The
Buddhist believes that all are selfish at birth. It is only natural for this
infant who sees barely two feet into the distance. If you are his mother standing
still by the couch three feet away, you are a lamp. Lamps very rarely get much
consideration in anyone's life.
But there is progression. As one grows, lamps become parents, siblings noticed
next, then peers, and as age gathers with experience, a town is discovered,
towns, and as one's gaze continues to grow, a state, states, country,
countries, the world. Yet for many, this is where vision stops. For inner
vision, belief in things not seen, must take over. Here science cannot help.
Movement ethereal and celestial cannot be observed with the senses. To explain further,
let us return to our infant.
He grows into a child and he, along with most children of 2, 5, 10, 15, and
even more years, often sees only that which is in front of him. His lamp has
become his needs. Just like the infant, the child's focus remains clearly
and solely on the self, extreme short-sightedness. For the child to grown, the parent must recede into the hazy
background, for its social muscle demands flexing.
However, if when older, when an adult, one remains in similar need, the
child within screams for light shed to see beyond its self-fixated
gaze, yet many turn a deaf ear. But not to worry, now is your time to
find help of an eternal nature if you have
not aged too greatly in years. For the Buddhist believes that these
selfish
desires are normal, acceptable, but only if held onto for so long.
These selfish desires are seen as toys along
the path of life. A child without toys is sad. Yet sadder still is an
adult
fixated at this same level. And here lies the crux of life's bane.
Many remain as a child, unknowing, unseeing, forever fixated on their
lamp of
insufficient light. And many stay here because great difficulties are
avoided--not seen for their educational value--which results in poor
thinking,
incomplete understanding, wasted temporal-years, one's spit in the cosmic
bucket
of time frittered away on transient, insignifigant, often mere material
gain. To grow beyond the self-serving child within, one must look
beyond the conventional, the
accepted norm to the conundrums that begin to stretch the mind, for
as the Buddhist knows here lies
answers of merit, of great import.
What is the sound of one hand clapping?
If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to observe, does it make a
sound?
As you begin to stretch your mind, to shed your mental limitations, you will
see the eternities. Looking beyond the world you will see the answers you have
always sought, locked away within, taken with you to this journey's laboratory,
life, anticipating release. Seek the answers.
Learn of your self. Limitations. Weaknesses.
Learn of your humility. Passions. Eternal wealth.
For in the greatest of eternal substance lies answers you've always
known. Only put
away temporarily for you to discover at the right time, after certain
experience, contemplation and perspective then released for your
edification to aid in building your passion,
eternal understanding, patience, and ultimately a desire to aid all
those who come into your world of knowing, depth, peace, and calm. So that you are able to turn their
lamps to that of the Great Sunlight that now lights your
limitless life.
Buddha Speaks (Buddha's words):
The greater the possessions the greater the possessor's revealed insignificance.
Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
Follow the three Rs: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for
all your actions.
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of
luck.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
Spend some time alone every day.
Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be
able to enjoy it a second time.
A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't
bring up the past.
Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
Be gentle with the earth, it too has a spirit.
Once a year, go some place you have never been before.
Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other
exceeds your need for each other.
Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
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