Buddhist Belief Blog

I’ve been seriously neglecting my writing about Buddhist Belief. In fact, I haven’t done much in the way of writing these past few weeks on any of my blogs. Most mornings, I begin my day here at the computer with every good intention to get down to business and share what’s on my mind with you. Then, as I begin to write, my focus begins to shatter and I end up getting little accomplished because I’m so scattered in my thinking.

Today isn’t much different, but let me see if I can pull something together here…

As I look outside my office window I see the new blossoms on the lilacs — the trees with all of their bursts of so many different colored blooms — the activity of the birds and their nest building (one house-finch nest has already fledged its young) — yes, even the dandelions standing so tall and proud in my lawn — it seems there is nothing in this immediate environment to take away from the sweet smell of peace in the air. And yet my Internet news sources are all about old wars — new wars — violence of various kinds — the spread of new viruses — it’s as though the things I see out my window don’t mean much in this time. Why is it that what I read on my computer has to be in such stark contrast to what I see outside my window?

Perhaps we need to look into our hearts and minds to see what it is we may be doing to contribute to the negativity and how we might become a part of the solution, rather than a part of the problem. Aren’t religions supposed to further peace and harmony, not contribute to prejudice, bigotry, violence and war? Nonviolence is the first precept of Buddhism, and a fundamental tenet of many world religions; yet look what actually happens in the world throughout history. Even here at home in America, guns in the schools and at home continue to harm us. Violence has come to the fore as a major focus of concern, but we have not made much progress in averting or dealing with it.

Martin Luther King said that we have two choices: to peacefully coexist, or to destroy ourselves. Isn’t it amazing how often we are choosing to destroy ourselves? Do you know how many countries in the world are experiencing war right now? Dozens — even more! Yet here in America we don’t feel it as being a part of our daily lives, unless we, or someone close to us is directly involved. When I look out my window I see no evidence of war — yet, I’m aware that it’s not far away. It’s even closer than we realize.

War doesn’t begin outside somewhere, on a battlefield, along some disputed border, or in a diplomatic conference room or economic summit meeting; war begins with the greed, hatred, prejudice, racism, ignorance and cruelty in the human heart. As Dostoevsky once said, “This is because the true battlefield is the heart of man”. If we want peace in the world — and I firmly believe we all do — we need to face this fact and learn how to soften up and disarm our own hearts, as well as work towards peace in our time. We need to think globally and act locally, beginning with ourselves and each other at home, in the family, as well as outside at work and in the community.

In Buddhist Belief, we strive to be a Buddha — one who embodies the Buddhist heart of love and compassion, loving-kindness, mercy, forgiveness, acceptance and joy. We work towards bringing these qualities into our reality. These qualities, which are latent in all of us, are only waiting to be developed, cultivated, and actualized. That’s what it means to become enlightened and to be a Buddha, which anyone can do if they follow the spiritual path to the end. It means to realize and actualize all that is already in us. That is our Buddha nature, or the innate Buddha within.

This subject is vital to all of us — and I need to write more about it. Stay tuned for a continuation of these thoughts.

I’ll be back to write again with more thoughts about Buddhist Beliefs and how they may apply to our lives.

Until then,

Namaste — Be in Peace.

Ron Rink
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I was reading some bits and pieces of information I had stored away on my computer which pertained in some way to the teachings of Buddhist Belief. For some reason, this next “story” showed up more than once amongst all the bits and pieces. This was on the blog,
Beyond Blue. It was written by John McManamy who also has a blog called,
Knowledge is Necessity. Since I seem to have more than one copy of it, I’d better share it.

It’s also an interesting way to look at the Metta/Loving Kindness meditation.

Here it is ….

Twenty-one years ago, I was living in Melbourne, Australia. I had recently moved there from New Zealand. It’s pretty hard to recall the order of events, because, basically, I was out of my mind. Or, if I were in my mind, my mind was not a very pleasant place to be in.

