--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "emptybill" <emptyb...@...> wrote: > > > 1. First Major Precept > > > > On Killing > > A disciple of the Buddha shall not himself kill, encourage others to > kill, kill by expedient means, praise killing, rejoice at witnessing > killing, or kill through incantation or deviant mantras. He must not > create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of killing, and shall > not intentionally kill any living creature. > Brahma Jala Sutra
For me this is beautiful and profound statement. What I read between the lines (maybe purely projection -- but still its a useful connection for me) is that violence always begets violence. You can always make 1000 reasons why war and violence are justified at times -- -- the Obama doctrine in his Nobel Prize speech. But in my view, this is looking at the small picture. If you have done 50 years of stupid things, war may be near inevitable . First, avoid the danger before it comes. If societies and nation states and the world community were more proactive in ceasing stupid things that sow the seeds of future violence -- this is the first step. However, even if you have let things get out of hand and violence appears to be the only answer -- in truth it only perpetuates the same cycle. Where this Buddhist Sutra, Ghandi, MLK, Mandela, Jesus in his original teachings (as I intuit them) and others are stunningly insightful and correct , IMO, is that they reveal this vicious cycle of violence and war and suggest means to stop the cycle of violence and wars. War will never be the tool to stop all wars. Violence will never be the tool to stop all violence. As MMY, Godel and various management gurus have said -- Transcend, get out side the system, think outside the box, bootstrap dynamics, etc. > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "emptybill" <emptybill@> wrote: > > > > If you have taken bodhisattva vows seriously in your > "heart" then you are responsible for everyone - starting > with all the beings here on this planet (incarnate and in the > antariksha) and in the dwipa-s of the local system. > > > > The Orisha may help or hinder but all of this is solely > your task even if no one else is helping. > > > > Read it and weep. > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "yifuxero" yifuxero@ wrote: > > > > > > At any rate, my take on the situation: if I'm responsible for > > helping one or two people when necessary, then everybody should be > > included within my capacity. > > > One might easily argue that extending karmic influences beyond my > > immediate environment resulting in significant and often unpredictable > > changes, are indeed risky and "fate" might turn out worse then > > non-interference. > > >
