Sheryl Glick host of Healing From Within and author of The Living Spirit a tale of finding spiritual communication, healing energies, miracles, and of course a guide to your Inner Soul awareness is most delighted to have once again as an esteemed guest Minister Kiyoshi Shimada, a representative of “Happy Science”, to discuss Master Ryuho Okawa’s book The Essence of Buddha.
Sheryl was delighted to attend a wonderful event in New York City where Master Ryuho Okawa presented his universal themes of achieving prosperity and happiness in a changing world as represented in his many books. Everyone was so gracious and kind and today we will share lessons from the ancient Buddha and his philosophy which can in these challenging times show the way to find personal resolve and bring peace to the world.
Sheryl’s guests share their experiences and search for the meaning, purpose and ways to live harmoniously in their spiritual and physical life and explore Universal Energy as for ways to reach higher consciousness and awareness of our multi-dimensional life force. All ancient and modern spiritual teachers share this knowingness and a way to see the truth of our dual nature as spiritual beings having a physical life.
Kiyoshi Shimada explores the need for self-reflection, the nature of karma and reincarnation, and other teachings of Buddha. He offers a contemporary interpretation of the way to enlightenment which is an expansion of consciousness moving from material concerns to an increased awareness of the “Unseen” spiritual reality. This and the practice of a love that gives, rather than just expecting to be loved, is the only path to happiness and a better world.
Kiyoshi tells us about his own transformation journey and how it lead him to work with Master Ryuho Okawa and “The Happy Science” organization and also what the mission and/or goals of this school of thought is about. Master Ryuho Okawa, an author in Japan and founder of Happy Science, has a simple goal: to help humankind overcome religious and cultural conflicts and achieve peace. Okawa started receiving spiritual messages from Heaven in 1981. Holy beings appeared before him with impassioned messages urging him to deliver God’s messages to Earth.
Sheryl says years ago if she had heard that, she would have thought that it would be impossible to speak with souls in Spirit, but about twenty years ago her grandfather reached out to her in a dream and warned her of her father’s passing. That began Sheryl’s own search to discover more about spiritual communication and mediumship. Sheryl receives messages from above and channels Spiritual Teachers and knows that they long to help us all to reconnect heal and remember we are a Soul. Knowing this is necessary for feeling greater love, for achieving one’s spiritual goals and to find true happiness. These communications with Heaven have deepened the understanding of how to peacefully and calmly face challenges of the physical world and shows us how we can begin to interact with higher beings who can help us live our best life.
Kiyoshi tells us the story of Siddhartha’s life and his inner journey to great enlightenment and how he discovered his calling. Gautama Siddhartha later became the Buddha after renouncing his secular life as a prince and going into the world, living in public to learn the truth of the inner-most self. As was common for a leader of his culture, he had four wives and couldn’t understand why women were so unromantic and gossiped. Of course if he would have thought about the many restrictions for women at that time and still, he might have understood their human need to find ways to control or improve their lives. In time he preferred to be alone as he was a philosophical genius and the mysteries of the world intrigued him more than the workings of his palace.
Some of the areas in his great enlightenment program included: The Renunciation, The Search for A Teacher, The Ascetic Life and other topics. We can discover three reasons for renunciation of the secular life to attain enlightenment. The first one is that he could not fulfill his yearning for something greater in the context of modern society much like his wives and the women in his nation. The second one is the search for the Four Pains: Birth, Aging, Illness and Death. The third is the strong desire to be alone in contemplation and meditation.
In his search for a teacher, Siddhartha, like many people in India, seemed to be in search of someone with superhuman qualities. The goal for higher understanding and to have superhuman behavior was necessary to escape the afflictions of the world, and to find a trend towards achieving happiness. Siddhartha found that the teachers offered different approaches, but none suited him. Siddhartha eventually discovered that taking his own heart and mind as his teacher and achieving self-discipline was the way for him to connect to his inner truth. He also discovered another truth about human beings. Human beings had various sorts of desires and when one grew disproportionately large, the others became less distinct. In other words, for example, if you don’t eat for days, food will become the only motivating goal and your desire for sleep or sexual desire will fade.
