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Real personal Buddhist stuff.
Engagement and Compassion
I'm thinking about the Dalai Lama's teachings this week. The two that impacted me the most were:
"The intellect should never been in the service of anger."
Oh. That's a big one. Because if you set out to right wrongs hither and yon, it is very easy to be angry about some injustice (say the crackdown in Tibet), and then out of that anger set to work, mind wholly aimed at righting those wrongs. How do you advocate without getting angry? How do you utilize your mind to begin to challenge misinformation if what initially sparks your enthusiasm is anger over someone's hardship? Christianity has the idea of righteous anger, and there are vajrayana views in this regard in Buddhism, but it's not the same.
Relevant to this is:
"Watch your mind." And he went on to describe how recent research (this was at a convocation at the University of Washington) has shown that negative mental mind states disturb sleep patterns and effect one's health.
The third most impactful statement (and this time I came away with statements that seemed to hit home, in both good and bad -- or uncomfortable -- ways) was in the context of teaching on compassion, when he told kids that one doesn't want to go to an extreme of independence, "I can do this on my own, I don't need anybody" -- that that isn't compassionate, one isn't helping anyone like that (I'm paraphrasing wildly here). He requoted the statement chanted "We need compassion" to "I need you." Which I interpret to mean that one may be able to meet ones own needs all alone, perhaps, but one can't seal yourself away and ignore the opportunities to help others, to contribute.
Which requires a bit of a change in how I live, for one.
I'm thinking about the Dalai Lama's teachings this week. The two that impacted me the most were:
"The intellect should never been in the service of anger."
Oh. That's a big one. Because if you set out to right wrongs hither and yon, it is very easy to be angry about some injustice (say the crackdown in Tibet), and then out of that anger set to work, mind wholly aimed at righting those wrongs. How do you advocate without getting angry? How do you utilize your mind to begin to challenge misinformation if what initially sparks your enthusiasm is anger over someone's hardship? Christianity has the idea of righteous anger, and there are vajrayana views in this regard in Buddhism, but it's not the same.
Relevant to this is:
"Watch your mind." And he went on to describe how recent research (this was at a convocation at the University of Washington) has shown that negative mental mind states disturb sleep patterns and effect one's health.
The third most impactful statement (and this time I came away with statements that seemed to hit home, in both good and bad -- or uncomfortable -- ways) was in the context of teaching on compassion, when he told kids that one doesn't want to go to an extreme of independence, "I can do this on my own, I don't need anybody" -- that that isn't compassionate, one isn't helping anyone like that (I'm paraphrasing wildly here). He requoted the statement chanted "We need compassion" to "I need you." Which I interpret to mean that one may be able to meet ones own needs all alone, perhaps, but one can't seal yourself away and ignore the opportunities to help others, to contribute.
Which requires a bit of a change in how I live, for one.
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He requoted the statement chanted "We need compassion" to "I need you." Which I interpret to mean that one may be able to meet ones own needs all alone, perhaps, but one can't seal yourself away and ignore the opportunities to help others, to contribute.
This reminds me of an observation given to me decades ago. I do not know who the original commenter was -- I presume someone from European middle ages. The observation was along the lines of: move the village and the hermit moves too.
I struggle with compassion because of the tendency to ignore the needs of the self in favour of the needs of other. I'm slowly starting to realise that this approach doesn't work, just as being utterly independent doesn't work (conversely).
I like the "I need you," ... a lot. Thank you for sharing that!
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