Buddha Speaks On Generosity

The practice of generosity is the practice of freedom, and it carries with it all the joy and pleasure that are associated with liberation. Indeed, there may be no greater sense of fulfillment in life than the simultaneous feelings of human interconnection and pure freedom that arise from an authentic act of selfless generosity.

- Dale S. Wright, “The Bodhisattva’s Gift” 

 

It is hard to imagine in our world filled with so much abundance, that we collectively seem to have trouble with generosity.  The other part of generosity that puzzles me is that so many people want to tell you a) that you should be generous, and b) how much you need to give in order to be generous.

The conflict for me is the judgement and control that seems to be in our society around generosity.  If generosity must come from the heart, how can someone set standards of giving, or pass judgement on those that they perceive do not give?  

The passage above caught my attention because it says “generosity is the practice of freedom”.  The words resonated deep within me.

Generosity is taking time to do something kind for someone else, without acknowledgement from anyone other than the receiver, and if it is anonymous, then without acknowledgement at all.  How wonderful is this gift to self!

Blessings,

Judy

Healing And Changing

This poster says:

When you can tell your story and it doesn’t make you cry, you know you have healed. -from NotSalmon.com

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March is a time of big change for us because we go into Spring after a challenging winter..    As Mother Earth changes, it is a time for us to look at change.  Maybe, this is the time for you to practice some self healing.

The world is shifting at an ever changing pace.  The fears that are surfacing and then come to pass, are fears:

• about loosing one's identity, 
• about poverty including lack of food and/or money, 
• about people having power over you
• about lack of control
• about loosing what one has
• about pain and illness
• about doing the wrong thing
• about dying

Many of these fears may be overcome by spending some time learning how to do some quick, self healing.

Note that the self healing that will be discussed over the next month does not replace medical doctor's advice, and these blogs should not be taken as medical advice.

What these blogs are intended to do is to provide some coping mechanisms for the turmoil and pains that one might feel in their daily life.

Blessings,

Judy

I Can Not Meditate - A Buddhist Teaching

This is a story that we had to read about the common problems that come up for people new to meditation, and sometimes for those who have had to break their meditation practice for some reason.  

Perhaps you will find some wisdom that you, too, will be able to use.

  Picture of Elbow Falls in the Elbow Recreation Area - by J Hirst June 2024

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Beginners with meditation often get the feeling that they can't meditate; "I meditate for a week now, and still see no change", "I can't control my mind", "My mind is only getting crazier, I cannot get rid of my problems and thoughts". 
To briefly comment on these in order: 

Meditation requires patience - a few sessions will not undo a lifetime of opposite habits of excitement and confusion. 

None of us can control our mind unless we train ourselves to do it - have you ever seen anyone playing the violin nicely without practice? 

If it seems that our mind is getting worse, it usually means we just see our 'madness' better than before - the first step towards success! 

 

A story by Master Shen-Yen (from Ch'an Newsletter July 1982):

"The purpose of cultivation is not to seek anything, but to discover the faults in our character and behavior. By opening ourselves to self-investigation, we hope to find out where our problems lie, and if, after searching within ourselves, we can see these faults and problems, this in itself is the fruit of the practice. 

A woman on the last retreat said that the more she tries to get away from her faults, the stronger they seem to become. And the more she thinks about it, and wonders why she can't get rid of them, the more she gets disgusted with herself. She said, "Probably I just don't have the ability to practice meditation. A good practitioner is able to throw out their problems while practicing, and I'm not." At that time, I was standing up, and the light above cast a shadow of my body on the wall. I asked: "When I am standing still, is the shadow moving?" She said, "No." Then I walked slowly away, and the shadow followed me along. I walked quickly and the shadow kept pace with me. No matter how I tried, I could not get rid of it. Only if you turn the light out, or make your body disappear, will your shadow go away. 

