Map of a Human Being
About Map of a Human Being- scroll down:
Who funds this website?
M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
Tony Buck SEE ALSO: VIDEO INTRODUCTION
Publications
Glossary
Mapofahumanbeing.org
What is MAPOFAHUMANBEING.ORG (The original home of: MAP OF A HUMAN BEING)?
The Map of a Human Being website was conceived by me, Tony Buck, and inspired by my experience interacting with my spiritual father, M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen; which occurred during the last 6 1/2 years of his life, and my 23 plus years of further study and reflection. The depth and breadth of his divine knowledge was so great and enriching for me that I wanted to present a way for others to access it. It is an attempt to create a landscape that makes visible as much of this wisdom teaching as possible.
The model of visiting a state park inspired the map. When we enter a state park we often start at the visitor's center. We get a map and the park-ranger points out a few features. We realize there is a lot to see and do. First we do the short hike, and from there observe views of mountains, rivers and forests - a lot to explore. And so it is with Bawa Muhaiyaddeen's legacy of wisdom.
On the map there are about 40 precepts, each linking to further explanations. Navigate your way around this wonderful treasure-trove of wisdom, exploring whatever interests you. Whoever you are, and whatever path or tradition you follow, my wish is that the sharing of my experience of Bawa's insight will enhance your knowledge of self, helping you progress and gain clarity about life. And, if you discover that you wish to go even deeper, I encourage you to partake directly of the print, audio and video archive of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen from the publisher, the Fellowship Press. Use the Return to Map button to get back to the map and continue exploring.
The wisdom shared at this website comes mainly from my personal encounter with M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Bawa: Father; Muhaiyaddeen: reviver of the faith). Initially, I spent many months listening to the wisdom he expounded unaware that it was associated with an established tradition (of course not all of it was, mainly the style of it). Later, I discovered that he was teaching from what is sometimes called the Sufi tradition. The Map represents many of the guiding principles for the wisdom he suggests. Since adding a wisdom path to my life, I have been able to identify other sources that I think are consistent with a wisdom teaching – that is, a perspective and explanation of the material world and the events of human life that point to objective reality. By bringing our life in line with this perspective, we gain more of the “peace that passeth all understanding" moving closer to our true potential as human beings.
In a sense, I am like the guy you meet on the trail, the one who has been visiting the state park for years and has explored most of its features. I can tell you my impressions of what I have experienced. That doesn’t mean your experience will be the same – and there is no need to fit yourself to my experience. Bawa (Father) used to say, there are 70,000 meanings to every wisdom point and each person receives the meaning according to their understanding.
For me wisdom is the evolving ability to access objective reality, or God's point of view. Wisdom should be able to answer: Why was I born? Where was I before? Where am I going? What is a human being? What are the animals? Who or what is God? What is the difference between mind, brain and soul (inner-heart)? What are all these spiritual traditions around the world? Is there a devil? What is illusion and what is real? Why do we die? What is happiness and sadness? How can I be happy? What is true justice? What is my true identity? Am I my body? Am I my mind? Why is there suffering? Where is God when the bad stuff is happening? Ultimately, what is the purpose of human existence? But, in order to answer these questions, we have got to know something about ourselves. The more clarity we gain concerning human complexity, the more accurate we can answer these questions. The precepts presented here are not just theoretical philosophy but should be applied to our life.
I cannot go to the greatest depth and breadth on all subjects within the scope of this website. And so, I hope you will forgive me, but I will have to recommend further study in print, video and audio if you wish to go deeper - and I hope you will. You can purchase some publications from this website, which will help to support it, or you can surf around the Internet and perhaps find it elsewhere. Whatever you do, the world needs as many people as possible studying to become truly wise - becoming the light-beings that prevent the world from being engulfed in darkness.
Also, because so many books are now searchable at Googlebooks, wherever I can, I will give you the reference as a URL destination (a web link) where further study can be found.
I no longer see separate religions in the world. I have come to see them as chapters in God's story - the story revealed by God to humankind over thousands of years. With this in mind, I’ve tried to present here the insights that can fit into all the traditions, stirring up their meaning and depth. Sometimes you may not like or be familiar with these explanations and you may not feel that they apply to your tradition. But they are universal and do apply to human beings. We may have a tendency to be defensive, to quote the known familiar ideal when new ideas challenge us. But if we are honest, many of us are not living the ideal and we need to do some 'work', have some self honesty, get into the mode of realizing there is always room for self-improvement. However, if you are already one of the exalted, merged with God, dispelled of all illusion, you do not need this website!
