2012.07.02 _ 83

My checking-in may be a bit sporadic over the next few days. May be OK. May be not. We'll see. Hopefully OK. My antivirus (avast!) has turned into more of a virus, steadily consuming system resources and causing many reboots per day. Oh well.

What other resources do we have that can turn against us? It's standard Buddhist teaching that own own body one day turns against us. And that other wonderful vehicle for our awareness, the mind, can of course be problematic unless we train ourselves to see it in perspective.

The lingering joy of Mr. Happy Man stays with me. How could it not? The most articulate, healthy and just good looking 88 year old man I've ever seen. Happy himself, and dedicated in his own small way, to bringing happiness to others, by constantly putting others before himself. Bodhisattvas can indeed take many forms.

For any reader that doesn't know what I'm talking about, please look here:
http://vimeo.com/36673515

A realization about realizations...

It's as well to pause when a realization comes. It needs to embed. Perhaps sometimes something needs to dropped. Perhaps when you're aware of new awareness, you claim it as your own.

Today, while reading the Jatakamala, I realized something about gods. I've long known that gods (or rather EX-gods!) walk among us. Perhaps some of you who are reading this were one once. :) However, because of (a) the finite lifespan of all gods, and perhaps (b) the necessity for the role of some gods to carry on seamlessly, it seems that some well-known gods at least may not always have been the same being. ("Who wants to be Zeus this millennium? ;)

So what? Well it would explain, perhaps better than changes of human culture, why their characters and personalities can sometimes change from age to age.

Some people, who lack awareness, may cause harm because of that lack of sensitivity.
Some may be sensitive but, when cornered, may cause harm to save themselves.
Some are incapable of not putting others first, even when their own lives are at stake.

(My paraphrase of Arya Sura.)

'When you are content to be simply yourself
and don't compare or compete,
everybody will respect you.' Tao ch.8

It's not so easy to be 'simply yourself.' Everyone seems to want to change me into a better 'me,' including 'me.'

Have found an interesting difference since this morning's session, which reminded me of the potency of stopping. It isn't really something to learn, in that I can't say there is some progression. However, there is, some 'difference' to the quality of things when letting go even just for a split second as we 'did' today as a small group.

A bit more tangibly, I can say that the 'things' I encountered throughout the day, and also several people... (my son, daughters, people in a few stores), were amazingly 'not separate' and warm. I just felt that the openness encountered this morning carried through several situations and encounters.

So, as a way of report,
Hypothesis: stopping = gentleness?
On this day my experience was, so. (check) edited 01:14, 3 Jul 2012