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Let me respectfully remind you,
Life and Death are of extreme importance.
Time passes swiftly by, and opportunity is lost.
Each of you should strive to awaken, awaken.
Take heed . . do not squander your lives.
Life and Death are of extreme importance.
Time passes swiftly by, and opportunity is lost.
Each of you should strive to awaken, awaken.
Take heed . . do not squander your lives.
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In an eye catching magazine article headline - “Where Do Buddhas Go After they Die? A Lesson on How to Waste One’s Time” - Vanessa Sasson, a professor of religious studies explains that question is often asked by students who take her course on Buddhism is this one: “What happens when a buddha achieves Awakening? Where does he go?” The question refers to a time when the samsara cycle of birth, death and rebirth end freeing a fully awakened individual merges into ‘nirvana’. To answer that question, Sasson relates a time decades ago when she was a youth visiting India and a spiritual seeker. She was sitting in on a class taught by an elderly Tibetan monk whose lecture was being simultaneously translated into English by a female teaching assistant.
Sasson raised her hand and asked the monk: “If we are all moving forward through samsara, does this mean that we will all eventually achieve Awakening? And if so, what happens then? Does the world explode if there is no one left in it? Where do we all go?” Here’s how Sasson described the monk’s response: “The teacher eyed me carefully, then stood up and did the strangest thing. He barked at me in Tibetan for what seemed to be an eternity, and then stormed out of the room.” The entire class was stunned into a silent embarrassment and then Sasson asked the interpreter: “What did he just say?”
She paused, took a deep breath and replied: “He said, ‘What is wrong with all you Westerners? Why do you always want to know the end of the story?! Are you awakened yet? I don’t think so. So instead of worrying about the end of the story, just work on getting awakened now. You will find out how it works when you get there!’” Then the elderly monk stormed out of the lecture to reinforce how important it was to understand that not every question can be answered; that sometimes we have to focus on the task before us and not what is in the distant future.
Here’s how Vanessa Ssson interprets her experience with that elderly monk: “At the time, I didn’t know what to do with the experience. I mulled it over, thought about it repeatedly, felt bad about it often, but most of the time I just wondered. But years later, I have come to love his reply. I now realize that this monk, whose name I do not remember, whose story I know nothing about, smashed a vajra sword over my head with that reply. He told me to abandon my quest for a logical explanation where mythical narratives are concerned; to stop worrying about how it all works and instead focus on the important stuff. The point is to attain Awakening, not to figure out the system. Because cosmic mechanics are not the point.”
(source: www.buddhistdoor.net)
Sasson raised her hand and asked the monk: “If we are all moving forward through samsara, does this mean that we will all eventually achieve Awakening? And if so, what happens then? Does the world explode if there is no one left in it? Where do we all go?” Here’s how Sasson described the monk’s response: “The teacher eyed me carefully, then stood up and did the strangest thing. He barked at me in Tibetan for what seemed to be an eternity, and then stormed out of the room.” The entire class was stunned into a silent embarrassment and then Sasson asked the interpreter: “What did he just say?”
She paused, took a deep breath and replied: “He said, ‘What is wrong with all you Westerners? Why do you always want to know the end of the story?! Are you awakened yet? I don’t think so. So instead of worrying about the end of the story, just work on getting awakened now. You will find out how it works when you get there!’” Then the elderly monk stormed out of the lecture to reinforce how important it was to understand that not every question can be answered; that sometimes we have to focus on the task before us and not what is in the distant future.
Here’s how Vanessa Ssson interprets her experience with that elderly monk: “At the time, I didn’t know what to do with the experience. I mulled it over, thought about it repeatedly, felt bad about it often, but most of the time I just wondered. But years later, I have come to love his reply. I now realize that this monk, whose name I do not remember, whose story I know nothing about, smashed a vajra sword over my head with that reply. He told me to abandon my quest for a logical explanation where mythical narratives are concerned; to stop worrying about how it all works and instead focus on the important stuff. The point is to attain Awakening, not to figure out the system. Because cosmic mechanics are not the point.”
(source: www.buddhistdoor.net)
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Beware of the negative ways of giving: giving others worries, giving others sadness, giving others embarrassment and giving others problems. - Hsing Yun
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I think that we’ve become very disconnected from the natural world and many of us, what we’re guilty of is an egocentric worldview, the belief that we’re the center of the universe. We go into the natural world and we plunder it for its resources. We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and when she gives birth, we steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. And then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal. And I think we fear the idea of personal change because we think that we have to sacrifice something to give something up.
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The world we are living in is impermanent. It changes from better to worse and vice versa. You have to develop determination of mind. You have to apply your mental power, what you might call good old-fashioned willpower. - Gehlek Rimpoche
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1. United Arab Emirates
2. Qatar
3. Saudi Arabia
4. India
5. Oman
6. Egypt
7. Morocco
8. South Korea
9. Sri Lanka
10. Jordan
2. Qatar
3. Saudi Arabia
4. India
5. Oman
6. Egypt
7. Morocco
8. South Korea
9. Sri Lanka
10. Jordan
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Life fulfillment, happiness and success eludes the majority of people. Why? Not because they are lacking in talent or knowledge but because they are lacking in patience. Without patience we humans give up prematurely. Here's an example from Michael Imperioli, actor ( The Sopranos) and screen writer:
“When I went to acting school I thought that in a couple of months I’d start working on TV and be making all kinds of money – I was that stupid. It was four years before I got a part in a play, which didn’t pay any money, and then another four years after that before I started making a living. If I
had known how long it would take, I don’t know if I would have done it.”
“When I went to acting school I thought that in a couple of months I’d start working on TV and be making all kinds of money – I was that stupid. It was four years before I got a part in a play, which didn’t pay any money, and then another four years after that before I started making a living. If I
had known how long it would take, I don’t know if I would have done it.”
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Remember that religion is supposed to be a path for afull human development, not, as it too often seems to be, a restrictive and narrow minded ideology that makes you feel as if you have an exclusive purchase on the truth. - Norman Fischer
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A skill to learn, something to cultivate, is that when there are differences to try to
really understand the other person from his or her position. - Godwin Samarartne
really understand the other person from his or her position. - Godwin Samarartne
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Accepting reality does not mean being pessimistic. Accepting reality means we do everything we ought to do in a positive way and with unlimited hope for the best outcome. - Hsing Yun