Study yourself, don't study other people
-
I recently attend a dharma talk, the rinpoche mentioned about this statement "study yourself, don't study other people" which I find it very useful and beneficial to our daily practice.
Buddhism teach us to look within, because the ultimate answer is within ourselves. What for go and study other people from top to bottom, criticize their behavior, debate with them.
Other than ensuring the existence of self and increase your hatred and greed, you don't achieve anything at all. fyi, growing hatred over someone will create bad karma too.
When you notice other people's mistake, know it then let go, that's all, no need to attach to it, neither you need to detach from it.
A cup is empty in nature with or without you taking it away. If you don't like it and want to take it away, that is because you attached to the non-existence of the cup.
just my sudden thought, feel free to comment
-
Yes and not only shld we not judge and criticise others.... we should be not be attached to our relative truths and our own 'rightness' when coming under criticism.Originally posted by justdoit77:I recently attend a dharma talk, the rinpoche mentioned about this statement "study yourself, don't study other people" which I find it very useful and beneficial to our daily practice.
Buddhism teach us to look within, because the ultimate answer is within ourselves. What for go and study other people from top to bottom, criticize their behavior, debate with them.
Other than ensuring the existence of self and increase your hatred and greed, you don't achieve anything at all. fyi, growing hatred over someone will create bad karma too.
When you notice other people's mistake, know it then let go, that's all, no need to attach to it, neither you need to detach from it.
A cup is empty in nature with or without you taking it away. If you don't like it and want to take it away, that is because you attached to the non-existence of the cup.
just my sudden thought, feel free to comment
Just got into an unnecessary tongue war with someone from the forum on many issues (he doesnt post v often so dont guess who lah)... and I think it is very unskillful of my part, failing to sense the conditions of the situation and react appropriately and also I guess partly my attachment to relative truths... though debating is not my intention, I was hoping to clarify a few things but guess my approach wasnt good.
I was reminded that my dharma teacher discussed this issue with me on the phone regarding the forum many weeks ago... she told me that the wise and enlightened knows how to react properly according to situations, and certain situations doesnt even need a reply... she also reminded me I do not have such wisdom yet. I guess I shld really keep that in mind.
I guess I had to be more mindful from now and and be more skillful and wise in my speech...
Update: something very wise from Thusness just now... "whatever it is, it has nothing to do with practice...so don't engage too much into such issues unncessary."
Here's a poem by my Master:
-
Actually I am referring to our daily life as a whole, not just any particular instance in the forum discussion.
There might be some cases where we need to study other people, which I do that sometimes especially on their good points. One example is sakyamuni buddha, he is so perfect, noble, wise and compassion, in fact is beyond words.
Though with the attainment of buddhahood, his cousin Devadatta still dare to use various outrageous tricks to backstab buddha, buddha still remains calm and compassion to him.
Relatively, the so called "ill treatment" other people do to us is really nothing.
If we can achieve somewhere near this, we will progress very fast in whatever we learn, be it meditation, vipassana, mahamudra and so on.
I so guilty that though I buddhism for so long, acquired so many knowledge but sometimes still so quick temper. fortunately, hear about this in the talk. -
I can't help but think of Herzog_Zwei when reading about this thread.
Skarly he is a Bodhisattva in disguise to teach us about this point...
Even though I don't understand why a bodhisattva would take the form of somebody of such an objectionable disposition..... -
Main thing is that please don't go and try and convince people that Buddhism is adherent to science or vice versa.Originally posted by Beyond Religion:I can't help but think of Herzog_Zwei when reading about this thread.
Skarly he is a Bodhisattva in disguise to teach us about this point...
Even though I don't understand why a bodhisattva would take the form of somebody of such an objectionable disposition..... -
Originally posted by justdoit77:
growing hatred toward someone burns the merit in your consciousness ,your 8th level of consciousness store a nasty seeds which will ripen to block when you are successful
[b]I recently attend a dharma talk, the rinpoche mentioned about this statement "study yourself, don't study other people" which I find it very useful and beneficial to our daily practice.
Buddhism teach us to look within, because the ultimate answer is within ourselves. What for go and study other people from top to bottom, criticize their behavior, debate with them.
Other than ensuring the existence of self and increase your hatred and greed, you don't achieve anything at all. fyi, growing hatred over someone will create bad karma too.
thats according to Yogacara , so its not so simple as the wording "creates bad karma " -
Yes we should take Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as examples we should follow... and at the same time not slight others but rather to 'study yourself'.Originally posted by justdoit77:Actually I am referring to our daily life as a whole, not just any particular instance in the forum discussion.
