The Dali Lama - Global Vision Summit

 

Free “Dalai Lama Compassion Summit” coming October 14 from Lion’s Roar and Tibet House

Robert Thurman, Sharon Salzberg, Anne Lamott, Thubten Jinpa, and Rick Hanson headline this month’s 2nd Annual Dalai Lama Global Vision Summit, titled “The Power of Compassion.” This free online event is an historic investigation of the value held dearest by one of the great spiritual figures of our time, His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Produced by Lion’s Roar in partnership with Tibet House US, this five-day free online event brings together 20 renowned spiritual teachers, scientists, activists, and interfaith leaders to share and discuss the Dalai Lama’s message of compassion and how it can better our world, from our individual lives to the health of the planet itself. The event has the personal support and endorsement of His Holiness.

“The Dalai Lama is the world’s best-known Buddhist, and yet he has famously said, “My religion is kindness,” reflects Melvin McLeod, Editor-in-Chief of Lion’s Roar and host of the event. “Whether we call it kindness, love, compassion, caring, empathy, it is life’s magic ingredient. If there is a panacea, a universal cure for all that ails us, it is compassion.”

Guided meditations by leading teachers and experts will help enable viewers to cultivate compassion and its benefits in their own lives.

The five themes of this year’s Dalai Lama Global Vision Summit are:

• The Transformative Power of Compassion
• The Science of Compassion
• Compassion in Our Daily Lives
• The Compassionate Society
• Compassion for the Earth

The Power of Compassion is free to join. Register now, and see the full list of presenters and schedule, here.

Good and Bad...

A person should hurry toward the good
and restrain one’s thoughts from the bad.
If a person is slow in doing good,
one’s mind will find pleasure in wrong.

If a person does what is wrong, let one not do it again.
Let one not find pleasure in wrong.
Painful is the accumulation of bad conduct.

If a person does what is good, let one do it again.
Let one find joy in it.
Happiness is the result of good conduct.

Even a wrong-doer sees happiness
as long as one’s wrong action does not ripen;
but when the wrong action has ripened,
then does the wrong-doer see bad.

Even a good person sees bad
as long as one’s good action does not ripen;
but when one’s good action has ripened,
then the good person sees the good.

Let no one underestimate evil,
thinking, “It will not come near me.”
Even a water-pot is filled by the falling of drops of water.
A fool becomes full of evil
even if one gathers it little by little.

Let no one underestimate good,
thinking, “It will not come near me.”
Even a water-pot is filled by the falling of drops of water.
A wise person becomes full of goodness
even if one gathers it little by little.

Let a person avoid wrong actions, as a merchant,
who has few companions and carries much wealth,
avoids a dangerous road;
as a person who loves life avoids poison.

Whoever has no wound on one’s hand
may touch poison with that hand;
poison does not affect one who has no wound;
nor does evil one who does no wrong.

Whoever does wrong to an innocent person
or to one who is pure and harmless,
the wrong returns to that fool
just like fine dust thrown against the wind.

Some people are born again in the womb;
wrong-doers go to hell;
the good go to heaven;
those free from worldly desires attain nirvana.

Neither in the sky nor in the middle of the ocean
nor by entering the caves of mountains
is there known a place on earth
where a person can escape from a wrong action.

Neither in the sky nor in the middle of the ocean
nor by entering the caves of mountains
is there known a place on earth
where a person can escape from death.

Lord Buddha

Awareness...

 

Awareness is the path of immortality;

thoughtlessness is the path of death.
Those who are aware do not die.
The thoughtless are as if dead already.

The wise having clearly understood this,
delight in awareness
and find joy in the knowledge of the noble ones.
These wise ones, meditative, persevering,
always using strong effort,
attain nirvana, the supreme peace and happiness.

If a person is awake, aware, mindful, pure, considerate,
self-restrained, and lives according to duty,
that person’s glory will increase.
By awakening, by awareness, by restraint and control,
the wise may make for oneself
an island which no flood can overwhelm.

Fools follow after vanity, are ignorant and careless.
The wise keep awareness as their best treasure.
Do not follow after vanity
nor after sensual pleasure nor lust.

