Why waterfalls are beautiful?

ข้อคิดประจำวัน จากธรรมะสวัสดี / ภาพจากการท่องเที่ยว รู้ไหม... ? ทำไมน้ำตกถึงสวย...
Good thought from Dhamma Sawasdee....Why waterfalls are beautiful?

พ่อ : รู้มั้ยลูก...ทำไมน้ำตกถึงสวย...
Dad: Son, do you know why waterfalls are beuatiful?
ลูก : ก็เพราะมันเป็นน้ำตกไงคะพ่อ...
Son: Because it's waterfalls, Dad...it falls!
พ่อ : ไม่ใช่หรอกลูก...
… ที่น้ำตกสวยน่ะ... … เพราะน้ำตกไม่ยอมเก็บน้ำไว้ในชั้นของตัวเองต่างหาก...
Dad: Not true Son...
ลูก : หมายความว่าไงครับพ่อ...
Son: What do you mean Dad?
พ่อ : ลูกสังเกตไหมล่ะว่า..เวลาน้ำตกตกลงมาจากชั้นหนึ่งแล้ว...น้ำนั้นก็จะถูกส่งต่อลงไปอีกชั้นหนึ่งทันที...เพราะวิธีนี้ที่
น้ำตก...ไม่เห็นแก่ตัว..แต่ยอมส่งน้ำที่ตกมาจากชั้นอื่น..แล้วส่งต่อกันไปเรื่อย ๆ อย่างนี้… น้ำตก..ถึงสวย...และ
น้ำตก..จึงยัง คงเป็นน้ำตก...ที่มีเสน่ห์..ไงละ
Dad:Son, do you notice that when the water is falling...it's falling from one level to another immediately...for this reason, it's not selfish...but send the water from one level to others continuously...that's why waterfalls are beautiful and charming always!!!

ข้อคิดจากเรื่อง นี้...อย่าลืมน่ะลูก...ถ้าลูกอยากให้ตัวเองเป็นคนที่น่ารัก...ลูกควรจะเป็นอย่างน้ำตก..หากมีสิ่งดี ๆ ตกมาถึงตัวลูก...อย่าเก็บสิ่งดี ๆ นั้นไว้..คนเดียว..ลูกต้องเรียนรู้ที่จะ...แบ่งปัน...ออกไปให้มากที่สุด มีก็แต่คนที่ "ให้" ออกไปเท่านั้นแหละ...ลูก..จึงจะเป็นคนที่ "ได้รับ" อย่างแท้จริง..จากธรรมะ สวัสดี

Dad: Good thought from the waterfall story, Son...Don't forget...if you want to be pretty or handsome, you should be just like a waterfall. If you have received good things in life, do not just keep it for yourself. You need to learn to share...the most of it. Only will those people who love to "GIVE," "RECEIVE" good deeds...from Dhamma Sawasdee

ดั่งที่ได้อ่านกันมาแล้วข้างบนเมื่อคุณได้รับสิ่งดี ๆ แล้วก็อย่าเก็บไว้คนเดียวนะ แบ่งปันสิ่งที่ดีและสวยงามให้คนที่คุณรักและรู้จักนะ แล้วจะได้ความรัก สิ่งที่ดี ๆ นั้นกลับมาตอบแทน สาธุ

From the read, when you receive good things, do not keep them to yourself. Sharing those good things and beauty to your loved ones and those whom you know and care...then, you will receive good things in return.

On a personal note, I understand that some people who have experience heartaches from intimate relationship may not think the same. However, I do believe that only true love lasts. True love, to me, consists of patience, forgiveness, sharing and understanding. Love or without it in return...it's out of our control, but TIME heals and ease almost everything!

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 :-)

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.

Lord, grant that I may not so much seek to be loved as to love. – Saint Francis of Assisi

Eknath Easwaran’s Thought for the Day

May 14

Millions of people today suffer from loneliness. Here Saint Francis is saying, “I know the cause of the malady and I know the secret of its complete cure.” No matter what the relationship may be, when you look on another person as someone who can give you love, you are really faking love. That is the simplest word for it. If you are interested in making love, in making it grow without end, try looking on that person as someone you can give your love to – someone to whom you can go on giving always.