There might be some cases where we need to study other people, which I do that sometimes especially on their good points. One example is sakyamuni buddha, he is so perfect, noble, wise and compassion, in fact is beyond words.
Though with the attainment of buddhahood, his cousin Devadatta still dare to use various outrageous tricks to backstab buddha, buddha still remains calm and compassion to him.
Relatively, the so called "ill treatment" other people do to us is really nothing.
If we can achieve somewhere near this, we will progress very fast in whatever we learn, be it meditation, vipassana, mahamudra and so on.
I so guilty that though I buddhism for so long, acquired so many knowledge but sometimes still so quick temper. fortunately, hear about this in the talk.
He who treads the Path in earnest Sees not the mistakes of the world; If we find fault with others We ourselves are also in the wrong.
When other people are in the wrong, we should ignore it, For it is wrong for us to find fault.
By getting rid of the habit of fault-finding We cut off a source of defilement.
When neither hatred nor love disturb our mind Serenely we sleep.
------
Learned Audience, those who train themselves for 'imperturbability' should, in their contact with all types of men, ignore the faults of others. They should be indifferent to others' merit or demerit, good or evil, for such an attitude accords with the 'imperturbability of the Essence of Mind'. Learned Audience, a man unenlightened may be unperturbed physically, but as soon as he opens his mouth he criticizes others and talks about their merits or demerits, ability or weakness, good or evil; thus he deviates from the right course.
--------
Thereupon Shen Hui asked the Patriarch, "In your meditation, Sir, do you see (your Essence of Mind) or not?" Striking him three blows with his staff, the Patriarch asked him whether he felt pain or not. "Painful and not painful," replied Shen Hui. "I see and I see not," retorted the Patriarch. "How is it that you see and see not?" asked Shen Hui. "What I see is my own faults," replied the Patriarch. "What I do not see is the good, the evil, the merit and the demerit of others. That is why I see and I see not. Now tell me what you mean by 'painful and not painful'. If you feel no pain, you would be as a piece of wood or stone. On the other hand, should you feel pain, and anger of hatred is thereby aroused, you would be in the same position as an ordinary man. "The 'seeing' and 'not-seeing' you referred to are a pair of opposites; while 'painful' and 'not painful' belong to conditioned Dharma which becomes and ceases.
~ 6th Zen Patriarch Hui Neng -
I agree with the TS.
-
My master always emphasize to us that meditation is very important and is a basic method to help the practice of all dharma door. During meditation, we are able to see more clearly all kind of thoughts that we normally can't even notice when our mind is not stable. Whether all these phenomeon is good or bad, we should remain untouched.
The truth of life is actually very simple, the reason why buddhism practice sounds so complicated is because our wrong perception is so deep rooted and complicated that it needs many different ways to eradicate them.
The challenge is there are so many ways of practice for different level of people, how do we know when to attach, when to grow dislike & when to let go especially this is something that we probably never go through in the past. This is when faith & trust to the teacher & triples gems come useful. I have seen buddhist who is so attached to his own wrong perception, until any profound teaching and practice only become a subject of attachment. This is really a waste of dharma.
To them, if they have a good teacher to follow and a strong faith & relationship between them, they will be back to the right track very soon.
This is when even blind faith come into useful. To those with wrong perception, their "non-blind" faith is associated with their own view that will always become an obstacle to practice. -
so what will be created when you grew hatred towards someone? care to elaborate?Originally posted by bohiruci:growing hatred toward someone burns the merit in your consciousness ,your 8th level of consciousness store a nasty seeds which will ripen to block when you are successful
thats according to Yogacara , so its not so simple as the wording "creates bad karma " -
although that say :
http://sg.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGk5eb8NRGtVsBZGEj4gt.?p=%E5%AE%B3%E4%BA%BA%E4%B9%8B%E5%BF%83%E4%B8%8D%E5%8F%AF%E6%9C%89%2C%E9%98%B2%E4%BA%BA%E4%B9%8B%E5%BF%83%E4%B8%8D%E5%8F%AF%E7%84%A1+&y=All+the+Web&fr=yfp-t-web
you cannot have the heart of hurting people, but you still need the heart of protecting from people.
i say the heart of protecting from people also cannot have. very tiring...everytime suspect this suspect that.
/\ -
your seeds ... please read up on yogacaraOriginally posted by path_seeker:so what will be created when you grew hatred towards someone? care to elaborate?
i dont really like to spoonfeed people -
I quite agree with you but whilst it is important to study ourselves, won't it be beneficial to additionally study others, not to criticise or attack them but to learn from their examples by making references? We all know the all-famous words of Sun Tze: zi ji zi bi, bai zhan bai sheng!
