Zen Tails; The Happiness Follows

 An old cat once walked up on a younger cat that was chasing his tail. The old cat asked, “what are you doing?” The younger replied, I just found out that my happiness is in my tail. I’m going to catch it and be happy. The older cat laughed and said “I heard that too when I was your age. What I found though is that if I just go about my day doing what needs to be done my happiness just seems to follow me wherever I go.

It Can Be Done! The Great Middle Way

Abandon wrongdoing. It can be done. If there were no likelihood, I would not ask you to do it.

But since it is possible and brings about blessings and happiness, I do ask you to abandon wrongdoing.

Cultivate doing good. It can be done. If it brought deprivation and sorrow, I would not ask you to do it.

But since it brings blessings and happiness, I do ask you: Cultivate doing good.

—Buddha Shakyamuni, Angutara Nikaya

Source: It Can Be Done!

Let´s not fool ourselves; The Great Middle Way

The Buddha gives this instruction in the Griha Vinaya (Rules for Householders, Dharmika Sutra, Kshudraka Agama):

Let him not destroy, or cause to be destroyed,
any life at all, or sanction the acts of those who do so.
Let him refrain even from hurting any creature,
both those that are strong and those that tremble in the world.

If we fail to understand the universality of this injunction, the Buddha clarifies (Kshudraka Agama):

Whether they be creatures of the land or air,
whoever harms here any living being,
who has no compassion for all that live,
let such a one be known as depraved.

And in the Anguttara Agama:

I am a friend of the footless,
I am a friend of all bipeds,
I am a friend of those with four feet,
I am a friend of the many-footed.
…
May all creatures, all breathing things,
all beings one and all, without exception,
experience good fortune only.
May they not fall into any harm.

Should we intend to skirt the First Precept by claiming innocence of the deed if others do the killing for us, He adds (Kshudraka Agama):

One should not kill any living being,
nor cause it to be killed,
nor should one incite any other to kill.
Do never injure any being,
whether strong or weak, in this entire universe!

Source: Let´s not fool ourselves

Change Your Emotions; GreatMiddleWay

To manifest any given emotional state, we develop a pattern:

We focus our attention on a specific feeling (pleasant or unpleasant) and magnify it

We generate a supporting discursive thought process and identify with it

We assume a compatible breath pattern and physical posture

If you want to change your emotional state, change your focus, your self-talk, your breath, and your posture.

Source: Change Your Emotions

Causes & Conditions; GreatMiddleWay

: The Dharma teaches that the manifestation of a consequence requires the confluence of multiple causes and conditions. Wrong views, afflicted emotions (attachment, aversion, and indifference), and the habits and tendencies that impel us to act in ways that are unskillful or undesirable constitute the fundamental causes of unbeneficial actions. The conditions that favor such conducts include material circumstances, similarly-inclined company, and situations.

If we desire to avoid those habitual tendencies, it is essential that we avoid conducive conditions for its manifestation. A well-known example is that of a person with alcoholic tendencies, who must avoid proximity and access to alcohol (material circumstances), persons with similar conducts (company), and those events in which this behavior is normative (situations).

We can successfully apply this strategy to all unskillful tendencies, identifying and avoiding the triggers that favor the repetition of any conduct we may wish to eliminate.

& Conditions

A Yin. A Yang.

Here I am

Black; in the deep dark depths of emptiness

There is also luminous white light;

And  I am there too…

Phosphorescencent in the dark ocean depths

I am A yin and a yang that spins in perfect balance;

Complete…

 

-Nina

 

 

My Buddha Speed Painting :D

Very big piece. 2 ft by 2 ft. Done as fast as I could. About 20 minutes. 🙂

Projections via GreatMiddleWay

Consciousness (mind and mentation) is “the stuff” what we mistake to be subject and object, me and mine, us and things. There is no substantial me, mine, us, things, but only internal representations in our experience.

When you see a movie, the actors and the scenery are not there in the theater. They are images on film, projected on a screen. These images look like various persons and things, but they are all “made” of the same stuff: light and shadow.

In the same way, our every experience is only in and of consciousness, taking the form of (transforming into) subject and object, self and beings, phenomena and their characteristics. Our experience is never extra-mental. It is always internal.

Source: Projections

What you do not.

Instead of what you need; what about what you do not?

In a world of depressive materialism; poverty and pollution

I dont intent to tread on trend; pretenders I severed an end

Theres a fine line drawn in the sand; trampled

Without mindful intent; a spiritual glance

What is the zen and the trance; compassion enhanced

And when does my third eye open; to notice what controls my emotions

Carefully ponder; what I do and what I do not need

Eat, sleep and breathe

Clothing and shelter and ease

Calming peace and honourable deeds

No harm. No foul.

What I do. And what I do not need.

 

-Nina

 

 

Children and Old Men via GreatMiddleWay

Bai Juyi (772-846 CE) was an important poet and government official of the Tang Dynasty in China. He once asked a monk for the most essential Dharma instruction, and the monk replied by quoting the Buddha’s summary teaching, “Avoid harm. Do good. Purify the mind.”

Bai Juyi was not impressed, “Every child of three years knows these words. What I want to know is the most profound and fundamental teaching of the Buddha.” The monk replied, “Every child of three years knows these words, but white-haired men still fail to put them into practice.”

Source: Children and Old Men