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From: Harvey Hilbert
With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
This morning I would like to talk to you about the Second Pure Precept: Do
Good.
In all of the world's religions, this is the simplist, most direct,
precept. Do good. What could be simpler than that? For me,
what is amazing about this precept is what it doesn't say. It doesn't say,
for example, do good for Buddhists. Or, even, do good for others. It
just asks us to do good. Moreover, this "good" is not qualified, not
bounded. There is an assumption here that good is, or can be, endless,
non-specific, as if it is something that just naturally occurs. And so it
does.
Where we practice, sitting with ourselves, and as we see the world directly
as it is, without the filters of self or others distorting things, goodness
resides. There is nothing but goodness, nothing but life, death, and the
processes in between. So, in this sense, to do good is to be yourself,
your natural, true selfless self.
Something falls, we pick it up. We take a wrong turn in the car, we
find our way. We are going too fast and our partner is nervous, we slow
down. Something needs help, we do what we see to do.
Natural, selfless.
It is when we inject our selves into the situation that things
go awry. Then it is, 'What a mess, geeezzz!', or 'Can't you pay
attention to the street signs!' or 'Why do I need to slow down?' or "Can't
you ever do it yourself, do I always need to do it for you!'
Our practice is to do good. That is all. Just do good.
Mostly all this means is doing what is there to do without complaint, without
suffering. And this is really ours to do, no one elses. It is a matter of
letting ourselves be the buddhas we are without interference from our "I".
Be well,
Rev. Harvey Sodaiho Hilbert, Ph.D. On the web at: http://www.daihoji.org Opt out of military recruiter's getting your children's personal information: http://www.militaryfreezone.org/ (This email powered by clean, renewable, solar energy.) Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
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- [Zen] The Second Pure Precept amazing63
