What defines what.
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i try to live my life in strict accordance to my moral values, my principles and teachings... Doing good and staying off evil as best as i could... Showering care to others and omit hatred from my life as far as i could... Viewing things from a peaceful perspective... opting for calm and relishing every smiles that comes my way and returning the favor... though i dont do mediation or am i practically involved in any physical activities involved in Buddhism, i feel a sense of peace in my life. I feel good about myself when i shower my parents my filial intentions, feel peaceful when i look at things in a non-judgemental way... I try my upmost to shower care to people around me, to strangers, to animals... and be appreciative with what i have...
Its not easy to stick to the things mentioned above and there were temptions and times when i got carried away... my times and on many occassions in fact... Just a few days ago, i suddenly realised that i can actually do it.. and i have been doing it majority of the time... at least i had tried to.. i feel so energised my this inner thought.. I felt i have grown... and i want to continue to grow...
Im not an expert in Buddhism and is not as familar with buddhist terms and teachings.. To put things simply, and in the most downright layman terms, can Buddhism be sum up as having peace in ur heart and doing the right things? Please share your views.
Thank you for growing up with me.. -
Hi crescent,
I believe that having peace at heart and doing things right should be a majority part of practising Buddhism.
I believe that there are many so-called 'non-buddhists' are actually living in a more buddhistic life than the many 'buddhists'.
Buddhism is not a ritualistic practice. If you are interested in Buddhism, you can source around for good books, to comprehend the Buddha's perspective towards this very same world we're living as He had. I believe you will have the knowledge to differentiate good and erm, sub-standard books.
It's nice to know that someone puts Dhamma into life and may you be your own inspiration and the inspiration of many others. -
u must have came from the upper realms. it's been ur habit already.
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Good to see that you are a very virtuous person... hard to find people like you these days. Who knows, you could be a practitioner in previous lifetime.Originally posted by crescent:i try to live my life in strict accordance to my moral values, my principles and teachings... Doing good and staying off evil as best as i could... Showering care to others and omit hatred from my life as far as i could... Viewing things from a peaceful perspective... opting for calm and relishing every smiles that comes my way and returning the favor... though i dont do mediation or am i practically involved in any physical activities involved in Buddhism, i feel a sense of peace in my life. I feel good about myself when i shower my parents my filial intentions, feel peaceful when i look at things in a non-judgemental way... I try my upmost to shower care to people around me, to strangers, to animals... and be appreciative with what i have...
Its not easy to stick to the things mentioned above and there were temptions and times when i got carried away... my times and on many occassions in fact... Just a few days ago, i suddenly realised that i can actually do it.. and i have been doing it majority of the time... at least i had tried to.. i feel so energised my this inner thought.. I felt i have grown... and i want to continue to grow...
Im not an expert in Buddhism and is not as familar with buddhist terms and teachings.. To put things simply, and in the most downright layman terms, can Buddhism be sum up as having peace in ur heart and doing the right things? Please share your views.
Thank you for growing up with me.. Even though you are not too involved in Buddhism, your wisdom has surpassed many.
You have said it quite well. Another aspect is a deep awareness of our own mind and purifying any forms of impurities, habits, etc that we may still have. The practise of awareness/mindfulness at every moment in life is therefore important.
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Will it become automatic and not require effort if you watch it for a long time?Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Good to see that you are a very virtuous person... hard to find people like you these days. Who knows, you could be a practitioner in previous lifetime. Even though you are not too involved in Buddhism, your wisdom has surpassed many.
You have said it quite well. Another aspect is a deep awareness of our own mind and purifying any forms of impurities, habits, etc that we may still have. The practise of awareness/mindfulness at every moment in life is therefore important. -
If you practise mindfulness long enough, it will be your normal state and will become natural. But easier said than done.. in fact even those who have certain amount of attainments, even though it has become their 'natural state', cannot maintain mindfulness at all times and is fallible. Only someone completely liberated is able to. So practise hard.Originally posted by Cenarious:Will it become automatic and not require effort if you watch it for a long time? -
Please forgive my frankness. I believe what follows could be a little too direct for some, but i rather be truthful with the truth.
