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What are your priorities?

lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
My priorities are Buddhahood (by year end 2013) and . . . well that is it actually . . .
Is dharma your life centre? Is day to day survival enough to contend with? Maybe they are part of the same thing?

How are you getting on with your priorities?

Comments

  • Hi Lobster :)

    I am slightly confused, as the small amount of reading i have done so far contradicts what you have wrote int his post by expressing to gain buddhahood by 2013.

    The small amount of reading i have done so far led me to believe, some can't go out and become/gain "Buddhahood" it just happens, and those who have attained Buddhahood / enlightenment will not proclaim themselves to have done so. I also read someone mentioned that a common rule of thumb is: if someone is enlightened, he doesn't tell you so; and if someone tells you he is enlightened, he isn't.

    Maybe I am reading what I am reading wrong, or am just confused. If someone could clarify that would be apprciated.

    Please don't take this post as being rude, its far from it, and i really dont want it to seem that way, I just want to make sure what I am reading, is right or wrong

    Thanks!
    blu3reeInvincible_summer
  • ZeroZero Veteran
    lobster said:


    Is dharma your life centre?
    Is day to day survival enough to contend with?
    Maybe they are part of the same thing?

    It is the borders - there's a centre in there somewhere.
    day to day survival is all I have - enough to be content with when not contending.
    maybe? doubt it otherwise!
  • (1) I have a reading program I've prepared for myself of sutras and supplementary reading (I've always been an autodidact by nature, so this is typical of me). And as I have yet to have a teacher, this will have to suffice for the moment.

    (2) To 'improve' in my concentration in zazen and to deepen my awareness in my day-to-day activities and interactions. To bring my zazen more OFF the cushion and into all my activities.

    Even to do that little will be something!

    I have created a routine of meditation now so that I am doing it twice a day now, and I am beginning to incorporate three zazen sessions during the day. I'd like to bring it up from 15 minutes each to 30 minutes (it takes my mind 10 minutes to settle a bit!).

    My job has been chaotic since I was promoted to a managerial position, but I have been trying to implement a weekday routine and a weekend routine which focueses as much as I can on the Buddhadharma. And if you saw the loft I live in, with all the stuff I DON'T have, it is like being a secular monk! (I have a mattress, a desk, a stool and one small bookshelf--I've always been a minimalist and an admirer of Thoreau)

    I am working (yet again) on my version of the Daodejing with commentary (which is really more a Huayen Buddhist approach to the Daodejing). I'd like to have the first draft completed by the end of the year of the translation, maybe even the commentary.

    Oh, and I've been vegetarian for three weeks now too!
    Invincible_summerMaryAnne
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    make sure what I am reading, is right or wrong
    The Buddha declared himself to be awake. Some do make this declaration, 'the lions roar'. It depend on our approach, wisdom and skilfulness. Declaring oneself as enlightened is very problematic and not generally anything more than arrogance, delusion, a scam, irrelevant etc.

    Maybe I should take a lax approach. 'Failure' is an option . . .
    Oh the humanity . . .
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Morrison_(announcer)

    What you are reading is not all that is available but generally speaking, it is indeed right . . .
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    Being present seems to be mine.
    MaryAnne
  • I'm just fighting off my hallucinatory voices, hope those go away. And I want to keep my meditation and studying of course. Also I hope my friend a Christian nun gets pain free from her stroke and I want to continue to visit her instead of getting too lazy to go out. I also want to gradually build up to 30 minute meditations. I switched to Burmese so hopefully I can correct the problem of numb legs. The local zen center does 30 minute sits and I want to 'sit in' with them.
    lobsterMaryAnne
  • TheswingisyellowTheswingisyellow Trying to be open to existence Samsara Veteran
    Meditate, read the dhamma, incorporate it in my life, and be a worthy example for my children.
    All the best,
    Todd
  • robotrobot Veteran
    I have a pair of my boxer shorts set aside to eat if @lobster is the next Buddha this year.
    Chopped and steamed with oyster sauce. Or maybe in a curry on steamed rice.
    Invincible_summerZendoLord84lobsterMaryAnne
  • I just want to live a normal life.
    Meditate a bit and read some on the dhamma.
    MaryAnne
  • my basic priorities are:

    1. My Family and their well-being (particularly my elderly parents)
    2. Me- and trying my best to live this Life emotionally balanced, healthy and with grace and gratitude, by enhancing all that is the Buddha within....

    Really- that's it! :)
  • Lee82Lee82 Veteran

    I just want to live a normal life.
    Meditate a bit and read some on the dhamma.

    What expectations do you have of a "normal" life?

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