Who’s Next?

06 Dec 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

Children Are PreciousYesterday it was Stuart Hall, today it’s Max Clifford, taken into his local police station for questioning over allegations of sexual abuse. Who’s going to be next? Those of us who are normal, listen to these stories and wonder what on earth is wrong with these people.

Whether it’s a power trip, a deviancy or some form of mental illness, the real point is that children, some as young as eight, have potentially had their lives ruined by people who are, but arguably should no longer be, in positions of power and trust.

Daisaku Ikeda summed up the way children should be regarded and treated in order to blossom to their full potential, not to be stunted or damaged.

Every child is precious. The Lotus Sutra tells the parable of the three kinds of medicinal herbs and two kinds of trees. There are many different kinds of plants; their shape, size and nature come in myriad varieties.

Some plants grow fast while others take time to mature. In this parable, however, the heavens rain upon all the plants equally, nurturing their growth. And the plants blossom and bear fruits according to their own unique character.

This parable symbolizes the Buddha’s vast compassion to nurture all living beings despite their differences. All children are different; each possesses his or her wonderful unique quality. We must pour upon all children our great love and compassion so that each child can blossom, true to his or her unique quality.

Charity Open Season

02 Dec 2012 3 Comments

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , , ,

Charity Calendar?Being stuck indoors all weekend, still trying to shift this cold, I have to admit that I have watched more TV than is good for me. I must say that those old X Files still make for good viewing and that Gillian Anderson is rather more appealing as Dana Scully than she is as Miss Havisham in the recent BBC version of Great Expectations.

Anyway, I digress. What really struck me was the propensity of adverts promoting charities. Here in the UK, we seem to have an unwritten rule, that there are no adverts for summer holidays until after Christmas Day.

Clearly no such rule exists for charity adverts. Everything from Save the Children telling me that 20,000 children die every day, to the World Wildlife Fund saying that the equivalent of two football fields of the Leopard’s habitat is felled each hour. The strange thing is, that £2 a month will fix both of these sad situations.

Now I like to think I am as generous as the next person when it comes to donating to charity, but being bombarded by these unconvincing messages really isn’t going to persuade me to give more. With money being tight for everyone at the moment, I really feel we need to be shown the truth, not just peppered with emotive images and fed heart-rending sob stories.

We all know that there are deserving causes out there, and that our charities are seeing reducing donations as a result of the recent economic downturn. It may well be, that research has found that £2 a month is the optimal amount to ask for, when analysing conversion figures, but it all sounds so hollow and I just find I don’t believe their message.

Just to put the lid on the argument, I am told that the 2013 Countryfile Calendar costs £9, £4 of which will be donated to the BBC Children In Need charity. That means that £5 will not be donated. Now that is fine, but they put such an emphasis on the charity side of it, whereas, actually, it’s just another BBC product. To my mind, charity and advertising just do not mix, so please don’t try to pull the wool over our eyes.

Responsibility

02 May 2012 2 Comments

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , ,

Who's Responsible?Taking responsibility for all our actions is a basic principle of Buddhism, but of course it should be a principle we all live by, irrespective of our faith. We were spectators to an incident at work today, where responsibility was dodged, or at least postponed.

We were just packing up at the end of the day, when we heard a loud bang. Someone joked that it was someone wrecking one of our cars, but a quick look out of the window showed us that it was not a joke.

Someone had backed into a car in our car park and was already out of their car, inspecting the damage. It was clear from the debris on the tarmac, that it was a little more than a little nudge. Bits of plastic lying around and a rather nasty looking hole in the bumper were evidence of the impact.

Naturally, we expected the culprit to park up and come into the office to talk to the owner of the other car. But to our amazement, the driver had a quick look around, jumped back into their car, and drove off.

But there were a lot of witnesses to the incident and we all know who the driver was. It will be interesting to see what happens in the morning when the person gets into the office. I can imagine that there will be a deal of embarrassment when the incident is discussed.

I guess that we would like to think that the driver was in a hurry to get somewhere, and has every intention of accepting responsibility for the accident, time will tell.

Postscript: Following a little quiet encouragement, the perpetrator has exchanged details with the victim and the matter will be settled via their respective insurance brokers.

Sadly, the reputation of the perpetrator has been tarnished still further, as it appears that this is not the first occurrence of acting in this manner.

Relationships And Renovations

16 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , , ,

Relationships And RenovationsThe title sums up my life right now, well not quite, but there’s a lot of both going on at the moment. Strangely, there’s a deal of similarity between the two in some ways.  So you think I’ve been breathing in too many undercoat fumes lately? Ok, let me explain.

A new relationship is brilliant, it’s exciting, challenging and can occupy all your spare time. Renovation is rewarding, it’s exciting, challenging and can also occupy all your spare time. But let’s look at it a different way.

