Simple question

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[Sound-of-silence]

Hello!
So I am going to make this my introduction as well. I am new to this site, and have enjoyed reading some of the posts, but will finally post something... So hello everyone
Anyway I have been studying buddhism for while, and come across "you will make realizations"... I am just wondering what exactly this means, "realizations"? Like I will come to understand that my anger leads me to suffering, and such? Just wondering... 

I hope to find a nice community and enjoy this forum.


Ashley

[humanitas]

Hi Ashley!  Welcome to FreeSangha! 

It might help to think of it like this.  When you're studying physics in school, or bio, you know how they make you do lab?  That is, there is the theory and then you have to apply that theory, right?  So what you study doesn't just stay in your book and in your head, right?  You start to use your knowledge.  Like think of the first time you learned of gravity.  Now you've always lived with gravity, your whole life, right?  But until someone explained to you that gravity is this force, and until you learned more about it, you only experienced it, but didn't know what you were experiencing. 

Dharma is like gravity.  It touches everything, but is none of it.  It is its own "force" in a rough sort of sense.  So with the dharma you learn to articulate what the assorted forces are that compose everything you experience.  Then from there,  you take what you learn and you apply it.  In the example of gravity, you can work in many fields from car racing, to physical sports, to computers, etc by truly understanding one specific way in which gravity works.  So take sports.  Olympians have to have lots of in depth knowledge about gravity, resistance, etc, not in a book way but in a real way so they can do acrobatics or tremendous feats of physical skill.  Another person could use their knowledge of gravity in engineering, where they make products which depend on this knowledge. 

It's much like dharma.   Dharma can be used in many ways to understand experience.  Some just want to get "better" and live a better life, some want to grow more kindness or compassion, some want to overcome tremendous loss or anger.  Whatever the application, one can use dharma in many many constructive ways.

FreeSangha is place where dharma-gravity and minds meet, I guess.  We bring all these facets of dharma, in all these different traditions and walks of life along with our own experiences which are unique, shared, known, unknown to others.  And then we share and learn from each other the many many applications of dharma as well as more knowledge about it from our more educated people.

I think the thing many beginners forget is that they've been using principles of dharma their whole life, whether they realize it or not, when they practice kindness, compassion, etc.  Like the gymnast who has been using gravity his whole life.  The only thing about dharma is realizing what it is you've been using, and how to make what you're using more constructive.

Does that give you a better idea?  Sorry I'm not very knowledgeable, so take it with a grain of salt, it's just how I understand it so far.

[Monkey Mind]

Welcome! It was great meeting you in the chat, and good to see you posting as well.

There are many realizations that come from a Buddhist practice, and my understanding is that these realizations are progressive and accumulative. The world made more sense to me after reading the Dhammapada. It made more sense to me after reading some suttas. Some suttas made absolutely no sense to me, so presumably I will understand them more with experience. I touched some new realizations when I attended zazen retreats, and the vipasanna retreat brought a whole new batch of realizations. And of course there is the realization that many of my realizations are meaningless.

[Ngawang Drolma]

I think of realizations as seeing things as they are.  Or the steps that bring us closer to it 

Welcome to Freesangha!

Kindly,
Laura

[pickledpitbull]

Realization is when you recognize that it's your anger that's the problem and not the object.  For instance, why do things that didn't bother us yesterday really annoy the bijeezus out of us today?  And why doesn't it bother so-and-so at all?

Welcome!

P.S.  Realization does not mean it's not annoying!!   

[Pema Rigdzin]

Hello!
So I am going to make this my introduction as well. I am new to this site, and have enjoyed reading some of the posts, but will finally post something... So hello everyone
Anyway I have been studying buddhism for while, and come across "you will make realizations"... I am just wondering what exactly this means, "realizations"? Like I will come to understand that my anger leads me to suffering, and such? Just wondering... 

I hope to find a nice community and enjoy this forum.


Ashley

Hi Ashley,

In general, "realization" in Buddhism means an insight or newly tapped-into wisdom that is permanent. One may have glimpses in which everything becomes clearer to us about some aspect of ourselves or reality, or we may have some seemingly deep experience, but then it fades and one's mind becomes obscured again. A realization would mean that any clearer knowledge one had gained would not be lost. The example you mentioned of realizing that one's anger leads to suffering could happen at the level of either a glimpse or a lasting realization. There are "deeper" realizations one can gain than that one, such as realizations of the emptiness of self and phenomena as well as knowing all knowable things, but the implications of the realization of the causes of suffering are very, very profound and extremely far-reaching.

[tsewang]

i m new to this site...
 i think realization  means to know wat really is..... i mean like people thousand year ago were not aware of the fact that animals also feel pain if we physically torture them..... now  the buddha word have began to change the mind set of people.   its for this reason that  every country has legislation to prevent cruelity to animals...... its becoz people have realize the truth 

[Caz]

Hello!
So I am going to make this my introduction as well. I am new to this site, and have enjoyed reading some of the posts, but will finally post something... So hello everyone
Anyway I have been studying buddhism for while, and come across "you will make realizations"... I am just wondering what exactly this means, "realizations"? Like I will come to understand that my anger leads me to suffering, and such? Just wondering... 

I hope to find a nice community and enjoy this forum.


Ashley

When positive minds such as love are fully developed in our mind, Where our mind become inseperable from a continued love for all sentient beings this is when we know that we have a developed a fully realization. 