Siddhartha discovered that it was only through self reflection or self-investigation that we could find the reason for having a human life. In search for the reason of a physical life, Siddhartha went into seclusion and lived a life of deprivation. After years of ascetic discipline, Siddhartha was reduced to skin and bones and nearing death, when quite suddenly he met a girl who offered him a bowl of milk and he noticed how brilliantly she was shining, as if she were from heaven. This young women was living joyfully, and he was at the end of his life. He discovered “Everything in this world must exist as material first to serve something more exalted.” The rigorous discipline he had been undergoing to attain enlightenment was not as valuable as the young girl’s efforts to live life fully and naturally. He now appreciated life in its beauty and wholeness… the grass, flowers, trees, animals and all of nature. He also realized that he had been too independent, and now he accepted help, offerings and food, allowing for peace and harmony to develop within his life. Furthermore, he realized the importance of moderation.
In India it was believed supporting seekers who abandoned their secular life was one way of storing treasure in heaven. Sheryl thinks that is perhaps why we have so much homelessness these days and refugees being displaced in many parts of the world…As we are undergoing a spiritual revival and evolution, these people may be disengaging from materialism voluntarily or unvoluntarily, seeking enlightenment like Siddhartha did as he lived in poverty long ago. As Gautama became able to relax and observe people he learned, “A human being can never experience happiness in the next life without enjoying life to the fullest in this life. Self-reflection is when you remove the dust or impurities that overshadow your soul and return to a state of bright light.
The Path to Enlightenment includes expanding spiritual awareness and practicing moderation and a greater love for life and others and acceptance of a Higher plan. In the inner most core of a person’s mind, in the recesses of the subconscious, are guardian spirits and guides, BUT evil also lurks. People can be manipulated. To find more refined states, the mind must become free of attachment. Concentrating on any one thought, whether good or bad, loses one’s peace of mind.
With the ability to see through PAST PRESENT FUTURE Gautama penetrated the secrets of the Universe and the history of Earth, rise and fall of civilizations, and the future history of humanity. His spiritual body expanded and he had an out of body experience allowing for the freedom of his soul through a spiritual lens allowing for a greater understanding of the soul and physical body as different, marked the first step of Enlightenment.
In order to convey enlightenment Siddhartha had attained, he needed an expedient method to appeal to the hearts of people and to show them how to achieve a “Right State of Mind” and find the “True Self.” He called this method The Eight-fold Path. The plan is a positive day to day guide to self-reflection and inner discovery.
The Eight checkpoints to focus on are…..
- Right View
- Right Thought
- Right Speech
- Right Action
- Right Livelihood
- Right Effort
- Right Mindfulness
- Right Concentration.
“Right View” allows us to see the world without any bias, free of prejudice, but with deep spiritual wisdom. Most human suffering originates with the act of seeing: desires connected to other people (opposite sex, money, expensive items, greed, excess…) When you feel one with Buddha, it is easier to sort through the visual data, and have powerful calmness and light flow through you. Seeing in right view, eventually comes down to decisions about how to perceive what you have seen. Each person has a different view of the actions of others. Observe both views to find out what is closer to the truth. Observe your own reaction and feelings.
To understand the concept of the “Void” is essential to understand the Buddhist concept of human beings, of life and death, and of the world. Matter is Void. Void is matter. This is a truth that comes through the Heart Sutra—the most important saying in Buddhism. The meaning of reincarnation, a very important term in Buddhism, shows us the transition from an “invisible soul state” to a physical form or “visible state.” We move from the unseen state of energy to a visible state of physical life again and again. Now this understanding is meant to clarify the concept of the Void or Real World (Spirit World) in order to know yourself as a human, and also a soul being. The discovery of the real world during meditation prayer or being in nature at times, allows your mind to leave the body and travel to the upper dimensions of life or the “Real World.”
Siddhartha became aware of the highly advanced spirits on other planets and learned they are undergoing spiritual discipline in order to improve themselves as are we here on earth. As he experienced the infinite expansion of his spiritual self he became able to identify with the entire universe. It was through Astral travels that he came to understand the purpose of human life and reincarnation. Religion after all is nothing more than the science of the Real World. In relation to the Real World, we become aware that this three-dimensional physical world seems a bit odd. Why does such a transient and futile world exit? It appears it is simply for our Spirit or Soul to evolve and refine itself. As our perception of the seen and unseen views of the world deepens, we come to understand that both this world and the other are essentially the same, but just manifest or present differently. One is of a higher vibration and energy, and the other is denser and physical.
