Best Of
Re: Season's Greetings From Down under
Enlightenment - The Awakening
As easy as enjoying a cup of tea,
As difficult as climbing Everest alone with both hands tied behind your back and your feet hobbled and no equipment.
It is said an eight year old Dragon King's daughter did it in an instant
And a man who struggled through many kalpas failed.
A man approached a leader of a certain Buddhist organization. The man, a well educated person, said that he had studied the organization, the teachings for twenty years. He stated that the teaching were indeed beautiful and he could see the positive effects of the teaching in the practitioners, but still did not understand how they manifest. The leader (better described as a mentor) listened. Then he said, "You have studied the theory. You have observed others. Yet you do not understand the how of it. You have done everything except to take action. Just apply all that theory and do it.
The man did....and with that, he stated, with a smile, "Now I understand."
Buddhism first presented the concept of the great ship (to cross the Sea of Suffering and reach the fine harbor of tranquility). Then presented the blueprints for the Great Ship.
Then built the Great Ship to in fact carry everyone. (One could say that a vast fleet of Great Ships have been built.)
The captain beckons all to board the Great Ship, together to hoist the sails of practice, man the helm of study, and follow the compass of faith over the Sea of Suffering to the Harbor of Tranquility.
We practice to make the cause.
We study to understand the practice.
As we practice and study, our faith become a reality and grows stronger
Through this triad of Practice, Study, and Faith, we awaken the Buddha within, we become enlightened,...As We Are.
Simple - Easy - Difficult.
Peace to All
Lionduck
Re: For the coming year
My resolution is not a resolution, but a determination to continue to smile more, laugh more, to express my humanism more through personal actions, visible and invisible. To be the best I can be.
And when I stumble, to get right back up and continue from where am.
I will continue strive to positively encourage others, through my words and deeds.
My goal is to make the world even a tiny bit better for my having walked within and upon it - every year, every day.
Eveyone, enjoy your life. May you fill it with gratitude for what you have, with compassion, empathy, understanding and love of self that expands to love others and your world. May your love enable you to strive to make the world even a bit better.
May your New Year be a happy and prosperous one with many more to follow.
Peace to All
Lionduck
Re: Season's Greetings From Down under
Here it’s 42 minutes to midnight and the continuous fireworks bangs and explosions are keeping me awake. Dastardly young curmudgeons! If I hadn’t had my three-hour beauty sleep between six and nine I don’t know how I’d cope…
Jeroen
Re: Season's Greetings From Down under
In the Netherlands we group the last day of the old year and the first day of the new year together and call it “Oud en Nieuw”, when we celebrate the changing of the year. On New Years Day there is a bit of a tradition to go out for a drink in a cafe in the afternoon, de “Nieuwjaars borrel”. It’s all good fun…
Jeroen
Re: On having an Enemy
On having an Enemy
The mind can be one’s worst enemy or one’s best friend, the choice is up to us.
When we believe every thought, the mind becomes an enemy. When we learn to observe our thoughts, question them, and choose which ones deserve our energy, the mind becomes a trusted friend.
The most essential method which includes all other methods is to behold the Mind.
The Mind is the root from which all things grow.
If you can understand the Mind, everything else is included.
~Bodhidharma~
Shoshin1
Re: Poem for the day
In the Middle
In a Way, that has no Middle
But dances through Time and Space
Life surrounds
Abounds
And all of death peers near
and far
By fleeting chance We become
And fade
without aid
Do not hold to the moment
the turmoil
let it slip like oil
into the earth
dust and ashes
froth and fury
over
lobster
Re: Season's Greetings From Down under
Well, I don’t really mind it. When the music says “it’s the most wonderful time of the year” why argue. The only thing I avoid is the stress. I do the minimum to prepare… I buy some nice treats, I put up the fake Christmas tree, I buy a few simple gifts like chocolates or flowering plants.
Jeroen
Re: Season's Greetings From Down under
@Shoshin1 said:
For many of our clients, putting food on the table each week is already a struggle. This time of year simply adds another layer of stress for families who are barely making ends meet.
It’s good work you do, @Shoshin1, very worthy. We have food banks here as well, for those people who have difficulty getting by, and I have great admiration for the volunteers who take care of the packages there.
Jeroen
Re: Season's Greetings From Down under
Nowadays, Christmas and many other so-called religious holidays have become a money-making capitalist enterprise, nothing more, nothing less. For me it is just another day, nothing special, and if the weather is good I go to the beach to worship the sun and the sea.
Where I work, we help people sort out their debts by working with clients and their creditors. It is a free service, and we also operate the local food bank.
In the lead-up to Christmas each year, we set aside a room at the office where people can donate children’s Christmas presents for families who are struggling financially. The local Rotary club also donates supermarket cards so families can buy essential items.
About a week before Christmas, families with children begin coming in to choose presents and receive a supermarket card. At the same time, people continue to come in daily for food assistance.
For many of our clients, putting food on the table each week is already a struggle. This time of year simply adds another layer of stress for families who are barely making ends meet.
Shoshin1