On 7/15/05, mackkup <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> you still havent answered the question. all you have done is talk
> about Buddha. answer the question directly and dont tell any stories
> that you have read or heard about. Its easy to repeat spiritual
> sayings and teachings but to live by them is something different. Mack
OK. Everybody wants something for nothing. You obviously firmly
believe that someone should be able to chew your food for you and then
give it to you intravenously.
Of course, everyone is free to think whatever the heck they feel
inclined to think. However, that, my good fellow Buddhists, does not
constitute true freedom. Such 'freedom to think whatever you feel
like' is very deceptive.
Anywho, on to answering the question:
"so then what would Dharma as our guiding principle tell us to do?"
Dharma teaches several fundamental things. These things tend to go
against the common-sense understanding that gets established in human
society by consensus:
1. Everything that happens, happens for a very good reason
(common-sense consensus tends to view many events as being dicey, or
as being a fluke, in other words, common-sense does not see any rhyme
or reason to many daily events)
2. Everything that happens to me, happens because of something I did
previously (common-sense understanding denies this and holds that
majority of things that happen to us are whimsical, capricious)
3. Every event I am presented with is a lesson offered to me. I always
have a choice -- learn from that lesson, or 'drop out'. If I choose to
learn, I move on to the next lessons. If I choose to drop out, the
very same lesson will keep recurring as long as I attempt to run away
from it (common-sense understanding holds that this way of looking at
things is reading too much into the objectively fairly chaotic and
unpredictable stream of events)
4. Any time an event raises the affirmative feelings of separate self,
ego, life or soul, it is acting like a finger pointing to the deluded
state. The Dharma teaches that there is no, nor could there ever be an
Ego, a separate self, a soul, or a life (common-sense hold
diametrically opposed views on these things)
So, in the light of the above fundamental Dharma teachings, if I
experience someone giving me a cold shoulder, such as a lizard
salesperson pretending he can't hear me, this is how I would behave:
1. As a full time serious Dharma practitioner, who had made serious
vows to study and practice Dharma day and night, without any let up, I
would immediately recognize that this event is not just a fluke. I
would maintain awareness, right then and there, that there is a very
good reason that the universe is treating me that way. This
recognition will have beneficial effect on my overall state, as I
would instantly feel less irritated. By attempting to look at the 'big
picture' right out of the gate, the tension usually tends to ease up.
2. Furthermore, I would also become mindful of the fact that this is
happening to me right now because of something I did previously. I may
not be able to know exactly what is it that I did that conspired to
manifest in these particular causes and conditions, but I would
unmistakably know that there is a very clear and undeniable causal
pathway that brought me to this very moment, pregnant with conditions
and implications. This recognition will diffuse any potential
resentment I may start feeling toward the salesperson, as I now place
the entire onus of the ponderous situation on my own shoulders. It is
all entirely my own responsibility, and no one else's.
Immediately, if I manage to see the situation that clearly, I feel
empowered, in charge, and in full control.
3. Going even deeper than that, I would strive to recognize that this
is a lesson, offered to me for my own progress. I will be aware of the
choice I am faced with at that moment: take the lesson, do the
gruelling work, and move on to 'greener pastures', if you will, or
goof off, indulge my lower passions, skip the lesson, drop out, and
blame the other sentient being for my travails and tribulations.
If I accept the challenge (the lesson), my sense of calm, my sense of
control, increases manifold. Otherwise, I feel like a blade of grass
caught in the whirlwind.
4. Finally, I will recognize that any feelings of upset, hurt,
resentment, feeling left out and so on, that may arise in me due to
that event, are merely manifestations of my deluded state. Such
feelings arise because I firmly believe and hang on to the notion of
Ego, self, soul, life. All these things are non-existent, imaginary,
and according to the Dharma teaching, they can never ever exist, no
matter how hard we wish for them to be real.
Realizing that, I would be instantly liberated.
Not only that, I would also, at that moment, liberate all sentient beings.
That, my good fellow Buddhists, is called 'sudden enlightenment'.
The above would be my answer. I realize that it's a 'tough sell', and
that people who do not have a good grasp of Dharma will ridicule my
worldview, but that's how it is.
"Upon hearing the truth, gentleman of low rank laughed his head off."
(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching)
Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi
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