On Being Grateful

21 Aug 2014 1 Comment

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

On Being GratefulWe all have the ability to feel sorry for ourselves. Sometimes it seems we have problem after problem, and think the world is against us.

But we can all take a step back and look at our situation compared to others, and be honest enough to see that there are other people in much worse circumstances.

In Buddhist terms, the effects in our lives are the product of the causes we make along our way, it’s called Karma. Whilst it is difficult sometimes, to reconcile ourselves with the fact that we have, in some way caused our own problems, it is important to remember that we are not being punished.

So when you have had enough of your troubles, and are ready to throw in the towel, just take time to look around and realise that there is always someone worse off somewhere.

Be grateful for what you have, and concentrate on making causes for the effects you need to improve the situation. To do anything else is to lack Courage and Wisdom and that doesn’t help anyone, least of all yourself.

Why Look Elsewhere?

17 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

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

HappinessYesterday evening, we went to the cinema to watch Hector and the Search for Happiness, a funny, but thought provoking film starring Simon Pegg.

Hector is a psychiatrist, working in London, his girlfriend Clara works in the marketing department of a pharmaceutical company, both are successful, but Hector isn’t happy. So he decides to take time out and conduct his own study into what makes people happy.

He travels to China, to Africa and finally to the US in search of an answer to his question, having amusing adventures along the way, only to find that his own happiness was back at home, starring him straight in the face.

As Sensei says about karma and our own happiness …

There is no need to go seeking greener fields. Dig right where you are, for there lies a seam of untold riches. Our Karma fits us like a glove, and no matter what the situation we are trying to change, we are always in exactly the right place to make the causes that will, given time, effect that change.

Karmic Recycling

13 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

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

Karmic RecyclingGoing back over our errors,  asking ourselves painful questions and giving honest answers is a difficult experience.

We’ve all made mistakes in life, some more serious than others, but talking them through, trying to explain why you made this decision at that point in time, makes you re-examine your own values.

Our history is set in stone, we cannot go back and make those decisions anew. But we can try to make amends, apologise for any hurt we have caused, and, above all, be honest with ourselves and others.

We can also learn from mistakes, to do anything else would be considered foolish, but sometimes those mistakes are not as obvious as we might think. If you find yourself in a repeating cycle of events over time, it is definitely worth taking a long hard look at why that appears to be happening.

Karma, the law of cause and effect, will be behind the cycle somewhere, so we need to examine the causes and change them if we are to break the merry-go-round of sadness, and move onto pastures new.

Some people fear change, but if life is just not working the way we want it to, then we have to make changes. Embrace the opportunity to make life better, examine the causes that need to change and make those changes whole-heartedly, you will not regret it once the effects, and the happiness, start coming through.

Still Completely The Wrong Emphasis

08 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

How much is life worth?NICE, the NHS drugs watchdog, is set to refuse to provide the £90,000 Kadcyla breast cancer treatment to patients on the grounds of cost. As many of you will know, my daughter had breast cancer, had treatment, and has now been tested clear several times, so I have a vested interest in such issues.

How much is life worth? How much would you pay to spend a year, a month, a week or a day extra with your loved ones? Life is priceless, but the greed of the pharmaceutical industry knows no bounds. They are beholding to their shareholders and are driven purely by the profits they can make from people who find themselves stuck between a huge rock and a very hard place.

The really annoying part of all this, is that the cancer industry, those who make a living from researching, isolating, diagnosing, and treating cancer cases, really have no interest in halting the growth in cancer incidence, it’s their livelihood. When you think of all the millions of pounds and hours put into research over decades, there has been virtually no progress in preventing cancer.

Rather than trying to find cures or treatments for cancer, which like the common cold, has thousands of variants, they should be concentrating on finding the cause. But finding the cause doesn’t make you rich, and once it’s found, what will you do with the rest of your working life?

We know that cancer is caused by any number of things, but we also know that it stops developing in the absence of animal protein in the diet. So why are we all still so keen to fund research and treatment when we know how to stop cancer in its tracks?

