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You yourself are the author of your own fate. You yourself have created your own world. You yourself are entirely responsible for your destiny. You are the architect of your joys and your sorrows. - Swami Sivananda
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What today is called moderation is actually a central Buddhist teaching which is called the "middle way". That means living between too much and too little. One way the Buddha presented this teaching came via his friend Sronakotivimsa who was musician who played a stringed instrument much like our modern guitar or violin. On one occasion, Sronakotivimsa, performed for the Buddha and his disciples. Following the concert, the Buddha asked him: "What are the consequences when the string is too tight or when it's too losse?" Sronakotivimsa replied: "When the string is too loose, it cannot be played; when it is too tight, it breaks easily."
The Buddha used his answer as a teaching moment for his disciples when he said: "Monks, spiritual growth and evolution is much like playing a string instrument: it should not be too loose nor too tight. We should only follow the middle path." Perhaps today the Buddha would use the word "moderation" or the phrase "be a moderate".
Some ways for us to live in moderation can be applied to areas such as:
The Buddha used his answer as a teaching moment for his disciples when he said: "Monks, spiritual growth and evolution is much like playing a string instrument: it should not be too loose nor too tight. We should only follow the middle path." Perhaps today the Buddha would use the word "moderation" or the phrase "be a moderate".
Some ways for us to live in moderation can be applied to areas such as:
- Work. We need to work in order to live, not live in order to work. A daily or weekly schedule can and should include work along with leisure which allows time for meditation, exercise, socializing.
- Diet. Rather than constantly moving from one fad diet to another, it would be smarter and simpler to eat healthy meals in moderation.
- Politics. Rather than maintain rigid positions embrace some flexibility. Challenge yourself to see other points of view and why people hold those.
- Technology and social media. These are absolutely wonderful modern innovations but they should serve us and become sources of toxicity and negativity.
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To discover a system for the avoidance of war is a vital need for our civilization; but no such system has a chance while men are so unhappy that mutual extermination seems to them less dreadful than continued endurance of the light of day.
- Bertrand Russell
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What is the use of making everybody rich if the rich themselves are miserable.
- Bertrand Russell
- Bertrand Russell
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Bardo is the Tibetan word which means "gap" or "transition". Specifically, it is used to describe the journey a person makes after death but but before taking a new birth. The bardo between death and rebirth is considered an auspicious opportunity for enlightenment. Thus, Tibetan Buddhists offer a 49 day meditation practice called Sukhavati to help guide a deceased person to a higher rebirth.
More generally, a bardo state can refer to any time in a person's life where there is one door closes and there is a waiting for a new door to open. All of us experience such gaps or transitions. We go through man such personal bardo times. Some examples include: the ending of a significant relationship, job loss, graduation from university, moving to a new community, children growing up and leaving home.
Often these life moment's generate anxiety and stress. Yet, it can help to remind ourselves that this is a normal, natural life pattern, the movement from an ending to a beginning, from one place to another, from one chapter to a new chapter and ultimately, from death to life. Remind your self that transition means movement. It's not a dead end.
When we truly know that with every ending there is also renewal,
we begin to relax. Our minds become open to the process of change.
- Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
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Humanity seems to have put too much trust in science and technology, as if they were the sole designers of our ideal life, and we have become increasingly dependent on them to the neglect of individual development. - P. A. Payutto
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The Buddha said that his teaching are like medicine because they are able to cure us of our chronic misuse of the mind. - Hsing Yun
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The importance of inner freedom is that it frees our thinking from bias. When the mind is freed from bias, our intelligence is pure, our thinking is clear, and we are able to look at things as they really are. - P. A. Payutto
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Any people who are to govern their country must first know how to govern themselves. If the individual members of society are incapable of governing themselves, they will be incapable of governing each other or governing the country. - P. A. Payutto
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In India the cow is a highly venerated animal. It is the recipient of adoration and worship by Hindus and Yogis for a variety of reasons including the following six:
- The cow symbolizes the Divine because it is gentle and generous providing milk, ghee and fertilizer for fields. It provides these in abundance and without complaint.
- The cow gives more than she takes.
- The cow lives simply on the planet using nothing more than water, grass and grain.
- The cow, by her gentle, tolerant nature exemplifies a cardinal virtue of Hinduism, that of ahimsa (non-harming and non-violence).
- The cow instills in humans virtues of gentleness, generosity, and connection with nature.
- The cow is ever giving and under demanding.
(public domain photo from www.pixabay.com)