Learning to love is like swimming against the current of a powerful river; most of our past conditioning is pushing us in the other direction. So it is a question of developing your muscles: the more you use them, the stronger they get. When you put the other person’s welfare foremost every day, no matter how strong the opposing tide inside, you discover after a while that you can love a little more today than you did yesterday. Tomorrow you will be able to love a little more.

Secret for Good Health--Love!

April 12

There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for thoughtfulness; and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much.
– Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Our modern civilization is so physically oriented that when we hear the word hunger, we immediately think of vitamins and minerals and amino acids. It seldom occurs to us that just as the body develops problems when it does not get adequate food, the person who is deprived of love – or worse, who finds it difficult to love – becomes subject to problems every bit as serious.

This doesn’t mean just emotional problems, which of course are included. More and more evidence indicates that lack of love not only leads to loneliness, despair, and resentment, but also contributes to the deterioration of physical health. When spiritual figures like Mother Teresa talk about our need to love and to be loved, the need is not metaphorical. She is not talking about some vague spirituality; she is talking about good nutrition. Resentment, hostility, alienation, and selfishness are deficiency diseases. You can have all the essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals known and unknown but if you cannot love, you are not likely to remain in good health.

Great thought from the Ghandhi of Cambodia in the Future of Peace...

During the discussion between Scott Hunt and Maha Ghosananda (known as The Ghandhi of Cambodia), Maha Ghosananda stated, “If you look down upon people, are very proud and haughty, your mind will become ignorant. If you are respect everybody, because the whole world is your house and all human beings are your mother. Then you will become very wise. You must have su, chi, po, li. Su means to listen, chi means to think, pu means to question, and li means to record. To listen, to think, to question, and to record, these make you become very wise. If you don’t have them you become ignorant. That is the law of dharma.” Page 175

Maha Ghasananda also stated about working together that, “If we want to work together better, we must have four feet to stand. The first one is loving kindness (metta). The second one is compassion (karuna). The third one is joy (mundita). The last one is equanimity (ubekkha.)”

Reflection on a good read--The Future of Peace by Scott A. Hunt

Great learning, understanding and acquiring new knowledge (in all subject matters), to me, come from unlimited and broad imagination. Without great imagination, children won’t be able to learn, to grow and to change. In the conversation between Scott and Jane Goodall, an internationally renowned primatologist and the world’s foremost authority on chimpanzees, they mentioned about suffering (dukkha in Buddhism) in two elements: one is that we want to escape things that make us unhappy, things that cause pain. The other one is our longing to be aligned with something greater than we are right now. This second thing is very important for us to recognize. Thus, the important thing is if we don’t strive to find it then life seems to lack meaning. Jane stated that our life is a series of attempts to get higher ad higher toward the goal, we can’t cope by ourselves. There is a real longing in people to reach up to this higher state of being. Yet, children these days seem to lack—connection with everyone else. Children in the West have so many things, from video games to cell phones, and yet they have a lot of loneliness and sense of anxiety. Children used to play and laugh and have fun and being creative, and they have a sense of connection with everyone else. We, as adults, seem to take all these things away from them. We are going to tell them they need a video game to be happy. Once children have grown up with the video games and the violent movies, it is very difficult to change their mind stream. Therefore, they need to be instilled the goodness or plant the seeds for goodness and peace—more meaningful and imaginative

Goodall talked about the state of togetherness and the tools for change that we needed to break down the artificial barriers we’ve created between the rich and the poor, between countries, between cultures, between religions, between ethnic groups, between countries, between old and young very often, and between humans and animals. If you imagine that I give you a seed and you take it to Tibet and you plant it, well, it will grow in Tibet only if it’s nurtured by the Tibetan people. And when the fruits come, they’ll be the Tibetans’ fruits. I can take a seed and plant it in Congo and the same will be true. When all these fruits and leaves blossom out there they will be something we all made together.” Page 325
Goodall also stated, “We have to stop obsessing on the negative. I keep telling people, get out into the air, do something positive, and live your life!” She also further mentioned, “doing something positive and living in communion with the goodness of life.”