Whoever meditates with awareness obtains great joy.
When the wise conquer thoughtlessness by awareness,
climbing the terraced heights of wisdom,
free from sadness viewing the sad crowd below,
they gaze upon the fools, like one on the mountain peak
gazes upon those standing on the plain.

Aware among the thoughtless, awake among the sleepy,
the wise advances, like a racehorse leaves behind the slow.
By awareness Indra rose to become chief of the gods.
People praise awareness; thoughtlessness is always blamed.

A mendicant who finds joy in awareness,
who looks with fear on thoughtlessness,
moves about like fire,
burning all restrictions, small or large.
A mendicant who finds joy in awareness,
who looks with fear on thoughtlessness,
cannot fall away, but is close to nirvana.

Lord Buddha

Mahayana Buddhism...

 

Buddhism: The Rise of Mahayana Buddhism

The positions advocated by Mahayana [great vehicle] Buddhism, which distinguishes itself from the Theravada and related schools by calling them Hinayana [lesser vehicle], evolved from other of the early Buddhist schools. The Mahayana emerges as a definable movement in the 1st cent. BC, with the appearance of a new class of literature called the Mahayana sutras. The main philosophical tenet of the Mahayana is that all things are empty, or devoid of self-nature (see sunyata). Its chief religious ideal is the bodhisattva, which supplanted the earlier ideal of the arahant, and is distinguished from it by the vow to postpone entry into nirvana (although meriting it) until all other living beings are similarly enlightened and saved.

The bodhisattva is an actual religious goal for lay and monastic Buddhists, as well as the name for a class of celestial beings who are worshiped along with the Buddha. The Mahayana developed doctrines of the eternal and absolute nature of the Buddha, of which the historical Buddha is regarded as a temporary manifestation. Teachings on the intrinsic purity of consciousness generated ideas of potential Buddhahood in all living beings. The chief philosophical schools of Indian Mahayana were the Madhyamika, founded by Nagarjuna (2d cent. AD), and the Yogacara, founded by the brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu (4th cent. AD). In this later Indian period, authors in different schools wrote specialized treatises, Buddhist logic was systematized, and the practices of Tantra came into prominence.

• Introduction
• Basic Beliefs and Practices
• Early Buddhism
• The Rise of Mahayana Buddhism
• The Spread of Buddhism
• Bibliography

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Buddhism

SOURCE: inoplease

A Path To Love, Compassion, and Happiness...

 

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.

If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him.
If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought,
happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. “

– Lord Buddha

Lord Buddha

Buddhism is based on the teachings and life of Gautama Buddha. The Buddha was born as a privileged Indian Prince, named Siddhartha Gautama. As a young man he was shielded from the suffering and mortality of human life and given all the worldly privileges that his family could offer him. They wished to shield him from suffering because it was foretold that when the young prince came upon suffering he would renounce the world to live the life of an ascetic. However eventually Siddhartha ventured from the Palace into the outside world and for the first time came across death, illness and suffering.

This led the Buddha to question his worldly life. Although he had all of life’s material comforts these could no longer satisfy him. Therefore  Siddhartha Gautama  renounced the world and went in search of truth.

For many years Siddhartha practised severe austerities  bringing his body close to collapse, through constant fasting. However this did not bring him enlightenment. At one time a passing woman brought The Buddha some food and this revitalised his body giving him renewed energy to meditate. From this point onwards the Buddha decided to practise “The Middle Path” shunning both extremes of severe austerities and indulgence of desires.

Finally the Buddha achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. For the remaining years of his life the Buddha travelled all over India spreading his message of the path to Enlightenment and Nirvana. His teachings attracted many followers and after his passing his teachings started to be written down, these formed the basis of Buddhism.

His contemporaries describe him as having a noble appearance, with a serene countenance and distinguished features. The Buddha was so tolerant that he did not even exercise his power to give commandments to his lay followers. Instead, his teachings were delivered in the form of advice or suggestions. The Buddha extended such tolerance to men, women, and all living beings. The Buddha’s teachings of tolerance and free inquiry and the suggestion to not accept his teachings for purely emotional reasons helped make the spread of Buddhism a peaceful one.

