The quote above uses “restraint” as an alternate translation for “discipline” but, not knowing the Pāli, I choose discipline because it seems to convey a more additive meaning. In other words, restraint seems to denote a subtracting of action, a holding back whereas discipline implies something undertaken that’s above and beyond the normal. For me, discipline speaks to going against the stream of quotidian and mundane inertia. Which do you like better?
Posted in Buddha, Buddha Vacana, Buddhism, Daily Practice, Dhamma, Theravada | Tags: Dhammapada, discipline, restraint
What good is complaining in a world that is completely out of control? All things are impermanent, unsatisfactory and beyond our control (not ours, not self). What good, then does complaining about it do? Sure, you can advert to the presence of dukkha but complaining it is a step too far.
“What blows do athletes receive on their faces and all over their bodies! Nevertheless, through their desire for fame they endure every torture, and they undergo these things not only because they are fighting but in order to be able to fight. Their very training means torture. So let us also win the way to victory in all our struggles – for the reward is not a garland or a palm or a trumpeter who calls for silence at the proclamation of our names, but rather virtue, steadfastness of soul, and a peace that is won for all time, if fortune has once been utterly vanquished in any combat.”
– Seneca to Lucilius, LXXVIII. On the Healing Power of the Mind, 16
There is a passage in the Canon that compares the pains and suffering a lay person endures just trying to make a living with the suffering of the holy life. The quote above send to come from the same place and has sent my mind off thinking in another direction.
Certainly, we can be willing to suffer for myriad foolish aims but when we’re pursuing higher goals we often find ourselves too tired or too busy. Specifically, I often find that I don’t seem to have the energy to meditate at night or to get in a final workout. Both of these should be of the utmost importance: the former simply because I cannot hope to walk the path towards liberation without it and the latter to avoid becoming a burden on anyone.
My son was asking me how I can read stories at night about ghosts and demons without being scared. I tried to explain to him as much as myself that I don’t fear these things or anything that can hurt my body as long as I am pure in terms of my intentions. If I’m not doing harm through body, speech or mind and I have confidence in the Triple Gem, what is there to fear?
This body is subject to aging, illness and death. I will lose all that is dear and appealing to me and will fall heir to all that I do, say and think. This is samsara. What is there to fear but our own defilements?
Posted in Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Theravada, Tibetan Buddhism | Tags: kusala kamma, Milarepa, regret, remorse
Whenever I’m in the company of others,
I will regard myself as the lowest among all,
And from the depths of my heart
Cherish others as supreme.
https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/geshe-langri-thangpa/eight-verses-training-mind
Posted in Bodhisattvayana, Buddha, Buddhism, Dhamma, Lojong, Tibetan Buddhism | Tags: Chrishing others, loving-kindness
Gain and loss, fame and disgrace,
praise and blame, and pleasure and pain.
•
These qualities among people are impermanent,
transient, and perishable.
•
A clever and mindful person knows these things,
seeing that they’re perishable.
•
Desirable things don’t disturb their mind,
nor are they repelled by the undesirable.
•
Both favoring and opposing
are cleared and ended, they are no more.
•
Knowing the stainless, sorrowless state,
they understand rightly, going beyond rebirth.
•
Lokavipatti Sutta AN 8.6
Posted in Buddha, Buddha Vacana, Buddhism, Dhamma, Theravada, Upekkha | Tags: eight worldly winds, Nibbana
I’ve done it to myself again: I’ve invested too much in the external world, politics to be exact, and have been burned once more. I somehow believe that my opinion is the correct one. I really do think I am right and the thousands of people voting for Biden are wrong. When will I realize that what I think ought to be has no necessary relation to how things are?
And, even if I am somehow “right,” what does it matter? What if people ought to support Bernie Sanders? Does that mean those who don’t are worthy of contempt? How silly of me. Perhaps it’s time to recognize that my view is one among myriad and that political opinion does little good any way you look at it. Perhaps it’s time to refocus my efforts on being a better person and clarifying Right View rather than arguing about kings and thieves.
Long life
can’t be gotten with wealth,
nor aging
warded off with treasure.
The wise say this life
is next to nothing —
impermanent,
subject to change.
This time of plague and uncertainty is ideal for waking up. We are constantly reminded that there is no solid ground. That Venerable Kondañña’s insight is just as true today as it was 2500 years ago. May I boot squander this like in unabated pursuit of sense pleasures.
Posted in Anicca, Buddha, Buddha Vacana, Buddhism, Dhamma, Theravada | Tags: impermanence, Ratthapala, suffering
“Protecting oneself, one protects others.” (Attanam rakkhanto param rakkhati.)
“Protecting others, one protects oneself.” (Param rakkhanto attanam rakkhati.)
—Satipatthana Samyutta, No. 19
Posted in Buddha, Buddha Vacana, Buddhism, Dhamma, Theravada | Tags: protecting oneself, protection others, self-care
Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man’s power to live long.
What does it mean to live nobly? To be a hero? To do great things? To protect the weak? To fight for justice? Well, I’m sure it can mean all of those things but for me, a noble life is one dedicated to the pursuit of virtue, generosity and wisdom.
Am I living a noble life now? If such a life consists of the constant striving towards those goals rather than one’s attainment thereof, then, it is quite possible that my life is being lived as nobly as is possible at present. And, yet, there is something that’s not quite right about that assertion. Call it fear of complacency or pride, but it almost seems too much to say that my life is being lived nobly. Perhaps I’ll settle for living my life in pursuit of path of the Noble Ones (the arahants).
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