| Buddhist Monk 2005-12-14, 1:06 am |
| Mahayana Buddhism - Compassion - Quotations by Zen Master Rama, Dr.
Frederick Lenz
Main Page:
www.ramaquotes.com
Mahayana Buddhism - Compassion:
www.ramaquotes.com/html/compassion.html
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"Compassion allows us to accept everything. That's why there's always
a tear in the eye of the Buddha that no one sees, for the pain and
suffering of others.
Help the world in any way that you want to. I have found that the more
light you give and spread, the more you will evolve.
The secret teaching was the bodhisattva ideal, to live for others, for
the welfare of all beings. That's enlightenment, not some flashy state
of luminosity.
You get to the point where you have to wash the dishes. That's the fun
in life, being behind the scenes and doing things for others, being an
instrument of that cause.
You have to refine your being. You have to go through all of the
stages and steps of erasing yourself through service to others with
purity, humility, integrity.
You only become funny when you have a complete reverence for life.
Compassion and empathy are not the same as feeling sorry for oneself.
They are emotions that extend our perceptual ranges.
If you'd like to have a better incarnation, then have one now. If
that's your attitude, just let go and meditate and try to be as wise
and compassionate, as understanding as you can.
Energy is gained by giving energy. When we give energy, we gain
energy. This is different than having someone manipulate you and take
your energy.
The essence of the teachings is to lose self importance and to care
more for the welfare of others and the magical world around us, than
we do for ourselves and our own self images.
Selfless giving is love in action. Initially you will feel that you
should help in a certain way, with a certain result. Do your best, but
don't be concerned with results; do it for the infinite.
The action of giving is in a certain vibratory level, meaning giving
exists in a certain plane of consciousness.
One of the traditional Tantric methods of mediation is to imagine that
you are taking on the suffering of all beings.
Advance yourself by advancing others. Do not judge others. Be of
service to them, but realize that you are not necessarily the
instrument of perfecting and immortalizing others.
As we hate ourselves less, we tend to hate other people less too.
In self-giving you must be so careful of egotism. You must be so
careful when you are aiding others in their liberation not to have a
sense of self.
In future years a number of you will become spiritual teachers. After
many years of study and doing a good job, go out into the world and
teach people. You'll reach points of advancement where you'll be able
to be of great help to many, many people.
In my estimation it's silly to go out and spend your time aiding people
if you don't have your own act together yet. So I'd rather you spend
the time, get it right, and it'll all work out a lot better.
It's suggested that enlightenment has some tremendous compassion, some
driving necessity to help humanity. I don't think that's the case at
all. I think humanity wishes it were the case since it's humanity that
writes the various scriptures.
I realize that there's a thing called the bodhisattva ideal, and it's a
very nice pinnacle of attention. It's a very egotistical thought,
ultimately.
To have to liberate everybody doesn't sound very free to me. You're
gong to go liberate people who maybe don't want to be liberated.
To think that God is compassionate is a terrible mistake. To think
that God is wrathful is equally stupid. God isn't emotional. You are.
To superimpose your emotions on infinity is typically human.
To feel that you are the Buddha of all times and places and that in
some way the salvation of anyone, including yourself, depends upon
you, I think there's a lot of ego involved in such a view, not much
self-transcendence.
I respect self-giving and I've tried to lead my life with that as the
ideal. But real self-giving is when we take our being, that which is
most precious to us, and we throw it into eternity with a total sense
of offering.
Determine where you are and where you wish to be. Then use all of your
self-effort to make that happen, following the guiding principles of
all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and seekers of the dharma or
enlightenment.
Selfless-giving burns away the layers of the onion. Purity and
humility keep meditation and selfless-giving clear. Love radiates
through the entire practice because we do all of it only for love.
There is no time when we really love each other. That's the magic of
love. When we really love each other, there is no time. Love is
self-realization. Love is liberation. The only way beyond time, to
unravel the knot of existence, is to love.
Love the fading flowers as much as you love the undifferentiated which
lasts forever.
By perfecting the practices of zazen and mindfulness, by learning
patience and love and by realizing the essential emptiness of all
phenomena, you will discover nirvana."
- Zen Master Rama
www.ramaquotes.com
Thank you in advance for your religious tolerance.
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