be surprising that this will be true with regard to much of spiritual lore and dogma. The entire human enterprise has been corrupted. Keep in mind the Extraterrestrial Alliance pays particularly close attention to anything people are doing of a spiritual nature, the paranormal and extraterrestrials, and any body of knowledge relating to those topics will be heavily manipulated to control the body of knowledge that is put together and learned and passed along. You are resonating with the message of the Buddha because this was a highly spiritual being and was truly on a divine mission. The fact his message became altered in some respects puts him in good company. The same was true of Mohammed and of Jesus Christ as well, that the Scriptures have been modified and many early writings destroyed that provide a much clearer picture of divine truth they conveyed during their lifetimes. It takes but minor modification of a message to, in some cases, completely change its meaning or even make it support an opposite conclusion, and this will seem to be supported by many other things that were said by someone important in history and will have the ring of truth. The very idea of diminishing the self and to disconnect oneself from the outer world is an ultimate state of disempowerment that leaves people defenseless and at the mercy of the interlopers. In doing so, these teachings will serve the darkness. It is through engagement and involvement of the heart, mind, and the soul working together that can change the world when done in partnership with the divine. We have the power but must have your intention to empower us to use our power on your behalf. Anything that undermines your intention to seek the betterment of humanity and its rescue from dark interference is your responsibility and obligation to discern. There are many spiritual practices stemming from the so-called Buddhism that end up being little more than quiet contemplation done in a vacuum—other than reducing stress to some degree, it accomplishes very little. Your power is intention, springing from a desire to serve the yearnings of the soul and work towards a better future, understanding that as a soul extension you are immortal and will return again and again as you choose, to improve on your learning and growth that came before, and work to heal all that went wrong, knowing as an enterprise this is your road to a glorious expansion as a free agent untethered from Creator, but still connected and involved with Creator and all the wisdom of Creator you have learned, and will empower you to not only be on a divine path but to stay on a divine path and help many, many others to do the same.