Thursday, 10 August 2023

SILENCE IS GD - NB

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Silence is the language of god, all else is poor translation.

Rumi | poet

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“If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own.” – Wes "Scoop" Nisker

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Discipline isn’t a punishment — it’s a privilege.

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Lama Zopa Rinpoche discussed this in a letter to a student who lived in an area prone to hurricanes:

“Whatever problems there are can be made less, and even completely stopped, if someone takes strong refuge and prays to even just one buddha. The weather can change in that very hour by the power of one person making prayers. There is no question that if the person who makes the prayers has realizations, such as the realization of bodhicitta, which is actually the best realization, then every single prayer has incredible power. There are stories of many bodhisattvas and great saints in the past who were able to prevent floods, change the direction of rivers, stop them altogether, and walk across them to the other side.”


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Rinpoche explained in advice for dealing with intensely hot conditions:

“The foundation of Buddhism is that happiness and suffering come from the mind, from your mind. So your mind is the creator. It’s explained in Abidharmakosha, this is one important subject to study. The various worlds came from the mind, born from the mind. It’s either so hot, or there are landslides or earthquakes. These outside conditions are caused by non-human beings. But that’s not the main cause. The main cause is karma. Karma is the mind; it is not the body.”


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By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."
- Benjamin Franklin

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Rinpoche began this teaching, given on November 6, 2020, reminding us that the I does not exist from its own side, because it is a dependent arising. The I has been appearing to our minds as if it exists from its own side since beginningless rebirths, and we have held on to that mistaken view. But it does not exist at all like this, it’s a total hallucination.

In fact, Rinpoche added, all phenomena of samsara and nirvana do not exist from their own side because they are dependent arisings.

Rinpoche discussed the meaning of ten drel and ten jungTen means “depends on” or “depends to” so this eliminates eternalism. Jung is “arising,” drel is “connected.” “By depending on others, it arises.” So, “there is no existence at all from its own side.” Because it arises, this eliminates nihilism.

Rinpoche stressed that we have to practice mindfulness all day and night to see that what appears to be real has actually never existed from its own side. When we are not aware of this mistaken view, then the I and all other phenomena appear to us as real. When you believe that those appearances are true, then the self-cherishing thought—the ignorance holding the I as real—and all the delusions arise. Then we create karma and suffer in samsara. We have done that already from beginningless rebirths up to now. And so far, we haven’t become free from samsara. So we need to have the awareness that without depending on the base to be labeled, objects do not exist from their own side, not even an atom exists from its own side.

Following Phabongkha Rinpoche’s commentary, Rinpoche explained that an imputed phenomenon needs to have three attributes:

  1. It is renowned to a conventional mind;
  2. It is not harmed by another conventional valid mind; and
  3. It also is not harmed by the reasoning analyzing the ultimate
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