Dharma's Daily Wisdom..

..thoughts from the Buddhist path.

Published on March 30, 2004 By dharmagrl In Philosophy

I'm trying to cultivate my spiritual garden. I've been slacking off recently and have fallen out of the habit of reading and meditating (bad Dharma..bad, bad, Dharma!). I'm going to try and post a daily thought from the many Buddhist sutras and teachings I have..mostly because I think it'll encourage me to absorb and think about what I'm reading, but also because I think it's goig to be interesting and useful to get some different perspectives. I learned some interesting things about people's beliefs from the 'Pascal's Wager' article, and I hope to learn even more by doing this...

Anyway, today's quote comes from His Holiness The Dalai Lama:

You must lead a good life. And a good life does not mean just good food, good clothes, good shelter. These are not sufficient. A good motivation is what is needed: compassion without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy; just understanding that others are human brothers and sisters and respecting their human rights and dignity. That we humans can help each other is one of our unique human capacities.

Tell me what you think about that....

Comments

JillUser

on Mar 30, 2004

Sounds like perfect advice to me. Who could argue? Oh wait, that is pretty much an invitation for an argument isn't it

dharmagrl

on Mar 30, 2004

Yep, it is!!!!! there are some people around here will argue about anything tho, it seems.....I could post a pic of a blank white canvas and I'm sure someone would argue with me that it was black......

..but that's the beauty of JoeU.

crazy lady

on Mar 30, 2004

I think it is a fantastic philosophy. In fact, I try to follow that everyday of my life. It gets hard some times, everyone expects there to be an attachment to the help.
Example: My hubby and I bought a McDonalds meal for a man walking along our local highway, he was really scared by us and the fact that we offered him this food. We had to assure him we wanted nothing in return, or that we didn't want to hurt him. It's sad really, he thought we wanted to "preach" at him or beat him up! After telling him we just wanted to give him a meal, we put it on the ground where he could get it and left. We saw him eating when we turned around to head home. It was rewarding, just knowing this man got something to eat. Obviously this man had been mislead quite a bit.
I want to help people, only because it's the right thing to do. So many people try to attach things to the good they provide. Like, religious value or money value.
Everyone deserves respect, there should be no exception to this.

dharmagrl

on Mar 30, 2004

Thank you, crazy......I try and do the same. Altruism is a lost art (IMO) in today's society - everyone seems to be interested in what's in it for them or they do things to try and inflict/enforce their way of thinking on another person.

I did a similar thing for someone at McDonalds on Christmas Eve. He had come in and laid out his money on the counter and asked what he could get to eat for what he had (less than $1 in change) I had some spare cash on me, so I asked him what he would like to eat. At first he looked at me like my hair was on fire and started to gather up his coins and leave, but I stopped him and told him I really only wanted to make sure he had some food in him because it was cold outside...so he accepted and we got him some breakfast and some coffee. He hugged, kissed and thanked me profusely, and I left him with another $5 so he could get something else to eat later. I didn't want his thanks, all I wanted was for him to be able to have some food....

.. and you're right, everyone should be treated with a little respect and dignity.

Tangled Wishes

on Mar 30, 2004

I really love that daily quote. I think it's a good mantra to pick up.

I love these spiritual beliefs/type thingies. Sorry I used one good word in the second sentence and my mind is now blank.

I want to know more about your philosophies and practices. How do you incorporate it into your daily life? Were you raised Buddhist or Christian or what? Do you attend some sort of place of worship? (Sorry I'm incredibly stupid about these sort of things, I want to know MORE MORE MORE) Do your beliefs make life visibly different for you, assuming that you haven't always been Buddhist? And if so, in what ways did your life change?

I'd love to hear all about it. I'm kind of a... healthy-lifestyles whore. I like to hear about things that open people up spiritually, and I'm looking for a path to follow myself.

~Anne

dharmagrl

on Mar 30, 2004

Ok...I'll do my best to answer as completely as I can, but feel free to ask more!

I was raised Protestant, attended Sunday School every Sunday, was confirmed into the Anglican church, then went on to teach Sunday school. I started having questions about Christianity when I was in my mid 20's...it just didn't seem to fit very well anymore. The best way I can describe it was like trying to wear someone elses shoe - the size may be right, but it just doesn't feel right, you know? My response to that was to try and ignore it and to throw myself into Christianity again..going to church twice on Sundays, teaching Sunday school and vacation bible schools, volunteering at the chapel, praying constantly for guidance, etc etc. Eventually I realized that I was just miserable, and that I was making those who lived with and around me miserable too.

I began what my husband refers to as my 'spiritual quest' by reading as much as I could about different faiths...at first I thought I wanted to be Jewish, then when I realized that didn't fit either I progressed onto Wicca and Paganism..those, whilst they were very interesting, weren't really my cup of tea either. I came across Buddhism whilst reading about the Dalai Lama...it interested me because a lot of the precepts he spoke about were things that I had already thought about and considered to be true. It just felt right...and the more I read, the more I discovered that this was where I really felt I belonged. I got into some on-line communities and talked with other Buddhists, and was lucky enough to find someone in my husband's squadron (Travis Whelan , wherever you are now, THANK-YOU!) who was a practicing Buddhist, so I had someone in real-time I could talk to about stuff. There's a Buddhist philosophy that says when you're ready to learn, you teacher will appear - I was ready, and he was there.

Buddhism is more of a life style for me than it is a religion. It's given me the methods, the tools to change myself. I'm a much calmer, more content person now than I was a couple of years ago - yes, I still have times when I get angry or dis-satisfied, but I now am able to recognize those emotions for what they are and not get as despondent about myself and my issues. It has made me look at everyday things from a different angle, and that's something I've found to be extremely helpful and comforting. We (Buddhists) don't regard the Buddha as a deity, as a person with supernatural powers who can perform miracles, but as more of a role model of what enlightenment and altruism can do for you. We don't pray to the Buddha to make things, our lives, better for us; rather we look to ourselves to be the change that we desire. We all have the capacity to be Buddhas, to be enlightened beings. We all have the capacity to be totally altruistic. We don't claim to have all the answers, and there really isn't any promise of a glorious afterlife...Buddhism focuses more on the day to day details. It also teaches about the impermanence of everything; about how there really is no 'I' or 'me' or self; about tolerance for all humans, and about suffering and it's causes. There are many schools of thought within the faith, from Tibetan or 'pure land' to Japanese Zen - just as there are variations within Christianity (Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic etc).

I also have an interest in Taoism (another eastern philosophy); I find that there are a great many similarities between that and Buddhism...but I can also draw paralells between some of Jesus' teachings and Buddhist sutras as well.

It took me a number of years and a little heartache to come to the decision to practice my faith. Christianity was so ingrained in me that I almost felt like I was betraying my family by turning away from it....but at the end of the day I have more peace with being a happy Buddhist than I did with being an unhappy 'lukewarm' Christian. I still have a lot of respect for Christianity, for all faiths actually...but I personally feel that I have found my spiritual niche and I'm happy with it.

Hope this is what you were looking for..if you have any more questions, please ask. I'll try and answer them as best I can. If you have questions about Taoism, JeremyG's your man to ask....

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