On Cultivating A State Of Mind

07 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

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

The Lotus SutraWe only have to watch the news on TV, listen to the radio, or even simply talk to the people around us, to be aware of the challenges and sadness that can accompany the process of living our daily lives.

Buddhism has at it’s very core, the ultimate goal of removing suffering and promoting a state of happiness in all those with whom it comes in contact. Many may think that this is an unachievable target, and that those who strive towards it are deluded.

But the principles and method for attaining such a state are encompassed by teachings contained in The Lotus Sutra. That is not to say that there is any magic bullet or instant fix to alleviate our suffering, but striving to do so is surely a task worth undertaking.

Daisaku Ikeda summarised it thus:

What is true joy in life?

This is a difficult question – and one that has occupied a great many thinkers and philosophers.

Joy can quickly give way to suffering. Joy is short and suffering long.

Also what passes for joy in society is superficial. It cannot compare with the joy derived from the Mystic Law.

The key then lies in cultivating a state of mind where we can declare without reservation that life is a joy.

This is the purpose of our Buddhist Practice.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.

The World According To Woollard

29 Sep 2014 2 Comments

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , ,

William WollardOn the day my employers announced yet another proposed company acquisition, I felt the need to get a balanced view of all this capitalism. So I turned to a very trusted source of wisdom, that of one of the great Buddhist authors, William Woollard.

Today I have been listening to chapter 15 of his book, Buddhism and the Science of Happiness, as recorded and published, in podcast format, by another pair of amazing Nichiren Buddhists, Jason and Karen Jarrett of abuddhistpodcast.com fame.

Chapter 15, entitled The Wealth Delusion, explains that although incomes and personal wealth have increased significantly in the past fifty to sixty years, people have not become proportionally happier as a result. On the contrary, with the tendency for people to measure their own self worth, as well as that of others, by what they earn or the things they possess, there has been a gradual trend to become less and less satisfied with our lot.

William has been a part of my life since his days on television, as a presenter of fantastic programs like Tomorrows World and Top Gear. Back then he wasn’t a Buddhist, but Buddhism has had a profound and lasting effect upon him and the people around him.

If you get the chance, take a tour of Jason and Karen’s website, and download some or all of William’s readings. They are freely available and well worth listening to. In fact listening to the podcasts was really the reason I became a Nichiren Buddhist myself, so another heartfelt thank you to The Jarretts for all the hard work they put into the site, and a massive thank you to William for taking the time to write the book, and then record his wisdom, so that the rest of us may profit from the lessons he has learned over the years.

The Road Not Taken

22 Sep 2014 Leave a comment

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

The Road Not TakenAt times it is all too easy to be led by your heart, hoping that the happiness you gain will offset the unhappiness of others. On the other hand, the unhappiness you may cause to others could easily put a dark cloud over your own feelings, not just for the immediate future, but for eternity.

In the end, the final decision may not even be in the individuals own hands, making it doubly difficult. We are all keen to having our destiny under our own control, so relinquishing it to someone else just adds to the feelings of angst.

My gut feeling, and my Buddhist teaching tell me that, in general, we should sacrifice our own feelings so that others do not have to, but time will tell how it is resolved.

Mulling it all over and over in my mind, knowing that whichever way things turn out, we will never know whether it was for the best, reminded me of the poem by Robert Frost.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Happiness Of The Heart

14 Sep 2014 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

Happiness Of The HeartHappiness is a matter of the heart. This is not mere spiritualism. Our hearts are precious vessels endowed with the treasure of Buddhahood.

When we strive earnestly in faith and practice to reveal our Buddhahood, we can walk along the sure and steady path to happiness and attain a state of complete fulfilment and satisfaction.

Nichiren writes: “Fortune comes from one’s heart and makes one worthy of respect.”

Good News Cubed

05 Sep 2014 Leave a comment

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

Good NewsMy own experiences with Nichiren Buddhism have shown me how powerfully it can change your life.

Whether that is simply making you a happier person or helping you see situations from a different perspective, that will help you solve problems in a better way.

As with all good things, you want to tell people about it, so they can share the benefits.

So the greatest feeling, for me, is when someone actually comes straight out and asks. At that point, it’s important to offer as much, or as little as they request. Force feeding them will kill that spark as surely as piling logs onto a smouldering ember. So be enthusiastic, but be reserved as well. Let them set the pace, be there for them when they want to ask for more, and just see what happens.

Giving people a gift is a great feeling. The shining smile you see when they open it and are delighted by what they find. Giving people the way to find Nichiren Buddhism is just like that, only a million times better for both parties.

The Ride Of Your Life

27 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

The Ride Of Your LifeNobody ever said that life was supposed to be a bowl of cherries.

Our journey from birth to death, whichever lap we happen to be on at any one time, is a series of lows and highs, the rough and the smooth, the not-so-happy and the happy, the bad and the good.

So by assuming that even though things may be going along smoothly just now, we should prepare ourselves for the next pot hole, the unexpected hairpin or that most untimely puncture that will most certainly come along, to make that journey even more satisfying. Being prepared, as all boy scouts know, is the trick to reducing the effect that these unforeseen circumstances will have on our progress.

We have often talked about turning poison into medicine, using the difficulties in life as our way of making ourselves stronger, and seeing obstacles as challenges rather than problems. The old adage of ‘what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger’ is exactly right, if we approach these things in the right manner. Being doggedly determined not to be beaten, to meet the challenges head on and win through, come hell or high water, is a great start and a great way to move on.

Imagine how disappointed we would all be, if the latest ride at Alton Towers was a perfectly straight, perfectly level piece of track, that started slowly, trundled along at walking pace, and gradually slowed to a genteel halt five minutes later. Who in their right mind would queue for something so predictable, so comfortable, so boring? Nobody I know.

The most popular rides, the ones that have the longest queues, and the ones that we want to get back on, time after time, are the ones that scare us witless, the ones that actually make us wonder if we will live to tell the tale. And that is how life can be if we prepare ourselves for the turns, the plunges, the unexpected. The greatest books, films and life stories are all about facing almost impossible adversity, battling against the odds, getting the odd knock along the way, but coming out as the victor in the end.

So face up to the rigours of life, meet those challenges head on, stay strong, be brave and make your life the subject of the greatest story Hollywood has ever told.

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.

Le Weekend Est Ici !!!

15 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

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

The Mad Cucumber - The Triangle, BournemouthLadies and gentlemen, I am delighted to be able to announce that the much anticipated weekend is upon us, so make the most of the opportunity.

In terms of recent weekends, this one promises to be rather quiet. No pirates or fun fairs, but there is a BVV meal tomorrow at the Mad Cucumber in the  Triangle in Bournemouth and a strong possibility of a trip to the cinema too.

The weatherman is promising a temporary end to summer, with the jet stream bringing some cold air from the arctic on Sunday, but after the recent heat wave, I know a few people who are looking forward to cooler days and more comfortable nights.

Whatever you get up to in the next couple of days, make the most of the time, for surely you will never get the chance to live it again.

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.

Managing Expectations

12 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Great Expectations Miss Havisham?We all live with hopes and expectations, of ourselves, of others, and of the outcome of situations in our lives, and it is all too easy to be disappointed when those expectations are not fully met.

However, you must also remember, that your happiness is in your own hands, so being unhappy when your expectations are dashed, is your own decision.

In my own experience, I find that taking some quiet time to examine why I am disappointed helps to solve the problem. Sometimes, upon reflection, my expectations are too high, even unrealistic you might say, sometimes the simple acceptance that my expectations are not those of others explains the outcome.

But allowing your expectation of others to be, even in part, the basis of your own happiness shows a lack of wisdom, so learn from the pain, don’t repeat the mistake and move forward.

So to help maintain your happiness, set realistic and flexible expectations for yourself and of others, and accept that failing to meet those expectations does not mean failing altogether.

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