R4B Mastery: The Dharma's Multiple Paths
Photo by Raimond Klavins on Unsplash
Each being is on a journey through life, with all its pleasure and pain, delight and despair, success and failure, discovery and disappointment. There are helpful tools for navigating this long and winding road with its inherent ups and downs. These tools enable step changes into unexpected territory. Clueless movements into new territory will confound and sometimes astound in one-sided tilts.
Historical Background
The dharma wanderer was active in a Methodist church through high school in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. He didn’t learn any methods, but observed ministerial prayers. As a young preschool child he was intrigued by the congregation’s resonant chanting of the Apostle’s Creed as the vibrations entered his body, stirring something he strongly felt but did not understand. He observed a surprising golden aura around the minister when he spoke passionately about the injustice of segregation in the early 1960’s.
After college he pursued graduate study in clinical psychology, learning a variety of cognitive-behavioral treatment methods from the clinical faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a management consultant in the US and China for close to thirty years, he continued to learn and deliver methods for leadership development and strategy execution.
His unexpected journey of awakening and discovery was kick started in the late 1970’s by the shock of mortal danger on a ferry ride from Denmark to Norway, a vertical beam of white light on the Norwegian dock, and the powerful ignition of an expansively deeper awareness.
The deeper awareness that began arising was an intensification of his embodied sensitivity to the surrounding quantum field. Tibetan Buddhists call this primordial awareness. They say this awareness is present at birth, but becomes clouded by the mind’s obscurations created by cultural conditioning from parents, school, media and relationships.
As the dissolution of his conditioned beliefs about consensus reality progressed, the dharma wanderer’s heightened awareness began delivering unexpected guidance. His testing of fresh intuitive knowing clarified momentary choices that led to delightful and rewarding discoveries, as well as deeper explorations into the mysteries of momentary existence.
Eventually, after more than thirty-five years of testing and refinement, he resolved to document his learning in a free non commercial website. He spent $10,000 over six months with a talented website designer to share his learning. This legacy give-back website describes the first three stages of what he calls the Ready For Better Method: basic, intermediate and advanced. The website does not include the R4B Mastery stage of the method. Instead, he has begun describing R4B mastery in a forever free publication on substack at IB Reflections. These essays and articles describe meditation tools and snippets of wisdom awareness that have arisen on his dharma path, an unfolding that continues to emerge.
Two Initial Questions: Purpose and Belief
There are two initial questions to consider for those who are already on a dharma path or are wondering about stepping their toes into an ocean of spiritual content and meditation practices. The clinical psychologist founder of the Center For Creative Leadership posed these two questions to the dharma wanderer in 1980 during his interview for employment at that founder’s management consulting firm, Farr Associates:
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Do you believe your beliefs? and
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What’s your purpose?
Why are these questions relevant for a preliminary psycho-spiritual examination of the dharma path? This is explained below.
Please recognize that for most of the persistent problems, hurdles and challenges encountered on any life path, a solution can likely be found, but it may often lie beyond the boundaries of current beliefs. Thus, identifying limiting beliefs is often a requirement for movement beyond the apparent boundaries of each being’s current status. The R4B Method is designed to identify and dissolve limiting beliefs.
Consider purpose within the context of “self” management. Purpose clarifies longer term strategic intent. Whatever statement of purpose might be clarified, it will likely morph as belief boundaries dissolve and growth expands. Even so, it requires reflection to put something this abstract into words. That reflection can beneficially include questions such as: Who am I? Why am I here? and What can I do to smooth out my life journey?
Answers, however subtle and nuanced, will arise in awareness. They may be experienced as momentary hints, clues, signs or signals. When such awareness arises, it deserve consideration. When the same or a similar message arises several times, intentional action is likely required to expand beyond the boundaries of each beings’ beliefs and expectations about their current status. As that expansion yields progress, moments of wisdom awareness are more likely to increase. The dharma journey quickens and unfolding begins to escalate.
Multiple Dharma Paths
So let’s explore the dharma, aka the teachings of the Buddha, aka the awakened one. There are multiple dharma paths for this initial exploratory investigation: Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. Be advised there are worthwhile ways to combine these paths, based on individual proclivities and personal resonance.
The teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, represent one of humanity’s most comprehensive spiritual frameworks for understanding suffering and the path to liberation. What began as a collection of personal insights shared with five ascetics around the 5th century BCE has evolved into a diverse tapestry of traditions spanning continents and cultures.
The original Buddha’s essential principles centered on the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path [described below], providing a systematic approach to understanding the nature of existence and achieving enlightenment. Over the subsequent 2,500 years, these core teachings have given rise to numerous distinct traditions, each adapting the fundamental principles to local contexts while maintaining the essential goal of liberation from suffering.
ib: the above paragraph and subsequent sections below are drawn verbatim or summarized based on this query to Perplexity.AI deep research, supplemented by the dharma wanderer’s editing and commentary.
The Four Noble Truths are the heart of the Buddha’s teachings. They offer a way to understand why we experience dissatisfaction or suffering in life, and how we can move toward lasting peace and happiness. Think of them as both a diagnosis and a prescription for living wisely and well.
