Spiritual Guidance

Live Your Life
Tecumseh

So live your life so the fear of death

can never enter your heart.

Trouble no one about their religion;

respect others in their views, and demand that they respect yours.

Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.

Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.

Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.

Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a stranger if in a lonely place.

Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.

When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life and strength.

Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.

If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.

Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes wise ones turn to fools

and robs them of their visions.

When your time comes to die,

be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death,

so that when their time comes they weep

and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.

Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.

'Even offering three hundred bowls of food three times a day does not match the spiritual merit gained in one moment of love.'  Nagarjuna







Practice for the New Millennium by the Dalai Lama
The Practice:

1. Spend 5 minutes at the beginning of each day remembering
we all want the same things (to be happy and be loved)
and we are all connected to one another.

2. Spend 5 minutes breathing in, cherishing yourself; and, breathing out
cherishing others. If you think about people you have difficulty cherishing,
extend your cherishing to them anyway.

3. During the day extend that attitude to everyone you meet.
Practice cherishing the "simplest" person (clerks, attendants, etc)
or people you dislike.

4. Continue this practice no matter what happens or what anyone does to you.

These thoughts are very simple, inspiring and helpful.
The practice of cherishing can be taken very deeply if done wordlessly,
allowing yourself to feel the love and appreciation that
already exists in your heart.

Buddha

 Believe nothing merely because you have been told it.
Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher.
But whatever, after due examination and analysis,
you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -
that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle,

and the life of the candle will not be shortened.

Happiness never decreases by being shared. 

 

Daily Necessities

Tips & pointers for building a spiritual life from scratch

from Awakening The Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das

Pray/Meditate

Be aware/Stay awake

Bow

Practise yoga

Feel

Chant and sing /Breathe and smile

Relax/Enjoy/Laugh/Play

Create/Envision

Let Go/Forgive/Accept

Walk/Exercise/Move

Work/Serve/Contribute

Listen/Learn/Enquire

Consider/Reflect

Cultivate oneself/Enhance competencies

Cultivate contentment /Cultivate flexibility

Cultivate friendship and collaboration

Lighten up /Celebrate and appreciate

Dream

Give thanks

Evolve

Love

Share/Give/Receive

Walk softly/Live gently

Expand/Radiate/Dissolve

Simplify /Surrender/Trust

Be born anew

The Fragrance of the Rose

from One Minute Wisdom by Anthony DeMello

The disciples were absorbed in a discussion of Lao-tzu's dictum:
"Those who know, do not say;
Those who say, do not know."
When the master entered,
they asked him what the words meant.
Said the master, "Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose?"
All of them indicated that they knew.
Then he said, "Put it into words."
All of them were silent.

The Four Reliances

Traditional Buddhist teaching  

First, rely on the spirit and meaning of the teachings,
not on the words;

Second, rely on the teachings,
not on the personality of the teacher;

Third, rely on real wisdom,
not superficial interpretation;

And fourth, rely on the essence of your pure Wisdom Mind,
not on judgmental perceptions.

Compassion and love are not mere luxuries.
As the source both of inner and external peace,
they are fundamental to the continued survival of our species.
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama

The Buddha taught the following to his son Rahula
(from "Old path white clouds" by Thich Nhat Hahn):

"Rahula, practice loving kindness to overcome anger. Loving kindness has the capacity to bring happiness to others without demanding anything in return.
Practice compassion to overcome cruelty. Compassion has the capacity to remove the suffering of others without expecting anything in return.
Practice sympathetic joy to overcome hatred. Sympathetic joy arises when one rejoices over the happiness of others and wishes others well-being and success.
Practice non-attachment to overcome prejudice. Non-attachment is the way of looking at all things openly and equally. This is because that is: myself and others are not separate. Do not reject one thing only to chase after another.
I call these the four immeasurables. Practice them and you will become a refreshing source of vitality and happiness for others."

Sympathetic Joy
The definition is: being happy with someone else's good fortune and happiness. Sympathetic joy here refers to the potential of bliss and happiness of all sentient beings, as they can all become Buddhas.
The near enemy is hypocrisy or affectation. The opposite is jealousy, when one cannot accept the happiness of others. A result which one needs to avoid is: spaced-out bliss, which can easily turn into laziness. Note: sympathetic joy is a great antidote to depression for oneself as well, but this should not be the main goal. By rejoicing in others' progress on the spiritual path, one can actually share in their positive karma. Sympathetic joy is an unselfish, very positive mental attitude which is beneficial for oneself and others. In this case, it also refers specifically to rejoicing in the high rebirth and enlightenment of others.

 “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
—Mahatma Gandhi

Divine Providence
Divine providence is the natural working of God, Spirit in the work of the world.  It is the idea that God has a plan, that God cares about what happens and intervenes either on behalf of a collective, as a nation or on behalf of the individual. Divine providence is God working through the events of life, fulfilling a purpose, which sometimes cannot be seen directly.  It helps to view some of our greatest challenges through the lens of Divine providence and we often can recognize the more benign and happy "coincidences", chance meetings, synchronicity and "accidental" events as God's response to our needs and prayers. Have faith that God is in all things.


