May I

May I become at all times, both now and forever,

A protector for those without protection,

A guide for those who have lost their way,

A ship for those with oceans to cross,

A sanctuary for those in danger,

A lamp for those in the dark,

And a servant to all those in need.

As long as living beings exist,

and suffering afflicts them,

May I too abide to dispel the misery of the world.

A Mustard Seed...

In the era of the Buddha, there lived a woman, whose only child died of sickness and was deserted by her husband. She was very sad, and wanted to end her own life.

She believed that Sakyamuni Buddha had the mystic power to revive her child’s life, so she carried the child’s body to see the Buddha.

She pleaded with the Buddha to help her, otherwise she would not believe that Buddha had mystic power and she would have considered Buddha’s enlightenment a fake.

Sakyamuni Buddha asked her to find a family who has not experienced death. Then she had to obtain from the family a mustard seed before he could revive the child’s life.

The woman visited many families and knocked on many doors. Each time, the family inside would shake their head and said that they could not help her. She could not find one family who had not experienced death in the past.

At last the woman realized all human beings must die, for immortality does not exist. It is impossible to resurrect the dead.

The woman finally realized the impermanence and suffering of life and decided to become a nun.

Sakyamuni Buddha told her: “Sickness is unavoidable, so is death. Buddhism teaches us the truth of life, so that we can transcend sickness, death, and all other sufferings in life”.

Oneness with Life

When you are in harmony with the rhythms of life, all life around you is pulsing with the same drum beat... you just have to be still enough to hear it.

When you are at one with nature, everything comes naturally. There is no struggle, there is no suffering, there is only Oneness

Suffering Within Suffering

An example of Suffering within Suffering is to be penniless and also without any food to eat or any place to live.

This suffering is experienced by poor people. Lacking the very necessities of life, they cannot even find work. This kind of suffering is not easy to bear.

But wealthy people suffer even more. They experience the Suffering of Decay.

Having money, they have to continuously calculate about it. "I'll put this much in the bank. I'll take this much out and put it into a business venture. I'll take that much…" and on it goes like that all day long. They keep on counting their money until their hair turns white, their teeth fall out, their eyes stop working, and their ears go deaf.

But then trouble comes. The robbers get their number. They break in at night and pick the safe clean. [Editor: Wealth can lead to welfare of one and many too, but becomes problematic when clung to without generosity or used without wisdom.]

People in poverty get accustomed to their suffering, but when the Suffering of Decay hits wealthy people, they can't take it. It's very bitter.

Well, then, if you're neither rich nor poor, there's no suffering, right? There's still suffering: the Suffering of Process. Everyone goes through the process of ageing.

From youth, people pass into middle age, and then become old. Once they're old, they die. This process never stops. It continues with every passing thought.

FaceBook Parenting

Children today are so spoiled by their parents today.

If you think that by sheltering them from the realities of life, you are being a good parent, you are dead wrong. In fact, you are killing your children!!

How?

You are slowly killing your children by not equipping them with the necessary life skills to live independently. You are showing them the path to a miserable life by not letting them face adversity and teaching them an attitude of entitlement, that everything that they want, they can get without having to work for it.

You are killing your children by not showing them what actual life is about, with all the mundane things like doing laundry, housework, cooking and other day-to-day things that you need to do. There is no genie that just shows up and everything is done!!

Many famous people have died young because they have not been taught to live with adversity, to face the realities of life, the ugly side of daily living. It is because of this that many of them become deluded and try to run away from it and turn to crack and other drugs to mask the sufferings.

A little hard work and a adversity will not kill anyone. It is a challenge to develop the skills necessary to live a more fulfilled life.

God will not give you a challenge that He does not think that you can overcome and learn from it.

So, parents - think about how you are slowly killing your children with your indulgence, stupidity and laziness.

I applaud the courage of the father above, who knows what are the important things in life.

Three Levels of Suffering

The practice here is to meditate on the three expressions of suffering and to experience their nature.

The Buddha said there is one word that can describe the meaning of suffering, and that is fear. Fear is what suffering means.

But what is this fear? It is the fear of losing something that is pleasant, something that is very dear and beloved, something to which you have become attached. It is also the fear of gaining something that is unpleasant that you don't want.

Overall, you always get what you don't want, and you don't get what you really want. Therefore, we have three levels of suffering, which we call the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and all-pervasive suffering.