1. The Truth of Suffering
The first truth is that life, as we usually live it, involves suffering [aka dukkha]. This suffering isn’t just physical pain, but also includes emotional stress, disappointment, frustration, and a sense that things are never quite perfect or permanent. Even good times don’t last forever, and we often worry about losing what we love or not getting what we want. Examples include: feeling sad when a relationship ends; the anxiety of losing a job; the stress of wanting things to be different than they are; even the subtle dissatisfaction that comes when things are “just okay” but not great. The Buddha taught that recognizing this truth is the first step toward freedom, not a reason for despair.
2. The Truth of the Cause of Suffering
The second truth is that suffering has a cause. According to the Buddha, the main causes are craving and attachment—wanting things to be a certain way, holding tightly to pleasure, possessions, or ideas, and resisting change or discomfort. We suffer when we: chase after pleasure, status, or approval, thinking they’ll make us happy forever; cling to people or things as if they’ll never change; get stuck in anger, jealousy, or fear; try to avoid or deny pain and unpleasant feelings. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy life or care about people. The problem is the tight grip—the insistence that things must go our way for us to be okay.
3. The Truth that Suffering Can End
The third truth is hopeful: suffering can end. When we learn to let go of unhealthy craving and attachment, we can experience a deep sense of peace and freedom, even in the middle of life’s ups and downs. This freedom isn’t about escaping the world or never feeling pain. It’s about not being controlled by our cravings, fears, or habits. It’s a state of inner balance, where we respond to life with wisdom and compassion rather than reactivity.
4. The Truth of the Path to the End of Suffering
The fourth truth is the path the Buddha taught for ending suffering. This is called the Eightfold Path. It’s a set of practical guidelines for living with more awareness, kindness, and clarity.
1. Right Understanding: Seeing life clearly—understanding how craving and attachment create suffering.
2. Right Intention: Committing to act with kindness, compassion, and letting go of harmful habits.
3. Right Speech: Speaking truthfully, kindly and helpfully; avoiding lies, gossip, or hurtful words.
4. Right Action: Acting in ways that are ethical and do not harm others—being honest, respectful, and considerate.
5. Right Livelihood: Earning a living in a way that does not cause harm or injustice to others.
6. Right Effort: Making a consistent effort to develop positive qualities and let go of negative ones. This means being patient with yourself and practicing self-improvement.
7. Right Mindfulness: Being aware of your body, feelings, thoughts, and what’s happening around you—living in the present moment rather than being lost in regrets or worries.
ib: Mindfulness meditation is one approach to cultivating these qualities. Additionally, the basic stage[LINK] of the R4B Method cultivates intuitive revisions of a practitioner’s aspirational intention during movement.
8. Right Concentration: Developing focus and calm, often through meditation or other practices that help you see things as they really are.
ib: The R4B Method cultivates one-pointed concentration. Simultaneously regulating the breath while repeating an aspirational intention during repetitive movement develops the capacity for intense concentration. This capability enhances mindfulness during everyday activities, thereby enabling the detection of wisdom moments arising in awareness. These wisdom moments can serve as guidance for the dissolution of dissatisfaction and suffering, as well as for making progress toward aspirational intent.
These eight steps work together. They’re not rules, but helpful practices that support each other. You don’t have to master them all at once; even small steps can make a difference.
Core Philosophical Principles:
No Self, Dependent Origination and Impermanence
Beyond the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, the Buddha articulated several fundamental principles that distinguish Buddhist thought from other religious and philosophical systems. The doctrine of no-self (anatta), represents perhaps the most radical of these insights, asserting that no unchanging, permanent self or essence can be found in any phenomenon. The Buddha taught that what we conventionally regard as “self” is actually a constantly changing stream of physical and mental processes with no fixed core.
ib: How can there be a consistent self if our awareness and beingness is essentially impermanent and forever changing as we flow through life, or life flows through our awareness? Awareness, rather than self, is that which is forever present in our consciousness. Awareness is what we are, beings within a complex matrix of cause and effect relationships that are in constant change. The principle of dependent origination describes how all phenomena are dependent upon multiple causes and conditions. Thich Nhat Hanh referred to this as interbeing {LINK]. Dependent origination provides the foundation for understanding: 1 how suffering arises [according to explanatory dharma principles]; and 2 how it can be eliminated by dissolving related causes and conditions, such as craving, attachment, anger, hatred, and ignorance of the dharma. Buddhists understand that all phenomena are subject to constant change, according to the principle of impermanence. This is consistent with the latest quantum science. Apparently solid objects are almost entirely empty space. Nothing is permanent, everything is changing, everywhere, all at once.
These essential principles provide a guiding and explanatory paradigm for understanding the vicissitudes of apparently random occurrences and navigating the ever changing twists and turns of each being’s life journey: the Four Noble Truths; the Eightfold Path; dependent origination; and impermanence. Beyond these, however, are higher level capacities that tend to lighten life’s loads and help foster a more enjoyable journey.