Who funds this website?
Currently it is a labor of love. And that is why it may seem a bit funky to some World Wide Web wizards. Hopefully, as time goes on, I will be able to improve the design and fill it out with more content as folks explore it and give me feedback. I constructed it using the Mac-based Rapidweaver program.
M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
Little is known of the early personal history of M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. He rarely spoke of a personal history, suggesting it would be vainglorious for him to do so when it was our needs and the story of God that needed to be addressed. His earliest public life appears to have begun in the 1940s, when he was invited by pilgrims to the northern Sri Lankan town of Jaffna. Throughout Sri Lanka, (an island country off the tip of southern India) people from all religious and ethnic traditions listened to his public discourses. Many consulted him on how to conduct life's affairs, including public figures, politicians, the poor, and the learned. Later he spent long periods of time in Colombo, the capital. In 1971 Bawa Muhaiyaddeen accepted an invitation to visit the United States. Here, once again, people from all religious, social and ethnic backgrounds came to hear him speak. Wherever he went, he tirelessly answered the many personal and mystical questions that people brought to him until his death on December 8th, 1986. But he was so much more than a speech giver. He was like a loving father to hundreds of people, always available to resolve problems and give inspiration. Thousands of hours of audio and video recordings of his talks and exchanges exist, and some are available on CD, DVD, and have been printed into books and pamphlets.
For audio and video click here, this will take you to the Fellowship Press website which is not affiliated with this website:
http://www.bmfstore.com/Scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=25
Tony Buck
I was born and grew up in England. I left school at 15 1/2 years old and became an apprentice at a Rolls Royce company learning all facets of steel tool making and machining until I was 21. After that I traveled on and off indulging in long overland journeys: Europe, Africa, Central America and the USA. In 1980 I met Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, and with my traveling energy about exhausted, and recognizing the depth of his divine knowledge, I sat down and listened. I always regretted not going to college, but I came from a working class background and was educationally under-prepared. I know I could have gone later, but having met Bawa, and tuned into what he was saying, I realized this was the learning I had unconsciously always yearned for. His presence was proof of the divinity he described. Through his example and wisdom he showed us that as human beings we were spiritually under-performing. He helped so many of us to lift our states closer to the ‘peace that passeth all understanding;’ and I for one will always be eternally grateful. Surprisingly the wisdom he taught helps all aspects of our life including the material and mundane.
Publications (Further Studies)
At present this website can only go to a certain depth and breadth of wisdom illumination. If you are touched by the precepts presented here, you may want to study them deeper and submerge yourself in their bounties. With this in mind I have culled together a collection of printed, audio and video works that I think can accomplish this.
These publications fulfill several purposes:
Some are linked directly to further exposition of the precepts presented on the Map of a Human Being.
Most can be read as stand-alone texts.
There is a suggested chronological order to the publications if you are relatively new to a wisdom tradition.
Most are ‘oral books,’ that is, they originated as spoken discourses, and to preserve accuracy were changed very little. This will make them a little harder to read for some people.
The material is very dense and should not be read like a novel, but savored in the way a cow chews grass, bit by bit, very deliberately, and with great contemplation.
At present the sale of these publications is the only financial support for this website outside of my own contributions.
Most of the works presented are authored by my wisdom father, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, although I have included a few books from other authors that I think speak to and support the level and clarity of wisdom being offered here.
If you would like to see the collection of publications I have put together, click here.
Glossary
It is very difficult to speak of the numinous with the words of this world. But as human beings we must do it. This is the real work of our species, to communicate with each other about these formless subjects.
So the glossary defines some of the words that may be new to you, although some people are already familiar with them. Also because words like mind, soul, God, etc., are used in society in so many different ways, I wanted you to be clear about their specific usage regarding the Map of a Human Being. I once sent a book by Bawa Muhaiyaddeen to a friend, I asked him weeks later if he enjoyed the book. He told me the definitions in the glossary were so unbelievable, he got stuck there! To view the short website glossary, click here.