I had moved to Melbourne to take up a position as a feature business writer on a daily paper there. I loved the job and the people, but six months later I flipped into mixed mania and quit in a huff, thus cutting myself off from everyone I knew. It was everyone else’s fault, of course. Couldn’t they see that?

My combination of rage and despair and grandiosity stoked a selfish spiritual quest. Basically, I wanted the powers of a mystic – such as to be able to float out of my body – without accepting my responsibilities as a human, such as being able to stay centered in my body.

All I needed was a revelation, but the revelation never came.

By this time, I had read a number of books on Tibet and Buddhism. There was a Tibetan Buddhist center in the area. I decided to check it out.

A lama, through a translator, started talking about “bodhicitta,” loving kindness. Maybe this was the prerequisite to learning to float out of my body, I thought. I’d better pay attention.

The lama asked us to do a little meditation.

Picture someone you really care about, he said. Easy. An immediate past girlfriend came to mind.

Feel the love, he continued, or words to that effect. Not hard either. Well, the two of us had issues, but for an exercise like this I didn’t have much of a problem turning on the unconditional love. Well, a bit of a problem, and there was a bit of conditional to the unconditional, but with a bit of effort I got it going.

Now picture someone neutral, he said, and once more feel the love. Actually, this was fairly easy, as I treated this part of the exercise as a hypothetical. Here you go – hypothetical unconditional love.

I opened my eyes in anticipation of the end of the meditation, but, no, the lama had one more visualization up his sleeve.

Picture someone who is giving you a hard time, he said. Ha! No problem. The no good bastard! Wait till I get my hands on him! Should I run him off the road? No, I’d have to get my license first. A baseball bat to the head, then. No, this was Australia. It would have to be a cricket bat …

Honest to God, there was no way I could anticipate the next part of the meditation. The bastard had it coming. Simple as that. No doubt the lama could read my mind. He’d have to agree with me. Just get this a-hole out of my life – okay, and maybe 10 others, make that 20 others – and I could be the king of loving kindness.

I’d make the lama proud. Here it comes …

Picture all three people in your mind, he said, and feel the same loving kindness for all three.

WHAT?! ARE YOU FRIGGIN’ CRAZY?! NO WAY!!

And that’s when the revelation came.

Suddenly, I realized I had way more hate in me than love. Serious hate. We were talking a drop of love to an ocean of hate. Even I had to know there was something drastically wrong with that. Even I knew that the gig was up. I couldn’t go on living this way. I had work to do.

I didn’t exactly find what I was looking for, yet I found everything I was looking for. That’s the way it is with the spiritual quest. The quest wasn’t about me acquiring mystical superpowers. It was about me being able to live within myself, at ease, instead of in a constant state of war with my mind.

In case you’re wondering, after 21 years I flunk that little meditation every time. I can live with that. Life, after all, is a work-in-progress, but I think I’ve got my priorities right, things such as working on not harboring hate, rushing to judgment, or demonizing people I don’t get along with.

Life is also about working on extending the range of my compassion, making an effort to walk in the shoes of others, doing things for others without expecting anything in return.

Basic Christian teachings I grew up with, but I needed an assist from a Buddhist lama to drive it home. I suppose a Christian would teach that I will find my reward in Heaven. Trust me, I found mine here on earth.
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For those who wanted me to repeat the links for the books I’ve mentioned in the last few articles, here they are again — And, I have added a new book for you by Pema Chodron. It’s the last one in the list. I highly recommend all these books to you:

Sharon Salzberg — The Kindness Handbook

“It takes boldness, even audacity, to step out of our habitual patterns and experiment with a quality like kindness–to work with it and see just how it might shift and open up our lives. This book is an invitation to do just that.” – From The Kindness Handbook — “The Kindness Handbook

Eckhart Tolle’s amazing best seller, “A New Earth”

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s wonderful book, “My Stroke of Insight” — “Nirvana is just a breath away!”

