When a man abandons egoistic desire and chooses to do all that is pure and good, his basic goodness outshines all shame and reproach.
Choosing good over evil is just and good, when the innocent achieve justice. Indeed, it is good to abandon the wicked to achieve that justice.
Yet humans bedevil themselves when they call what they think is not good evil and blame a supernatural being for their lot in life.
Indeed, choosing good over evil is like choosing love over hate. The wise however should determine what is good and do it while refraining from doing evil.
It makes no sense to scapegoat other people who you assume are doing evil, just because you have chosen to do good.
For do-gooders ought not trespass against other people simply because of their unbelief. Instead, they should patiently guide them through skillful means.
Such a wise person who is skilled in guiding other people would never reproach another person simply because he made the wrong choice. Rather, he would comfort the wrong-doer and let him discover the error of his ways.
This is why it is wise to abandon desire and chooses to do good.
Showing posts with label basic goodness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label basic goodness. Show all posts
20140617
20140116
Socratic Three Goods Defeats Narcissism (satire)
Socrates was said to have said that the chief goodness consists in the caring of the soul concerned with moral truth and moral understanding, that "wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to the state", and that "life without examination [dialogue] is not worth living".
As a Buddhist, I take it that by "the soul", Socrates implies the person who has a finite existence. Therefore, the first truth can be rewritten as "The chief goodness consists in the caring of the person concerned with moral truth and moral understanding." This implies that Socrates cared about other people because they were as ignorant as he was, but vain enough to think they knew a lot more than they actually did.
The remaining two goods are as depicted. For the second, by caring for another person's understanding of moral truth and moral understanding, "goodness bring wealth and other blessings".
Finally, the third good can be rephrased as "the unexamined life is not worth living, however each of us are only able to examine their life based on the previous two goods.
However, today's society appears not to have time to examine their life. As a result, people sometimes lack the ability to care for others with moral truth and moral understanding in mind. Instead, they are too busy tweeting or other wise distracted.
Eventually this may lead to a sense of entitlement if they were taught by their parents that they are unique. It also leads to a secret desire for fame, and if they cannot get it, notoriety. They also end up looking like selfish jerks. Such is how narcissists are made.
Thus a narcissist would deny that goodness brings wealth and other blessings. Instead, he would claim that "my good looks and natural charm bring wealth and blessings."
Then what of ugly men who are wealth? Do all of them come from good families? And of the ones who were originally poor, would being a conceited ass make them think they could but goodness for a pretty penny?
No and no, I say! The goodness arising from a person's caring and concern for other people allows him realize that wealth requires patience, perseverance and politeness.
It is these three attributes that mark the man who successfully applies the three Goods to validate the goodness that results in wealth and other blessings.
Do not tempted to give in to the ignorant craving of your ego. Think before you tweet, and above all, correct your typos! I have no desire to see your cleavage or your abs. I would rather let you tell me what's on your mind.
As a Buddhist, I take it that by "the soul", Socrates implies the person who has a finite existence. Therefore, the first truth can be rewritten as "The chief goodness consists in the caring of the person concerned with moral truth and moral understanding." This implies that Socrates cared about other people because they were as ignorant as he was, but vain enough to think they knew a lot more than they actually did.
The remaining two goods are as depicted. For the second, by caring for another person's understanding of moral truth and moral understanding, "goodness bring wealth and other blessings".
Finally, the third good can be rephrased as "the unexamined life is not worth living, however each of us are only able to examine their life based on the previous two goods.
However, today's society appears not to have time to examine their life. As a result, people sometimes lack the ability to care for others with moral truth and moral understanding in mind. Instead, they are too busy tweeting or other wise distracted.
Eventually this may lead to a sense of entitlement if they were taught by their parents that they are unique. It also leads to a secret desire for fame, and if they cannot get it, notoriety. They also end up looking like selfish jerks. Such is how narcissists are made.
Thus a narcissist would deny that goodness brings wealth and other blessings. Instead, he would claim that "my good looks and natural charm bring wealth and blessings."
Then what of ugly men who are wealth? Do all of them come from good families? And of the ones who were originally poor, would being a conceited ass make them think they could but goodness for a pretty penny?
No and no, I say! The goodness arising from a person's caring and concern for other people allows him realize that wealth requires patience, perseverance and politeness.
