134 posts tagged “dharma”

Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you....

~ Rev Master Sheng-yen

Dharmavidya writes:

Assume, if you will, that Buddhists have come to power. The election is over; the new president, Mrs Karuna Prajna, has taken office. Her prime minister, Mr Ananda Navamarga, has selected his cabinet. The PLC (Pure Land Congress) Party has a working majority. The opposition socialist, conservative, nationalist and liberal parties are, for the moment, in eclipse. The hopeful population waits in anticipation.

# What kind of society or culture does the new government want to bring about?
# What kind of actions in the world do they want the nation to undertake?
# What measures might they introduce, and what are the pros and cons of those measures?
# What transitional problems will they face?

Let us assume that the country has a developed economy with the same kind of levels of prosperity and technological sophistication as one sees in Western Europe or North America. Let us also assume that while the population has a fair measure of goodwill for the new government, Mr and Mrs Average have not turned into St Francis and Mother Teresa overnight.

The invitation here is for us to brainstorm what such a government might do.

51. As a beautiful flower that is full of hue but lacks fragrance, even so fruitless is the well-spoken word of one who does not practice it.

~ The Dhammapada, in Walpola Rahula's What the Buddha Taught

It is often the case that whatever we are doing, be it sitting, walking, standing, or lying, the mind is frequently disengaged from the immediate reality and is instead absorbed in compulsive conceptualization about the future or past. While we are walking, we think about arriving, and when we arrive, we think about leaving. When we are eating, we think about the dishes, and as we do the dishes, we think about watching television.

This is a weird way to run a mind. We are not connected with the present situation, but we are always thinking about something else. Too often we are consumed with anxiety and cravings, regrets about the past and anticipation for the future, completely missing the crisp simplicity of the moment.

~ B. Alan Wallce, Tibetan Buddhism from the Ground Up

One of the perennial problems in the interpretation of Buddhism is to fathom what Shakyamuni meant by "dukkha". It is commonly interpreted as suffering or affliction and I have, at times, used these interpretations myself. I have come to think, however, that there is a strong case for 'spiritual danger' being a more precise rendering. After all, Shakyamuni was a stoical person. He suffered at times and, we are told, he bore such suffering with fortitude. His life was not eternally happy, but he had the strength of character to handle the difficulties he encountered which included schism in the movement he started, the assassination of his friend and patron Bimbisara, attempts upon his own life, injuries, sickness and death by food poisoning. All these he took in a dignified and cheerful manner. It would not be apt to describe him as one who was always happy, but it would be true to say that when he encountered difficulty he did not sell out or compromise his core principles. He went on doing his best to help others through it all.

The word dukkha etymologically means a 'bitter space' and this seems to me to have echoes in such ideas as 'the dark night of the soul'. When we come up against something tough we are challenged. We might be defeated or we might rise above the obstacle. Shakyamuni used the word 'defeat' alot. Clearly a central part of how he saw his mission was to help us to avoid defeat.

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Suzuki Roshi said, "Renunciation is not giving up the things of this world, but accepting that they go away." Everything is impermanent; sooner or later everything goes away. Renunciation is a state of nonattachment, acceptance of this going away. Impermanence is, in fact, just another name for perfection. Leaves fall; debris and garbage accumulate; out of the debris come flowers, greenery, things that we think are lovely. Destruction is necessary. A good forest fire is necessary. The way we interfere with forest fires may not be a good thing. Without destruction, there could be no new life and the wonder of life, the constant change could not be. We must live and die. And this process is perfection itself.

All this change is not, however, what we had in mind. Our drive is not to appreciate the perfection of the universe. Our personal drive is to find a way to endure in our unchanging glory forever....Who hasn't noticed the first gray hair and thought, "Uh-oh."

~ Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen