Fear is my Constant Companion (poem)

Fear is my constant companion,
A treasured friend that comes to my aid,
To help me realize that with wisdom
And understanding, I may choose kindness
And develop companionship with new friends.
For it is not fear that drives me away from
Society, but the wish to be left alone to
Think my own thoughts in solitude.
Fear is not anxiety, nor is it anger.
It inspires kindness toward other people.
They who deride this wisdom know not
Fear to be their friend but an enemy.
How foolish it is to fight against fear;
That path only leads to a legion of fears
To arise with the solution forgotten.
To make peace with thyself and conquer fear
Is the foolhardy choice of the fearful.
It is best to watch where the fear has gone,
For it shall return with the fruits of experience.
Such experience leads to wisdom, and guides
Each of us to be inspired by fear
To be the epitome of loving-kindness.
Thus is fear my constant companion
To protect me from the fickleness of strangers,
For fear has been a friend since the day
When we became each other's companion.
Even then, a dear old friend such as fear
Always is with each of us, especially anyone
Who denies they are afraid, and in their bravery
Become so bold that they make foolish mistakes,
And show their fearlessness to be a complete fraud.
Thus the only way to conquer fear is to befriend it.
For such a constant companion may be what truly helps
Each of us gain wisdom and understanding until
Loving-kindness and mercy tames fear.
This is why fear is my constant companion.

Happiness is Peace of Mind (satire)

It is said in Buddhism that seeking happiness, which comes and goes with a person's mood, is desire which may distract the devout from Nirvana and thus lead to rebirth in the Six Realms of Desire.

In order to escape suffering in the Six Realms, I would need to extinguish the desire to be happy so that true happiness arises.

True happiness is found in the freedom from desire itself. This implies mastering my passions by behaving more compassionately towards other people who have grown to care for.

Buddhism does not advocate the neglect of family life. Rather, Buddhists are urged to act mindfully while keeping the Five Precepts (no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no false speech and no intoxicants such as coffee, tea, alcohol, dangerous drugs, and tobacco).

Even so, I like feeling happy once in a while, and associate that feeling with peace of mind. Deep down though, such fleeting happiness is due to the work of unconditional love.

However, the pursuit of happiness is indeed potentially the pursuit of suffering when a person desires to sustain it to the exclusion of the main goal in life, which is to fulfill your spiritual journey through life.

In escaping suffering, the Buddhist does so by reflecting on the Four Noble Truths (life is suffering, suffering is due to endless craving (desire), relieve desire, and embark on the Eightfold Path to aid in that relief).

It is through meditation that the spiritual journey begins by first relieving suffering by accepting the Four Noble Truths.

When my mind is calmed, I go on to meditate more deeply on the fleetingness of happiness. With my desire thus quenched, it is possible to develop peace of mind so that true happiness may arise.

Happiness is indeed peace of mind. Be ever watchful and strive for it!

The Metaphor of Burning in Hell (satire)

If you are Christian and a Islamophobe then you may be a bigot and, according to certain Christian sectarian dogma, you might burn in hell.

If you are a Christian and believe non-Christians will burn in hell then let me assure you that your literal interpretation of the Bible has blinded you to its metaphorical content.

For hatred of Muslims implies unbelief in the ever-loving Christ, regardless of your so-called belief in Him. Hatred of non-Christians is implied by Christian doctrine but not by the Bible.

Furthermore, no one Christian or otherwise knows what awaits them in the afterlife but hatred cuts everyone off from a true and sincere love of humanity, regardless of creed or faith.

Please note that I don't believe in hell as eternal torment but as a temporary destiny after death. Nor do I believe in bigotry and hatred towards Muslims.

For it was not Muslims who committed the tragedy on September 11, 2001. Rather, it was political Islamists who too are just as much unbelievers as anyone who has a large board of hatred blocking the last shred of love left in them. Though such militants claim belief in God, it might be Satan working through them.

Most Muslims were just as shocked as you were, and consider al Qaeda and like-minded Islamists politically radical militants but not Muslims.

Indeed, Islamist implies the political ideology of Sharia that runs counter to Islam.

If a Christian were to radicalize and hold an ideology of the Ten Commandments and consider anyone resisted him to be an unbeliever and worthy of death then he would be considered a potential domestic terrorist by the US government.

This includes anti-abortionist shooters, anti-government militias and even certain groups motivated by ideology i.e. radical right who use violence.

Indeed, anyone who wishes death on anyone else and affiliates with any God-fearing religion that stresses love and submission before a higher power than himself has occulted himself from belief in God and substituted it with a belief in death.

And who knows death more than Satan does? Even those lost sheep who have chosen him may know of death.

Hatred inflames the heart and places the hater in a metaphorical hell. Thoughts of death to other people complement that hatred.

Thus hatred causes the hell of your own making, regardless of your faith.

On the other hand, the love of which a wise man speaks is not humanity's love of God but rather the merciful compassion that calms all hearts because our love for all things good in life.

Peace of mind is the ideal of all things good in life. Such a mind at peace calmly abides in the clarity of mind that is free of anger and hatred and soon becomes full of the truest love of all, our love for each other, regardless of religion.

He who fears another is ignorant of that love. She who loves knows the power of love. Before that power of love, even he who loves power confesses his ignorance of love.

What if that tragedy in 2001 was the last chance for Americans to show humility before the world? What if the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq was the hope that that humility be shared by the conquerors with the conquered?

These two questions are but rhetorical, and may result many more questions than can be addressed in this article.

However, the metaphor of burning in hell refers to the anger at being caught unaware in 2001 which resulted in the so-called War on Terror. It also refers to the hatred that consumed a few people who — out of ignorance — chose to unjustly blame others for causing two passenger jets to destroy the Twin Towers, including the tragic deaths in America of Sikhs killed by two men consumed by anger and hatred.

When anger consumes a person, it causes mental instability. When hatred consumes such a person, that unstable mind will find a target upon which to vent his rage. In the case of 911, that target became the Muslims. Yet I do not consider the madmen who piloted those jets to be Muslims but criminal terrorists.

It is illogical and irrational to scapegoat Muslims around the world for 911. A better use of our time would be in studying the perversion of Salafi ideology in Islam that results in the violent militancy of al Qaeda, home-grown domestic terrorism and related criminal terrorism such as the recent bombings by militant Chechens in Russia.

As well, the Boston Massacre may have been inspired by Chechen militancy but it was also fueled by the fear perpetrated by conspiracy theorists who deny the official version of 911.

In any case, such acts of terrorism are often perpetrated by men and sometimes women who burn with hatred for a targeted enemy who is nothing more than a scapegoat for their rage.

Thus, the metaphor of burning in hell is apt.

Yet those of us who know of love know that the power of love triumphs over love of power. Non-violent confrontation of life that is both its fruit and its seed is planted when we fall in humility before that power.

It is possible for love to transform a would-be killer into a humble man who chooses life over death. Indeed, when we let unconditional love guide us, compassion and mercy promotes loving kindness towards other people. All anger and hatred is forgotten, and replaced by meekness.

Thus, the antidote to hatred is love, for it quenches the thirst for revenge without blood being shed. For the power of love is so great that it calms the mind and snuffs out the anger.

All that is left is a calm mind abiding in peace.

Now, that is better than letting hatred cause the hater to feel like he is burning in hell.

My Opinions on War on Terror (satire)

IMHO I think that both side of the war against terror are missing the point.

Since the enemy isn't eager to save their lives, IMHO the war on terror needs to be fought with less death as a result.

I'd be demanding that the US allow the Taleban to survive as captives and be treated with respect and dignity according to Geneva convention, especially when they might not give you the same respect IF you are captured and do not convert to Islam.

IMHO towards Muslims, I'd follow the path of Nanak. In front of Muslims he denied being Hindu; in front of Hindus he denied being Muslim. In the end, he died at peace. Yet the Muslims didn't get it, and they continued their forced conversion of India during Mughal rule, so that the Sikhs arose to defend their faith.

It was only in the face of oppression that the Sikhs became warriors, and forgot that Nanak had saved his life and countrymen by acting as he did.

It takes a wise person to understand this and realize that it isn't Islam that we are fighting but terrorists hiding behind religion who are nothing more than criminals.

In essence, we are fighting the terrorists to save them from their self oppression which leads to terrorism, oppression against women, and other evils.

Indeed, most people deluded by the glory of war ignore this truth: "A warrior may conquer 1000 foes, but one who conquers himself is the true warrior."

IMHO the war against terror arose because of apocalype propaganda both on the part of the Bush administration and on the part of the terrorists due to their obsession with religion, be it Christian or Islam.

Neither side sees the Dalai Lama or even peace activists as helpful because of the myopic beliefs held by Christians and Muslisms.

As well, both sides of this struggle hide behind God which prevents people from realizing that it is the West's dependence on oil and the West's aim to profit from Americanizing the Middle East that motivates the US.

IMHO ending this war will not stop the terrorists from trying to control the Middle East again.

Fanaticism excludes the ability to fight to save the other person's life, because at its root it is excluded by the obsession with forcing ultraconservative Salafi Islam as way of life on everyone else, due to the fanatic's belief that everyone else are unbelievers (kaf'r) and worthy only of death and not mercy.

For all terrorists who revere the Salafi way of life believe themselves to be the only True believers. Even the worst of Christian fundamentalism is not as criminal as the Salafi way is.

If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam, I'd choose Chassidic Judaism because of its emphasis of the joy of loving-kindness.

Only both Gnostic Christianity and Sufism are close to solving conflict.

However, my Buddhist heritage would promote moderation of monotheism, lest its excesses lead my astray from Life's true objective: peace of mind.

When I think about the typical Muslim terrorists, it reminds me more of a zombie Apocalypse especially when in Christian apocalyptic propaganda, the Christian dead are supposed to rise up out of their graves to fight in God's army against Satan and his minions, both demons and everyone living and dead who chose the left path over the right path of Jesus.

Indeed, the End of Days looks like a zombie Apocalypse.

---

Originally posted June 23, 2010 at 1:07 PM

The Root of Nirvana is Found in Adversity (poem)

Even though I speak of
love and compassion,
patience and wisdom,
the disciple who believes
that they only arise
out of peaceful situations
will never find love,
compassion, patience,
or wisdom on a good day,
because they arise out of
the muck and mire of a bad day.
For the root of Nirvana is not
found by contemplating your navel
but by dealing in adversity!

The Peaceful Feeling

One sees pleasure as suffering
And sees pain as a dart.
One sees as impermanent the peaceful feeling
That is neither pleasant nor painful.

Such a bhikkhu who sees rightly
Is thereby well released.
Accomplished in knowledge, at peace,
That sage has overcome all bonds.

-Itivuttaka

This quote from the Dhammapada is in context with the monk's view of pleasure, suffering, peace of mind.

However, it is relevant to us since it refers to not clinging to the feeling of peace which arises due to meditation.

By viewing "the peaceful feeling that is neither pleasant or painful as impermanent," it is possible to "see rightly" like a bhikkhu (monk).

"Peaceful feelings" refers to the use of shamatha meditation to establish the calm mind which is ready to proceed to vipashyana meditation to establish the insight into phenomena that arises from such meditation.

"Well released" refers to not clinging to peace of mind by being one who "sees rightly" that pleasure and pain, when taken to extremes, are forms of suffering.

So too is clinging to the serenity of the calm mind.

"Accomplished in knowledge" refers to the direct knowledge achieved from the experience of meditation as a result of the Four Noble Truths and Dependent Arising. Such knowledge results in peace of mind.

"Overcome all bonds" refers to the Nine Fetters of human existence.

References:

Originally published December 23, 2005 at 2319H
Edited and republished February 26, 2013 at 0250H

Here's the original translation by Ven. Thanissaro in Itivuttaka III Verse 53:

"Whoever sees
pleasure as stress,
sees pain as an arrow,
sees peaceful neither-pleasure-nor-pain
as inconstant:
he is a monk
who's seen rightly.
From that he is there set free.
A master of direct knowing,
at peace,
he is a sage
gone beyond bonds."


http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/khuddaka/iti/tb0/iti3.html

Meditation As The Cure for Suffering

"Train in concentration, which is the cause of shamatha, and train in prajna, which is the cause of vipashyana." — Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Trulshik Adeu Rinpoche

In the First Noble Truth, all life is suffering.
In the Second Noble Truth, the cause of suffering is tanha.
In the Third Noble Truth, suffering can be relieved.
In the Fourth Noble Truth, the Noble Eightfold Path
is prescribed to relieve suffering in all sentient beings.

Suffering is mental unrest. The Eightfold Path of Buddhism relieves the mind of it. Its cause is tanha.

Tanha or trishna is craving, desire and thirst. It is also aversion, desire, and hunger-thirst. Its opposite is upekkha is peace of mind, serenity, and equanimity.

Craving arises through the action of aversion — a person's craving for the object of desire causes one to hunger for it , and this results in attachment due to desire.

Hunger-thirst arises through ignorance, ass one's peace of mind is disturbed by the desire for satisfaction. Yet aversion to the object of desire is what causes craving to arise.

Thus, the Three Poisons of aversion, attachment, and ignorance lead to suffering.

To help relieve suffering, meditation is prescribed. It consists of shamatha and vipashyana, the main two meditation practices of calm abiding and clear seeing.

Shamatha is the meditation of calm abiding that is abiding tranquility which works on the conceptual mind, to free it of the Three Poisons.

Vipashyana is the meditation of clearing seeing that is the meditation of intense insight, which has three prerequisites consisting of reliance on a spiritual teacher, sincere engagement in extensive study, and appropriate reflection.

Prajna refers to insight into the cure for suffering through meditation. It is also known as primordial wisdom, the primordial and non-dual knowing aspect of the nature of mind.

---

References:

Quote from Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Trulshik Adeu Rinpoche, trans. Schmidt & Kunsang, Skillful Grace: Tara Practice For Our Times; New York 2007. Rangjung Yeshe Publications

Prajna: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Prajna

Prajna: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajna

Three Poisons and Tanha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%E1%B9%87h%C4%81#Relation_to_the_three_poisons

Shamatha: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Shamatha

Vipashyana: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Vipashyana

Prajna as primordial wisdom: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Primordial_wisdom

http://ubcbuddhism.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/9929/
Dr. Fleischman’s description of meditation was a self-reflective melding of natural scientific theories with the worldview that underlies vipassana meditation. He stressed two points in particular: (1) The natural laws that govern our world also govern us as embodied beings; cultivating awareness of our embodied existence, through concentration and observation, provides insight into the world itself. (2) The practice of meditation is supported by ethical practice, both in terms of basic precepts and the voluntaristic, service orientation of the vipassana movement itself. In addition to being detailed and informative, his talk was imbued with a wonderfully dry humor, making it accessible and entertaining.

Be Mindful of Your Mind! (poem)

Be mindful of your mind in your daily practice.
With all sincerity, serenity is what you find
When breath leads to the single-mindedness
Of samadhi so pure that Nirvana is but
A heartbeat away from a walk in the Buddha Field
leading towards bliss and the non-abiding Nirvana.

Relieving suffering (poem)

through carelessness anything is possible,
even the pain of a toothache,
or the heart inflamed with a myriad of feelings,
be it anger, fear or love.
yet through meditation it is possible
to eradicate the harm caused by anger and fear,
replacing them with calmness and fearlessness,
while cultivating loving-kindness to benefit all.

---

Originally posted: November 18 2005 at 0137H
Updated: February 8, 2013 at 2316H

With Effort, All Things Are Possible

If you have only effort, you have all Dharmas,
But if you have only laziness you do not know any Dharmas. — Geshe Kelsang Gyatso


With effort, anything is possible. Although one may be limited by physical strength, with mindful practice the mind is capable of anything.

Last night I went out to visit Vancouver. Since my habit is to take pictures with my smartphone camera, most of my night was spent taking pictures of my trip into Vancouver and of the city itself.

First I went down to English Bay. Then I returned to Robson Street and Howe Street, near Chapters Book.

At Chapters, I looked around until I found the Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam, which I got for a bargain: $2!

This is the fifth edition of the Rubaiyat.

Contrary to popular opinion, the Rubaiyat is not about drinking wine. What wine represents in the verses is the Divine and is akin to the Holy Spirit in Christianity.

Returning to the Buddhist quote regarding effort, "Dharmas" refers to phenomena. For the phenomena that effort brings is inspiration.

After reading the Rubaiyat, I felt inspired to write the poem preceding this article, We are All One.

As well, inspiration helped with the effort to create my newest music video to post on Youtube using pictures I took last night.

With effort, you could have anything,
Be it peace of mind or happiness.
All it takes is faith in the Buddha,
and belief that Buddha Nature is Emptiness.

---

The Rubaiyat: http://classics.mit.edu/Khayyam/rubaiyat.html
Analysis of Rubaiyat: http://www.peejeshare.com/essays/analysis-rubaiyat-omar-khayyam-8825

The Only True Mind Control Prevents Brainwashing

I learned to not expect a thing in life, and thus have avoided much #disappointment; except when self doubt plagues me.

#Buddhism provides the only solution that works, even though it's a long and hard road to freedom for Westerners who have gotten over #guilt and #shame after becoming apostatic as atheists, agnostics, and New Agers.

When a Westerner expresses guilt and shame, it brings up the trauma associated with those two human condition.

However, the whole point of repenting, which is also a Buddhist practice, is to share your secrets so they do not become fools gold one clings to, due it being like gold.

Personally, a person who hides all his dirty little secrets and tries to become a Buddhist who has realized samadhi and even satori because his practice helps Budhi Mind to arise in him.

Such a person will end up frustated by not even achieving joy, which results in dissatisfaction, both of which as forms of human suffering.

Repentance means turning away from evil karma i.e. admitting to not being perfect and describing how one is rendered an ordinary person by eons of evil karma, performing the Buddhist practices of chanting and meditation for the good of all sentient beings.

Thus repentence is when a person turns away from actions that harm either him or others; actions that harm him and others, actions that harm him, and actions that harm others.

One vows never to harm others, which prevents harm to harmless folk.

All in all, Buddhism makes people int harmless folk. For being harmless is part of the Buddhist way of peace, by controlling your mind.

Only you can control your mind; when you blame others for controlling it, that does not excuse to your irresponsibility.

It would better to admit to playing the blame game, rather than performing what amounts to a sick circus juggling act involving a chainsaw turned on, and the juggler blind-folded. At some time during the performance, either someone is going to lose finger or die.

Blaming others for mind control is like that game, which makes everyone blamed a spectacle to see when the secret is uncovered.

Returning back to what I have learned in life: "mainstream mind control" is a delusion which is projected on people to believe a white lie about mind control."

For the fact is: mind control is based on the fear that others could insert and extract information from an individual's mind.

This is a hopeless myth.

In most cases of mind control, there is a dupe who complies under pressure (to conform) to the handlers' ideology.

This is a survival trait when a group of human beings who know each other intimately (without the nitty gritty of sex) who adhere to a symbol that suggests cohesion of their group.

That symbol becomes their core ideology, and then the group morphs into a fanclub. >:)

In a fanclub, the trufans agree, but the majority of fans object to the weird and creepy feeling that trufans are such fanatics because they not only consume mass media's version of say, animé, they get upset when an innovative fan writes something non-canonical.

Even the computer wars between Windows, Mac, and Linux are forms of mind control as you can tell who is the trufan and who are fans who know their limits, unlike the fanatical trufan who will argue with any fan who pipes up "But OpenBSD is way more secure than Windows, Mac or Linux!!!"

A trufan who has never used OpenBSD but complains about how hard it is to get a GNOME desktop under OpenBSD probably does not do Unix.

Such a trufan is always a die-hard Windows fanatic i.e. claims all the bad habits teach him frres him from the command-line BS.

Yet he still secretly asks for help from the Linux and Mac gurus because his computer was overtaken by a botnet trojan which slowed it down to Windows 3 speed. ;)

Anyway, to summarize, mind control as I know requires compliance by the person being "brainwashed", usually to ensure personal survival.

Mind control as the Buddha teaches is is designed to withstand brainwashing and counteract with a stronger mind control which has aided Buddhists to remain the last of the peaceful religions, apart from the Theravada fanatics.

Meditation, Dhyana and Samadhi

Hui Neng said:

What is sitting for meditation? In our School, to sit means to gain absolute freedom and to be mentally unperturbed in all outward circumstances, be they good or otherwise.

To meditate means to realize inwardly the imperturbability of the Essence of Mind.

What are Dhyana and Samadhi? Dhyana means to be free from attachment to all outer objects, and Samadhi means to attain inner peace. If we are attached to outer objects, our inner mind will be perturbed. When we are free from attachment to all outer objects, the mind will be in peace. Our Essence of Mind is intrinsically pure, and the reason why we are perturbed is because we allow ourselves to be carried away by the circumstances we are in. He who is able to keep his mind unperturbed, irrespective of circumstances, has attained Samadhi.

To be free from attachment to all outer objects is Dhyana, and to attain inner peace is Samadhi. When we are in a position to deal with Dhyana and to keep our inner mind in Samadhi, then we are said to have attained Dhyana and Samadhi. The Bodhisattva Sila Sutra says, "Our Essence of Mind is intrinsically pure."

Let us realize this for ourselves at all times. Let us train ourselves, practice it by ourselves, and attain Buddhahood by our own effort.

Like the Essence of Dharma (poem)

Hard it is to be born poor,
even harder to accept is
becoming poor when once rich.
Free are creatures small
that fly about or crawl,
but freer still is Man.

Liberation is a process binding
all sentient beings to samsara,
yet freeing the one thing
sentient being have: consciousness.
For it is the consciousness
that Nirvana frees, not the soul.
For consciousness is non-self,
and on contemplating
the whole universe,
is contained within the heart-mind.

When such joy is found,
easy is the peace of mind
regardless of want.
Craving thus ended is gone,
replaced by calm abiding.
Easier is acceptance
of one's lot in life,
to not strive needlessly, lest
the joy of being
is traded in for gold.

For the joy of being is
more precious than gold itself.
It is more precious
than the sweet life.
Those who have never tasted
the sweetness of life
are free of mental caries
which lead to sadness —
they know the Void is all things.

For the Void is the Buddha womb
which gives birth to peace,
within your heart-mind, but calls
out to you calmly,
that peace called Buddha Nature.
All "I", "me", or "mine"
are but conceptions, not things
which last forever &mdash
If "I" truly existed,
it would always weep
for lack of profit, but then
the selfless know well
the folly of such delusions.
If "me" existed,what would be
the point of "you" except
to make the world less lonely?
If "mine" existed, would that
allow "yours" to share?
Thinking these conceptions things,
each of us is free to choose
the delusions or let go
of it, to uncover peace of mind.

With peace comes the calm mind,
achieved through careful contemplation
whilst letting go of conceptions,
and holding onto nothingness,
the seed of well being,
freed in spite of strife,
close to the struggle called life,
yet closer still in the midst of
physical poverty to the endless process
called by many names: freedom,
joy of being, letting go, liberation...
Ignore the distraction of egoistic Love,
lest it be the death of Nirvana.

Holding tightly, the ignorant fear such freedom —
death overtakes everyone.
And yet, the Buddha
Shows a shining example.
Letting go, the seeker is free
to explore nothingness,
which is filled with potential
far greater than death:
the pure joy of peace of mind!

Where once these words first brought fear,
they shall bring joy on the retelling.
Contained within what was written is like
the essence of the Dharma,
but feel free to doubt this.
To anyone who fails to research anything
written here, and, in fleeing, hides
behind disbelief: walk on with lack of faith
but respect the Buddha as the mother of boundless joy.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

June 15, 2010: It's the middle of June now, and I'd like to be prepared for the onset of SAD now when I am at my highest.

That means for the month of September, I'll see if the mirtazapine makes a difference.

While on this med, I do not mistake the fatigue for depression.

Currently, the changes in sleep pattern appear to mimic the changes in sleep pattern I would undergo during the longer days of summer.

Tho I enjoy sleeping more than usual, both because of the medication and because it's a healthy hobby! :p YMMV

IMHO the best way to beat SAD is to make sure that I have plenty to do in the fall and winter. Being on-line 24/7 does not healthily preoccupy my time.

My plan during the summer is to study Vajrayana, and get involved in the Buddhist community outside Jodo Shinshu.

Hopefully by the fall I'll see how committed I am to this path because it would preoccupy my time during the winter.

Update: 20130124.1820

Over the course of two years since the original post, I veered back to Pure Land Buddhism, of the Chinese flavor mixed with True Pure Land school.

My medication also has been reduced to gabapentin and cyclobenzaprine with good results for sedation and sleep architecture.

For about six months I even tried out Baptist.

Yet I always return to Pure Land since I grew up on it. It's just like when I try to pray, I return to the Nembutsu.

