Peace is Tough by Jamie
Reid. Thanks to Jamie for giving me permission to use this graphic
- to my mind it captures the spirit of Buddhist ethics.
>> www.jamiereid.uk.net
| Peace is Tough by Jamie
Reid. Thanks to Jamie for giving me permission to use this graphic
- to my mind it captures the spirit of Buddhist ethics.
|
You are here: Flying Aardvark's website -> Buddhism
According to the Buddha's teachings our actions can never be divorced from the state of mind from which they spring. As long as our actions are based upon an inner discontent they will in the long term re-inforce the very feelings of discontent we are trying to avoid. - Paramananda
#1: Life is suffering
The target is driving along. Without a care in the world, as they say. Although of course no one old enough to drive is without a care in the world. No one old enough to drive a trike is without a care in the world. Everyone is right up there at the very brink of their pain limit. This was one of the reasons why it was so easy to hurt people: they were never ready. More pain ? Nobody needed that. Nobody thought they could possibly have room for any more, until it came. - Martin Amis (from The Information, p199)
#2: The cause of suffering is craving
Paradoxically, he no longer wanted to give up smoking: what he wanted to do was take up smoking. Not so much to fill the little gaps between cigarettes with cigarettes or to smoke two cigarettes at once. It was more that he felt the desire to smoke a cigarette even when he was smoking a cigarette. The need was and wasn't being met. - Martin Amis (from The Information, p111)
#3: The end of craving is the end of suffering
#4: The way to bring about #3 is the eightfold path(*** todo: link *** )
Meditation is a way to develop clarity/awareness. It is at the heart of the Buddha Way. Distractions are stripped away. With practice, one is able to generate more skillfull mental states and perhaps gain insights into the nature of reality. Here are a few quotes from Paramanada's book Change Your Mind on meditation...
Buddhists say that if you wish to make a journey you must start from where you actually are.
We want to leave aside ideas about who we are, and concentrate on what we actually experience.
We begin to hear what people are really saying to us, instead of hearing what we expect or what we want to hear.
We become inceasingly sensitive to the emotional tone of our existence, the emotionality that determines to such an extent the quality of our own existence and the quality of our contribution to the lives of others.
It isn't just a matter of overlaying our old emotional patterns with a surface film of loving-kindness. The meditation is working towards making deep changes in those patterns, not covering them up.
An addict lives trapped in a negative cycle: mental distress (pain/isolation) causes acting out which in turn leads to more mental distress. Addicts usually come from dysfunctional families (*** todo: link *** ).
Slowly we encourage a postitive cycle, where mental states of clarity and kindness lead to postive actions in the world, which in turn give rise to further positive mental states.
It is the cultivation of awareness that allows us to break into this cycle and change a negative cycle into a positive one.
Sometimes I need to remind myself that I can make progress.
We should take ourselves seriously. Buddhism teaches that all human beings are capable, through their own efforts, of Enlightenment.
Buddhist ethics is simple - non harm. That is it !
It is an adventure - the adventure of re-creating ourselves, of re-becoming. It is the great human 'myth' of self-transcendence.
I want that adventure - the ceative life, good mental health, freedom from addictions.
Sometimes we are very good at bringing the parts of ourselves that we like while at other times we just bring the parts that we dislike. It takes a gentle persistence to get all of us there.
Samatha meditation encourages the gradual integration of the psyche. It brings together one's disparate sub-personalities into a unified whole, so that the mind is no longer divided against itself and one is able to act with energy and focus.
Beginner's mind is an openness to experience. It means taking a keen interest in the *process* of meditation rather than looking for results... The more we bring to our practice in terms of expectations the more difficult it will be for us to stay with what is actually happening at the time.
On a psychological level we could say that Mara is the personification of all the forces within our psyche that are resistant to change.
...all kinds of missiles hurled at the prince while he sits composed and undisturbed. As the rocks and arrows come close to the prince's body they are transformed into beautiful blossoms.