Money, that’s why. Like the meat and dairy industries, the cancer industry would collapse overnight, with the loss of thousands of jobs, if the truth were widely known. Not exactly a disaster if we look a the bigger picture though. A world without cancer would be a better world, and all the money saved, could be used to fund more worthy schemes.

So let’s stop looking down the wrong end of the microscope, let’s embrace the changes that will make a difference, and give the Big C the heave-ho once and for all.

For more information, take a look here …

On What Ifs

02 Aug 2014 1 Comment

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

What If?Sometimes, we find ourselves in situations, or potential situations, were we are a little unsure of what the outcome may be.

Our minds race, we mull over the possibilities, the what ifs, the maybes, and it can be all too easy to form ideas in our minds as to how things will pan out.

That’s fine, and perfectly normal, as long as we don’t let these expectations run away with us. Having a notional or preconceived idea is one thing, but pinning our hopes on that idea is a recipe for disaster. Things rarely, if ever, go exactly as we imagine.

So the trick is to keep a level head, let events unfold as they will, and be tolerant of the inevitable differences between what we expect, or would like, and what actually comes to pass.

But as someone once said ‘Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it’. Conversely it has also been said that ‘That thing you wished for, the thing you never got, might have been the most fortunate moment you could ever imagine’.

So muse away, daydream to your hearts content, but remember that at the end of the day, the truth of the situation will become clear soon enough.

Choose Happiness

29 Jul 2014 Leave a comment

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

Choose HappinessIt may seem to be a strange thing to say, but our happiness, or otherwise, is actually a choice we make for ourselves. It’s basically tied to the way we view the challenges that life throws at us.

When something happens, something we would rather hadn’t happened, we have a choice to make. Do we throw our hands in the air and go into a mood of depression, or do we face the issue head on?

If we take the former route, only seeing the bad side of things, the issue will seem to get bigger and worse than it actually is. Our depression will make things even worse, and a negative spiral ensues. This is not a good route to a positive outcome, and even if we were to conquer the problem, it would take us longer and require more effort in the long run. How often have you got into a state over something, only to realise, in the fullness of time, that it really wasn’t as bad as you thought?

The other way to approach things, is to remain calm, look for the positives, and there will be some, rather than focussing on the negatives. A calm mind works better than a frantic mind. Focussing on the positives actually raises our life-state, which makes us feel more energetic and more able to do what needs to be done and meet the challenges head on.

Enlightenment has been described as a state in which we are continuously happy. Now that might sound a bit far fetched, but if we make the right choices, consciously and subconsciously, we can maintain a state of happiness.

To attain the ability to control our minds to such a degree that we make the right choices every time is no small matter, which is why the path to enlightenment is long and winding. But I know that I am further down the path each day, and the goal is worth every ounce of effort.

Get Thee Hence Dark Passenger

26 Jul 2014 Leave a comment

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

The Scales Don't LieAs you all know by now, I’ve been on this fitness regime since May last year, and it’s been going really well. I’m keeping my weight around 12 stone and I feel terrific, but it’s so easy to get back into bad habits and undo some of the hard work.

Saturday was a perfect example. Being vegan means giving up bacon, but substitute soya bacon for breakfast was going to be a treat, fried, with brown sauce and all. And it’s all too easy to think, ‘well I’ve had this and that, so I might as well go for it’. Really stupid and a big mistake.

Like most challenges in life, it’s far more difficult to stick to the goal than it is to ignore it and let your urges take over. Sadly the scales don’t lie, and I know it wasn’t the bacon butties that caused all the trouble. One way I have stayed on course is by not having temptations in the house. But Scully’s place is full of goodies. Wine, mayonnaise, bread, peanuts, the list is almost endless, and although they are all vegan, they aren’t necessarily all that healthy or slimming.

It’s so much easier, and in some respects more pleasant to put weight on than it is to get it off. But the worst feeling of all is to lose it, and then put it back on when you know that you let your fundamental darkness take control. Double the pain, knowing that there is a chink in your determination, and that it really wasn’t worth all the angst. So get thee hence Dark Passenger. I’m off out cycling round the New Forest tomorrow with the boys, to have a good workout and burn all those stupid calories off again.

