Don't let the Devil know anything (Alan Watts)

Alan Watts via Cosmic Jokes. Text: Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma B Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly
WARNING: This Dharma talk might rattle long held belief systems of listeners! QOTSA knows:

 

Don't let the Devil know anything (Alan Watts)

(Cosmic Jokes) Alan Watts talks about karma (intentional action). Escape karma and you escape the Devil. But how can we escape it? The historical Buddha laid down the path. And many are confused by it, including Watts, by confounding what the Buddha taught and what Hindus, Brahmins, and the Vedas teach about karma. It is not necessary to exhaust karma to break free of the cycle of rebirth and suffering. If it were, no one would ever be able to do it, as each act -- whether physical, verbal, or even mental -- lays down seeds that later bear fruit. It's happening all the time. In one life, one lays down enough karma for a thousand future lives or more. It's happening all the time. There's no need to do more, as the number of future lives we already face is endless. This is the problem of samsara, the endless round of birth and death. The solution is calm and mindfulness, which yields liberating insight into the true nature of things, which causes the heart/mind to let go. When one really lets go completely at this deep level, an irreversible change happens. One glimpses nirvana, the highest bliss, and one "changes lineage" from an ordinary worldling to a noble one (arya), having put a limit on how much future suffering is possible. One may yet live for a long time, but now there is a limit. It will no longer be endless and impermanent (dying from moment to moment between deaths and rebirths). Those who say we must exhaust all of our previous karma simply have not understood the historical Buddha's teachings or Dharma. And it is not what any other spiritual tradition teaches -- not Hinduism, Brahmanism, Vedanta, Jainism, Christianity, or New Age beliefs. The real way to "the end of all suffering," which is what nirvana means, is the Buddha's 37 Requisites of Enlightenment implicit in the Ennobling Eightfold Path.

 

► Subscribe. Alan Watts was a well-known British philosopher, writer and speaker, best known for his interpretation of Eastern philosophy for Western audiences. Alan Watts left behind more than 25 books and an audio library of nearly 400 talks, which are still in great demand. Alan Watts's life advice will bring you to true freedom. Congratulations on your journey. #AlanWatts #Buddhism #Spirituality