Do You Think You Are Getting Bullied Due to Your Compassion?

Many people think that after having studied Buddhism and being active in activities as well as supported Buddhism in general for many years ... even decades.... they would have a smoother life... less sickness and problems. Am I right to say that? But, no - life's cruel. Their lives are getting worse. Problems after problems besiege them. Their health deteriorate. They pray to this Buddha, that Buddha. This deity and that deity. All to no avail. They start to wonder. Some people with less faith even contemplate conversion to another religion. It may help in the beginning. But it's only going to get worse later. Convert or no convert. In Buddhism, generally we don't make promises to our believers that the Buddha will heal their sicknesses and make them well again. We don't make fantastic promises that change will start to happen once you have faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. In fact things may even get worse. As you begin your practice, you will become more sensitive to how you handle yourself and others. And it may appear to you that things are getting worse. If you are trying to develop compassion and patience, it is possible you may think that as you practice these virtues, people are treating you even more badly. However, in actually nothing has changed externally. It is only internally YOU have changed.As your virtue is being developed, this is part of the learning curve and a way of changing our previous habit patterns. As our habits changed, we may start to perceive things slightly differently. Our external situation may not yet change, but our reaction to them are now different, one of which is we no longer feel that we are being disadvantaged, or "bullied". At that time, we would be taking "compassion" to a higher level than it used to be. If we persevere through our virtue development, our difficult situation could start to see some real changes. Welcome to samsara. Brace ourselves. Karma is unmistaken. Remember that. Conversion is of no use. The good done previously has not been wasted. Develop a strong centre. Deepen our resolve. Make great vows. Develop Samatha and Vipassana. Take refuge again and again... and again. Life will not always be smooth sailing. If you like this post, you might want to check out this one - https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-practice-living-dharma.html 

#samsara #life #karma #religiousconversion

Video - Writing the Sanghata Sutra

 

Successfully uploaded the video showing myself writing the Sanghata Sutra Dharmaprayaya. From this video, you can see more clearly the gold-inked pen that I am using. www.pilotpen.com Rejoice together and share it to others to create skies of merits! 

If you like this story, you should read this post on copying the Heart Sutra to help others. 

BUDDHA AND ME: Helping Japan & Instilling Faith in Sukhavati (buddha-and-me.blogspot.com)

 #SanghataSutra #pilotpen

Thanks to Pilot Pen, I can glorify the Sanghata Sutra

This is me writing the Sanghata Sutra Dharmaprayaya using the gold ink Pilot pen. As advised by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, we should use ink that is gold in colour to write the Sutra. It's good that there is pilot pen in gold ink to help me with this glorifying task. So far one of this pen can write about slightly about 50 pages. It's gold colour is acceptable although I wish there is a more glittering version. The downside of this pilot gold pen is it dries up pretty fast if you leave it unused for a number of weeks. Nevertheless I have been using this BL-PL-7-GD Pilot gold ink for a while. In fact, I have completed writing one copy of the Sanghata Sutra. Now I am writing the second copy. For more info on the pilot pen, head to their website www.pilotpen.com. And for more info on Sanghata Sutra, you may ask me. I have an interesting story when I was first introduced to this Sutra. #sanghatasutra #pilotpen #sutrawriting

How does suffering reduce when there is presence?

Actually when I mentioned this in a previous post, I was referring to the meditation practice of mindfulness. When there is mindfulness, whether it is a happy or sad or painful or neutral feeling, we can observe that there is arising and decaying. Eventually we are supposed to realise that all phenomena is characterised by anicca, dukkha and anatta. This is vipassana aspect of mindfulness meditation. Once we realise this, even though if we are still having physical pain in our body, we are not so uptight about it. Our mind becomes more at ease and in peace with our conditions. And I think this is very important. When we are not in peace, it makes our conditions worse. And possible, we make troubles for others too. So, kindly reflect on this. 

If  you have anything to add, please feel free to share in comments.  #mindfulness #meditation

Sakyamuni Buddha - thank you for teaching Satipathana meditation!

Lately I have sort of gone back to my roots. When I first started to learn about meditation, I started with Mahasi Sayadaw's Satipathana meditation method. At that time I was "too raw" in meditation. After many years, I venture back into it suddenly... with the blessings of the Buddha no doubt... and realised that what a complete system of meditation the Satipathana meditation method is. The Buddha is a genius! 

It's four foundations (or sometimes "domains") or mindfulness practice covering body, feeling, mind and phenomena will take you through the entire landscape to enable a thorough awakening and uprooting of the afflictions that keep us in Samsara. With what we are taught in this method, I feel that I have a more thorough "tools" to accompany my current meditation method in dealing with my afflictions than if there was no knowledge of this tool. I feel that it can be complimentary to other meditations you may be doing, i.e. Zen's Shikantaza, Mahamudra, Deity yoga, etc. I meant, applying the principles of it into these other methods, particularly in dealing with arising afflictions. 

Strictly speaking others may refer to this as Theravada method. But essentially it is a basic method taught by our original Teacher, Sakyamuni Buddha. So, thank you, Sakyamuni Buddha for teaching us the Satipathana method of meditation!     #satipathana #meditation #Zen #mahamudra