And never forget that Canada's North, and not just a big mirror like some people think...having met quite a few Canadians recently through my job, I must say they are more different from U.S. Americans than people credit them for...
Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, the founding Soka Gakkai president, endured life in prison with this thought, "When I reflect on the Daishonin's sufferings on Sado, my difficulties are as nothing." He also wrote in a letter, "Depending on our frame of mind, we can experience joy even in hell."-Lectures on the "Expedient Means" and "Life Span" Chapters of the Lotus Sutra, Daisaku Ikeda.
Comfort is again subjective. Truth is the Law of Karma expressed in Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, which presupposes that cause and effect are simultaneous. That which we suffer is our Karma. That which can change our suffering is our frame of mind. Understanding that our actions create our suffering is the first step toward accepting everything as something we have made for ourselves...The true fruits of our ego. Joy is our natural state. Only ego can corrupt this and turn it into suffering...
Comfort is a subjective experience...truth is not comforting, it just is. When we can forgo comfort for the sake of being, then it gnaws no longer. We are the snake eating its own tail...when we stop eating of ourselves, we do not starve, rather we are set free...
I'm not Christian, rather I am a buddhist. But this song has words in it that embody one of the most precious tenets of my sect, that of Treasures of the Heart.
I am a poor boy, parumpa pum pum I have no gift to give, parumpa pum pum I play my song for him, parumpa pum pum parumpa pum pum, parumpa pum pum...
I've never had riches, in the material sense at least. But on holidays, and special occasions, I apply the talents given to me, the treasures of my heart, to give a gift more profound than any store-bought item. I write a poem, or paint a picture, or sing a song...
These gifts are worth more than anything Bill Gates, Rockefeller, or Carnagy ever owned. In that, I am a rich man, and I give these riches freely, because they are free, and the recipients are thus enriched far more than any bauble might provide...
Silence and emptiness are siamese twins. When we achieve emptiness, we also listen to the silence that informs all...
That is Zen. The teaching of which is transmitted not by words, but by expression. The simple perfection of a silent flower is the object of the Flower Sermon, not spoken, but rather, experienced.
Non-local, non-dualistic. You are me and visa-versa...It is only the ego that maya (illusion) has instilled in us that prevents us from seeing this dependent origination. "We" are one, "we" are buddha, and there is no "bad" buddha, or "good" buddha, only the buddha. Those are labels attributible to ego. When this is accepted, all things become enlightenment.
I believe in Ichinen Sanzen, literally 3000 worlds in a single life moment.
Its the totality of my life at any moment, and includes not only my thoughts and feelings, but those of my peers and the phenomena that make up my environment. As such, all information, from outside, inside, from an enlightened state contained within a tree, from the buddha-nature of a rock, or from a passage quoted from the bible by a christian, are the buddha attempting to enlighten me via "Expedient Means", or, whatever means are most appropriate to the time and place in question, and according to my own present level of understanding...
Thus, when the seeker is ready, the way shall appear.
You make a distinction between outside and inside, dusty. That's dualistic thinking.
Here I go again Finding it so hard to explain The way I feel when I hold you near Still it hurts when you cry Maybe you think love has passed you by Don't you know I need you so But I guess you need to know
I'm just a man, that's all I am I'm just a man, that's yours I'm yours you know I'm yours
Life keeps changing key I'll look to you please look back at me See I'm changing every day Reaching out for happy days
But I'm just a man that's all I am I'm just a man I'm yours I'm simply yours
Life keeps changing key I'll look to you please turn and look at me You'll see I'm changing every day In my search for happy days
But then I'm just a man That's all I am I'm just a man I'm yours That's yours, simply yours
See me as I am, for I'm just a man I'm just a man but I'm yours Oh I'm yours I'm simply yours
"It is the final proof of God's omnipotence that He need not exist in order to save us" - The Mackeral....
The Idea of God is Spiritual. The Belief in God is not. Ideas can be shared...Beliefs must be accepted or else.
Even the choice not to believe is a choice. Do you like my idea of God? You should be ashamed...because I don't believe in him.
The Demiurge is flawed. The God of Creation is not perfect, nor is his creation. Or is it that he is perfect in his imperfection, and its intolerable to believe that he might be as imperfect as us, and this is where the idea does not match the belief?
Galactic_bodhi Forum Posts (9,196)
RE: its time to SAY SOMETHING!!
It's my own dirty mind you must credit for this one...do you think CS got their imaginary hammers out and started pounding nails? NO! It was me...!