The Buddha opposed animal sacrifice and admonished his followers to extend their loving kindness to all living things, no matter how small. He held that no man had the power or the right to destroy the life of another since all living things shared a connection. He took care of his followers and paid daily visits to the sick. On one of many such occasions, he bathed and treated a monk who was suffering from dysentery and had been neglected by the other monks because he lay in his own excrement; the Buddha commented, “He who attends the sick attends me.”

The Buddha did not claim to be unique in his enlightenment. According to his teaching, everybody can become a Buddha and that the only miracles that need to be performed are to teach those full of passion, craving and greed to free themselves from passion, craving and greed; to help others control their hatred and anger; and to enlighten the unenlightened.

His will, wisdom, universal love, boundless compassion, selfless service, purity, magnetic personality, and exemplary methods gave credence to his the teachings.

Truth...

 

” Confused by thoughts,
we experience duality in life.
Unencumbered by ideas,
the enlightened see the one Reality.”

– Hui Neng

The Song of View, Practice, and Action

by Milarepa

English version by Garma C. C. Chang
Original Language Tibetan

Oh, my Guru! The Exemplar of the View, Practice, and Action,
Pray vouchsafe me your grace, and enable me
To be absorbed in the realm of Self-nature!

For the View, Practice, Action, and Accomplishment
There are three Key-points you should know:

All the manifestation, the Universe itself, is contained in the mind;
The nature of Mind is the realm of illumination
Which can neither be conceived nor touched.
These are the Key-points of the View.

Errant thoughts are liberated in the Dharmakaya;
The awareness, the illumination, is always blissful;
Meditate in a manner of non-doing and non-effort.
These are the Key-points of Practice.

In the action of naturalness
The Ten Virtues spontaneously grow;
All the Ten Vices are thus purified.
By corrections or remedies
The Illuminating Void is ne'er disturbed.
These are the Key-points of Action.

There is no Nirvana to attain beyond;
There is no Samsara here to renounce;
Truly to know the Self-mind
It is to be the Buddha Himself.
These are the Key-points of Accomplishment.

Reduce inwardly the Three Key-points to One.
This One is the Void Nature of Being,
Which only a wondrous Guru
Can clearly illustrate.

Much activity is of no avail;
If one sees the Simultaneously Born Wisdom,
He reaches the goal.

For all practitioners of Dharma
The preaching is a precious gem;
It is my direct experience from yogic meditation.
Think carefully and bear it in your minds,
Oh, my children and disciples.

Universal Truth...

 

To change your life now and prepare for the inevitable, says Pamela Ayo Yetunde, regularly contemplate these five home truths.

I first encountered the five remembrances when I was a chaplaincy student at the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. Diana Lion, one of the teachers, handed us an altar card with five statements from the Upajjhatthana Sutta. Here they are in their blunt simplicity and undeniability:

I am of the nature to age.
I am of the nature to become ill.
I am of the nature to die.
I will be separated and parted from all that is dear to me.
I am the heir to my actions.

While at Sati, and later as a volunteer at the Zen Hospice Project (now Zen Caregiving Project), I reflected silently on each line, feeling the emotions that arose with each statement while trying to remain as still as possible with the agitation. Reflecting on the five remembrances is a fact check, and this helped me become more authentic with people who were in their last days of living. Authenticity requires recognizing and releasing the culturally laden, death-denying strategies for making people (and myself) feel good about dying by reassuring them (and myself) they’d survive. Fact check: they were on an accelerated dying path, along with the other twenty-plus people in the hospital unit, and no royalty-minded, faultily constructed facade of immortality could obscure that reality.

In the Buddhist chaplaincy world, we remind ourselves that we are constantly in the state of dying. But in the broader culture of a booming cosmetics industry, we are constantly fooled into believing that if we have the means to secure a drink from the fountain of youth, we will never age, become ill, or die. Through our cultural investments in cosmetic obscuration and longevity, we are set up to experience devastating shock when we inevitably encounter illness and death.

How often should you reflect on the five remembrances? Whether a fact check in the form of the five remembrances is needed occasionally or frequently depends on how averse you are to facing the realities of aging, illness, and death. Living where we live, in this society, I would suggest engaging in this reflection practice at least monthly to counter the cultural illusions of permanence that lead to shock and despair when reality dawns.

