i agree if we are good to ourselves on the inside we will be good to everyone else on the outside. We can only give what we are. Mack
--- In [email protected], "amazing63" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 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 <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
