Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/30/2007

All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.

~The Dhammapada

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/29/2007

All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.

~The Dhammapada

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/28/2007

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there.
~Yasutani Roshi

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/27/2007

All conditioned things are impermanent be a lamp unto yourself.
~Buddha

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/26/2007

The body is the tree of enlightenmentthe mind like a clear mirror standtime and gain wipe it diligentlydon't let it gather dust.

~Shenxiu

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/25/2007

Student says I am very discouraged what should I do?
Master says encourage others!

~Zen proverb

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/24/2007

Zen is not some kind of excitement butconcentration on our usual everyday routine.

~Shunryu Suzuki

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/23/2007

What is troubling us is the tendency to believe that the mind is like a little man within.

~Ludwig Wittgenstein

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration 9/22/2007

If you cannot find the truth right where you are where else do you expect to find it?

~Dogen Zenji

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/21/2007

From the pine tree learn of the pine tree and from the bamboo learn of the bamboo.
~Basho

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/20/2007

If you understand, things are just as they are...if you do not understand, things are just as they are.

~Zen proverb

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration 9/19/2007

Core Beliefs In Buddhism
THE FIVE PRECEPTS

The Five Precepts are basic ethical guidelines for the followers of Buddhism. They are undertaken voluntarily, rather than as commandments from a god.

Essentially, these precepts promote harmony and reduce suffering between ourselves and others. The underpinning moral code has two qualities: compassion (karuna) and loving kindness (metta), which are used as the guiding principles in life.

1. I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures.
2. I undertake the precept to refrain from taking that which is not given.
3. I undertake the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct.
4. I undertake the precept to refrain from incorrect speech.
5. I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicatants.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/18/2007

Core Beliefs In Buddhism
NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH

1. Right View/Understanding

(Understanding the Four Noble Truths) - See things as they truly are without delusions or distortions for all things change. Develop wisdom by knowing how things work, knowing oneself and others.
2. Right Thinking
Decide to set a life on the correct path.Wholehearted resolution and dedication to overcoming the dislocation of self-centered craving through the development of loving kindness, empathy and compassion.

3. Right Speech
Abstinence from lies and deceptions, backbiting, idle babble and abusive speech. Cultivate honesty and truthfulness; practice speech that is kind and benevolent. Let your words reflect your desire to help, not harm others.

4.Right Conduct
(Following the Five Precepts) - Practice self-less conduct that reflects the highest statement of the life you want to live. Express conduct that is peaceful, honest and pure showing compassion for all beings.
5. Right Livelihood
Earn a living that does not harm living things. Avoidance of work that causes suffering to others or that makes a decent, virtuous life impossible. Do not engage in any occupation that opposes or distracts one from the path. Love and serve our world through your work.
6. Right Effort
Seek to make the balance between the exertion of following the spiritual path and a moderate life that is not over-zealous. Work to develop more wholesome mind states, while gently striving to go deeper and live more fully.
7. Right Mindfulness

Become intensely aware of all the states in body, feeling, and mind. Through constant vigilance in thought, speech and action seek to rid the mind of self-centered thoughts that separate and replace them with those that bind all beings together. Be aware of your thoughts, emotions, body and world as they exist in the present moment. Your thoughts create your reality.
8. Right Concentration

Deep meditation to lead to a higher state of consciousness (enlightenment). Through the application of meditation and mental discipline seek to extinguish the last flame of grasping consciousness and develop an emptiness that has room to embrace and love all things.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/17/2007

Core Beliefs In Buddhism
THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

The First Noble Truth

Unsatisfactoriness and suffering exist and are universally experienced.

The Second Noble Truth

Desire and attachment are the causes of unsatisfactoriness and suffering.

The Third Noble Truth

There is an end to unsatisfactoriness and suffering.

The Fourth Noble Truth

The end can be attained by journeying on the Noble Eightfold Path.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/16/2007

When Buddha was about eighty, a blacksmith named Cuanda gave him a meal that caused him to become ill. Buddha forced himself to travel to Kushinagara, and laid down on his right side to rest in a grove of shala trees. As a crowd of followers gathered, the trees sprouted blossoms and showered them on Buddha. Buddha told Ananda, "I am old and my journey is near its end. My body is like a worn-out cart held together only by the help of leather straps." Three times, Buddha asked the people if they had any questions, but they all remained silent. Finally Buddha said, "Everything that has been created is subject to decay and death. Everything is transitory. Work out your own salvation with diligence. After passing through several states of meditation, the Buddha died, reaching Parinirvana (the cessation of perception and sensation).

