The Moral Buddhist, 6-12-2009

The Moral Code of Buddhism: The Five Precepts
Buddhism is not just a religion, but also a discipline and a way of life that encourages people to follow certain guidelines to help them conquer suffering. Buddha’s teachings are about being peaceful, righteous and thoughtful. The Five Precepts of Buddhism are actually the gist of the teachings and a moral guideline that people can follow. These precepts, if followed, can help people to build up their moral strength and live peacefully with their fellow beings.

Refrain from killing: This teaching is about being non-violent. To live peacefully and harmoniously with and respect others, living beings must not be killed. Approval of killing by others and participation in killing is also considered wrong. This precept is about protecting lives and cultivating an innate kindness towards other beings. Since this teaching advocates non-violence, it also urges people to be vegetarians.
Refrain from stealing: This precept is about respecting other people’s properties and not taking it by stealing or by force. If something hasn’t been given to you, then you have no right to it. Stealing not only applies to material goods, but also to time and effort. You should be responsible and not fritter away someone else’s (e.g., an employer’s) time. This precept also urges people to be generous, kind, sympathetic and respectful to everyone.
Refrain from sexual misconduct: According to the teachings of Buddhism, sexual desire is one of the biggest hurdles to enlightenment and one of the most difficult temptations to overcome. Sexual misconduct like adultery and rape, which cause mental, emotional and physical injury to others, are absolutely forbidden. This precept, like all Buddha’s teachings, urges people to respect others by abstaining from sexual misconduct.
Refrain from lying: Respecting the truth is one of the most important principles of Buddhism. Denying the truth is actually lying, which can create guilt, confusion and disharmony. Buddhists are also asked to keep away from half-truths, exaggeration or understatements and, instead, work on being honest. It is believed that being completely honest with oneself and others will reduce disharmony and misunderstandings in the world.
Refrain from drugs and alcohol: Buddhism places a lot of importance on wisdom. Consuming intoxicants like alcohol and drugs can erode that wisdom and these are also harmful for health. A state of intoxication increases the chances of committing crimes and wrongdoing. It is easier to commit evil deeds or injure others when people are drunk or drugged. It is believed that anyone who breaks this precept will actually be dishonoring all the other precepts.
This precept is about respecting one’s mental health and not relinquishing control of one’s mind. Meditation is important to become more aware and attentive and only a calm mind can meditate. People who observe this precept will lead happy lives.
These practical precepts can be practiced not only by Buddhists, but by anyone who wishes to lead a happy, simple and honest life 

http://www.buddhagroove.net  this link will take one to the one source I go to often.

random thoughts:

Human's moral compass
doesn't work yet in worlds
where the instinct navigates life.

Flow is the best of what happens
when potential is activated by consciousness.

If history has taught me anything
about the nature of others,
it has taught me that
when nature can not be denied,
they persist.

It seems that we learn lessons
when we least expect them
but always when we need them the most,
and, the true gift in these lessons
always lies in the learning process itself.
~*~

"If you cannot be a pencil to write anyone's happiness, then try at least to be a nice eraser to remove someone sadness." ~ Jeana Farrell ~ ( Twitter ) 

Sandstorm ~ Haruki Murakami ~ Kafka on the Shore, 2006

‎"Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of... you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.

And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You'll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others.

And once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm's all about."

WoW - I have been praying for the words to describe the vulnerability I have been feeling.  This was on my feed today.  I have posted earlier, that FB is my 'social network' - how I keep in touch with family, friends and like, or notsomuch like-minded individuals around the world.  It is Also my news and inspiration source.  The www: has become an amazing place, and google has made so much information accessible - IF you know the correct wording for searching, or IF you remember the exact title correctly of something you once saw, or read, or what you hope to find.

