Continuous Cycle of Causality

Cause and effect are a continuous cycle. A cause triggers a result. That result then becomes a new cause, which will trigger another result. And become another cause with another result. On and on. Over and over. Ad infinitum. This chain not only affects us but others as well. We do something and it affects someone with us. In their response to us, they affect someone else. This creates a wave-like response of cause and effect that moves out in an ever-widening circle. The ripple effect of one drop of water splashing in the ocean thus results in all the other drops of water in the ocean moving.

Giving Happiness and Security

Society tells us that we need to have a strong ego. We need it to succeed at work. We often seem to need it just to get to work! We feel that we must assert our rights. This is what we are taught. But asserting our rights at the expense of and happiness of others is wrong. Trying to accomplish things at the expense of others will never permanently make us happy.

Forget the idea that everyone has to believe and act as we do. Instead, we can ask, “How can I help this person? What do they need?” If we are able to do this unconditionally, without any expectation of reward, if we can let go of constant thoughts of “I, me, and mine” and think only of others, then we will find all sorts of ways to help others.

We can give material resources, or our time and abilities. If we see someone having a difficult time and does not have enough to eat, we can provide them with food. Then, we can find ways to teach them what they need to know to be self-reliant in the future.

Or if we see someone who is upset, we can just smile at him or her. This costs us nothing. But this simple act accomplishes one of the major forms of giving because it removes the fears and worries of others. Once we start practicing giving, we will begin to feel happier because we will be acting from our true nature.

Our human nature keeps prodding us to be selfish, “Keep it, don’t give it away, look out for yourself first.” But our true nature prompts, “Help others, do not hold anything back.” When we give from our true nature, we will receive all that we could wish for. But to do this, we need to offer without thinking of self-benefit, without thinking of ourselves. We can give others happiness, joy, knowledge, security.

Good Men and Bad Men

Good men and bad men differ radically.
Bad men never appreciate kindness shown them,
but wise men appreciate and are grateful.

Wise men try to express their appreciation and gratitude
by some return of kindness,
not only to their benefactor, but to everyone else.

~ Buddha

The Cause

 

Anger, hatred, killing, war—there is just so much today. And it is getting worse. Even our environment is being effected by our anger. Our world is literally becoming warmer. We may think that this is the result of climatic changes and pollution. We are right about the cause being pollution. But we are wrong about its underlying form.

The underlying cause of the world's pollution is the pollution in our minds. We are collectively feeling so much anger that we are literally heating up our world! If we do not stop and change ourselves now, we will destroy ourselves and our world. There will be no future for our children.

We must realize the enormity of this. We cannot afford to sit back and say that the hatred has nothing to do with us, that the killing is happening in another part of the world. The anger and hatred are affecting every inch of our world. Nothing is worthy of anger. Nothing is worthy of hatred. Nothing is worthy of killing. Nothing.

When we came into this life, we brought nothing with us but our own karma. And when we leave this life, we will take nothing with us but our karma. Selfishness, intolerance, hatred, killing have no place in our true nature.

We can resolve that we will react differently the next time we become aware of our anger. When we see that person who upsets us so much and feel ourselves giving in to anger, we can realize that our antagonist is also suffering and unhappy with the situation. Then we can let go of the anger. We can also let go of the past, of unhappiness, worries, and problems. If we look back on the day and feel that we have made mistakes, we can ask what we did wrong. Then we can decide how we will do better the next time.

Yes, It Does

 

A friend called yesterday to ask me out to lunch. I explained that I was too busy to go out but if she would "deliver" lunch and share it with me, I'd appreciate the break. (Chinese fortune cookie: Less hair, more audacity.)

She brought a wonderful lunch and I ended up telling her all about a program I had seen a few nights ago on public television. I’ve decided that the occurrence of me watching television and going on at length about the program implied something unusual. The program certainly was.

We hear a lot about practicing Buddhism in day-to-day life. The Cats of Mirikitani shows the practice in action. It’s about causality, and it’s about compassion. It’s about having respect for others regardless of their appearance and about making the effort to really listen to another person.

If you have ever wondered whether one person can really make a difference, Linda Hattendorf's The Cats of Mirikitani will erase your doubts. To learn about the program, click on the name for the link to the PBS website.