Topic: Buddhist sayings

[Jahn]

The other side doesn't care very much. It is happy to sit and watch the world pass by, in whatever struggling situation I find myself in. That is the underlying principle, to which I agree with Hakuin. I'm really just filling in time until my life comes to an end.

I do think that Haukin really cared, and was wise (filled with love - and therefore this decision of him).
When they accused him for being the father, he saw the painful truth, he wasn't the father, and he knew this - on the other hand if he hadn't accepted the fatherhood, the pregnant girl would be put in an even more pressed situation. It was bad as it was. So Haukin simply says: Is that so.

Then he work accordingly, as a warrior to do the best of the situation. It is meaningless work in our Eyes, because he is not the father, but it is meaningful work for Haukin, in his struggles to get out of Sansara.

The great point of the story is the adjustment back to reality, Haukin is not the father and when the family tell him that, he replies identical to the first reply: Is that so.

So the folly of the world is accepted and dealt with by the enlightened Haukin, when the folly becomes insight, the insight is accepted by Haukin, and the farce is over, and Haukin has got several steps forward in his Quest, just by being on his toes and aware.

[erik]

We can definitely change the world-but the problem is that we seem unable to smile. When chaos manifests in our lives we can smile-which is the cure for resentful confusion. If you can grin at your own chaos, then you will have authentic pervasive compassion for the chaos of existence.

[erik]

In a dualistic, distorted relationship with energy, form is forced as an experience, ignoring emptiness. Energy does not change when you let go of manipulation, but your relationship with it changes - you are able to experience energy from the perspective of nonduality, you are able to experience the energy directly.

[erik]

Interesting statement.

Samsara exists because of duality. It can easily cease to exist in the moment through changing your view. Dwelling in the natural state would not mean that you lack the ability to act - your actions would be totally appropriate and compassionate. It is possible to be destructive where the situation requires it without this being out-of-control energy. It is possible to make a stand without justification and self protective posturing. To dwell in the natural state would be to be a Dharma warrior.

[erik]

If you hear the sound of the birds outside--if you really hear them--then you'll hear Guru Rinpoche's mantra. If you hear this way, you will know the results of the development and completion stages--and Dzogchen is possible.

[erik]

Buddhism is not a religion of truth-it is a religion of method. Its teachings are not overly concerned with expressing truth-but with methods of practice.

[erik]

In our practice of kindness it is valuable not to speculate concerning the motivation of others. Voicing one’s personal criticisms of what we imagine to be the motivation of other individuals is merely the expression of subjectivity.

[erik]

The base, or starting point, of Buddhism is a nagging feeling that something about the way we live is subtly askew – and consequent curiosity about what else might be possible. It is not that there is something particularly wrong with life: dissatisfaction with jobs, marriages, or circumstances. On the one hand, we recognise that such situations can be improved with effort. On the other hand, it seems that no amount of improvement will resolve life completely. We may have experienced some successes, yet there seems to be something tenuous about them. A repeating cycle of identifying areas of dissatisfaction and fixing them is not a history upon which we would reminisce with relish.

[Ke-ke wan]

In our practice of kindness it is valuable not to speculate concerning the motivation of others. Voicing one’s personal criticisms of what we imagine to be the motivation of other individuals is merely the expression of subjectivity.

Agreed

[erik]

Practitioners practice. It is what they do. Sometimes it may feel that there is no point in sitting today, and then again tomorrow, and the next day...and the next...It is meaningful even when it feels meaningless because it sustains you as a practitioner.

[erik]

Anyone who believes anything, at some level, makes the choice to believe. If we make the choice to believe because there’s a spiritually materialistic payoff in believing, then as soon as the payoff ceases to function we lose our belief. With rebirth, I would say that there is a grave danger of the payoff being connected with emotional comfort of some kind and that is deadly in terms of an authentic Buddhist practice. Buddhism is not actually emotionally comfortable in terms of the need to experience continuity. If we are to call ourselves Buddhists we have to accept the practice of discovering that we are discontinuous – that the ‘I’ is momentary.

[Firestarter]

In our practice of kindness it is valuable not to speculate concerning the motivation of others. Voicing one’s personal criticisms of what we imagine to be the motivation of other individuals is merely the expression of subjectivity.

Do you believe this?

[Ke-ke wan]

Do you believe this?

I wondered that myself

[Firestarter]

I would like an answer to this.

[erik]

I would like an answer to this.

Yes. With the emphasis on 'speculate' and 'imagine'.