Just like the shadow, our problems stick to our "self." Wherever there is a self, there must also be problems. But if you were to say, then, "I want to throw away my 'self'," that "I" who wants to get rid of the self indicates that the self is still there. This would amount to the self trying to throw away the self, which is impossible to accomplish. It would be just like trying to get rid of the shadow if your body is still there. If there is a subject, there is definitely an object. This being the case, is cultivation of any use? Of course it is, since we cultivate to discover our problems. Recognizing your problems shows you have made progress. Desiring to rid yourself of these problems may he a good sign, but actually that is not how we should approach it. The method of practice does not consist in throwing them out, but rather in decreasing the sense of self until it becomes so light that the problems will naturally disappear."

Many blessings,

Judy 

A Universal Truth About Effort

Mountain Lake – Picture from Microsoft Clip Art

 

Indigenous people around the world and our Ancestors recognized the truth of the first Universal Law - Maximum efficiency with minimal effort.  Humans, now, are not that tuned in.  It seems that we struggle against all odds all the time. And, if it looks like we will not win the goal we want to achieve, then we scheme and plot and manipulate to get our results.  It is called “control”.  

Animals do not waste effort. They tend to go with the flow of life.   Cows will take a meandering path which is always the easiest road. Pioneers followed goat tracks through the mountains because it was the easiest road.  

Water will always take the easiest path. And, as it washes over stones and down gullies and rushes along the bank of a river bed, it smoothes and polishes.  The dirt and rocks offer no resistance.  As they “move” in the flow, they become less, and yet more than they are. The rock becomes rounded and shiny and pure – for that which it does not need, dissolves and flows with the water.  Dirt becomes free to move, to travel to far away places and, when it settles, offers new energy to the environment around it.  It becomes more.

And what will you do now"?  Will you flow or will you not? 

Blessings,

Judy

Feeling The Magic!

 

I am amused when I listen to people say that there is “no such thing as magic!”  I believe that everyday has lots of magic in it.  I think that many people are so busy trying to control their life and to control others around them that they miss the little pieces of magic that happen all the time.

Dictionary.com defines magic as a verb -

verb

move, change, or create by or as if by magic.

"he must have been magicked out of the car at the precise second it exploded"

Physics tells us that energy changes when force is applied to it thus creating a “magical’ change.    For example, when we hunting for a product on a store’s shelves and the product isn’t there.  We ask a store assistant to help us and they confirm that it is not where it should be, but, they spot it several spaces further on, and there is only one item.  They tell you it was misplaced.  Perhaps it was.  That you could find it when the item is out is magic.   

Another good example occurred when my husband and I were travelling.  We were picking up our luggage in Vancouver airport.  Ours was the last off.  Everyone else was gone.  My husband was looking at the name tags on our luggage and asked me if I had a felt pen in my purse.  Sometimes I do but this time I did not.  So he said, “I wish I had a good black felt pen to change the writing on our luggage tags.”  Literally moments after he said that, the luggage carousel which was still running, carried a good size black felt pen around to where we were standing.  Magic indeed!  

Blessings,

Judy

Truisms That Made Me Think!

 

Picture of Lake Winnipeg taken from the shore at Victoria Beach in August 2023 by J Hirst

I get a Daily Motivational Message in my email every morning.  I enjoy the ideas and thoughts that pop up from time to time.  On Sunday, I was having a discussion with a friend about the purpose of life, and how some folks become so focused on what they think their purpose is that they let a lot of wonderful life pass them by.

Then, on Monday, in my DM message, the following thoughts showed up that seemingly emphasized the discussion of Sunday.

See what you think and what you feel when you read these thoughts or truisms.  They deal with balance, life choices, stress, control or not, and the need for calmness and gentleness.

• Sometimes we become so obsessed with achieving our goals that we forget to cherish our lives.

• You've beenrunning, and working so hard for years. Make the conscious choice to slow down. 

• You have to let yourself relax. 

• You are allowed to take a break. You need it. 

• Your thoughtsmay tell you that things will fall apart if you take a break or let go of trying to control everything, but deep down you know it's not true.

• What's meant to be will happen. Invite gentleness and calmness into your life.

Many blessings,

Judy