The Mahayana Buddhist perspective centers on cultivating wisdom and compassion through the Bodhisattva path, balancing profound insight into reality with active engagement to alleviate universal suffering. This tradition emphasizes transcending dualistic extremes while maintaining pragmatic methods to address suffering.
View of Reality: Emptiness and Interdependence
Mahayana teaches that all phenomena lack inherent existence (sunyata) and arise interdependently. This understanding prevents attachment to fixed views or identities, dissolving the root causes of suffering rooted in ignorance. Unlike early Buddhist focus on individual liberation, Mahayana frames suffering as a collective experience requiring universal compassion.
ib: Mahayana’s philosophical principles penetrate the illusion of a separate self through emphasis on connectedness across all plant, animal and human beings. This is the matrix of life, each being a connected node in a multidimensional tapestry of existence. Thus does the aspiration of caring for all life arise as universal compassion.
Antidotes to Suffering: Wisdom-Compassion Synergy
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Six Perfections (Paramitas):
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Generosity, ethics, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom form an integrated system to dismantle selfishness and delusion.
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These practices counter specific afflictions: generosity opposes greed, patience neutralizes anger, and wisdom eradicates ignorance.
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ib: this is the balancing effect of intentional action as a specific antidote for identifiable suffering.
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Skillful Means (Upaya):
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Adaptable methods like mantra recitation, visualization, or koan practice address diverse needs while maintaining focus on ultimate truth.
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ib: Specific mantras are practiced for specific effects. The same is true for visualizations.
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Becoming a Bodhisattva: The Balanced Path
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Bodhicitta: The “mind of awakening” combines the aspiration to achieve enlightenment for all beings and the commitment to guide them there. This dual focus balances personal growth with altruistic action.
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Fourfold Training:
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View: Perceiving emptiness without neglecting conventional realities
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Meditation: Stabilizing awareness of interdependence while generating compassion
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Action: Engaging skillfully in the world without attachment to outcomes
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Fruition: Recognizing enlightenment as inseparable from compassionate activity
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Vows and Stages:
Bodhisattvas take vows to liberate all beings, progressing through ten stages (bhumis) that refine wisdom and compassion. Each stage dissolves subtle ego-clinging while expanding capacity to serve others.
This path avoids extremes of asceticism and indulgence, instead using suffering itself as fuel for awakening. By integrating emptiness-realization with compassionate action, practitioners embody the Mahayana ideal: abiding in ultimate truth while actively transforming relative reality.
Vajrayana Buddhism, also known as the Diamond Vehicle or Tantric Buddhism, developed in India beginning around the 7th century CE and found its most complete expression in Tibet. This tradition represents the culmination of Mahayana philosophical development combined with elaborate ritual and meditation systems derived from Indian tantric practices that have been expanded and refined over more than a millennium in Tibet. Vajrayana maintains that enlightenment can be achieved in a single lifetime through the skillful use of advanced techniques that transform ordinary experience into the realization of inherent Buddha-nature.
The transmission of Vajrayana to Tibet is traditionally associated with figures like Padmasambhava, who arrived in the 8th century and established the first Buddhist monastery at Samye. Padmasambhava’s integration of Buddhist teachings with indigenous Tibetan spiritual traditions created a unique synthesis that became the foundation for Tibetan Buddhism. The tradition emphasizes the importance of qualified teachers (lamas) who can guide students through complex visualization practices, mantra recitation, and sophisticated philosophical studies.
Tibet’s Dharma Practices Emerge From Isolation
Tibetan Buddhism developed several major schools, including Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug, each preserving different lineages of teachings and practices. The Dalai Lama tradition, associated with the Gelug school, became the most internationally recognized form of Tibetan Buddhism, particularly following the Tibetan diaspora after 1959. These schools maintain extensive curricula combining philosophical study, debate, ritual practice, and intensive meditation retreats designed to produce fully qualified teachers.
ib: It is noteworthy that Tibet’s geographic isolation protected the local culture and intensive meditation practices from outside influence for more than a thousand years before the invasion in 1959. The first lineage to develop in Tibet in the first millennium C.E. is the Nyingma lineage. This line of realized meditation masters merged the indigenous Bon ritualistic practices with the meditation practices brought from India by Padmasambhava.
Nyingma practices and philosophical studies foster a sophisticated understanding and recognition of the nature of mind. Ultimately, however, the highest level of study and practice within the Nyingma tradition is known as Dzogchen. This tradition fosters the recognition of pure awareness, aka rigpa, as the ultimate state of being. Primordial wisdom is said to arise within rigpa. These are moments of wisdom awareness, guiding practitioners on their respective journeys through life as it unfolds.
Many Tibetan Buddhist lineage traditions have begun to explore the Dzogchen tradition. As meditation practitioners purify their intentions, cultivate the four immeasurables [kindness, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity], use antidotes to counteract widespread suffering, and deepen their recognition of wisdom awareness, humanity will reap the benefit.
The ultimate recognition and state of awareness, however, is this is all a dream, an illusion.
May we therefore awaken.
🙏💕🌎