What it means by love--actually Love is...

Just wanted to share very good thought and contribution with others from Eknath's

Cheers!

March 7

Love, and do what you like.
– Saint Augustine


Learning to love in the way Saint Augustine is talking about is the most demanding, the most delightful, and the most daring of disciplines. It does not mean loving only two or three members of your family. It does not mean loving only those who share your views, read the same newspapers, or play the same sports. Love, as Jesus puts it, means blessing those that curse you, doing good to those that harm you.

Most of us do not begin by blessing those that curse us. That is graduate school. We start with first grade – being kind to people in our family when they get resentful. Eventually comes high school, where we learn to move closer to those who are trying to shut themselves off from us. College means returning good will for ill will. Finally we enter graduate school. There we learn to give our love to all – to people of different races, countries, and religions, different outlooks and strata of society, without any sense of distinction or difference.

How to live a simple and happy life? The answer is...!

Eknath Easwaran’s Thought for the Day

February 21

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.
– The Buddha


When the mind is at rest, we are lifted out of time into the eternal present. The body, of course, is still subject to the passage of time. But in a sense, the flickering of the mind is our internal clock. When the mind does not flicker, what is there to measure change? It’s as if time simply comes to a stop for us, as we live completely in the present moment. Past and future, after all, exist only in the mind. When the mind is at rest, there is no past or future. We cannot be resentful, we cannot be guilt-ridden, we cannot build future hopes and desires; no energy flows to past or future at all.

Past and future are both contained in every present moment. Whatever we are today is the result of what we have thought, spoken, and done in all the present moments before now – just as what we shall be tomorrow is the result of what we think, say, and do today. The responsibility for both present and future is in our own hands. If we live right today, then tomorrow has to be right.

Great saying from the Buddha!

January 12

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
– The Buddha

Our destiny is in our own hands. Since we are formed by our thoughts, it follows that what we become tomorrow is shaped by what we think today.
Happily, we can choose the way we think. We can choose our feelings, aspirations, desires, and the way we view our world and ourselves. Mastery of the mind opens avenues of hope. We can begin to reshape our life and character, rebuild relationships, thrive in the stress of daily living – we can become the kind of person we want to be.

Happy New Year 2010--Let's remake ourselves for a better person!

What a great thought from the Buddha!

January 1

As an irrigator guides water to the fields, as an archer aims an arrow, as a carpenter carves wood, the wise shape their lives.
– The Buddha

Contribution by Eknath...

The glory of the human being is our ability to remake ourselves. The Buddha is very rightly called the Compassionate One because he holds out hope for everybody. He doesn’t say our past has been dark, therefore our chances are dim. He says whatever our past, whatever our present, the sky is bright for us because we can remake ourselves.

The Buddha says, be a good woodworker. Consciousness is the wood, and you can make it take any shape you like. Just as a carpenter works the wood to build a house or a fine piece of furniture, similarly we can fashion the responses and attitudes we desire: love, wisdom, security, patience, loyalty, enthusiasm, cheerfulness.

"My happiness and goodness will be preserved if our nation has prosperity, normalcy and stability."

Happy New Year to everyone. This year, I would like to share with you one of the most wonderful speeches from our King.

"The Kingdom was filled with happiness on Dec 5 when His Majesty left Siriraj Hospital and travelled to the Amarin Winitchai Throne Hall in the Grand Palace where he granted an audience to royal family members and key administrative, judicial and legislative figures.

The King delivered a short speech to the dignitaries. He said:

"My happiness and goodness will be preserved if our nation has prosperity, normalcy and stability."

by Bangkokpost

What gifts to get for your loved ones--something without anything in return!

I whole heartedly agree with the thought and the contribution from Eknath. These days, we tend to have less time for our loved ones; therefore, we usually get things for them regardless their real needs. By doing so, we feel less guilty....

