| Sevenhundred Elves 2005-11-27, 10:58 am |
| Buddhist Monk wrote:
> The Eightfold Path of Buddhism - Right Livelihood - Quotations by Zen
> Master Rama, Dr. Frederick Lenz
>
> Main Page:
>
> www.ramaquotes.com
>
> Right Livelihood:
>
> www.ramaquotes.com/html/right_livelihood.html
>
> *******************************************************************
>
> If you seek enlightenment, then career is a very important idea on your
> agenda.
>
> A Buddhist is working not just to get paid, but working to advance
> spiritually. You shouldn't create a syntactical break in your mind
> between your career and your religious practice.
>
> It is necessary to have a strong focus. Work will give you that focus.
>
> In Buddhism you study how to release the kundalini to the levels that
> would certainly afford career success. If we move it further, into the
> planes of knowledge and wisdom, it enables the practitioner to do just
> about anything.
>
> It is possible to renounce everything and attain enlightenment. But
> most people don't want to renounce; they wish to run away from
> responsibility and hard work.
>
> Everyone in advanced meditation practice should be involved with the
> economic support of the spread of the dharma. We live in a material
> world, and it's very expensive to teach meditation.
>
> The advanced student of meditation takes an active part in supporting
> the work of their teacher. They happily work more hours or do whatever
> is necessary to help out more.
>
> Work sustains us as bodies and it consumes a great deal of energy. The
> conservation of energy is the component theme of Buddhist practice and
> yoga. That is why people live in monasteries.
>
> The idea of the walls of monastery was to keep everybody else out
> because you wanted to develop a certain type of life. Most people in
> the world had different ideas on the subject.
>
> The ashram is where everyone lives in the same building or on the same
> grounds. You feel that it's selfish for you to devote your life to one
> person. You don't just love the one, you love the many also.
>
> You might say living in a monastery cuts down the commutation time.
> That alone gives you a couple extra hours a day to meditate. In a
> monastery you lead a relatively simply life. You don't need a lot of
> possessions.
>
> The problem with monasteries, ashrams, convents is these institutions
> become extremely political. In other words, they're really small
> societies, and much of what you hope to avoid in societies you find
> there.
>
> Ashrams often become places where there is a hierarchy and a pecking
> order and not much enlightenment. That is what some people are drawn
> to. But that has nothing to do with enlightenment.
>
> It is better when you are in the world. You know how much pain there
> is. You can tell how established you are in the light. To remove
> yourself from the things you desire or things you find difficult to
> deal with is no answer.
>
> You don't want to become so sensitive that you can't interact with
> people in the world. If you get to that point, you are not practicing.
> You are running away from the world, and you've made yourself weak.
>
> Go out into the world, do your best all day, try to think higher
> thoughts, try to be kind and compassionate, but don't let people take
> advantage of you.
>
> It is necessary to be occupied almost all the time, to have your mind
> focused; otherwise, you get very spaced out. There are many variant
> psychic forces and powers that roam through the worlds. You can pick
> them up.
>
> There are lifetimes where one goes off into the Himalayas and meditate
> in a cave. But this is not really one of those lifetimes for most
> people. Our earth has changed.
>
> Some people have a very strange idea that material success does not
> coincide harmoniously with self-realization, which is absurd. The
> aversion to material success, or the clinging to it, is an attachment.
>
> Material success is not something that will bind you, unless you become
> attached to it, any more than poverty will liberate you.
>
> As Buddhists, our only task is to keep our room clean.
>
> - Zen Master Rama
>
> www.ramaquotes.com
>
> Thank you in advance for your religious tolerance.
I don't want to seem intolerant of your religion, so just let me call to
your attention that yoga is not tied to any religion, it is a method all
to itself, although it can be practiced by people of any denomination.
The purpose of the newsgroup alt.yoga is to discuss the practice and
theory of yoga.
Thank you in advance for respecting the topicality of the various
newsgroups on usenet.
S.
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