Kenneth F. Thornton II | A Buddhist Path to Awakening~ Kenneth Thornton @shamanizing | Uploaded May 2020 | Updated October 2024, 10 hours ago.
Kenneth Thornton shares his thoughts on the Path of Buddhism. Filmed 2014/15
As long as you look for a Buddha somewhere else, you'll never see that your own mind is the Buddha.
We are very fortunate to be born as human beings and to encounter the Dharma. Achieving a human birth is not easy. It takes positive karma to be reborn and then to practice successfully. If we had not accumulated good karma in past lives, then we might have taken birth in the lower realms.
Even with this precious human body, our lives are extremely difficult, and Dharma practice is essential to succeed on any path we follow. Our first thought as we begin to practice must be appreciation for our human birth.
Western people especially should understand that their collective karma is ripening now. To be able to practice the Dharma without great difficulties and to meet a teacher without going through hardship are signs of the ripening of karma in the West. If the fruits of this ripening are skillfully used, they will, in the future, produce greater fruits.
Generally speaking, all living beings — whether human, animal, or insect — desire happiness and comfort, pleasure and success. But because of attachment to the self, the ego, people separate self from others, subject to objects. From that separation comes the problems of hatred, jealousy, and anger. It is ignorance that produces these poisons because we are attached to a self that is actually nonexistent. Ignorance is the basic cause of all of our confusion. We all have Buddhanature within us, but in our ignorance, we do not recognise it. Dharma practice introduces us to our own nature, and through practice, we can eventually fully realise it as Buddha nature
Kenneth Thornton shares his thoughts on the Path of Buddhism. Filmed 2014/15
As long as you look for a Buddha somewhere else, you'll never see that your own mind is the Buddha.
We are very fortunate to be born as human beings and to encounter the Dharma. Achieving a human birth is not easy. It takes positive karma to be reborn and then to practice successfully. If we had not accumulated good karma in past lives, then we might have taken birth in the lower realms.
Even with this precious human body, our lives are extremely difficult, and Dharma practice is essential to succeed on any path we follow. Our first thought as we begin to practice must be appreciation for our human birth.
Western people especially should understand that their collective karma is ripening now. To be able to practice the Dharma without great difficulties and to meet a teacher without going through hardship are signs of the ripening of karma in the West. If the fruits of this ripening are skillfully used, they will, in the future, produce greater fruits.
Generally speaking, all living beings — whether human, animal, or insect — desire happiness and comfort, pleasure and success. But because of attachment to the self, the ego, people separate self from others, subject to objects. From that separation comes the problems of hatred, jealousy, and anger. It is ignorance that produces these poisons because we are attached to a self that is actually nonexistent. Ignorance is the basic cause of all of our confusion. We all have Buddhanature within us, but in our ignorance, we do not recognise it. Dharma practice introduces us to our own nature, and through practice, we can eventually fully realise it as Buddha nature
