What is true happiness

Here is a post from one of our yahoo group members that perfectly sums up our confusion and how to turn our mind (180 degrees) towards real and lasting happiness:

Dvayatanupassana Sutta: The Noble One’s Happiness
translated from the Pali by John D. Ireland

“See how the world together with the devas has self-conceit for what is not-self. Enclosed by mind-and-body it imagines, ‘This is real.’ Whatever they imagine it to be, it is quite different from that. It is unreal, of a false nature and perishable. Nibbana[1], not false in nature, that the Noble Ones[2] know as true. Indeed, by the penetration of the true, they are completely stilled and realize final deliverance.

“Forms, sounds, tastes, scents, bodily contacts and ideas which are agreeable, pleasant and charming, all these, while they last, are deemed to be happiness by the world with its devas. But when they cease that is agreed by all to be unsatisfactory. By the Noble Ones, the cessation of the existing body[3] is seen as happiness. This is the reverse of the outlook of the whole world.

“What others call happiness, that the Noble Ones declare to be suffering. What others call suffering, that the Noble Ones have found to be happiness. See how difficult it is to understand the Dhamma! Herein those without insight have completely gone astray. For those under the veil (of ignorance) it is obscured, for those who cannot see it is utter darkness. But for the good and the wise it is as obvious as the light for those who can see. Even though close to it, the witless who do not know the Dhamma, do not comprehend it.

“By those overcome by attachment to existence, those who drift with the stream of existence, those in the realm of Mara, this Dhamma is not properly understood. Who other than the Noble Ones, are fit to fully understand that state, by perfect knowledge of which they realize final deliverance, free from defilements?”[4]

Notes:

1. Nibbana (Pali) or Nirvana (Sanskrit) – freedom from the endless cycle of personal reincarnations.
2. The Noble Ones – Ariya (Pali) or Arya (Sanskrit) are the Buddhas and their disciples who have obtained realization.
3. The “existing body” (sakkaya) – is a term for the five aggregates as objects of grasping.
4. Anusava (or asava) – the defilements.  Literally “out-flows,” which are dissipations of energy in the form of sensual desire, becoming (the perpetuation of existence), views (beliefs), and ignorance.  They are the same as the four “floods” mentioned earlier.  One who has destroyed the defilements (khinasava) is another name for an arahant or Perfected One.

Click here to join our Buddhist Sutras Yahoo Group to read more about the precious dharma.

Light and Love,
Neo

Principles of health

MH, at the Ask Barefoot Herbalist forum, always says that few people are willing to self-experiment with herbs and juice fasting.  I would say it is even harder to discern properly what true health really is.  In 2005, following the Dr. Hay protocol, I completed the 21 day Orange Juice fast and lost a pound a day in the process.  It is no easy task to accomplish.  However, to complete such a fast is the only way to obtain a proper BASIS for what is healthy for the body and what is not.

Many years later I fell off the path and started eating meat again.  I got bored and didn’t even feel like drinking distilled water anymore so I decided to do the Wiley Brooks challenge.  The diet would consist of eating one McDonald’s quarter pounder with cheese and a large diet coke on a daily basis for seven days.  This was quite crazy to consider and I do NOT advise anyone to just do it.  But for me, it was a lesson in discernment through Crazy Wisdom.

The Buddha taught the middle path and it makes sense since being a raw foodist was one extreme and the other was eating meat every day.

Like many philosophers say, you have to follow the PRINCIPLES of life to obtain excellence.  Even Josh Waitzkin, the famous Chessmaster, is one of the rare few who can easily explain how to play chess properly by following the exact principles to it.  Likewise, when following the Buddha dharma one must know, understand, and observe the ethical principles (precepts) to achieve the proper results.

So when I did the Wiley Brooks diet, over time, I would come to discern the differences and similarities between these two health protocols.  Unfortunately, the hair growth and strong feeling while on his diet was not enough to produce any incredible long-term results.  Not to mention the harmful side effects such as the tightening up of the channels and drying up of the lymph nodes would eventually lead to kidney pain.  A short time later a full detox would get me back to normal.  The Wiley protocol was a dead-end.

But the real measure of health came later when taking MH’s 2010 Longevity Spices for Life.

The three signs that the body is rejuvenating properly are the skin becomes clearer, the hair grows in thicker and darker and the teeth become whiter.  This is very important to understand.

On the right path toward rejuvenating the body, the nails will begin to feel stronger and take on a clear sheen to them and will not look cloudy.  The hair will become thicker and filled with life-force and appear wet and not dry.  And lastly, the teeth will become pearly white and not look sickly yellow.

With this known, you have a tool to gauge where you are at.  You just need to study the PRINCIPLES of health in detail.  I advise anyone to start reading MH’s 108 Pages booklet and the Dr. Hay book, Health via Food to get started.

Understanding the way food combining works, advocated by Dr. Hay, is the correct PRINCIPLE for obtaining healthy blood and therefore a healthy body which is more alkaline in nature.  For some, food combining is one of the hardest things to maintain but the rewards are great.  Others have had problems keeping track of the rules so they are encouraged to follow a mono diet.

The mono diet is the surest way to get back to health without making any mistakes!  What is a mono diet?  You eat only one type of food per meal and eat as much of that as you want till you are full.

Your first meal may be a fruit such as strawberries and you eat all the strawberries your heart desires.  The next meal may be almonds and you can eat all the almonds you want till you get full.  The reason for getting back to basics this way is your body won’t turn acidic on a mono diet.  The stomach now has a chance to be restored to its original healthy state.  The fault of incorrect food combination is: when you combine protein and carbs your stomach turns acidic.  This in turn, causes the lymph nodes to activate and the toxins go up and out the head rather than down and out the body in the correct way.  Since the stomach is overwhelmed and can’t handle the excess acids to digest foods properly… weight-gain and disease settles in.

So, the first step is researching the PRINCIPLES to good health.  Next, learn the proper rules to food combining.  Then, get educated on why juice fasting is important to rid yourself of environmental toxins from the air we breathe and the harmful chemicals and metals we have ingested over the years.

Once you accomplish a juice fast – whether it is for 7 days or 14 days this alone will help you discern the BASIS of what is normal health for you and nobody else.

Others have gone on to accomplish 21, 40 and even 108 days with ease because it is not a strict water fast that leaves your muscles atrophied.  The almonds eaten on the fast supply the body with enough protein so the muscles get what they need.  Lastly, find a middle path that works for you.  Even if that means on occasion you eat meat or junk food, now you have a suitable method to get back on track.  If you get sick…a three day OJ fast is part of your tool-bag to achieve health quickly.

The body is specially designed.  When you live by the laws of nature you experience health much faster than if you go against nature.  As you live in harmony with Nature you will begin to see how strong, resilient and efficient the body works.  These are the inner workings of true health that people have forgotten to pass down from one generation to the next.

Others suggest that this information has been suppressed time and time again.  Of course, one shouldn’t place too much importance on the body in exclusion to mind and energy work.  But when you master the body, it is much easier to forget about it and focus on the more important task at hand – enlightenment itself.

UPDATE:  The Master Herbalist has a new forum to play on and answer questions: The Barefoot Way Forum

Good luck!
Neo