And this one by Sharon Salzberg and is entitled: “A Heart as Wide as the World: Living with Mindfulness, Wisdom and Compassion“.

This is a new one for you by Pema Chodron entitled: “When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
=====================================================
Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….

Shanti everyone, … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

Have a peaceful day!! —

Ron Rink

http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

Technorati Tags: attachment, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist Belief, detachment, Eightfold Path, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, Fourth Noble Truth, inner peace, karma, loving kindness, Meditation, metta, mindfulness, Nirvana, Peace, Second Noble Truth, Third Noble Truth

Last week I learned about a singer/songwriter by the name of James Nihan. He did a concert here recently and I had the good fortune to be able to hear some of the songs he’s written. James has been writing and performing for many years. In 2001, he attended a seminar led by don Miguel Ruiz who teaches and writes about the “Four Agreements”. I’ll have more about James below, but suffice it to say that I was amazed at how the lyrics he writes fit so beautifully with the teachings of Buddhist Belief.

In Zen, there is a saying that says after Enlightenment, there sits the ordinary old man.

In the philosophy from which Buddhism originates, it points out that something extraordinary happens when one becomes enlightened — while strangely it is nothing at all. Enlightenment often translates to “the end of knowledge”.

When you think about the teachings of Buddha, especially where he has taught about how, when we reach enlightenment we will find an end to our struggles — and end to our suffering — then isn’t there a good argument to be made if that’s true, then what’s left? What are we going to do if there’s no struggle to deal with every day? Isn’t there something to be said about how wonderful it is to go through the struggles, the tears, the heartaches, and then come out at the other end with healing and peace?

People who practice Buddhist Belief in their life will often be challenged by this question. If there’s nothing left to do — if there’s no longer anything to strive for, what’s the point of going on? What’s the point of trying to reach enlightenment?

Ahh — Ah-hah moment — there is certainly a point and an important one!

This is the time when we can begin to create our story. This is the time when we’re no longer bogged down with the drama — we don’t identify with it — we’ve finally become detached.

As I pointed out in some of my earlier articles on this blog, detachment does not mean “not participating”. It’s not about dropping out of life. It IS about creating our story with the new wisdom that we are not the story. The things happening in your life are no longer the story of you. You’re no longer attached to these “drama-things” so they are not a part of you.

Even though YOU are not the story, everything in life is a story. The evolution of the Universe, from unconscious matter to becoming conscious, is a story. The development of human consciousness, how we evolve from duality and separateness to Enlightenment and union, is a story.

The search for meaning and beauty outside ourselves, and realizing that happiness can only come from within, is yet another story. We turn even the most mundane things (like washing the dishes and doing the laundry) into a story. We have all sorts of feelings about everything and we use those feelings and associations to mold our story. Yes, life is a series of stories.

In The Voice of Knowledge, (Click to learn more) author don Miguel Ruiz (who I mentioned above) makes the point that we are all artists. We are all constantly dreaming, constantly creating and molding our stories. We’re all artists. We’re all creators. We can’t avoid creating.

Here are lyrics from a song created by James Nihan called “I Am An Artist”.

(You can learn more about James Nihan and obtain his CDs at his website: http://www.jamesnihan.com)

YOU are an artist. YOU are the creator of your life and your story.

I’ll be back to write again in a few days with more thoughts about Buddhist Beliefs and how they may apply to our lives.

Until then,

Namaste — Be in Peace.

Ron Rink
==========================

I found this article to be sort of a conundrum since China is giving the folks in Tibet such a bad time about their independence, while at the same time some of their leaders are making statements like those below. It is an interesting read.

By Wu Jin
China.org.cn staff reporter

People’s happiness risks being evaporated along with their wealth as the financial crisis bites. Millions of people around the world are falling on hard times as they lose their jobs or businesses.

