#verbondenheid

Gelofte aan de mensheid

Gepubliceerdop dec 12, 2017

Kalm en evenwichtig:

Laat ons ontwaken tot ons ware Zelf,
mensen worden, vol van mededogen.

Onze gaven ten volle ontplooien,
ieder volgens de eigen roeping in het leven.

Ons bewust worden van de doodsstrijd
persoonlijk en maatschappelijk
en de bron ervan onderkennen.

De juiste richting ontdekken
waarin de geschiedenis zou moeten voortgaan
en elkaar de hand reiken
zonder onderscheid naar man- of vrouw-zijn,
zonder onderscheid naar ras, natie of klasse.

Laat ons met mededogen de gelofte afleggen
het diepe verlangen van de mensheid
naar bevrijding van haar ware Zelf
werkelijkheid te doen worden

en een wereld bouwen
waarin iedereen
waarachtig en in heelheid kan leven.

Hisamatsu Sin’ichi

stoffige zachtheid

Gepubliceerdop okt 22, 2017

“The Buddha’s view of home leaving is summarized in these words: ‘Household life is crowded and dusty; life gone forth is wide open. It is not easy, while living in a home, to lead the holy life.’ …  We need to regard the Buddha’s first teaching about ‘life gone forth’ carefully; we need to be careful about cutting off both human feelings and relationships. Practicing nonattachment is not the same as practicing detachment. The former practice addresses the human selfishness we bring to all of our relationships and is guided by the relinquishing of self-clinging to reactions that arise. The latter is repressive and disconnected and seeks to keep our delusional selfcenteredness intact by avoiding intimate relational contact and feelings.

Furthermore, the description of family life as ‘crowded and dusty’ might encourage some to think that holiness is found elsewhere than that dustiness. Somewhere, other than right where we are, there is an ideal practice life that is dustless. Somewhere there exists a life pure and elevated from the dust of human family relations. Imagining this to be true is a serious mistake, and sadly not an uncommon one. While each of us needs to find quiet time to reflect on our true nature, it is important to see buddha-nature reflected even in our most annoying family members, relatives, and associates. If we cannot do this, our practice develops a puritanical, precious, detached, and heartless quality.” – Grace Schireson

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what kind of mind are we living in?

Gepubliceerdop okt 15, 2017

we live in our mind
we take our mind with us everywhere
even in our sleep we cannot leave it behind

how we live in our mind is up to us

You have this country and you try to make it a pleasant place for you to live in, you grow trees and you keep it clean. And you have your homes, your rooms, which you keep clean, decorate, try to make it a pleasing environment. And we have our bodies, which we keep clean, we eat the right food, excercise and we try to make ourselves look attractive, keep healthy and fit. But the place we really live, is in our mind. And how much time and effort do we give to making our mind a pleasant place in which to dwell? To cleaning it, to opening up the windows to let some fresh air in, to decorate it beautifully, to make it a fit place to stay so that we live in our mind comfortably and we are at home in our mind, so that our mind is a friend to us.

This is very important because if we don’t have a peaceful friendly mind its very hard to be peaceful and friendly to our families, in our workplace, with our neighbours and in the country and from there to the world.

The kind of society we have reflects the mind of the people living in that society. So each one of us is culpable of the society we live in. Who made the rules? Who elected the politicians who made the rules? Who goes along with the rules that have been made? Each of us is responsible. We cannot just put the blame on other people, each one of us has the responsibility to develop our selves, our minds, to open up our heart.

So often people feel quite helpless and hopeless: what can I do, I am just one? But each of us is not sealed in a bubble, each one of us is constantly interacting with other beings; and even on that level how much time do we spend each day trying to make each other happy?  Our colleages, our family, the peolpe we meet? Are we kind? Is our speech kind? Do we make people feel better for having matters or worse?  If a society is full of people who are kind to each other, all other, then that is a very different society from one where people disregard each other, where people speak rudely to each other or despise each other.