It is these three attributes that mark the man who successfully applies the three Goods to validate the goodness that results in wealth and other blessings.
Do not tempted to give in to the ignorant craving of your ego. Think before you tweet, and above all, correct your typos! I have no desire to see your cleavage or your abs. I would rather let you tell me what's on your mind.
20130428
The Basic Goodness of the Unborn (poem)
My heart once aflame with evil passions
is cooled by the calmness of my mind —
all that is left is refined as compassion
by the single-minded focus on No-thought.
Though red embers still glow, its heat
has melted all evil away, leaving behind
the basic goodness of the Unborn.
is cooled by the calmness of my mind —
all that is left is refined as compassion
by the single-minded focus on No-thought.
Though red embers still glow, its heat
has melted all evil away, leaving behind
the basic goodness of the Unborn.
20130217
We Can Become Buddhas
Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche says:
It is because this ground or sugatagarbha or potential is common to all beings that they are capable of attaining enlightenment. If they did not have such a ground then they could never become buddhas.
For example: a stone doesn’t have the ‘ground’ or potential to produce oil, and so no matter how much you might press it and grind it — even if you use modern tools and machinery — you will never extract any oil. A sesame seed, on the other hand, does have the potential to produce oil, and by pressing it in the right way, sesame oil can and will be produced. So it is because the potential exists as part of our basic nature that we can become buddhas.
In my previous blog post, I wrote about the Eight Consciousnesses of Yogacara School. In it, the eight consciousnesses revealed, and of them, it is the eighth consciousness that will help with the understanding of the Buddhist term of "ground". For the eighth consciousness is also called "all-ground consciousness" in Tibetan Buddhism.
Sugatagarbha is the Tibetan Buddhist term for Tathagatagarbha, or Buddha Nature.
Buddha Nature is common to all sentient beings, for every being is capable of attaining enlightenment.
Since the potential to become Buddha exists as part of our primordial nature, we all can become buddhas.
Indeed, Buddha Nature is awaken by hearing the Teaching of the Buddha. Inspired by his message, one may choose to become a Buddha, and develop Bodhi Mind, which is both the determination to become a Buddha and the aspiration to help other sentient beings become enlightened.
One of the ways to become enlightened is to become a Zen master, which might involve a backache and perhaps the risk of hemorrhoids. Seriously though, traditional Zen involves the preliminary chanting of the Heart Sutra followed by hours of the sitting in meditation of zazen.
However, the whole point of meditation is to firstly develop the calm mind and secondly, achieve samadhi (one-pointedness of mind or single-minded concentration). To aid in this task, the disciple is given a koan, which is like a Chinese finger puzzle for the mind. For the intent of a koan and zazen is to make the mind flexible enough to achieve satori (seeing into one's true nature).
This happens when the disciple lets go of clinging to what Zen is supposed to be, and has that moment of sudden enlightenment when he lets go of what he thinks Zen is.
When the Zen practitioner carries the burden of Zen as a bunch of rules requiring discipline to practice just sitting in excellence, it's like the Zen master who carried a beautiful girl across a flooded stream and his disciple.
For the purpose of meditation is not just to achieve a calm mind, but to also develop the flexibility of mind to let go of clinging to thoughts. With every breathe he takes, the disciple learns discipline.
Even though sometimes I may mock the Zen practitioner, it is to discover if his meditation has resulted in the joy of satori. This is why when I meditate, it is done with a smile.
Master Hui-Neng inspired his disciples by teaching them about "no-thought."
No-thought is the state of mind where one cannot find the word for objects he sees and his mind clings to nothing.
In contrast, Hui-Neng's description of the "pure and unattached mind" which "comes and goes freely and functions fluently without any hindrance" reminds me more of the coming and going of the flow of thoughts without doing more than returning to just breathing when their distraction leads one away from meditating.
Even if we meditate and do not achieve Nirvana in this life, it still is possible to become a Buddha in the afterlife.
Yet the Buddhist remembers that she does her mindful practice for all sentient beings. If she chanted daily even ten Buddha Recitations, then that will help her become reborn in the Pure Land of Bliss.
As long as she did this with utmost sincerity to help all sentient beings become Enlightened, and is determined to be reborn in the Pure Land, her rebirth there is assured.