On The Theme Of Waiting …

25 Jul 2014 Leave a comment

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

WaitingWaiting is a strange thing.

Waiting for the lights to go green can take ages when you are late for an appointment. Waiting for a sapling to mature takes years. Waiting for your girlfriend to finish in the bathroom can take forever (don’t tell her I said that).

But actually, waiting is often an act of faith, a belief in a desired outcome, and reaching that desired outcome, that’s when it can usually be said that ‘it was worth the wait’.

Others, as you might expect, have described the process far more eloquently than I ever could …

Tout vient à qui sait attendre

‘Ah, all things come to those who wait,’
(I say these words to make me glad),
But something answers soft and sad,
‘They come, but often come too late.’

~ Violet Fane (1843-1905)

The Waiting

Oh baby don’t it feel like heaven right now
Don’t it feel like something from a dream
Yeah I’ve never known nothing quite like this
Don’t it feel like tonight might never be again
We know better than to try and pretend
Baby no one could’a ever told me ’bout this
I said yeah yeah

The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part

Well yeah i might have chased a couple women around
All it ever got me was down
Then there were those that made me feel good
But never as good as I’m feeling right now
Baby you’re the only one that’s ever known how
To make me wanna live like I wanna live now
I said yeah yeah

The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you get one more yard
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part

Oh don’t let it kill you baby, don’t let it get to you
Don’t let it kill you baby, don’t let it get to you
I’ll be your bleedin’ heart, I’ll be your cryin’ fool
Don’t let this go too far
Don’t let it get to you

~ Tom Petty – 1981

Interestingly, Tom Petty had this to say about the song …

“That was a song that took a long time to write. Roger McGuinn swears he told me the line – about the waiting being the hardest part – but I think I got the idea from something Janis Joplin said on television. I had the chorus very quickly, but I had a very difficult time piecing together the rest of the song. It’s about waiting for your dreams and not knowing if they will come true. I’ve always felt it was an optimistic song.”

So what ever you are waiting for, make causes, remain determined, and you will reach your goal one day.

On Responsibility …

21 Jul 2014 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Ripples In A PondThere are now over five hundred people following my blog, so I need to think even more carefully about the things I post.

Each topic will be, however small, a source for potential change in those who read it.

One of the principles of Nichiren Buddhism is that of the Oneness of Self and the Environment.

If you drop a pebble, no matter how small, into a pond, the ripples spread out in all directions and interact with everything in their path.

This principle states that there is a connection between the person and others around him or her. It is therefore clear that changes in our life-state, the way we relate or react to others and changes due to our Practice will affect those whose lives we interact with.

Some of these affects are very obvious. If we walk around with a happy demeanour, we find that people are more likely to be pleasant towards us. If, on the other hand, we walk around in a bad mood, with a scowl on our face, we find that people are less friendly and may try to avoid us completely.

Ok, so no rocket science there then, but there are more subtle ways in which changes can be felt. In my own case, my Practice has allowed me to stabilise my life-state, generally I am now more often in the higher Worlds than lower ones. The result of that is that I am better placed to create value, for myself and those around me.

My Practice has changed me and those changes are affecting others. That’s why it is so important for me to ensure that as these changes take place, my Wisdom, Courage and Compassion increases too, so I can make sure the changes are all good ones.

What Does Your Future Hold?

31 May 2014 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , ,

Smart Phones Getting SmarterWith technology becoming smarter, at an ever increasing rate, it is difficult to see where it will take us in the coming decade or two. Who would have imagined, even forty years ago, that we could all carry a smart device that can connect us with other people and places, anywhere on the planet?

In Buddhist terms, the causes we make today, will shape our future life and lives, as Sensei points out:

What will the future be like? No one knows the answer to that question. All we know is that the effects that will appear in the future are all contained in the causes that are made in the present.

The important thing, therefore, is that we stand up and take action to achieve great objectives without allowing ourselves to be distracted or discouraged by immediate difficulties.

Be aware of your own responsibilities. You create the causes for the effects you see in your own life. Make strides to ensure that these causes will produce the effects you desire.

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