I personally love making others happy by doing things for them--cooking or baking or making things that are unique and special for my loved ones. Yet, I need to give TIME, my personal time, for them!!!!!

Here is the great thought and wonderful contribution from Eknath I would like to share with my readers.

Enjoy!

Give all thou canst; high Heaven rejects the lore
Of nicely-calculated less or more.
– William Wordsworth


This morning, when I was reading an important New York paper, I noticed an article on the dynamics of gift-giving. This article quoted a distinguished professor of sociology as saying that in every gift there is a reciprocal relationship, even if it is not conscious. In other words, when you are making a gift, you are expecting a gift in return.

Not only that, there are very subtle social gradations: gifts to longtime friends, to recent friends, to acquaintances, to possible benefactors. All these factors come into play when choosing the gift. No wonder shopping for gifts is so terribly time-consuming. No wonder people feel confused and inadequate about what to give.

But the spiritual approach is very simple. Whatever you give – it may be a check to a worthy cause, it may be clothes to a person who is cold, it may be food to the hungry, it may be medical help to the sick – do it without thinking of getting anything in return. Do it as a service to God, not reluctantly, but with joy.

What love is... from Thomas a Kempis and Great Contribution from Eknath

Eknath Easwaran’s Thought for the Day

December 9

Love is swift, sincere, pious, joyful, generous, strong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, courageous, and never seeking her own; for wheresoever we seek our own, there we fall from love.
– Thomas a Kempis

Our English word love has become almost impossible to use. We say he’s “falling in love” as if it were something that could happen every day, like falling into a manhole. Is it so easy to fall in love?

Listen to our popular songs; look at our magazines and newspapers. When they say, “I love you,” that’s not what I hear; I hear “I love me.” If we could listen in on a marriage proposal with the ears of Thomas a Kempis, this is what we would hear. The man gets down on bended knee and says, “Sibyl, dear, I love me; will you marry me?”

There is a little undertone of this in almost all relationships. This is how we have all been conditioned, to put ourselves first at least part of the time. Most relationships begin with some passionate “I love you’s” and some undertones of “I love me.” But if we want our relationship to blossom, we’ll gradually change the focus from me, me, me to you, you, you. Then our selfish passion is transformed into pure love.

Love means ...

I couldn't agree more with the passage below and the contribution of Eknath!

"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God."
– I John


The idea of romance held by the modern world seems to be taken from the world of business. We are told that love should not be freely given, but that it is a commodity that must be bargained over. Some wary couples are even drawing up “contracts” to specify who will do the dishes and who will wash the car. As long as the contract is observed to the letter, peace reigns, but any breach brings serious consequences. We model our personal lives after our business lives. If it works when negotiating a contract with your supplier, why shouldn’t it work when negotiating with your domestic partner?

Yet no one is content with this state of affairs. None of us really wants to strike back at those we love. We do not get satisfaction out of hurting people who have let us down. We have simply fallen into the habit of brooding on wrongs done to us, until we finally explode.

Love means that regardless of what someone does to us, we will not strike back in anger.

Putting others first is a vital key to eternal relationships!

There is no greater glory than love, nor any greater punishment than jealousy.
– Lope de Vega

Eknath's Contribution:

It is good to admire beauty, but it is neither good nor practical to want to take beauty home, put it on a shelf, and say, “You stay right there.” When we see something beautiful, we may begin to want it for ourselves. It may be a dramatic house, it may be a lovely flower, it may be a graceful dancer – we just want it. If this wanting becomes a compulsion, it is likely we will lose what we want so much.

Jealousy comes into a relationship when we try to possess someone for ourselves. It is a very difficult secret to discover: that when we do not want to possess another person selfishly, when we do not make demand after demand, the relationship will grow and last. And it is something we have to learn the hard, hard way. This is the secret of all relationships, not only between husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, but between friend and friend, parents and children. Instead of trying to exact and demand, just give, and give more, and give still more. This is the way to earn love and respect.

You are not the same, nor are you another. – The Buddha

After reading the passage and the contribution from Eknath, I could not help but thinking of my readers. So, there it is for you to read and practice!!!