However, I do think that before we study others, we should begin with ourselves........
-
agreeOriginally posted by :I quite agree with you but whilst it is important to study ourselves, won't it be beneficial to additionally study others, not to criticise or attack them but to learn from their examples by making references? We all know the all-famous words of Sun Tze: zi ji zi bi, bai zhan bai sheng!
However, I do think that before we study others, we should begin with ourselves........
its cooked up wisdom
,one should really recite mantra , Buddha name or meditate to gain real insight rather than copying words from one dharma talk or the other
-
my mom is also an inquisitive person. she like to guess or conclude the affairs of others.
well, instead of keep concluding other's are at fault, give reasons to yourself as to why others commit fault. like oh maybe they have some other problems etcs.
/\ -
Constructive criticism with intention of helping the person to be aware of his bad habits could be fine.Originally posted by justdoit77:I recently attend a dharma talk, the rinpoche mentioned about this statement "study yourself, don't study other people" which I find it very useful and beneficial to our daily practice.
Buddhism teach us to look within, because the ultimate answer is within ourselves. What for go and study other people from top to bottom, criticize their behavior, debate with them.
Other than ensuring the existence of self and increase your hatred and greed, you don't achieve anything at all. fyi, growing hatred over someone will create bad karma too.
When you notice other people's mistake, know it then let go, that's all, no need to attach to it, neither you need to detach from it.
A cup is empty in nature with or without you taking it away. If you don't like it and want to take it away, that is because you attached to the non-existence of the cup.
just my sudden thought, feel free to comment
While noticing the flaws of others and we could have unwholesome thought arise in you ( for eg. why he/she like that one? *irritation*), is also creating bad karma ( implanting or/and aggravate the karmic seeds that has been imprinted in your consciousness ).
I read this from somewhere "When you hate others for this flaw, you probably hate this flaw inside yourself." what do u think?
Seek to understand others could be better than jumping down to conclusion and start to criticizes others from head to toe.
Lastly,no one is perfect and has flaws. There is no bad or good person in reality. A bad person can be kind to his loved ones and mean to you. So is he a bad or good person? -
Hi, practising is most important but quoting words from a dharma talk such as what Justdoit77 is doing is very good tooOriginally posted by bohiruci:agree
its cooked up wisdom
,one should really recite mantra , Buddha name or meditate to gain real insight rather than copying words from one dharma talk or the other Don't keep what we learn to ourselves and be prepared to share what we learn. (but not inappropriately) -
Learning from other people's mistake or compliment their good points is definitely good for us. But we need to have a limit, once you have this habit of looking towards others, you will tend to overlook the within.Originally posted by :I quite agree with you but whilst it is important to study ourselves, won't it be beneficial to additionally study others, not to criticise or attack them but to learn from their examples by making references? We all know the all-famous words of Sun Tze: zi ji zi bi, bai zhan bai sheng!
However, I do think that before we study others, we should begin with ourselves........
When you look at others, what you see is the illusion or form. But when you look within, you will see your thoughts clearly.
In my opinion, study the good and let go the no good. -
But i also like to study the bad cos i want to know what make them turn bad.
Sometime, this bad people is genius in some way too.
Can learn something from the good and the bad too. -
oo nice title ..hahs thx ",)
-
How about the heart of protecting people? Especially in line with the precepts.Originally posted by sinweiy:you cannot have the heart of hurting people, but you still need the heart of protecting from people.
i say the heart of protecting from people also cannot have. very tiring...everytime suspect this suspect that.
/\
i tend to lean towards the protect others and you protect yourself idea in this context.
-
I don't understand the part of being paranoid.
Why with the heart of protecting others could lead to suspect this and that? -
Oh you are mistaken, he said heart of protecting FROM others.
Protecting oneself from others. That's what you meant right, sinweiy? -
i confess in the past i alway study other people. From today onward I repent.i found this verse in a buddhist book . i agree with that book because i am like that too.
-
If your intention is to learn something, it is good to study other people.Originally posted by Isis:But i also like to study the bad cos i want to know what make them turn bad.
Sometime, this bad people is genius in some way too.
Can learn something from the good and the bad too.
As long as you can refrain from doing any unwholesome deeds after seeing their mistake.
Sometimes we may think that we criticize out of goodwill, but subconsciously we are doing it due to ego.
After attending a dharma talk or discussion, one should always contemplate the teaching, to see how to apply the theory and change yourself.
speaking on dharma talk, did you go to the HH sakya trizin conference recently?