Nibbana

I have been reading "The Heart of Buddhist Meditation", a classic in Theravada mediation that describes the Burmese meditation leading to the stream-entry to the River of Nibbana,  the Dharma eye.   As the Buddha said in one of his speeches - when you have arrived at the stream-entry then you have already passed many lifetimes of struggle to get this far.   What remains is compared to the dirt under a fingernail as compared to the whole Earth.  In other words,   you should be encouraged if you have the aspiration for Mindfulness Mediation as this shows that you are on the "last leg" to Nibbana [Nirvana].    As I have studied this, I was curious about Mahayana Buddhism and from WIKI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana,   it becomes apparent that there is not an opposition between Theravada and Mahayana, but that Mahayana is an expansion of Theravada giving instructions for the Bodhisattva and it also seems more conducive to the body and Nature which fits the post-modern sensibility.   The sutra common to most Mahayana is the Lotus Sutra and so I plan to read that after I finish "The Heart of Buddhist Meditation".   This can be obtained free by Googling "Lotus Sutra PDF" as the Heart of Buddhist Mediation was free PDF also.  I will explain in subsequent posts how this fits into my holistic and integral view.   And how the I-Thou is activated at the Heart Chakra [anahata] and how the Wisdom Chakra [ajna] sits in the middle of the mystical realm of Being [vertical] and the holonic and systemic realm [horizontal] of process Becoming.  I am also eagerly awaiting the interlibrary loan book request of "Convergence and Divergence" by Mario Bunge,  the ontological thinker that seems most fitting to my systemic view.  

Actual life in its wholeness is actualized in four dimensions.  I have seen this from a few people such as Carl Jung,  Ken Wilber,  Roy Bhaskar.  My latest finding of this is from Alexander Laslo.   These are the four according to Laslo:

1.   First Coherence domain - conviviality with oneself; personal or internal thrivability - practices involving centering, quieting the mind, listening with every cell of being.  These practices cultivate intuition, empathy, compassion, insight, and willingness to explore and follow our deepest calling [dharma]

2.   Second Coherence domain - conviviality with others; community or interpersonal thrivability - deep dialogue and collaboration.  Come together to learn (P2P), engage in coordinated action - consideration(be with), openness, and joy to enable collective wisdom.

3.   Third Coherence domain - conviviality with nature; ecosystems, listening to the messages of all beings (water, animals, stars) and acknowledging our interdependence and ultimate unity.

4.   Fourth Coherence domain - conviviality with the flows of being and becoming; evolutionary and integral thrivability - practices involve reading patterns of change (chaos); improvisation (tai chi),  merge our own path into the existence in harmony with the grand patterns of cosmic creation and participation in the ongoing flourishing of life, mind, and spirit.

Conviviality means festive, friendly, lively, to live and thrive.

Thrivability is to grow, progress, flourish.  I could be steady or vigorous.

   Cultural expansion will involve applying and conscious practice in these four domains - both separately and together.  Making them cohere as a microcosm of the coherence of larger systems of which we are all a part.  When we exercise in these four coherence domains, we are doing our part to move the entire culture and universe.  From the spiritual standpoint we are allowing our psychic being to also thrive - individually and then with others, then for our ecosystems, and for the general path of becoming.  Any action on our part as an agent, will affect everything - the action affects each part of the holonic systems both expanding outward, and inward. 

   To have a bodhisattva influence, we do not necessarily have to do major and great acts that affect much in one broad stroke - but even a small action can have chaotic influence to move systematic clusters to a new bifurcation. 

   So, we start with our own freedom - a dharma, then expand to integrate interpersonally in love, then to be in sycn and cohere to our ecosystems, and eventually to be an affect on universal becoming.   As to the nature of dharma and this becoming, that is another question.