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Withdrawing from society
The more I learn about Buddhism the more I seem to want to just crawl into my shell and retreat from the world and everyone in it. Maybe I'm taking things too seriously but when people around me (e.g. at work) gossip, complain about the weather (I try to embrace whatever the weather provides because I try to be at one with nature), show jealously at another's good fortune etc., I find it hard to keep my mouth shut. I know I can't change the world or the people in it but I now find it hard to be around people who are not as spiritual or have the same/similar beliefs as me. I am by no means perfect but I do try really hard to follow Buddha's teachings but maybe I am missing something.
Does any of this make any sense?
Does any of this make any sense?
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Comments
It does make sense. You sound like you're noticing the suffering of others, and interpreting it as though they are lost, deluded or petty. This sounds like you have some judgement for your fellow humans. Consider that their suffering is a teacher for them, and they will gossip and become jealous and complain... until they don't.
Perhaps instead of your lips being a teacher that might advise them... maybe use your mind to simply notice their actions and look for ways to express your gratitude for how amazing and unique they are.
We all suffer until we don't, and in different ways. Be glad you've cultivated a place that can observe their actions, rather than be absorbed in the culture/social environment. Your lessons there are right under your nose, however, so don't withdraw... it will only follow you around, as its your lesson!
With warmth,
Matt
With regards to your journey, life, I would like to point out that you are still pretty young and you have a way to come along the path, so do I in fact. I am aware that you have a high intellectuality for your age, that has become obvious throughout the time I have spoken to you, but still I think your age has a role to play in all of this to a certain extent.
An Ajahn said not long ago that to live in a country which has a very low population of buddhists or to be the only buddhist you know of is actually an amazing thing. The reason being is you have a great opportunity to cultivate the teachings of the buddha and it will push you further than say if you lived in a sangha.
See these people who have started to cause you suffering as ignorant beings, because they are. It is not their fault, they are conditioned. t is similar to shouting in the face of a child who had failed an exam which had material he had never been taught. View these people as your Ajahans, your buddhist teachers. Use them to cultivate rich speech, right intention, right action, right mindfulness and right basically the whole damn 8 fold path in fact lol. Do not become recluse because that does not cultivate compassion which is so fundamental in buddhism and life, just let it go. Letting these trivial things go is rather easy when you think about it.
All the best LnP, long time no speak eh eh
What does work is to exercise your own patience and determination in your own practice. If you use the same energy to practice that you might have used in disgust or despair, you will make rapid progress. Running away into a clamp-jawed silence or a dank cave in the Himalayas is not what Buddhism is about. Buddhism is about being at peace and exercising your own true clarity. So ... practice works out better than virtue. Practice whatever practice you find attractive ... and then don't quit.
Best wishes.
And as far as your relationship goes with said people... The buddha faced the same reality as you're facing now--a world of people who suffered and created harm and such--but he didn't hide away and keep his enlightenment to himself. By your actions others can learn. The other people who act this way are not wrong, their eyes are still just squeezed closed, maybe they'll stay closed, or maybe they will open, but that is all you can do, act positively and treat others with compassion and loving-kindness. Learn from others (that is take it as a reinforcement in your path if you will) and let others learn from you (maybe by treating them in a beneficial not judgmental way, they too will learn). Rather than viewing these people as a negative influence, view them merely as what they are, people wondering around samsara blindly.
Be kind, be patient, and be true,
Ash
I feel the same way.
go to hawaii, still have mind. go to france, still have mind. go to monastery, still have mind.
have fun running, there is no escape.
:clap:
:clap:
It makes me realize that humanity is full of wise and great people.
Observing environment around , made me doubt it.
THANK YOU.
Screw it.
Genkaku, may I send you a private message?
Your mind has ill-will towards people.
To follow the Buddha's teachings is to free your mind from ill-will.
With metta
On the subject of the weather. I know it is insignificant (as Dakini mentioned) but as much as there is a part of me that is frustrated when people are so negative about it, so too do I find it frustrating when people allow a small thing like the rain to ruin their whole day. I want to tell people all about what I have found in Buddhism and how they too can find freedom from suffering etc.
I just find it hard to not want to share what I have found but if I mentioned anything 'spiritual' I would get very strange looks!!
Its not all doom and gloom though, there are a few very positive people at work too, I guess much the same as anywhere.
As Compassionate Warrior says, I can ensure that in my spare time I socialise with the right people, which I do, but its the 7 hours every day at work that I need to see in a different light.
Some great answers, thanks again.
Great people here and all around!
Even if there are a few bad seeds, there is still billions of good ones!:)