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/15/2007

"To satisfy the necessities of life is not evil," the Buddha said. "To keep the body in good health is a duty, for otherwise we shall not be able to trim the lamp of wisdom and keep our mind strong and clear." Buddha then taught them the Dharma, which consisted of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The five holy men and others soon joined Buddha, accompanying him everywhere. As more joined, Buddha organized the Sangha, a community of bhikkus (dedicated monks and later nuns). The Sangha preserved the Dharma, and allowed bhikkus to concentrate on the goal of Nirvana. On raining seasons they would settle in Viharas (resting places in cave dwellings). Upasaka, followers who believed in Buddha's teachings, but could not follow the stict rule of the Sangha, were taught to follow the Five Precepts. Buddha returned to his birthplace in Kapilavastu, and his father was mortified to see his son begging for food. Buddha kissed his father's foot and said, "You belong to a noble line of kings. But I belong to the lineage of buddhas, and thousands of those have lived on alms." King Shuddhadana then remembered the Brahmin's prophesy and reconciled with his son. Buddha's wife, son, and cousin (Ananda) later joined the Sangha.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/14/2007

Buddha went to the city of Sarnath and found the previous five holy men that deserted him earlier at a deer park. When they saw Buddha this time, they realized that he had risen to a higher state of holiness. The Buddha began teaching them what he had learned. He drew a circle in the ground with rice grains, representing the wheel of life that went on for existence after existence. This preaching was called his Deer Park Sermon, or "Setting in Motion the Wheel of Doctrine." Siddhartha revealed that he had become the Buddha, and described the pleasure that he had first known as a prince, and the life of severe asceticism that he had practiced. Neither of these was the true path to Nirvana. The true path was the Middle Way, which keeps aloof from both extremes.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/13/2007

One day, Siddhartha realized that his years of penance only weakened his body, and he could not continue to meditate properly. When he stepped into the river to bathe, he was too weak to get out, and the trees lowered their branches to help him. In that instant, a milk-maid named Nandabala came and offered a bowl of milk and rice, which Siddhartha accepted. The five holy men left Siddhartha after witnessing this. Refreshed by the meal, Siddhartha sat down under a fig tree (often refered to as the Bo tree, or Tree of Enlightenment) and resolved to find out an answer to life and suffering. While meditating, Mara (an evil god) sent his three sons and daughters to tempt Siddhartha with thirst, lust, discontent, and distractions of pleasure. Siddhartha, unswayed, entered a deep meditation, and recalled all his previous rebirths, gained knowledge of the cycle of births and deaths, and with certainty, cast off the ignorance and passion of his ego which bound him to the world. Thereupon, Siddhartha had attained enlightenment and became the Buddha (enlightened one). His own desire and suffering were over and, as the Buddha, he experienced Nirvana... "There is a sphere which is neither earth, nor water, nor fire, nor air...which is neither this world nor the other world, neither sun nor moon. I deny that it is coming or going, enduring, death or birth. It is only the end of suffering." Instead of casting off his body and his existence, however, Buddha made a great act of self-sacrifice. He turned back, determined to share his enlightement with others so that all living souls could end the cycles of their own rebirth and suffering.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/12/2007

Siddhartha then wandered through northeastern India, sought out holy men, and learned about Samsara (reincarnation), Karma, and Moksha. Attracted to the ideas of Moksha, Siddhartha settled on the bank of Nairanjana River, and adopted a life of extreme self-denial and penances, meditating constantly. After six years of eating and drinking only enough to stay alive, his body was emaciated, and he was very weak. Five other holy men joined him, hoping to learn from his example.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/11/2007

At age 29, Siddhartha asked his charioteer, Channa, to take him out of the city two times without the consent of the king. During these two trips, Siddhartha saw "Four Sights" that changed his life. On the first trip, he saw old age, sickness, and death. The second trip, he saw a wandering holy man, an ascetic, with no possessions. Siddhartha started questioning the holy man, who had a shaved head, wore only a ragged yellow robe, and carried a walking-staff. The man said, "I am... terrified by birth and death and therefore have adopted a homeless life to win salvation... I search for the most blessed state in which suffering, old age, and death are unknown." That night, Siddhartha silently kissed his sleeping wife and son, and ordered Channa to drive him out to the forest. At the edge of the forest, Siddhartha took off his jeweled sword, and cut off his hair and beard. He then took off all his princely garments and put on a yellow robe of a holy man. He then ordered Channa to take his possessions back to his father.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/10/2007

