Determination

09 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: ,

See it throughI don’t know about you, but when I say I’m going to do something, I mean it. When I decide on a course of action, I try my best to carry it out.

The problem is that sometimes we can’t stick to our goals, and there are many, many reasons for that. Sometimes it turns out that we decide that the goal isn’t quite what we first thought. Sometimes the Dark Passenger has a little word, introducing doubts or reasons why we should give up. Ignore him and get yourself back on track

There is very little to compare with the feeling of satisfaction when we achieve our goals. In the same way, there is very little to compare with the feeling of disappointment when we let ourselves down and fail.

We all want to be happy, so be determined, be constant. You will be more successful, more content and people will know where they stand too. A win-win situation.

Why Not Syria?

08 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , ,

Syria - Homs Under AttackWhat are we waiting for? Assad is busy doing a Gaddafi and killing hundreds of his own people and we are sitting on our backsides and letting it happen.

Why? Are we ‘all warred out’? Are we over budget in the peace keeping department at the United Nations?

Whatever the reasons, it is shameful that the killing of innocent women and children is allowed to continue unopposed. It is shameful that Russia and China are blocking UN plans to intervene. They say they are against an imposed regime change, which might be understandable given their economic ties, but at what cost?

It is way past time, to bring this to a peaceful conclusion. Never mind regime change, what about the normal ‘little’ people of Syria, who is going to stand up and put a stop to this. Or is it yet another example of the common people being expendable when it comes to holding on to money and power?

Solid Foundations

07 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , ,

Solid FoundationsHaving a solid foundation in our lives is vitally important. It means that the ups and downs of life can come and go, but we can maintain an even keel.

Naturally that makes life easier for us, but it also means that we can be a stable influence in the lives of those around us, our loved ones and also our less immediate circle of friends, colleagues and acquaintances.

Having my Buddhist Practice at the centre, as my Honzon, as my anchor is a very liberating state of affairs. At the centre of that Practice is my Gohonzon making it the absolute centre and the pivot, around which my whole life revolves.

Of course, the centre of many people’s lives are their partners, their children, their families and that is perfectly acceptable, but does mean that their anchor is not fixed, it is ever changing. These changes can be a major source of unhappiness. How often have we seen the elderly couple, totally devoted to each other, so that when one of them dies, the other goes soon after.

Having Buddhism and my Practice as my Honzon doesn’t mean that my family and friends mean any less to me, in fact it allows me to make more of those relationships. But it does mean that as situations change, as the inevitable problems in life arise, my anchor remains firm and I can cope with those challenges all the better.

Maybe it’s not for everyone, it does take a conscious effort to make the change after all, but for me, the effort is repaid many, many times over by the feeling of constancy in my life.

True Love

06 Feb 2012 1 Comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , ,

True LoveA shallow person will only ever have shallow relationships.

True love is not one person clinging to another, it can only be fostered between two strong people, secure in their individuality.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince, wrote in his work Wind, Sand and Stars, “Love is not two people gazing at each other, but two people looking ahead together in the same direction”

When we are fortunate enough to find someone we can love for whom they are, and who loves us for whom we are, then we are truly fortunate. Meeting that person, amongst the throng of humanity, is surely one of the most fortunate karmic effects we can experience.

Another POV

05 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , ,

Ask the FamilySometimes it is really easy to get bogged down in our own little world, and find ourselves blinkered by our own thoughts, feelings and opinions, simply because we fail to see things from another person’s point of view.

Years ago, there was a TV quiz show called Ask the Family, hosted by the wonderful Robert Robinson. It was a great series, based on two families, usually Mother, Father and two children, answering general knowledge questions. Good wholesome entertainment and traditional family viewing.

I really liked the round where they would show an image of something really familiar, but from a strange angle. The trick was to identify the object by using your mind’s eye to fill in the missing bits of the image.

Being able to see the world from the others person’s point of view is a bit like that. Using our imagination to put ourselves in their position gives us a better idea of what they are experiencing and hence allows us to make wiser, more compassionate decisions about how we should react to them and their situation.

Next time you find yourself wondering about how to relate to someone’s issues, take a moment to try to see things from their side of the table. It isn’t always easy, but it is always worth that bit of effort, and you will find that you can be of more help, more supportive and more understanding for making the effort. It can be very rewarding for you, and is usually gratefully received.

Straight Down The Middle

04 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , , , ,

Straight Down The MiddleWe are aware that life is made up of two very distinct components, the physical (ke or ketai) and the mental or spiritual (ku or kutai). They are two, but not two (shikishin funi) as one cannot exist without the other.

The body or physical aspect becomes useless without the mind, or spiritual aspect, and the mind might be thought helpless without the body. The mind however, can continue to function without the body, when we sleep for example. We have all experienced dreams where we perform superhuman feats that would be totally impossible in the physical world, like being able to fly.