Recently I have affirmed my commitment to Amida Buddha. Over the past month, Buddha Remembrance has resulted in focus, joy, and peace of mind.

As a result of these improvements I've noticed that meditation has resulted in one-pointedness of mind due to ease of focus. This has improved my mood, resulting in more experiences akin to pure joy. Due to ease of focus during meditation, I have also achieved peace of mind.

For focus is related to pure concentration in meditation; joy, the fruit of concentration; and peace of mind, the essence of clarity of mind. The improvement in my mood has allowed me to enjoy being outside, riding transit while on errands.

Overall, I have managed Seasonal Affective Disorder through the use of meditation and regular exercise.

Peace of Mind / Paz da Mente

Let nothing of Ego
pervert the mind.
Let only the mind
rein in the Ego,
calming this mind,
creating only peace.

In this calm void
the ego is vanquished.
In this peace of mind,
the ego sleeps.
Take care those
who wakes this snake!


Deixado nada do Ego
pervertido a mente.
Deixou somente a mente
rédea no Ego
em acalmar esta mente,
em criar somente a paz.

Neste vago calmo
Ego é vencido.
Nesta paz da mente,
dos sonos do ego.
Ciao aqueles que
acorda esta serpente!

Peace of Mind (poem)

Peace of mind is found
in only a single word,
and that word is Truth.

For truth frees the seeker to
walk the Middle Way
without a doubt, accepting
things as they are, with
gratitude to the Buddha.

Thus Truth takes but faith,
acceptance and gratitude
to make peace of mind.

The Foremost Good Fortune

Hunger: the foremost illness.
Fabrications: the foremost pain.
For one knowing this truth
As it actually is,
Unbinding
Is the foremost ease.

Freedom from illness: the foremost good fortune.
Contentment: the foremost wealth.
Trust: the foremost kinship.
Unbinding: the foremost ease.

-Dhammapada, 15, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Chapter 15 of the Dhammapada is called Sukhavagga (Happiness).

In contrast with Thanissaro Bhikhu's translation, Acharya Buddharakkhita's translation reflects on the same verses (203 and 204) of the Dhammapada:

Hunger is the worst disease, conditioned things the worst suffering. Knowing this as it really is, the wise realize Nibbana, the highest bliss.

Health is the most precious gain and contentment the greatest wealth. A trustworthy person is the best kinsman, Nibbana the highest bliss.

Thus Nibbana (Nirvana) means unbinding, i.e. letting go of the ties that bind us to birth-life-death (samsara), helping us to accept spiritual suffering as-is.

This does not mean we accept illness and disease without seeking medical and professional help.

What it does mean is that we voice our complaints and receive medical assistance when needed.

After much meditation and subsequent control of the mind, for the Buddhist, Nirvana is samsara.

Avoiding the Extremes Opens the Middle Way to Peace!

There are, friends, these two extremes, which not should be practiced by any, who has initiated purification: The hunt for sensual pleasures, which is low, vulgar, the common way of ordinary worldlings, ignoble, disadvantageous; and any practice of self-torture, which also is quite painful, ignoble, and rather disadvantageous! Without veering towards either of these extremes, the well-gone-beyond Buddha has awakened to the Middle Way, which leads to assured vision, to direct knowledge, which leads to ease, to peace, to certain understanding, to Enlightenment, to Nibbana. And what is that Middle Way, awakened to by the Buddha, which leads to assured vision, to direct knowledge, which leads to ease, to peace, to certain understanding, to Enlightenment, to Nibbana?

It is this very Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of:

• Right View
  
• Right Motivation
  
• Right Speech
  
• Right Action
  
• Right Livelihood
  
• Right Effort
  
• Right Awareness
  
• Right Concentration
  

It is based on the Buddhist Middle Way, awakened to by the Blessed Buddha. It leads to assured vision, and to direct knowledge which leads to ease of mind, and to certain understanding of the Buddhist sutras. With ease of mind and great understanding, peace of mind becomes bliss and joy, and eventually that pinnacle of enlightenment, Nirvana. Source: The Grouped Sayings of the Buddha. Samyutta Nikaya. Book IV [330-1] Section 42: On The 6 Senses. Rasiya: 12. http://www.pariyatti.com/book.cgi?prod_id=948507 http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/samyutta/index.html