I have been in more than one of these sandstorms.  One might think One is enough.  I am not so sure.  I read somewhere, or was told by my therapist ( yes I have had a couple - who has not ? ) --- that Change occurs in our life directly because of, due to, or as a result of a Life Altering Event.  And I have had several of those!  Again, who has not ?  I do not consider myself extraordinary ( Merriam Webster )/ 1 - going beyond what is usual, customary or regular; exceptional to a very marked extent/ 2 - employed for or sent on a special function or event ...  let me get back to 2.  As to 1, I stand with my belief.  I have been told most recently, that my writings of my thoughts on certain subjects is "Great Stuff and What a mind I have, to Share"  Which I have done.  I am not accustomed to being put into a "spotlight" of sorts by doing so.  I willingly share my thoughts and beliefs about subjects , especially when I have a profoundly strong affinity for my side.  By that I mean, that most often, I am willing to hear, listen and investigate/ research, the opposing views on near any debate topic.  Maybe debate is too strong, because oftentimes I have found that debating an idea where the opinion of one side cannot possibly be wrong or right moreso than the other is not really a debate.  Hopefully it is a lively discussion.  And, I have been convinced that my opinion was outmoded or outlived, not researched well enough and have changed my mind about my position.  We are all entitled to that!  There are subjects however, in which some people are so entrenched in their position and opinion on that position, that they will deliberately refuse to entertain any notion that anyone else could possibly have as good as, or better, an opinion that contradicts their own.  So they joke about it.  Or they are rude.  Or they say "Yeah but ..."  In one of my management classes, I learned that the best way to continue a conversation is to avoid at ALL costs the word "but" - it is a mental trapdoor that slams shut the possibility that anyone will listen to anything said or, in my case, read anything written after that word.  Try writing a soliloquy without the word "but" !!!   I am digressing again.  Back to the sandstorm.  I tend to think that having an opinion and being in a lively conversation or debate about such, is much like a sandstorm.  Either one can peripherally listen or read in, and just kind of watch as if one were sitting on the sidelines at a 3 ring circus, or one can step into the storm and become part of the process of refuting all the "but"s and coming up with or presenting all the "ands" - this is the part I enjoy.  Providing as many "ands" as possible.  I often wonder how those who hold fast to their "buts" come out of that sandstorm different than when they went in.  This then leads me to #2 of Merriam-Webster.  I have often wondered, other than the spectacular miracle of being a mother of 2 lively and spirited young adults, what on earth am I here for?   I am no longer married.  As much as I adore my pets, they could equally love and give adoration to those who might adopt them if I were not here.  Had I not survived, albeit belatedly, the cardiac event of 2007, I would not have 3 of the 5 pets I do.  My bills would have been paid off by my life insurance, and any leftover monies given equally to my aforementioned miracles.  L could have paid off her college debt.  B would have, well I honestly do not know what he would have done , back then.  He has matured a lifetime in the last 4 years.  So, am I here in order to complete some kind of "special event"?  I have joked before about becoming the Ann Landers or Oprah of FB ... and I really WAS joking.  So then, this begs the question of why I am sought out.  Why I send out prayers at bedtime for those people who have needs and the next day, I find streams of information on my FB wall that jump out at me, screaming to be read.  And over and over again, I receive feedback, that that is exactly what that person or some person needed to read or see or hear that day.  It lifted them up, gave them a boost, insight or, caused them to stop and read an "interesting viewpoint" they might not have otherwise considered.  I think this is very honorable.  It humbles me.  And truly, as much as I am pleased that something I think is of value , is also considered of value by others, when really - they are not my thoughts or words but those that I just share and pass along from Gandhi, or Buddha, or the news, or whatever ... it strikes me as curious, how it is that I see this information and they do not.  And, I also smile when I see that others are joining in the communities that I glean much of this forwarded information from.  For peace and love are what really truly will mend this planet of ours.  They mend hearts, souls and minds.  They mend fences, tear down walls, build rapport and create lasting relationships.  There is so much savagery and hate in this world, so if I am sent here to spread some love and peace, for this I am truly blessed.  It does not pay the bills though !!!   And, I am finding myself at another crossroads that I am not at all inclined to move through.  Another sandstorm is following me, has been for a month now.  It is getting closer and I realize I have to enter this one, with a clear focus of what the options are and what the ramifications of my decisions, if I even make one, will be once the storm is passed.  This particular storm has left me without hunger or desire for food.  Drained of energy.  Wondering.  Searching the internet for clues and answers and not finding them.  A particular challenge that for me, as adept as I have been in the the past, is proving far more difficult than I expected.  And, I also realize that once I step out of the storm, I will wonder what was so different about this one than the ones of the past.  Each storm we step into is the mightiest one at that moment - no more nor less than the ones of the past or the ones of the future.  Wonder if I will need  a shovel ?

Responsibility

Responsibility starts with the willingness to experience yourself as cause.

It starts with the Willingness to have the experience of yourself as cause in the matter.  Responsibility is not a burden, fault, praise, blame, credit, shame or guilt.  All these include judgements and evaluations of good and bad, right or wrong, or better and worse.  They are Not responsibility.  They are derived from a ground of being in which Self is considered to be a thing or an object rather than context.

Responsibility starts with the willingness to deal with a situation from and with the point of view, whether at the moment realized or not, that You are the source of what you are, what you do and what you have.  This point of view extends to include even what is done to you and ultimately what another does to another. 

Ultimately, responsibility is a context - a context of Self as Source - for the content, i.e. - for what is.


I struggle with this daily.  Which is why it is next to where I brush my teeth daily.  I read this everytime.  (Almost) ... I have to say, I wonder about this concept ........