Later when Queen Maya was going to her father's home to prepare for the birth, she stepped off her chariot in the Lumbini Gardens and held the branch of a sal tree to rest. In that instant, Siddhartha emerged from her right side without any help. The infant walked seven steps each in four directions of the compass, and lotus flowers sprouted from where his foot touched the earth. Then the infant said, "No further births have I to endure, for this is my last body. Now shall I destroy and pluck out by the roots the sorrow that is caused by birth and death." Seven days later Queen Maya died. Mahaprajapati, Maya's sister, looked after Siddhartha. King Shuddhodana shielded Siddhartha from all kinds of suffering and hardship. When Siddhartha was about 20, he married Yasodhara, daughter of one of the King's ministers, and one year later they had a child named Rahula (meaning "fetter" or "impediment").

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/9/2007

Who Was The Buddha?

Siddhartha (Buddha) was born around 563 B.C.E. in the town of Kapilavastu (located in today's Nepal). Siddhartha's parents were King Shuddhodana and Queen Maya, who ruled the Sakyas. His history is a miraculous one... One night, Queen Maya dreamed that an elephant with six tusks, carrying a lotus flower in its trunk, touched her right side. At that moment her son was conceived. Brahmins (learned men) came and interpreted the dream. The child would be either the greatest king in the world or the greatest ascetic (a holy man who practices self-denial). The future child would be named Siddhartha, which means "he whose aim is accomplished."

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/8/2007

Lastly, one of the greatest challenges today is the population explosion. Unless we are able to tackle this issue effectively we will be confronted with the problem of the natural resources being inadequate for all the human beings on this earth. We need to seriously look into these matters that concern us all if we are to look forward to the future with some hope.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/7/2007

For the sake of our future generations, we need to take care of our earth and of our environment. Environmental damage is often gradual and not easily apparent, and by the time we become aware of it, it is generally too late. Since most of the major rivers flowing into many parts of southeast Asia originate from the Tibetan plateau, it will not be out of place to mention here the crucial importance of taking care of the environment in that area.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/6/2007

We need to address the issue of the gap between the rich and the poor, both globally and nationally. This inequality, with some sections of the human community having abundance and others on the same planet going hungry or even dying of starvation, is not only morally wrong but practically also a source of problems. Equally important is the issue of freedom. As long as there is no freedom in many parts of the world there can be no real peace and in a sense no real freedom for the rest of the world.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/5/2007

Human problems will, of course, always remain, but the way to resolve them should be through dialogue and discussion. The next century should be a century of dialogue and discussion rather than one of war and bloodshed.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/3/2007

This past century in some ways has been a century of war and bloodshed. It has seen a year-by-year increase in defense spending by most countries in the world. If we are to change this trend we must seriously consider the concept of nonviolence, which is a physical expression of compassion. In order to make nonviolence a reality we must first work on internal disarmament and then proceed to work on external disarmament. By internal disarmament I mean ridding ourselves of all the negative emotions that result in violence. External disarmament will also have to be done gradually, step by step. We must first work on the total abolishment of nuclear weapons and gradually work up to total demilitarization throughout the world. In the process of doing this we also need to work towards stopping the arms trade, which is still very widely practiced because it is so lucrative. When we do all these things, we can then hope to see in the next millennium a year-by-year decrease in the military expenditure of the various nations and a gradual working towards demilitarization.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/3/2007

Along with education, which generally deals only with academic accomplishments, we need to develop more altruism and a sense of caring and responsibility for others in the minds of the younger generation studying in various educational institutions. This can be done without necessarily involving religion. One could therefore call this "secular ethics," as it in fact consists of basic human qualities such as kindness, compassion, sincerity and honesty.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/2/2007

While engaging in material progress and taking care of physical well-being, we need to pay equal attention to developing peace of mind and thus taking care of the internal aspect of our being.

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Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 9/1/2007

The Dalai Lama's Millenium Message
Many people seem to be excited about the new millennium, but the new millennium in itself will be nothing special. As we enter into the new millennium things will be the same; there will be nothing unusual. However, if we really want the next millennium to be happier, more peaceful and more harmonious for humankind we will have to make the effort to make it so. This is in our hands, but especially in the hands of the younger generation. We have had many experiences during this century - constructive as well as extremely destructive ones. We must learn from these experiences. We need to approach the next millennium more holistically, with more openness and farsightedness. If we are going to make the right kind of efforts to make the future of the world better, I believe the following matters are of great importance.

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