More bodies
Jun. 5th, 2025 07:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mickiI think I miscounted the number of bodies in this chapter because we're up to six and it is still not done! I'm going to do three more this morning.
The third body is the spiritual practice body, or the Dharma body. “We cultivate our spiritual practice body-- which we can also call our Dharma body-- by cultivating the seeds of awakening and mindfulness in our daily life... It is up to each one of us to develop a strong spiritual practice body every day. Every time you take 1 peaceful step or one mindful breath, your spiritual practice grows. Every time you embrace a strong emotion with mindfulness and restore your clarity and calm, it grows. Then, in difficult moments, your spiritual practice body will be right there with you when you need it.”
“My physical body may not last very long, but I know that my spiritual practice body, my Dharma body, is strong enough to continue for a very long time period it has helped me through so much. If it were not for my Dharma body, if it were not for my practice of mindfulness, I would never have been able to overcome the great difficulties, pain, and despair I have faced in my life. I have encountered wars and violence, my country was divided, my society and Buddhist community were wrought apart, and we encountered so much hatred discrimination and despair. It is thanks to my Dharma body that I've been able to survive, and not only survive but overcome all these difficulties, and grow and transform through them.”
The fourth body is the community body. He talks about meeting Martin Luther King junior and talking about building a “beloved community.” “a beloved community is a community of people who share the same aspiration and want to support each other to realize that aspiration. If we want to grow on our spiritual path, we need a community and spiritual friends to support and nourish us. And in return we support and nourish them, like cells in the same body.”
The fifth body is the body outside the body. “Each one of us can be present in many places in the world. We can be here and at the same time in a prison period we can be here and also in a distant country where the children suffer from malnutrition. We don't have to be present with our physical body. When I write a book, I transform myself into thousands of me that can go a little bit everywhere. Every book becomes my body outside the body.” He then talks about prisoners who have “learned to breathe, to walk, and to speak with kindness and compassion. These prisoners are also me. They are my body, because they have read my books; They are practicing what they have read and are continuing me. They are my body outside my body.”
The sixth body is the continuation body. “Throughout our life we produce energy. We say things and do things, and every thought, every word, and every act carries our signature. What we produce as thoughts, as speech, as action, continues to influence the world, and that is our continuation body. Our actions carry us into the future. We are like stars whose light energy continues to radiate across the cosmos millions of years after they become extinct. New line when you produce the thought of hatred, anger, or despair, it harms you and it also harms the world. None of us wants to be continued like that. We all want to produce thoughts of compassion, understanding, and love. When you are able to produce a thought of compassion and understanding it is healing and nourishing for yourself and for the world.... our words our energy that has a ripple effect far beyond our imagining. We must learn the art of communicating so our speech can bring about love, reconciliation, and understanding.”
The third body is the spiritual practice body, or the Dharma body. “We cultivate our spiritual practice body-- which we can also call our Dharma body-- by cultivating the seeds of awakening and mindfulness in our daily life... It is up to each one of us to develop a strong spiritual practice body every day. Every time you take 1 peaceful step or one mindful breath, your spiritual practice grows. Every time you embrace a strong emotion with mindfulness and restore your clarity and calm, it grows. Then, in difficult moments, your spiritual practice body will be right there with you when you need it.”
“My physical body may not last very long, but I know that my spiritual practice body, my Dharma body, is strong enough to continue for a very long time period it has helped me through so much. If it were not for my Dharma body, if it were not for my practice of mindfulness, I would never have been able to overcome the great difficulties, pain, and despair I have faced in my life. I have encountered wars and violence, my country was divided, my society and Buddhist community were wrought apart, and we encountered so much hatred discrimination and despair. It is thanks to my Dharma body that I've been able to survive, and not only survive but overcome all these difficulties, and grow and transform through them.”
The fourth body is the community body. He talks about meeting Martin Luther King junior and talking about building a “beloved community.” “a beloved community is a community of people who share the same aspiration and want to support each other to realize that aspiration. If we want to grow on our spiritual path, we need a community and spiritual friends to support and nourish us. And in return we support and nourish them, like cells in the same body.”
The fifth body is the body outside the body. “Each one of us can be present in many places in the world. We can be here and at the same time in a prison period we can be here and also in a distant country where the children suffer from malnutrition. We don't have to be present with our physical body. When I write a book, I transform myself into thousands of me that can go a little bit everywhere. Every book becomes my body outside the body.” He then talks about prisoners who have “learned to breathe, to walk, and to speak with kindness and compassion. These prisoners are also me. They are my body, because they have read my books; They are practicing what they have read and are continuing me. They are my body outside my body.”
The sixth body is the continuation body. “Throughout our life we produce energy. We say things and do things, and every thought, every word, and every act carries our signature. What we produce as thoughts, as speech, as action, continues to influence the world, and that is our continuation body. Our actions carry us into the future. We are like stars whose light energy continues to radiate across the cosmos millions of years after they become extinct. New line when you produce the thought of hatred, anger, or despair, it harms you and it also harms the world. None of us wants to be continued like that. We all want to produce thoughts of compassion, understanding, and love. When you are able to produce a thought of compassion and understanding it is healing and nourishing for yourself and for the world.... our words our energy that has a ripple effect far beyond our imagining. We must learn the art of communicating so our speech can bring about love, reconciliation, and understanding.”