When you decide to renovate a property, you prioritise the projects and work through the rooms, one by one. There’s no point starting with the decor if the roof needs fixing, pretty dumb to install a new bathroom suite if the drains need sorting.

There are important milestones in the project. Roof sorted, electrics and plumbing finished, floors fixed, walls plastered. Then you decide on a certain room you want to concentrate on, and you live with the others until the important one is done, then you move to the next and the next and so on.

Say you sort out the kitchen, get it really nice, smart, efficient and install the appliances. You enjoy the fruits of your labour, but you wouldn’t give up on the renovation just because you got a glimpse of the lounge, or the bathroom. You go onto the next stage, deal with the problems and enjoy the progress as it comes along.

As relationships grow, mature, there are times when you discover aspects, core beliefs or character traits that test the strength of the bond at that point in time. That’s how relationships develop. You learn about each other, you agree about some things, you may have to compromise about others, it’s a learning process.

You learn about new aspects all the time. Together, you agree, you compromise or agree to disagree about them and so the relationship grows. But just like the renovation, you don’t give up on the whole project just because there is a little more work to be done in the next room. And just like renovations, the more effort you put in, the more satisfaction you get out of them.

Justice? What Justice?

13 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , ,

Abu QatadaAbu Qatada, one of the UK’s most dangerous extremist preachers, has been released from jail tonight. But what is really behind this BBC tag line? Whilst I believe that this man should not be at liberty to spread his message of terrorism freely around the UK, should he really be locked up for six years without being charged?

Another man, also evil in his own way, Ali Dizaei, the ex commander of the Metropolitan Police, has today been found guilty of perverting the course of justice, will serve a further three months in prison. Three months for misuse of his powers of position. There doesn’t seem to be much justice between the two, does there?

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want Abu Qatada set free, I too would prefer to see him deported, if for no other reason than to save thousands of pounds of taxpayer’s money. But I can only see one way to soften the hatred in his heart, and that is through dialogue. Only by reasoning, by talking to al-Qaeda, will we find a lasting peace between our civilisations.

As the Buddha taught us, even the most evil person has a portion of Buddhahood within them. Whether that potential is allowed to blossom is open to conjecture, but it exists never the less. If we continue to demonise these people, we will only reinforce their hatred and set them more strongly against us. We must engage in dialogue if this cycle of destructive hate is ever to be broken.

Honesty – The Best Policy

24 Sep 2011 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , ,

HonestyWhen you find yourself in a situation where you have to decide what happens next, you must be completely honest, with everyone concerned, including yourself. When that decision is possibly not what others expect or want, you must be compassionate when you announce it.

Of course you can hurt others if when your decision is contrary to theirs, but you will hurt them more by delaying or by going along with them, just to go with the flow. Eventually, your feelings will show and the result will only be more angst for all.

So when you feel that you have to make a decision that will be difficult for others to accept, make it quickly, announce it gently but firmly, and reduce the pain, to you and those affected, to the minimum.

A Whole New Can Of Words

07 Jul 2011 Leave a comment

by Anupadin in Buddhism Tags: , , ,

Good RiddanceHaving said how important reading is in the growth of the spirit yesterday, I was appalled to learn further details of the disgraceful actions of The News Of The World today. As citizens of the UK, we all rely on honest reporting to learn of the news from both home and abroad, though I have to say that it’s been many, many years since I read, let alone bought a tabloid rag.

Fortunately, with the rise of electronic media such as Facebook, Twitter and online sites like the BBC website, we have little or no need to read the drivel printed by Murdoch’s media empire. It is however important that his proposed takeover of BSkyB is, at the very least, put on hold while investigations into this phone hacking are properly concluded.

We all rely on our MPs and those in positions of power to be honest and to carry out their duties in a responsible manner. The news that journalists have been paying huge sums to the police, to gain confidential information, is very unsettling. Watching tonight’s Question Time brought these issues into sharp focus and I for one thought Hugh Grant talked a lot of sense in exposing the shortcomings of previous phone hacking investigations.

Nichiren Buddhism does not shackle us with sets of rules or lists of do’s and don’ts, but it does hold us to be accountable for each and every thought, action and deed. How much better would our society be if everyone was in such a position, and acted in a manner for which they were happy to be accountable.

It’s way past time that we all called for more accountability from those who seek to govern or act on our behalf. The very action of taking such positions should demand that these people act in a responsible way, with thought being given to the greater good, and not the greater reward for the individual in power. Clean up or clear out, we have had enough of the selfish, money grabbing leeches in society, it’s time we lived our lives for each other and not purely for ourselves.

Next Newer Entries