Great-Bliss-Tantric-Sex-and-the-Path-to-Inner-Awakening

Philosophy
“Even if bandits were to sever you savagely limb by limb with a two-handled saw,
those who give rise to a mind of hate toward them would not be carrying out my teaching.”
- The Buddha, The Sūtra to Kakacūpama
When You Perceive Your Self as Not Being Independently Real, You Attain Buddhahood
The Potential for Permanent Happiness
The Buddha is like a doctor who determines an illness and offers a cure. He is not, like a
philosopher, trying to explain the nature of reality - his goal is to liberate people from suffering.
Although everyone wants to be happy, he says, most people go about it the wrong way.
The essence of all Buddhist teachings is: suffering occurs because of a fundamental
misperception about who you are and how to attain real happiness. You see things that appear
more magnificent and full of pleasure than you are, and you desire them. Driven by your craving
desires, you grasp at them, thinking they will make you happy. Sometimes they do make you
happy, other times not. But they never bring you permanent happiness. Let go of your false
concepts “self” and “other,” and there is no more craving desire. Let go of craving and there is
no suffering. Your awareness rests peacefully and blissfully in its true state, and you are free.
The Buddha’s way is the path of renunciation. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama writes, “In order to
practice the Buddhist path, we need to generate a deep sense of renunciation of the very nature of
our present existence, which is characterized by mental and physical aggregates under the control
of karma and afflictions. We must develop a deep aspiration to gain freedom from this
conditioned existence. The heart of renunciation is a quest for victory over the internal enemy,
the mental afflictions.” Renunciation is the relinquishing of desire, aversion, and ignorance of the
way life really is.
The Four Noble Truths
Suffering Exists, Has a Cause, an End, and a Path to its End
The Buddha summarized his message in the Four Noble Truths (Catvāri Ārya Satyāni): 1)
suffering is inherent in life (duḥkha), 2) suffering has a cause (samudaya), 3) all suffering can
end (nirodha), and 4) there is a path to end all suffering (marga).
The Problem: Suffering
Everyone wants to be happy, but few find it. Instead, most suffer (duḥkha). Astonishingly, the
Buddha defines suffering not just as unhappiness, but the general unsatisfactory quality of life
because it can never provide eternal peace and bliss. Even when you are actually happy, the
Buddha says, you are still in suffering, because that happiness will eventually fade. Only when
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