Liu Changle, CEO of Phoenix Satellite Television, told a seminar at the World Buddhist Forum in Wuxi, that there had been an increase in suicides in Hong Kong, since the economy of the financial center began its downward spiral.

But in a nearby seminar, monks, believers and scholars spoke about the true path to happiness and the importance of cultivating contentment as part of a strategy to build a harmonious world.

Speaker after speaker said selfishness and greed are to blame for the economic crisis. “The financial collapse is a symptom of the crisis of the value-system predominating in western countries,” said Xiao Wunan, vice president of China’s Socio-Economic and Cultural Exchange Association. “Materialism … stimulates an insatiable appetite for wealth. Profits are being made at the cost of natural resources, without regard for natural rules.”

“I think it’s time to propagate traditional Chinese culture (a combination of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism) which calls for harmony between nature and human beings,” Xiao said.

Yuan Chi, deputy curator of the China Buddhist Literature and Heritage Museum, said: “People are so addicted to the pursuit of profit that they rarely have the chance to experience a culture that can lead to wisdom. Government officials and entrepreneurs are dazzled by the prospect of profit, a double-edged sword that strips people of their dignity and their respect for law and morality.”

To end suffering and curb corruption, the thinkers said people should cultivate altruism, a virtue capable of healing the pain caused by the financial tsunami. Gong Xiya, general manager of Beijing Capital Guarantee & Investment Co Ltd, said: “The Buddha once said ‘a candle can still burn even after it has ignited 1,000 others. In the same way, happiness will never wane when it is shared by others’.”

In spite of fierce competition in the financial field, Gong believes real happiness lies in a peaceful mind and the elimination of greed. She said: “The material, the exhaustible and the external are causes of conflict, while, happiness, which is infinite and internal, can be sought in peace. Happiness is unparalleled wealth; it should be pursued as the ultimate goal in life.”

Her point was echoed by the Venerable Seik Hui Siong, abbot of the Vihara Mahavira Graha Pusa monastery in Indonesia. He said the lust for wealth is insatiable and the accumulation and consumption of worldly goods will not lead to happiness.

“Sakyamuni Buddha taught that suffering cannot be overcome by material things,” the abbot said, “I believe a peaceful environment, free from selfishness, fear, and hatred, is a necessary condition for belief, for cultivating a spiritual path, and achieving common goals.”

Group discussions on a variety of topics concerning the development of Buddhism, the relationship between Buddhism and Science as well as different Buddhist cultures, followed the opening ceremony of the forum in Fangong Palace, at Lingshan, a mountain in the countryside near Wuxi.

The delegates left Wuxi for Taipei, capital of Taiwan Province, by charter flight on Monday, March 30, where the forum will close on Wednesday, April 1.

(China.org.cn April 1, 2009)
=========================================================

For those who wanted me to repeat the links for the books I’ve mentioned in the last few articles, here they are again — And, I have added a new book for you by Pema Chodron. It’s the last one in the list. I highly recommend all these books to you:

Sharon Salzberg — The Kindness Handbook

“It takes boldness, even audacity, to step out of our habitual patterns and experiment with a quality like kindness–to work with it and see just how it might shift and open up our lives. This book is an invitation to do just that.” – From The Kindness Handbook — “The Kindness Handbook

Eckhart Tolle’s amazing best seller, “A New Earth”

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s wonderful book, “My Stroke of Insight” — “Nirvana is just a breath away!”

And this one by Sharon Salzberg and is entitled: “A Heart as Wide as the World: Living with Mindfulness, Wisdom and Compassion“.

This is a new one for you by Pema Chodron entitled: “When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
=====================================================
Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….

Shanti everyone, … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

Have a peaceful day!! —

Ron Rink

http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com

Technorati Tags: attachment, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist Belief, detachment, Eightfold Path, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, Fourth Noble Truth, inner peace, karma, loving kindness, Meditation, metta, mindfulness, Nirvana, Peace, Second Noble Truth, Third Noble Truth