If she would rather chant the Heart Sutra before meditation, and she chanted it with single-mindedness, it's said she'd discover its true meaning.
In Sanskrit, the beauty of the mantra is found in chanting "gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā."
This mantra is pronounced as: "Guh-teh guh-teh PAH-ruh-sum-guh-teh bohd-hee swa-ha."
The Dalai Lama translated the Heart Sutra mantra as "go, go, go beyond, go thoroughly beyond, and establish yourself in enlightenment."
It's been said that all sentient beings have the potential to become buddha, for Self nature is Buddha Nature. Indeed, the Self is filled with selflessness, that sense of psychic prowess performing acts of random kindness in a friendly, loving manner.
Yet it is also empty of the self, which is depicted in Buddhism as the egocentric Monkey mind swinging from thread to thread of thought without a clear focus on the truth of one's actions, or even better, the truth of the Dharmakaya.
For Dharmakaya is but the Truth of the Tathagata that all phenomena, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are essentially empty of permanence, being a part of the temporary nature of all phenomena. Even Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are finite despite living uncountable ages.
It is wonderful to contemplate the myriad Buddhas, bodhisattvas and the Buddhist pantheon of gods and goddesses pacified by the Buddha to protect him, the Dharma and the Sangha through skillful means.
Although my words about Buddhism may seem hypocritical for exposing the less interesting aspects of Buddhism for Westerners, it is not so.
All my words on Buddhism are inspired by what the Buddha said. For the truth is, we can become Buddhas, by going beyond an intellectual understanding of the Dharma to actually practising meditation.
Though I prefer silent Nembutsu practice of Buddha Remembrance in combination with some kind of breath meditation to prevent my chanting from annoying the neighbours! >:)
References:
Buddha nature: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Sugatagarbha
Eight Consciousnesses Revisited: http://gandhara.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-eight-consciousnesses-revisited-poem.html
Yogacara: the Eight Consciousnesses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogacara#The_eight_consciousnesses
It is because this ground or sugatagarbha or potential is common to all beings that they are capable of attaining enlightenment. If they did not have such a ground then they could never become buddhas.
For example: a stone doesn’t have the ‘ground’ or potential to produce oil, and so no matter how much you might press it and grind it — even if you use modern tools and machinery — you will never extract any oil. A sesame seed, on the other hand, does have the potential to produce oil, and by pressing it in the right way, sesame oil can and will be produced. So it is because the potential exists as part of our basic nature that we can become buddhas.
In my previous blog post, I wrote about the Eight Consciousnesses of Yogacara School. In it, the eight consciousnesses revealed, and of them, it is the eighth consciousness that will help with the understanding of the Buddhist term of "ground". For the eighth consciousness is also called "all-ground consciousness" in Tibetan Buddhism.
Sugatagarbha is the Tibetan Buddhist term for Tathagatagarbha, or Buddha Nature.
Buddha Nature is common to all sentient beings, for every being is capable of attaining enlightenment.
Since the potential to become Buddha exists as part of our primordial nature, we all can become buddhas.
Indeed, Buddha Nature is awaken by hearing the Teaching of the Buddha. Inspired by his message, one may choose to become a Buddha, and develop Bodhi Mind, which is both the determination to become a Buddha and the aspiration to help other sentient beings become enlightened.
One of the ways to become enlightened is to become a Zen master, which might involve a backache and perhaps the risk of hemorrhoids. Seriously though, traditional Zen involves the preliminary chanting of the Heart Sutra followed by hours of the sitting in meditation of zazen.
However, the whole point of meditation is to firstly develop the calm mind and secondly, achieve samadhi (one-pointedness of mind or single-minded concentration). To aid in this task, the disciple is given a koan, which is like a Chinese finger puzzle for the mind. For the intent of a koan and zazen is to make the mind flexible enough to achieve satori (seeing into one's true nature).
This happens when the disciple lets go of clinging to what Zen is supposed to be, and has that moment of sudden enlightenment when he lets go of what he thinks Zen is.
When the Zen practitioner carries the burden of Zen as a bunch of rules requiring discipline to practice just sitting in excellence, it's like the Zen master who carried a beautiful girl across a flooded stream and his disciple.
