é™æ€è¯ Readings For Silent Reflection
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lease thinking or missing Guan Shi Yin Pusa often, like we’re missing our parents or our loved ones.
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Whether you chant the Buddha’s name,
recite the sutra or merely offer flowers and incense,
all your virtuous acts will implant benefits and good fortune in your life.
With this conviction you should put your faith into practice.
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能èˆ�，必有得，有æ’ç§�，æ‰�会有收æˆ�。
Gain only comes after giving. You must sow before you reap. -
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What furthers greed, hatred and delusion
should not be supported in any way.
What furthers generosity, compassion and wisdom
should be supported all the way.
– Stonepeace
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Be quicker in mindfulness
of your temper than
the rise of your temper
to dissolve it in time.
– Stonepeace
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食肉之人，�应施肉。
何以故？
我��食肉者有大功德。
– 大般涅槃ç»�
(迦���)
Those [who] eat meat, should not [be] given meat.
Why is [this] so?
I see those not eating meat
[to] have great meritorious virtues
[due to practice of great compassion].
– MahÄ�parinirvÄ�ṇa SÅ«tra
(Kaśyapa Bodhisattva) -
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A Sense That Your Arm is Short
... The Buddha's teachings are direct, straightforward, and simple, but hard for someone who's starting to practice them because his knowledge can't reach them.
It's like a hole: People by the hundreds and thousands complain that the hole is deep because they can't reach to its bottom. There's hardly anybody who will say that the problem is that his arm is short.
The Buddha taught us to abandon evil of every kind. We skip over this part and go straight to making merit without abandoning evil. It's the same as saying the hole is deep. Those who say their arms are short are rare.
- Ajahn Chah
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"The transition of life is like fire burning from one log to another.
The fire of life will never extinguish.
The change of birth and death is like moving from one house to another.
The owner of the life remains unchanged."
-366 days with Wisdom
Venerable Master Hsing Yun
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When we sit in a quiet forest when there's no wind, the leaves are still. When the wind blows, the leaves flutter.
The mind is the same sort of thing as leaves. When it makes contact with an object, it vibrates in line with its nature. The less you know of the Dhamma, the more the mind vibrates. When it feels pleasure, it dies with the pleasure. When it feels pain, it dies with the pain. It keeps flowing on in this way.
- Ajahn Chah -
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THE WISDOM of Ajhan Chah
- Not-Self
When one does not understand death, life can be very confusing.
If our body really belonged to us, it would obey our commands. If we say, "Don't get old," or "I forbid you to get sick," does it obey us? No, it takes no notice. We only rent this house, not own it. If we think it belongs to us, we will suffer when we have to leave it. But in reality, there is no such thing as a permanent self, nothing solid or unchanging that we can hold on to.
Buddha made a distinction between ultimate truth and conventional truth. The idea of a self is merely a concept, a convention.
American, Thai, teacher, student, all are conventions. Ultimately no one exists, only earth, fire, water, and air-elements that have combined temporarily.
We call the body a person, my self, but ultimately there is no me, there is only anatta, not-self. To understand not-self, you have to meditate. If you only intellectualize, your head will explode. Once you understand not-self in your heart, the burden of life will be lifted. Your family life, your work, everything will be much easier. When you see beyond self, you no longer cling to happiness, and when you no longer cling to happiness, you can begin to be truly happy. -
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Everything is temporary,
So try not to get too attached.
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But if you understand
Everything is impermanent
Then you can bear any kind of hardship today.
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In the midst of misfortune, some people think that their ill fortune is divinely assigned and that it is useless to struggle against this godly design. In relinquishing their individual responsibility, they became glum, frustrated, and passive. They put their precious future into the hands of their imagined gods and willingly become enslaved. Buddhism, however, believes that destiny is within our control. Nobody, not even gods, can dictate our destinies. We are our own masters; we are the architects of our own future. The Buddha is a good example that we can emulate.
The process of cultivation is none other than the cleansing of our hearts and the purification of our lives. When the sky is clear, the moon will naturally shine through. Similarly, when we are purified, we will join the ranks of Buddhahood in the ultimate emptiness. It is my greatest hope that we can all build brilliant destinies for ourselves with this wisdom.
excerpt from:
Opening the Mind's Eye
by Venerable Master Hsing Yun -
Why the" Law of Attraction"
- does not always work for everyone.
#When you said :"“I can do it” !
Please also accomplished along with inspired ACTION and an understanding of KARMA is what will determine our results.
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-There are individuals out there who sit and think positive thoughts for months, try their best to feel good, and put in every effort possible, but yet their circumstances do not seem to change.
: The reason is – nobody told them that they also need to take positive action because they may not have the MERITS to actually attract the results they wish to achieve.
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- There are people who take no action and yet attract positive circumstances. They have their finances in place, they have great friends, and everything worthwhile that life has to offer.
Reason: This is because they have done enough positive actions in the past to help them manifest positive circumstances now, but once their positive karma gets depleted, they are on the same page as most of us: Living a life of mediocrity.
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Therefore the Law of Attraction can be really harmful if we lack understanding of our mind and karma. As a matter of fact, placing all the emphasis on the Law of Attraction to change a circumstance can also result in creating more negative karma. -
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As Nagasena taught in the Nagasena Bhiksu Sutra, ‘The good and bad deeds done by a person always follow him, just like the shadow follows the body. When a person dies, only his body is dissolved, but his deeds remain. It is just as when a person writes under a lamp at night, when the fire is extinguished, the writing still remains. When the fire is lit again, the writing can be seen again. Thus, the deeds done in this life lead to the formation in the next life and then the doer receives the result accordingly.’
