MY INTENT

Hello everyone and good day! Today I would like to explain a little more about myself, and go over a topic that I have been studying for about 20 years now. I am trying to establish myself as a teacher of philosophy or a way of being that is harmonious. The point of reference that I am using to teach, is from Buddhism itself. Now I am not necessarily teaching Buddhism, but I am drawing upon the ideology or way of life that Buddhism has given me.

Every action I take in life, I use this ideology as a guide. For me I do not see Buddhism as a religion, but rather a way of life. You either follow its guiding principals or not, and in no way have I ever been representative of Buddhism itself. The guiding principals of Buddhism in no way requires me to represent it, but rather use the ideology to better myself along my path for the only purpose it was ever created (Enlightenment).

Humans for the most part like to attach title to themselves as a form of belonging or identity, for me to attach myself to Buddhism as a way of being that must be followed, in fact goes against the ideology itself. Buddhism was never intended to be a religion, but again humans like to title or classify things. Buddhism to put it as simply as I can, is a guild for every sentient being to get them to the true end of their already existing path. It is a set of principals and practices that will lead them to an enlightened state of being, and every consciously aware sentient being chooses when and how much they want to apply each and every principal and practice in any given situation for the entirety of their existence in Samsara.

What I am doing is applying the principals of Buddhism in every thing I teach, So for example if I were to say "I believe in every thing I just wrote above, but I may be wrong"the I may be wrong part is me applying a state of humility to my content. It is not intended to portray doubt in what I believe what so ever, but just being truly humble about my beliefs. This is a guiding principal that I try to apply to every thing I do in life, to hold on to or have attachments causes suffering. I can believe in what I teach or in myself, and not be overconfident/arrogant at the same time.

There are some in this world that the moment you say anything that even remotely resembles doubt, they fill a need to become the teacher themselves. In this case I just try to apply the principals that I have learned over the years, patients and understanding. People just want to feel in control at times, they want to assure themselves they know what they are doing on their path. Who knows I might just learn something in the process, humility, patients and empathy have the power to do allot of good along your path.

---

As an ordained Buddhist priest I have a certain responsibility to my teacher and myself to keep following the principals and practices accurately, I am obligated to transmit the Darma (Buddhist teachings) in a manner that does nothing to corrupt it. Each concept, ideology, principal, or practice that I describe pertaining to Buddhism is done in the most accurate way possible, but I am also only human and may at times not conduct myself in the manner befitting a Buddhist priest. I have come to terms with this for myself, like I have said I do not represent Buddhism I represent myself only. I no longer am attached to the idea that everything I do can be represented as Buddhism itself, this was an absurd notion to believe and caused me suffering. It goes back to the first Buddhist precept,, attachment is the cause of all suffering!!

This all does not mean that I am free to teach Buddhism in any fashion I see fit either, but rather only my everyday practice of the principals. I will give you an example; I can still get angry, and just because I get angry that does not mean I am not qualified to teach Buddhism, or understand the ideology. I would not hold any human to that standard, nor would I believe they are not able to teach me anything. There are so many so called gurus out there that put on a mask, they act the part so well around an audience.

They put on the smile and appear to be in such a state of bliss, and the moment they are behind closed doors they do not continue practicing the principals. Over the years this mask has become easier for me to spot, I can tell when a person is just saying they are practicing the ideology. There is an energy to them that suggests they are not doing what they preach, their presence does not inspire a blissful state of being. Of course their intent for teaching is then something other then helping others reach a better state of being, and this lie to some degree corrupts the Darma. I do not like people that do this, and I am obligated to call them on it when or if I find them.

---

MY BACKGROUND

I would like to go into some more personal details of who I am, I have come to the conclusion that in order for me to connect with my readers on a deeper level I must do this. My birth name is David Smith, I currently live in Phoenix, AZ and have lived here for about 20 years. My father was in the military and we moved quite a bit, I have lived in Wyoming, Alaska, and Florida as a child, and when I turned 18 I moved to Arizona to study Buddhism and Wu Shu or Chinese martial arts for those of you that are not familiar with the term used to describe all of Chinese martial arts.

I started practicing Buddhism and martial arts in Florida when I met a guy in High School that knew both, he was from Phoenix, AZ and had been doing both for about 4 years when I met him. His name is Hou Wang Zi, this is his given Chinese name, and I met him when he gave a seminar on Buddhism in one of my classes in High School. I trained with him for about a year and a half until he moved back to Phoenix, and after I graduated I followed. When I got to Phoenix I lived with him and his mother for awhile until we could afford an apartment, it was me him and his girlfriend in a small two bed apartment.

