Praise or insult, gain or loss, have or have not, coming or going, hungry or full, morning or evening, it does not matter; I do not cling. - Hsing Yun
People helping people, people serving people, that is what the Hindu Dharma is and has been proclaiming for some 8,000 years or more. - Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, is supportive of Buddhism and has greatly eased previous religious restrictions on Buddhism in China. The result is that there are now almost three times as many Buddhists in China as there are Party members. An official communiqué released earlier this year estimated the membership of the Communist Party of China at just under 90 million.
Meanwhile, the State Bureau of Religious Affairs estimates there are some 250 million Buddhists in China and 200,000 registered Buddhist monks. One of the individuals I consider an important Buddhist teacher is Hsing Yun who has played a significant role in liberalizing Chinese rules about Buddhism. In 1989, he was allowed to return to mainland China from his base in Taiwan. In China, authorities invited him to express his views on Chinese religious policy. Speaking candidly, he "urged that museum and forestry personnel b removed from monasteries, and Buddhist places of worship and relics damaged during the Cultural Revolution be returned and repaired." Much of this has happened since his meeting with officials and since Xi Jinping became President. In fact, there is a major revival of interest in Buddhism in China today. Compassion never means being a door mat. Wisdom guides us to have boundaries. This includes saying "No" when it is appropriate. - Kris Ladusau
There are times when trees and plants – also “beings” with whom we share the planet – need a little human help. Do your part. When a vicious typhoon struck Taiwan, the abbot of a Buddhist monastery surveyed the damage he saw that a Bodhi tree had been split in two by the fierce storm. Rather than further destroy the tree and turn it into firewood, the monk cared for it with all my heart.” He lifted it, tied it together with ropes, and provided it support using sturdy bamboo props. “Now it has flourished into a tall, shady tree,” he says. On another occasion, another tree on the grounds collapsed onto it’s side, the result of heavy rains dislodging it’s roots. “It was no more than a rootless trunk and branches strewn across the ground,” he recalls. Lifting it carefully, the monk planted it back into the soil and then watered it whenever the ground was dry. “As if by miracle, it not only took root and sprouted but has also matured into its present luxuriant form,” he says proudly. It’s important to bring mindfulness not only into our personal lives but into the life around us as well. Enlightenment is knowing the truth of your existence. It is knowing who you are in the Universal scheme and knowing how to live harmoniously within that scheme. - Wu Wei
The soul, in its intelligence, searches for its Self, slowly ascending the path that leads to enlightenment and liberation. It is an arduous,
delightful journey through the cycles of birth, death and rebirth culminating in Self Realization, the direct and personal spiritual experience of God, of the Self, of Truth. - Sivya Subramuniyaswami While all religions attempt to deal with questions such as Why am I here? What is my purpose? Is there a purpose for my life? How should I live?, there is a vast difference in "style" and approach between religions of the East and those of the West. The East - Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist - tend to be intuitive, introspective, unifying, embracing of other views. The West - Judaism, Christianity, Islam - dualistic, materialistic, externally focused, including only those who agree and adhere to their teachings. Their is an open system. Eastern spiritual styles are highly accommodating and hospitable to other viewpoints and understandings feeling that all sincere paths lead to Higher Consciousness or God. Western religions, shaped by their theologians, confine and constrict their views resulting in dogmas and doctrines which stress that their path is the only path which will lead to God. Theirs is a closed system often resulting in fanaticism and intolerance. Learn to see the truth in everything that befalls you, seemingly bad events included. You will be amazed at the difference it will make in your life. - Wu Wei
The discipline of assent means that we should constantly ask ourselves whether the first impression we get about everything that happens to us is correct – in which case we can “give it assent” – or incorrect, in which case we “deny it assent”. - Massimo Pigliucci
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Victor M. Parachin ...is aVedic educator, yoga instructor, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of a dozen books. Buy his books at amazon or your local bookstore. Archives
May 2024
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