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

The Mahāyāna View of Life
The orthodox Mahāyāna view of the sūtras, taught principally by scholar-monks, retains the
fundamental life-negating positions of the Buddha on the nature of life - that it is inherently
suffering. Although the Mahāyāna teaches that saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are ultimately perceptual
rather than physical places, the practical reality remains that for ordinary beings and bodhisattvas
they are as different as night and day, effectively as though they still are places. Saṃsāra is
dwelling in the six realms (ṣaḍaloka) of beings (humans, gods, anti-gods, demons, hungry ghosts,
and animals), and nirvāṇa is the pure peace and bliss that lies outside them. The body is
inescapably suffering; birth, old age, and death are unavoidably experiences of suffering, and
liberation from them is inherently peaceful. It is impossible to attain permanent happiness in this
world. The Mahāyāna sūtras denounce sensual objects as “like honey smeared on a razor’s
edge,” seemingly pleasurable but incurably dangerous. Women remain inferior to men - they are
unable to attain enlightenment in female form and must reincarnate as men. And a bodhisattva
who remains on earth does so solely out of compassion, not out of any inherent pleasure in it.
Only nirvāṇa brings permanent peace and bliss – it remains the highest goal of the Mahāyāna
path for all beings to dwell in it.
The Liberating Purpose of Philosophy
The Mahāyāna sūtras present three philosophies: the Middle Way, Mind Only, and Buddha
Essence. They may seem so different from each other that they have nothing in common, but
each one complements the others well. They all help to liberate you from your emotional and
mental obscurations so that you can perceive reality directly and bring a permanent end to your
suffering. The Middle Way philosophy liberates you from attachment to appearances, the Mind
Only philosophy liberates you from attachment to the subject/object split of your mind, and the
Buddha Essence philosophy liberates you into primordial wisdom. Key distinctions among the
three philosophies include how they address the Two Truths (Dvi Satya), referring to the world
as it appears and the world as it truly is, and provide a vision of buddhahood (buddhatva).
These philosophies are all valuable tools for deep personal reflection, but only when they are
combined with meditation can they truly liberate you into the direct perception of reality whose
nature is inconceivable, beyond all concepts and philosophies. The final goal of Buddhist
philosophy is never simply to understand mentally how reality “really” works, but to provide you
with conceptual tools that lead you to inner awakening. In the Mahāyāna, Buddhism can never
be a fixed doctrine or tradition. The Dharma is certainly not an idea of “no self” or “self” - it is
whatever liberates you. The essence of Buddhism can never be contained in words, because the
essence of Buddhism is bliss.
50