Dealing With Regret

On one occasion this [elderly] monk asked the Dalai Lama for initiation into a particular set of demanding practices. The Dalai Lama demurred, saying that they were meant for younger monks, that they were vigorous and demanding exercises that he wished to spare the man from undertaking. The next thing he knew, this monk committed suicide, hoping to be reborn into a younger body with better stamina. The Dalai Lama was asked… how he dealt with his regret, how he made it go away. 'It didn't go away,' the Dalai Lama replied, a little perplexed by the question. 'It is still there.'…

The psychiatrist [questioner] was operating from the point of view of fixing the pain rather than feeling it. The Dalai Lama, for all his good humor, had the fortitude, and the faith, to accept his regret without looking to heal it. This is the essence of the Buddhist approach to psychological change.Striving to rid of the pain only reinforces it, while acceptance of the truth deepens our capacity for tolerance, patience and forgiveness. The Dalai Lama was forever changed by the loss of his friend and by his part in it. How could he not be?

In Buddhist psychology two mental factors, called shame and dread, are considered to be skillful qualities that increase with meditative awareness… Would we not want to free ourselves from them, as we do from anger or fear?… Their function is to make us shrink from unskillful actions, to recognize the negative consequences of our deeds, and to develop a wariness toward repeating our mistakes. The Dalai Lama was honest enough with himself to recognize the role he had played, however unwittingly… I would attempt to rationalize the situation, to excuse myself, or, at the very least, to grieve my loss and move on.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif But in the Buddhist view, this desire would, in itself, be clinging. If could redirect my awareness from my regret to my abhorrence of it, I would have a chance of seeing my own clinging in action. Seeing this clinging is what frees the mind.

- Extracted from The Daily Enlightenment

How To Quit Your Job

This video is so good.

Yes, quit your sucky job in style

Simple Wisdom

Wisdom to live by.

Celebrate life in all its glory. Be Present...

Life Happens

I meant to do my work today
But a bird sang in the apple tree,
And a butterfly flitted across the field,
And all the leaves were calling me,
And the wind went sighing over the land,
Tossing the grasses to and fro,
And a rainbow held out its shiny hand -
So, what could I do but laugh and go?

Don't be so tied up to your routines.

Take a moment to savor the beauty around you.

When life calls, respond spontaneously and be happy.

Be present, be here and be alive!!

Occupy Wall Street

Wondered what "Occupy Wall Street" is about?

This young guy, in his very passionate speech, summarizes the main points best. He tells the truth, not the propaganda printed in the newspapers.

99% of the Main Street have the righteous anger to take action against the corrupt, greedy bankers in Wall Street.

Good for them...

And here are the reasons that people are occupying Wall Streets : -

Understanding Liberals

The liberal vision of government is easily understood and makes perfect sense if one acknowledges their misunderstanding and implied assumptions about the sources of income. Their vision helps explain the language they use and policies they support, such as income redistribution and calls for the rich to give something back.

Suppose the true source of income was a gigantic pile of money meant to be shared equally amongst Americans. The reason some people have more money than others is because they got to the pile first and greedily took an unfair share. That being the case, justice requires that the rich give something back, and if they won't do so voluntarily, Congress should confiscate their ill-gotten gains and return them to their rightful owners.

A competing liberal implied assumption about the sources of income is that income is distributed, as in distribution of income. There might be a dealer of dollars. The reason why some people have more dollars than others is because the dollar dealer is a racist, a sexist, a multinationalist, or a conservative. The only right thing to do, for those to whom the dollar dealer unfairly dealt too many dollars, is to give back their ill-gotten gains. If they refuse to do so, then it's the job of Congress to use their agents at the IRS to confiscate their ill-gotten gains and return them to their rightful owners. In a word, there must be a re-dealing of the dollars or what some people call income redistribution.

The sane among us recognize that in a free society, income is neither taken nor distributed; for the most part, it is earned. Income is earned by pleasing one's fellow man. The greater one's ability to please his fellow man, the greater is his claim on what his fellow man produces. Those claims are represented by the number of dollars received from his fellow man.

Say I mow your lawn. For doing so, you pay me $20. I go to my grocer and demand, "Give me 2 pounds of steak and a six-pack of beer that my fellow man produced." In effect, the grocer asks, "Williams, you're asking your fellow man to serve you. Did you serve him?" I reply, "Yes." The grocer says, "Prove it."

That's when I pull out the $20 I earned from serving my fellow man. We can think of that $20 as "certificates of performance." They stand as proof that I served my fellow man. It would be no different if I were an orthopedic doctor, with a large clientele, earning $500,000 per year by serving my fellow man. By the way, having mowed my fellow man's lawn or set his fractured fibula, what else do I owe him or anyone else? What's the case for being forced to give anything back? If one wishes to be charitable, that's an entirely different matter.

Contrast the morality of having to serve one's fellow man in order to have a claim on what he produces with congressional handouts. In effect, Congress says, "You don't have to serve your fellow man in order to have a claim on what he produces. We'll take what he produces and give it to you. Just vote for me."

Who should give back? Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart, Bill Gates founded Microsoft, Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer. Which one of these billionaires acquired their wealth by coercing us to purchase their product? Which has taken the property of anyone?

Each of these examples, and thousands more, is a person who served his fellow men by producing products and services that made life easier. What else do they owe? They've already given.

If anyone is obliged to give something back, they are the thieves and recipients of legalized theft, namely people who've used Congress, including America's corporate welfare queens, to live at the expense of others. When a nation vilifies the productive and makes mascots of the unproductive, it doesn't bode well for its future.

Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM

Gone Too Soon

Steve Jobs passed away yesterday, on Wed, Oct 5, 2011. In his passing, the world has lost a visionary and a beautiful leader who has changed the world.

His legacy lives on in the way he impacted our lives. Everybody here on earth owes him a debt of gratitude for his creativity that has changed how we live.

Here is a tribute to Steve in the Wall Streets Journal : - Wall Streets Journal Tribute

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. ” Mr. Jobs said in a commencement speech at Stanford University in June 2005, almost a year after he was diagnosed with cancer.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

"Stay hungry. Stay foolish."http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Here is a transcript of his speech : - Commencement Speech


No many people know that Steve Jobs was a Buddhist - he converted to Buddhism when he was in his early 20s, after visiting India and exploring Eastern religion. He was also a vegetarian. You can clearly tell that he has not much attachment - he accepts death as a gift to live life fully.

All his belief systems and values shows up in his words of wisdom. And in the way that he directed Apple to not be attached to its past successes. In his inventions, you can feel the intuitive design that he incorporates into his products.

Follow his teachings and live abundantly and mindfully.

Rest in Peace, Steve - may you be reborn in Western Paradise. And thank you for all the unique gifts that you have shared with all of us. You have made a beautiful difference to the world...

20 Words

These words can really change your life.

Believe in it, visualize it and act on it...

Family of Ducks Struggling in the Wind