[ABC]

Like I will come to understand that...X...Y...Z .... leads me to suffering, and such?

dear Ashley

this is realisation

kind regards

 

[Quiet Heart]

 

Being mindful that this is the beginner's Zone I hope I'm not being too complicated here, but I would like to quote two lines from Robert Frost's poem, "A Swinger of Birches".
He says:

My object in living is to unite
my vocation and my avocation.

(What he means, I think, is that a vocation is what we do in our world; and our avocation is what we profess to believe.)

I would like to say those two things are the same for me, but they are not yet.
And that is what I call a realization.
 

[Bodhisatta2010]

Hi, Ashley.

Congratulations re. your recent insights. 

You will find many such insights as you walk along your path.  Please continue to share your realizations with us.  This is a most beneficial thing to do and earns great merit, as we all benefit from each others successes, but equally so from each others missteps.  When we share missteps, we make others aware of which paths lead only to dead ends, or only more suffering.  Sharing successes tells the rest of us as to which path to follow for beneficial results.  Hence, Buddha shared The Noble Eight Fold Path which leads to an end to all suffering, stress, and dissatisfaction.

_/\_Ron

[zerwe]

Hi, Ashley. Welcome to Freesangha. Coming to grips with what realization means, for me, has been yet another humbling experience. I would like to believe that such an understanding or wisdom (realization) is attainable through our hard work and practice. And, secretly I still do.
However, from what I understand actual realizations are quite rare. It is the next level of understanding beyond insight and it is permanent , absolute wisdom. It is also said that those who have achieved realizations don't talk about it. I have seen a posting from someone who is ordained explaining to a student the significance of what a realization is and the Venerable said, to paraphrase; 'that she (the venerable herself) would be lucky if she achieved one such realization in this lifetime.' I would like to think that it is simpler than this, but if we reflect on it further I think she might be correct. Realization is often confused with insight.

[zerwe]

Hi, Ashley. Welcome to Freesangha. Coming to grips with what realization means, for me, has been yet another humbling experience. I would like to believe that such an understanding or wisdom (realization) is attainable through our hard work and practice. And, secretly I still do.
However, from what I understand actual realizations are quite rare. It is the next level of understanding beyond insight and it is permanent , absolute wisdom. It is also said that those who have achieved realizations don't talk about it. I have seen a posting from someone who is ordained explaining to a student the significance of what a realization is and the Venerable said, to paraphrase; 'that she (the venerable herself) would be lucky if she achieved one such realization in this lifetime.' I would like to think that it is simpler than this, but if we reflect on it further I think she might be correct. Realization is often confused with insight.

 Oops! Let me see if I can remove my foot from my mouth as fast as I inserted it. I was not my intent for the last post to seem negative in any way. The type of realization I am referring to in my previous post is thought of as ultimate/absolute in nature. Yes, realization is often used to describe insights. These insights are steps along the way to ultimate/absolute realization. Like bricks within a larger structure that are smaller, but nonetheless, integral parts which make up the whole. The differences have to do with at what level and depth we have integrated the teachings into our own experience and understanding. Realization in the context of absolute or ultimate is all pervasive and it would be at the level where effort was no longer required. Such an attainment would be evident where our every thought or action would be compliant, without effort, to the new found knowledge. And, the absolute/ultimate level of realization I like to think that we can achieve these in this lifetime. All the best in your practices. 

[zerwe]

Hi, Ashley. Welcome to Freesangha. Coming to grips with what realization means, for me, has been yet another humbling experience. I would like to believe that such an understanding or wisdom (realization) is attainable through our hard work and practice. And, secretly I still do.
However, from what I understand actual realizations are quite rare. It is the next level of understanding beyond insight and it is permanent , absolute wisdom. It is also said that those who have achieved realizations don't talk about it. I have seen a posting from someone who is ordained explaining to a student the significance of what a realization is and the Venerable said, to paraphrase; 'that she (the venerable herself) would be lucky if she achieved one such realization in this lifetime.' I would like to think that it is simpler than this, but if we reflect on it further I think she might be correct. Realization is often confused with insight.

 Oops! Let me see if I can remove my foot from my mouth as fast as I inserted it. I was not my intent for the last post to seem negative in any way. The type of realization I am referring to in my previous post is thought of as ultimate/absolute in nature. Yes, realization is often used to describe insights. These insights are steps along the way to ultimate/absolute realization. Like bricks within a larger structure that are smaller, but nonetheless, integral parts which make up the whole. The differences have to do with at what level and depth we have integrated the teachings into our own experience and understanding. Realization in the context of absolute or ultimate is all pervasive and it would be at the level where effort was no longer required. Such an attainment would be evident where our every thought or action would be compliant, without effort, to the new found knowledge. And, the absolute/ultimate level of realization I like to think that we can achieve these in this lifetime. All the best in your practices. 

Hello!
So I am going to make this my introduction as well. I am new to this site, and have enjoyed reading some of the posts, but will finally post something... So hello everyone
Anyway I have been studying buddhism for while, and come across "you will make realizations"... I am just wondering what exactly this means, "realizations"? Like I will come to understand that my anger leads me to suffering, and such? Just wondering... 

I hope to find a nice community and enjoy this forum.


Ashley

When positive minds such as love are fully developed in our mind, Where our mind become inseperable from a continued love for all sentient beings this is when we know that we have a developed a fully realization. 

 Yes, Caz! Un-contrived Bodicitta would be an example of what I am referring to with regard to a realization of an ultimate or absolute nature.

[Karma Dondrup Tashi]

a realization is just a period of compassion

may they increase