"Only those who see the invisible can attempt the impossible." Dick Eastman

Be a light to others and you won't stumble on your own path. - unknown

Be Without Fear

Be without fear. Fear arises because we associate mind and body ('nama-rupa') with "self"; consequently any harm to either is considered to be harm done to oneself. But he who has broken down this illusion by realizing that the five 'khandha' process is merely the manifestation of cause and effect, does not fear death or misfortune. He remains equable alike in success and failure, unaffected by praise or blame. The only thing he fears is demeritorious action, because he knows that no thing or person in the world can harm him except himself, and as his detachment increases, he becomes less and less liable to demeritorious deeds. Unwholesome action comes of an unwholesome mind, and as the mind becomes purified with meditation, healed of its disorders, bad kamma ceases to accumulate. He comes to have a horror of wrong action and to take greater and greater delight in those deeds that are rooted in 'alobha', 'adosa', and 'amoha' -- generosity, benevolence and wisdom.

"Call upon the Goddess and God to protect you and teach you the secrets of magic.

Ask stones and plants to reveal their powers - and listen."

Scott Cunningham - American author on Wicca and Pagan rituals

Where the Mystery is present, joy is infinite;

where the Mystery has departed,

efficacy is exhausted and the spirit disappears."

Chinese alchemist and Taoist philosopher

"If you have time to breathe you have time to meditate."

You breathe when you walk. You breathe when you stand. You breathe when you lie down.

Buddhist Monk Ajahn Amaro

"The highest good is like water.

Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive.

It flows in places men reject and so is like the Tao.

In dwelling, be close to the land.

In meditation, go deep in the heart.

In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.

In speech, be true.

In ruling, be just.

In business, be competent.

In action, watch the timing."

Tao Te Ching ~

"Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover

the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. 

It is much simpler to wear shoes." 

from `Happiness and God's Grace' by Ramana Maharshi
 

"We can never obtain peace in the world if we neglect the inner world and 

don't make peace with ourselves.

World peace must develop out of inner peace.

Without inner peace it is impossible to achieve world peace, external peace.

Weapons themselves do not act.

They have not come out of the blue. Man has made them.

But even given those weapons, those terrible weapons, they cannot act by themselves.

As long as they are left alone in storage they cannot do any harm.

A human being must use them. Someone must push the button.

Satan, the evil powers, cannot push that button. Human beings must do it."

The Dalai Lama

"Let your courage mount with difficulties.
There would be no will if there were no resistance."

N. Sri Ram

"Just as a stone, a tree, a straw, grain, a mat, a cloth, a pot, and so on,
when burned, are reduced to earth (from which they came), so the body and its sense organs,
on being burned in the fire of Knowledge,
become Knowledge and are absorbed in Brahman,
like darkness in the light of the sun."

-Shankaracharya

"When does gold ore become gold?

When it is put through a process of fire.

So the human being during the training becomes as pure as gold through suffering.

It is the burning away of the dross. Suffering has a great redeeming quality.

As a drop of water falling on the desert sand is sucked up immediately,

so we must become nothing and nowhere ... we must disappear."

~Bhai Sahib

Words of Wisdom by Daisaku Ikeda

Courage

True courage and adventure is found in exploring the meaning of life and discovering the reason for your existence. Even greater joy and fulfillment is found in the persistent struggle 

to contribute to others` happiness.

Human Relationships

The relationships we have with people are a direct reflection of our inner state of life. To extend and deepen our human relationships is to expand our state of life.

Self-mastery

All great literature, ancient and modern, is a bridge connecting one human being to another, one spirit to another. The quality of our life is determined by how many of those bridges we can cross.

Happiness

Relative happiness is happiness that depends on things outside ourselves, such as affluence or social standing. While the happiness such things bring us is certainly real, it shatters easily when external conditions alter. Absolute happiness, on the other hand, is something we must find within. It means establishing a state of life in which we are never defeated by difficulties, 

and where just being alive is a source of great joy.

Enlightenment
The Buddha's enlightenment does not lie in "eradicating" earthly desires, but in infusing them with compassion and wisdom. It is a matter of transforming the turbid river of earthly desires, karma, suffering and negativity into a pure stream of compassion and wisdom. Those who achieve this possess a perfectly tranquil and serene state of life in that they are not troubled by earthly desires; at the same time, their lives have a vigorous dynamism. Such a state of life is like the ocean. No matter what turmoil there may be on the surface, in its depths there is absolute calm and tranquility.

Sufi Wisdom: Opening the Heart

Child: Could Bawa Muhaiyaddeen say something about how to open the heart?

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen: In whatever room you live, you need a key to open the door. In the same way, no matter what religion, color, or race you belong to, no matter what philosophies or doctrines you follow, if you want to open the rooms of Allah you need the key of iman, 

the key of absolute faith and determination. 

That key will open any lock.

You must believe in the truth that there is nothing other than Allah. 

He alone is the permanent truth, the One who has no beginning, no end, and no form. 

He exists everywhere. He is a power, One that does not diminish regardless of how much each creation takes from it. He is perfect completeness.

Have perfect faith in Allah and turn the key of iman, saying, 

“La ilaha illallahu. There is nothing other than You, O God. You are Allah.” 

Then Allah’s house will open to you. 

There is a room in which His resonance, resplendence, explanation, and light exist.

“Al-hamdu lillah,” you will say. “All praise belongs to God.”

It is in this state that you will be able to open the qalb, the innermost heart.