On Becoming God's Gift To Women - And All Humankind - A Buddhist Path To Enlightenment

Fair warning - this will be a bit of a crash course in Tibetan Buddhism based on my own limited understanding and interpretation of the teachings. I will be using formal language in the titles and more common explanatory language in the main text.

One of the major benefits of the Tibetan Buddhist path to enlightenment is that it is well worn and proven to be an effective form of self-development and purification as shown by the efforts of hundreds of thousands of followers over the course of thousands of years. Also, it is a little more descriptive than the typical summary of the RP path: "Lift! Read! Meditate!"

The Tibetan Buddhist path to enlightenment has three major prerequisites - three things which you need to do before you can begin to walk the path in earnest. These prerequisites are analogous to what I feel the RP man must undertake to achieve full self-actualization.

1. Renunciation of Samsara

The seeker must renounce and abandon his attachment to the trivial pleasures gained from sense pleasures. The seeker, having recognized a greater path towards happiness and life satisfaction, abandons the pursuit of trivial pleasures and immediate gratification activities. He renounces his habit of always acting to satisfy his endless desires in order to attain happiness. Core to renunciation is the concept that craving desires and attachments are in fact the source of true suffering (see the Second Noble Truth).

2. Refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha

The seeker must formally take refuge, or shelter, within the path towards enlightenment. Having renounced the pursuit of pleasure through Samsara (the world of phenomena; the material world), he takes shelter from the pain and suffering present in the ordinary experience of life and instead seeks true peace and happiness through the "three jewels" - the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

  • What it means to take refuge in the Buddha (the awakened one): It means trusting that at least one human has reached full awakening and that therefore you too have this potential. It means trusting that the path towards awakening has a realistic and worthwhile goal which is worth any hardship. It means committing to the pursuit of full self-actualization - realization of one's true Buddha nature - discovery of God within one's self - purification of all the impurities which exist in one's psyche and which cloud one's true nature. (note that "Buddha" literally means "awakened one". From the Buddhist perspective, Jesus Christ was a Buddha because he had experienced a full awakening)

  • What it means to take refuge in the Dharma (the teachings of truth, or truth itself): It means that you seek awakening through an ever deepening understanding of Truth - by examination and contemplation of teachings on truth (and also through your own personal experience).

  • What it means to take refuge in the Sangha (the community of seekers): It means that you seek awakening in concert with other seekers. You value the company of others who are also dedicated to the path - for they will be the ones who help keep you on your path.


It should be fairly obvious, I think, how requisites # 1 and #2 apply to RP men on the path of true self-actualization, but let's summarize: As a man on the path, you've given up your enslavement to base desires and immediate gratification (renunciation). You also have identified that full self-actualization is your goal (refuge in the path towards enlightenment; Buddha), and that you seek your goal through an ever deepening understanding of truth (refuge in the teachings of truth - Dharma) and through relationship with others on the path - your TRP crew and/or any other positive figures in your life who support you in developing yourself because they themselves are invested in the task of personal growth (refuge in community - Sangha).

For Tibetan Buddhists, these prerequisites are a big deal because they are what stabilize you on the path and what keep you on it. Without these prerequisites you might easily stray from or abandon the path once you began to enjoy some of the fruits of your efforts. This would be tragic because it would be the beginning of your spiritual degeneration. Depending on how much material gains your spiritual journey had produced, you might spend a long time hedonistically enjoying samsara before you realized that you had left the path and started on a path of degeneration.

In this RSD video of Owen and Julian (referenced recently by u/ironblacksmith), they talk about a friend of theirs who made huge levels of self-improvement and who at one point was so on top of his game that he earned $200,00 in one month. However, he was not really committed to the path of development and was instead in it for the fruits of the path; because of this he lost significant amounts of motivation after that month of high earnings. He got into drugs like cocaine and heroine, isolated himself from all his friends and family and, at the time of that video, seemed on a literal highway to hell, or at least premature death. Tragedies like this are the reason that Tibetan Buddhists stress the vital importance of these three prerequisites which will keep you on the path in times of difficulty and in times of ease; ironically, it's at times of ease that it can be most easy to stray from the path as shown in the example above.

The last prerequisite is arguably the most important:

3. Bodhicitta motivation

The seeker must formally declare that his intention, in walking the path, is to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings (himself included). If the ultimate purpose of his actions is only to seek peace, happiness and satisfaction for himself or for himself and his close family, then his progress on the path to enlightenment will be greatly hindered. In order to make the most effective movement along the path, the Tibetan Buddhist perspective is that one must set the intention to be of benefit to all sentient beings - all beings which are able to perceive and feel things.