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

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geestelijke ruimte

Gepubliceerdop okt 14, 2017

The essence of our mind is completely pure, it’s not true that we are sinners. Our true mind is something incredibly vast, open and spatious, it is not this little brain in which we run around like a rat in a cage. … Mind is compared to the sky: it has no centre, no boundary. … If there was no space we couldn’t exist, there would be no tables and chairs and people. Tables, chairs and people are also space and therefore space is all pervading. For this reason it is compared with the nature of the mind which is all pervading: not this little brain which is trapped within our head. We’re talking about a much deeper level of awareness.

Mind is compared to the sky because you cannot grasp it and think: this is me. But at the same time it is not like the sky because it is conscious. The very essence of our mind is awareness and this we all share! When we go beyond our ego, the sense of ‘I’ and ‘others’ does not pertain, it’s not there. We recognize our interconnection with all beings. … This is why we as human beings need to go back to our true nature: for as long as the ego is running things we have chaos -as we see in the world. The world is run by egomaniacs and look what harm!

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

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de reflectie van de maan rimpelloos

Gepubliceerdop aug 11, 2017

The reflection of the moon in a deep lake is not disturbed by the echo from the sound of a bell on a quiet night; and though it appears to remain unscattered when in contact with large and small waves, still it is on the riverbanks of life and death.

Hsuan-sha Shih-pei (835–908)
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Station Aandacht Centraal

Gepubliceerdop jul 12, 2017

‘The question is: how do we allow people to be deeply in touch with themselves, and allow them to become deeply in touch with others?
They have to cultivate their capacity for presence. Presence is Grand Central Station and the place people arrive from wherever they’ve originally come from – fear, anger, disappointment, anxiety. Through the practice of being present to their situations, to the suffering that they felt as a result, not to mention the power of being seen as others are present with them, they can then travel on to compassion, to courage, to caring, to love. … As you choose to be more present, you are more present. It allows us to see ourselves and others. By choosing presence we learn to let go of our own discomfort, and experienceing ourselves in a trusting way allows us to trust others more.’

angel Kyodo williams

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groeten van onbekenden doet goed

Gepubliceerdop jul 7, 2017

Psychologen Elizabeth Dunn en Michael Norton hebben vastgesteld dat we vrolijker worden van contact met onbekenden dan met onze partner. In contact met iemand die we niet kennen doen we ons vrolijker voor dan we ons voelen, waardoor we automatisch opgewekter worden. We lachen dan namelijk meer en zijn optimistischer. Het begroeten van je buren, onbekende collega’s en de ouders op de school van je kinderen, naar dat café of die winkel gaan waar tijd is voor een praatje en het glimlachen naar een vreemde op straat, is geen inefficiënt handelen maar doet juist wederzijds goed.

Afbeelding: Woman on the street, Pablo Picasso, 1901.

zijn we van nature zelfzuchtig of mededogend?

Gepubliceerdop apr 24, 2017

“De vruchten van het boeddhistische pad en de kenmerken van bevrijding zijn: wijsheid en mededogen. Ze horen bij elkaar als warmte bij vuur hoort. Mededogen is de vanzelfsprekende verwerkelijking van wijsheid.
In een dialoog met de Dalai Lama bracht een westers filosoof* het debat op gang omtrent de vraag of de mens van nature zelfzuchtig (selfish) of mededogend (compassionate) is. Dit veroorzaakte bij de Tibetaanse vertalers een verhitte discussie. Het Tibetaanse woord voor ‘compassion’ bleek zowel zichzelf als de ander in te sluiten. De Dalai Lama was heel verwonderd dat het Engels daar geen woord voor had. In het Nederlands is het nog erger gesteld. (meer…)

wees één met wat je doet

Gepubliceerdop apr 13, 2017

“Hoe zie je, hoor je en bewaar je het nú als de subtiele dharma? … Heb alsjeblieft vertrouwen in jezelf … als de dynamische, grenzeloze dharma zelf. Dat is wat ik bedoel als ik zeg dat je aardig voor jezelf moet zijn. … Wees één met wat je doet! Dat is feitelijk de sleutel: deze eenheid van jouw ware leven en het leven van – letterlijk – alles. Begrijp je?”

Taizan Maezumi Roshi

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