During the time we lived there his best friend moved back to Phoenix as well, his name was Long Wang Zi. This is also a given Chinese name, Long and Hou Wang Zi both taught me Buddhism and martial arts day in and day out for many years. Eventually we all started learning Buddhism from John Dennis Govert, this is Longs father. He created a temple group at his house that all three of us attended, to study more in depth the ideology and the way of life of Buddhism. At the same time we were training martial arts with each other, and eventually with Jerry Cook, Jin Hung Li, and a few other masters.

Jerry Cook is one of my teachers master, and he is considered a grand master in many circles of martial arts. I now consider both Roshi Govert, and Sifu Cook to be my direct teachers for Buddhism and Martial Arts. I have become recognized as an advanced level martial artist, black belt by western standards, and was ordained as a Buddhist priest about 4 years ago. It has been a very interesting 20 years to say the least, it was the best decision I ever made to come to Phoenix. Only recently have I been trying to give to others the gift that was given to me by so many great teachers, and in time I hope to make them proud. Just like anything in life the path will have its ups and downs, it curves and forks. It comes down to one step at a time, with complete focus and a high level of awareness.

---

PURITY OF ACTION

Now I would like to go over the concept of purity of action, in short it is a state of being that one should maintain when tasked with any action. It is most commonly referred to or related to a state of being when tasked with an emotionally difficult action that one would not want to do, but must! It originates from the Bhagavad Gita, where in Lord Sri Krsna talks to his most loved devotee Arjuna about a number of things during a time of war with his family, friends and teachers. It is one book in the epoch of the Mahabharata, a beautiful story of the origin of man and civilization. This one concept is a philosophy that I have learned and have been trying to master for about 20 years now. This concept is also related to Karma as well, and the impact an action will have on a person.

---

So in my style I will use an example to describe Purity Of Action,, Lets say you have a brother, and you and your brother were close for many years. Over time this brother was starting to change, lets say he was getting dangerous, and violent. This was not cause he was going crazy, but he wanted to just do these things. Now lets say one day he snaps and is holding a bomb in a building, and you are with him but you did not know he was going to do this. He does not see you as a threat to his plan, so you can get close to him and he does not mind. He just wants to kill everyone and both of you,,, What do you do? keep in mind you love your brother completely! What do you do? Do you call for help? Do you try and get out to go for help? Do you try and talk him out of it? What do you do? There is a response that bar non will save everyone and you from death, but not your brother! Does the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the one? How much time do you have to think of a response? I wonder if my brother is committed to doing this or not? What do I do?

---

When you start to understand what purity of action is, you start to understand what to do in all situation. You stop second guessing yourself, and anyone that has not been in a situation like this and has not trained their mind to at least have a better chance of making the right decision, YOU HAVE NO CLUE WHAT YOU WILL DO UNTIL IT HAPPENS!!! Another way to describe purity of action is, action with out thought or intent, it is like a higher level instinct if you will. Muscle memory plays a part in it as well, a action that is in harmony with mind, spirit, and body. Now if you are not a good person this just does not fit very well, you can have purity of action still but would do nothing to stop your brother from doing so.

You know of whom I speak! Now, if you can take action against your own brother to save the lives of people you don't even know, then you can do it when and were ever it is needed. The ability to purely act and make the correct decision quickly is a skill that one must develop over time! I know there are people who will never resort to violence, or at least they think that, this path is not intended for you. This is a part of the art of warrior ship, and yes you can be a Buddhist and be a warrior. The Tibetans tried desperately to repel the Chinese invasion, back in the 50's.

The Dhali Lama asked them to stop, and he does not believe his people that fought the Chinese aren't Buddhist. Buddhism is intertwined with warrior ship, even though Shaolin originated as a form of moving meditation, it eventually served as the foundation of all martial arts on earth except Capoeira. Just look at the Samurai, they practiced Za Zen. Warrior ship is a huge part of the Japanese culture, or at least was for quite a while. There are so many examples of this all throughout history, where Buddhism and fighting meet.

---

---

IN CONCLUSION

So now you are an expert on Purity Of Action, i'm just kidding, it has taken me many years to fully implement this concept into my everyday life. This concept does not only apply to decisions that are hard to make it is universal in its application. I by no means proclaim to be a master in any way shape or form, but I do know that if you do anything for 20 years you are bound to be at least good at it. I have taught these concepts to only a few people in my life, this is why I never really considered myself a teacher. I want to expand my audience to as many people that will listen, and it is funny how when you start to teach what you have learned how much more you yourself learn and grow! I hope you enjoyed this post, for what it is worth I enjoyed making it for sure! I like to teach people about what has take me many years to learn, and I also hope to reach people and help them along there path to betterment. Thank you and have many wonderful days!!!
Sincerely: Tiandao ( Heavens Blade )