Daily Buddhist advice

• Sangha

  6 Jun 05, 10:28

  Rely on the teaching, not on the person;
  Rely on the meaning, not on the words;
  Rely on the definitive meaning, not on the provisional;
  Rely on your wisdom mind, not on your ordinary mind.
  
  -The Four Reliances
• Origami

  7 Jun 05, 20:22

  Something a friend sent to me...
  
  The only article of faith to have before Buddhist practice is possible. Is the belief "what you do really makes a difference"
  
  The simple reason for this is
  If you do not believe what you do really makes a difference then why do anything? Let alone practice for the emancipation of the heart
  
  In the human quest to stop violence it seems goodness holds the odds least favored to win.
  
  One of the skillful strategies against violence is to create acts of goodness to ripple outward and bombard those unwholesome actions done by others.
  
  Buddhism in its younger prime encompassed almost 2/3rds of the world. Archaeologist have dug up Buddhist art as far from India as Greece. Historical writings from that region and others confirm Buddhisms existence there at one time.
  
  Un like the spreading of most faiths the wholesome skills expressed by Buddha, and kept alive through the student teacher relationship of his monks were never spread by the sword. They were never maintained by fear or terror.
  
  Also unlike most religions were the clergy makes the fiery sermons and the laity charge into action. Buddhist monks them selves have been targets of most ideological human blunders themselves.
  
  The treasures of Tibet's wisdom plundered, and monks killed or chased away. Cambodia used to be a Buddhist kingdom similar to Thailand. Unlike Thailand Communist came to power under Pol Pot. Who had 98% of the Countries monks murdered as enemies of his ideology. Along with them most of the temple art work was destroyed and looted.
  
  With the rise and fall of dictators, countries, empires, ideologies; the timeless, empowering teachings of renunciation, non violent, loving friendliness, forgiveness have managed to survive into the present day.
  
  How ? is the real miracle as Buddhism is armed only with skill, and wholesome qualities.
  
  I found a group the Sera Mey Redevelopment Project to help in the development and educational capacity of the exiled Tibetan learning centers. http://serameyproject.org/buddhism-for-today.shtml
  
  I was personally trained with in the Thai forest tradition, and really know nothing of Tibetan wisdom. I have herd of the wonderful teachings given by Pema Chodren, and those timeless skills kept alive through the inspiration of the Dali Lama.
  
  This project seeks to construct educational centers in India for the transmission of these timeless skills to new generations of personages. Those that stick with it in time will be the meditation masters for the following generation to enjoy.
  
  Generosity is the quality Buddha maid his monks/nuns dependant on. In the Buddhist monastic code monks/nuns are not allowed to beg. They walk down the street and the faithful wait for them as they pass, never do they go door to door.
  
  There rules also forbid them from accepting unintended gifts; meaning that if a personal belonging is left behind at a retreat. The monk/nun will never start using it for themselves.
  
  During the Buddha's life his monks started retreating into themselves, growing there own food, storing it, and maintaining things among themselves.
  
  They never shared there wisdom because they had no need, and enjoyed the fruits of there practice with in the solitude of the wilderness. The Buddha remedied this by setting a rule requiring them to only except things from the hands of lay people. With regards to food they received, he forbid them to store anything. Requiring them to discard what they did not use, and trust the laity would give them more the next day.
  
  This was an instrument for there own training forcing them to go against the grain of there natural human tendency to cling to possessions for security, and as a check and balance keeping them pure before the laity. If they depended on them for food, better not to loose there confidence by inappropriate action.
  
  Bringing me to my concluding point. The Buddha said generosity was an essential quality to develop along the path to loosening, and breaking craving and clinging. Cultivating and frequently practicing this quality as a way to deepen the skills and insights needed to develop that inner refuge from which to watch in safety the rising and passing away of conditional things.
  
  In whom to give the Buddha's answer was who you have confidence in. The more my practice develops and those enlighten qualities become a deep rooted position of personal power for me I gain confidence to give back to those skillful people who yielded me this gift.
  
  I personal make a point to give the gifts I have(talents, money, etc) to my own tradition. I have by chance found this redevelopment project and figured to share it with you. If you were so motivated, and looking for a chance to contribute to some of the constructive projects going on, and share in the continued transmission of Buddhist wisdom and inspiration. Those monks you give an opportunity to be trained will share those skills with others, touching countless lives in various ways.
  *******Your gift there fore will inevitably come back to you***
• music express

  8 Jun 05, 15:31

  
  " It is our own thoughts that lead us into trouble, not other people "
  
  " Since everything is a reflection of our minds, Everything can be changed by our minds "
  
  " Always be mindful of the kindness and not the faults of others "
  
• Eye in the Sky

  30 Aug 05, 23:20

  Originally posted by Origami:

  Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-violence, in his June 9 lecture at the University of Puerto Rico, shared the following story as an example of "non-violence in parenting":
  
  "I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa, in the middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and had no neighbours, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to going to town to visit friends or go to the movies.
  
  One day, my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day conference, and I jumped at the chance. Since I was going to town, my mother gave me a list of groceries she needed and, since I had all day in town, my father ask me to take care of several pending chores, such as getting the car serviced. When I dropped my father off that morning, he said, 'I will meet you here at 5:00 pm, and we will go home together.'
  
  After hurriedly completing my chores, I went straight to the nearest movie theatre. I got so engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that I forgot the time. It was 5:30 before I remembered. By the time I ran to the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting for me, it was almost 6:00.
  
  He anxiously asked me, 'Why were you late?' I was so ashamed of telling him I was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said, 'The car wasn't ready, so I had to wait,' not realizing that he had already called the garage. When he caught me in the lie, he said: 'There's something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn't give you the confidence to tell me the truth. In order to figure out where I went wrong with you, I'm going to walk home 18 miles and think about it.'
  
  So, dressed in his suit and dress shoes, he began to walk home in the dark on mostly unpaved, unlit roads. I couldn't leave him, so for five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him, watching my father go through this agony for a stupid lie that I uttered.
  
  I decided then and there that I was never going to lie again. I often think about that episode and wonder, if he had punished me the way we punish our children, whether I would have learned a lesson at all. I don't think so. I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing the same thing. But this single non-violent action was so powerful that it is still as if it happened yesterday. That is the power of non-violence. "
  

  The basis of using this manner of a non-violent way of 'effecting' a desired result is related to the equation of entropy. In simple words ...
  
  === No cause No effect ===
  
  In this case, he is willing to expend his self energy (in this case walking home) to create a case of Effect for the desired result of his son not to repeat the offending act by 'planting' a sense of guilt in his mind.
  
  In simple terms ...
  someone has to do some work to make something happen.
  
  In our modern age, how many people are willingly to do this anymore. We are talking of people who understands this philosophy of life.
  
  In this modern age, the odds of someone in your family using this sort of cause-effect technique is extremely rare, although the family would be the best place to do this, considering we want the best for our kids.
  
  In this modern age, the odds of a STRANGER or FRIEND using this sort of cause-effect technique is NIL.
  
  The world is getting gloomier every passing day. There is no axis of GOODNESS anymore.