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It is good to inquire and investigate. However, if your spend your entire life inquiring and investigating, you will never reach the ultimate purpose of life. Some pitta people spend their lives inquiring - changing gurus, mantras and relationships - and they end up with confusion and lack of clarity. Still they inquire. This is not to say that one should not inquire. Make inquiries. At some point, it is time to stop inquiring and jump in the faculty that is inquiring which is the inquirer. Then the mind ends and one enters into bliss. - Vasant Lad
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FASTING FROM
people,
gossip,
small talk,
technology,
employment,
can be life changing.
- Victor M. Parachin
people,
gossip,
small talk,
technology,
employment,
can be life changing.
- Victor M. Parachin
- Published on
Buddhism stresses the importance of kalyana mitra which translates to spiritual friend or noble friend, admirable friend, virtuous friend. A spiritual friend involves more than merely someone to spend time with, though it can include that, but connotes a person who inspires, supports, and guides us on the path to awakening and evolving.
Spiritual friendship is so important that in the Pali Canon’s Upaddha Sutta a significant conversation between the Buddha and his closest companion, Ananda, is recorded. Sensing that the aged Buddha will not be with the community much longer, Ananda seeks clarification about following a spiritual path. He asks: “Am I correct in believing that having admirable friendship, admirable companionship and spiritual friendship is half of the path?” The Buddha responded: “No, Ananda, that is not half of the path. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, spiritual friendship is actually the whole path.” This explanation helped Ananda understand the critical importance of having supportive relationships based on shared Buddhist teachings and the pursuit of awakening.
Such friendships are equally important for both monks and lay Buddhists. It is common, when someone embraces a Buddhist way of life, that relation shifts begin to occur naturally whereby former companions with whom one participated in more materialistic, pleasure oriented gatherings such as eating, drinking alcohol, and partying are replaced by those whose values and interests are more virtuous, noble, admirable, spiritual and supportive of Buddhist values.
Try this exercise: close your eyes, take a few deep inhales and exhales and then on each exhale list one spiritual friend (you can include a spiritual author). If you just have two or three, you ought to consider finding ways of developing more spiritual friends into your life.
Spiritual friendship is so important that in the Pali Canon’s Upaddha Sutta a significant conversation between the Buddha and his closest companion, Ananda, is recorded. Sensing that the aged Buddha will not be with the community much longer, Ananda seeks clarification about following a spiritual path. He asks: “Am I correct in believing that having admirable friendship, admirable companionship and spiritual friendship is half of the path?” The Buddha responded: “No, Ananda, that is not half of the path. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, spiritual friendship is actually the whole path.” This explanation helped Ananda understand the critical importance of having supportive relationships based on shared Buddhist teachings and the pursuit of awakening.
Such friendships are equally important for both monks and lay Buddhists. It is common, when someone embraces a Buddhist way of life, that relation shifts begin to occur naturally whereby former companions with whom one participated in more materialistic, pleasure oriented gatherings such as eating, drinking alcohol, and partying are replaced by those whose values and interests are more virtuous, noble, admirable, spiritual and supportive of Buddhist values.
Try this exercise: close your eyes, take a few deep inhales and exhales and then on each exhale list one spiritual friend (you can include a spiritual author). If you just have two or three, you ought to consider finding ways of developing more spiritual friends into your life.
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One Western person must attain full enlightenment in the same way as Marpa, Milarepa, or Guru Rinpoche [Padmasambhava, Indian founder of Tibetan Buddhism]. If one Westerner—man or woman, doesn’t matter—attains that level of realization, then pure dharma will be established in Western culture, Western language, and environment, and so forth. Until that time, dharma can be taught in the West, which is already happening; it can be practiced in the West, which is already happening; and it can be recited in Western languages. But it’s not yet one hundred percent complete. Only with the presence of great mahasiddhas like Guru Rinpoche, Marpa, and Milarepa did dharma become established in Tibet. After that, dharma flourished within its own culture and language and has lasted to this day. - Tai Situpa
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The Canadian government has revoked the honorary citizenship of Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The motion, which the parliament passed unanimously, was a rebuke to Suu Kyi’s handling of the Rohingya crisis, in which military violence has forced more than 700,000 people from the Muslim ethnic minority to flee the country. Salma Zahid, a member of parliament representing Scarborough Center in Ontario, said on Twitter that Suu Kyi’s “unwillingness to take any moral leadership for the genocide of the Rohingya in her country is inexcusable, and deeply disappointing.”
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Welcome with equanimity all sensations - the pleasant, the less pleasant, the unpleasant - with benevolent indifference. Don't dwell on the pleasant or on the unpleasant. Let them come. Let them go. These are only currents of energy crossing the field of consciousness. - Francis Lucille
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Humanity needs to win over the madness that the Supreme Being loves only those human beings who believe in a certain book and condemns all others to eternal hellfire.
- Maria Wirth
- Maria Wirth
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Several years ago, Thich Nhat Hanh invited a group of Palestinians and Israelis to spend two weeks at his center in France, Plum Village. At the end of their stay, the whole community gathered together and our visitors stood up and gave this report:
“Dear community, when we first came to Plum Village we couldn’t believe it. Plum Village did not look real to us because it is so peaceful. In Plum Village, we did not feel the kind of anger, tension and fear that we feel constantly in the Middle East. People look at each other with kind eyes, they speak to each other lovingly. There is peace, there is communication and there is brotherhood and sisterhood.”
Thich Nhat Hanh says it "didn't take much" to effect this transformation between ancient adversaries. "Honestly, it didn't take much. We just embraced these friends from the Middle East as brothers and sisters."
“Dear community, when we first came to Plum Village we couldn’t believe it. Plum Village did not look real to us because it is so peaceful. In Plum Village, we did not feel the kind of anger, tension and fear that we feel constantly in the Middle East. People look at each other with kind eyes, they speak to each other lovingly. There is peace, there is communication and there is brotherhood and sisterhood.”
Thich Nhat Hanh says it "didn't take much" to effect this transformation between ancient adversaries. "Honestly, it didn't take much. We just embraced these friends from the Middle East as brothers and sisters."
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If you should find yourself a wise companion, well behaved and trustworthy, together you may overcome all dangers. So, wander with him, satisfied and mindful.
But if you cannot find a wise companion, well behaved and trustworthy, then, like a king who leaves behind his kingdom, wander alone like a rhinoceros.
—Buddha Shakyamuni, Rhinoceros Sutra
But if you cannot find a wise companion, well behaved and trustworthy, then, like a king who leaves behind his kingdom, wander alone like a rhinoceros.
—Buddha Shakyamuni, Rhinoceros Sutra
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The world today has both great technological progress on one side but growing inequality and unhappiness on the other. There are major social problems like drug addiction, breakdown of the family, social and national divisions, and rampant commercialization. Vedic knowledge teaches you to lead a life based on dharmic values, which is integrated with nature. Dharmic teachings have a lot to offer to humanity for a more peaceful world. The world is looking to India for spiritual guidance. The goal of life is to understand the eternal and the infinite, the universe as a whole, and this is part of the Vedic vision and its many systems of knowledge and practice. - Dr. David Frawley