So we have two rather different components, sometimes working in a way that is not necessarily harmonious, until chu (or chutai) takes control. Chu is the harmonisation of ke and ku. It controls each aspect, making sure one or the other doesn’t drag us off course.

This is known as The Middle Way (chudo).

Ichinen – Making It Happen

03 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

DeterminationThe Japanese word Ichinen means, among other things, determination. Here is the definition from the SGI dictionary of Buddhism …

ichinen

[一念] (Jpn; Chin i-nien )


A single moment of life, one instant of thought, or the mind or life at a single moment. Also, life-moment, thought-moment, or simply a single moment or instant. Ichinen has various meanings in Buddhism: (1) A moment, or an extremely short period comparable to the Sanskrit term kshana. The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom defines one kshana or moment as a sixtieth of the time it takes to snap one’s fingers. (2) The functioning of the mind for one moment. The “Distinctions in Benefits” (seventeenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra speaks of a single moment of belief and understanding. (3) To focus one’s mind on meditating on a Buddha; Shan-tao (613-681), a patriarch of the Chinese Pure Land school, defined ichinen (one instant of thought) as chanting Amida Buddha’s name once. (4) T’ient’ai (538-597) philosophically interprets ichinen in his doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life ( Jpn ichinen–sanze Chin i-nien san-ch’ien ). In this doctrine, ichinen indicates the mind of an ordinary person, which at each moment is endowed with the potential of three thousand realms; its characteristics are: (a) it pervades the entire universe; (b) it includes both body and mind; (c) it includes both self and environment; (d) it gives rise to good and evil; and (e) it encom-passes cause and effect simultaneously. Nichiren (1222-1282) embodied this philosophical framework in the form of a mandala known as the Gohonzon. By this he aimed to establish a practical way for ordinary people to manifest Buddhahood from among the Ten Worlds of their own lives. SGI Dictionary Online

Being good or being a success at something isn’t just about talent, it’s about having the desire, the determination, deep in your heart, to settle for nothing less than victory.

If you have a strong ichinen, you are far more likely to reach your goal. You still have to put in the effort and in fact, the more talent you have, the more effort is needed, because your end result might be far more exacting than a less talented person.

If you think you will fail, you will. You must embrace your goals, your targets, with every fibre of your being. Strive with all your might, night and day towards that goal and you are far more likely to succeed. Remember, you only fail when you decide to stop trying.

Success takes focus, desire, effort, hard work, determination and perseverance.

Ichinen covers them all, and chanting for what you want to achieve, makes your ichinen stronger and stronger.

What Is Happiness?

02 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , ,

What Is HappinessWhat do we mean by happiness? There may be as many answers to that as there are stars in the night sky, everyone has their own idea of what makes them happy, and equally what doesn’t.

Maybe it is the love of a partner, being part of a family, the pay cheque at the end of the month or that new car you had always promised yourself. Whatever your idea of happiness, we all crave more of it.

We can probably agree that it is all too often a transitory state, punctuated by periods where we are unhappy, or at least a bit glum. So what would you give to have more of this illusive life-state, and how can you go about achieving a happier life?

Well speaking personally, I can almost guarantee happiness from my Buddhist practice. That might sound a little trite or even rather far-fetched, but for me it is true. My practice helps me see life from all angles, the ups and downs, from my view-point and from that of others, and it ‘smoothes’ out the emotional bumps we encounter each and every day.

The idea at the very core of Buddhism, is the removal of suffering and that in itself helps us to be happier. Seeing the beauty in nature, the best facets of another’s personality, the joy in helping others, happiness is there for us all, all of the time and all around us. Living a life that is more concerned with others than ourselves, giving more than we take and so on, will also bring feelings of happiness. All we have to do is look out for it.

Living in a society that is more concerned about what we own, than who we really are, we all struggle to put those ideas into action. We hear about people earning ridiculous sums, whilst providing little by way of return, and wonder how they can live with the guilt. If society valued the good in people more than the goods of people, the world would be a much fairer, happier place.

My own life was made a little happier this week, when I heard a news item about an company owner in Australia, who gave each his employees a share of $15m in recognition of their efforts. I’m sure, judging by the reactions, that the employees were pretty happy about it. But how much happiness must Ken Grenda have felt himself as he made the announcement.

Whatever flavour your own happiness comes in, I wish you more of it, now and in the future. And when it arrives, make sure that you share it around. That way you will find it grows and grows, and that it lasts just that little bit longer.

Responsibility

01 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , ,

LoveDaily life can sometimes seem drab and unexciting. Living itself can often seem a strain, and a few of us unrealistically expect the joy we feel to last forever.

But when we fall in love, life seems filled with drama and excitement. We feel like the leading character in a film or a novel.

Sadly, if you find yourself lost in that love, because you become besotted or distracted, and consequently stray from the path to enlightenment, then love is nothing more than a form of escapism.

Whilst you must always be true to yourself, remember that you must also be responsible for each and every action.

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