I reflected and has recognised that my weakness towards sex has lead me to disruption of this mindfulness. Something i myself is not very proud of. On many, in fact on most occassions, i still has temptations towards looking at women in a sexual way, satisfying my mental urge with fantasies. Im a typical guy and my vices includes the frequent porn and masturbation. What is bothering me is that these urges had been influencing and directing my life, from my choice of girlfriends, to my criticism and judgement of women. I believe this is my one of my foremost weakness. To share the seriousness of my problem, this is where the urges has lead .
*Looking at upskirts and downblouses when the chance arrises.
*looking at women in a sexual way.
*Mental fantasies of sexual relationships with woman around me.
*Masturbation
*Porn
I recognise that this weakness is undesirable and has occassions try to withheld those urges. The urges though, is so overwhelming that i seriously believe that i would still continue to scumble to this weakness till the day i die cause I certainly derive pleasure from the above mentioned vices. What is buddhism's viewpoint of sexual urges and what is its viewpoint towards masturbation, sexual fantasies and sexual opportunist?
Thanks for sharing. -
First of all... if you have lots of sexual fantasies, my teacher's advise is that if you have any pictures of girls in your room that arouses sexual fantasies, tear it down. And even if you do not have, have Bodhisattva and Buddha pictures all around you. For me, I have a Kalachakra Mantra Mandala pasted in my room, I also have pictures of Bodhisattvas and a sandalwood figure of Shakyamuni Buddha in my room.Originally posted by crescent:Please forgive my frankness. I believe what follows could be a little too direct for some, but i rather be truthful with the truth.
I reflected and has recognised that my weakness towards sex has lead me to disruption of this mindfulness. Something i myself is not very proud of. On many, in fact on most occassions, i still has temptations towards looking at women in a sexual way, satisfying my mental urge with fantasies. Im a typical guy and my vices includes the frequent porn and masturbation. What is bothering me is that these urges had been influencing and directing my life, from my choice of girlfriends, to my criticism and judgement of women. I believe this is my one of my foremost weakness. To share the seriousness of my problem, this is where the urges has lead .
*Looking at upskirts and downblouses when the chance arrises.
*looking at women in a sexual way.
*Mental fantasies of sexual relationships with woman around me.
*Masturbation
*Porn
I recognise that this weakness is undesirable and has occassions try to withheld those urges. The urges though, is so overwhelming that i seriously believe that i would still continue to scumble to this weakness till the day i die cause I certainly derive pleasure from the above mentioned vices. What is buddhism's viewpoint of sexual urges and what is its viewpoint towards masturbation, sexual fantasies and sexual opportunist?
Thanks for sharing.
Sexual fantasies may not be entirely wrong because as lay persons, we are alright to have relationships and bear children. But sexual fantasies of your sort generally leads to sexual misconducts, which is breaking one of the 5 precepts. Even if you do not commit sexual misconducts in this lifetime, the seeds planted deep in your 8th consciousness will in another lifetime lead you to commit such atrocities. It is therefore dangerous. It is very evident. If you stop watching porn for a few days, if you already have the habit of watching it, there will be alot of dirty thoughts surfacing. Why? Because these imprints is already deep within your 8th consciousness, and needs to be cleansed. It needs your deep awareness of your Mind, Speech, Action. Awareness not as in "knowing it intellectually" - but being merely aware, watching it. I hope you understand. Deep awareness is like bright light shining into a dark room - everything within is lit up and all the darkness will be dispelled. You need to continue practising that, so that whenever a thought of that sort surfaces, you will immediately know and not be misled by it. If you are misled, it will inevitably lead to the next thought, forming a long continuous chain of thoughts of lust. And then eventually to other actions.
Lastly, if you do not have a Buddhist teacher, I hope you will find a Buddhist teacher and learn the dharma. If you can describe as it is in the first post, I believe you could have been a practitioner in your past life. You need to practise the dharma again in this lifetime otherwise your life will be wasted away... it is pitiful. Even past life practitioners still have habits that are not removed from their 8th consciousness. I have a friend in my dharma centre, he also used to have the habit of watching porn, but now he has quit and already has certain levels of attainment and awakening. He is only 23 I think.
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You may want to make a vow and make this the first 'goal' in your Buddhist practise.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Desire is a chain, shackled to the world, and it is a difficult one to
break. But once that is done, there is no more grief and no more longing;
the stream has been cut off and there are no more chains.
- Sutta Nipata 948