For the purpose of meditation is not just to achieve a calm mind, but to also develop the flexibility of mind to let go of clinging to thoughts. With every breathe he takes, the disciple learns discipline.
Even though sometimes I may mock the Zen practitioner, it is to discover if his meditation has resulted in the joy of satori. This is why when I meditate, it is done with a smile.
Master Hui-Neng inspired his disciples by teaching them about "no-thought."
No-thought is the state of mind where one cannot find the word for objects he sees and his mind clings to nothing.
In contrast, Hui-Neng's description of the "pure and unattached mind" which "comes and goes freely and functions fluently without any hindrance" reminds me more of the coming and going of the flow of thoughts without doing more than returning to just breathing when their distraction leads one away from meditating.
Even if we meditate and do not achieve Nirvana in this life, it still is possible to become a Buddha in the afterlife.
Yet the Buddhist remembers that she does her mindful practice for all sentient beings. If she chanted daily even ten Buddha Recitations, then that will help her become reborn in the Pure Land of Bliss.
As long as she did this with utmost sincerity to help all sentient beings become Enlightened, and is determined to be reborn in the Pure Land, her rebirth there is assured.
If she would rather chant the Heart Sutra before meditation, and she chanted it with single-mindedness, it's said she'd discover its true meaning.
In Sanskrit, the beauty of the mantra is found in chanting "gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā."
This mantra is pronounced as: "Guh-teh guh-teh PAH-ruh-sum-guh-teh bohd-hee swa-ha."
The Dalai Lama translated the Heart Sutra mantra as "go, go, go beyond, go thoroughly beyond, and establish yourself in enlightenment."
It's been said that all sentient beings have the potential to become buddha, for Self nature is Buddha Nature. Indeed, the Self is filled with selflessness, that sense of psychic prowess performing acts of random kindness in a friendly, loving manner.
Yet it is also empty of the self, which is depicted in Buddhism as the egocentric Monkey mind swinging from thread to thread of thought without a clear focus on the truth of one's actions, or even better, the truth of the Dharmakaya.
For Dharmakaya is but the Truth of the Tathagata that all phenomena, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are essentially empty of permanence, being a part of the temporary nature of all phenomena. Even Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are finite despite living uncountable ages.
It is wonderful to contemplate the myriad Buddhas, bodhisattvas and the Buddhist pantheon of gods and goddesses pacified by the Buddha to protect him, the Dharma and the Sangha through skillful means.
Although my words about Buddhism may seem hypocritical for exposing the less interesting aspects of Buddhism for Westerners, it is not so.
All my words on Buddhism are inspired by what the Buddha said. For the truth is, we can become Buddhas, by going beyond an intellectual understanding of the Dharma to actually practising meditation.
Though I prefer silent Nembutsu practice of Buddha Remembrance in combination with some kind of breath meditation to prevent my chanting from annoying the neighbours! >:)
References:
Buddha nature: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Sugatagarbha
Eight Consciousnesses Revisited: http://gandhara.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-eight-consciousnesses-revisited-poem.html
Yogacara: the Eight Consciousnesses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogacara#The_eight_consciousnesses
20130208
A Prudent Old Fool (poem)
A prudent old fool be I
Who chose scarcity,
Over marrying a wife,
And basic goodness
By living a modest life.
Who chose scarcity,
Over marrying a wife,
And basic goodness
By living a modest life.
20130203
Let Go of the Past!
Let go of your past,
lest by clinging to it
you lose hope for your future.
It is by thinking about the past, and clinging to one's memories of it that distract the mind from the truth that the future is more important than the past ever was.
Thus it is vitally important to constantly maintain the future thought to be good i.e. one's basic goodness extends into the future.
By continually and naturally producing good thoughts, one is actualizing one faith in the Primal Vow and belief that the Pure Land awaits all who believe in Amida Buddha and his 48 Vows.
It is these successive thoughts that forever involve good, for they arise from belief in Amida Butsu and his Pure Land and the faith in his Primal Vow.
Any intent to recover one's past risks suffering. Thus, the prudent devotee knows that close examination of the dark memories of childhood is foolish and in vain. She remains focused on the future, because recovering the past will impede her progress, and perhaps even prevent her from being reborn in the Pure Land, were she to obsess about what cannot be changed.