Siddhartha defined the human being in a revolutionary new way. In India the prevailing belief was that a human being was born with a burden of karma-predestined, and their fate already determined. Siddhartha argued there definitely is a flow of destiny determined by Karma, but there is a way to overcome destiny through the spiritual disciplines for attaining enlightenment.
In India it was thought at that time there were 4 categories of humans or 4 castes…
- Braham were Priests
- Kshatriya were Warriors
- Vaisya were Merchants
- Sudras were Slaves (Servants)
Siddhartha questioned this system. He believed regardless of class or caste, seekers were given an equal opportunity to practice self-discipline and attain enlightenment and this could open a path to true happiness.
To understand life and death, it helps to know more about reincarnation. Reincarnation is the idea of telling people they have lived before and will reincarnate in the future. It is hard for many people to understand this as it is connected to the mechanism of a world nobody can see hear or validate, the void or unseen world of energy or spirit. The idea of reincarnation is not unique to Buddhism though it is important to understanding many of their beliefs. An understanding of reincarnation, afterlife, and the unseen world, brings about a revolutionary change in our perspective of life. A large proportion of human suffering occurs because people think they only live once.
As it becomes clear that future life will depend on present life actions we consequently learn that if you wish to live happily in the world after death, or in the next incarnation you need to sow the seeds of happiness NOW. Doing the best you can, making conscious choices. and following your soul destiny, accepting and surrendering to the demands of life with good nature and less resistance, all aid in bringing forth peace, love, compassion, and refine your soul.
The concepts of Heaven and Hell and the reality of Heaven and Hell are interesting in the Buddhist philosophy. Buddhism details the various realms of Heaven and Hell in greater detail than Christianity. Siddhartha was a powerful psychic as were his disciples and they experienced the dark realm of the other world known as hell in astral travel and meditation. The concept of Hell is useful to educate and to realize that over attachment to the material world is not valuable. Another reason for the concept of Hell is to clarify the real true nature of human existence which is to refine and live according to doing more good while alive, and finding more happiness in relationships. The Upper World is made up solely of thoughts. It is thought by Buddhists that those with lower thoughts will roam as devils and those of vengeful thoughts will be vengeful ghosts-Vileness gives rise to vileness. Hell is nothing more than a continuous nightmare. Heaven and Hell exist in this world, not the next might be suggested.
The concept of Heaven according to Buddhists is divided into 3 Regions
- Good Natured human beings
- Highly Advance Souls in their Discipline and Radiance
- Realm of Bodhisattvas and Gods
There are also different levels in the afterlife dimension. The realm of the Good is the 5th Dimension and the Light Realm is the 6th Dimension while the Bodhisattva Realm is the 7th and the Tathagata Realm is the 8th. Heaven is said to be filled with Brilliant Light-bliss, joy, innocence. Those who have a smile on their face are sincere and give love to many and are liked by many.
Because no matter what spiritual system you follow the truth is the same for all: we are spiritual beings having a physical life in order to learn more about ourselves and to shine more light where there is darkness or negativity. Buddhism which is over 2500 years old sought to find answers to age old questions, “Who are we?, Where did life come from?, and Where do we return at the time of physical death? These questions still hold a great deal of magic mystery and intrigue for us.
Kiyoshi Shimada shares Master Ryuho Okawa’s wonderful insightful look at an ancient masters search for truth and Universal Source , making it relevant in these challenging modern times. In his book The Essence of Buddha it becomes clear that the answers for true seekers has been available to All since the beginning of time. It is not in the physical world that you will find the answers or a way towards enlightenment, but in your alignment to Universal Energy and the Unseen World. Through self-discovery and your soul wisdom or eternal life force and through a personal connection with prayer and meditation you may connect to Universal Guidance. In our discussion of Heaven and Hell today it was observed that our thoughts and actions determine the state we exist in, both here on earth and beyond. It is in sincerity, smiles, liking others and being liked by others, that we will enter the Kingdom of heaven. It is truly time to move past man-made self-aggrandizing policy and be more humane. We will not and cannot allow bullies of any kind under the guise of religious or political dogma to stop the progress of normal evolution and higher spiritual consciousness. We must all do the work to improve ourselves in this life as we do create our next experience beyond this incarnation. Learn about yourself, improve your actions, thoughts and words, as you improve relationships with others. Begin to enjoy life as it presents, offering you many opportunities to create more goodness within, shine more light from your spirit to the world, and bring more of Heaven to earth.
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