Bodhicitta motivation may seem a strange concept at first - especially to those who really are in it for themselves. However, one does not need to have pure Bodhicitta motivation to make any progress on the path. Of course, as the seeker develops on this path, Bodhicitta motivation (the motivation to be of benefit to all beings) will naturally arise. To the extent that the seeker can encourage the energy of this intention to remain inside himself, to that extent will his practice deepen. Perhaps you start with good wishes only for yourself, and then this extends to your close friends and family, and from there this extends to lesser known friends and acquaintances. It may develop like this, but to the extent to which you can encourage its full expression, to that extent will you benefit.

Bodhicitta motivation is like all the other prerequisites. Strictly speaking, they are not necessary (or even possible) to have in full at the start of your path. But by the end of your path they will surely be fully developed, and the earlier you can strengthen these within yourself, the easier your path will be.


Affirming the Prerequisites Before Meditation

If you are very serious about remaining on the path, in good times and in bad, then you may want to affirm the prerequisites regularly. Most common is to verbally affirm them each time before you meditate. This has the added benefit of increasing the quality of your meditation. A pre-meditation routine might go something like this:

  • Gratitude: "I give thanks for this time and space to practice."

  • Intention, Bodhicitta Motivation: "I sit here with the intention of attaining enlightenment for my own benefit and for the benefit of all sentient beings."

  • Refuge: "I seek refuge through the pursuit of enlightenment, through a deeper understanding of truth, and through relationship with those firmly on the path of self development."

  • Summary: "Having given gratitude, having expressed my intention and having taken refuge, I now begin my practice."

Speaking in this way, aloud or inside your head, before each practice will certainly bring greater strength and effectiveness to your practice. Renunciation is not a normal part of the pre-meditation routine, I think, because this is covered by refuge. There are a couple other parts to the traditional routine but these are the most important bits...


The Prerequisites Vs The Path

In Tibetan Buddhism the prerequisites are often emphasized as much as the teachings of how to actually walk the path. In fact, they spend very little time describing the eightfold path - perhaps because it is so simple. I will outline it here because I feel it is invaluable in its simplicity, conciseness and simultaneous breadth. Note that "wholesome" is defined as "that which promotes health or well-being".

 

The Eightfold Path To Enlightenment

  1. Right View. Cultivate a wholesome view of the world - of the way things really work. (i.e., READ!)

  2. Right Intention. Cultivate wholesome intention - to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all.

  3. Right Speech. Cultivate wholesome habits of speech.

  4. Right Action. Cultivate wholesome habits of body. (e.g., LIFT!)

  5. Right Livelihood. Try to earn your living in the world in as wholesome a way as possible.

  6. Right Effort. Cultivate the ability to transform your internal states. Learn to amplify and maintain wholesome states and learn to reduce and eliminate the presence of unwholesome states.

  7. Right Mindfulness. Cultivate your capacity for mindful awareness (see mindfulness meditation).

  8. Right Concentration. Cultivate your capacity for concentration. Practice concentration (see concentration meditation). It is said that this part of the path is the most important, for it is through the benefits of one's concentration practice that all the other parts of the path can be cultivated. (i.e., MEDITATE!)


On Actually Becoming God's Gift To Women - And All Humankind

The Bodhicitta motivation, I think, is the most powerful thing that the Buddhist path has to offer to RP men. By trying to cultivate a more pure motivation, we can move faster along the path.

How can we have a pure motivation while also cultivating the ability to have sex with lots and lots of women? Doesn't the latter require a true DGAF mentality which is insensitive to any suffering we might cause women? No. Because we are human beings, we therefore get affected by the suffering of others. As such, you will find that you will have hesitations about your RP development if the result of that development is that you cause suffering to others. If, however, you feel that your newfound abilities are serving to benefit women (along with yourself and humankind generally), you will feel absolutely no qualms about developing yourself to your full potential as quickly as possible.

The mechanism by which your motivation can be realized is as follows. By developing a truly higher vibration and by sharing this with women, sexually or otherwise, you are supporting them in their efforts to improve their own vibration. You truly are doing them a favor just by sharing your presence with them. Since you are achieving your higher vibration by walking the path towards enlightenment - by bringing yourself closer and closer to Divine energy - some might say to God - it is not that far of a stretch, therefore to say that you are making yourself into a channel for God energy. In this way, you truly can become God's gift to women (and all humankind) simply by virtue of existing and interacting with others. You may find this path somewhat harder to walk at times, and you may find that you choose to deescalate, or more carefully moderate the intensity of, situations with women earlier than you would otherwise (that has been my experience), but it's my understanding that this path is infinitely more rewarding.

The Buddhist maxim for its teachings definitely applies here as it does everywhere. Try out these ideas. Investigate them and see if it they resonate. If they don't, discard them. If they do, keep them. May this post be of benefit to you and to all sentient beings.