Don’t let hatred destroy your practice

Jeroen

I found this article quite interesting...

https://www.lionsroar.com/dont-let-hatred-destroy-your-practice/

In this text, one reads that the generation of anger or hatred, even for a single instant, has the capacity to destroy virtues collected over a thousand aeons. Another text, Entry into the Middle Way by Chandrakirti, states that a single instant of anger or hatred will destroy virtues accumulated over a hundred aeons.

Perhaps one for friend @lobster ...

how

One Buddhist aeon = the time taken to erode a huge rock measuring 1x1x1 mile by brushing it with a silk cloth, once every century).

Should we describe that suffering occurs from any indulging in greed, hate or delusion?
Certainly!
Should that description be bombastically un provable and referenced against the fragility of virtues accrued over time periods that far exceed the creation of earths organic life.

Not if we actually want our cognitive intelligence to be part of our understanding of the Buddha/Dharma.

Do we think that a repeating of words that we should fundamentally know to be untrue is somehow less of a destroyer of virtues than is a generation of anger?

lobster

Thanks for thinking of my well being @Kerome 💗

Will continue to hate
trump, racists, ignorance and demons, despite the risks.

also will be saving every last blade of grass according to Mahayana extreme love in procedure

I iz hopeless case ... 😌💗🦞

person

@how said:
One Buddhist aeon = the time taken to erode a huge rock measuring 1x1x1 mile by brushing it with a silk cloth, once every century).

Should we describe that suffering occurs from any indulging in greed, hate or delusion?
Certainly!
Should that description be bombastically un provable and referenced against the fragility of virtues accrued over time periods that far exceed the creation of earths organic life.

Not if we actually want our cognitive intelligence to be part of our understanding of the Buddha/Dharma.

Do we think that a repeating of words that we should fundamentally know to be untrue is somehow less of a destroyer of virtues than is a generation of anger?

Yeah, whenever I've heard that it always seemed hopelessly hyperbolic. If it were literally true the Buddhist path of accumulating positive merit would be utterly hopeless.

If I try to find the signal among the noise I'd say it is trying to point out the danger hatred poses to the one who hates.

Shoshin

Don’t let hatred destroy your practice

I think the whole idea of one bad apple spoiling the bunch (the article) is designed to motivate practitioners to put effort into their practice...always looking to improve...to do better than before...

I see hatred & anger on a sliding scale, which goes from subtle/slight aversion (one end) to gross/heavy/full on blind rage (the other end)

and both it would seem, comes from dissatisfaction with what 'is'...things are not going the way one would like them to go...AKA the many faces of Dukkha...

Mindfulness from what I gather is the key to unlocking a calm abiding state of mind aka contentment/satisfaction....

And the awareness which arises from mindfulness practice can be liken to the mind's thought police...

The opportunities to practice mindfulness are boundless..after all ...our minds are on tap 24/7/365 we just needs to know how the turn the tap on...and.....thus have I heard...

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 one can understand the Mind...Everything else is included

~Bodhidharma~

Becoming mindful of one's thoughts words and deeds
grows a garden full of Lotuses, not a mind full of weeds
Nipping unwholesome thoughts in the bud
lets the lotus rise up through the mud

Cultivate the mind's wholesome qualities ...Well this is the plan....

Jeroen

@person said:
Yeah, whenever I've heard that it always seemed hopelessly hyperbolic. If it were literally true the Buddhist path of accumulating positive merit would be utterly hopeless.

That’s certainly true, but I think that accumulating merit is unlikely to lead to enlightenment. I don’t see it as a proces where there is some kind of cosmic ledger and a judge who awards enlightenment once you have achieved a certain total. That makes no sense to me. Which means that that path always was hopeless.

Instead, I would encourage a focus on mindfulness, on observing onesself and ones thoughts. If you can learn to see thoughts emerging from their source, you can see what causes those thoughts. You can learn to observe your emotions and what causes those emotions.

@shoshin beat me to including the Bodhidharma quote

If I try to find the signal among the noise I'd say it is trying to point out the danger hatred poses to the one who hates.

That is certainly a fair point, when possessed of anger or hatred one can do things that in your right mind you would never consider.

person

@Kerome said:

@person said:
Yeah, whenever I've heard that it always seemed hopelessly hyperbolic. If it were literally true the Buddhist path of accumulating positive merit would be utterly hopeless.

That’s certainly true, but I think that accumulating merit is unlikely to lead to enlightenment. I don’t see it as a process where there is some kind of cosmic ledger and a judge who awards enlightenment once you have achieved a certain total. That makes no sense to me. Which means that that path always was hopeless.

I think my point wasn't so much that that view is definitely the process of attaining enlightenment. Rather, that the teaching on hatred destroying merit exists in the context of that view of the path. I was primarily pointing out what I saw as an internal contradiction.

Bunks

@Kerome said:

In this text, one reads that the generation of anger or hatred, even for a single instant, has the capacity to destroy virtues collected over a thousand aeons. Another text, Entry into the Middle Way by Chandrakirti, states that a single instant of anger or hatred will destroy virtues accumulated over a hundred aeons.

Just as a counter to "a single instant of anger or hatred will destroy virtues accumulated over a hundred aeons" I present "A single recitation (of Amitabha Buddha's name) is
enough to eradicate eight billion eons of heavy karmic offences".

Maybe they can cancel each other out?

how

3 words recited to get ya a free get out of hell card?
Are karmic consequences that ephemeral or are they just inconsequential?

Maybe it's just Trump pushing me...and I don't mean to curb anyone's devotion but I think there are potential problems with not utilizing one's discernment and allowing scriptural recitations to become mindless exercises of karmic obfuscation.

Bunks

@how said:
3 words recited to get ya a free get out of hell card?
Are karmic consequences that ephemeral or are they just inconsequential?

Maybe it's just Trump pushing me...and I don't mean to curb anyone's devotion but I think there are potential problems with not utilizing one's discernment and allowing scriptural recitations to become mindless exercises of karmic obfuscation.

Each to their own I guess.....some folk may feel that the possibility of making any progress on the path in this life is almost impossible (think precepts / wholesome actions etc) so tuning in to the frequency of Amitabha Buddha can help.

Namo Amitoufo

lobster

Dear fiends friends of the bodhi wrathful and passionate Buddhas,

As we know most of us laity and sangha are human beings (strange but true). We may also find flaws in the perfect practitioner or lax human. Unless of course we are on the fantasy pathway, the buddhist dream zzz ... path

So here we are polishing or hoping for zapity doo dah awakening ...

So how do we develop passion for the Buddha dharma and controlled wrathful intensity for polishing off our hatred?

For me:

• Be gentle/accepting of others imperfections
• Be ruthless with killing our dreaming days
• Use what we have, including imagination and [insert positive and negative qualities]

Have I gone wrong again? Hate it when that happens ... wait ... no I don't ... Free at last ... not that it will

federica

@Bunks said:
Maybe they can cancel each other out?

I don't think so, it seems not...🤔

When you have two negative signs, one turns over, and they add together to make a positive.
However, if you have a positive and a negative, there is one dash left over, and the answer is negative.

😲

Pure Maths. Never lies.
Life's a bitch. 🤭

😆

(It's 'Have Fun with Random Emojis' Day!)