Indra's Net

sova

Hi everyone,

In trying to dissolve my deeply-seated self-grasping I find it helpful to reflect on metaphors and analogies that really show how interconnected all beings are whether or not it's apparent on the surface.

Indra's Net is one such metaphor...

What do you guys use to remind you? Sometimes a poem or a quote can help break down the wall. Sometimes it's a smile.

Keep your mind on your merit and your merit on your mind / spritually inclined snoop dawg

ajhayes

My dad used to tell me "don't do anything dumb" before I left the house. I look at the tattoo that I got, in his handwriting (about a year after he passed), or say it doing an impression of his voice and it makes me smile.

Jeffrey

ok now someone has to do a Buddhist rap video haha

i think one way of thinking of it is that you will be here in this here Buddhism until all sentient beings are awakened. like for real and not just a vibe.

Earthninja

I try and remind myself that all beings suffer, the ones who do the worst things are the ones who suffer the greatest.

DairyLama

I rather like the Butterfly Effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect

Shoshin

Similar to @SpinyNorman's "The Pebble In "The Pond Effect" The 'Thoughts' = Pebbles....The 'Words' =Pebbles ....The 'Deeds' = Pebbles ...

David

Call Me by My True Names

Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time
to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to
Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea
pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and
loving.

I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my
hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to, my
people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all
walks of life.
My pain if like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.

Thich Nhat Hanh