Let Go of Suffering!

First and foremost, Happy Buddhist Day :-)

I just could not help but anxiously reached my office in the Sunday morning while perhaps most people are yet in bed to share some great thoughts from the reading I did this morning on the bus! On my untypical means of transport to work from home (as my car has decided to stop running and taken a little break from its owner who has been working 24/7, I, as that owner, had the chance to take the bus to work again in almost 5 years) I had this great book with me to read thinking to kill some time upon my journey. By the way "killing time is quite an insult to use with this book" I have to admit.

With my unrested mind of thinking about things in the past and worrying about things in the future that have not yet arrived, I have come to the present moment and now...the now with happiness and the now with hope!

This book is called Mind Management by V. Vajiramedhi, a well-known buddhist monk. This book is actually written in English. One of many teachings and thoughts I have read so far is about how to LET GO of SUFFERING. "sabbe dhamma nalam abhinivesaya' is a mantra to recite to keep reminding oneself to let go of suffering. It means "One should not cling to things." With no attachement and no clinging no suffering entails. It is like having a pair of shoes. When you lose them, you feel so much distress because you think they "belong to you" and they are "yours" when in fact the shoes never think this. They never feel they have "an owner", so they do not suffer. It is you who takes this and that as yours and shows off ownership of this and that. When things are not as you desire, you feel distraught.

Buddhism teaches realism--how to view the world as it is, not as we want it to be. I believe if we all get what we always want, we will not be able to cherish the real sense of happiness and love!

Let start a life of blissful joy along these guidelines: "Ask not who in this life will give you what. Ask what and to whom you will give in this life." I truly love these guildlines and could not agree me. Happy Buddhist Day na kha :-)

Independence Day Celebration with the Summer Team cultural exchange students from America

What is most important in life is keeping up with ourselves--not others...

Eknath Easwaran’s Thought for the Day

June 25

It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others.
– Saint John of the Cross

Most of us cannot help comparing ourselves with others, at least now and then. In fact, this has become so entrenched today that in order to have self-esteem, it seems almost necessary to say, “I am better than he is, so I am good.” As long as we compete with each other and compare one with another, a certain amount of envy is inescapable. It is the very rare person who is completely free from jealousy.

But as our spiritual awareness grows, we will know that the Lord is present in everyone and that there is a uniqueness about everyone. The truly spiritual person never tries to compare himself or herself with others, or others among themselves. I have never been able to understand the compelling phrase, “keeping up with the Joneses.” It does not matter very much whether I keep up with Tom Jones or anybody else; what is important is to keep up with myself by making my today a little better than my yesterday.

We can keep this ideal before our eyes by not comparing ourselves to others, remembering that all of us have complete worth and value because the Lord is present in us.