The five remembrances can be written on an altar card and placed among the other precious altar items we will be parted from. They can be chanted on the full rotation of the moon to underscore the passing of time, perhaps as we recall Dogen’s exhortation: “Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken. Awaken! Take heed, do not squander your life.”

Of course, a five remembrances practice need not be limited to a Buddhist context, for its truths are universal and can be contemplated as an important part of any spiritual path. Perhaps through this practice we can contribute to a culture where older people are honored, resources to care for the sick are more accessible, and we learn to say “goodbye” to the dying like we say “hello” to those being born—with deep appreciation for the gift of good health when we have it, the life stages of our aging, and our fleeting lives, without the shock and despair that prevent us from offering love and authentic care.

SOURCE: Lion's Roar

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Finding the Truth...

 

Buddhism, or Buddhadharma, is Buddha’s teachings and the inner experiences or realizations of these teachings.

Buddha Dharma

Buddhadharma does not stay in one place but moves from one country to another. Just as gold is precious and rare, so Buddhadharma is precious and very hard to find. Buddha taught how to examine our mind and see which states produce misery and confusion and which states produce health and happiness. He taught how to overcome the compulsively non-virtuous minds that confine us to states of discontent and misery, and how to cultivate the virtuous minds that liberate us from pain and lead us to the bliss of full enlightenment. By learning Buddhadharma, we will have the opportunity to gain the happiness we seek and to fulfil all our temporary and ultimate wishes.Buddhism, or Buddhadharma, is Buddha’s teachings and the inner experiences or realizations of these teachings. Buddha gave eighty-four thousand teachings. All these teachings and the inner realizations of them constitute Buddhadharma.

SOUECE: Buddha Dharma | About Dharma

Truth We ALL Need To Acquire and Understand... For the Sake Of Our Home and All Of Humanity...

 

Buddha would be green—I am green too

Buddha was born as his mother leaned against a tree for support. He attained enlightenment seated beneath a tree, and passed away as trees stood witness overhead. Therefore, were Buddha to return to our world, he would certainly be connected to the campaign to protect the environment.

Speaking for myself, I have no hesitation in supporting initiatives that are related to protecting the environment because threats to our environment are a question of our survival. This beautiful blue planet is our only home. It provides a habitat for unique and diverse communities. Taking care of our planet is to look after our own home.

We can no longer keep exploiting the resources of this earth—the trees, the water, and the minerals—without any care for coming generations. It is common sense that we cannot survive if we keep working against nature. We must learn to live in harmony with nature.

If we compare damage to the environment to war and violence, it’s clear that violence has an immediate impact on us. The trouble is that damage to the environment takes place more stealthily, so often we don’t see it until it is too late. We have reached a tipping point in global warming.

Find more @ We Need a Revolution of Compassion - Lion's Roar (lionsroar.com)

As the Dharma Speaks...

 

This blue planet of ours is a beautiful habitat. Its life is our life; its future our future. Indeed, the earth is acts like a mother to us all. Like children, we are dependent on her. Our world is deeply interdependent, both in terms our economies and the problkems like climate change that challenge us all.

When we see photographs of the earth from space, we see no boundaries between us, just this beautiful blue planet. This is no longer a time to think only of "my nation" or "my continent" alone. There is a real need for a greater sense of global responsibility based on the oneness of humanity.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Source: THE VISION OF THE DALAI LAMA ...  LION'SROAR.COM

Please check out: The 14th Dalai Lama’s Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, December 10, 1989.                                                         ;

A More Urgent Message There Has Never Been...

 

We have to learn that we are all brothers and sisters and live on one earth and under the same sun. Unless we all work together, no solution can be found. Therefore, our key responsibility is to commit ourselves to the ethical principals of universal responsibility beyond profit and religion, and to place the well being-being of all sentient beings and future generation above our own egoism.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

In Case Anyone Is Actually Interested In Truth...,

 

Giving a convoluted twist to the meaning of Natural Selection!

Bravo Trumpublican republicans.

Cross Posted At Cannibus Corner Chat Room.