Eknath's note:

The Buddha is saying that we change from moment to moment. Personality is not cast in a rigid mold; the whole secret of personality is that it is a process. The nature of a process is that it can be changed. For a time, it is true, the changes you are trying to make will not seem natural. When someone is rude to you, you will still feel a wave of resentment inside. It does not matter; at the outset, it is enough to act kind, to pretend to be kind, to stage a sort of kindness performance.

Gradually, if you put your whole effort behind this transformation, using the tool of meditation, the seething will subside. Then it will not just be a flawless performance, you will actually transform anger into compassion. You will feel sorry for the person who has offended you. You will not be the same angry person you used to be; and yet you will not be someone else, either. To be patient, kind, and secure is our real nature; anything else is being false to ourselves.

Good thought for the Day--the Law of Karma!

I have to admit that I totally agree with the teaching and contribution of Eknath about consequences. We can all indulge ourselves for things; however, things that we do have their own consequences which we will have to be aware of. It should not be the gain of one and the lose of others! In terms of all relationships, it's crucial to put others first at times...put ourselves into their shoes. Many relationships have come to an end because they don't seem to think of others first--imagine, if each one of us thinks about others first...their will be all peace and long lasting relationships. This morning, I watch the news about a couple in Brisbane, Australia, have been married for 72 years. They were asked how they felt until these days, they said that they still love each other more and more. What's the secret then? It's patience and love for each other!!!!!! Love to give, that is!

--Tuk

September 26

A human being fashions his consequences as surely as he fashions his goods or his dwelling. Nothing that he says, thinks, or does is without consequences.
– Norman Cousins


The Hindu and Buddhist scriptures give us the same truth in what is called the law of karma, which is the psychological equivalent to the physical law that every action has a reaction equal and opposite to it. The Buddha says we can fly higher than the heavens or hide in the depths of the earth, but we will not be able to escape the consequences of our actions. Though we drive to another city or fly to another country, though we change our job or our name, our mistakes will pursue us wherever we go.

Paradoxically, the only way we can begin to escape from the consequences of our actions is to stop running from them and to face them with fortitude. In this sense, every difficult situation is a precious opportunity. When we find ourselves in some situation where we always make the same mistake, if we can manage not to make that mistake, the chain can be broken. Often, if we face it squarely, that situation will not come up again.

Great Passage and Thought which I cannot agree more and so wanted to share with others!!!

July 11

The more we have the less we own.
– Meister Eckhart


We have been ruthlessly conditioned to think we can find fulfillment in possessions, to love things rather than people – so much so, that when we feel an emptiness in our hearts, we go to shopping centers to fill it up.

I am all for living in reasonable comfort, but when I go to shopping centers, I cannot help getting alarmed. Not at the money that is being wasted – there is enough money in this country to waste. But there isn’t enough will to waste. There isn’t enough energy to waste. When we hear of the energy crisis, this is it. All our vitality, energy, and drive is sapped and undermined by the constant propaganda: go after this, go after that, and you’ll be happy. Things are not meant to be loved. They are meant only to be used. People are lovable and loving.

Teachers are like signposts...

The Buddhas do but tell the way, it is for you to labor at the task.
– The Buddha


Eknath's thought on the Buddha's statement,

Spiritual teachers are like signposts pointing the way to immortality, but it is we who must make the journey. This is quite reasonable. After all, when we pass a signpost on the freeway, we don’t expect it to get into the driver’s seat and do the driving while we lie down in the back to take a nap. On the first half of the spiritual journey, we cannot expect other people to pick us up and carry us along. It is up to us to meditate regularly, and practice the allied disciplines.

Sri Ramakrishna says that the first part of the trip is the “way of the monkey.” The little baby monkey has to hold on for dear life while his mother swings from tree to tree. If the little one loses his grip, he’ll fall and hurt himself. But the second half is the “way of the cat.” The little kitten just sits there on the road looking cute and helpless, saying, “mew, mew, mew,” and the mother cat picks it up by the scruff of its neck and takes it to safety. It is only on the second half of the journey that we are carried by a power higher than ourselves.