All pervasive suffering is the fundamental fear that exists whether we are happy or down. All of our feelings are pervaded by this fundamental fear, which is why it is called all-pervasive suffering. It's compared in traditional Buddhist literature to developing a fatal disease that has not fully ripened. You haven't really experienced it yet, but its presence is there all of the time, growing every minute. That kind of fundamental situation is known as all-pervasive suffering.

The traditional metaphor for the suffering of change is a very delicious cookie baked with poison. When you eat that cookie, it's very pleasurable – but it is deadly poisonous.

In order to show that more dramatically, Shantideva, in the Bodhicharyavatara, said the suffering of change is like honey on a razor blade. When we lick this honey, it's very sweet, and because of our desire and attachment, we want more and more all the time. With our poverty mentality, we lick the honey harder each time we experience its sweetness, and the harder we lick the honey, the deeper we cut our tongue on the razor blade. So the suffering or change is experienced initially as a pleasurable, pleasing feeling, but it leads us to suffering.

The suffering of change leads us to the suffering of suffering, which is the most obvious level of suffering. This simply means that, in addition to our fundamental fear, we accumulate further sufferings, one on top of the other. For example, after experiencing the delicious honey, we notice that we have cut off our tongue. When we notice that our tongue is gone, not only do we feel the pain of our wound, we also realize we won't be able to taste the sweetness of the honey again in this lifetime.

As we work with and examine the three levels of experience – pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral – we can see they are related with the three sufferings. Pleasurable feelings are connected to the suffering of change, unpleasant feelings connected to the suffering of suffering, and the neutral state of mind is connected to fundamental suffering, all-pervasive suffering. So mindfulness of feeling is being totally watchful and present with every level of fear.

This is the mindfulness of feeling from the perspective of the general Buddhist approach.

- Extracted from "The Best Buddhist Writing" by Melvin McLeod

Map of The Four Noble Truths

The First Noble Truth is the effect of suffering.
The Second Noble Truth is the cause of suffering.
The Third Noble Truth is the effect of the end of suffering.
The Fourth Noble Truth is the cause of the end of suffering.

The First Noble Truth
is about knowing your current situation
(of being lost in suffering),
For if you don't know where you are,
As a reference point,
Even the best map (of the Dharma) is useless
(as you might assume you're elsewhere).

The Second Noble Truth
is about knowing what cause your current situation
(attachment, aversion, delusion),
For if you don't know why you are where you are,
As a reference point,
Even the best map is useless
(as you'll remain stuck where you're).

The Third Noble Truth
is about knowing the situation you wish to be in
(away from suffering; Nirvana),
For if you don't know where you are going,
As a reference point,
Even the best map is useless
(as you can't reach there).

The Fourth Noble Truth
is about knowing how to be in the situation you wish to be in
(by walking the Noble Eightfold Path),
For if you don't know how you are going there,
As a reference point,
The best map is useless
(as you won't be using it as a guide).

Just as realisation of the Noble Truths ennoble,
ignorance of them is to remain ignoble.


Extracted from : The Daily Enlightenment
- Stonepeace

Life Is Impermanent

Life is...
Like a flickering flame :
A phenomenon that cannot last long.
Like an illusion :
Appearing real but not there -
Being empty.

Phenomena are like dewdrops
Or water bubbles that can perish any time.
Being transitory in nature,
Like a dream, they appear real
From their own side
Yet they are empty
From their own side.

Like a dream -
Exactly like that.
Total hallucination
Like lightning,
Transitory in nature.
Where there is lightning
A flash of light appears
and then it is gone.

Same :
When death comes,
All appearance of this life go,
Like friends who were here
Then pass away and are gone.

Buddha said :
If we cling, if we grasp
There is suffering.
Things cannot last;
They are impermanent by nature.

Holding the view of permanence
Only leads to suffering.
It creates the cause
To reincarnate in Samsara
Again.

Attachment ties us to
Samsara...
Again.

- Lama Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche

The Truth is the First Casualty of War

There is so much suffering in the world. So much evil done in the name of "righteousness". So much death in the service of some fragile ego.

When will it ever end?

It will end when all people treat each other like their brothers and sisters.

It will end when all of us see life through the lens of compassion and tolerance.

It will end when the Truth is revealed and people awakens ...