For the future is yet to come to pass, and thus is open to change. It is under the control of anyone who seeks to attain a future where good thoughts dwell.
By meditating on good thoughts, evil thoughts are vanquished, and their calculations are for nought.
By focusing on good thoughts in our future, we light the way to the Pure Land.
For our present journey is illumined by the boundless light of wisdom and nurtured by the boundless life of compassion.
This article is dedicated to my roommate who currently holds fast to her past, and thus is blind to hope in her future. Were it possible for my good thoughts to burn away all of the evil karma locked in her past, I would meditate until my ass is numb.
However, the teaching of the Dharma to her requires the simple means of replacing the yellow robe with the hempen garment, and replacing Buddha with Jesus.
Thus, it would take a miracle for her to stop clinging to her childhood experiences.
For I am not a miracle worker. However, through my Buddhist practice, I hope to strengthen my sincere faith and belief in Amida Buddha. It shall help me to be be better able to provide emotional support.
lest by clinging to it
you lose hope for your future.
It is by thinking about the past, and clinging to one's memories of it that distract the mind from the truth that the future is more important than the past ever was.
Thus it is vitally important to constantly maintain the future thought to be good i.e. one's basic goodness extends into the future.
By continually and naturally producing good thoughts, one is actualizing one faith in the Primal Vow and belief that the Pure Land awaits all who believe in Amida Buddha and his 48 Vows.
It is these successive thoughts that forever involve good, for they arise from belief in Amida Butsu and his Pure Land and the faith in his Primal Vow.
Any intent to recover one's past risks suffering. Thus, the prudent devotee knows that close examination of the dark memories of childhood is foolish and in vain. She remains focused on the future, because recovering the past will impede her progress, and perhaps even prevent her from being reborn in the Pure Land, were she to obsess about what cannot be changed.
For the future is yet to come to pass, and thus is open to change. It is under the control of anyone who seeks to attain a future where good thoughts dwell.
By meditating on good thoughts, evil thoughts are vanquished, and their calculations are for nought.
By focusing on good thoughts in our future, we light the way to the Pure Land.
For our present journey is illumined by the boundless light of wisdom and nurtured by the boundless life of compassion.
This article is dedicated to my roommate who currently holds fast to her past, and thus is blind to hope in her future. Were it possible for my good thoughts to burn away all of the evil karma locked in her past, I would meditate until my ass is numb.
However, the teaching of the Dharma to her requires the simple means of replacing the yellow robe with the hempen garment, and replacing Buddha with Jesus.
Thus, it would take a miracle for her to stop clinging to her childhood experiences.
For I am not a miracle worker. However, through my Buddhist practice, I hope to strengthen my sincere faith and belief in Amida Buddha. It shall help me to be be better able to provide emotional support.
Destroying Samsara
Samsara is the human realm where all sentient beings wish to be reborn.
For the Buddhist devotee needs to develop non-deluded doubts about samsara.
Furthermore, the devotee who develops doubts about Emptiness will damage Samsara's hold over human beings.
Even samadhi leading to Bodhi Mind will not happen due to non-doubt in what the Buddha taught.
Indeed, Buddhism arose to help its followers awaken to the fact that transmigration is not of souls as Hindu define souls.
Rather, the store (alaya) consciousness is what is reborn due to the working of karma, both good and evil.
For me then, the optimal balance of karma ought to be equal amounts since the Middle Way is the pivot between good and evil.
For the Buddhist devotee needs to develop non-deluded doubts about samsara.
Furthermore, the devotee who develops doubts about Emptiness will damage Samsara's hold over human beings.
Even samadhi leading to Bodhi Mind will not happen due to non-doubt in what the Buddha taught.
Indeed, Buddhism arose to help its followers awaken to the fact that transmigration is not of souls as Hindu define souls.
Rather, the store (alaya) consciousness is what is reborn due to the working of karma, both good and evil.
For me then, the optimal balance of karma ought to be equal amounts since the Middle Way is the pivot between good and evil.
20130201
Pure Mind, Pure Heart: a Poem of the Heart-Mind
With humility and patience,
She who succeeds in mastering
her ego is given the greatest treasure
of all: the Pure Mind bathed in Wisdom
and the Pure Heart of Loving-kindness
arising out single-minded meditation
thinking of Good today and tomorrow
for the benefit of all sentient beings.
