Truth (Eyes of the Beholder)

"One leisurely evening, a king asked a certain courtier, 'You appear to be a man of integrity. Why is it that you are the target of so much criticism, slander and hatred?'

 

The official replied, 'Your Majesty, when the torrential rains of spring arrive, farmers are elated because their fields are well-irrigated. Pedestrians, on the other hand, are unhappy because the streets are muddy and slippery. When the summer moon is as clear and bright as a mirror, poets and writers rejoice at the opportunity to travel and compose couplets and poems, while thieves and felons are distressed at the brightness of the moonlight! If even the impartial heaven and earth are the object of blame and resentment, love and hate, how can this subject of yours, imperfect and full of blemishes, escape denigration and criticism?

'Thus, I venture to think, we should remain calm in the face of praise or criticism, think it over, and not rush to believe it. If a king believes gossip, his subjects lose their lives; if parents believe gossip, their children are hurt; if brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, believe words of gossip, they experience separation; if relatives, friends and neighbors believe gossip, they sever relations with one another. Fault-finding is really more noxious than snakes and serpents, sharper than swords and knives, killing without spilling a single drop of blood.'

~ Thus Have I Heard, Translated by the Sutra Translation Committee

I'll Pass on that Portion of Blame, Thank You

Causality, action and consequence, can help us to understand why good people have bad things happen to them. With the right conditions causes will mature as consequences. Very often the cause and the consequence do not occur in the same lifetime. So while causality assures us that there was a cause, we usually don’t know what it was. We just see the consequence.

We learn the principle of causality not to be able to blame the person who is suffering from their negative consequences. Blame should never enter our minds. Why? Because we’ve done terrible things ourselves so we’re in no position to throw stones. Second, blaming does nothing to solve the problem or improve the future.

This is especially important when we learn of an abusive situation. Both the abuser and the abused are caught up in an extremely complex karmic chain of events that we—and they—are unaware of.

Seeking to punish, we will not be able to rehabilitate and educate both parties. And without rehabilitation and education, this cycle of violence will continue. And having planted our own negative seeds in angrily wanting punishment, we will have laid the groundwork for our own suffering in the future.

How to Make Eggplant

One day a man was watching his wife preparing an eggplant for their dinner. (When I heard this story, the wife was preparing a pot roast but this is a vegetarian blog after all.) Watching her cut off and then throw away the end of the eggplant, he asked his wife why she had done that. She replied that this was the way her mother had always fixed eggplant.

His curiosity growing, he suggested they call the mother to find out the reason. When they called the mother, she replied that this was the way her mother had always fixed eggplant.

Growing increasingly agitated, the husband suggested they call the grandmother in an attempt to figure out the reason for this apparent family tradition. When they asked the grandmother, she replied that the reason was very simple—she didn’t have a large pan so she cut off the end of the eggplant to make it fit the pan she had.

If we want to truly benefit from our practice, we need to understand the principles and reasons behind what we do. Otherwise, we will just go through the motions.

Can You Shift it a Bit to the Left?

I am giving a talk today on stress management.

The timing on this is ideal since we are working hard at the Amitabha Buddhist Retreat Centre to get it ready for the official opening on August 11th. I say "ideal" because if you saw the amount of work to be done and the three-person live-in work crew, you'd be looking at laboratory conditions for a stress study.

Charles, aged ninety-two, is in the best shape. Lest you get the wrong opinion about the condition of Celine and myself and become alarmed, please allow me to explain. Charles practiced the giving of fearlessness in the past and is reaping the wonderful benefits now—a long and healthy life. He works all day long and has built most of the centre himself.  

He is currently up on a ladder painting the eaves of the centre roof and when he is not on the ladder is carrying rocks (large ones) when they’re needed for the garden. The only way I can get him to not do something is to plead that I will have to bear the karmic results if he injures himself since I requested the work to be done.  (With just a glimmer of wisdom, one knows the right thing to say to attain a beneficial result.)

I’m also on the rock detail. It was my idea to have the rocks since I’m trying to put in a drought-resistant garden and I harbor a long-held love for Japanese gardens. In Elkhart, I had been looking forward to getting exercise when in Nanango, but as they say, you need to be careful of what you wish for. Exercise is one thing—hard labor another!

Celine does more than her share with her own work and trying to look out for Charles and myself. When I hear her “Venerable!” I know to not pick up that rock. She also does all the cooking. I’d rather be carrying rocks.

The work could be overwhelming. There is no hope of doing everything we want to do in time for the opening. This is where the Buddhist stress management comes in.

·   What is destined to be done will be done. What is not destined to be done will remain undone. Worrying will do nothing to alter this reality.

·   When we are doing what is good, we can be happy in the doing. There is no need to worry about the outcome. All we need to focus on is doing our best.

·   If our intention is to be of benefit to others, we will receive the help we need when we need it. (Gomi and Ashley, William and Crystal, and Patrick are the proof this one works.)

·   Enjoy the moment and be fully in it.

·   Do not have any expectations. Everything will change. Especially when you’re working with rocks.

·   Be flexible. As Patrick said, where the rock landed is where Buddha wanted it to be.
 

Healing Herbs

 

May all beings wish to become
healing herbs in the days of epidemics to cure the ill.

May they wish to become
rice plants in the days of famine to save the hungry.

~ Buddha