According to Buddhism for a man to be perfect there are two qualities that he should develop equally: compassion on one side, and wisdom on the other. Here compassion represents love, charity, kindness, tolerance and such noble qualities on the emotional side, or qualities of the heart, while wisdom would stand for the intellectual side or the qualities of the mind. If one develops only the emotional neglecting the intellectual, one may become a good-hearted fool; while to develop only the intel…
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Posted on April 29th, 2008 at 10:31pm —
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Preamble
The principle that there is no distinction between doctrine and practice constitutes the basis of all Buddhist thought, no matter how much it may be lost in sectarian Buddhist ideas.
The Buddhist spiritual experience will reveal itself neither to the scholar nor to the conversationalist, but only to the man or woman who makes the central conceptions of Buddhist thought the basis of their mental activity, the subject of their deepest meditation, and the foundation of all their act…
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Posted on March 5th, 2008 at 4:30am —
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More than 600 years before the British had their
Magna Carta and more than a thousand years before the US Constitution a Japanese Prince (a Buddhist practitioner) drafted a constitution.
Prince Shôtoku's Seventeen-Article Constitution C.E. 604, Summer, 4th Month, 3rd day. The Prince Imperial Shôtoku in person prepared laws for the first time. There were seventeen clauses, as follows:
1. Harmony should be valued and quarrels should be avoided. Everyone has his biases, and few men…
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Posted on March 2nd, 2008 at 9:48pm —
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"Every place is hallowed ground,
Every day is a good day,
Every act is worship,
Waking or sleeping,
Dead or alive."
(source unknown)
"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and spritual; and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity". -Albert Einstein
I
"f the… Continue
Posted on March 2nd, 2008 at 9:30pm —
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Metta and warm regards,
DK
http://folk.uio.no/ingeba/buddha.html
As for question in regard to nationalism and political agendas within the institutionalized Sangha --- yes, it is a serious problem. it seems as if this kind of behavior rears it's ugly head wherever the Sangha has gotten a taste of power or thinks it's entitled to something or another.
As for Myanmar, I believe Matt Milligan offered the best description and critique in his blog, Buddhologie:
"With all the hubbub about the Saffron Revolution in Burma, I thought I'd do a little digging to test my hypothesis that Buddhist monks aren't always the good guys. To summarize, my primary thought on the current Burma (Myanmar) situation is that (i) yes the monks are doing a good thing, (ii) the monks have a right to voice their opinion and strive for democracy for an oppressed people, but (iii) the monks are not entirely innocent. Why are they (probably) not entirely innocent? Well, they are choosing now, as opposed to last year, or the year before that, or the year before that, and so on, to protest. The fact is, they have been sustained by the Burmese government for decades and live quite comfortably compared to the rest of the population."
You might wish to read a couple of editorials I wrote a while back, one in Myanmar and the other in regard to the Tibetan riots:
http://www.mahabodhi.net/myanmar.htm
http://www.mahabodhi.net/gordon_thomas.htm
I'm not sure if I was suppose to reply to your message on my own page (which i did) or here on your page, so there's a copy of the reply below --- could you let me know which way is proper?
Although there are several "layers" in your question, it all comes down to mindfulness, to awaken and be aware of the Buddha-nature within.
The Buddha was quite clear on the matter: "Monks, I allow you fish and meat that are quite pure in three respects: if they are not seen, heard or suspected to have been killed on purpose for a monk. But, you should not knowingly make use of meat killed on purpose for you."
Then we have the spirit in which this was established and how it relates to the Buddha-nature within, where to recognize one's own Buddha-nature means that one also recognizes the Buddha-nature within others, so it's not an issue of whether the life of a monastic is easier or not in regard to this, but the degree in which one practices and upholds the Dharma.
In such a circumstance as you describe, there would be nothing inappropriate in discussing this with your guests in advance so they are aware of it... or, if you are planning to pay for the meals to begin with, simply sidestep the issue through skillful means and choose a vegetarian restaurant.
In some ways it's like entering the stream to only swim against the current, so to speak, but you might be surprised to hear that it is usually easier for for the lay person than the monastic --- this is more related to a failure within the institutionalized Sangha to see beyond the written letter of any given precept --- in other words, it is just as easy to break a precept by ignoring it all together as it would be to recognize the written letter, but not the spirit in which it was first established.
A perfect example of this would be the 6th major precept of the Bodhisattva canon, where if through collective silence we have knowingly allowed someone to suffer or be abused than we have also become willing participants in that suffering or abuse --- see the difference between the written letter and the spirit in which it was given? Delete Comment
Thanks so much for the comment, and your continued posts...that is what really makes the site successful.