“It is better to inspire jealousy than to have people feeling sorry for you”
by John Heywood, an English writer known for his plays, poems, and collection of proverbs
“When another is vastly superior to you, there is no remedy but to love him”
by Goethe, a German poet, novelist and a philosoper
“I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him”
by Booker. T Washington , an American educator, orator and author
” Never have a companion who casts you in the shade “
by Baltasar Gracian, a prose writer
” How rare , men with the character to praise a friend’ s success , without a trace of envy “
by Aeschylus, a Greek playwright
The painting of the nine scenes from the Book of Genesis on the Sistine Chapel ceiling was finally done and unveiled to the Pope.But the Pope wanted to change it to more ultramarine, with more flex of gold as he thought it looked “poor” without gold.So Michelangelo said to the Pope: ” The people depicted in the painting, they are poor too.They are struggling, suffering but you wouldnt know about that, would you?……..”
I am here to share with you one aspect of the buddhist PHILOSOPHY.
The First Noble Truth with its three aspects is:”There is suffering, suffering should be understood,and suffering has been understood.This is a very skilful teaching because it is expressed in a simple formula which is weasy to remember, and it also applies to everything that you can possibly experience or do or think concernong the past, the present or the future.
Suffering is the common bond we share.Everybody everywhere suffers.Human beings sufferd in the past,in ancient India;they suffer in modern Britain;and in the future,human beings will also suffer.What do we have in common with Queen Elizabeth?-we suffer.With a tramp in Charing Cross, what do we have in common?-suffering.It includes all levels from the most privileged human beings to the most desperate and underprivileged ones, all ranges in between.Everybody everywhee suffers.It is a bond we have with each other, something we all understand
When we talk about our human suffering, it brings out our compassionate tendencies.But when we talk about our opinions, about what i think and what you think about politics and religion, then we can go into wars.In the past, most of the western propaganda made the Russians out to be titanic monsters or cold hearted, reptilian people, so they were never thought of as human beings.If you want to kill people, you have to make them out to be that way;you cannot very well kill someone if you realised they suffer the same way you do.you have to think that they are evil and that it is good to get rid of evil.With this attitude, you might feel justified in bombing and machine gunning them.If you keep in mind our common bond of suffering, that makes you quite incapable of doing those things
The First Noble Truth is not a dismal metaphysical statement saying everything is suffering.Notice that there is a difference a metaphysical doctrine in which you are making a statement about The Absolute truth and a Noble Truth which is a reflection.A Noble Truth is a truth to reflect upon.It is NOT absolute.This is where some people are confused because they interpret this Noble Truth as a kind of metaphysical truth of Buddhism, which on the contrary,is something it was never meant to be.
You can see that the First Noble Truth is not an absolute statement because of the Fourth Noble Truth, which is the way of non-suffering. You cannot have absolute suffering and then have a way out of it, can you?That doesnt make sense
Suffering and self view
It is important to reflect upon the phrasing of the First Noble Truth.It is phrased in a very clear way:’There is suffering’ rather than ‘i suffer’ .Psychologically, that reflection is a much skilful way to put it. We tend to interpret our suffering as ‘i’am really suffering.I suffer a lot-and i dont want to suffer.’This is the way our thinking mind is conditioned.
‘I am suffering’always converys the sense of’i am somebody who is suffering a lot.This suffering is mine;i have a lot of suffering in my life.’Then the wjole process, the association with one’s self and one’s memory, take off.
But note, we are not saying there is someone who has suffering.It is not personal suffering anymore when we see it as ‘There is suffering’.It is not:Oh poor me, why do i have to suffer so much?what did i do to deserve this? Why do i have to get old?Why do i have to have sorrow, pain, grief and despair? i only want happiness and security.’This kind of thinking comes from ignorance whcih complicates everything and results in personality problems
To let go of suffering, we have to admit it into consciousness.But the admission in Buddhist meditation is not from a position of’ i am suffering’ but rather, ‘there is the presence of suffering’ because we are trying not to identify with the problem but simply acknowledge that there is one. It is unskilful to think in terms of:’i am an angry person;i get angry so easily;how do i get rid of it?’.That triggers off all the underlying assumptions of a self and it is very hard to get any perspective on that.It becomes very confused because the sense of my problems or my thoughts takes us very easily to suppression or to make judgement about it and criticising ourselves.We tend to grasp and identify rather than to observe, witness and understand things as they are. When you are just admitting that there is this feeling of confusion, that there is this greed or anger, then there is an honest reflection on the way it is and you have taken out all underlying assumption – or at least undermined them.
So do not grasp these things as personal faults but keep contemplating these conditions as impermanent, unsatisfactory and non self.Keep reflecting , seeing them as they are.the tendency is to view life from the sense that these are my problems, and that one is being very honest and forthright in admitting this. Then our life tends to reaffirm that because we keep operating from that wrong assumption.But that viewpoint is impermanent, unsatisfactory and non self.
This is an “unforgettable story” from Warren Buffett:
An oil prospector(lets call him John) died and went to heaven,
St Peter said : Well, i checked you out, and you meet all of thequalifications. But there is one problem. We
have some tough zoning laws up here, and we keep all of the oil prospectors over in that pen.
And as you can see, it is absolutely chock- full.There is no room for you.
John said: Do you mind if i just say four words?
St Peter said: No harm in that
So John cupped his hands and yells out , “OIL DISCOVERED IN HELL!!!”
And of course, the lock comes off the cage and all of the oil prospectors start heading right straight down.
So ,
St Peter said: That’s a pretty slick trick.So now, go on in , make yourself at home.All the room in the world.
The prospector paused for a minute, then said :
“No, i think i will go with the rest of the boys ……………….There might be truth to that rumour after all”
So conclusion:They are all mindless enough to follow rumours and drill for oil in hell.
As our world once again faces the threat of an imminent flu pandemic, the accentuation of cultural biasness and diplomatic blocks join the fray, adding to international misery.
As an issue that has crossed sthe medical line into the realm of cultural sensitivity,background and political discrimination, the prevention of flu pandemic has been used as an excuse to implement fiercely defended actions,which has apparently invited uproars due to their contentious nature.
In Egypt, “swine” flu prevention has been used as the justification for the culling of more than 350,000 swines. It is absurd to believe that such a massive reactive was triggered by a single namesake,especially when related to a country like Egypt,where 90% of the population are Muslim, leaving roughly 9% of it as Christian. Moreover, any warning from WHO to stay away from pork or swine is totally unheard of.
In retrospect, mad cow disease which caused only a handful of death in America during 2008;a situation far less severe than the current bird flu crisis ,had managed to set off large scale demonstrations in the South Korea against the imports of beef from the US.It coincided with the appointment of the then new pro US prime minister Lee Myung Bak.Despite that the current new strain of flu virus is a much bigger threat than the mad cow disease,the streets in South Korea have been unexpectedly calm. the reason could be that it wasnt really the beef from US that the South Koreans were at odds with ………
In the first instalment of The matrix, Cypher is the traitor to Neo and the human race.So this is the dialogue between Cypher and the biggest antagonist,Agent Smith.
They were in restaurant(in the matrix world),and Cypher was having a steak…
Smith:Do we have a deal,Mr Reagon?…..
Cypher(Reagon): You know,…
I know this steak doesnt exist,….
i know that ……
when i put it in my mouth…
The matrx is telling my brain that it s juicy…
it s delicious…
But…..
After nine years…
(he then put a piece of the steak in his mouth and chew it slowly)…
Oooooh……
Ignorance is bliss…..
He then asked for his memory to be deleted and to put put back into the matrix
The Cloud Chronicler
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