She who succeeds in mastering
her ego is given the greatest treasure
of all: the Pure Mind bathed in Wisdom
and the Pure Heart of Loving-kindness
arising out single-minded meditation
thinking of Good today and tomorrow
for the benefit of all sentient beings.
20100719
The Oneness of Heart-Mind
Not craving, not clinging,
full of primordial goodness,
no-mind and no-self arise
from Buddha Nature...
the heart and mind are one.
Unquestionably,
with joy the heart embraces
what the mind reasons!
For nothing drives apart
the heart and mind - only
ego occults the truth that
the heart-mind is as one.
20051211
All is a miracle
I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality.
People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child--our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
-Thich Nhat Hanh, "Miracle of Mindfulness"
When the Buddhist practitioner walks in this world in mindfulness, existence becomes "a miraculous and mysterious reality."
The life of ordinary existence is like that when mindful of each moment in it, savoring the miracle and mystery of walking on this earth, enjoying the moment.
This is known in Tibetan Buddhism as the basic goodness of reality as it is.
In Mahayana Buddhism, when we see with wisdom eyes, everything under the sun is basically good.
When even one sentient being sees reality as it is, it is true that "all is a miracle!"
Reference:
Thich Nhat Hanh:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh
http://www.answers.com/topic/nhat-hanh
http://here-and-now.org/IMSB/pages/TNH.page.html
Reviews of Thich Nhat Hanh's book, Miracle of Mindfulness:
http://www.spiritsite.com/writing/thihan/part8.shtml
http://theyogashop.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=246
People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child--our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
-Thich Nhat Hanh, "Miracle of Mindfulness"
When the Buddhist practitioner walks in this world in mindfulness, existence becomes "a miraculous and mysterious reality."
The life of ordinary existence is like that when mindful of each moment in it, savoring the miracle and mystery of walking on this earth, enjoying the moment.
This is known in Tibetan Buddhism as the basic goodness of reality as it is.
In Mahayana Buddhism, when we see with wisdom eyes, everything under the sun is basically good.
When even one sentient being sees reality as it is, it is true that "all is a miracle!"
Reference:
Thich Nhat Hanh:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh
http://www.answers.com/topic/nhat-hanh
http://here-and-now.org/IMSB/pages/TNH.page.html
Reviews of Thich Nhat Hanh's book, Miracle of Mindfulness:
http://www.spiritsite.com/writing/thihan/part8.shtml
http://theyogashop.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=246
20040520
Buddha Nature as Pure Mind Meditation
Buddha Nature as Pure Mind is the foremost refuge - there is no other.
For Pure Mind results from spiritual (right) action which help purify the human mind, just as motherly compassion washes away childish ignorance with the milk of lovingkindness.
Indeed, the purified mind sees one's original nature as Buddha Nature, and the self grounded in basic goodness.
This compassion is symbolized by Kuan Yin, the feminine aspect of Avalokitesvara.
The way to purify the mind is simple: meditation, chanting of Buddhist sutras, reading books written by Buddhist monks and nuns, and reading the Dhammapada are helpful at home.
As well, other forms of purifying the mind include speaking well of people, helping other people, and being thankful for the help of people.
One famous example of compassion is the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc in 1963. As a result, the Diem regime in South Vietnam was overthrown, and public opinion shifted from opposition to US military intervention in Vietnam.
For Pure Mind results from spiritual (right) action which help purify the human mind, just as motherly compassion washes away childish ignorance with the milk of lovingkindness.
Indeed, the purified mind sees one's original nature as Buddha Nature, and the self grounded in basic goodness.
This compassion is symbolized by Kuan Yin, the feminine aspect of Avalokitesvara.
The way to purify the mind is simple: meditation, chanting of Buddhist sutras, reading books written by Buddhist monks and nuns, and reading the Dhammapada are helpful at home.
As well, other forms of purifying the mind include speaking well of people, helping other people, and being thankful for the help of people.
One famous example of compassion is the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc in 1963. As a result, the Diem regime in South Vietnam was overthrown, and public opinion shifted from opposition to US military intervention in Vietnam.
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